HERE CHICKY CHICKY CHICKY!

These are so cute and fun to make and add to a little basket
for kids to play with or to put into a big bowl in your family room
or to add around a plant in a wide clear vase or even place into the dining room hutch.
I think they would make nice toys to hang in  a childs crib or book case.

Sitting outside, doing these little  things is very healthy for both adults and kids.
I remember sitting by my Dad when he fiddled with his motors and cars.
He loved cars but he would not teach me. He said I should go wear a dress
and be a lady keeping my hands white.
This is why women wore white gloves and slept in gloves full of creme at night.
Kept the germs away too.
So apart from handing him tools and washing the car, I spent my time curling my hair.
It didn't curl much then and it doesnt curl today.
 Teasing was in style and along with wonderful hair spray. I managed to make some nice doos on myself and my Mom . She loved me doing her hair.
I also loved the layer look when they used a blade to cut the hair. It did give it a nice look.
 Most hair dressers today are not taught this method of cutting hair.
So when I see an old guy I head straight for him/her.

I got into dress making watching my grand mother cut and sew. She was a professionally taught lady
and knew the world of design. If it wasn't for the wars and revolutions, I am sure she would have done something wonderful with her life and talent.
 As it happens, getting nice material to work with was not easy and very expensive but it sure beats the throw away clothing we spend tons on today.

Women today rather spend on cheap clothing ( me included) than buy a sewing machine, not helping the local apparel industry at all.. I love sewing but it costs me a lot more buying thread and material to work with ,than going to the store and buying it ready made. Imagine buying a pair of jeans for 5 dollars. The jean material you would need to make the jeans, costs more than that ,plus the pattern plus the time to make them, plus the expense of buying the machine.
Makes me wonder how they can do this with shipping costs salaries plus the material.
Something is wrong there .
 It means we can't get supplies here, made in our own homeland.

Today lace is not in fashion but as I discover the world of lace, it is an interesting world
with so much to learn and should not be limited to bridal gowns. Women used to sit making it, chatting over social evenings. I had an Italian neighbor who did lace piecework at home.
It was a nice past time for her and made her a few dollars.

 I love the Irish lace and found a link where it was shown how they take all the pieces and sew them together to make one beautiful piece of garment.
I course I would cut the garment to be made before laying down the lace as it is time consuming to make but well worth it in the end result. There is a big difference in lace made by machine and lace made by hand.

I also got myself a knitting machine but was disappointed to see that it did not make the same kind of
texture a hand made knit piece made.
So unless you want to hide the under side behind some other material, it would not look nice turned over or rolled.

So much to learn and keep busy .
Sure beats yelling and screaming on the street.

xoxoxoxoxo

Venus! Oh Venus!

A new pet it seems or so like one.
A Venus Fly Trap has beholden my home
So far it ate one fly and it has to be supplied
with two a week.

How amazing it is when it catches something so fast.
One almost wants to have a chat with it.

Hope you have a pleasant week end.
xoxoxox

Balling it with the Mayor of Caster bridge

These balls are so much fun to make and great for your animals
since they are not toxic. Add a happy face to it and it will
cheer you up as well.

The Mayor of Casterbridge is  a tragic story written by Thomas Hardy in 1886.

It is about a man who drank a lot and sold his wife and child for 5 guineas ( 1.5 lbs x 5 or 7.5 lbs).

When he sobered up he realized what he had done but could not find them . 

He vowed never to drink again.

Time passed and soon he became the Mayor of Casterbridge 

doing very well for himself.

The story continues as he falls in love with a girl but could not

 marry her as he had a secret that his wife might still be alive.

As it happens she was and  she returned with his daughter, when the sailor

 who bought her died.

Well the saga continues how two women wanted him and how
 he lost everything when the truth about him came out and died.

When you compare with todays' world where no one cares who is married to who,
not much sleep is lost over it.
 Having a fling with a married person or even living with one doesn't affect ones' job
 or social status. You can even make a buck in social media on it.
Today people are not ashamed of breaking up families with children,
 as they were in the past.
There is no suffering or guilt about doing so.
One just moves on.

xoxoxox

Trial and Death of Socrates.

