Sylvia's Simple Shots

My niece came up this week so we can take a trip to visit Mom in hospital.

My main nativity set is a White Matte Bisque Porcelain one by Avon.  I have a large stable to house them but of course all that is packed. She is always on the look out for additional pieces so she brought this 2nd Wiseman to me and the Angel Gabriel.  

Unfortunately, the did not come with their boxes so I will have to design a storage solution.  

I am still missing another wiseman, animals of every kind, and shepherds.

My sister called over the holidays as she had found some pieces but she thought they were Mary and Joseph so we let those go.

Another gift from my niece.  She bought a couple of these a long while ago when I was anticipating moving into a new place.  That did not happen and since I have gotten rid of the sofa (which I miss a lot!) she brought one of the chairs up.

Beautiful mid century lounge chair in a great yellow color.  It is vinyl upholstery in superb condition.  Dark wood frame in excellent shape. Comfortable.

It offers me a change from my glider chair so I am grateful she had room to bring it with her.

I finished this book - Katheryn's Secret by Linda Hall.  The story is set in Maine about a family cottage willed by Katheryn to her niece Sharon. 

Sharon is a writer facing a book deadline and taking time to visit Maine and the cottage is more important. Right?  She takes a couple of weeks with her teenage daughter tagging along. Her husband will join them a bit later.

Her aunt Katheryn Sullivan had not married and lived in this cottage with her sisters for many years.  She was eccentric, a dreamer, romantic and a storyteller.   Sharon finds a mysterious disappearance of a child and through the search for her resting place uncovers deep secrets. 

She finds folks who knew and did not tell but fortunately she was able to uncover the family history and bring closure to the events. 

I made a visit to the local ReUse Center as well.  I am working another version of essential oil diffusers/tree scent ornaments which features sewing thread spools. 

I was hoping to use wooden ones but only found a few.  Of course, the plastic ones are everywhere.  I will have to see whether I can achieve a look I am happy with using the plastic ones.

There were bits of velvet which should work wonderfully. Some colorful yarn and some wool skeins.

I will post when I have made a version I am happy with.

Another book completed - Iris and Ruby by Rosie Thomas.  This is my second book by this author and it was wonderful story based in Cairo Egypt this time.  The other was the Kashmir Shawl.

Her granddaughter Ruby from England appears on Iris's doorstep unannounced. She has run away and needs a place to stay. Can she?

Her quiet household with the houseman Mamdooh and Auntie the house keeper is disrupted by this young person and the friends she is making in the area. 

The novel moves between the years Iris was a young woman living in Cairo during the Second World War and her now at 82 years of age still living in Cairo but starting to lose her memories.  Ruby wants to help her grandmother preserve her beloved history so they start to set time aside to reminisce and capture the past.

It is a wonderful story which reunites 3 generations of women and helps Iris, Lesley her estranged daughter and Ruby the willful granddaughter see each other's point of view and life history.

Recent Photos

These flowers were presented at church yesterday in memory of death of my friend Nelson who passed away 6 years ago on Feb 23rd.

He was on holiday in Hawaii with his wife and 2 grandsons.  It was a shock to all of us.


The Christmas Promise is written in alternating first and third person point of view. The first person narrator is Gloria aka Miss Glory. She is a retired widow whose adult son has been missing for seven years. He left home just before Gloria's husband, his father, died, and she hasn't seen or heard from him since. She somewhat recently moved to the unnamed small town that has been the setting for all the Christmas Hope books. In an effort to keep busy and to help others in lieu of helping her son, she collects and sorts donations of food, clothing, household items, and even the occasional car, which she them redistributes to the needy in the community.
She ends up host a few community members in her house - Miriam her neighbour is having renovations done in her house, Erin a young woman who is pregnant and estranged from her Mom, and Donovan who is a young boy whose mothers works evenings at Wilson Department Store and is in an abusive relationship.
Chaz a young man has recently come to town who has alcohol problems and works at Wilson's Department Store. He befriends Donovan's mother Carla and Mike who is a homeless man who sometimes sleeps on the steps of the Wilson Department Store.   Their lives are all entwined and come together around Christmas. It was a very good book.

I have been dealing with plumbing issues for quite a while.

It was confirmed that the isolation valves in the bathroom and kitchen will be replaced on Wednesday. 

Once those are done I can get the rest of my work done.









I had to replace my phone charger this week.  A few areas of my life are starting to right themselves but the weather continues to get down to -30C.

Another terrific book that takes place in two different generations.  The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas. When Mair Ellis clears out her father's house, she finds an exquisite antique shawl, woven from the finest yarns and embroidered in the shades of lake water and mountain skies. Wrapped within its folds is a lock of child's hair. Tracing her grandparents' roots back to Kashmir, Mair embarks on a quest that will change her life forever.

Before the war, Newlywed Nerys Watkins leaves rural Wales for the first time in her life, to accompany her husband on a missionary posting to India. Travelling from lonely Ladakh, high up in the Himalayas, Nerys discovers a new world in the lakeside city of Srinagar. Here, in the exquisite heart of Kashmir, the British live on carved wooden houseboats and dance, flirt and gossip as if there is no war. But the battles draw ever closer, and life in Srinagar becomes less frivolous when the men are sent away to fight. Nerys is caught up in a dangerous friendship, and by the time she is reunited with her husband, the innocent Welsh bride has become a different woman. Years later, when Mair Ellis clears out her father's house, she finds an exquisite antique shawl, woven from the finest yarns and embroidered in the shades of lake water and mountain skies. Wrapped within its folds is a lock of child's hair. Tracing her grandparents' roots back to Kashmir, Mair embarks on a quest that will change her life forever.

It is a great story of strong women doing what has to do for their loved ones.  Loved this one which was very similar style of Kate Morton.   

Sharing with Mosaic Monday #16 hosted by Angie at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf.