Me On A Monday - February 3rd

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright
Winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,
Winter will not come again.

Sunday February 2nd was a dual celebration day - Candlemas & Groundhog Day.  Our local rodent prognosticator, Wiarton Willie, did not see his shadow which in lore means an early spring.  Candlemas day was cloudy & wet snow, so winter will not come again!  We can only hope.  Either way it's April in this area before Spring makes an appearance.

Last week I saw a number of blog posts, from those participating in One Little Word; OLW, their update of how they are doing with their word.  I must admit I have not spent a lot of time with my word, Nourish,  to bond - yet.

The album I'm using for OLW

Needing a diversion on Saturday, I spent some time at my craft table making a start on my OLW craft project album.  It also got me thinking a lot more about my word as the January exercises are to find the dictionary meaning of the word, to list what you would like your word to help with, want you more more of in 2020 & would like less of in 2020.  So I got those exercises done. There's a little too much personal stuff on them to share. I did not sign up for Ali Edward's 2020 online workshop for OLW, I am using exercises from the year I did sign up, changing up those that I did not like "that year".  I've got a good blend of challenges,  questions & recaps.

My OLW Title Page

 
"February arrives cold, wet & grey, her gifts disgusted for only the most discerning spirits to see."  Sarah Ban Breathnach

WPSH Second Link In

In case you have missed it, Eileen at A Bracelet of Days is hosting the 2019/2020 Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt, (WPSH). Eileen will be hosting a link up at the end of each month so you can share your finds.

Here are a few of my 2nd batch of finds:

1 In The Bag. A weekly occurrence, they play in my emptied grocery bags

  

2 Contrast

6 Vintage - the oldest building in our little village

10 Little Things - from my Santa Collection, each dangling ornament is about the size of a thumbnail

Alt B. A community market - a local all year market

Me On A Monday - January 27th

Currently Reading:  The Song Of Achilles - too early to tell if it's all I've read that it is.  I finished Dr Brene Brown's book, Braving The Wilderness on a low note.  In my opinion not one of her better books.

Currently Watching:  Sunday nights; Masterpiece's Howard's End & Sanditon, neither of which I'm enjoying but hopeful they get better.  During the week I watch a TV show called Manifest & it's in its second season & oh my I do like this; it's drama, a thriller, sci fi, mystery, fantasy  ... & for the Star Trek fans, Picard had its first show last week.  Mr Man was hooked even before seeing.

Currently Crafting three special cards.  All of them are for ladies at my church, a 100th, a 90th & a 70th birthday.  I have the idea pinned & in my head I know exactly how to create - fingers crossed execution is as easy as it looks. I'm making all three the same except for the numbers.  Shown below not quite the card - imagine the numbers are cut out & raised & stamped over.
 

Currently Returning milk to the store that I purchased from - the company that bags the milk has recalled all their recently produced milk products in Ontario & Quebec.  It has  sanitizer in the milk which can make you very sick if you drink the milk.  Not sure I want to buy that brand any time soon.

Currently Learning about living with coyotes close by.  It's mating season for them plus the animal welfare group want any sightings reported because the majority of them have mange, which is a parasite disease that is very painful & deadly if left untreated.  They trap & treat the coyote then release.  Earlier in the season I was part of the fox sighting & reporting group as they also had an outbreak of mange.   This young coyote in the photo below has what appears to be the early stages of mange.  Hopefully we can get him/her caught & treated asap.

"until human kind extends the circle of compassion to ALL living things, human kind will not find peace."  Albert Schweitzer

Me On A Monday - January 20th

Good Morning one & all.  Over the weekend as we moved into the 2nd half of January (already!), it was another wild weekend weather tale.   Although we had some snow, 18cm,  nothing like our most eastern province of Newfoundland.  75cm+ of snow fell in 2 days, plus they experienced winds raging at 150mph & seas surges.  So I will not be doing too much moaning about our local weather, OK I will but only to other locals.

I'm currently reading Dr Brene Brown's lastest book, Braving The Wilderness.  I really enjoy her TED Talks.  It's an interesting read as she talks a lot about what, she & her team believe are some of the causes of the world's disconnect & ever growing loneliness problem & how to possibly correct.  I disagree with one of her points in the book in where she names the mass shooter of the Sandy Hook school shootings.  I personally don't believe his name ever needs to be said out loud or written in a book. The victims, yes, but not the person who commits such a crime.

I am just about finished The Gown by Jennifer Robson.  This book fulfilled January's book reading challenge of a Historical Novel.  I did not love, but I did not hate either.  It was, for me, one of those books, that was oh that was nice, but no more, I just couldn't connect with the fictional characters.

My crafting moments have not been plentiful in the last few weeks but what I have been doing is making Valentine cards for the Canadian Military serving overseas.  I got about 6 made. It's the same group of Stampers that organized the Christmas card collection for the military of which I made 10.  I don't have a lot of Valentine themed supplies, but it was nice to play with a few of the punches I had & rework a couple of stamps to use for the sentiments;  Roses are red, Violets are blue, Thank You for all that you do.  The cards are similar to this card below - simple & no glitter, foil paper or gem stones allowed.

