I WON!

I enter a lot of contests. Usually I enter and then forget I even entered but a week or so ago I had a voice message left on my phone telling me I won a contest! I recently entered a contest for a book by Mike McCardell. Mike McCardell works for Global TV which is my favorite TV channel for local news. He is a reporter who does human interest pieces at the end of the news. He does stories on everyday regular folks who have caught his interest for one reason or another and they are always entertaining. His latest book is titled "Unlikely Love Stories" and proceeds will go to Variety Club, The Children's Charity. Thanks Global for a great prize, I can't wait to start reading it! Mike McCardell's blog is here http://www.globaltvbc.com/pages/blogs.aspx?blogid=357  if you would like to find out more about him or Global TV!

 

Our Christmas Movie Day!

Today Loretta, Leona and I went downtown to see Anna Karenina, it was a different sort of movie but the sets were like those in a play, quite interesting to see on the big screen and the clothing the actresses wore was lovely. The scenery was lovely also. It was one of those movies that left me wanting to know more...I thought a lot of details were left out and now I want to figure some of it out so will have to do some research on it.

 This is a matching game located underground somewhere....on the way to the skytrain (transit) we each had a try at it, I think Leona was the most intent on mastering it...lol...it was fun but we highly doubt anyone actually did it in the 22 seconds displayed on the "to beat" screen!!

 I cannot get the pictures to line up right but we had dinner at Fat Burger and Loretta gave me a very lovely birthday gift, it is an American Girl sweater that I had greatly admired and you can only get it as a purchase with purchase in the store and I haven't been near a store for more than a year, so when she went to the store last weekend she got one for me for my birthday, I am thrilled to bits and love it! PS...thanks to Robert for taking Loretta back so we could each have one! Very sweet of him!



In Flanders Fields...lest we forget....

GreatWar 1914-1918

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Inspiration for “In Flanders Fields”

Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, 1st Brigade Canadian Field Artillery. ⁽¹⁾

During the early days of the Second Battle of Ypres a young Canadian artillery officer, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was killed on 2^nd May, 1915 in the gun positions near Ypres. An exploding German artillery shell landed near him. He was serving in the same Canadian artillery unit as a friend of his, the Canadian military doctor and artillery commander Major John McCrae.
As the brigade doctor, John McCrae was asked to conduct the burial service for Alexis because the chaplain had been called away somewhere else on duty that evening. It is believed that later that evening, after the burial, John began the draft for his now famous poem “In Flanders Fields”.
For the story behind the inspiration for “In Flanders Fields”, see our page at:
Inspiration for In Flanders Fields

Related Topics

The Story Behind the Remembrance Poppy

One of the first material poppies sold in aid of The Haig Fund .

Also known as “The Poppy Lady” find out how this poem inspired the American teacher, Moina Belle Michael, to write a poem in response to “In Flanders Fields”. Discover how she and Frenchwoman Madame Anna Guérin, known as “The French Poppy Lady”, encouraged people to use the red Flanders poppy as a way of remembering those who had suffered in war, and how the Flanders Poppy became the symbol of remembrance that we know so well today:
The Story Behind the Remembrance Poppy

Essex Farm Advanced Dressing Station, Ypres

Find out more about the battlefield location where the poem is believed to have been composed on the evening of 2^nd May 1915.
Essex Farm Advanced Dressing Station, Ypres Salient

 

Inspiration for The Poppy Umbrella

Lieutenant Colonel Graham Parker, OBE, founder of The Poppy Umbrella in Ypres on 11^th November 2008.

On 11^th November 1995 Lieutenant Colonel Graham Parker, OBE was in Ypres (Ieper) to take part in the annual Armistice Day ceremonies. As he led The Poppy Parade to the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, there was a heavy rainstorm and the crowds lining the route began putting up umbrellas.
The Armistice Day service at the Menin Gate Memorial that year was commemorating the 70th anniversary of the battles of 1915 in the Ypres Salient. Graham's thoughts turned to images of poppies growing among the graves as portrayed in the “In Flanders Fields” poem. The images of poppies on the old Flanders battlefields and the umbrellas on a wet November day in Ypres were Graham's inspiration for the Poppy Umbrella is not only a practical and imaginative way to help us “Remember” all through the year, but also helps to raise funds for ex-Service charities and good causes.
The Poppy Umbrella

From the website:  http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/john-mccrae-in-flanders-fields.htm

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

October has been an awful month around here with my dear Mom having had 4 more strokes, and each one leaves her more debilitated, she is stable for the moment so I thought I would quickly put up a Halloween post. Between crisis's I managed to attend a lovely Chatty Tea at my friend Loretta's (AKA Martha Stewart of the North). We had a lovely afternoon and once again she outdid herself with lovely decor, goodies and friendship.

