Memos, Mail, Me: It's Monday February 6th

Giving a Monday greeting to all & linking in with our hostess Sian at:   From High In The Sky

 

Source: Internet

 
New mail this week included something I like to think as delivered by The Universe.  

I found these two photocopied sheets in a book I borrowed from the library.  They were not copies made from this particular book. The  last person that borrowed the book was in 2013 & it shows the date information on one sheet is 4/3/2013 9:12AM.  One sheet is about Authenticity is a daily practice & a list of the authenticity daily practices from Dr Brene Brown (who is an author I greatly admired).  The other sheet does not indicate from which book it is photocopied from, just shows pages 182 & 183, but it too is about being authentic within friendships.  What I take from the overall messages are that being yourself brings connection, grace, joy & gratitude into our lives.  Thanks Universe for this mail.

Other mail on Friday included flyers about body well being.  Several of the local grocery stores now offer in store dietitian counseling & the Eat How You Want To Feel is their publication.
Several levels of government are getting involved in the diet of the people.  Not sure how I am feeling about this, but it seems (& I cannot argue with the logic) the obesity levels are still on the rise.
So all fast food places must list the calorie intake of each food item & already there is a drop in the purchase of upsized drinks, fries & other treats, so maybe government intervention is a positive thing. 

On the happy news front, Mr Man received an all healed & the OK to return to work from the eye surgeon at his Friday appointment.  Mr Man does need to take some drops twice a day for 2 weeks & follow up with our local eye specialist.  NO MORE TORONTO VISITS!

 

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Over the last year we drove to this Toronto hospital 19 times, 2 visits were surgeries. Every appointment was between 7:00am & 8:00am. Each drive was 174 kilometers roundtrip; each time we drove on 7 major highways & one of those highways, The Gardiner Expressway at some points were 7 lanes across in one direction (14 to/fro lanes). I drove 9 of those times.  I think we consumed about 36 cups of hospital tea, 10 raisin tea biscuits; 4 donuts.  Thankfully the hospital waiting areas had very current magazines & I was able to glean at least 4 new recipes.  Thankful for such good medical care & great doctors & hospital staff, but SO thankful the end results are good & that we do not have to go back!  Now this is the way to start a Monday.

Five In Five On The 5th - February, 2017

Linking in with Sandie & the other Fivers at : Itchifingers  The idea is to take five photos in five minutes on the 5th of the month. 

We are in the middle of a freezing ice pellet storm system so lighting is less than ideal inside & out.  I quickly took my 5 while outside filling up the bird feeders.

"Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle ... a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl.  And the anticipation nurtures our dream."
-  Barbara Winkler

Shadows

Today is Groundhog Day.  Not a national or provincial holiday but still a day to celebrate, especially if the forecast is one you hope for. 


Reports are that in this part of the world, Ontario's Wiarton Willy did NOT see his shadow, which means an early spring.  In eastern Canada, Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam also did NOT see his shadow, but in western Canada, Alberta's Balzac Bill did see his shadow which means for them, 6 more weeks of winter.
 

Source

I did not see my shadow this morning while refilling the bird feeders.  But with the biting cold wind & snow on the ground it is hard for me to believe anything other than winter is still around & for sometime yet.  All hail groundhogs but I do not think their forecasting abilities are anything to count on.

 
But to encourage me, I found this circulating on F/B this morning & I like it for various reasons.

Source

The local theatre is screening the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray.  Mr Man suggested we have a dinner of greens to celebrate - oh a big tossed fresh salad sounds good ...& something a groundhog might feast upon after an early morning of forecasting.

"If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight.
But if Candlemas Day be clouds and rain
Winter is gone and will not come again."

- Old English Rhyme

Memos, Mail, Me: It's Monday - Jan 30th

Giving a Monday greeting to all & linking in with our hostess Sian at:   From High In The Sky

In the mail box this week only some flyers advertising a sale for the local hardware store.


Weather Canada has confirmed what I & many others already knew; there was a minimum record of sunlight during January 2017.  In this part of Canada we had just about 12 hours total in sunlight!  Come on February, show us what you have got in not only love, but sunshine & plenty of it. Oh & let's not forget about the rodent, Wiarton Willy,  who foretells whether winter lingers or not this Thursday coming.
 