One for the money.
 Two for the show.
 Three to get ready and
Four to go.

Platos' Trial and Death of Socrates was an interesting story.
I could not believe that a man like Socrates, could be sentenced to death for thinking and asking questions and teaching students to think.

He did not believe in the dieties of that time.
His death resulted from drinking hemlock in Athens in 399 BC.

Apparently none of Socrates works survived.
It is only through the eyes of Plato, that he is kept alive for so many years
as a philosopher and scholar.

Socrates  was not a follower of Democracy or mob rule..
He believed policy should be made by people with genuine knowledge and
 professional competence.

Men who deserved the name of "honorable man" should rule.

I like to compare this thought to today, when we elect people for their acting abilities,
 rather than knowledge and competence and actual love for the country
 they become leaders of.

This book gives lots to think about.

xoxoxoxoxox

The First Circle in Life.

Gnomes are considered to be protectors of homes
so people put them around their yards as little men
who could not be underestimated.

The First Circle was a book given to me by my uncle.
It was an eye opener as I had never thought of such things
going on in the world before. I could not even imagine it.
The book of course was written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

It foretells a story of life in a gulag under Stalins' rule.
It was a prison for academics, technicians, engineers,
physicists etc.. learned men and women who were given privileges
to do work in their field.
The rules of course were very strict and breaking any one of them
would lead to automatic  dispersal to Siberia where life
was very inhospitable.

I think it is still a good read.
xoxoxox

Lysistrata an Amazon of Women

Lysistrata by Aristophanes, is a gender based,comedy.

Lysistrata showed her power as a woman, by getting
all the women to give oaths to  deny sex to men so they would stop the
 Peloponnesian War, sooner than later.
The old women then seized the Acropolis since this is where all the money was held to fund the war.

The women in those days were not considered as rational beings and in constant need of protection.

When I read this book as a kid I thought boy, if women took over the world, as mothers, there would be no more wars. No mother wants to see her child dying in battle.

When Putin said he knows better than to argue with a woman I thought AHA!

the air of Lysistrata is still in the air.

Men actually fear women. lol

Lysistrata is an old classic but well worth reading.

xoxoxoxoxox

Awareness Be Blind

Awareness ...

Of life, breath, freedom, love, touch, smell...

To  time and stopping to smell the roses....
Stopping and tasting the salt of the earth and sea.

To inhaling wisdom on lifes' journey
Of transforming into a spiritual giant
While seeing yourself engulfed and consumed
By the reality of insignificance, in the scheme of things.

To open ones' eyes to the spoken word
Heard only by the heart and soul within,
Being blind no more..

Of pleading for more pain and suffering
 This world inflicts
In constant trials for balance ,
To see and know more.

SEE me..........LOVE me
For I am here... waiting, with
TOOLS sharpened for life.
A Lady's Life.

New is Good!

New Is Good.

A New birth, marriage job , friends, house, pet, book, clothes, haircut , faith ..
The list goes on as we march through life exploring, finding
NEW on our list to inspire us.

New is good but once we get hold of it what do we do with it?
The responsiility, the up keep of new , which quickly becomes old and boring,
becomes difficult but it is here where we begin to develop (or not), character
of spirit and who we really are, begins to show.

Do we throw away NEW?
Or do we recycle and rejuvenate and make new again?

Just looking at BC's lush forests,
the answer rings true.

Have a great Sunday.
xoxoxoxoxox

Chuck Wagon Canary.

I had a canary named Chicklet.
He had a moppy head, fluffy wings and legs.
He was a darling and sang all day long.
I had him perched over my kitchen sink, behind a window,
 surrounded by spider plants. He was very happy there
and so was I doing  dishes and making supper.
He made chores seem like fun. Back then, being young,
love was every where around me.

The Chinese love surrounding themselves with song birds.
They would bring their cages into a park setting and
 hang them on tree branches and while they socialized,
a judge sat and judged the bird who had the best disposition
and sang all day long and it got the blue ribbon.

