Happy Postcard Friendship Friday

This is a little postcard my painting pals picked up for me, as I was not able to attend, at a Victorian Tea Party they all went to. I had boys, so I never got to go to tea with all the hats and gloves and stuff. But next summer when my grand niece is a little bigger we're going. I looked up the history of tea and discovered it was not so romantic. I'm also reading a book in which the heroin of the story is not looking forward to the afternoons she may soon have to spend in the new society of her future husbands social circle, drinking tea and eating cucumber sandwiches.

We (my sisters and I) use to love when our mother would pack us a lunch for the beach of cucumber sandwiches and white bread. We didn't usually eat white bread. The Wojtowiczes would take us to the beach on some Sundays, (which was a huge treat, my parents didn't do beach)and I guess we didn't have coolers so the one thing she knew would not spoil in the hot sun was a cucumber sandwich. When I do this my boys always ask "what no meat". Anyway cucumber sandwiches and tea sound good for todays lunch.

The legendary origin of tea

The story of how the drinking of tea originated is interesting and has merit. Accordingly, in 2737 B.C., Emperor Shen Nong, was visiting a distant region of his realm and he and his court stopped to rest along the roadside. The servants began to boil water, as required for hygienic purposes, for all to drink. By chance, dried leaves from nearby were said to have fallen into the boiling water, creating a brownish liquid. When the emperor tasted it and found it to have an interesting, refreshing flavor, they made more. According to the legend, this is the beginning of tea drinking!


Happy Post Friendship Friday.
photo of a card I own.

Fifteen books in Fifteen Minutes.

Leslie tagged me with this list, on facebook. I'm not great with facebook so I'll take the lazy way out and do it here. I suppose you get to know someone by the books they read.
Here are the rules.Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag 15 friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends value.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee. love this book re-read it over and over.


2. Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin

3. Death on the Nile
4:50 from Paddington, "
Murder on the Orient Express
By the Pricking of my Thumb
The Mirror Cracked, and many more by Agatha Christie
Whenever I don't know what to read next I read Agatha.

4. I am David, by Anne Holm

5. Catcher in the Rye, D. Salinger

6. The Bread Winner, Deborah Ellis

7. Evening Class, Maeve Binchy
Tara Road
and anything else by Maeve, another comfort book/author. When Agatha is not at hand.

8. Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold

9. Aspire to the Heavens, Mary Higgins Clark, not her usual stuff.

10. SunWing, Firewing, Silverwing, Kenneth Oppel, I love bats you know.

11. The Devils Arithmatic, Jane Yolen

12. Too Close to the Falls, Catherine Gildiner

13. All the Harry Potters,

14. Absent in the Spring May 1997
The Burden May 1997
Unfinished Portrait May 1997
A Daughter's A Daughter May 1997
The Rose and the Yew Tree May 1997
Giant's Bread May 1997 these are Mary Westmcott, Agatha Christie

15. Indian in the Cupboard, all of them, Lynn Reid Banks

I think it's important to note that I read for the "Young Readers" of our school library, and volunteer for the various Red Maple "readers groups" so it's only natural that some of the books listed above are what our young people are reading. I must say I've only just begun to read the "big girl books" and I'm not sure I like it. It takes a very skilled writer to write books for young people.

mellow yellow monday...

Mellow Yellow indeed!

While "wasting" our time on the beach, I couldn't help but think yellow.





beach volley ball tournament.

Are we there yet?

I know all the new moms will learn about this on their first trip, Are we there yet? is the question. Well I'd like to have asked that yesterday. We were on our way to a wedding in Rhode Island. It seemed like forever, when in fact it was only seven hours. I don't travel well with my husband. He drives straight through, he was trying to calculate how many miles he was getting to the gallon, well we rolled into Scanectady on fumes, (because the gas is cheaper) Not thinking of course that the tow truck would have been a little more than the cost of gas. Today's adventure is on to the wedding venue for six, but before that maybe a tour of Lizzy Bordens House.

O.K. At the time of my post (above) my husband was asleep, when he awoke, I suddenly remembered he is OLD, and he had had a wonderful evening of last, and I had been sensible and went to sleep. So I'm up and raring to go and he's dragging. So it seems that even though all the "sites to see around town" flyers suggested Lizzie's house, you can only drive by, (does this place not have a travel and tourism department?) how disappointing. Considering the fact that my betrothed is severely hung over, and gets lost easily even with his TOM TOM, we skipped the drive by and went directly to our next hotel closer to the wedding site. Only got lost once.

photo of Lizzy Bordens House, from a postcard I own.

mellow yellow monday..

Welcome to my garden. We haven't had a great deal of rain in the last couple of weeks, so the pond keeps drying up. I've even had my first Racoon eating my fish, because of it, so we must be vigilant in topping it up each day. Well the price of pleasure I suppose. Enjoy Mellow Yellow Monday

Post card Friendship Friday

Couldn't you just see this young couple break out in song and dance. The title of this post card is "courtship". You can tell that I'm not only a hat person, I'm also a flower child.

