All my bags are packed...

...I'm ready to go...TO CANADA (John Denver eat your heart out)..

...yes the border crossing awaits us - I'm hoping it looks nothing like this (at least weather wise we are supposed to be having sunny skies). Gift reciepts (for the most part) are accounted for (you don't have to declare "gifts" that are coming back - at least that's my theory) Dog pills, beds, food, papers (even coat for Miss Gwendoline) have been pulled together. Winter clothing for 12 days away (wahoo) somehow squeezed into the same bags we use for summer travels, which believe you me is quite a challenge (Mr. Jewels says you can "re wear" items, though I do draw the line on some things LOL, to cut down on bulk). And why do we do this every Christmas (since we've started living in Michigan in 1994 we have spent 1 Christmas day here)? Family of course, whom we love to see and spend some time with.
So, all the best to you and yours for 2010...I'll be off the grid until the new year. See you on the other side. Cheers, Jewels.

Dolls and Christmas Past

We all have our favorite memories of Christmas past.

Here is my brother (4) and I (6) in our old house in Sarnia, Ontario. See that Santa in the back - my sister still brings him out every year (his paint has been refreshed many times). And what I wouldn't GIVE to have all those old decorations and toys (sigh) - if we only knew then what we know now!

I still have the doll I was holding>>>>> Though I really wasn't big on dolls..


...more bookish (heh, that's why I became a Librarian). But somehow over the years I have built a little collection.

During our Christmas in England in 1967, I received a whole collection of "dolls of the world". If you lift the skirts of the little ladies (we don't lift his skirt of course) you will see little Dutch shoes and Moccasins - all intact.

Here we are getting ready for Santa that year....we were very concerned he would not know where to deliver our presents. One of our relatives went outside and pretended to be reindeers on the roof just to assure us we were found in the right country!

One of my aunts, on the same visit, let me have this Spanish lady to bring back to Canada.

I'm not really sure where this last doll came from (from one of my Mum's Girl Guide friends?), but she's part of the collection to.

And of course there is my Christmas doll. She used to be on our tree and started out with a pink satin dress with balloons on it (if I remember correctly). At some point I had to give her a new outfit. All in all a nice little collection, don't you think? Cheers, Jewels

Rudolphia?

I regularly read Dear Abby (yes I admit to it). One of today's letters was all about the fact that reindeers, in real life, both male and female have antlers. But it is only the FEMALES that still have theirs during the winter months - so, chances are, it's LADIES helping Santa on Christmas Eve!

And I loved the response..."This clearly explains why Santa doesn't get lost at Christmas. Females are never reluctant to ask for directions...ho, ho, ho." Who knew! You Go Girlfriends!

Big Boots Weather

Yep, we've got Big Boots Weather going on here in lovely Midland, MI. First major snowfall of the season.

Here are today's headlines - our phone started ringing at 6AM for my hubby about school closures.....He works for the local Educational Services Agency and is heavily involved with the local school system...
I decided to play it safe and work from home. I did venture out at lunch time with Miss Gwendoline and Master Gryphon - it was raining by then - not a good sign for later today as the temperatures are predicted to drop - could be an ice rink.

As you can see, not TOO deep yet. In a good storm you cannot see Gwenie - we have to shovel a path for her around their "outdoor bathroom" (no other way to describe it).

Gryph tried to sneak in snow eating (a favorite pass time when outside). I did caution him about yellow snow (LOL).

He also helped me inspect some of the tree damage....
We have large branches down on the driveway we will need to clear...

The snow definitely makes the front porch look more like Christmas...
And Miss Gwendoline did have to check out where her Mum had gotten to.

Our bird feeders were pretty busy - caught this little fella getting his lunch - woodpeckers, blue jays, cardinals, junos, goldfinches and others were joining the feast...

Sounds like this weather system will still be with us a day or two - so I'll be keeping those big boots and snow pants and mittens and hat and the ugliest, but warmest, coat on the planet (don't we all have one of those) close by for other outdoor excursions - to all my local buddies, stay warm!

December ATC and Something Funny

Okay, I don't know why they let me pick the monthly ATC themes but up until 7 pm yesterday (Sunday) I was stumped - by my own theme! I decided to go "non Christmas" and Jungle Boogey was my suggestion (I really appreciate that my ATC Peeps are so understanding - though I did find out that Deb is away for two weeks visiting her sister in China - at least that's the excuse she made for not having her ATC done this month - me thinks that is rather an extreme measure to take just because the themes off kilter LOL). Anyway I scratched my remaining brain cells and decided that I would go retro and look for some Jungle pecs instead....

Namely Johnny Weissmuller - now in the day he really did have lovely abs, don't you think. I remember watching those old Tarzan movies (yes they were OLD movies when I was young). Unfortunately later movies he seemed to have lost some of that Olympic svelte (and the movies were dorky- Tarzan and the Mermaids - come on).

So with photos in hand, some old fabric that kinda looks "primitive" and a big ole button I came up with my cards.

Only to find out that my most favorite blogger in the world, Carol, has done Jane for her monthly ATC! I guess Jane and the Tarz can spend time together in my ATC book - doing the Jungle Boogie under cover (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). So it turned out not so bad after all... big smiles all around. Cheers, Jewels

Goodness...

...has it really been over a week since I blogged! I have to say, this week was a bit of a train wreck. We had a lovely time at our cottage but really hit the ground running on our first day back to work (Tuesday). Then hubby came down with the flu - poor guy is still feeling under the weather. Fortunately I have had BOTH my shots and don't seem to have caught it (keeping my fingers crossed). Meanwhile, can you believe I FORGOT to put the memory card back into my camera before we left - so NO cottage photos (sniff)...and there were a couple of memorable shots I would have loved to have. Oh well. But I did manage to get some thrifting in (much to hubby's dismay - he really is not a big fan) and picked up some odds and ends.

An addition to my very small collection of wedding cake toppers - they sit on a shelf with old wedding photos.

Some fun transfers - I think this is a pretty early Walker's one.

Old Knitting patterns - very BritishCouple of cute clothes patterns

Lovely crochet


Old Craft magazines and leaflets - I've been finding "old" things are the "new" things these days

Two Christmas Books (thrifted at different shops a week apart - it was meant to be!)

There were, I consider, two scores. The first was 35 hankies (just a sample here) for $6.00 CDN (that's $5.70 US).

There were some real pretty ones, including my first round hankie. They all need a good cleaning though...
But I thought this was the best...

...when I looked through some old books I brought back I found a lovely Christmas book mark dated 1940 on the back ...sigh, with everything that passed this week I feel like our vacation was months ago....

If You Go Out In The Woods Today...

...watch out for Teddy Bears! I really don't know how it got started but somehow my Christmas decorations consist of a large contingent of little fur balls.

I have this old sleigh I rescued from the road side trash (apparently that is against the law in my fair town so lucky I was not caught - but seriously, people throw out the best things!). It is filled with bigger fellows.

And here is my tree. It was too dark for my photo shoot so a full shot of the tree really looks like a black blob so I'm going for close ups.

I have bears from everywhere and everyone.

Even Australia...

I have other things too - remember him Sis?

Here are some more...

I even have a "Care Bear" hubby gave me when we were "courtin" (he told me I was such a dweeb when I showed it to him last night, but he smiled and gave me a peck anyways - I guess I'm a lovable dweeb).

Well we are off to Canada for the long weekend. Master Gryphon's leg is holding up and Miss Gwendoline is packed (she will hate every mile there - not a car dog at all). I look forward to telling you about our adventures when I get back (though really I'd rather not have adventures and just catch up on my sleep deficit....). Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends and see you on the other side. Jewels.