beetles and fall

wow! 2 posts in one day! That's pretty crazy, and probably won't happen too often either! But on my way to the post office, I saw this huge beetle (actually not as big as I have seen in this little town, but big enough) it was about 1 1/4" long, so I whipped out my camera and took a little video.

Speaking of Beatles, I found this picture somewhere on this world-wide-web and thought it was pretty cool. Hope I'm not infringing on anyone's copyrights by using it!

And last of all, some random fall pictures taken this year.

This is a little copper tree I made for my sister and her family. She always sets up beautiful fall displays in her house.

Flexing the brain playing a game of Master Mind

It feels good to get home after a day of work in these things! It's always an interesting day when I decide to wear heels: that's the day someone shows up and wants a good demo of the firewood processor!

Have a happy Tuesday everyone!!!

1 SUN TO 9 JUST FINE!

Ok, so here are the pictures and the story to go along with them.

As children we lived in Wetaskiwin, but would often travel to Camrose to visit cousins and aunts and uncles. To make the trip fun and 'quick', Mum made up this landmark game for us to play.

We started out with Wetaskiwin being 1, Sun.

Then next was Gwynne Valley, which we called 2 Zoo. As we entered the valley, we'd be shouting and pointing at all the animals "Look at the monkeys! -Oh! there's a giraffe!" We had great imaginations. (The monkeys and giraffes must of been tough little creatures, because they'd be there in the winter too)!

Next was 3 Tree, which was a little gravel road called Roseland Road. We imagined that down that road was a place with roses everywhere, and that was where Rosepetal lived. (Rosepetal was a doll that my sister owned, and that was the name that came with it).

Then 4 Door. This was a place just off the highway called Alley Archery. It was a business that sold archery things and they would custom make arrows and such. (It's no longer there as a business) I remember there were a million rabbits that would run around the yard and into the trees. It was on a little hill with a pond at the bottom.

5 Hive was next. It was a hill at a curve in the road, and in the fall time there would be hay bales all over it making it look like a busy bee-hive. After the bales had been removed we'd say that the bees were hibernating or else out looking for flowers.

6 Sticks was also at a curve in the road, it was an 'S' curve with a slough on either side of it and all these fence posts sticking out along the edge. The ducks and geese liked this spot.

Then there was 7 Heaven: Bittern Lake. Positioned at the top of the hill, it was close to heaven :)

#8 was 8 Gate. The junction of highway 13 and 21 with a truck stop restaurant on the corner. I can remember eating there and watching the clock that would flip advertisements around. Back then, it was a busy intersection, but there were no lights, now due to so many accidents, they have put in lights.

Then it was 9 Just Fine! Camrose at last. There used to be this old red barn right next to Zellers, and it leaned to the side. We'd always mention it or say "hi Barny Barn!" I was hoping to get a picture of it, but now there's other buildings where it once was. So I took a picture of Mirror Lake right in the middle of Camrose. In the summer time there are white swans that grace the lake. It's beautiful.

And I added this one just for fun. When I was about 3 years old we went on a field trip to the Sunny Boy Factory. I still remember it, climbing up the grated stairs inside the building (I believe the man giving us the tour carried me up the stairs, because I didn't like being able to look through the stairs and down *millions* of feet to the floor below), and at the end we got to go home with a little box of Sunny Boy Cereal. (Really good with a tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter melted into it)!

coming soon: a memory ;)

I have recently drove down a road that I have not been on for quite a few years. I have taken up the habit of bringing my camera with me, so I have documented the short, memory-filled trip on 'film'. Unfortunately, I am pressed for time today, so I will be posting the pictures and story behind it soon!

Thanks for having patience with me!!!

Little Miss Woodcutter

This is why I am the Little Miss Woodcutter.








I love my job!

Me + Caring = Hurting

Today’s post is on a blue note. Blue like a million tears all combined in a big jar way up on a cloud near Jesus.

This is all I have to say today:


Lost

Where are you?
Where are you?
I looked for you but I couldn’t find you
Where are you?

Where are you?
I called your name
But you didn’t answer…
Where are you?

There’s nothing more that I can do.
I go to the King, ‘cause He knows where to find you.
He’ll send His angels to guide you home
He’ll send His angels to bring you home!
…Please come back with them…
…Please come back with them…

Where are you?
Where are you?
I looked for you but I couldn’t find you
Where are you?

Where are you?
I called your name
But you didn’t answer…
Where are you?

I like to think that I know the answers
I like to wish that I’ll see you again
I like to hope that you’ll be back (one day)
I’d like to see you live again
….Please live again…
….Please breathe in again….

So I will pray
I will pray for you
I will hope
I will hope for you

©OldCanadianMelody

a quick dinner-time post :)

It is Friday, 12:48, and for once I'm not quite ready for the weekend.

I have Remington's birthday party on Saturday (need to finish his little monster!!!) and pick up vegetables for a tray. Then on Sunday it's Theodore's dedication at church (he's one of my nephews) and a little party afterward (which I need to bring fruit to), and I need to wrap his gift.
Then it's Jeremy's birthday party Sunday evening from 19:00-23:00 and in between the dedication and the bd party, I might be meeting Anna from Finland!

To top it off, my little House Under the Store is quite a disaster and I am hosting a 5th ave. party on Mundae night.

hmmmm.

But one thing I've realised in this past week is that when you are forced to live on a 'shoe-string', you do find the best deals.