Happy PFF

Theme Thursday

Today's Theme is "Stage". When I think of stage there are only a few memories that come to mind. First it would have to be my sister Donna playing the lead role in many a drama performance during her secondary school days. The one that is most prominent is the role of "Elaine Harper" in Arsenic and Old Lace.










The other most recently involved my boys and I in our roles as volunteers to assist "The Zonta Group" in their creating an accessible playground. This photo is "The Stage in the Park", where neighbor hood children can do their own performances.










The park also has the usual equipment, "entirely accessible" with even the ground cover created as not to get impede the use of wheelchairs.










And we are not just talking wheelchairs here, we have this lovely musical area as well.











The scent garden, and the sniffer doesn't even have to bend over to smell the plants the aroma is infused through those cute flowers.




In the centre of the park is a sundial, so the child/parent can stand in the centre and will know what time it is my the shadow they cast.

I would have love to take a photo of this all in action, but privacy laws being what they are... not to mention that on opening day we had co-ordinated a very large barbecue and fun day with approx. 3,000 kids and adults so I was quite busy, seeing to my volunteer students who were face painting. Thank God the weather didn't permit the hot air balloon to actually go up. So you see Billy Shakespeare, (I'm sure his mom would have called him Billy) knew what he was talking about "all the world is a stage".

Check out the other guys posting on "Theme Thursday". photos taken by me.

In Memorium

Andrzej Nowak
Nov. 23, 1913 - July 15, 1978








This is my dad. I remember watching a movie once, and the scene was developed around a young girl who's mother had died, her dad was remarrying, although the young girl loved the woman her dad was going to marry, she worried that she would soon forget how her mother even looked. I can believe that. Today when I went through my book to scan a photo, I thought to myself, I don't remember him looking like that, and I had to chose a different photo. Time, it's not always a good thing.

Mellow Yellow Monday

I've never really been a fan of yellow in my garden, but since I've participated in this post, it's looking GOOD to me. So yesterday after an exhausting day at the seniors home with my mom and a quick visit to the cemetary to check on my departed ones I took a refreshing stroll through the nursery. I also missed the 8:14p.m. train by one minute, next train 1hour away.

First up were several different colours of yellow yarrow... while I like how they look I don't think the size of my garden will accommodate them.










I've had a need to plant a bush of forsythia, no luck finding one other than artificial.








And then there were the day lilies, love them, have a lot of them, but not this variety, a definite possibility. Oops those were the roses, love them too.






And then of coarse my eye caught this golden juniper, hmmmmmmmmmmmm.




Well that was a breath of fresh air. Now on to making supper at 10p.m. Have a wonderful Mellow Yellow Monday.

A beautiful spine...

I think what attracts me most to book binding is the lovely stitches on the spine of the books we make. If you were ever to do this you too would appreciate a lovely spine. In my efforts to "know everything" I took yet another class in bookbinding. This time with a new instructor. She was ever so cute. The book we did was "coptic" stitching, which is the oldest method of bookbinding apparently. Here is mine.
I'm one of those individuals who needs to critique my work, so I think if I get the energy to do this again, I would use a contrasting colour of thread, so I can see the lovely stitches. I even think I would resort to my old way of calculating my holes in the front/back covers so they would be more uniform. willy nilly is o.k. but I do like to use a ruler sometimes. I did finish the book, which I like. Our little Bizzy B group had moved over to Wise Daughters, great space, wonderful lighting, and very easy going instructor. If you live in the area, give one of their classes a try. You'll like it.

A Peach of a Princess

Normally on Friday's I do a Postcard Post, well today the news is just too good not to share with all my blogging friends. My niece the beauty you see here in the photo is Miss Winona Peach Princess. I'm not a fan of beauty pageants, this one is a little different. The Winona Peach Festival is held each year in Winona, Ontario, Canada. It celebrates community and the active participants ( a number of great organizations who's volunteer efforts contribute to an active community)get together at a yearly festival with celebration of a great harvest while enjoying each others company by offering a festival of entertainment for all ages, and so it is no wonder they would like to keep of slice of that achievement represented throughout the year in the communities surrounding it. So, Miss Winona Peach Queen/and two Princesses are the representatives of note in this respect. I'm not sure how many activities these young ladies will be part of during the school year, but they have had to be integral parts of the community for a good portion of their lives (as citizens of that community) to have been involved in the first place. Our Nicole, represented Go Ahead Soccer Community. Nicole played soccer from the age of 4 or maybe earlier and only retired her jersey last year, to coach.

Last evening our Nicole, not only looked graceful and elegant on the runway in her "peach" dress, she also spoke eloquently about herself and her involvement in the Soccer club. She was named "Miss Peach Festival Princess" and we are so proud of her. We look forward to a year of adventure as she rides in her "Peach Basket Float". Congratulations Niki.


P.S. Why do I say the Tradition Continues, well even though her mother and her aunt were not in beauty pageants in the audience were at least two past "Miss Polonia's" Ha! Ha!.

photo from a program I own.

