Hansel & Gretels Strawberry Basket

Have you read the book "Inkheart" By Cornelia Funke?

This was a fabulous tale which I enjoyed immensely. In this novel as the reader tells a story out loud characters from the book pop into this world.

I've always enjoyed reading and sometimes do catch myself reading out loud.

Thinking "Inkheart was just a fairy tale I had no qualms about reading "Hansel & Gretel" out loud.

"Once upon a time a very poor woodcutter lived in a tiny cottage in the forest with his two children, Hansel and Gretel. His second wife often ill-treated the children and was forever nagging the woodcutter.

"There is not enough food in the house for us all. There are too many mouths to feed! We must get rid of the two brats," She declared. And she kept on trying to persuade her husband to abandon his children in the forest."

As the story goes on Hansel & Gretel are taken deep into the forest with a basket that must be filled with strawberry's before they return.

Suddenly on my table appeared this basket of strawberry's.

Oh dear, poor Hansel & Gretel, they can never return empty handed to the evil stepmother.

I must find a way to get the strawberry basket back into the hands of the rightful owners.

Be Happy Day

Did you know March,3rd is "I want you to be happy day"

Here are ten things that have made me happy lately.

1. Cross country skiing on Antelope lake

2. Deer, turkeys and squirrels eating outside my window

3. A nice warm fire

4. Blogging and keeping in touch with family & friends

5. Icicles melting off the roof

6. Bright cheery sunshine

7. Eating warm bread my husband made.

8. Passing my CNA testing

9. Looking at my daughters art work

10. Going to Goodwill treasure hunting

What has made you happy lately?

The Time Traveler's Wife

This months "Turn the page Tuesday" is a book the was recommended through blogging.
I have picked "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger
I see there is a movie coming out of this book.
It's a book that keeps you guessing. Henry travels through time. You never know when or where he will pop up next.
A most untraditional love story, this is the celebrated tale of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who involuntarily travels through time, and Clare Abashire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love.

The time will come

When, with elation,

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own mirror,

and each will smile at the other's welcome.

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

sit. feast on your life.

By, Derek Walcott

New Dining Room

We've been doing some remodeling this winter.
Here is our new dining room.

The kitchen was so cramped & unhandy and the dining room was clear over in another part of the house. So we opened up the wall to the office & turned it into a dining room. This makes it so much handier.

This big table & china cabinets all came with the property. I've never had china hutch's before.

Now I have plenty of room for company.

Come on over. We'll have tea & cake while enjoying a rousing game of Rummy.

Snow Shoeing

Have you tried snow shoeing?

It's pretty awesome.

You can walk through the deep snow, where no man has walked before.

It makes the dogs pretty tired following along.

I saw buffalo, wild turkey's and whitetail deer.

This is the sort of thing that renews my soul.

Tell me what renews your soul.

Snow Emergency

Winter is defiantly holding us in it's icy grips.

We woke up Saturday morning to a new covering of snow. Driving to work that morning was a bit scary. No one Else had driven out our way, so there were no tracks to follow. Everything was white. In some spots you couldn't tell where the road ended or began. I drove about 15 or 20 miles per hour for about seven miles before I got to a road that I could see some old tracks on and ended up back tracking six more miles to get to the highway. I did make it to work in one piece. Needless to say I was a bit late.

That day the snow continued to fall so the hospital called a snow emergency. In a snow emergency you have to stay if scheduled to work the next day.

My boss Denice called and said "Stacey you stay at my house." She insisted I sleep in her comfy bed and she slept on the couch.

We had a great girls night, eating pizza and playing cards & dice.

What a great group of people I work with.

I'm back at home now.

The snowplow has bladed the road and the sky is bright blue with plenty of sunshine.

Meet Fredrick The Gnome

Meet Fredrick. He has had a long journey from the west coast town of Astoria Oregon to the mid west area of Anamoose North Dakota.

You would think the little fellow would be worn out from the long road trip, but no he is full of energy. Just today he has chopped down two tree's and made a huge pile of fire wood, taken a walk in the woods, a ride on his snowmobile and now he is checking out the cookbooks to see what kind of tasty concoctions he can come up with.

Fredrick does seem to like it in North Dakota.