Mosaic Monday #57: November Notions

Notion: An impulse or desire, especially one of a whimsical kind

Notions (North American): Items used in sewing, such as buttons, pins and hooks

The fire is roaring, and Pentatonix Holiday Radio is playing on Pandora.  All is right in my little corner of the world, and I am in a whimsical mood.  Seems to me an ideal time to re-cap some fanciful moments from November.

How do you feel when you return home from a lengthy getaway?  Hungry because there's nothing in the fridge?  Forlorn because no-one has acknowledged your return?  Nothing could have been further from the truth when we arrived home from our UK/Germany trip at the beginning of November.  My dear neighbor friend had chicken soup and cornbread waiting so we would have dinner on our first night.  We were hooked.

I am not sure which was more heart-warming - the food or the hand-made cards from her grandkids.  They pressed all the right buttons with this welcome!

(internet)

I haven't been doing much cooking of late, but I had the impulse in November to concoct something with pumpkin.  And if it would be suitable for breakfast in bed for my dear Spousal Unit, all the better.  Voila!  Pumpkin spice waffles! This was so simple to make - two mixing bowls and a waffle maker and you are good to go.  Imagine my delight when Spousal Unit (a.k.a Head Chef) gave it his stamp of approval!

Do you like classic books?  My dear neighbor friend recently made a trip to Tennessee, and during her visit picked up a number of books from a sale at the county library.  Two "oldies but goodies" here.  I took the picture in part so that I could remember to ask her for the books in the future - I have an inkling that I will like the  books about Lincoln and pioneers.  I have always been fascinated about both topics, and it is yet another discovery of interests we share. 

Christmas is fast approaching, and stitching on my felt ornaments has continued at a steady pace.  Which one do you like best?  I must admit to being partial to the dapper snowmen with the top hats!

My Mom has also been busy with her crochet hook.  During our visit to Ohio, I was thrilled to see some new crochet masterpieces while at her house.  I am in love with the ballerina giraffe!

Spousal Unit and I treated Mom to lunch at Carrabba's, and Mom and I admired their holiday village, prompting Mom to recall a winter scene that her mother used to display.  Ah, memories!  Do you have a passion for such displays?

In the top photo, I love the water tower made into a snowman!

Frequent readers may be wondering if I am still monitoring my trail cam, and the answer would be yes.  Then why no pix lately?  Well, it's been deer, deer and more deer, and mostly at a distance.  No coyotes, or turkeys or bears.  But even deer can be adorable, in the right setting.  I fancy the light in this picture - you can even see a sheen of moisture on that perky little nose.

This young lady clearly had the notion to get up close and personal with the camera!

As we close this chapter on November 2019, it is my sincere desire that Advent is giving you the time to reflect on the reason for the season and to share it with others.  Go tell it on the mountain!  

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.

Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Mosaic Monday #1 - The Legacy Continues

I am honored to welcome you to my first post as the new host of Mosaic Monday.  Honored because I am a lucky lady to carry on the fine legacy established by our previous hosts - Mary @ Little Red House through August 4, 2014, Judith @ Lavender Cottage from August 10, 2014 through July 24, 2016 and Maggie @ Normandy Life from July 31, 2016 through October 29, 2018.  Please join me in thanking them!

My Mom's crochet - published 7/16/2017

Afternoon tea at Fairmont Banff Springs

Published 9/10/2017

How and when did you first come across Mosaic Monday?  My history with MM is relatively short, but then my blogging only began on March 2, 2017.  At that time, I was looking for other bloggers in Montana, and I found Kit @ A Montana Life.  Kit's blog roll contains both Maggie @ Normandy Life and Tammy @ T's Daily Treasures.  Tammy pointed me to PicMonkey as a tool for creating mosaics, and I was tickled with myself to publish my first three mosaics on April 3, 2017.

Making cookies for the neighbors

Published 12/8/2017

Then, on May 20, 2017, I linked to Mosaic Monday for the first time.  (I didn't learn about permalinks until later, so I am sure some of you that tried to find that post through Maggie's linky party got to read some other post … sigh.) Despite my mistakes, I was overjoyed to be welcomed by so many of you - 17 months later, I feel I am part of a community that shares its joys and sorrows through beautiful pictures and creative collages.  In honor of my first post as host, I have chosen 5 favorite mosaics to decorate this narrative.  I look forward to sharing many more collages, and to be inspired by your collections.

Scenes in Whitefish, Montana

Published 3/9/2018

A special thank you to Maggie @ Normandy Life, for her patience with my questions over the last couple of weeks.  As she says "Keep calm and keep asking questions … it's the only way to learn."  So, I hope you'll be patient with me if there are technical bumps along the way - as some of you know, techie stuff is not my forte!





Here's to many more years of Mosaic Monday!

Holy Cross Chapel, Durham, UK - published 3/16/2018

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

An InLinkz Link-up

"Hooked" on Mom's Crochet

As I have expanded my contacts within the blogging community, I have been impressed with how many of my favorite bloggers crochet.  So, while I am not in that sisterhood myself, I wanted to share the creations of my mother, who invests many of her waking hours plying her crochet hook to the benefit of others.

Mom takes great joy in crafting gifts for her great grandchildren, who currently number 16 (with 2 more on the way)!  She started with baby blankets, hats and booties. (On our weekly Skype call today, we got to talking about the gender of the greats because the two on the way are both boys.  That means boys 11, girls 7 - come on, girls!!!)

More recently she has been on a kick with animals.  My Mom lives independently at the St. Leonard's senior living community, and one of her favorite activities is contributing crochet projects for Creative Corner.   In addition to a year-round shop, Creative Corner hosts a special holiday Bazaar in November.  The leader of Creative Corner gave my Mom the pattern for the giraffe with a request to make one; Mom has now produced a small tower of giraffes (a group of giraffes standing is called a tower; a group in motion is called a jenny) that have found homes through the shop and with her great grandchildren around the world.

(Upon request, even us kids can have an animal - I have a giraffe I named Tank; he is in storage until our log house is finished - I can't wait to be reunited with him!)

This was snapped up quickly at Creative Corner

Even arthritis does not stop her - she employs an ergonomic crochet handle and it means a world of difference with the aching - even when she does a large project like this throw with 50 stars - she almost regretted that we have so many states when she grew weary of hooking numerous stars. 

So what do you say to 100 stars?

Designs come from various sources - Mom discovered the pattern for the throw above on the back of a crochet wrapper.  Others she locates on the Web.  As she puts it, she has a 'lovely lady' at St. Leonard's who prints the patterns for her.  The Lovey Blankets below were found by her leader at Creative Corner, and every one of them is so cute you want to squeeze it!  No surprise that I have asked Mom to make me a couple of the owls for the babies of friends of mine!

Some of her creations are hard to part with - I remember that Santa and Mrs. Claus were couch companions for many months until she finally had to turn them over for the Bazaar.  Raggedy Ann and Andy also took up residence for a while before making the trek to Creative Corner.  Don't you just love the hair on those two?

Be wary of admiring something in her house, or that she has given someone else - you will probably get one from her in the future.  So it was that I received these too-nice-to-use potholders.  If you look closely, you can see the delicate nature of the hooking - this was not done with the ergonomic handle and  I can only imagine the physical investment Mom made with these.  I am honored and I am hooked!

Linking to Embracing Change

Linking to Mosaic Monday

Mosaic Monday