This Is Great

Please --- pretty please --- pretty please with a cherry on top!
Scroll down to the bottom of this page and see the video clip. I didn't want it to get lost in the archives as a posting would, so I added it as a page element. The video shows an elephant painting a picture. If you have the time and would like to see an elephant using their God given talent -- please look. I hope you've been well. I won't make excuses for not posting here often. I'm just happy that you still come here to look at least once in a while. I hope this video not only amuses but inspires. Thank-you for stopping in. I appreciate each visit.

Just another post

I visit blogs like a doctor makes rounds. I follow links blindly until I wonder how did I get here? Then when it comes to posting on my own blog I'm in a funk. Sometimes I just don't know where I fit in. I'm happy to be me yet at the same time I'm boggled by our diversity. I'm bloggled!

This is a part of my world - what I saw looking out my kitchen window. I ran to get the camera and shot through the window pane. Didn't dare go outside because I might scare "it". Out of 3 quick clicks this shot was the best I could come up with. Upon close study I suspect it's a female Cardinal molting her feathers in a drastic way. But at the time all I could think of was I've discovered a tiny vulture species.

All the other birds were keeping they're distance.

I watched for her but haven't seen her since. Now most people would go on about their day and not give another thought about it. But...not me. I think about her. I blog about her. I wonder how she is and I somehow can relate to her. I imagine she sees her own reflection in the shiny plastic window of the bird feeder and is thinking --that's me?--Gee, I feel much prettier than I actually look.

Well......it's not much is it? But its all I got today. Thank-you for the visit. xox ~Elaine

Happy Easter

Good Friday

First Day of Spring

These little snowdrops welcomed me to spring over at Green Briar Nature Center, Sandwich MA.
If you get to know me well then you'll discover I love wildflowers, birds, being outside and basically anything to do with nature. Today being the first day of Spring seemed a good time to pay my tribute to the heralding snowdrop. Green Briar has hundreds of them marching through the landscape as if on parade.
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This is one of the few clumps I have growing in my own backyard.
Now with all these flowers you would hope to see them open and smiling but noooooooooooooooooooo. So I had to google one open to show you.

Or .....you can bring them inside where it's cozy and warm to coax them open as my sister did here.

A Day to Remember

When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.- Mark Twain

Xavier just turned 6 years old.

Instead of making the usual cupcakes for the class, I thought up another treat. I bought a box of giant POCKY sticks and tied a bright colored party blower to each one with a length of blue rafia. Then I tucked them all into a Spiderman gift bag and Xavier brought them to school. It was also his classmate Clarissa's birthday and the children did have cupcakes after all.

The theme of Xavier's birthday cake is my original idea but yet simple...another year older. A toy bulldozer pushing 5 birthday candles out of the way to make room for the Big Number 6. It's chocolate cake with chocolate frosting just as he hoped for but with pink vanilla frosting between the 2 layers for a little extra surprise. The cake is sprinkled with tiny bright colored confetti candy.

We have a tradition in our house that the birthday person may have the birthday meal of their choice. This doesn't usually get out of hand except for the one year Emma requested a cornish hen for each of us. I honored the request but the entire meal was very expensive and consequently her presents were limited that year. Since then she's been more frugal with her requests. Xavier had his favorite, spaghetti.

He got lots of presents and enjoyed his birthday. I hope it will be one for him to remember, although I must admit I have a hard time remembering many of my own past birthdays.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Yesteryear

I have been trying hard to clean and organize my things. One thing that is just pouring out from boxes and bags are old photos. I have a steamer trunk full of them and then some. I came across this one of Emma and a garden that is no more. We had an addition put on the house and the town used my lovely garden as a second test hole for the new septic system we needed to have. One hole wasn't enough....they just had to dig THERE. I lost it all. I'm thankful for this Kodak reminder of the way it was.

I will make it my goal to get it back. It can't be the same, I now have a much needed clothesline nearby but it will be fun gardening again and it might even be better someday.

