My Week

The most fun I had this week was at the annual Library garage sale.  It's a social event really, where friends and acquaintances compare bargains and exclaim "I wish I'd seen that first!" I was sad to see a stack of the first set of dishes I ever bought sitting there unwanted and I almost bought them back, but it made me feel good to see a little old woman taking home a tabecloth I'd made.  I always look forward to donating and to shopping.  This year I found some great things that caught my eye and I managed to snag them all for a total of $25.  A new sweater, sunhat, lined winter gloves and pashmina all caught my eye as did a stash of quilting fabric.  A good friend had given me a favorite Renoir print from her donation pile the day before the sale.  Yesterday I bought an old framed print and re-framed the Renoir print that will bring a smile to my face each time I see it.

 

Spring arrives in it's own particular way in Northern Alberta.  Some of the unwelcome highlights are dandelions, mosquitoes, bear sightings and smoke in the air from the wildfires.  On the welcome side the thin sprigs of the first spring grass are poking through the winter killed grass, the lilacs are almost blooming,  there are mallards in the pond across the road and we can open the windows now at night.  The farmer is seeding barley and I've helped move vehicles from one field to the other and I keep in touch by radio.  I make breakfast and a late dinner at home but I take lunch to the field most afternoons.  He's so easy to please!  Today he opened up the tin foil in the lunch box and said "Hot dogs - my favorite!"  The potato salad, fresh ginger cookies, and iced tea topped it off and he was a happy farmer.  Seeding should be finished by Friday.  I've planted most of the vegetable garden and will finish up the potatoes and corn tomorrow.



Next week I will be trying to fill the freezer with baking and casseroles, cleaning, packing and crossing off my final list... then I'm off to Italy.  I really appreciate all the comments about my upcoming trip you made recently.  Grazie mille! I apologize for not having the time to visit your blogs lately but hopefully I'll get the chance one of these early mornings just as the sun is rising.
Keep smiling and I'll see you sometime this summer.
Please think about stopping by Mary's Little Red House for Mosaic Mondays.
Sunshine Always - Sheila

Spring Greens

The greens of spring on our farm are as welcome as the sunshine. It's wonderful to see green as far as the eye can see and before too long the lilacs will be in full bloom. The greens that please me the most are the perennial greens that are pushing through the soil every day.  Within weeks they will be blooming and brightening up our yard.

How quickly time passes when life and circumstances catch up with you.  In the past week we enjoyed having our daughter home for a few days.
Together we baked dozens of cupcakes and cookies to donate to the local evacuation center for some of the victims of Alberta's worst wildfire. We were told that the kitchen couldn't accept donations due to health regulations - understandable for sure, so we offered our baking to people who were outside the building.   As volunteers, we were assigned to sorting children's clothing.  People opened their homes to evacuees, local businesses donated many items,  and trucks rolled in with donations of clothing and food from all over Alberta.

It was heartbreaking to see the long rows of cots lined up with a few belongings piled on top.  Over 1000 people who took refuge in our multiplex are being given 3 meals a day by the wonderful dedicated kitchen volunteers and our community really pulled together to help those who were temporarily or permanently homeless. The hardest thing was that the 7,000 residents of Slave Lake didn't know if their homes were still standing for almost a week.  In the end over 370 homes, the new town hall, library and many businesses were lost in Slave Lake.

Thankfully, the government has agreed to provide housing til the end of the summer for those in need.  Hopefully the resilience of the human spirit will help to overcome the huge losses and mental anguish of having homes, jobs and memories wiped out all at once.  It will be a tough road ahead and my prayers are with the people of Slave Lake.

Tuscany

Our tickets are booked, I have a planning calendar and have checked off quite a few things on the list of things to do.   I've packed my suitcase, organized, planned and Googled maps countless times.  I've started attaching sticky notes to the top of my bookcase at eye level.  I picked up my 3 week coffee table book at the library yesterday...."In Tuscany" by Frances Mayes.
My daughter studied for a semester in Tuscany and ever since has wanted me to visit her special hilltown.  We decided that the time is "now" so we will be spending 2 weeks in Rome and another 2 weeks in Cortona.
 
I'm looking so forward to being in the town that found a place in my daughter's heart.  I would call her at the student hostel and I could hear her footsteps coming down the long stone staircase to answer the phone.  She has friends there and a favorite restaurant she says we'll eat in often.  She wants to take me to the olive grove where she and her friends picked olives and to the little store that sells the best sandwiches in the world.  We will be taking day trips down the mountain to places like Arrezo and Assisi and hiking to get to the special places around Cortona.

I really can't wait to go to Italy but in the meantime spring has arrived here on the farm and the farmer is cultivating the fields.  I have supper on the stove and there's work to be done today....but I'm counting the days I can tell you!
The framed postcards (click to enlarge) are my "mosaics" tonight but I promise you'll be seeing many more before the summer's over.  Mary's Little Red House will be a great place to visit if you have extra time one of these nights.   Consider a virtual visit!

Happy Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day and like many of you, I'm thinking of my mother.  She was raised by parents who had emigrated from Holland to southern Alberta.  Her father was a farmer and her mother raised seven children.  My mother, the second youngest, took her nurses training in Victoria, BC.  She married my father just a month after receiving her RN and then set off on a series of postings across Canada during the war years.  It must have been exciting to be a young couple off on such an adventure. My father was never posted overseas due to medical issues, so their life as a young married couple might have been far happier than many couples who were separated by circumstances in World War II.  My mother told me often about the night the war ended when she wore out a pair of shoes dancing on the downtown streets of Toronto. 

I have so many memories but one in particular is that Mom loved to swim and summer holidays and our weekends involved trips to the lake or stopping by the rivers we came across as we drove along in the car.  This is a favorite family photo of Mom with "all her children" as she used to say.  Happy Mother's Day to all of you as you remember or celebrate with your mother today!  I'll be linking to Mary's Mosaic Monday today...consider a visit to her Little Red House one of these days.