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Tuesday, January 31, 2017

A First For Me ~ Fake Flowers ...

Hello my dear friends,

there is always a 'first time' for everything.

This time it is a first for me to buy artificial flowers for our home. I have always shied away from them either because they looked too fake or they were too expensive. Right now Michaels has all of their artificial flowers on a 'buy one, get one free' deal and so I thought I might just take a look and see what they have. I have to say that I was very impressed. The quality of some of their fake flowers is really, really good and I actually walked out of the store after buying some very pretty blossoms.

At home I went on the search for the right 'container' for my new purchase and found it in the shape of my old and lovely tarnished water jug. I knew that this beauty would be perfect for our home when I bought it a few months ago and now I finally get to use it.







I love real flowers very much but since we have two cats and many flowers are very dangerous for them, I can't have the real thing but I am very happy with my newly found flowers. I have beautiful blossoms and my cats are safe, a win/win situation for sure.

Thank you for visiting me today here at Todolwen and I hope you have enjoyed your short stay.

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

The Unexpected Finding Of A Treasure ...

Hello my dear friends,

with the thought of decluttering in mind, my younger daughter recently had gone through her wardrobe and gotten some cloths together that she didn't want anymore. She did well, a full large bag full for the Goodwill Store and that is where we headed day before yesterday to drop her donation off. 

Of course if you are just around the back of a thrift store dropping something off, you have to head around the front and visit the store too, right?! Lately I seem to be very fortunate with finding some very special pieces and even though I wasn't there specifically to buy anything this time, I did take a look around. I did find a few little things that I liked. Pieces like a little silver tray and a set of salt and pepper shakers that would come in handy one day I am sure. As as I turned around and glanced at the shelf across the aisle, I stopped. There on the shelf was something that almost jumped at me. I saw this unusual but beautiful treasure. I literally dashed over and grabbed the item. I could feel a smile on my face.

A little later back at home I researched my newest finding right away and if I am right in what I read, then what I have found is a rare treasure in the shape of a silver plate baby cup from the 1890's!

I am so buzzed about it because of how neat it is. ...Would you like to see it?!

Here it is ...


Isn't it just so lovely?! 


It has lost almost all of it's silver plate but that doesn't even matter, it is a stunning piece no matter what in my eyes.


The little tarnished cup has a little cat sitting on the top of the handle that is watching ...


... the little bird sitting in the bottom of the handle.


On top of that the little cup is embellished with a beautiful etched pattern.



Just look at all the detail ... just so perfect.



I love the detail so much!


Didn't I tell you it was a very neat piece and amazing treasure?!

I now have to decide if I am going to keep this lovely and special little cup or if I am going to turn it into one of my pincushions creations. I think, I might need a little time to make my mind.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting me here today at Todolwen, it always so nice when you do.

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Code Word 'Christmas Tree' ...

Hello my dear friends,

I am so behind in sharing things with all of you these days but I didn't want to miss sharing this.

You all know how much I just love putting a smile on some one's faces and in their hearts.
This year I was on a mission and the code word was 'Christmas tree' and this is 'story'about it ...

... I have a friend that I met whilst my husband was in the army and we lived in the UK. She is a lovely bubbly and sweet lady and her name is Tracey. Two Christmas's ago she was such a kind and sweet person when I was in need. She was there and helped me. My 'in need' was the following ... I needed something called 'Bisto'. It is a British gravy powder and I needed the turkey flavored one for my Christmas dinner. I could not get it anywhere in Canada so I face-booked my friend in the UK and without any questions asked, she went out and bought me two tubes of my so much loved Bisto and mailed them to me here in Canada. If that wasn't sweet enough, she didn't even want me to repay her but instead she gifted it to me for Christmas. Talk about a sweet girl! My Christmas dinner was so good with all the lovely gravy!

This past Christmas it is my turn to do something nice for Tracey.

