Memorandum Monday - February 29th

Linking in with Sian & the other Monday Ladies at :  From High In The Sky

 What is new with me this Monday morning.  Well first this is February 29th;  a Leap Year is not necessarily a new thing, but today is an extra, a bonus - oh what new treasures will today unfold?  Google has the cutest graphics depicting Leap Day.

In a continuation of my new scrapping style, I have experienced a new feeling about my creativity - I feel really happy with this layout.  It took a while to create but I like the end results.  New for me in using 3D embellishments of the buttons.  The stitching around the calendar page was done by the manufacturer, but it's a new for me to cut a die cut sheet & place between 2 sides. I also added the all important page title. I think I may use this page for Ali Edward's Day In The Life, March 29th.  Or maybe for my garden album showing the progression of a favourite flower.  I like the layout scheme/ map/ sketch that I followed & will use again.

New at work - we all got a raise!  Also new at the clinic, we are introducing Crazy Sock Day today as a way to mark & celebrate Leap Year Day.

New movie watched; Room.  I had read the book & liked & I think the movie stayed pretty true to the book.  The little boy, Jacob Tremblay, who plays Jack in the movie, deserves an Oscar - he was amazing. We did not watch the Oscars last night so as of right now, I have no idea who won, who did not.

"Hello, Monday. May I ask you a question? Why are you always back so quickly? Don’t you have a hobby?”

One Photo, 6 Words - Feb. 26: Break

Linking in with Miriam at : Short Stories

Ice Will Break Even The Strong

Snap - Not So Friendly Neighbour

Snapping in with Helena at:  Snap

On a walk through my neighbourhood, I came across this recently installed gate with signage.  I think it is pretty clear that the owner(s) are quite definite about not wanting visitors.  This property has changed ownership twice that I know about in the last 5 years.  It was about 5 years I ago that I did walk around this property, with permission & there was not a gate or signs of keep out.  

Main Gate

While the gate does not give any indication of the beauty beyond it, believe me it is there or was.  Just around the bend in the photo is the main flowing river, which has a diverted side stream originally built for the mill (now in partial ruins) which has been damned by beavers, making quite a large & deep pond housing about 6-10 beavers.  There are also a fair number of white tailed deer, foxes, the annoying coyotes, rabbits, squirrels, ground hogs, fifthly raccoons & there's a rumour that a porcupine lives here, although I have not seen.  

I am sadden that this area has been walled, gated & over signaged,  but I do understand why - it prevents any hunting & further damage to the mill ruins by people driving ATVs & dirtbikes or illegal bush parties.

My wish is that the new owners have abundance of finances to refurbish the mill building & the wisdom to keep the natural surroundings untouched & protected.

Clear message & there is security cameras

In case there is any doubt - 1 of 3 Keep Out

This Sign Protects The Wildlife of Which There Is Plenty

Memorandum Monday - February 22nd

Linking in with Sian
        

  SO what's new this week?

I got to share in the celebration of  new life that arrived in Melbourne Australia this week.  A beautiful baby girl born to my internet/blogging friend, Delanie.  By the way, Delanie also does some amazing December Daily scrapping, you can link in at Delanie  

Season 4 of Vikings started this week.  I must tape this so that I can fast forward through the violent bloody battles, which there are many. This method makes an hour show about 35 minutes!  Vikings is a Irish-Canadian production & is filmed both in Ireland & Canada. Besides all the battles, there are some interesting story lines & some threads of history.

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Watched the new on demand movie, Suffragette, starting Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter & with a glance in by Meryl Streep.  Mr Man's comment was that he cannot believe how cruel men can be & we both paused on the fact that (1) women have not had the vote that long & (2) the creators forget to mention in the end tidbits about Canada's women gaining the vote in the western provinces in 1916, Ontario 1917 & the eastern provinces in 1918 & 1920, except for Quebec, which granted the vote to women in 1940!!!  We were ahead of many other countries, although Australia was one of the earliest. Saudi Arabia just granted the vote to women in December 2015!

I continue to work on my new method of scrapbooking, slowly, & I am enjoying using my stash, a lot of which I have rediscovered, which is almost like having bought new stuff.  It also means I have too much.  This new method of making the pages without photos may or may not work for all my backlog of existing photos.  These two new layouts might work in my heritage album as their muted colours would work with some old  photos.  The papers are from the same product line & so would work together side by side in the album.

