Icy Webs.

Looking out our window this morning and we found

these 2 icicle webs. Obviously there was a good sized

spider web there that we never noticed. Now with

the ice, it stands out. Nature adapting for the Season.

~ Chy

Cream Lace.

Before we were married, I was asked what kind of

china we would like on our wedding gift registry.

At the young age of 22, I wasn't really into china or

crystal and we had already bought our house, which

did not have a formal dining room. So we chose a

very sturdy pattern of stoneware from Denby instead.

Then 12 years ago, my grandmother died and I ended inheriting all her china, her silver and her amazing dining room set. I also brought home this sweet corner cabinet that showcased some of her favorite things behind glass doors (not visible in these photos). I stored her china in here along with other treasures we had gathered over the years. When we visited the East Coast a few years ago, we came across a lovely china patter called "Cream Lace" by Skye McGhie. Fell in love but couldn't fit what we wanted to buy in to our suitcase. And though the store offered to ship it across Canada to our home, I knew I'd be worried that it would arrived in tiny pieces. So we kept the pictures in our head and hoped one day we'd come across the pattern and all the pieces we hoped to have. A fun treasure hunt.

Slowly in time, we began to collect a piece or two, here and there. Mostly from our favorite charity shop and our Antique Mall. Our collection grew. I had it scattered about the house. Then at Christmas, our eldest found a woman selling quite a few pieces on FB Marketplace. Amazing low price and it turns out, she had never used the pieces. Brand new, not a chip or scratch or tea stain ring! I was so thrilled on Christmas morning to open up an obscure box and find some many pieces of my collection inside. I was teary and excited all at once! A small dream come true.

After the holidays, we then had to figure out where to store all the pieces and decided to clear out the corner cabinet, built for my grandparents back in the early 30's, and showcase the entire collection. That's what you see above. This is now part 1 of my post as just this week, I stumbled across more and had to rearrange again. I'll show you that in part 2 very soon. The last picture shows the cake stand that I have in my kitchen holding a small basket of dried flowers. I haven't yet decided if I'll leave it there or add it to the dining room corner cabinet. Decision and pictures soon.

~ Chy

Morning Light.

 

Just a few weeks ago, it was dark when we'd wake

up in the early mornings on the days we'd be working.

But now the mornings are getting lighter and lighter.

I'm sure this week, I won't even have to turn the lamp on.

I always love how the sunrise finds ways to dance on all

our walls. Moving and changing as it filters thru the house.

~ Chy

Bizarre Conflict.

As someone who is never comfortable around conflict, being embroiled in the middle of a very bizarre experience has left me this week feeling unsettled and upset. I won't provide details here as it won't solve a thing. I can only write that working in a team environment, as volunteers, there should still be a level of professionalism and willingness for all voices to be heard. Within this particular initiative, there is clearly a "them" and "us". It's been evident for a while that an unhealthiness was brewing and as we tried to work through it, there was a sudden change and people quit! And quit with bitter words that don't make sense nor add up to the actual experience. I find I've had to be the peacemaker in certain situations over the year and I think some of my upset is not even having the opportunity to help two parties find common ground. I guess I could take some heart and work it out in my head that if they couldn't handle some questions about process and how to move forward, then they weren't the kind of people we'd want to move forward on the board. None of this feels good. None of it makes sense. I don't like hidden agendas and there is a piece of me wondering if that's what this is all about. Alterior motives? Creative differences? In the end, I don't think we'l every truly know why this bizzare conflict began. What I do know is that we now have a new individual taking on that area and she has, in a very short time, made leaps and bounds in the progress of the tasks that were being worked on or hadn't yet been touched. In the end, the individuals who are committed and work seamlessly within a team environment are the ones still with us and the ones we need to complete this project. A natural weeding out of the conflicters was the right path ~ it just doesn't feel good. This too shall soon pass. 

~ Chy

Frozen Castle.

During our recent extreme cold weather snap here

in the frozen tundra, someone in our community

captured this amazing photo of our heritage hotel.

Looks almost like this castle is frozen in the clouds.

~ Chy

Spring Dreaming.

The cold, the bitter, through your bones, can't get warm cold continues. Extreme Weather Alerts and Announcements were issued last Friday, February 1st. This is now Day 10. And honestly, this needs to go away! And not come back!!

To keep our minds off the snow and the icy cold, we've been keeping very busy with purging, donating, getting items ready for inclusion in our Antique Mall Booth, working on our upcoming Summer Music Festival, I've been catching up on case notes for my counselling clients, reading new books from Christmas, and finally, dreaming, dreaming, dreaming about Spring! I have made a veggie patch plan, am working on where I'd like to plant more perennials, and thinking about pots and planters. Last year, we put as much of our gardening tools into our little potting shed. This Spring, I'd like to get it organized and thinking about what that would look like. And finally, we have some landscaping to finish and part of that is installing our front arbor gate where we hope to create a little parking area for guests. Ideally, if this works, they would pull up to the front of our house, which has a much more welcoming view than the side of our house. They would park, stroll through the arbor gate and trek down a short path to our front door. Dreaming of plants and bushes, maybe even roses to make the path enjoyable and fragrant. A bit of work for this dream.

