A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

As my dear son in law commented on my previous post, I thought that I would tell him the reason behind my  statement. I just want to set the record straight about my poor angel stone wall and my daughter's picture.

 It may not be the Palace of Versailles  I agree, but it needs to be torn down just because of the structural damage. A stone wall is very heavy load to support.
Work began in the fall of 1976 and we moved in in our new home on April 2nd 1977. So I've lived here thirty four and a half years. There was nothing wrong with the wall before the big flood except for the fact that it wasn't my favorite wall. However, since the last big flood we've had some structural damage. As you can see on the pictures there are some big cracks, some are going all the way up yo the ceiling on the left side and smaller cracks right to the fireplace.

The chimney is not used because of a damaged liner in the fireplace and this could pose a fire hazard and we've been talking to installing a gas fireplace later on.

As for my daughter's picture, it was a gift from her which I cherish and I've been wanting for a long time to put it up on a suitable easel to be displayed in the corner. I never gotten around to it because I've never shopped for one except that I've kept my eyes opened for one to suite my taste.

I'm sorry if I've offended you by hanging a mirror where the picture was hanging but pictures can be moved around and I do move that picture around a lot with the change of the seasons. There's a good reason for my action. A mirror reflects light and that's my story and I stick to it. lol...  

Thanks for stopping in and leaving a comment. Have a super weekend everyone. JB

TRUSTING YOUR INTUITION

I have has plenty of time where I have made a decision  or statement solely from a gut feeling or intuition  and I've  learned to trust my intuition. I can't explain how it works.



Yesterday I was doing errands down town and had to go up town for more errands and since Value Village was just a skip away I went there. I found a cute resin traditional santa and carefully placed it in my cart and I wasn't rushed for a change, I was just scanning for little treasures.

My cell phone rang and I picked it up and didn't recognized the number but I could hear kids in the background so I decided to answer it. It was a day care program employee calling to tell me that she had called my daughter and her husband at home and at work without success and she wanted to tell me that my little granddaughter didn't got off the school bus and no one had called to tell them that she wasn't coming to the day care.

I didn't quite know what to do.   I left my cart and cute santa in the isle and went to my car. I had a short way with less traffic lights  to get to my daughter's new house and a long way.  My intuition told me to take the long way down one hill with traffic lights and back up the hill  long street.  I felt that she was not in any danger and that she was in good hand and there was a good reason that she was not at Day Care.   I know, it doesn't make sense, but I followed my intuition.   I got to my daughter's house and her car was in the driveway. I went in and relieved to see that my granddaughter was home.  My daughter had just walked in the door with her daughter whom she had picked up at school.

  Had I taken the short route, my daughter would not have been home and I would have left to go to her school to find out if she had gotten on the bus.  I told my daughter that she better call the day Care and the poor overworked daughter had totally forgotten to call the Day Care.

I'll not bore you with more stories but I just wanted to share this with you today.  Thanks for dropping in and leaving a comment.

Welcome to my new followers.  JB

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL

I have an ugly angel brick wall that I don't like and would like to tear down but just can't swing it right now. It was popular in the 70's.
 I wanted a random brick pattern and my husband wanted a calculated pattern and he ordered it done his way. I conceded because it was useless to argue with my man, he did things his way ( in those days). All these years I hated this brick wall.

My brother  who does beautiful woodwork thought that all I needed was a wooden mantel and made it as a gift  and even installed it for me. The brick wall is 70's and the mantel is colonial. I couldn't say no to him. Still the two just don't suit the style, which style, I don't even know... lol...

There's a big crack that has developed on the side of the brick wall and I would like to tear it down some day. I just can't do it now though.

To reflect more light in the livingroom,  I thought that I would hang this mirror I found.  Taking a good picture of a mirror without getting my face in it was a bit of a challenge.

There were no hooks on the frame to hang it with so my handy husband drilled tiny holes and got hooks screwed in and wire and hung it up for me. Then I decorated the mantel for Halloween, and the piano, the hutch and the desk. I decorated the door and the outside the front entrance using the same decorations as last year.  Nothing grand but thrift store and Dollar Store finds. I told you that I'm cheap.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

AND THE WINNER IS...

I can't believe how fast the month of October is flying away with the falling leaves. It's already the 15th  and time for the lucky winner to be announced.

Thanks to all those who participated in this giveaway and joined my followers. I look forward to your return visit.

As promised I asked my husband George to pick the winning name but first I had to have him do a job for me. He installed some hooks and framing wire on a large mirror I bought for over the mantle and he used a cement screw on the brick to hold the mirror secure,  so it wasn't a job for me. It took about half an hour to get the job done from start to finish and tomorrow I'll clean the mirror and will take a picture of it. He hung it a wee bit higher than I wanted but I can adjust the wire maybe later.

The little basket was shaken vigorously and not stirred... and my husband looked the other way and put his hand in... like he was supposed to, lol...

Now I wish everyone was a winner but we are all grown up and I know that you understand that there can only be one and the lucky winner is ..... Orange Sink.