Many times I'd walk and find these cages hanging on tree branches
and it was quite lovely to see.
I wish we would do the same thing here,
but not many people are into birds and well, probably the
 weather is not the best for them either.

I found this Chuck Wagon link for recipes, from the old west.
I thought it was interesting.
It comes from a time when things were scarce to buy and when people
worked herding cattle on grassy plains.
Women had to know how to keep food from spoiling. There were no
refridgerators back then.

http://www.chronicleoftheoldwest.com/chuckwagon.shtml

One might get a notion to try one of these recipes.
I know I had one for vinegar pie crust I liked and I found one similar
here. Would be good to have lying around in case
 we end up with no power.
Kinda like survival skills.

xoxoxoxoxo

Tiny Steps Moving Forward

Adjustable hat and booties.

I finished these today. They were not hard to do and the results
sure enlighten you.
The day was dull.
We waited and waited for the rain and finally a few
drops did honor us with their presence.
We made bouillabaisse 
 today with seafood with a side of rice, tomatoes and cucumbers.

For supper I had this fresh arab bread and made a pizza on it.
It took next to no time at all since the oven was already preheated.
Nothing like home made.
I looked through all my recipes I am trying to write them down in a book
because trusting a computer to keep your stuff is asking for trouble.
Something goes wrong, you lose it all.So I try to keep copies as I go along.

Apart from watching the world cup in soccer nothing much new.
Spain is out so I will not win  my lottery .
Filipe the 6th has become Spains' new King how ever.
This will give them other things to celebrate.
I think it is a good idea to keep people busy with celebrations.
Young people especially will grow with many good memories.

In BC we are having a problem with the oil pipe line.
BC people don't seem to want it saying it's not worth the risk.
If cleaning will be anything like the roads we have here,
it would be next to impossible to do it.
Under normal circumstances it might not be a bad
idea but with the volatile world we live in politically
and all the enemies the oil companies make with the people
it just takes one person.....
I don't understand why they play so many head games with
gas prices. It's just not right.

xoxoxoxox

The Butterfly Effect

These are the latest butterflies. I made a few more since
 these pics were taken. They are so much fun to make and
 great to sew on many projects as well as pins for hair and
blouses. I thought they would make for great napkin holders.

Every doily could use one with a leaf and flower.
 Little girl dresses and hats and chokers for teens.

 It's amazing how thread made such a hit throughout the ages.
 Women specially, love to work with it and create so many
 amazing things. Thread has become the oldest art form.

 So now they are added to my bag of flowers waiting to be used.
 When I went to Walmart, they had little pouches of about 6 little
machine made flowers, leaves etc.. for hobbies and they
 charged 2.99 a pouch.
 Ok ........professional but not craft.
 Nothing beats hand made craft projects.
 The old west was won by piecework.
Life is lived through piecework.

 I don't think anything worth something is machine done
because it just doesn't have the spirit behind . This is why
 I get discouraged when people throw things away which
 belong to their family because it was made by loving hands,
 especially for them.

 People throw things away and thus have become themselves
 throw aways.
 Lost souls who flutter away like these butterflies.

xoxoxoxox

Excuses

"When I count my blessings
I count you Twice"

But if you are looking for excuses
You have not far to look

Excuses flounder and surround you
Directing which way you will roam

If you're looking for excuses
Life shows you many lonely roads

Many lead you to no exits ,
Dead ends, just to start again

But lifes' all about exploring
For life is always about spring.

One day it's laughter, mirth , and honey
One day the tears flow without end

One day you dance as light as fairies
Upon green leaves in soft, sweet winds.

One day you plunge  from heavens' crevice
One day frustration makes you scream

Excuses, they always surround you
But truth is "ONE and ONE for all"
A Lady's Life

Life As We Know It.

New born outfit with flower appliques.

A red Peonie in my garden with yellow center.

It is a blessing to have things like this to look at as opposed
 to what is going on over seas. The people who want peace
are living hell on earth and all for what?
 xoxoxoxox

HA HA HAVANESE!