Hope you are staying warm and maybe dreaming in a bit of Spring Dreaming while the landscape outside swirls in a icy cold, snowy weather pattern. Hope you'll share what is keeping you sane and positive during this polar vortex ....

~ Chy

Happy Saturday.

This picture came across my FB feed this morning and after reading everyone else's posts about the frosty weather outside, I chose to send this along, with a little "your welcome" after explaining why I wasn't chiming in on the weather posts. A little hope for warmer weather and all the big gardening adventures that many of us are dreaming of.

Kids grief program this morning, then a quick tidy and we headed in to the Big City to celebrate this sweet girl's 6th birthday. How did she get to be 6 already!! We had fun at her party. It was so sweet seeing her with her little friends from her Kindergarten class. Truly growing up too fast.

Excited to have not one but two little

lockets to wear with her new dresses.

Sweetest granddaughter in the world

We are so proud ~ she is too cute!

It was a "Happy Saturday" but the end is near. We came home, lounged a bit, did some writing, ate a great dinner, wrote more, watched the hockey game and now we're off to sleep ~ grandson has hockey in the morning ~ no sleeping in this week! Hope your Saturday was lovely. And warm!

~ Chy

Frozen with Sun.

It is ridiculously bitterly cold here in Western Canada. Winter has been kind to us, until this week. Snow started on Friday and though we didn't get the predicted 40 cms to 50 cms, we did get the predicted - 40 degrees Celcius to - 50 degrees Celcius. For my American blogging buddies, I have no idea how cold this is, but the Extreme Weather Warnings issued by Environment Canada continues to carry messages about frostbite occurring in under 2 minutes. Yikes! The Big City down the road is opening up the LRT Station (underground/subway) overnight for those who live on the streets. Many won't go to shelters (there are beds available) but they will head for the station to survive the icy night. 

I'm thankful that the Sun has come out and it's helping us to not feel so closed in while we wait out the extreme weather in our warm and cozy home. Other than I've run out of my beloved chocolate milk (I do have a back up with white milk and a powder to mix in), our food supplies are keeping us well fed. Heat is doing well, no concerns with any systems in the house. We do venture out to start the cars about several times through the day. They start just fine but we don't want to take any chances. Truly too risky.

It's dark now but I took these pictures earlier today. If it wasn't so cold, it would be so pretty! I love fresh snow before anyone walks on it. We noticed more footprints from the deer and a bunny or two this afternoon. No prints since Friday but today, movement. Like us, they've probably stayed huddled up in a warm, sheltered spot. In between keeping up our normal works hours, we've been busy continuing our purging. Closets are done, Christmas storage room is done, our master bedroom is done, our master bathroom is done, the guest bedroom is done, so now it's the art studio. I've got a tub of items no longer needed that someone else would love, I'm sure. The tub and maybe a second one, will be off to the charity shop, along with all the bags of extra clothing we no longer need and have sorted. I get so much joy knowing someone who doesn't have a warm coat will soon sport my old but functional and very warm jacket. Someone will find comfort in the fuzzy blankets and the new "but not my color" socks. Someone will enjoy the old books, the art supplies that I had doubles of, and the containers useful for storage. Feels good to give our items to someone who will benefit. No landfill, no garbage bag, no guilty feelings of throwing something out that is still good but we don't wish to keep any longer. Extra space is always good too. Not to fill, just to have no clutter. With purging, everyone wins!

From top to bottom, these pictures show our open back garden, and the snow piling up around my little potting shed. In the foreground is our fire pit, almost buried and our wind spinner, still today without the wind. Pretty sun. Calm trees. My favorite picture today. The second and third photos are the rink just outside our back deck. It's a bit hard to see but it is there. Our final layer of water will be brought out by the water truck on Friday morning. Then we can start skating! When it's warmer of course!! Tomorrow and Thursday we'll have to shovel, bits at a time due to the cold, to get the snow off before the truck arrives. The fourth photo is the side of our house looking towards the fence between our land and our neighbors. Usually so many deer tracks here but it's so pristine right now. I love it like this.

That's my update from the Frozen Tundra today. No school buses tomorrow but we're going to venture in to town anyway. I need my chocolate milk, we need to get the mail, get the grandkidlet to school for at least one day this week (they have Thursday and Friday off), and check in on my staff and crew. Hope your corner of the World is warmer!

~ Chy