Pushing My Comfort Zone Boundaries

Selling anything has always been hard for me and usually avoided.  We tell the story of when our daughters had to sell chocolate bars for Girl Guides many years ago.  We wound up with a case in our freezer because none of us were good at asking people to buy something.  Yes, we were behind the door when God gave out the entrepreunurial genes that's for sure. 
My daughter is a crafty person too and has a number of favourite past times...needlepoint, quilting, beading and quilling.  She asked if I would enter a craft fair with her, thinking taking on a new venture would be good for both of us. I agreed and last Saturday found us in a local school gymnasium participating in one of the many Christmas craft fairs that occur at this time of the year.  A first for both of us. 

Here is our table.  I made the circuit around the gym and talked to many of our fellow crafters/sellers.  It is sometimes disappointing at these fairs to see how many commercial ventures also rent a table.  I say disappointing because I prefer to see the hand made items, you know the ladies with their stash of crocheted scarves and dish cloths or the young mother who has discovered  she can sew bibs or crib sheets for selling.  I noticed at this one, a couple of recyclers...one lady turning old bed sheets into rag rugs using crochet and a lady selling rings and bracelets she makes from old silverware. These were actually quite pretty.

A sampling of Daughters' quilled ornaments on display which were much admired. 

 We noticed a lot of the lookers were elderly and many of them stopped for a chat and loved our ornaments but went on to say they no longer had a Christmas tree so didn't need any ornaments.  They were there for a great outing, to meet up with friends and enjoy the lunch the local church ladies were offering.  I just loved seeing so many of them out and about. 

 This was what was a real hit...

Tiny paper quilled snowmen ornaments.  All the children wanted one and would take ages picking which one.  I can only imagine the patience it took to make such fiddly little items but then Daughter is blessed with that plus a sense of perfectionism about what ever she does that I can only admire.  I am definitely more slap dash about my work.
Anyway, we had an enjoyable day together, met a lot of interesting people, and in the process had pushed our personal comfort zones. We agreed at the end that we would definitely do another craft fair, perhaps one in a bigger venue with a more mixed clientele next time.  

Jocelyn Can't Live Without....

 Jocelyn can't live without these three things. 

This title is a bit of a lie.  There's lots of things I can't live without.  Besides the air, water and food that sustains my every living minute, there is also family and dogs and books and health and eyesight and workable fingers.  My opposable thumb, that, I'm quite happy to have.  Okay, I'm getting a little silly.
So here are three things I really would rather not live without which I guess is a better way of phrasing it. 

1. My reading glasses.  I can't even begin to think of how my life would be without them.  I'd have to somehow have everything six feet away and the print enlarged and needlework would be out; no too dreadful to contemplate would be the loss of my glasses.
2. At one time in my life, I would have put lip balm on this list. I am one of those people who think they are addicted to the stuff.   I  have used so much vaseline and lip balms over the years; I've tried them all and my lips feel very, very dry without them.  I'm going to expand this to include all skin cream.  My skin is very dry and I seem to always live in climates where there is cold weather a lot of the year and houses are furnace heated which is also a drying factor.  When I moved here and spent the first winter with wood heat, I was dismayed to hear warnings about how drying wood heat is.  And it is.. Later in the winter, we'll have to place a kettle of water on the wood stove to put some humidity into the air to combat that dryness.  So I have to slather on the creams all the more.
3. My slippers.  I have lived in houses in the past where you could walk around bare-footed, but most have required footwear.  This present house is absolutely a slippers necessary house.  On occasion, I've had to walk from the bathroom to the bedroom, or down the hall to put the dogs outside in early morning and the floor is freezing especially in winter. Add to this the dogs with their shedding and dirty paws, well, it then becomes  a gritty, cold floor.  

This is an interesting exercise to contemplate.  What big or little things do you think you can't live without?  

Lighting the Darkness With Old Fashioned Lamps

The other night just as we settled in for our evening's t.v. viewing, the power went out.  Complete blackness without a warning; so there we were feeling our way to the kitchen and the cupboard for a flashlight.  Our oil lamps had to be pressed into service again and we were very thankful for them.  Since there are no houses or electric lights in sight of us, we had to phone the nearest farmhouse to confirm that the blackout was not just on our property.  High winds was the cause apparently and no one knew how long it would last.
 Looking out the windows was really odd; the blackness was so complete, not a single shadow to help discern anything of the garage or trees or sky.  It was eerie and made me feel vulnerable.  
We decided to turn in, each of us with a lamp on our night tables and really you could manage to read well enough so it wasn't exactly suffering.
 However, both of us felt uneasy wondering how long before the power would be back on; ever since we lost it for four days several years ago we've been wary of the same thing happening again.  This time we were lucky; it was off for just a couple of hours so no other measures had to be taken.  Such relief.
 The next morning we found out that many parts of the city were still without their power so we really were lucky. 