"There comes a day when turning the page is the best decision for you because you realize there's so much more to the book than the page you are stuck on."  unknown author

Me on a Monday January 13th

Good morning.  I hope that everyone enjoyed their weekend. 

Our Birch - seen through the window Sunday morning

Our weather is chaotic - one morning we wake to -15 (and that is not including a wind chill factor)  two days later we have +11 & rain. A lot of rain in a 24 hour period - 63.5mm which in the Saturday overnight turned to freezing rain & then snow.  For our region the ice & snow were but a drip & a dusting (thankfully).  But was most unsettling was waking Sunday morning to a "radiological warning".  East of us, outside of Toronto, is a nuclear plant, which is scheduled for decommissioning in 2024, issued what turns out in error, a warning of possible problems at the plant. Thankfully after several hours it was reported that there are no problems at the plant.

I had hinted in December about some continuing education options that I was exploring & thankfully "the great sickness" has not prevented me beginning a course that hopefully will restart my previous career as an adult educator; Managing a Diverse Learning Environment.  This was not part of my original  return to school plan, but The Universe has presented me with options I never would have thought of myself.  It's all about being in the right place at the right time.  It also ties in with my January Angel Thought; Listening.   Fingers crossed.

Source:Internet

"The great sickness" is now but a sniffle or two.  I cannot believe how long it has lingered on.  Many blame the up & down, in & out of the weather.  I am just glad to be done with it & have taken on a new, what some may say is extreme, hand washing & use of hand sanitize liquid regime.  I have also taken to carrying Lysol wipes to give debit machine & ATM keypads a wipe before use.  I also wipe off the handle of any carts I may need to use in the grocery store.  

On Sunday when I had logged into my blog, it reported that I had 666 posts published - I must admit that number freaked me out a little.  Thankfully today's post moves me past that number. 

Mr Man & I watched the movie, Tolkien.  It is the story of JRR Tolkien's early life just prior to his writing the two of the greatest books every written; The Hobbit & Lord of The Rings.  We both thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I am not sure it was a movie theatre hit.

Source:Internet

 “There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something…You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”  JRR Tolkien; The Hobbit

Me On A Monday - January 6th

Good Morning.  I hope everyone enjoyed the first weekend of the new year.

On Friday  Mr Man & I were out for an errand or two & when we got back there was a phone message for us.  It was friends inviting us to join them for lunch at a favourite, Greek restaurant on Saturday.  Mr Man's first reaction was "oh, people inviting us to be social, what do we do?"  After I laughed, I said we accept as I thought this was a great Nourishing start in the category of relationships. 

We were quite pleased with our lunch; the restaurant over the years has changed ownership a couple of times & there has been up & down times on the quality of food.  But Saturday it was tasty.  I had the vegetable Moussaka & Mr Man had the Lamb Shish kebab.  We had a lovely catch up with our friends & because they need to be somewhere about an hour's drive west of us, it wasn't a long drawn out lunch - we have to start Mr Man back to sociability gently!
 

Vegetable Moussaka

Reading of books in 2020 seems to be a hot topic on many blogs.  I picked up an idea from Eileen, over at Bracelet of Days ,who picked up the idea from Mongan Moment's blog.  She's picked a topic for reading each month, which I think encourages us to branch out from our normal reading styles.  I may make my own change to May's selection, from sci fi to comedy.

January=Historical fiction.  February=Romance. March=Self Help. April=Young Adult. May=Sci Fi. June=Non-fiction. July=Suspense. August=Contemporary. September=True Crime. October=Fantasy. November=Autobiography. December=Mystery.  

Source: Internet

 I have four books on request from the library, & I cannot wait to get started on January's Historical fiction choice;   The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown. 

"a book is a gift you can open again & again."  ... Garrison Keillor

WPSH - First Link In

In case you have missed it, Eileen at A Bracelet of Days is hosting the 2019/2020 Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt.

The search runs from December 1st 2019 to March 31st 2020. The usual rules apply so all photos must be your own work and must be taken between December 1st 2019 and March 31st 2020.

Eileen will be hosting a link up at the end of each month so you can share your finds.

 

Here are a few of my first finds for search:

 

#14 Flavour of The Season: Candy Cane

#16 A Barrier: to my success of better eating

 

#18 A Chain

#19 An Alley

#20 Monochrome: Snow (of course)

 

Here's the list:

1. in the bag
2. contrast
3. the way to go
4. colours
5. a garden gate
6. vintage 
7. I stood here
8. 11 o'clock
9. solitary
10. the little things
11. industrial
12. time for tea
13. a keyhole
14. flavour of the month
15. letters
16. a barrier
17. a line
18. a chain
19. an alley
20. monochrome, i.e. varying shades of the same colour

If you find any of the above hard to get you may substitute one or both of the subjects below.

Alt A. chequers or chess

Alt B. a community market