Hippity Hoppity Hobbledy Happy Holy Week, and Some Easter Tags, Free!

 

Hello Bloggie Frens...

I haven't forgotten you, or my blog! Just overwhelmed and swamped, but making progress. Health, volunteer "job," finances, pets' health, hubby's health, and being stunned by the state of the world have set me back on my heels a bit. 

Today a hickory hiking stick arrived. It isn't very tall, but taller than a cane. I'm afraid I am going to be a bit of a spectacle now, using the stick. But I need it in order to be able to get around better. It's more useful than a cane to me, at this point. But, I do think I look odd, most probably. Well, too bad!

But I'm hopping in to say, or maybe hobbling in to say, "Have a wonderful Holy Week!"

Mayhap someone may need some free Easter tags. So, here some are! Similar to last year's, but a bit different.

Remember, use the LINK so it prints out the right size. It's stored on Google Drive, which is safe. We think.

Link: 2022 Free Easter Tags

Kind regards,

Holly, The Olde Dame (with a stick)

Spring Zephyrs Have Arrived

I love all the old words so much! Zephyrs and daffadowndillies, gillyflowers and galoshes, gauds and glebes a-gleaming in the spring sunshine! An old use of the word "gauds" is for the "Our Father" beads of the Rosary, which are traditionally bigger or flashier than the "Hail Mary" beads, but my Granny also used that word for her costume jewelry. And we used the word "pretties," too, for such things.

The palo verdes have put forth their leaves, perhaps unwisely, and their trunks are greening up so much they look painted. Our spring winds have begun, and bring in dust storms. It starts about noon, after a calm morning, and blows until six or seven, with gusts up to 60 mph.

Now, here's a new word for me, learned only about a decade ago: Haboob, meaning a huge dust storm that bears down on a place. We just always said, "dust storm," even though that's not really specific enough to describe a towering cloud of dust that pushes into a clear area, and turns day to night almost instantly. We did not have a haboob yet this year, just the usual dust storms.

I ran into Walmart today to get some salad for our dinner, and couldn't resist going down the Easter aisles, where I found two decorations I could not resist. I don't know why black and white so suddenly appealed to me, but now I have added them to the mantel. They were reasonable at $1.98 each for the big polka-dot egg and a three-pack of carrots. 

The carrots were glued together, but easily broke apart. On the mantel, I also changed the usual berries in the old Mexican jug for navy blue berries. I think they will go all the way to autumn easily! Especially with many patriotic holidays before Hallowe'en. This is a sea-change for me, in terms of color. I look like death in navy blue, and always avoided it in any context. It makes my eyes look a dreadful split-pea green, like a llama's eyes right before it spits. But somehow the navy berries looked delightful!

Went to the thrift store to try to get some of the Chick Fil-A chicken they kindly donate on Saturdays, but all chicken was already gone. I did get a very large bag of their delightful biscuits, however! And I saw this cute basket for holding mail, all in tones of dusty pink, with a spray of millinery flowers on it. This is "Maiden Aunt Chic," I think. 

I finished two more cross-stitch charts, and one is in the process of being made into yet another pinkeep. The other one is already a pinkeep. Yet I am forever looking for a pin. I finished these too late for Valentine's for this year, but maybe they will sell next year.

I rarely venture out at night, but I took this photo of our little downtown on the way back from visiting a church. It looks late, but it wasn't. Night had just fallen. I love cutting through the downtown whenever I'm out, day or night!

Wishing you an early spring and fresh days as we head towards the Lenten season! 

Kind regards,

Holly, The Olde Dame

As Evening Falls on Easter

I have not been around the blogosphere today yet. That is my treat for this evening! It has been very active at church, and I was there since Holy Saturday at 7 p.m., with a trip back home to check on husband and pets and shower and drink something since I got very dehydrated. I wanted to attend as many Masses as possible, the Easter Vigil, and the special Rosaries we were saying long after midnight. 

Outside the building, wisteria is beginning to bloom! Its unmistakable scent mingled with the incense last night at the bonfire, and so today I went looking for it after noon Mass. 