Oh and for those of you loving the chards of pottery bordering the garden? I do remember it was a pain in the neck. Not only was it hard to cultivate the weeds but the ants had a field day playing amongst them. At the end of summer I gathered them up and saved them for a serious mosiac project that I have yet to get around to. Maybe it will be in the near future however because my Mother- in -Law dropped 2 of her nice old mixing bowls today and they smashed and broke together. She was going to throw them away but I rescued them with loving hands and hope to make something good come from it.

Thanks for stopping by ... sorry that my posts are so sporadic.

As far as crafting goes----well?

I just can't create when my house is a mess and I'm still working on how to fit a set of bunk beds.

(which we still haven't found yet)

Don't give up on me. xox~Elaine

Well she was just 17,

and you know what I mean.

Hmmm, come to think of it, many of you may NOT know what I mean.

I was singing a Beatle's tune.

My little Emma has turned 17!

This is a picture of her making her big birthday wish.

Whatever it was she wished for I hope it comes true.

If you had but one wish --- THINK --- what would you wish for?

Don't tell me.

Just make a wish right now and blow out all these pages.

xox Elaine

Fire Safety

I never realized that a wet dishcloth can be a one size fits all lid to cover a fire in a pan! This is a dramatic video (30-second, very short) about how to deal with a common kitchen fire ... oil in a frying pan. Read the following introduction, then watch the show ... It's a real eye-opener!! At the Fire Fighting Training school they would demonstrate this with a Deep fat fryer set on the fire field. An instructor would don a fire suit and using an 8 oz cup at the end of a 10 foot pole toss water onto the grease fire. The results got the attention of the students.The water, being heavier than oil, sinks to the bottom where it instantly becomes superheated. The explosive force of the steam blows the burning oil up and out. On the open field, it became a thirty-foot high fireball that resembled a nuclear blast. Inside the confines of a kitchen, the fireball hits the ceiling and fills the entire room. Also, do not throw sugar or flour on a grease fire. One cup creates the explosive force of two sticks of dynamite. This is a powerful message----watch the video and don't forget what you see.

The above post entry is an email I got from my friend who is a fire fighter and would like to educate as many people as possible about how to control a grease fire in your kitchen. I hope you are able to view the video with your connection. xoxo~Elaine

Happy Leap Year Day

Thrift Finds

I don't usually mention the little things I find at thrift shops and yard sales. Oh yeah that's right --Duh --- maybe it's because I have not even been to a thrift shop or yard sale since I started this blog January 1st. It's always fun to read what others pick up as treasures. I enjoy reading that kind of blogging stuff so much that I couldn't wait until it was my turn to go thrifting. Today was my day.
I went to the ATM took out $20. Spent almost $15 for the stuff you see. Saved $5 in my piggy bank and helped our local hospital! I wouldn't exactly call this odd ball lot treasure...but it was fun to look for and I'm happy with my finds. Afterall, the real thrill is in the hunt.
I know a certain somebody who will read this and laugh because she gets so much more than this and pays absolutely NOTHING! She takes a few items to donate to the swap shop at her local dump and comes home with things that would make your eyes pop open. She just always seems to be in the right place at the right time. You know who you are don't you? She's even had people handing things to her, God Bless Ya.

This is what the cat dragged in today ----

1. A big red photo album. I like it because it has slots to slide the pictures in and anything that can help me organize is welcome.

2. A never been used colorful terry dish towel. It's not for my dishes though. This will be going out to my shed. Can you see the picture on the right of my clothesline? That's my shed behind it.... my hang out

3. A package of 4 plastic plates more like platters giving the directions on how to eat lobster. I personally don't like to eat lobster but my father in law does. The past 2 years we've presented him with a big lobster on his birthday. He has Parkinson's disease and the pills he takes makes him very forgetful. He realizes this and might get an extra smile when he sees these plates with his lobster next birthday. (Lord willing)

4. I'm not sure what this thing is but it is pretty and I'll use it to slice cheese on. It's a maroon colored flat dish, much like a tile but with a little foot and it's a bit curved.