HAHAHAHA

What an idiot I am lol
I finally see what kind of dog I have

It's a Havanese.
She is so different from the Sichon I have
This video describes it to a T.
There are four types of Bichon:
 Maltese, Bolognaise, Havanese and Tenerife and they did originate in the Mediterranean area.
She is so talkative and absolutely adorable that all you want to do is cuddle her.
Well Finally I know but then who were her parents?
Both parents had much longer legs.

I guess I will never know.

xxoxoxoxoxox

To Pan or Not to Pan

Latest hat with buttons. I added buttons to the booties so have a set now.

Today is a beautiful day. Made french toast for break fast.
 Son power washed the balcony so it is nice and clean now.
He took down all the flower pots from last year.

My hibiscus continues to flower but the flower can only be enjoyed a day.
So sad.

 The news continues to be distasteful.

  I got 4 small metal rounds to cook things in the pan with,
so they keep the round shape. Each piece was 1.45 so I thought man,
 highway robbery and here I was throwing cans away from sauces and beans.

 So now I use the can opener to cut off both ends and then
I cut the can in two and now I have a lot more round shape containers
 I can use in a pan to make eggs, scones, pancakes, and what ever.

I thought to next time, cut the coffee cans into 4 round pieces to make pan pizzas.
This way you can make 4 at a time either in 4 pans or in the oven.

Heck you can even make 6 or 8 individual sized pizzas at a time for those soccer
games people come to watch on TV.
It's not hard to do and recycles the can and you don't feel bad when they get lost.

The days fly by. I slept so well last night with the ceiling fan and woke up refreshed.
 I know the designers say they are old fashioned but for me they are the best.
They keep the house cool and you don't have to worry about opening doors to
let in fresh air like you do with air con.
I play with my beautiful dogs who cheer me up big time. Bella now uses Tanyas' box
and collects shoes balls plastic bottles she likes to crackle, etc..
When Tanya wants to find something , she goes to the box to steal it from Bella.
They keep each other busy this way all day. lol
Its funny cause Bella comes and picks up one shoe at a time,
 carries it somewhere in the house
and then comes to get the other one and places them together.
 So even though the shoes
disappear, when you find them, they are together. lol

Hope you all have a wonderful day.
xoxoxoxoxox

Poppie Taco Days.

This is a better picture

Beautiful Poppies have popped up this year.

 We have beautiful days to enjoy this past week.
 I got everything to make tacos . Even the Guacamole.
So this is what we will have today.
Made another hat last night .
This makes 8 baby sets put away in plastic bags.

Today will be car cleaning day. My poor car is neglected.
Every one wants to drive it but no one volunteers to clean it.

Hubby got a scooter and we are enjoying it.
I have yet to try it out. They are great to go to the beach
or to get milk and bread or even just to ride for no reason at all.
However the cars are disrespectful and so one needs to
ride in the bicycle lane or in groups.
We see more and more seniors enjoying them.
Nothing beats them for gas mileage.

Well have yourselves a nice day.
xoxoxoxoxox

The Flower of Gender

A small flower stands alone, amongst a crowd of weeds, trying to smother its existence.

 Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act or Bill C is being argued against as unconstitutional.


 Although the subject of prostitution is as old as we can remember historically, it has always been a trade which hurt people. It is curious that people would fight for its continued existence, in a society such as ours.

 Sex is a beautiful thing but obsession with it, is not healthy. I remember the precious days of youth when young people exchanged glances and blushed and sweet love grew out of this endeavor to last a life time. I remember how we laughed watching PORKIES the movie.
Today, our society seems to feed off of sex as opposed to love and it affects children, who begin to have sex at an earlier age even when doors are open to them to find there is more to life than sex .
Then they grow up angry and one day poof! Explode and begin to kill every one around them.

 Let's face it, where do uncontrollable urges in sex lead to?

 Stopping Prostitution Unconstitutional?

 Is killing also constitutional? There are demands being made today to say it is.

 Prostitution sure advocates it in more ways than one. It kills healthy young bodies and souls. It turns people into cold uncaring individuals, zombies.