 The table was so beautifully set!

 Loretta's Bleuettes, Zoe, Yvette Marie and Robinette were on hand and all dressed up for the occasion!

 My Chatty's joined Loretta's Chatty and her darling American Girl on the side table.

 Every picture has a story and this one is good, this is Leona, she has a darling hat on her head, blow up the picture big and you will see it better, attached to the hat is a cute tiny little doll, Leona thought Loretta had picked it up at the local dollar store...little did she know it is a hand made doll for Loretta's doll house that is very valuable....Leona was glad she hadn't sewn or stapled her onto the hat!

 This is us at the table but alas, I don't have a picture of the hostess as she took this one...she later managed to program her camera to take a photo of all of us but I don't know how to do that on my camera so no picture of the one who did all the work...sigh

 This is Loretta's Mom Susie, she is holding her very own childhood doll that now lives at Loretta's house...how neat is this? The doll looks brand new...

 The Chatty on the left is Loretta's childhood doll Catherine that she received for Christmas when she was just 4 years old! The other two girls are my girls and one was from Ebay and the other I found on Craig's list recently. I bought both from their original owners, so the pigtail is Chatty Barb and the blonde on the right is Chatty Heather in honor of their original little mama's

And here is Robert, once again he arrived home to no dinner as we got carried away and time marched on much too quickly! He is relaxing with our tea party "Queen"  Kelsie...Kelsie has her Halloween collar decoration on and is not terribly impressed by it...lol

Bella's New Apron:

This is my little Ruby Red Galleria resin Bleuette that I have named Bella. Today I made her a little apron for Halloween from an LSDS pattern at the Bleu Door pattern portal. This pattern is 1912, #33 and was quite simple to make. My concentration levels are not so good these days so simple and easy is about all I can handle. I was happy to finally be able to take a little time and sew something, I find I have missed it.

Getting Ready for Halloween!

I see I have been very bad about blogging recently, that darned life keeps getting in the way, it is not that I have nothing to say but I just don't seem to get it said lately. Today I met Loretta at the mall and we browsed the stores and had fun looking at all kinds of neat Halloween stuff, from chocolate to aprons! We hope to get together more often in the future at the mall, we always seem to have a lot to talk about and the time goes by so quickly!

 This display reminds me of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, I wish I had a big enough house to do displays like this...or maybe on second thought I don't, I don't need anything else to dust! I will just trek to the stores to look!

 Darling aprons with cute sayings on them, I don't wear aprons but might just make an exception for one of these cute ones!

 Very whimsical, not sure if they are witches or pumpkins or a combination of both but they sure are cute!

 I am quite sure the picture below is of me....or not, she is smiling and that isn't me of late!

However...chocolate tends to make one smile...especially chocolate that looks like eyeballs, feeling quite ghoulish tonight I think:) The brown chocolate things are like peanut butter cups....Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory style...decadent.....don't ask how I know this....

 Rocky Mountain makes the cutest candy apples and their front window is always a joy to browse to see what new concoctions they have come up with, and today was no exception! Click on the pictures and I think they will supersize and you can see them better!

 Gobble, Gobble, it is getting close to turkey time in Canada as our Thanksgiving is October 8th this year....Rocky Mountain has designed some perfect chocolate treats to celebrate the occasion!

Ahhh....the last picture is the scariest of all....3 witches...boo!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA - 145 YEARS!

Happy Birthday to Canada! I went to Burnaby Village Museum to celebrate Canada Day and had a lovely time! The museum has free admission all summer!

This is one of the several cakes that was served at 2:30 to the first 1500 people in the VERY long line that snaked everywhere!

One of the groups entertaining, this was a singing group and they were very nice to listen to!

Lunch time, num, bbq'd hotdogs and hamburgers were available to purchase and our hot dog was delicious!

Look very carefully...someone is standing on the fence!

 Oh my, standing on a roof, what a view!

 There was a parade and after all the people who participated gathered and there was a speech

 Out front of the museum

 The wind was blowing so hard the flag became her dress!

 A very neat looking car in the parking lot

We started with the fabulous cake and we will end with another shot! Happy Canada Day Everyone!