As to our bonfire, even though it was very scaled down due to the wind, we got terrified for our Bishop, although he seemed unaware of his danger. But our padres, our altar servers, and our deacons kept him safe, each one grabbing at his loose vestments as the wind whipped them around near the flames. At one point a bunch of sparks flew out and hit him right in the chest, and we all cried out, "Wooooooo," and "Ooooo" and "Noooo!" but he continued on, unperturbed. 

The wisteria was around the side of the church, climbing on a screen built to shield the air conditioners from sight. There was a huge golden bumblebee trundling about on the wisteria. It made me think of children finding the golden egg at Easter egg hunts. This golden bee was guzzling nectar and maybe loading up on nature's golden treat, pollen. I was so pleased to find this fine, fat bee, and the reason is at the end of the post!

I hope everyone has had a peaceful Easter. As I get older, that is my favorite wish for others: Peace in their hearts. I like to sit in the church when it's dark, and just feel the peace wash over me. The banks of votive candles shimmer in the gloom, and the sanctuary lamp (red tabernacle candle) burns steadily. Our cathedral is the only one in the area still open 24/7, a point of joy for our priests. 

A few days ago, one of the priests mentioned to me that he thought a yellow dress would suit me for Easter. I was very surprised, but tickled at his idea. Yellow, shall we say, does not suit everyone, and I wondered where in the world he got that idea, as his color sense seems to be zero. I looked in vain for a modest yellow dress, locally and then online. But I found a pretty yellow blouse and paired it with a black skirt, and felt it made me look like a bee, ready for spring!

Kind regards,

Olde Dame Holly 

Maundy Thursday

Above: A photo of a bit of the stained glass windows at church. The pieces of glass are about an inch-and-one-half thick! I hadn't realized stained glass was that thick. Since it's spring, I tried to capture mainly the pastel tones. The church is dark and somber during Holy Week, making the windows even more striking than usual. Today is Maundy Thursday. The birds are valentining, the buds bursting, but within, all is very still and quiet.

I love to roll out obscure words, and my everyday speech is peppered with them. I know it's odd, and that I'm odd, but to quote that wonderful philosopher of the ages, Popeye, "I yam what I yam." I told something my father used to say to me in an earlier post. Now I will tell a very quick story that my mother told about me: When I was three, she rebuked me for something I did, some behavioral misstep. And she said I looked at her and said, "I am what I am." The End.

I must have heard that on Popeye. But I didn't like cartoons as a child; the way the characters were drawn, defying the laws of physics, always upset me. I can remember trying to get my legs to spin around as depicted on many cartoons, and trying to get my hair to move in that strange, undulating way of a Disney cartoon princess's hair. And to this day, Gumby makes me feel ill, off-balance.

Anyhoo, my love of archaic terms - well, that's why I always use the old terms for many things, especially holidays. Today is "Maundy Thursday," or Holy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper, the day that Christ gave us The Lord's Prayer, and so much, much more. 

I am always moving things around on my indoor shrine. I like to move some pieces to a little nook at the corner of my bedroom window. My shrine is to Mary. I have a very old statue of her that is guarded by a fierce-looking china tiger family (told you I was strange). I keep the statue guarded, but the Holy Cards I like to rearrange. This is the "nook shrine" today, with one of my favorite Holy Cards and some sand verbena in a Cracker Barrel restaurant maple syrup bottle. Reduce, reuse, recycle! I will dust the shrine nicely and show it off in a future post.

But THIS I will show off now! This is the incredible giveaway I won from Rugs and Pugs <---Link!. If you haven't visited that delightful blog, you are missing out. Rug hooking (wool!), cross-stitching, pug-loving, wit, wisdom, and beauty, it has it ALL. Go ahead, click that link, go see! 

Wherever you are and whatever your beliefs, if any, I hope you are having a lovely Maundy Thursday!

Free "Spring Springing" Cross Stitch Chart!

Here is a little free chart (see link below with color charts, symbol charts, and key) with two versions based on both my Jumping for Joy design and a good friend's primitive bunnies (used with permission) that she stitched long ago. I hope you will enjoy stitching it, if cross stitching be your hobby! It is easy enough for a beginner to stitch, too, for those who may be interested in taking up cross stitching. I am unhappy with the date, as I noticed it is off-center. "Free, and worth every penny," as we say. I flipped the top flower motif for an alternate version. The alternate version just has the color stitches shown, not a symbol chart also. I have run out of time because Spring Break is over for our school, so it's early bed and back to work tomorrow. Out of time to play, BOO! 