5. A made in Japan toothpick barrell.

6. A little vintage table cloth with a red hand crocheted border. It's very sweet.

7. A bowl that says ...Have A Great Day

8. Last but not least. That gorgeous blue wool sweater.

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That was this morning. Since then, I have deconstructed the wool sweater and washed it with my jeans in the washing machine with hot soapy Dawn dish liquid. Then I dried them in the clothes dryer with hot air. It shrunk up nicely and is now nestled in my wool stash where it will sit forever and a day until the Spirit moves me.

Like the bowl says...HAVE A GREAT DAY! xoxo~Elaine

Say No to Mud

These are pictures of last spring in my backyard.

A little while ago I got a magazine in the mail and I was meaning to share a little of it with you. It's called Birds and Blooms. It only comes out every other month so I'm constantly going to my back issues for my garden fixes. I love looking at gardens. Flowers make me happy. I have shelves of gardening books and magazines. I can never get bored with anything in nature.

Living in New England has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to keeping a garden.

Sometimes after a long cold winter we're over anxious to get out and get things started.

I would just like to pass on this bit of info for any impatient gardeners out there reading this.

This wisdom holds true no matter where you live.

I'll write it here for those that can't read the picture.

Working soil that is too wet can actually cause long term damage.

Squeeze a handful of soil --- if it crumbles through your fingers, you're ready to garden.
Otherwise give it a few days to dry.

xox ~Elaine

Youth Bed

My Son's Youth Bed

It's a crib mattress fitted to a youth bed. It's Xavier's "birthday bed". He got it almost 2 years ago on his 4th birthday, but mostly my grandson who is 18 months younger takes his naps here. Xavier always ends up in my bed. (that's another subject!) Last night after I put him to bed I noticed the poor kid's feet were dangling out the bottom rails.

I've been contemplating the idea of getting bunkbeds for the 2 of them, maybe that will keep Xavier out of my bed at night. As you can see by the way he's growing...something must be done quick! I'm a little afraid of bunkbeds but it really is the solution to a problem we have with a shortage of floor space. Even a trundle bed requires more space then we have available.

As my dear Mother used to say..."When my ship comes in!"

Flowers

You know I love Love. I am such a romantic and Valentine's Day has always been celebrated around this house. We visited Nana and Grandpa, exchanged valentines, had a toast with bubbly, ate some chocolate, looked at pictures, smiled, hugged, laughed, came home, made tacos and went to bed.

I appreciate your visit, thank-you. xox ~Elaine

Happy Valentine's Day to You

Xavier was busy signing his Spiderman Valentines. They came with tattoos but not candy. We scotch taped a Hershey kiss to each card. The home made valentine above is from Emma when she was in grade school. I've had it hanging in my room since she presented it to me years ago.
This is one of my most favorite days. I'll post more soon. I just didn't want to miss out wishing you all a wonderful day today.
Spread the Love!
XOX
Happy Valentine's Day!~Elaine

Nature's Candy III

The fruit is a hit. If this were a race with apples vying against oranges, the apples would be winning. Nothing will waste and that was my main concern. Just for the record I've posted what kind of apples and oranges these are. Oranges can be very tricky to pick out. I hope this link will help you to choose a good one. Always run fruit under the tap and give the skins a good rinse and rub.
(of course you do)
Empire Apples and California Naval Oranges.

Independent

Today p'nut butter and crackers tomorrow ... the car.

Xavier has been making his own snacks for a long time. But today as I watched him break each cracker with precision and hold the knife like an artist painting a masterpiece I had to grab the camera. Having this blog is a good thing because I usually wouldn't even think of getting a camera for little moments like this. And it's exactly all the little moments like this that make up the days and weeks and months and years that slip right by without a camera to witness. The little moments that we forget but that are certainly worthy of remembrance. Like the feeling inside you when you break a graham cracker right on the dotted line and it doesn't shatter to pieces.