Congratulations to Cathy G from Orange Sink. Just email me with your mailing address Cathy so that I can mail this little gift to you as soon as possible. m.julia.bourque@gmail.com.       JB

ANOTHER KITTY STORY

Yesterday afternoon when I went to the barn to feed my calves, I saw one of the kitty run and jumped on a big spool of electrical wire that my husband had left there. She quickly stuck her little head in the small hole and just stayed there. She wasn't trying to get out which I thought was odd. After a minute she was still there calmly just staying put. I wish that I had my camera with me sometimes, I missed a great shot.

 I went to pull her head out but it was good and stuck. I even turned the spool on it's side and then upside down and no way could she get her head out. I didn't want to pull because her little neck would have snapped for sure.

I called my husband who was just getting ready to milk the cows and between the two of us, it took 20 minutes to take the spool apart and to cut pieces of thick plastic to free her and not once did she tried to resist. She just was so relaxed all the time, even when I turned her on her back she was still so relaxed. It was strange seeing her so calm right up to the last second.  I think that she would make an excellent pet put I don't want to bring another cat in. I have 13 in the barn. She is actually the sister of that little abandoned kitten that I found still attached to its placenta a little while back. The mother is not a good mother and finally it has been feeding from another mother cat who had 4 kittens.

Some of my blogger friends have been having problems with posting comments lately and if this applies to you, you still can leave comments by using Firefox and google the name of the blog you want to leave a comment on and when the blog comes up, just type your comment as usual. It works.  Have a great weekend and Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends.  JB

GUESS I'M TURNING A NEW LEAF

Funny what the cold weather will make me do. We had frost on the pumpkins this morning, so I put on my winter jacket and gloves and went to work and I just couldn't keep my hands warm working in the barn as all the windows were wide opened.

I harvested my serendipity pumpkins family that were covering my lower deck, all 4 of them came from one seed that just decided to sprout by the compost.  Cute little family heh

Today I also took the cucumber supports out of the garden, harvested my carrots, zucchinis, and took the tomato cages and peppers cages out. (no pictures of my work in the garden)

It was cold enough to make me take my Childhood Memories rug out of storage and I pulled some strips out and fixed the twisted ribbon border that was bugging me and even hooked several strips of wool. I needed to cut more wool so I put it aside for this evening. Sorry for the bad lighting.

Also today I worked on my King size quilt that I started in 2008. I've been working on it every day this week for a little while before bed time. Sorry again for the bad lighting. The leaves are dark green.

Another thing that I decided to tackle today was to back up some of my iPhoto library. I did all 2008 pictures on a DVD and will do 2009 tomorrow. I had never attempted to burn a DVD and this was a first for me. I take baby steps on my computer and I like little challenges like that.

Thanks for your visit and please entertain me with your comments. A big WELCOME  to all my new blogger followers. I hope that you will stop by for a visit often. Check out my wool GIVEAWAY  on my previous post if you haven't done so yet.   JB

HELP ME CELEBRATE MY BLOG'S FIRST BIRTHDAY.

Help me to celebrate my one year Anniversary by joining my blog and enter my giveaway. Actually the anniversary went unnoticed for two months. How time flies when you're having fun. Better late than ever.

I've never had a Giveaway before and I don't know how to add these fancy buttons to my blog and I don't have extra time to figure it out right now but I'm going ahead with it anyway.

I appreciate that not everyone want to partake in giveaways and that is perfectly fine with me. I still hope that my followers will come by my blog just the same and leave comments.

Since I didn't had time to make anything special for this giveaway I went through my recycled wool and put a small package together.  My wool was rolled up so I'll have to steam it flat to take the creases out of it. So hookers and wool lovers out there if you want to have a chance at this little token of my appreciation, please leave me a comment telling me that you want to take part in this giveaway. My husband will draw the lucky name on October 15, 2011 so make sure that you give me your name and an email so I can contact you to get your mailing address.  Giveaway opened to residents Canada and United States only. New Followers welcome.

Good Luck everyone.  JB

Of Petals and Wool: On the first day

How could I have forgotten my own poor blog's birthday.. Ho, yhi,yhi... What a bad blog mother I've been... There's no excuse. My blog was one year and two months old on Sunday.

On Monday August 2nd, 2010 after much groaning and kicking, my little blog Of Petals and Wool was born as naked as a new born baby and feeling pretty small and alone in this big world of Blogger.

Sorry little blog, I'll make it up to you by having a give away but don't worry I won't give you away. Just give me a couple of days to sort this out.

This was the birth announcement and like Genesis, the subsequent posts were named accordingly, The Second Day, The Third Day etc.

ON THE FIRST DAY

Today my blog was born. I finally just did it, Thanks Deb. Finding a name was a bit of a challenge but with persistence I came up with a name that was available on blogspot. Of Petals and Wool is about two of my passions, oh, I have many more passions than I have time to indulge but for the sake of a name it will suffice. My flower gardens with its millions of petals and my rug hooking are the main ones at the moment.

At the present, I'm only getting familiar with navigating my new blog and hopefully I will be more comfortable as I discover its little secrets.

It's almost time to go check on my new born bull calf and feed the other calves and do my barn chores.