A real tonic and other things

As you know my step-father has been in hospital after having open heart surgery and then having a stroke.

My nephew who is around 8 or 9, I can never remember has been visiting him with his parents.  Here are some of the things he has said or done.

John:  Pop you are really, really lucky to have a bed like that, I would like one.........the hospital bed.

John: That's a really cool cane

John: I "borrowed" this flower, so you can roll it between your fingers so you can do your exercises.

John: Pop, is your heart better.

Pop: yes it's fine

John then goes to give him a big hug, as prior to that he was hugging him on his shoulder.

The other day they brought him some strawberries to eat.  Pop was having trouble getting the last few from the dish, so Nana told John to feed them to Pop using a spoon.

John gets the spoon with strawberries on it and makes an airplane noise and "flies" the spoon to Pop's mouth.  Everyone is laughing at this point, including Pop.

John: What, my mam used to do that to make me eat!!!

Nana, John's Mam and John went to the hospital the other day and where they parked was a bit iffy and the adults were worried they may get a parking ticket.  So they were talking about it, and said to John, they hoped not as they could end up in jail.

John: Don't worry Nana, you get porridge in jail................. I guess that's a good thing in John's books???

As I said to John's mother he's a real tonic as you never know what he is going to say next!!

I got an email from Crate and Barrelng a few things including this "Poppy" print.

Does that not look like a Tulip to you? Or am I misunderstanding something?

I posted another book review yesterday here.

Dd and the Olympics........

We were down at dd on Sunday, so I was busy painting and gardening.  There was a very brief introduction of Molly to Olive the cat and it didn't go well!!!!  So the cats were shut in the bedroom, probably for Molly's protection!!!

Did manage to watch the Olympic closing ceremony and thoroughly enjoyed it, despite all the adverts we had to endure over here!!!!

Thought I'd show you a close up of the bouquet's that were handed out thought they were very pretty:

photo courtesy of Jane Packer

The bouquets
The victory bouquet has been designed by Jane Packer, an internationally renowned UK florist. The bouquet represents the vibrancy of the Games and the four sections hold a different variety of the rose, an iconic British flower. Each section is also divided with traditional herbs – mint, rosemary, English lavender and wheat. These British-grown ingredients are designed to provide an unusually eclectic fragrant mix. Info from the London 2012 site.


Loved "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"

And of course John Lennon's "Imagine,"

 Love George Michael, granted he's past his best, but his songs are catchy:

 All in all very well done I thought!

Visiting thrift stores is addictive!!!!

We went for a ride out to Stayner on Saturday afternoon, to visit my favourite thrift store.  The lady is very helpful in there and even though I only got this platter this time, she hunted out a pile of other stuff in the back room for me to look at.  The platter is Snowhite Regency by Johnson Brothers and I paid $3 for it, so was happy with that.  I was trying to find this exact pattern on the internet, as it was also made without the pattern as well.

We then went to this "Antique Store," where I have bought from before and I picked up this pair of cups, saucers and side plates.  They cost me $3 per set, which I thought was high, but never mind.  It seems to be like a Corningware/Corelle type of product, and not fine china, but sometimes you have to take what you can find!!

This is my favourite set so far and again I paid $3 for it and it is Moyatt Staffordshire "Medici."  I think it is the Turquoise colour?  She has more pieces of this and I think I will go back next week to see what I have to pay for the platter she had.  The longer I was in the store, the more friendlier she got.  I think this is stunning:

This last set is Blue Bow by Crown Staffordshire and is very pretty as well.  She would only sell me the one set at $3 despite there being more.

I love going to these stores to see what I can spot.  The platters are not to give away, I will keep most of them for myself, so I will only buy what I truly like.  

Weather for ducks........

Friday was a wet miserable day, perfect for ducks.  We went to a memorial service for our friends dad.  It was lovely and I shed many tears with them, as the stories they had to tell about her dad were lovely.  I hadn't seen her two boys for a while.  Got a bit of a shock as they are not boys but fine young men.  Made me feel old actually.

Anyhow the funeral home had limited parking, so dh had to park a five minute walk away.  Despite having an umbrella, we got drenched, right down to our underwear.  Got out of dh's truck to see a delightful wet patch where I had been sitting!!!!  We went out for a fish and chip supper, had to use my car, as there was no way I was sitting on a wet seat.

We need to find another fish and chip shop, as although the fish and chips aren't bad, the place is icky.  Cleaning is not at the top of their priorities and the lady who owns the place looks as though she is sucking on lemons the whole time.  You know when your server comes back during your meal to ask if everything is alright?  You know for a fact that this woman really does not care one way or another. 

We are going to check out Orangeville and hopefully find a decent fish and chip shop.  Do you enjoy fish and chips?

(photo credit)

I posted a book review here yesterday.

Home of the week and other things......

This week's "Home of the Week," is not really my taste, but I do love the before and after photos.  They really did a good job, of bringing light into the home.  It is amazing what the right wall colours, and staging does to an old house, plus some renovations.  They brought a tired dark home back to life.  Not sure I would pay $2 million though for the house?

If you don't click on any of the other links click on this one for the "Cottage of the Week."  Mind you paying $12 million for a cottage on it's own island is probably out of all of our reaches.  It's way over board for me this place, just too much of everything, don't you think?  Even the grounds feel over done as well, not at all natural.  I think I'll pass on this one!!!!

Want to pay $7.5 million for this week's "Condo of the Week," go ahead I won't be fighting you for it!!  The swimming pool is so wrong it looks like a fish tank perched on the terrace.  I wonder why they didn't put any furniture in it to stage it?  At the selling price isn't it expected?  I obviously don't move in the right circles, as I had no idea who Peter Freed was, I had to Google his name!!!!

I had to go into town on Thursday, so I went into the thrift stores, in my search for tea cups.  Didn't find any sets, BUT did find this platter for $3.  It's lovely isn't it?

It poured down all day on Thursday, and I took a photo of Molly staring out of the window.  She is probably thinking about whether she should venture outside, but with it raining will it make her shrink as she's "allergic" to water!!!

They come in threes and more purchases.......

You know how we say things come in threes, we got news on Wednesday of another death, this time a friend's dad.  So now we are waiting for number three.........

I went into Brampton on Wednesday and while I was there, I checked out some charity/thrift stores.  I was surprised at how expensive things were, but I did manage to get a couple of things.  Everything I got in the photo below cost under $9.50.  So now I have 30 sets of tea cups, saucers and side plates.  I have nearly 40 teaspoons now, and the glass double handled container is to put the spoons in.  The little milk jugs are cute as well aren't they, and at 50 cents each a deal.

When I was visiting a very dear friend on Tuesday, she gave me this tea cup, saucer and side plate, which was ever so kind of her.

Spoons and Mug Cakes.........

Adding to my teacup, saucer and side plates, are spoons.  I have been collecting these and they seem to cost around 25 cents a piece.  Can't say I am an expert in these, so if you think any of them are worth a small fortune, please let me know!!!!!

I liked this one the best in the ones I have bought so far:

I got a buy one get one free coupon for the Dr.Oetker mug cake.  So I bought a couple to give them a try.

They are very easy to make and each package makes two cakes.  They don't look as good as the ones on the package, but overall weren't bad.  We had ours with some vanilla ice cream.

I think I paid $1.99 for two packages, and other than a little milk you don't need to add anything else to the mix.  Unless I can get them super cheap I probably won't be buying them again.  They make a quick pudding.