Nature's Candy Part II

Nature's Candy

I know, I know...it's another dark grainy picture. But if I let that get in my way of being here then I just might not get here at all. I'm aware that good pics are like eye candy. Well....? This is about nature's candy...fruit. I took this picture in the middle of the night, because I wanted to show you the blob of fruit there. Ordinarily we keep a few pieces of fruit around at a time. We usually put the fruit in the glass fruit bowl up in the open window. Don't worry when you see curtains above those candlesticks. I would never light them up while they are on the shelf there. They come down to the table for dinner and the go back up and out of the way.
So today when I was shopping for fruit I bought a bag of apples, a bag of oranges and 3 bananas. Now the test begins. Will my tribe see all this fruit and let it sit there to waste? Or will they eat it up promptly as I do hope they will? That remains to be seen. I purposely avoided buying O.J. and I'll put the orange squeezer on the table to encourage squeezing.
Guess what? I never did get those needle felted Madonna's finished. Plus the little chickadee jumping rope skipped to Etsy only for a few days and then I made her an outfit and moved her over to ebay. She's priced at 99 cents and she's getting her fair share of rejection too. There's not a lot of people that want a jump roping chickadee. Gee..I don't know why.
If she doesn't sell...it will be back to etsy for her. Instead of my shop being called Feel mY Felt..I should have called it the wool museum. I'm only kidding. I rank myself down all the time. I think I may have been raised to be like this. I don't know. I don't want sympathy just understanding.
I feel like sprucing this blog up a little. I need to add a list of the inspiring blogs I love to visit. There are so many wonderful ones out there. I find myself becoming more and more drawn to certain types of blogs. For example, there's this one blog that I check in on everyday. She never makes a new entry because she's taking a break. She tells us that but I keep haunting the place hoping for her to come back and I don't even know her! Click here
Maybe I'm like that on your blog too! Thanks for the visit.

My Hang Out

Outside our home we have 2 storage sheds, one for my husband and one for me. This is my shed. I share it with the kid's toys. (check out the loft) It's an 8x10 place where I can sometimes find a moment of solitude when the weather is warmer. Right now it's January, it's freezing out there and I can see my breath. Plus the bikes are taking up space along with some other things that have been brought in for the winter. Everything changes. Things look different from one day to the next around here. Things change from sunup to sundown. Oh heck...even from one minute to the next they change. At the end of a warm day the bikes always get jammed in here anyway. And..since this day we've had a huge yard sale. In it we sold some of those watering cans and that old red metal bouy up there on the right. Plus I've added a few things. In that yard sale there was an old green porch rocker from our basement which we "tried" to sell. We got a few low offers for it but nothing close to the $45 slashed from $60. on the tag. So at the end of the sale I folded my step-stool up and put the said rocker in it's place. It is bigger and therefore does take up more floor space but it's so much more relaxing. Somedays I drag it out of the shed and sit under the trees with an ice cold lemonade in my hand. Brrr ... I don't even want to think of cold right now though.
See the rototiller on the front left? That was a wise purchase. I had my mind set on a little Mantis for years. But when the time actually came at last for me to plunk my hard earned dough down ... I then saw this beauty instead, on sale at Sears. It was 20lbs vs 99lbs. At that time the Mantis was running close to $300. and this was $179. when I got it. It has 7.5 hp vs the 2.5 of the other and goes much deeper then the Mantis can handle. I'm sorry I can't slide a link in there. I tried to but Sears doesn't have the same exact model available anymore. (Everything changes) I still love the idea of the Mantis being lighter weight and easier to maneuver. I also like that it can fit in small areas of the garden bed. Smaller size is important when you have limited storage area too.
But the truth is I needed a big job done and the Mantis just wouldn't cut it.
I've gotten a lot of use from this baby already and I hope she'll be with me a long time. Well...... this is my night off from work and I plan to use it wisely. I'm so close to finishing up my long term needle felting project. Maybe tonight's the night. Thanks for hanging out a bit. love~elaine

Dream by Priscilla Ahn

I was a little girl alone in my little world who dreamed of a little home for me.
I played pretend between the trees, and fed my houseguests bark and leaves, and laughed in my pretty bed of green.

I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest swing.
I had a dream.

Long walks in the dark through woods grown behind the park, I asked God who I'm supposed to be.
The stars smiled down on me, God answered in silent reverie. I said a prayer and fell asleep.

I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest tree.
I had a dream.

