Green Wellies

A bookend...

A bookend...
Originally uploaded by Green Wellies

After fighting a brave battle, a friend of forty-four years passed away and she leaves behind a void in the sisterhood of mankind. There are so many memories...teaching together, running an antique store as partners, living houses away from each other in Toronto (and those harrowing bike rides with babies strapped to the back), picnics with toddlers, drives along country roads to look at old houses, family Christmas Eves, walks along woodland trails and gathering rocks on the beach when she flew west to visit. She was one of the bookends of my life, a kind and gentle soul whose passion was family, friends and protecting the heritage of historic homes in Port Hope. Her ancestors from the Isle of Skye will be waiting with open arms to hold her. Godspeed, dear friend.

Remarkable read...

Remarkable
Originally uploaded by Green Wellies

One of the quirks with having a dad who was a geologist meant more often than not, there were fossils at the dinner table. I grew up learning about trilobites, brachiopods, belemnites, ammonites and such. It's no wonder that years later when I was in Lyme Regis, Dorset and first heard the name Mary Anning, I became fascinated with the woman who began collecting fossils as a young girl, found a skeleton of an ichthyosaur when she was only 12 and went on to discover the first complete fossilized skeleton of a plesiosaur in 1823.
Gwen gave me this book and although it's fiction, it follows Mary's story and her friendship with an older woman, Elizabeth Philpot, who became a well-known fossil hunter in her own right.
All in all, a very good read and right up my alley!
The author, Tracy Chevalier, has a terrific website for Remarkable Creatures.

Who stole the cookies in the cookie jar...

Who stole the cookies in the cookie jar...
Originally uploaded by Green Wellies

The last time my sister came to visit, she brought along this glass cookie jar she wasn't using. I borrowed an idea I saw online and filled it with rolls of twine and string and added a pair of old scissors. Now it's all in one spot and easy to snip off a length whenever I need some. My junk "drawer" consists of a covered basket. The rolls of twine took up too much room and tended to get jumbled as I searched for stuff. This is the cookie jar solution to more than one problem!