Done page without photos

Page in process of being done without photos

Below are papers I found in my stash, which will be perfect for some heritage photos of my father, who was a professional photographer/newspaper reporter.  I was given some photos of him & one of his brothers.  There is about 6-7 photos.  Even though my father has never really figured a lot in my life & as I do not have many photos of him or his family, I still would like to include in my heritage album.  I resolved earlier this year that I would finish my heritage album this year.  
 

Newly discovered old stash of papers

My new / renewed resolve means that I have been very good at saying no thank you to treats offered by work mates or friends.  Mr Man is on board with no sugary treats at home.

Treats Offered - Not Taken

All our snow has melted as we had rain & temperatures of +9 (c) on Saturday ( a 34 degree difference in less than a week)  Forecast is 25cm of new snow for this Thursday.

I hope everyone has a wonderful resourceful week ahead.  This moment is full of wonderment.

One Photo, 6 Words - February 19; Work

Linking in with Miriam's memo at:1 Photo, 6 Words

This week's word is Work.

Work to say no thank you.

Snap - Guess Who's Coming For Dinner

Linking in with Helena at Snap where you can link in with the rest of the snappy photographers.

This week my set of Snap are photos that I took while we wandered outside of the Civic Art Gallery.  We have tried several times to visit indoors, but either it's closed or shut for repairs.  But at least there are some large art installations on the grounds to look at.  I know that art is VERY subjective & all about individual tastes but some of these pieces really challenge me on interpretation of  what the artists had in mind.  While these pieces are not truly connected, I have attempted to tie them together with my own story about them.

The Dining Table

Dinner Guest Missing His Pants

Entertaining Dinner Guest With Puppet

The Family Coming For Dinner

Monday Memorandum - February 15th

Connecting with Sian & the other lovely Monday Memo Makers at : From High In The Sky

Today is a holiday in Ontario - Family Day.  Not all provinces celebrate this day on this date, British Columbia (BC) celebrated Family Day on Monday February 8th.

Deb at Just Cats had a link for all the bird feeding folks to go out & create a little love of bird seed for all the hungry birds in our backyards. This was a new way for me to put seed out. Hoping to attract cardinals, I put dried cranberries in the middle with some nuts for the squirrels.

It has been bitterly cold over the last 3 days & while not record lows, it certainly smacks as note worthy.  It is the wind chill factor that can just ripe right through you, when I went out on Saturday to feed the birds, my nostrils stuck together - now that is cold. Saturday's wind chill made the temperature -34 (c).  Sunday not so much wind so while the temperature was colder, the wind chill was lower.

Saturday's Temperature - Wind Chill Made It -34

Sunday's Temperature - Wind Chill of -32

On my brief outside walk to the library, I spotted in a large maple tree, a Pileated Woodpecker - a new & quite a rare sighting in this neighbourhood.  Such a huge bird & oh what a sound it makes.

I am going to try out a new way for me to scrapbook.  I have so many sketches pinned on my Pinterest boards, so I decided that I would start by creating the pages even before I had the photos.  I am not saying that this is the only way I will scrap, but for now I am giving it a go - I need to start using up my supplies & I am looking for more satisfaction in my completed pages.  This way I have a beautifully designed page & I know what direction & how many photos I should be capturing for an event.  This is the first sketch I am going to use - for the fur girls album.

Mr Man got a new book about the rocks & rock formations in Ontario.  I am sure we will be visiting some of these locations as part of our Summer Manifesto adventures.

 
I hope everyone has a good week ahead of them.  I am just glad the forecast is calling for snow, which means the temperatures are rising.

One Picture, Six Words - Feb 12 - Brave

 Joining in with Miriam's One Picture, Six Words at:  Miriam

Sooty, the Bravest kitty I know.

PS - she had a nasty abscess that required a drain tube

Snap - Keeping In Contained

Linking in with the other Snap Ladies through Helena's link:  http://helenascreativemaven.blogspot.ca/

This week my Snap grouping is some of the local region's methods of keeping the snow off the roads.  