A few years ago whilst Tracey and her husband were stationed in Germany, she bought a real  Christmas tree that had roots. He lived in a pot and I think she even gave him a name. She loved this little tree a lot and again if I remember correctly, she even took him back to the UK when their time in Germany was up. Unfortunately the little tree didn't survive and my friend was a little sad about it.  Now that their army time is almost over, they have bought their first own home with a garden and that is where my mission starts. Cue music in your mind and let it play ... 'We wish you a Merry Christmas'.

This year I made it me special little thing, my Christmas mission to put a smile on her face and to repay her kindness that she showed me. I got in touch with her husband Darren and talked to him about it. He is so sweet and agreed to help me make this happen. He was going to go and buy a small real Christmas tree with roots that she could plant in their garden. A red bow was a must and a tag too, wishing her a Merry Christmas from me. I am so excited to do this, I almost feel like I am a child again and I can't wait for Tracey to see it.

Fast forward ... this past Christmas Eve ...

....  that was how I had started to write this post a few weeks ago,  thinking that that is how it would happen ago but things have changed.

It turns out that Tracey had three fir trees living outside the front of her new home and her husband couldn't find a nice one to plant in the backyard. Hmm .. what to do?! Turns out that Tracey also loves fruit trees, so we changed plans. Instead of a fir tree I asked Darren to buy her a nice little fruit tree which he did. He bought a lovely cherry tree that will grow in their garden. He was so sweet and called me crazy because I was so keen on doing this for my friend. He wrapped the tree a little and added a red bow, ribbons and a tag, just like I had asked him to do.


This is what it looked like ~ all pretty and Christmassy!

My friend Tracey was quite sick in bed with a nasty virus on Christmas Day but that didn't stop her from walking into the room with the words ... 'What the hell?!' coming out of her mouth I was told. When she read the tag and her husband told her the story behind the tree, she was very touched and happy. She named the tree 'Bailey' after my family which again made me happy and said that every time she would pick cherries she would think of me and family. (Tissue needed to wipe tears away.)

My Christmas mission was a full success and that in return has made me so very happy.
It's so nice to be nice!

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

My First Walk Of 2017 ~ Part 2 ...

Hello my dear friends,

so nice of you to join me on the second part of my first walk of 2017.

We continued to walk down the path or rather next to the path for a little while and the entire time everywhere you looked, there was something covered in thick or thin ice or icicles were hanging off trees, bushes and anything else really, it truly was a beautiful sight.



There were quite a few fallen trees along the path and each one had something that caught my eye. This tree had clusters of icicles hanging from it that looked like long crystals.  



It is amazing how beautiful icicles can be, isn't it?!

In other places the ice on the ground had such an artistic look to it.


Antique hand made glass comes to me mind looking at this.

Then something else behind another fallen tree caught my eye.


On a closer look, I couldn't believe what I think I was looking at.
What I saw was ...


... in my eyes, frozen spiderwebs or at least I think they were.


Again ...


... every little single detail was caught in the ice. Just stunning!

The foot path then started to look ...


... more like a skating rink, with thick and very slippery ice.
For me that was the point where I had decided that we were not going to continue to walk further but to instead turn back. It was just too dangerous.

Under another fallen tree you could see where the ice ...


... was about eight to ten inches off the ground. 

Many more icicles shining in the sun ... 


... and more nature created patterns ...


... all around you.

And in midst of all the cold and ice ...


... a little green vine growing up a tree, taking in as much sunshine as it could.

The water was back where it belonged in the river bed but ...


... the signs of where it flowed for a short time were left behind..


More little hanging ice ornaments ...


... dangling off some branches over the river.


On our way back ...


... we found a wooden bench ...


... in a sea of slippery ice. 
Too slippery for me to have wanted us to walk over to it and sit for a while.

Walking along the water on our way back to the car  ...


... we came across the two ducks again that were still enjoying their swim.

And just before we left the water side ...


