And the Post gets through!!

By Friday evening our lane was impassible with snow, so everyone left their cars down at the end, just off the main road, and walked home.

Mid-morning Saturday there was quite the party going on down there as everyone got together and started to dig themselves out, with the help of a friendly tractor.

And then who should turn up but...the Post! It was as far as the van could get, so he delivered to the four houses down there, and then to all the cars' snow-clearing crews!
And look what arrived for me!

A box from Jane...now I wonder whatever could be inside??

There was all of Friday's groceries still in the car, so everything was bagged and boxed, and tied onto the toboggan for the trek home.
Quite a haul for the poor huskies, and mostly uphill too...

I couldn't wait to unpack the box...and look! Even nicer than it looked in Jane's Shop!!

A real Wreath is hung on the front door with snow all around...don't you think?

So, Jane, this is a really real wreath!! Isn't it just gorgeous?

(You'd better hurry if you want one for yourself, and no, you can NOT have mine!)

I love Christmas!

Snow Days

Today is the third 'Snow Day' out of School this week. I was there briefly on Monday, and the School Yard was one huge sheet of ice. Since then it has repeatedly snowed and freezed...fruzzed...frozen so we await the thaw.

I'm trying not to panic over the state of the Music for the Carol Service which happens Friday 17th, ready or not! But I have been promised free rein on Thursday to catch up with all the classes in the School- can you imagine what it'll be like?

Anyhow I have put the time to good use, craft-wise, and have been crocheting and knitting away. This morning I went shopping with Mom and the pavements in town and the parking lots remain just awful. It doesn't seem to have occurred to very many Businesses that clearing the paths outside their own doors would be a kindly public-spirited gesture.

However on the whole it seems that many people are looking out for their neighbours, and certainly, out by us, the farmers are all keeping the roads as passable as possible...say that ten times fast!

Still, roll on the thaw! I know that very many of you, like Ulla and Elaine and Diane deal with much worse snow and ice for the entire Winter months, but as one of you said last year, your places are better at coping...if this is going to become normal for Ireland, we are going to need to take lessons from you people!!

P.S. I've been playing with my Banners and have kind of matching ones for here and the shop! Don't you love stars?!

Thankful Thursday

Hey look, you guys! I actually remembered that it's Thursday!

Whoop-di-doo! Tally ho! Tiddly-pom! and all that sort of thing!!

So here goes:

Firstly: Thankful for the beautiful sunshiny amazing weather we've had this week! Sub zero temperatures, snow and ice, but so very, very beautiful!

Secondly: Thankful that my car has, so far, decided to stay on the road, despite the temptation to slalom through ditches and across the fields...as it did last winter! Its been very well behaved!

Thirdly: (I'm not blowing my trumpet here, I'm just really grateful), I received TWO blog awards during November.

This one from Kathy at Cottage Garden Quilter:

with a lovely comment...

and this one from Hazel at Hazel Loves Design:
with another lovely comment!
As Deborah says- Kindness Matters! Its nice to receive nice comments!

Fourthly: Thankful for firewood, a warm house, and the finances to keep us warm this winter. Not everyone is as lucky, I know.

Fifthly: (is there such a word?) The car got a puncture last night, late, but it was whilst the Hub had it, not me. I'm so thankful it wasn't me trying to change the tyre in the middle of the night at -5 degrees (where's the little 0 for degrees on the keyboard, by the way?), and he was thankful too. With just one car(that goes!), rural living can be complicated enough...

Off now to visit Greg's and link my Thankful Thursday post- is Greg ever going to fall off his chair when he sees me after all this time...or what!!!!

Doll Factory and Snowy Rose!

The Doll Factory continues to stitch away, and two more commissioned dolls were finished this morning: a girl doll...
...and a boy doll, the first boy doll I've made. I was wondering how to dress him so I looked up some illustrations of Tom Sawyer for ideas! Both dolls have the children's names stitched onto their boots, as they are intended as Christening presents.

I started this doll last night, just for fun, and finished her late today, so she will go into the Shop presently. Youngest supervised the 'hair-do'!!

When I was out earlier there were some late roses bowed under the weight of snow, which looked quite incongruous! I bet they are sorry they hung around so long!

The roads are gradually clearing and the snow melting a bit each day, but the highest day time temperature is only 1 degree, and by 7pm last night it was already -3 degrees: this is almost unheard of for here. Driving is hairy!!