Snow fences are especially important for the open fields of the farming communities as blowing snow across the roads make for some treacherous driving conditions, including white outs (snow blowing so thick you cannot see).  

Regionally over the last few years there has been an encouragement & financial aid to the farmers to plant living snow fences.  Many farmers planted the cheaper White Pine trees.  Now these particular trees & other types of pine are under attack from an invading pine bettle pest brought in on untreated undeclared wood shipping pallets.  Other types of trees used  for snow fencing are spruce & other evergreens. An evergreen that has low tight branching is ideal.

Living Snow Fence of White Pine

Several of our local Mennonite & Amish farmers use the spent corn husks to create bales that they in turn use as snow fencing or as methods of blocking the maundering snowmobilers from using their fields for driving in. Some farmers will mark out a route for the snowmobilers to use so as not to damage fields of Winter Wheat.  These husk bales have no corn left in them, the corn has been totally removed for either food production or feed for cattle.
 

Living Fence of Corn Husks

Plastic Snow Fence

The third type of snow fence is the plastic or wooden orange ones - ugly & in constant need of repair, adjusting & straightening.  Many homeowners use to re-direct the blowing snow across their driveways.












This year, none have really been called into play as we have not had a lot of snow, so far but it's not over yet!

Monday Memorandum - February 8th

Linking in with Sian & others that have been up to some new antics this past week & weekend.  Let's check in at :  http://fromhighinthesky.blogspot.ca/

Happy Monkey Year To All.

So what's new with me you ask.  Well I have been making some new purchases; a contribution to the stimulus of the economy.  I believe the term for my style of purchasing is underbuyer, which does sound much nicer than tight with a buck!

I did not have a bridal shower when Mr Man & I got married, which did /does not bother me but I would like a shower now - replenishing & renewing the linens is expensive.  Over the last year I have picked up a  couple sets of new towels when on sale & a set of bedding sheets when a pattern or colour I like are on sale.  This weekend I bought some new sheets through Costco, as the pattern really caught my eye.  It's a queen set, in a pretty floral pattern, Mr Man made a face when I put into the basket - "those?"  Yes I want some pretty while I'm sleeping.
 

The next new item I purchased in economy stimulus was a new pan.  The one this is replacing has been in active service for at least 4 years, plus it was not a quality pan.  I have not found many deep pans, which I need for 2 specific dinners I make.  The bonus on this new pan is that it has a lid.  Such an item makes me very happy & now in the weekly meal plans, my family recipe of Goulash is on the menu, oh the yummyness requires a deep pan.  Also new, I am for this recipe, replacing the traditional pasta with quinoa.  Of  late I am trying to health up old recipes - a challenge for sure.

My third new purchase is going to be returned.  When I was purchasing I asked several times & explained my needs several times to the sales person what I wanted, to be heartily reassured "oh yes, exactly".  Once home & un-bundled, it is NOT exactly want I want.  In the News (again) last week,  is the warning that many of the health trackers, not only track your steps, heartbeat & calories burned, it tracks a whole lot of other things about you, plus when the info is connected to your phone or computer, the information on your devices is track-able as in hack-able.  The makers of many of these tracking devices freely admit that their software is & has been hacked.  No thank you, there is enough risk out there as it is.  So this purchase gets returned later today (Monday).  Back to the WW broken pedometer.

 
I hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead of then. 

 

One Picture, Six Words - Feb 5 - Wish

Joining in with Miriam's One Picture, Six Words at:  http://miriamrogers.co.uk/

I really Wish this wasn't necessary!

Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt - Second Round of Entries

Joining in with Eileen & Joy's Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt.  You can add yours and/or see what the other participants are finding on this fun adventure.  Check things out here: http://in-my-playroom.blogspot.co.uk/

My second batch of entries are:

#4 A Star

#5 Snowmen

 

#15 Candlelight 

#18 An Arrow

#19 A Fountain

Snap - Five in 4 Fashionistas

Linking in with Helena at: http://helenascreativemaven.blogspot.ca/

This week my Snap is some of the blanketed horses at the farm where I ride.  Most of these horses are performance horses in the 3 day eventing world & most of them have a wardrobe to revival any fashionista.  They have outdoors winter blankets, indoor winter night blankets, rain sheets, cooler sheets, fly sheets, travel blankets, sun sheets.  Blanket storage for 12 horses is a constant logistics nightmare!   On a couple of these horse you will see some of they have trace clips (shaved).  In spite of the blankets some horses will still grow a thick winter coat.

