Sylvia's Simple Shots

The spring flowers are starting to show up.

This is the Siberian Squill.  It is a beautiful blue color, quite small, close to the ground and perennial.  I have several places in my neighbourhood where it grows.

I was very happy to see it because yesterday morning again I woke to snowflakes in the air. Really!

These will open up into bell shaped blooms.

One of the first projects I took on when the sewing machine came back working well was the mending of my wheat bag.

I have owned this wheat bag forever.  I paid a lot of money when I bought it but it has paid off.  

The cotton outside cover has been sewn back together several times.  The inside sack that holds the wheat has had several repairs.  

As you can see the kernels of wheat were falling out and I was finding them all over the place.

Next time I will have to make a completely new bag and inside sack.   I will put fabric on the list for that project.   I am amazed this cotton is still hanging in.

This is the book I finished this week.  A Grace Disguised - how the soul grows through loss by Jerry Sittser.

It describes a very tragic event in this man's life and how he chose to live is life after losing 3 members of his family.

The good, the bad and the ugly are covered in this book.  How God works in our lives to help us survive the very difficult challenges we face.  How we can grow through them and how life can have bright spots again but never be the same.

This book provided encouragement to me to be patient in this time, be consistent, and hang in there.  

Stay positive and wait.

I am collecting some new Big Sky photos again.

We can have some wonderful blue skies here with amazing cloud formations.

It's a matter of not taking them for granted and looking up every time I am outside.

And taking the pics that are worthy of capture.

Flickr Macro Mondays challenge this week was Battery.   Of course, they come in every size, color and description.

Here I have placed 2 D batteries aligned in front of each other.  I like that they had this blue plastic layer around the edges.

I lit them with a flashlight from above.

My highlights are not blown out and the shape repetition works well along with the black background.

You can check out my Photostream by follwoing this link (SMDPics).

Have a great week!

Christmas 2018

This is the only nativity on display at my house this year. 

Craft sales and other projects took up much of my time and the results it was coming down to Dec 23 to decorate.



Then the battery in my car died on Sunday night and I had to get some help to diagnose the problem. Thanks to my brother-in-law who came when I called; my sister who drove me home at midnight, and my brother with the knowledge to determine the problem.

I borrowed this book from the lounge in the apartment building at Mom & Dad's.  I had read the Lilac Bus but the Firefly Summer and the Silver Wedding were new to me.

The Firefly Summer was long in places.  It covers the re-building of a mansion which burned down in the early 1900s.  It is in a small Irish town and the consequences of coming to town bringing American tourists is a concern.  The pub nearby will likely lose it's business, the project manager is happy to have a big project during the construction phase, the local kids used to play in the ruins and now that has changed.

There are a couple of tragedies which take place.  Again, changes are taking place with sadness and adjustment needed.

It has a great ending.




We had a wonderful Christmas lunch with around 40 in attendance.  We had a children's gift exchange and an adult exchange.  This is the wonderful food provided in our potluck. 

Mom & Dad enjoyed have their extended family to celebrate the birth of Jesus. 

We had great weather for all of us who traveled several hours to get there. 

Boxing Day was a wonderful day.   The sky was blue, the sun was highlighting the hoar frost on the trees.

The snow machines were started and those who wanted a ride got a ride across the yard and fields.

I am getting ready for New Year's Eve.

Enjoy!