Mournful Dove

Summer Manifesto, 2017 has a tentative list of adventures!

And just a tempting taste of what some of those plans are, they include these 2 places ...

Source: Location 1

Source: Location 2

"Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.  Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us."  Maya Angelou
 

WOYWW #399

Linking in with our hostess Julia & the WOYWW community at: WOYWW

This week my desk is filled with ideas & some beautiful papers but alas my time for scrapping is at empty this week as I am busy with writing procedures & protocols for work as we are introducing a new service for patients.  As I write the steps necessary to conduct this service,  I use myself as a test case, can I follow along exactly as the steps are written.  It has been back to that drawing board not my scrap/crafting table that I have been going.  

So this is how I left my crafting space Monday night.

I am putting together some papers to design 2 Valentines & February double page layouts - I did get some of the papers grouped into which to use with which.

I have also been in the thought & crafting idea stages for capturing photoless stories about my GrandMother & Mother before I forget & I wanted to give a heritage feeling to them - I did a mock up/rough draft of a title page.  The jars are cut from vellum.  Early stages ...

 


You don't stumble upon your heritage.  It is there waiting to be explored & shared.   Robbie Robertson

Memos, Mail, Me: It's Monday - Jan 23rd

Giving a Monday greeting to all & linking in with our hostess Sian at:   From High In The Sky

Well what came through the mail this week? 

The first piece of mail was from a boxed frozen food shop & as their advertisement tells me, they sell real food (as opposed to fake food?).  I have purchased items from this shop before; they have a gourmet stuffed cheese broccoli potato that is quite tasty as a treat for special dinners at home.  Their meal guide has several suggested meals including the main, veg & sides,  all easily to prepare via their boxed frozen products.  Oh & let's not forget afters (dessert) - oh now here is where they really shine with product.  (just say no, just say no -  think of the long game, not the short term delicious indulgences ...)

 

 The second flyer that came through the mail was from our liquor control board.  With our provincial liquor laws coming under review, the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) is creating a need & connection before any changes come about - you think,  I need liquor, & think oh the LCBO & not the corner shop.  Clever advertising.  Oh yes I have shopped here! (just say no, just say no).

What's new from the patio?  Extremely dreary overcast weather for the last 2 weeks. The forecast is no sunshine until next Saturday!  While it has been rather mild & most of the snow & ice are gone, the lack of sunshine is wearing everyone down & I am certainly no exception.  Today is another day of heavy fog although when this photo was taken Sunday afternoon, I could at least see to the end of the fence line.   More snow to come Monday night.

And while it is dreary outside, I have spent my inside time thinking happy thoughts about story telling, something Alexa wrote beautifully about here: never-mind-the-photos-what-about the stories . I have created a list of stories I want to tell before they are lost & I want to tell them in the scrapbook page format.  Some if not most of these particular stories do not have accompanying photos but I have an idea or two for solving that.  So once the sun returns to this part of the world, I will be out there capturing symbolic photos for my stories.

I shall leave you with this thought for the day, it is most appropriate today: “The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.”   ... Muriel Rukeyser

WOYWW - #398

Linking in with our hostess Julia at: WOYWW
 
This weekend I was working on a scraplift layout from Ruth


While Ruth's layout was Christmas themed, I really liked the use of papers & the placement of photos.  I had the perfect set of photos of the fur girls' adventure in a cardboard box & oh do I have a stash of the perfect paper ...

stages of the process

I spend quite a lot of time arranging & rearranging.  One of the things I did in the end was to round all the corners of the paper & photos & I like that look.  One thing I would change if I was to re-do this page, would be to use a grey background sheet rather than white, but I am going to call this layout done in Wabi-Sabi style.  And as my dear & admired scrapping blog friends, Sian & Alexa call it; a Japanese notion of impermanence & imperfection, that nothing lasts forever, nothing can be finished ...

The finished, or is it .... 2 page layout

And I believe that the best learning process of any kind of craft is just to look at the work of others. Wole Soyinka
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/craft.html

And I believe the best learning process of any kind of craft is just look to the work of others ... Wole Soyinka