Blue Velvet

McDuff (foreground) & Kegan

Fargo

Ruffton

Candlemas Or Groundhog Day?

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.
English poem (Anon)

• English fishermen: "When the wind's in the east on Candlemas Day / There it will stick till the first of May."
• An old German proverb: "The shepherd would rather see the wolf enter his stable on Candlemas Day than the sun"
• In Scotland: "If Candlemas Day be dry and fair / the half o' winter's to come and mair [more]."

Every year on February 2nd, groundhogs in Canada and the U.S. of A. emerge from burrows to help predict the weather for the coming months. Tradition dictates that if a groundhog sees its shadow, there will be another six weeks of winter. If it does not, that means spring is coming early.

 
In Canada, our celebrity rodent meteorologists: Shubenacadie Sam, in Nova Scotia; Wiarton Willie, in Ontario.  Sadly we lost Balzac Billy in Alberta just days before this year’s Groundhog Day, festivities there have been cancelled.

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Ontario's Wiarton Willie, an albino groundhog,  did see his shadow (darn) so it means for us, 6 more weeks of winter.
 
Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam did not see his shadow this morning as he scurried from his tiny shed at a provincial wildlife park northeast of Halifax.

Source

Punxsutawney Phil, the famous America groundhog meteorologist of central Pennsylvania, did not see his shadow this morning.

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 SO, the only thing left to do today then is to watch the movie Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray & Andie McDowell.  It's a comedy so with Willie's forecast of more winter, laughter is the only way to deal with the news.  Happy Candlemas or as we say in this part of the world, Happy Groundhog Day, may you not see your shadow ....  oh & for the record, I did not see my shadow this morning.

Memorandum Monday - February 1st

Let's find out what is new with Sian & others at : http://fromhighinthesky.blogspot.ca/

This week what was new to me, was Restorative Yoga or what the instructor called,  Wall Yoga.  Very different from my previous yoga experiences.
 

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I have taken several 10 week yoga sessions in the past & I cannot remember enjoying all of the sessions very much for a couple of different reasons.  The biggest reason was location.  Classes held at the community hall, had a hard wood floor & it was often sticky dirty on our Monday morning class from the Saturday night wedding receptions. I tried another location but they had a daycare centre located within the building, which the entire class found too noisy.  Then I found Kathy's classes, she is one instructor that I really felt engaged with but after her 10 week session she stopped leading classes as she moved to a full time office position. Her replacement instructor just did not engage me enough to continue. I gave up yoga.  I keep hoping for a clone of Paper Turtle's  Deb

Recently posted on the library community board was information about a new type of yoga - a workshop (one introduction session) on a carpeted yoga studio floor, so coupled with my hot pink yoga mat, comfort & quiet could be found.   This instructor, assessed everyone & pronounced me to have a lot of tension in my hips.  No surprise for me.  I was introduced to several new yoga poses, many of them made use of the wall; you lay on your back, obviously, (said in my best Prof. Snape voice) with your bum as close to the wall as possible, your feet straight up the wall.  I had a hard time getting my bum right against the wall/floor, but once settled, we were lead  through 3 (maybe 4) poses.  Doing these wall poses nightly just before bed would/will help with disruptive sleep patterns (oh please let this be so).  My favourite pose was a non wall pose, called The Pigeon.  You start in Child's pose with an aid of a rolled towel under your chest/tummy & then you stretch out one leg  behind you rather than remaining curled under you. This is held for several minutes, then you switch legs .  In this pose I felt I could really "let go" the tightness in my back & hips.   Wall poses are going to take me some time to perfect.

This book was used as reference.

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I have since borrowed the reference book from the library &  have started a  new  pre-bed routine of the poses I found relaxing.  Since I can have the book for 3 weeks, I am hoping  this new routine takes hold, & I will not require the renewal of the book, I hope to know these poses by heart or that a new restorative yoga class will begin its 10 week debut sessions at the quiet, carpeted yoga studio.

Deb  any chance we can get you to move to our little community?