Out My Window and Black Friday

I love to see the woodpeckers.  I never saw them growing up so the novelty never fades for me.  I'm not sure it is a good thing that this fellow is visiting our feeder. He seems to have to contort his body unnaturally to position himself for a few seeds.  But he is willing and he returns whenever I refill the feeder.  I think he is pecking his seed into the tree.  He repeated the tooing and froing from feeder to tree for about ten minutes. 
The chickadees give him a wide berth and hang back when he is around.  Like they say, size counts in nature.
Heading towards December and Christmas...we had to get the American Thanksgiving out of the way first.  Black Friday has infiltrated our shopping habits here in Canada as well.  Many people I know are checking out the deals online.  I hope none of you hurt yourself in the rush at the malls to get a good bargain. 
 I am in the market for a new cell phone; mine is useless for this new fangled texting so I guess it is time I gave in and joined the masses. Perhaps I should check it out. 

Wild Turkeys and Two Unforgettable Thanksgiving Movies

Happy Thanksgiving to our American Friends   

  And here is a photo of the main attraction...wild turkeys in daughter's backyard.  The numbers of wild turkeys around here continue to grow.  You don't have to travel  far from downtown Ottawa to encounter them usually trying to cross the road, which they tend to do one at a time in single file much to the ire of drivers.  Why they don't just fly across I don't know but they seem to need to feel somewhat threatened before they use their wings.
There have been two American movies about this holiday that are favourites of mine.  I loved Home For the Holidays and it had to be good with that wonderful cast  and script.  That movie held so much of all the stuff families are made of - the good, the bad and the ugly.  You wonder just why is it that family gatherings can become opportunities for all the angst and issues and stresses to surface, despite everyone's good intentions.  I was very interested in the role of the mother, played by Ann Bancroft, in this family and Holly Hunter as daughter was marvellous.  I read that the cast had to eat five turkey dinners to complete the table scene to the director' liking (who was Jodie Foster).
The other movie is Trains, Planes and Automobiles which showcased the amazing talents of Steve Martin and John Candy.  This was a movie that, while very funny and making you laugh, had a certain poignancy running through it.  Something about the idea of being alone on a holiday, with no family or far from family, is sad; and if you haven't made friends into family it is especially sad, like poor Del.  But a happy ending, none the less.   

Fish Casserole, My Way

Where I grew up in Newfoundland, fish referred to only one kind of fish and that was cod.  If you were having any other kind it was called by its name, herring, salmon, etc.  I love cod but find it doesn't taste the same to me anymore and especially after it has languished in the freezer for awhile.  I therefore have to dress it up a bit more. 
This is my version of fish casserole and when I say fish I mean cod.  We don't seem to ever eat enough fish though we both like it.  I know how good it is for you but yet it seems it is usually the last thing I reach for in the freezer.
This dish is very easy as it just involves layering the ingredients and then baking it. This time I layered the following in the order given into a casserole dish...

                                          4 cups of spinach
                                          2 filets of cod
                                          one small can of chickpeas
                                          2 cups of cherry tomatoes
                                          1 cup of olives
                                          1 chopped onion
                                          1 cup of chicken broth
                                          2 cups of bread crumbs
                                          1 cup of mozzarella cheese

I baked it at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.  So really it is dinner in less than 30 minutes.  You can serve rice or potato with this but just bread with it is good too.  Of course you can change up the ingredients; sometimes I add carrots or peas and omit the olives.  It's just that we love olives so I tried to work them in.  Feta cheese would work well with this too.  I guess really whatever you have on hand and feel like adding.

More Embroidered Ornaments...Made By Hands

"Tools were made, and born were hands,

    Every farmer understands."

                                         Proverbs

Unlike Nora Ephron, I don't have any problem with my neck.  Maybe because unless I'm looking in a mirror, I can't see it and out of sight, out of mind with me.  No for me I'm more upset about the skin on the backs of my hands.  Unlike my neck, my hands are front and center all the time, can't miss seeing the skin and boy, in certain lights, does it look old.  Yikes.  There's not enough cream in all the world to turn this crepey, rather mottled looking skin around.
It doesn't help that I'm constantly plunging my hands into water having to wash so much with the dogs and digging in the dirt here.  I don't like wearing lotion especially since I stitch every day and I can't chance getting grease on the material. Remembering to lotion them at night is hit and miss.   Contrary me just can't get used to wearing rubber gloves either.
I have a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't matter that much whatever I do...these are the hands and skin I was born with. And they're not attached to exactly a spring chicken anymore. So be it.
Now I feel a little guilty even mentioning this; after all I still have two functioning hands which I am thankful for.  So pretend I never said anything about the old looking skin on them.

Lately these hands stitched this

and this

 and a trio of houses