Eletelephony

Eletelephony

Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant
-No! no! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone
-(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I’ve got it right.)

Howe’er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee
-(I fear I’d better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)

-Laura E. Richards-

Who else remembers memorizing this poem in elementary school?

Although I'm not certain why, I suddenly thought about it today and wondered if children were still enjoying this funny poem.

Not remembering the title I looked up 'elephant with telephone' on the internet (is there anything we can't find on the internet?) and there it was.

What I didn't know was that this sweet nonsensical poem was written by Pulitzer Prize winner Laura E. Richards. I also found out that her mother was the famous Julie Ward Howe who wrote the words for The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Hope you and possibly your children will enjoy it just as much now as I did then.

PS - In case you are wondering about the elephant at the top of the post - - also found on the internet. It is actually an elephant cell phone holder. Perhaps a modern day 'Eletelephony'?

A Suite of Nutcrackers

This afternoon I put the final stitches on 'A Suite of Nutcrackers' - my 01/01/08 start. Although it isn't framed yet I just had to show it to the world. The image is not all that great as the piece barely fit on the copier.

DH loves it, which is good since I stitched it to compliment his nutcracker collection.

With a bit of luck I will have the 'Suite' framed within the next few weeks. As soon as I do I will take a picture of the framed piece.

Have a great weekend everyone.

What a yukky bike!!!

I am currently in the process of going through many years of correspondence. It is a very sentimental journey as it contains not only the letters and cards received from relatives and friends but every card, drawing and gift created especially for me by our son and daughter.

This morning I came across this picture in a letter sent by my friend Lina (Canada) after her visit to us in The Netherlands in 1996. She and I were on a walking tour of Delft and came across this bike which had been pulled from the canal (yes that's me behind the bike).

Love those Prairie Schoolers

Well I certainly didn't think yesterday that I would be posting again so soon, but since I have some new pictures to share I didn't want to wait.

Today's mail brought the Round 5 Fair Squares Karen K http://karensaussieblog.blogspot.com/ stitched for me. Karen and I are both Prairie Schooler fans and we both chose to stitch a PC design for one another. Isn't this sweet?


Look at the other goodies Karen sent - a pretty "Patrick's Lucky Day" pattern and 5 skeins of green floss, a cool emory board and delicious West Australian wildflower honey and ginger toffee. If you look closely at the picture you will see that I have partially hidden the package with the toffee. That is because two pieces of the toffee have already been eaten. DH & I just couldn't resist. It is YUMMY!!!! Thank you so much for everything Karen.


Today I finished my 'Leap Year' start. The design is "Four Seasons" by PS and is stitched 2/2 on 28 ct country French linen Latte. The finished piece is 5 1/4 inches square. It was a joy to stitch as are all the PC designs.

Hope everyone is having a great week. I'll be by to visit this weekend and catch up on everyone's lives and projects.

April already?

Hope you are all well and didn't get too many April fool pranks played on you today. Now on the other hand - if it was you playing the pranks I hope you had great fun. Personally I got off easy this year and didn't really hear of anything funny around town either. Much watch the news tonight though just in case.

In March my brother and SIL visited us from Abbotsford, British Columbia and oh what a fun time we had. I am the baby of the family and my brother who is second youngest is actually nearly 10 years older than me. Even though my siblings are so much older I have always had a great bond with each an every one of them. My brother and I reminised and re-shared all those wonderful experiences which bind us so closely. He and I both love to cook so many recipes were once again exchanged. The four of us had such wonderful quality time together and boy did we miss them when they left.

Now for a bit of stitching news. Although I have been working on several projects for myself, today I'll show you a few pictures of gifts as well as a recent Fair Square.

Fair & Square Round 5 was stitched for Karen K. in Australia. The square is a section of Prairie Schooler's 'Village Green' stitched 2/2 on 32 ct natural linen. The PS designs are such fun to stitch and always come out so well.


This fob was stitched for one of my SP friends, Anne P. Anne is a very petite & very stylish lady. She is soft spoken, has a heart of gold and loves/is loved by everyone. This little fob (about 1 inch square) just needed to be made for her. The pattern is a freebie from the back page of a Passione Ricamo catalog (thank you Juls) stitched 1/1 on 25 count cream evenweave with DMC 115. I am so very happy that Anne loved the fob.

The start of another gift. This is a design from Tantes Zolder http://myauntsattic.web-log.nl/ and represents the month of January. I am stitching it 1/1 on 25 count white lugana with DMC 797. These 'month' patterns are all so much fun to stitch that I'm already planning the next one.

Before signing off - a gift for all of you - a favorite recipe of my mother's which I made for dinner tonight.

Seven Layer Casserole

1 layer sliced raw potatoes

1 layer sliced or chopped onions

1 layer thinly sliced carrots

1 tin peas

1/4 cup uncooked instant rice

1 lb sausage

1 tin tomato soup mixed with 1 tin water

salt and pepper to taste

NB: I use frozen peas and carrots and that works perfectly.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 370 F (190 C) for 1 hour covered, turn sausages and bake uncovered for 1 hour.

Although we are personally not vegetarians I am sure this dish would be just as tasty without the sausage.