I forgot to finish making Middlest's curtains, so I'm working on them now, and adding a length of thermal lining I had stored in the trunk, as I reckon it might help keep the cold out. Of course she could re-hang her old curtains, even if they do clash with the fresh painted bedroom walls, but no!!

And now to School, for a few hours of Music and Carol Service chaos...I mean, practising!!

Don't forget, the December Special starts in the Shop today!!

Last Saturday...

On Saturday morning I got up to...
a take over bid of my kitchen by cinnamon men biscuits!

and an industrious Youngest...

Snow on the skylights...

...and an iced up lane way!

We made it to Church on Sunday, despite a further snowfall and below 0 temperatures, the main road was like an ice rink.

But when we got back a neighbouring farmer had been out spreading hot cinders on the hill, so we didn't have to abandon the car at the barn as we feared.

Middlest arrived in Church and came home for the day, which was lovely...well, until the snowball fight moved indoors...two shrieking teenagers, two large over-excited dogs, a number of flying snowballs, and a warm kitchen, sure make for a soggy combination!!

And a Happy Advent to you too!!

Gobsmackerettoed!!

Well today isn't going to plan already! I got up at 5.20am when the Hub left for work as I couldn't sleep because of the wind howling, and its blinking SNOWING!

Hello?

Officially NOT IMPRESSED!

Mind you, it was stormy and sleet/snow all yesterday, coming from due North, to the extent that the weather is forcing itself through the panels of the front door.

Puddles inside on the hall tiles.

Huh!

And the second 'not according to plan' but a FAAAAR nicer surprise was to discover that I'd won a prize over at Everyday Bliss! Howzat for GOBSMACKED?? (Yeh, yeh, not a very polite word but VERY evocative and I can't think of a better one just now!!)

Listen to this:

'Grand Prize Winner of $50.00 to spend in the BLISS SHOP(s) of her choice is the lovely Heckety all the way from Ireland and the beautiful blog At Home with Heckety.'

(Not only do I win a prize but she thinks I'm lovely- so put that in your pipe and smoke it Daughters! (who have been complaining I'm a disgrace and an embarassment all weekend...))

YEEEE-HAWWW!!!!

(No, its just tea in the mug-honest).

What I was intending this morning was a nice genteel post about another wonderful Etsy Shop I found- in Helsinki, no less, and some photos of the parcel which arrived yesterday. Now she's going to think I'm a mad bogger (or blogger?) from the West and be terrified to open her emails any more...OH DEAR...

(Yes, the credit card ban is still in place- I 'borrowed' it when he wasn't looking...ok, technically, I nicked it...)

The Shop is Maili Supplies and she sells fabric, modern and vintage, mostly Finnish design, Marimekko...and very reasonable prices I thought.

And Ulla look! Maija-Liisa even included a Marimekko fridge magnet!!! The bold green and white I am going to use with the lovely Marimekko fabrics Ulla sent me back awhiles- and that quilt is going to be for ME, not the shop!

Aren't they lovely? And Tricia look! Finnish stamps!!

This is the most amazing fabric- the Shop photo didn't really do it justice! I don't know whether I'll ever be able to cut it up? I'm wondering about using it for whopping big cushions? Wouldn't you just smile every time you saw this??

Even the tape on the outside was fun!

So do head over and have a gawkeen? There's loads to see- I left you some...

And before I forget, Tricia has a Challenge going on if you fancy entering! Something different!

And the second thing I intended to say today is to apologise for not visiting any of you much the last fortnight, my head being full of the Shop and Logistics for the weekend. Now I'll get back on track, starting with a week of The Cabbage Soup Diet, I think, after the amount of junk and lack of whole meals ingested over the weekend...before I become like Winnie-the-Pooh and get stuck in doorways:

So Happy Tuesday y'all!!

Huh! and Oh My! and a matter of muesli...

One World One Heart Giveaway results.

Look what we got up to yesterday...again...
So, no expedition to Enniskillen for us, boo hoo...

But the Postman got up the hill alright and look what he brought:

Isn't it just fantabulogorgeous? Its from Angela, and I'm dancing inside I'm so delighted! Isn't she kind to make me an embroidered postcard? And also, these are the first snowdrops I've had this spring, the first I saw were on Amanda's Garden Excursion!

And if you know the book 'The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady' by Edith Holden you'll appreciate this card even more. I LOVE that book but have never had a copy myself, I guess folks don't part with it as I've never found one in the second hand bookshop!

So thank you soooo much, Angela!

