A Lovely Afternoon

It is my daughter Sheila's last day of holidays and it has become a tradition that every year we visit local shops to browse and admire all the pretties.  This first shop was a tea shop and at first we wondered if we'd go in but I peeked in the window and saw displays of teacups ( with price tags hanging from them) so of course we HAD to go in.

These  cookies were so pretty but I think they would have been very hard!

As we were leaving I took this picture of the window display.

 

We walked half a block to the next store. More expensive pretty things!

Then on to a nursery just out of town. This old bath tub just outside the door caught my eye.

There are 2 cats that have been part of that place for no less than 17 years!!! They love to be patted and picked up too.

I wish I'd have moved that ugly thing on the right. It does nothing to enhance the picture. But isn't this big guy adorable?

I didn't find a single thing that I wanted to buy until this last shop. When I saw the small reindeer I knew it would be perfect to put  beside the big one that I bought at a garage sale ( or maybe a thrift store) earlier in the year. 

We came back here and had a lovely tea ( using Christmas teacups). Now she's gone home and I'm about to put my weary feet and relax.


Thanks for visiting,



G.M.

Wordless Wednesday ( a bit late)

Here it is almost suppertime and I'm finally sitting down at my computer.  My wordless Wednesday will probably be seen by most of you on Thursday. Here are random pictures from around my house.

Thanks for stopping by,

And thank you for all the lovely comments on my calendar idea. To think I almost didn't push 'publish' because I thought it was too strange a thing I did, reusing old calendars. 

GRANNY M.

Calendars

I don't know of anyone besides myself who does this crazy thing. I keep my favourite calendars from past years and cut pages from a current calendar to cover the date part.  This first calendar with its simple but lovely watercolours is too lovely to simply get rid of. 

Here you can see I stuck August 2020 over 2019.   I did this for the coming year.

This next one is from 2005 and hangs here in front of my computer desk. I love the little pocket  that it has.

    Do you look for  the perfect calendar now that the stores are full of choices?  Or do you, like my DH, not care what the picture is like as long as it fulfills the basic use of a calendar?

Thanks for stopping by today,

GRANNY MARIGOLD

Touring an Old House

If you've been reading my blog for a while then you'll recognize this lovely old house that is part of the park by the lake where I walk  almost every day. At Christmastime the house is decorated and there's an open house. Which was today.

I love the kitchen although I'm sure actually working in it was far from convenient in the '20's when the house was built.

These lovely ladies were waiting to greet guests who came to tour the house. They graciously posed for a photo.

The livingroom with the beautifully decorated tree .

The maid's room off the hall near the kitchen.

The pictures I took in the dining room were fuzzy and I didn't take any more pics because the other rooms were not decorated except for a sprig of holly over a mirror or picture.

Tonight we're off to church for Advent Vespers.  I'm so looking forward to that.

Thanks for coming by today,

GRANNY  MARIGOLD   

Another day, Another Walk

The lake looked dark when I first started walking around it but it got a bit brighter. I carried an umbrella 'just in case' but didn't need it.

 I can't resist taking more pictures of the Mergansers. I noticed that there are mainly males again. I wonder where the females are.

Do you remember back in October when these neighbours filled their front yard with Halloween decorations?   Well, now they've put up their annual Christmas stuff.  Personally I find it overdone but prefer this to the grotesque Halloween things.  There's even Christmas music that plays as you walk by.

My day is off to a great start. Just me in the house and I've been motivated to tidy up!!
DH is at his volunteer job at Gleaners. I'm sure I've mentioned that some 40 to 60 people ( mainly seniors) get together 5 days a week to make dried soup mix that gets sent to needy countries.  Trucks bring produce that has had to be removed from store shelves because it's beginning to "go".  Volunteers sort through and whatever is still okay gets chopped and dried. This week they received over 2000 lbs of tomatoes. All still in those small plastic containers ( that I feel should be illegal).  Nevertheless, at least the produce is being put to good use.  I do wish excessive use of plastic would be made illegal and very soon!

Thanks for stopping by,

Granny Marigold

Pallet Trees

I can't remember if I have  mentioned the Christmas trees my DH has been making from free wood pallets he picks up whenever he sees them by the roadside. I showed him some on Pinterest and he has by now made more than a dozen for various family members or their friends. Do you see who was lurking by my garden shed just waiting for a bird to come down low enough for a quick grab?

 It's easier to see the cat here. I don't know whose it is but it hangs around and is obviously well fed.

So the latest tree was destined to be in our front yard and DH and GD Kate attached a string of 70 twinkling lights onto it.  With a stapler that caused a lot of laughter as DH came very close to Kate's fingers ( she was in charge of holding the wire while he stapled).

A lot of fun was had and the tree turned out just as I wanted it to look!

Thanks for coming by.  I'm always happy to see your comments and appreciate your visits.

Granny Marigold

Sunday Walk

The temperature had risen a few degrees above freezing by the time we went for our walk this morning.  First thing we saw of any interest was an Eagle in the middle of the lake eating something.

Its mate was sitting not far away, in a tree that they seem to prefer.

Further on we noticed a heron sitting high in a tree, a perch they rarely choose. By the time I got my camera out he was aware that we were watching him and as he took off I snapped his picture.

He landed on a dock close to the boardwalk and strutted around for a bit. He looked annoyed that we had disturbed him.

There were new arrivals, Northern Shovelers.  They were too far away for me to get a decent picture but...

...here's a nice clear one off the internet.

 The seagulls were swimming around in the areas of open water. There's a thin skim of ice forming now.

Someone must have dropped this goose off . It looks like a farm goose and is very tame. It came right up to us looking for a handout. The Canada Geese and resident ducks seem to avoid it, poor thing.

Not an exciting sort of walk but satisfying to get out in the crisp air.  Rain showers are in our forecast so that means getting out the umbrellas.  Would you believe I had only ever seen an umbrella in a book as a child?  People on the prairies ( at that time) did not own such a thing.

That's my day so far.  Later youngest son and oldest granddaughter are coming to play Mexican Train. That's always a lot of fun.

I want to say a heartfelt thank you for the anniversary wishes. 

Thanks for stopping by,

        GRANNY MARIGOLD