The Glad Game

Pollyanna is a very old reference from a book written by Eleanor H. Porter in 1913. Probably most people don't know why we say someone "is being a Pollyanna". Pollyanna was the titular character  of the novel, and according to the story her father taught her to find something to be glad about no matter how dire the situation by playing "The Glad Game". She is so good at the game that she influences her very crabby aunt and even an entire town to see the world in a more positive light.

Another more current book with a humorous take on remaining optimistic is "Could Be Worse" by James Stevenson. Despite the everyday woes of the grandkids, or even the amazing events in his tall tale that starts with being lifted out of bed by an eagle and dropped in the mountains where he meets the abominable snowman, his constant refrain is "could be worse". And it is true, isn't it?

Just last night we read in The #1 Ladies Detective Agency book currently on our nightstand that "Mma Ramotswe always managed to put things into perspective. Everything could always be worse, and so be grateful that things are only as bad as they are."

We are simply calling our attempt to find the silver linings during these very unusual times 

"Bad News/Good News". Here we go.

Bad News: No hair appointments for the foreseeable future.
Good News: We never gave in to coloring so we will have no grey roots growing out. As for the bangs - we still own bobby pins, and a scissors if things get desperate.

Bad News: Teeth cleaning cancelled.
Good News: No scolding for flossing deficiency.

Bad News: Stuck at home.
Good news: We have a cozy, big house with a full pantry in a walk-able neighborhood with congenial neighbors to wave to and greet from a distance.

Bad News: No get togethers with friends and family.
Good news: Lots of technology for virtual visits!

Bad News: Dreary weather and rain.
Good News: It is not snowing and signs of spring, including rain, are all around.

Bad News: Absolutely no reasons to procrastinate on the household to-do lists.
Good News: We are actually getting things done. Taxes, census, cleaning, cooking. Check, check, check, check.

Bad News: We get no visitors.
Good News: Pajama time 24/7!

Bad News: Spring and Summer vacations canceled.
Good News: We won't miss seeing our own garden at the peak of the growing season. We can admire every single moment of the magnificent rhododendron, lilacs, and spring epheremals in bloom.

Bad News: Our president is not doing a very good job of reassuring the nation, and indulges in some harmful magical thinking.
Good News: We do not have to be the ones standing behind him at press conferences trying desperately not to react to what he is saying. (Those people deserve a daytime Emmy for their performances.)

It doesn't matter where you are getting your inspiration to find the Good News in your situation, we only hope that you are finding it somewhere. And, we welcome you to share your Good News or source of hope with us here in the comments. If anyone calls you Pollyanna please take it as a compliment and remember, it could be worse.

Northern Hospitality

RCMP mug recently added to the stable of coffee cups. A fine new specimen for our Mountie collection as well. Thank you, Niece.

We may have been drinking from it when we recently read this book. 

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland

We were afraid a book about 9/11 would be very sad, and it was, but the overwhelming feeling was amazement at the hospitality of an entire community towards the thousands of people stranded on their island when the events of the day caused the grounding of dozens of planes at their airport. 

So many acts of kindness! A beautiful result from a horrible act of violence.

A synopsis from Amazon:

When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S. airspace on September 11, the population of this small town on Newfoundland Island swelled from 10,300 to nearly 17,000. The citizens of Gander met the stranded passengers with an overwhelming display of friendship and goodwill.

As the passengers stepped from the airplanes, exhausted, hungry and distraught after being held on board for nearly 24 hours while security checked all of the baggage, they were greeted with a feast prepared by the townspeople. Local bus drivers who had been on strike came off the picket lines to transport the passengers to the various shelters set up in local schools and churches. Linens and toiletries were bought and donated. A middle school provided showers, as well as access to computers, email, and televisions, allowing the passengers to stay in touch with family and follow the news.

Over the course of those four days, many of the passengers developed friendships with Gander residents that they expect to last a lifetime. As a show of thanks, scholarship funds for the children of Gander have been formed and donations have been made to provide new computers for the schools. This book recounts the inspiring story of the residents of Gander, Canada, whose acts of kindness have touched the lives of thousands of people and been an example of humanity and goodwill.

A recommended by NDL read. And the inspiration for the Broadway play Come from Away.