(Yes, you may shake my hand if you like because I know such amazing people!)

Snow again this morning, but less, took longer to scrape the ice off the windscreen than the snow. Beautiful sunshine now though!

By the way- do you think it matters if one accidentally sews breakfast muesli into a quilt seam? Obviously someone prepared breakfast on the ironing board...and you can guess the rest...

So what d'you think? To rip or not?

Challenge Report # 4

Please click here for my One World One Heart Giveaway.

If you follow 'Timeless Treasures' I'm changing things there a little...

D'you see the Google whatsit on my sidebar? Well if you stick your email address in there you'll receive my fortnightly 'ish' Newsletter from the Shop, along with Nifty Thrifty ideas!

And now to business:

How’s your week been? All I’ve to show for Dottie Angel’s Challenge is a Great Big Mess:…six pairs of old jeans in mid-? up-? re-? cycle…and since I’ve sent out the call for more I guess I’d better get these finished soon! My sister in the Foreign Office has sent out a request, Dilly has put a notice and basket backstage in the Theatre where she works, and Sos has put out the word to all her friends in the Institute…
Raw material coming up, I hope!

And Creative Every Day?

Well, since the Body theme probably ended last week, I’m doing a final posting today to wind up- but a bit different, not just the five senses, but one memory for each as well.

Sight and Sound

Early on Sunday morning I sat for a while and watched the snow falling. It always amazes me that it it so quiet, and it also seems to hush the usual country sounds. It was so beautiful, big white flakes thickly falling and hardly a sound anywhere.

Memory: In East Africa we used to go on safari to the Game Reserves sometimes (expensive!) and the quality of the silence out in the bush was more than just a lack of sound. The soughing of the breeze in the dry grass, distant honks and growls and sudden flap of wings, the cries of birds of prey, and the huge African emptiness. In the evenings there were crickets, cicadas and animals closer, tree frogs, birds and the sudden scream of unknown things.
Sounds once heard, not soon forgotten. Sounds which settle inside you forever, I think.
(Sorry about the zebra- my sisters have a 'thing' for zebras...I was looking for a photo of just savannah but zebras keep popping up everywhere when I enlarge the thumbnails!)

Smell

Here in the West of Ireland each season has a smell, and even coming snow has a scent, dank and raw and bitterly cold. The spring smells of mould, the summer of harebells and wet hedges, the autumn of smoke and dead leaves. This last week has had that dank winter smell to it.

Memory: The dusty musty smell of the first shower of rain on the earth after a dry spell, mmmm.

Taste

On Saturday evening the Hub and I had a Chinese takeaway…it must be over a year since we did that and it was fun! I really like Chinese food.Memory: In Nairobi there was an old restaurant, The Hong Kong, where we used to go to eat out as it was relatively inexpensive there. It was still a treat and afterwards we would drive through the city looking at the lights. To me Chinese meals and city lights still go together!
(photo of Koinange St, the HK is on the left there somewhere!)

Touch

Texting…those of you with family and friends far away, don’t we appreciate the ability to text? Yesterday I had texts from-
...my sister in Buenos Aires complaining that it was pouring rain on the one day she was invited to a pool BBQ…
…the folks to say they’d arrived safely in south of Spain, AND found their hotel…
…Dilly in Dublin to say she had done the Theater ‘Getin’ and was now relaxing in a pub where a Trad Session had just begun, and she was so happy…
…B to ask to be collected after Church from a friend’s house, and to say Sos wanted to come home to lunch…

Memory: I would have loved that luxury in East Africa!
Mom wrote to me every week for 15 years, and that was the only contact I regularly had with home and family. Phone calls were one every six months from the Head Office if lucky (we never had a phone), and we never had access to a computer. There was no English radio, local newspapers were sporadic, and we didn’t have TV.
Cut off? Yes, but it was completely normal.

And I guess that completes the study of the Body Beautiful!!!!

Let me tell you- its lucky I started this early as the post has just been delivered with the latest Permaculture Magazine so you won't see me for dust the rest of today! Yippee!!

Worked to the Bone!

We all achieved a lot today: I dyed...

Dilly de-decorated the tree...

B folded the dry clothes, then hung up the wet laundry...

Sos checked on all her Facebook contacts- does that count as work? Ah hae me doots......and the Hub entertained Ben and Bertie!

It snowed on and off all day, and since the Hub left his car into the Garage to get a quote for repairs, he ended up cycling the six+ miles home through a snowstorm. Still he made it ok and didn't fall off.