Now I'm old and feeling grey. I don't know what's left to say about this life I'm willing to leave.
I lived it full and I lived it well, there's many tales I've lived to tell. I'm ready now, I'm ready now, I'm ready now to fly from the highest wing.

I had a dream

Pepper

From my youth---
Peel an orange round and round.
Peel a banana upside down.
If you count to twenty-four,
you may have your turn once more.
(now peppers, which means as fast as you can go) 1-2-3-4......

( this one starts slow side to side then over the head)
Texaco, Texaco over the hills to Mexico.
Spanish dancers do the kick, the kick, the kick.
Spanish dancers just like this, like this, like this.
Spanish dancers turn around, around, around.
Spanish dancers touch the ground, the ground, the ground.
Spanish dancers get out of town. (jump out)

Down in the meadow where the green grass grows
there sat Pepper as pretty as a rose
Along came (YOU) and kissed her on the cheek,
how many kisses did she get this week?
(peppers) 1-2-3-

Pepper and (YOU) were sitting in a tree,
K-i-s-s-i-n-g
First comes love,
then comes marriage,
then comes baby in the baby carriage.

Fudge, fudge call the judge...
Mama's gonna have a baby.
Wrap it up in tissue paper
send it down the elevator.
(peppers) boy, girl, twins, triplets.

I'm a little Dutch girl dressed in blue,
These are the things that I like to do.
Salute to the Captain,
Curtsy to the queen,
Turn my back on a wicked submarine!

Hey I'm not making this stuff up.
These were the songs all we jump roping girls knew from my neighborhood back in the 60's.

Do any of these jog your memory?

For me it was a long long time ago.

The coolest girls knew how to "Chinese Jump Rope" I couldn't get pass the first few moves. Chinese jump rope is complicated. It's like playing cat's cradle, with your feet.(sigh) I did love watching those cool girls play. I wouldn't have dared to foul up their fast moving games. Nobody ever offered to teach me, and I didn't know anyone personally that knew how to play. So, I practiced alone at home, by having two dinner chairs hold the rope open for me. But the empty chairs would inevitably keel over with my not-so-fancy footwork. Besides... skipping rope was what I liked best and I was pretty damn good at it too.

A my name is Alice
my husband's name is Andy
We come from Alabama,
Where we sell apples.

I made this chickadee.
And named her... Pepper.

She likes jumping very fast!
I'm taking her over to the shop.

Hope you can visit there sometime. <3~elaine

A Visit from Spiderman

Ever since last October we've been having special visits from the Spiderman.
Today he showed up for about an hour of crime fighting around the house. After he had been told not to jump off our couch and chairs, not to stand on the bed and not to throw "webs" around he settled down and had some toast and juice.
The next time I looked...he was gone again.

Before Spiderman used to make the rounds.... it was Woody, the cowboy sheriff from Toy Story who came to spend hours with us almost daily.

I'm sure that Sheriff Woody would come back if only my son XL could fit into the costume again. He's really living up to his initials X.L. by being Xtra Large.

Oh...FUGGETIT!

I've decided it's way too depressing to actually know that I don't have many visitors. So I nixed the counter. I'm more relaxed already. I had even signed up for a free traffic counter which was installed for all of 3 hours. That meter basically was informing me that I, myself alone had visited this blog 13 times in 3 hours. It was like a moron meter to me. I don't need to know that. I already know that I'm eccentric but I don't want to see the stats of how neurotic I can be. With all that said....now I can get back to enjoying life the way I did pre-statistics.
And to enjoy this little place I'm making here called a blog.
And not to worry about who is visiting or not visiting for that matter.

Oh and about that STORM that I mentioned in my last post. It wasn't anything much here on our part of the cape although everything is still up in the air so to speak, and it sure is FREEzing.

Hey- my latest issue of one of my favorite magazines arrived in the mail.
Birds and Blooms. I'll be enjoying every page of this for days to come. Maybe there will be something esp. nice to share with you here. That's a picture of a Baltimore Oriole, but I bet you knew that already.
This is just what I need to get through these cold New England times.
One good thing about winter is that it makes me appreciate spring/summer and fall all the more.
see ya later <3~elaine