Seedy Art

Got a tip on artful seed packets full of lovely heirloom seed varieties from 

Hudson Valley Seed Library.

How could we not order and share some?

Brilliant red, butterfly attracting, blooms for gifting? Grumpy, but fragrant gnomes? Gleaming edible flowers and foliage?

All right in our wheelhouse.

The true gift was that of a young gardener in the family starting some of them for us while we were gallivanting around Europe right during prime seed sprouting season.

She did a great job!

We have nasturtium, zinnia, 

and a bumper crop of lovely, lemon cucumbers.

So gifted!

Now to think of something clever to do with the beautiful artist-designed packets. 

Anyone? Anyone?

Look at this!

Spring Beauty

Oh My!

Gorgeous!

Thank you soooo much to the mystery May Day gift giver. 

Did you know May Day is one of NDL's very favorite days of the year?

We started the day with snow in Cable, WI and came home to this beautiful burst of spring.

And that is why it is a wonderfully, whimsical (we are at the whim of Mother Nature) day to celebrate spring in Wisconsin.

Highway Beautification

We went to a donut sale at a local church and came home with brooms.

The men's group was selling them and although it was not the main focus of the day's fundraiser they did a fine job with their sales pitch (that they were made in U.S.A. and that NAFTA has been hard on the broom industry was mentioned more than once), closed the deal,  and then ran to their broom closet to get the items we had chosen. The silver tongued deacon doing the selling even managed to convince us it would be sensible to go for the buy three, get a whisk broom free deal. And since we couldn't even remember the last time we saw a whisk broom for sale we succumbed to nostalgia and the deal of the day.

We were really after some big old brooms for use in garage, sidewalk and drive way, but fell for the Kitchenette on first sight. Who would not love a broom that boasts a sweeping distance of 97 miles?

So when you see us keeping America's Highways clean by sweeping our way to St. Paul one day move over and give us a little non-startling honk if you love a litter-free landscape.

A Gift of Plums

Became a beautiful clafouti,

and two batches of sparkling red jelly.

And gave us another opportunity to play with the jam labelelizer.

We Heart Butterflies

We found this little guy having a siesta after a heart-healthy, milkweed munch.

Good call little larva. There is still plenty of exhausting eating and metamorphosing ahead.

Our alley monarch watch gives us reason for optimism. Many more were spotted this year than last.

Overall forecasts for the monarch population are not so rosy, but maybe, with a little help from their friends, they will get by.

Let's do it!

Unity Quilt

This quilt from a pattern appropriately called "Band Together" by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle 

was finished just in time to give as a gift to acknowledge a milestone event.

.

The event was the college graduation of another young person who had the many people of our amazing village 

banded together to guide him up the many steps that led to the podium. 

Members of the village carried and rocked, collected rocks, employed a pint-size yard boy, taught welding, kept a sense of humor, counseled his mother, and displayed in countless other ways that they loved and supported him as he strove for the independence of adulthood.

Thank you to the village (again). 

Congratulations to the graduate!

It's Not All About the List

Look what we saw on a newspaper paper vending machine downtown last week.

And again under random windshield wiper blades up and down the street.

Someone's trying to do something nice.

And we have to believe it is out of the goodness of their heart, 

rather than as part of a late-in-the-game campaign to have Santa reverse his check from the Naughty to Nice column. 

Inspired by the anonymous Christmas Kindster we picked up this label sans candy cane that was laying in the gutter and discarded it properly. 

And then this nail from the grocery store parking lot. It wasn't a grand gesture, but perhaps it saved someone from some unneeded holiday hassle.

If you want to read about some truly kind, but hardly random acts that will extend well beyond December 25 check out this lovely story and this breaking news from a town that knows and actively strives for nice.

Gratefully Gathering

It was possibly the most beautiful September day ever.

When we received a gracious invitation to go wild rice harvesting. 

Our capable and very patient host acted as outfitter and guide.

He smoothly steered us through the tall plants as we carefully bent them over the canoe and knocked the long, ripe grains into the boat bottom. 

Some fell into the water to become next year's plants.

Many went into the canoe. As well as into our hair, shoes, and decolletage.