Mellow Yellow Monday, Kooboosh

Well it's not Kooboosh, but Roy did a great job painting this bird. Who is Kooboosh? Kooboosh is a yellow canary my mother had always, it didn't matter how many canaries we had they were all named Kooboosh. I have Kooboosh's bird stand in my garden and have thought of what I could hang there other than a canary, (not sure my cat would like a canary in the house, or maybe I'm sure he would)so yesterday on my antiquing trek looking for china to smash for my mosaic bird bath I found this very well painted wind chime. I know how much work goes into these "little" projects and Roy's family donated it to the local Thrift store. I also know how much these wind chimes are to buy before you spend too many hours painting them. So I'm sure Roy won't mind if I enjoy his labors at such a bargain price, $2. the girl at the cash even suggested I wait till 50%off day. Imagine Roy's heirlooms at half price. We often speak of this in our painting groups, that we toil and try to paint lovely things so someday our children or grandchildren will say "Oh my mom/gran painted this, she was an artist, but we fully expect they will be found at the local thrift shop at bargain prices and purchased by someone who knows the work involved. I don't sell my paintings for this same reason, how much would you charge?

So this is my contribution to Mellow Yellow Monday, (we'll call Roy's bird Kooboosh) Kooboosh has a little yellow on his head and he's lovely.


I'm going to Hat Tip Roy 1992. photo taken of the windchime I own.

Just when I was feeling stupid...

As most of you know, or maybe not, I created this blog to do some research for my Romance Novel. Well, our teacher has instructed us to read what we want to write, or at least the genre. I'm having a bit of difficulty with that, romance is can be so boring sometimes. So I started to read just what I like, and am now just blog hopping through some author sites. Well I stumbled upon a site Reading at the Beach and on Friday it was "Friday 56", you'll have to check it out. Well this particular post required a link back in the comment section. I could link back to my main blog, but not to my post, so I thought and thought, (much like Winnie the Pooh?) and thought some more, and as I was pulling the mother of all weeds today I figured it out. So just when I was feeling stupid ...

Postcard Friendship Friday

I didn't let my children watch "The Simpson" for a very long time. Like I think Daniel was in grade eight, and for reasons which I shall not get into they convinced me to do so. Of course I had to watch with them, just because that's how I am. I'm a born censorship mom. I remember the first episode they watched was one about the 4th of July. "what better way to celebrate the birth of your country, than by blowing a piece of it up," in reference to the fire works. Anyway, then that led to the cartoon viewing, so now I'm into Captain America. So in honor of Canada Day and the 4th of July Happy Independence Day to all, and most of all Happy Postcard Friendship Friday.

photo of a postcard I own.

theme Thursday

Over the last few days my posts have been somewhat scattered, all with good reason. You see I've been doing things that I love to do. My friend Anna's daughter got married yesterday, Canada Day, and over the last few weeks, Anna her mother Rosa, and I have been tending to the details. First there were the programs. Well I had urged this young bride to get it together so I could practice some of my book binding techniques, well she stalled, with good reason I suppose. You see there were four languages involved. Meaning if she printed in one language the members of the other heritage would be insulted, well finally Anna did it. She chose everything in English, and then just a few short readings in ALL four languages. So we ended up with a rather short little booklet, too late to bind, so we ended up putting two lovely ribbons around it with a nice pear button in the corner.









Then of course, Anna and her family vacation in Italy each summer and ordered their confetti candy (traditionally tied to a bomboniere) as part to the centre pieces. Well they were to be delivered in early May and actually arrived late/mid June. I had volunteered to help her put these together, and while she thought they would be a breeze, there were still 36 of them to do.










I always feel a wreath on the entry door dresses up the entrance, so we decided we would like a pearl themed thing. I wrapped a "straw wreath" 18" in diameter, (big is always better) with satin ribbon and then glued each pearl to it. It took me days. I have no fingerprints left, the glue gun took them off. But it did turn out great. I had a dream someone slammed the door and all the pearls were everywhere. the staircase also had a pearl them to it. At this point we carried on outside, I didn't take any pictures, because it started to rain, I thought we would have to build and arc. But alas, yesterday was sunny enough for pre-ceremony brunch outdoors, a lovely wedding ceremony, and I don't think I'll be excommunicated because of my decor in the church. I got a little rest during the ceremony because the priest officiating "Father Miguel" is quite close to the family of the bride and has made a point of knowing the groom, he is a Spaniard, speaking Italian, and little English, quite a humorous homily had us in stitches as we listened. Very pleasant. The rain held out until after the Martini bar, and pictures were taken outdoors, and rained only through the first course of the meal. It was warm and dry again for the fire works.
Whats all this got to do with "theme Thursday" well this weeks theme is "funky" after looking in the dictionary, I've decided my contribution to this theme would be to let you know that all this hard work and creativety in so many different aspects, of creation, has gotten be out of my "Funk" I think I can now get on with cleaning my house with some reasonable enthusiasm.
It's good to have a good time.