For example:
[picture coming soon! for now, imagine a 6.5' tall pantry with two little doors on the top, and two tall doors below, brown trimmed with off-black centers and only 3 handles. The 4th is gone, off to oblivion]

This is my new pantry. It has secret (and now not-so-secret) compartments! Just picked it up last night after work. I scrubbed it up with lots of love and happiness. Mum was over for a bit last night and I think she heard me say I was so happy at least 20 times! But it's true, I'm happy.

I am happy because I really needed more cupboard/storage space (living in rubber-maid containers is not fun...been doing it for over a year), and I got it for a fair price. I could've gone to IKEA or Wal-Mart *gags* and got 1/2 the size for double the price and it would fall apart in the next move. No, not the next from 'this house to that house' move, I mean the next move from 'this corner of the room to that corner of the room' move. So I am happy. But to keep this short and simple, and because I must, off to work again :)

He's Here!

He was born this morning. Little Mr. Ezra Shawnski Adam. I got the call this morning just after 07:00. So I made this little fox bead/button for him.

:D

Aunt in Autumn

Today, I think, I am having another niece/nephew :) My sister-in-law is at the hospital as I type. This will be # 4 in all, her 2nd. My sister has 2 as well, the youngest is just over 1 month old. I love being an aunt.

So while both of my siblings were in their pregnancy stages, I wrote a song for all of my nieces and nephews now and to come. I thought that today would be a fitting day to post the lyrics.

When everyone's gone

I sit at the back door

The moon comes out now

To be by my side

And I start to sing

Sing on and on

And I'll sing some more

I'll sing til the dawn

And the sun wakes up

To put me to bed

I fly through the sky

Orion takes my hand

We waltz through out space

Now it's time to land

And I start to sing

I'll sing while it's light

And I'll sing some more

I'll sing til twilight

And the moon wakes up

To put me to bed

Twinkle twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are

Twinkle twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are

And I start to sing

Sing on and on

And I'll sing some more
Sing til the dawn

And I start to sing

Sing while it's light

And I'll sing some more

Sing til twilight...

And the moon wakes up

To put me to bed

(c)OldCanadianMelody2008

And that is my song.

I picked up some knitting needles a few weeks ago. I don't have a clue how they work. Some people use them to make things like sweaters and scarfs and other fall things. I don't know how to do that. So I made them into accessories.

There's some pretty cool colors too.

I made a little monster the week before last. It was for my friend's little boy. However, I visited my sister and showed her the monster first. Her little girl really liked it, so how could I go and not leave it behind?

I will make more...

Here's some random pictures I thought I'd throw in for fun.

My little gnome. I made him and was getting annoyed that it wasn't working out the way I wanted, so I threw him back into the slip bucket. I gave up. My Mum asked me if I was sure I wanted to do that, and that's when I decided somewhere in my heart, that I actually did want him. She rescued him for me, and though lots of the details were forever lost in the slip bucket, my little wizard-gnome now resides on top of Mum's roll-top desk in her family room.

I found this wonderful teapot (with teacups, bowls and spoons) at a garage sale down the street one hot sunny day. It was $4.00. Hmmm, seems like the best things are always $4.00 (like the beads I mentioned in the last post). I wasn't sure if I should buy the set, since I really don't have room for anything in my house. I walked away, leaving it all behind. I ended up going back, couldn't resist. I use it regularly.

Fluffy sentinels. Don't try to break in, who knows how sharp their teeth are!

Always lock your trees up. It's for their own safety.

Yummy brownies. Nothing like Mum baking brownies in the wood cook-stove at the cabin!

My little iron.

Incredible Find

Ok, so recently, I’ve been pulled in a tonne of different directions. So far, the strongest tugs have been from my little home-made shrinky-dinks. That and paper. I have been working on various simple drawings that I can transfer over to the plastic, shrink down and ‘vwalah!’ they are little transparent pieces of art.

I was in the thrift store about a week ago and I found the most amazing thing. I quickly looked around to see if any other artsy-types were stampeding towards my find. I wiped the sweat off my brow and then snatched up my prize. A huge Zip-Lock bag full of various sized beads. $4.00 for this marvellous catch! The biggest ones are about a 2” diameter! Further more, the dark blue/light blue swirly ones brought back memories of a childhood toy. It was an elastic band strung with different beads and plastic canvas blocks with jingle bells inside which was meant to be strung across the top of the crib. This toy had the same beads as my Incredible Find, except they were about 1” diameter.

I have not decided what I will do with these amazing beads. They might just be put in my ‘enjoy-as-is’ pile…a clear glass mason jar perhaps…

Something else that has been pulling in the tug-o-war for my limited time is wire art.

The first time that I can recall playing with, and falling in love with wire was when I was about 9 years old. Mum had found the coolest store called Imagination Market, in Edmonton. (It no longer exists unfortunately). This store took ‘scraps’ from businesses and resold them. Besides vinyl labels of various colors (metallic included), film, document tubes, coil bindings and core plast, there was telephone wire. Wonderful, colorful, telephone wire.

That was the start of my relationship with wire. Since then, I have claimed the left over copper pig-tails from building projects, making little guitarists and fishermen out of them. I have about ¼ mile of galvanized electric-fence wire, bailing wire, copper wire, garden wire, a few rolls of craft wire (I tend not to buy the craft wire so much, because they are over-priced), wire from old motors, and silver wire. I don’t think there will ever be a time when I’m not drawn to the wire and pliers section of a store.

I will die a contented old lady who never missed an opportunity to bend a piece of wire and make something beautiful out of it.