I worked on some items for my Etsy shop which I'll show you tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day of the school holidays and we are still having problems driving with all the ice. Mom suggested that B went to stay with them in town until the end of the week so she could walk to school. It sounds so old-fashioned! Until the 1960's, unless they were school boarders, children had to board in town either with family or in boarding houses during the winter just so as they could attend school. Now that we have decent roads and access to all rural areas I don't expect to have to board out my daughters!

Challenges Report #1.

Regarding Dottie Angel's Challenge to be creative instead of buying new, I decided I should repair my driving gloves, which had become very breezy. I rummaged in my mending supplies and found some darning wool...

...and my mushroom, and set to. Now I would just like to say that I KNOW green wool doesn't exactly blend with black but heck! if I've gone to the trouble of darning gloves I want people to notice!

Have you any notion of what a fiddly job it is? (And by the way when were men's socks last referred to as 'hose', Shakespeare's day??)

Regarding the Creative Every Day Challenge January's suggested theme is 'Body'. I thought I would do the five senses, something to please each during the week gone.

Sight: hoar frost on grass and buttercup leaves.

Sound: the song 'Love Changes Everything' by Michael Ball has some very inspiring words...

....Love, Love changes everything:

How you live and

How you die....

....Love will turn your world around....

...Off into the world we go,

Planning futures,

Shaping years.

Love,

Bursts in, and suddenly

All our wisdom

Disappears.....

Love makes fools of everyone:

All the rules

We make are broken...

Love will never,

Never let you

Be the same.

For me it means the love for my God, my children, extended family, friends, not just romantic love. Love is a gift and it shapes much of who we grow to be I think.



Touch: knitting with this bobbly wool! It was meant to be a cowl, but since it turned out too close Nifty Thrifty here turned it into a beanie hat for Dilly!

Taste: curry and chapatis for supper on Friday eaten with fingers, the African way, very tactile and requiring a certain amount of dexterity....and mopping up...

Smell: scented candles! Love 'em!
A week's worth of creativity from 'Nifty Thrifty' Heckety.

Due to the weather Dilly had to spend the night in Enniskillen with friends since the bus company couldn't guarantee to deliver it's passengers all the way to Sligo. She's due on the midday bus today. B is having noodles for breakfast- NOODLES! I ask you! It's snowed again all morning...

And to finish 2009...

We've just been watching a partial Lunar Eclipse. I think it is always amazing to watch any type of Eclipse , you can understand why the ancients might have been really worried when they happened. Last night there was a fresh, fairly heavy, fall of snow on the mountains. The roads were icy nearly the whole day as the temperature hardly rose above freezing. At least the wind has died down. These are the books I am planning to read in the coming year- they are not all mine and most are secondhand, but they are all on my 'thatlooksinteresting' list! The four books at the lower lefthand corner are on the bedside table at present, the rest I put there as I sorted.

Dilly and Sos are off to a Masked Ball at their favourite venue in town and spending the night at Mum and Dad's, and B is spending the evening with a friend whose folks are having a party. I'm trying to tidy all my sewing so I at least begin the year organised!

Catch Up!

I came to a rather abrupt halt on 15th December when I woke up unwell, but by the grace of God, and nothing else, managed to get through all the Carol Services, School and Churches for the rest of the week. I'm told they all went well but since I felt awful and couldn't hear from one ear I have to take their word for it!

Monday 21st I went to the Doctor who agreed that I was sick!! After a week of antibiotics, ibuprofen, and a bunch of other stuff the old system has been beaten into submission and I begin to return to the land of humans! Anyhow I played in Church all the services I had to, even though Christmas Dinner was left totally to Mom.

Christmas Day with the Dean giving out the children's presents, after they had each shown him what they got from Santa!
Christmas Day about 9.45am- Walking to get the car from the cow-byre where it was left all week due to the ice and snow up our lane way in order to get to Church.

Sunrise Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve the sun shone and the countryside was just beautiful.

Every so often freezing fog rolled up the valley, which made it look kind of like the Swiss Alps! We had great fun taking photos.

The snow is melting now, the water pipes have thawed so we have water again, and we pranged the car coming home from Church this morning, for the second time this week, wedging it sideways across the lane. The Hub managed to dig it out and slide it down the lane to a wide verge to dump it, but a neighbour did the same thing further up the lane and her car is stuck until the ice melts, as is the neighbour's tractor.

How people manage whole winters of this sort of weather beats me.