happy new

 

New Year illustrations always portrayed an old man with a long beard for the passing year and a baby for the new. Happy new to you.

with a bow

 love, tied up with a bow

snippets

 A curved coin purse made with snippets of lovely leftovers.

whiskers

 A weensy felt otter collecting snacks for New Years eve.

Every gift

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadow. James 1:17

Every good thing in our life is a gift. It’s all from Him. “Count your blessings, name them one by one …”

Light is life. It illuminates and reveals. And He is called the Father of light.  I love that. 

Soup on a shelf

Whether you are Rapunzel or Mother Hen, home canning can keep you from  the fate of Old Mother Hubbard.

Of course preserving food is as old as mankind, and until refrigeration came along, food was salted and dried and pickled and fermented. It wasn’t til a couple hundred years ago though that canning in glass jars became a homely task.  Mason patented the canning jar in 1858 and by then glistening rows of summers wealth marched into the distance on cellar shelves.  

If there were such a thing as a canning graph, it would show a marked dip in the 1950’s. Refrigeration was the tipping point.  But the Do It Yourself decade of the 70’s caused a rebound and canners never looked back. Instead they seized jars and the contents reflected popular culture.  Salsa anyone? 

Food was canned once upon a time as a survival strategy. It has been in various decades a requirement, a luxury, or a trend.  

A quart of glowing golden peach halves. Ruby jam in stout pints. Slim beans and carrots crisp. 

Peter Piper and his pickled peppers come to mind. And Grammas succulent chicken; soup on a shelf.  

Very own

Before there was online shopping, there were catalogues.  Nice big thick ones.  The Sears catalogue and Eatons catalogues came as dependably as the seasons.  When I was a little girl, I took up scissors and snipped out the pictures of the babies.  Oh the babies, the babies! There were always a charming assortment. Perfectly wonderful paper dolls.  Not just paper dolls but my children. My very own family.