Prejudice Admitted

I admit I am prejudiced. It's true. I am.

In fact, I admitted as much to my daughter this morning while we were talking on the phone. I'll admit it to you now.

I HATE FEEDING SPARROWS!

There. I've said it.Nuthatches and Chickadees. Such sweet pretty little things. They only take one seed at a time. Eat their fill and flit away.

Not so with Sparrows. They come in a huge flock, flick seeds all over kingdom come and eat me out of house and home. I'm thinking I'll have to take a part time job just to afford seed for the rest of the winter, which, apparently is to last 6 more weeks.

While I'm on a truth revealing mission today, I may as well admit that I don't much like Grackles either. Nope. Too noisy and too mean looking. So this next story may be hard for you to understand. I baited a Raven.

I was making my lunch and I heard his noisy familiar call although I could not see him. I ran to the freezer, pulled out a piece of bread and threw it out the patio door into my back yard. Then I swiftly ran to get the camera.

There you see the bread.

Aha, here he is.

Ready to take off...

Gotcha!

Too bad I had to take the pictures through the triple panes of my kitchen window.

I'll not likely do that again because really, who wants a Raven hanging around anyway?

The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-

Only this and nothing more."

Edgar Allan Poe

Olympic Spirit

We are not a sports family. Not at all. We like to participate. Kind of. We like skating, hiking, biking, walking, yoga, swimming and snowshoeing. We have yet to snowshoe this year as we have little snow in the fields. Paul plays hockey and does some mountain biking. Now he lifts weights and runs. He runs a lot.

I don't think we plan to watch the Olympics. Maybe bobsled because Athena learned about it at school. But, we are all about the Olympic Mascots these days.

We were in the store and she saw the three mascots. Key ring stuffed mascots. For TEN dollars each. She said she would use her piggy bank money if she could please have one. She chose Miga.

Then yesterday we looked on the official website of the Vancouver 2010 Games and found a cut out of Sumi. Which I put together.

And today, I had the idea to create a Quatchi out of some scrap felt. He turned out okay if you don't look closely at my "hurry and get this done blanket stitching".

I had never heard of these mascots but apparently kids in Kindergarten at Delisle Elementary watch a lot of You Tube. (sigh) In fact, when she was telling me their names, she thought they were Zoomy, Meeka and Crotchy. I am glad the name is not indeed Crotchy.

You can check out the cute video here.

DressGreen Etsy Goodness

My Etsy package arrived yesterday and I couldn't be more happy. I have searched high and low for products such as these. I have tried every product from the Drug stores made especially for sensitive skin. I have tried many organic products too. Some were better than others and none where what I was looking for.

I tried every product last night. I knew the true test would be today. Would I have redness and irritation? Maybe a full blown rash on my face or hands?

Not any hint of a reaction. I am in LOVE!

The soap was wonderful. It didn't sting my hands at all. There wasn't that familiar residue when rinsed off. The wood soap dish is beautiful too, don't you think?

The body lotion... amazing. My skin was so soft. So soft that my husband commented on it, not knowing I had tried something new. The foot balm, excellent.

The facial moisturizer was great too. And the lip balm. As a matter of fact, I don't think I ordered the lip balm. I think Lauren threw it in.

The jars are all so pretty. Simple. Clean. And the package came wrapped in beautiful shades of green tissue paper. A real delight for the senses.

I am so overly excited about these products I have to shout it from the rooftop. Now I hope that she'll continue to make them or I may just cry.

A Year of Lovely Things

My Mom used to knit. She used to sew. She used to do ceramics and decoupage. She used to do a lot of things. And now that she is a retired school teacher/Vice Principal... she doesn't do any of those things anymore.Until now!

She started knitting again and as luck would have it, Athena was the first recipient of her handwork. Lucky us! She chose to make this lovely pullover sweater with a hood. It is so bright and beautiful. It is very soft and comfy.



It is a little too big for Athena but we don't care. She can wear it longer.



You might remember this post. She made that siwash for one of my sisters probably 35 years ago. The sweater is still as lovely as it was back then. Perhaps even more lovely as it has been passed down over time. Through the years. From generation to generation.
Made with love and oh so appreciated.

Thanks Mom!

The Land Of Counterpane

Well, we got snowed in as predicted. Paul has been out shovelling the drive no less than 4 times in the past two days. I am afraid he'll have to do it again before long. (He is the Emergency First Responder for our town and area and cannot be snowed in)

Good thing we planned the weekend in. Athena got sick. I should have known. I should have trusted her. She cried on Friday that she "Spends way too much time at school" and that she'll "miss me too much if she goes." Saturday she had a fever all day. I hesitated to give her ibuprofen but when she got the headache and sore throat, I gave her a half dose. She was tired all day and spent some time in bed playing with her toys and drawing. Check out the fantastic Scarlet Macaw.

We read oodles of books. She watched a movie, had a 90 minute bath, at supper and was off to bed.

She recalled a poem in "A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson titled

The Land of Counterpane. Of course we had to read it too.

And put two pillows at her head. And have all her toys before her lay. Apple slices and water as well. Today she is somewhat improved but still rather lethargic. It sucks to be sick on the weekend.

The Land of Counterpane

When I was sick and lay a-bed

I had two pillows at my head,

And all my toys beside me lay

To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so

I'd watch my leaden soldiers go

With different uniforms and drills,

Among the bed-clothes through the hills.

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets,

All up and down among the sheets;

Or brought my trees and houses out

And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still

That sits upon the pillow-hill

And sees before him dale and plane

The pleasant land of counterpane.

Robert Louis Stevenson

(Grrr. Very frustrated Blogger won't let me adjust the spaces properly on the poem. Apologies.)