Several hours were spent gliding over the water, rhythmically moving heirloom cedar sticks across gunnels,  bounty gently showering down into a pile at our feet. 

We will be pleased if, after cleaning, our day's harvest provides enough rice for a Thanksgiving potluck offering.

And we feel very fortunate to have experienced an important tradition of the Ojibwe people and Northwoods culture. 

In good company, in good health, under a beautiful blue sky on clear blue water. 

Due South

From Alaska that is. 

Recent thrifting finds in the classic RCMP category.

They don't make souvenirs like this anymore.

But they do make 'em.

Check out the Mountie Shop. 

Ou peut-être La Boutique Mountie.

The only item that tempts us? This one.

Frig People

You know 'em. You love 'em. 

We've all got 'em and we couldn't get by without 'em.

They're not all stuck up here. Not on our old 18 Cubic Footer. It would take an industrial-grade, multiple-door model to even begin to display the whole crew of folks who are there for us in body and in spirit.

They turn up whenever there is a birthday, a first day of school, a call from the school nurse, a graduation, 

a wedding, a flat tire, a child who needs tending or soothing or distracting, when a dog needs to be let out or a package signed for or our plants watered, when a toast must be made or when you need a loaf of bread to make toast. They save you when you are clinging to the end of the parenting rope and celebrate with you when your kid accomplishes something pretty amazing. They'll loan you anything from from a crib to a wheelchair, from a cup of sugar to a bottle of wine. 

They know what needs to be done and they pitch in and do it.

We could make a long list of feats and favors, kindnesses and gifts that we have been blessed with from each and every individual you see here and many more in our lives who, although their photos are not seen every time we go for the ice cream, are our "frig people" none the less. 

They are our family, our friends, our neighbors, our mentors, our "village".

Who are your frig people? What have they done for you?

Are you as thankful for yours as we are for ours? 

Could that be possible?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

Whooo Will Take Us Home?

When the thrift store has an entire shelf of a certain kind of collection, it causes us to pause 

and think about the story behind the donation.

 Common displays of mass tchotchke are often in categories such as bells, souvenir teaspoons, state plates, teacups, trinket boxes, owls, turtles or other animal figurines, and of course salt and pepper sets.

Who collected them and why did they stop? 

Vintage items suggest that the owner has passed on and there was no heir interested in keeping their curio collection. A rainbow unicorn assemblage makes us smile and think that an adolescent has moved to young adulthood and did not have a younger sibling, or at least not one of the gender who appreciates puppies, kittens, ballerinas, and fantastic animals enough to inherit big sis' stash of bric-a-brac.

With respect we select and adopt as many orphans as we can sneak into the house.

Hoping of course that someday someone will cherish our little treasures too.

How could they not?

Grey is the New Baby Blue

A friend, in anticipation of  her first grandchild's first visit to grandma's house asked if we would sell her one of our recently completed quilts. 

After a deal was struck, we asked if she thought the baby's father would like to have for his own child the blankie he gifted to our son when he was born. We remembered being so touched that the maturing first grader had given up his most beloved possession for the new kid on the block. We also remembered that, at the time, his mom assured us that he had plenty of spares and although she agreed it was a grand gesture he would never have let go of his very last option. We were still quite impressed with his generosity.

When our friend came to pick up the froggy themed comforter we also handed over the well-loved, formerly pastel yellow, tattered ribbon edged thermal blanket that we had kept in the attic all these years waiting for just this opportunity to return it to its original owner. 

She let out a whoop and laughed so hard it seemed she might choke. Her words were difficult to make out, but between gasps for breath it sounded like she was expressing indecision on whether to give it to the baby to help build his immune system, or call the hazmat unit.

Perhaps she will let us know which, if either choice, she made.

If only this blankie could talk. Imagine the stories of childhood tears, fears, joys, adventures, and bedtime dramas it could tell.

Maybe it would even write a song about all that it had seen.

Helping by Hiking

Yet another local kid is thinking and acting big. Really big. Former Y Camp Manitou camper and staff member Paul Birrittella is devoting his summer to walking 1000 miles of the WI  Ice Age Trail to raise money for camper scholarships .

Follow Paul's summer-long journey, be his friend, and make a pledge for each mile walked.

Go Paul, Go.