leaf melting on ice

Spring will not be denied. We never got around to raking all the leaves in the garden last fall and piles some up around the roses to protect them. Natured decided to press through anyway and force a daffodil up through the leaves that were left around the rose bushes.






On the side of the driveway, snow and ice continue to melt. A leaf was on the ice and because of it's dark colour, it melted the ice quicker.

It's amazing how nature works and how much there is to see if only we will look.

Beaded Eggs

Fair thee well Winter months and welcome Spring! Easter weekend, spring and a full moon, this weekend has it all. I got my beaded eggs out for my window display.

The gold egg has a silver bead band in the middle. This egg was made back when silver was used in the making of beads which is why this egg now appears to have a blackish band around the middle. The silver has tarnished. These three eggs are resting on a bed of dried freesia from a bouquet Paul gave me. I haven't made any of these in some years but I have lots of requests for them.

They are very easy to make.

First I blow out an egg and then seal the hole with a bit of tissue and glue.

In order to start with an even line, I put an elastic band around the egg and use a pencil to draw a starting line.

After removing the elastic, I use a toothpick to apply white glue and a pin to attach the beads.

I never have a design in mind, the shape of the beads and egg help to determine that.

These are tedious to make but most of mine were done while watching television. Or rather, listening to television. The first egg I ever beaded got broken when I had one of my Irish temper tantrums and threw it at Paul. When it broke, it was like fine china hitting a cement floor. So ended my days of egg tossing. I missed him and lost one of my beautiful eggs. Perhaps it may have been more satisfying if I'd have hit my mark LOL.

Baxter, my Granddog

This is Baxter, my granddog. Alex got him from the Toronto Humane Society. For a Christening gift Paul and I are paying for his obedience training. His pointer tendencies lead him to believe that my rat, gerbil, chinchillas and guinea pigs should all be hunted. My dog Brady is a border collie X. He can be trusted with all the animals. All he wants to do is herd them. Not BAXTER!

Don't be fooled by this sweet little face.

This is Bax having lunch on Alex's finger

Baxter's nose.

window rabbits and a guilty cat

These cute bunnies came from an antique shop in Brighton, a little town just ten minutes east of Colborne. It's an excellect shop because they mix old with new. These bunnies are sold separately but they look like such a nice pair that I bought both. They are in my Easter window display. I need to sew a lace curtain for behind the window because I'm not fond of the wall paper the previous owners had in the kitchen. It's a navy blue plaid and while it's nice enough paper, it's not kitcheny enough for me. I've got so much to do in the house and the kitchen is on the bottom of the list.







Paul's cat Jasmine decided to join us for dinner the other day. Sadly for her, I don't dine with my pets so she had to make a hasty exit from the table but not before I got a picture of her eyeing the last chick'n nugget in the pan. Both Paul and I are Flexitarians so I doubt she would have eaten it even if it were offered.

After scolding one's cat one looks into its face

and is seized by the ugly suspicion that it understood every word.

And has filed it for reference.

~Charlotte Gray

At Lotsa Stuff, Leslie the proprietess had this chicken pulling a wagon of chicks. I loved it so much and when I was tidying the other day, I found a bag on the dining table and they were in it.

I love Paul so much. He never makes a show of gift giving. Something could sit there for days and he wouldn't say a word. I on the other hand hate keeping secrets and would do something famboyant in order to get the recipient of the gift to notice it sitting there.

Nippon - Weeding out

When we moved into this house last summer, my mother and I combined some of our collections. In the china cabinet, my mother's Nippon collections share space with my Sadler teapots. I'm only keeping a few choice pieces of Nippon. Some of it I plan to pass on at a yard sale this comming August.


Colborne hosts an event called Trash 'N Treasures. Because of the move we didn't participate last year but will this summer. I plan to have an old fashioned lemonade stand set up as well. Perhaps offer a few baked goods but that will depend on if my son has his bakery up and running by then. I don't want to cut into his business.

There's a certain slant of light

There's a certain slant of light,

On winter afternoons,

That oppresses, like the weight

Of cathedral tunes.

Heavenly hurt it gives us;

We can find no scar,

But internal difference

Where the meanings are.

None may teach it anything,

'Tis the seal, despair,

-An imperial affliction

Sent us of the air.

When it comes, the landscape listens,

Shadows hold their breath;

When it goes, 'tis like the distance

On the look of death.

~Emily Dickinson

At first glance this seemingly depressing peom by Dickinson manages to capture that feeling in all of us that comes to the surface once in a while. Some call it cabin fever, others SAD. Paul and I were on one of our winter drives which we take often. I do get cabin fever and need a change in scenery from time to time. My cabin fever is not however restricted to winter. I believe in getting out of the house. Besides what could be better than arriving back to your beautiful home all refreshed and inspired? The sun was shining so beautifully on the snow this day creating a spectactular sight. That's one of the things I love about late winter. In early winter the sky is usually grey and the landscape shadowless and without expression. This picture is taken from a hill that looks over Lake Ontario just outside Castleton. The day started sunny but by the time we got home, the clouds had taken over the sky and the snow was again without shadows. Spring is just around the corner and Dickinson's poem reminds us of the coming death of winter through the heat of the sun shining on the snow.