 The money made from it, is usually used to obtain drugs, to forget what one had to do to obtain it . In a social democracy,where we give aid to those in need, there is no need to make money in this fashion anymore. If we made these laws for nothing then what is the point? Lower the taxes and legalize prostitution.

 Prostitution furthermore opens a society where fathers unknowingly have sex with daughters and brothers with sisters, because of sperm donation and having children born to women who dont know who the Father is.

 The whole issue of sex has become some what corrupt and distasteful and it's pushed every where. The sooner virtual sex becomes a reality, the better.

This way no one gets hurt abused sick or denied and no one has to break any laws pertaining to sex.

 In the mean time, supporting good causes is a better use of laws than using them by society for self destruction reasons.

 The constitution, as all laws, is meant to save and protect people, not help in self destruction because that falls into criminal intent.

 If everything is lawful then why have government and laws?
Why have a constitution?
Why have a country?
 Without government , laws and order, we are open to forsake the freedom we so enjoy, to be overtaken by countries such as China and Russia and
 live in the gulags they will provide for us for the purpose of re education.

 One must work towards the better good and the better good,
 is in keeping our families and children safe and loving the gift of life and breath.
There should be no need for prostitutes or their trade.
Our job is to make sure the flower does not stand alone
 fighting for its survival but ubiquitous, blooming with many friends.

 xoxoxxooxox

Spring of Life

Every year she comes up so beautiful with her sisters.

Every year I keep gazing at nature and all her splendor.
One wishes ones eyes never had to close to all the nice
 things out there.
Man has destroyed much, built much, changed much and
continues to outdo himself.
I wonder where it will all end?
Will the flowers covering graves finally die?
Will they adapt to changes?
The floods? The cold? The heat? The fires? The chemicals?
Energy which flesh cannot tolerate..sound ears cannot hear,
eyes which will never see...?

It has to be assumed that if it exists, it must be for a purpose to be used.
To survive , man has to adapt, as nature always does, to something stronger,
better, using everything at her disposal.
She never debates the right or wrong of anything.

We test ourselves every day at a great cost to life.
We experiment. We fail and try again and as God and faith in him would have it,
we know the answers are out there to open and unfold unto us.

Man will prevail as it is his destiny to prevail but along with him,
 he carries the active spirit
which dares not rest and with each birth seeks new adventures and
 answers to questions that have no end.

"Let the enemy persecute my soul and take it
Yes, let him tread down my life upon the earth and lay mine honour in the dust"
Psalms 7:5
"What is man that thou art mindful of him?and the son of man that thou visitest him?
For thou has made him a little lower than the angels and hast crowned him
with glory and honour."
Psalms 8 4:5

Man refutes God because he does not understand that God is everything and thus man in God.
Therein lie the answers waiting to be unfolded, only at the will of the one who knows
 which chamber he has put them in.
For there are many chambers in my Fathers' house Jesus said.

The stories speak in riddles and one cannot but help to rejoice, as we begin to
understand them more and more and......more
 throughout the ages always living in the Spring of Life.

xoxoxoxoxox

Perfect Day for Flowers

This pretty dress I finished today.

I woke up to this beautiful hibiscus flower. It made my day. xoxoxox

All's in Bloom

These pink Carnations are lasting more than a week and still look soo good.

The weather outside is gorgeous and the grass is growing lol

Bella wants me to play with her and sits trying to interact all the time
I have never had such a blabber mouth dog before. lol
She is soo smart. I wish I could talk dog language.
 I have to try to teach her tricks.

Life  thus seems to be all in bloom both inside and outside.

So as not to cook, my husband takes me out for Donair to this new place that opened up.
They fill up their donairs so thick for 4 dollars and you can also get the falafel which is very healthy for you.

We played with Bella. She is like a real baby requiring all your attention.
I think if there was an after life, she must have been a person.

My dress is coming along. I just have the sleeves left to do.
It is so pretty. I will have to make another one.
Little girls dressed like this, are to die for, CUTE!!!
I think if they don't have things to wear under neath (which they do) a little
crinolyn would be nice to add to this outfit.
I can't wait to see it finished..

xoxoxoxxo