... another field full of ice discs ~ there were so many of them. 

One last look at the ice sculptures that were hanging in the water, because I knew that they would be gone the next time I would be here and I just wanted to take in as much as I could.


I am so glad that I went home to get my camera and to take my walk when I did.


The river and the ice were such a pretty sight and I would not have wanted to miss it.

I wish we could have gone further but I knew it was the right thing not too. I would have hated to have fallen or even my daughter to have fallen and injured ourselves on the ice but we will go back again soon and hopefully that time, we will go all the way.

Thank you for taking the time to walk with me today. I hope you have enjoyed it.

Like so many times, I am behind in sharing. I haven't shared my last walk of 2016 with you yet. It is at another new location here in London and again one that I have never been to before in the ten years we have lived here. So we shall 'go for a walk' together soon again.

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day. 

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

My First Walk Of 2017 ~ Part 1 ...

Hello my dear friends,

a few weekends ago the skies were blue once again for a little while and it was time to get out of the house and go for a walk. It was still very cold outside, temperatures were in the minus but but not too cold for a walk ... my first walk of 2017 and it would be nice if you would walk with me again.

I had seen this whilst driving home one day.


It is the river Thames that flows through London, Ontario.

 It is normally a smaller and shallow river but once the snow melts it becomes a fast flowing and much deeper one. The water had already gone back down after it had flooded the surrounding area a few days before and ice sculptures that look like glass chandeliers were left hanging from the trees and bushes that lived in and next to the water.

I had to see more of this and so I drove back home, picked my camera up and headed back to the river accompanied by my older daughter Ashleigh.

We have now lived in London for the past ten years now and we have never walked here before.
This is what we saw this Winter time ...


You can see how high the water had been by where the ice is at it's highest point. 


Everywhere you looked the was beautiful nature made ice art to be seen.

Signs of flooding were all over the banks of the river.


Large disks of ice were laying on the grass, resting ... just waiting to melt in the sun.


A pair of ducks were actually swimming in the river and didn't seem to mind the icy water at all. The water must had been very high before this melt. It looks like almost 4 feet higher than it was when I took this photograph.


Ice puddles were something I had not seen before and didn't know that they existed.


The trees that live in the river looked like someone had taken the time to hang many glass crystals on them.


A large disk of ice, very slowly turning in the water at the edge of the river.
 It was such a stunning sight.


Many ice disks at the edge of the water.
 I am not actually sure if they were wanting to get into or out the the cold waters.



Smaller ones hanging from branches above the surface of the water.


Icicles everywhere you looked, glistening in the sun rays. 


It was so lovely to see the color blue in the skies when you looked up ...


... and not the dull gray and it was such a treat to feel the warm the sunshine. 
It was like the icing on a cake.


Thin sheets of ice were now breaking apart from the warmth, everywhere you looked.



The ice stayed when the water of the river retrieved again.
It was such an amazing sight to ice as if it was 'floating' in the air, surrounding everything. It was about ten inches off the ground in this area.


This little tree just didn't want to let go of it last leaves.


The further we walked down the path, the icier and the more dangerous it became to walk. We walked on the the forest floor as much as we could and there was so much more beauty all frozen in time and ice to see.



The entire forest ground must had been flooded at one time.


This is just beyond amazing ...


... it must had been so cold at one point that the bubbles in the water froze instantly.
I had never seen anything like this before!


Not only were there beautiful things to be seen on the ground but as I walked past a bush ...


... there was another piece of nature to be seen close up.

A birds nest just so pretty and neat. I think it must have fallen out of a tree that was just next to a few bushes and some of  the branches of one of the bushes underneath 'caught it's fall' and saved it from being destroyed.

This is where my walk ends for today and I hope you have enjoyed it. Tomorrow I will share the second part. So if you feel like joining me again why not stop by here at Todolwen again.

I hope you are well my dear friends and life is treating you kind.

Have a peaceful and creative day.