Use this LINK <--- so that you get the PDF of this chart. It's stored on Google Drive and that is as safe as things get on the internet!

I hope you all have a great Monday and a great Holy Week. We had a fantastic Palm Sunday Mass, very moving. Our priest, several of the Knights of the Altar (altar boys and girls), and deacons put on a spoken-word play. Our priest has a really great voice.

I did something naughty today. I snuck into a closed park to take photos of the crabapple blooming there. This is an open-air park few visit that has been closed for over a year, due to "COVID." The lure of the spring blooms was too much. I had to miss them last year. Even if a person lives to be 100, that's just 100 times to see crabapple blossoms. This photo shows the old and the new: Last year's shriveled crabapples, and this year's promise.

Kind regards,

Olde Dame Holly

Free Printable "Love, the Easter Bunny" Tags

Maybe someone with a little one could use a tag or two "from" the Easter Bunny. 

I am from a very large family. There were so many children that each child was able to dye only one or two eggs each. It was so disappointing if you created a "bomb" egg. That's the dull army-green/gray egg you get if you put the egg into too many colors of dye.

As always, remember that Google Blogger compresses large files, causing them to print the wrong size or too grainy. Use this LINK <--- to download the original-sized file from the Google cloud.

Thank'ee for stopping by.

Kind regards,

Olde Dame Holly

Vaccine Success! And Free Digital Easter Tags from the 1940s and Before

It happened, suddenly! The chance to get the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine for my husband, aged 86 years! I had registered him with the state's Department of Health way back, and watched like a hawk for the chance to snag an appointment time for him, striking out again and again, week after week. Then, another text arrived, I was able to respond within seconds, and secured him a spot. 

There were instructions to go to the local university, to a big parking lot, at 1:30. Everything was tip-top, efficient, with many directing traffic, and even Porta-Potties! We drove up, gave his name, his "confirmation number," birthdate, and then were directed to a waiting queue. We had only been parked a few seconds when we were waved on to the area where they were giving the shots. I had both windows down, because it turned very warm today. A sweet woman came to the passenger side, and was speaking with my husband, getting him confirmed and telling him about possible side effects. He had some questions, and a nurse joined her and was speaking to him, too. I just sat, and reached for my cross stitching I had brought along to do while he got the vaccine and then the waiting period.

On my side, a nurse appeared, too, holding a syringe. She called to the other woman and said, "I'm going to go ahead." I told her, "It's for him, though, right?" She told me no, and to put my arm up, and proceeded to give me the vaccine. It was literally just seconds. 

Seconds later, the nurse gave my husband the vaccine on his side of the car, and they chalked the time we could leave on the windshield and headed for the next car. This was an event for the eldest seniors. I had a mask on and the kind of old-lady sunglasses that cover regular glasses, and I wear bangs. I guess no one could see that I wasn't quite a "senior senior" yet. My hair turned gray at age 19, so I have the right hair!

I have been worried sick that I would catch COVID and be unable to help my husband, or maybe even give him the virus. And worried sick about him, since he didn't see the real danger of COVID at 86 and with serious health problems. Now, SOLVED. 

It's like I can breathe again. I literally cried with happiness. 

I hope and pray my blog friends are innoculated or soon will be. I light a candle at church every day for that intention, that the vaccines be available to all who want them, and to keep the unvaccinated safe.

In other business, here are a few more "shabby" printable Easter tags. Maybe someone can use them! As always, since Google Blogger compresses and shrinks large graphics, use the LINK <--- from Google Drive so that the page will print correctly. I liked the sweet images from the 1940s, so I've included a few. My favorite is the lady bluebird, in her finery!

As always, thank'ee for stopping by.

Kind regards,

The Merry Olde Innoculated Dame, Holly

A Finished Spring Stitchery, At Last

Today and yesterday were busy, for me! But I finally finished the last cross stitch chart of my Spring Bees series. I don't know why I am into such muted palettes lately; I think it might have to do with "watching" somber British mysteries while stitching and charting. I keep them on as some sort of "company" as I stitch. The landscapes are so washed out, not by blazing sun but by lack of it! Come summer here, however, I will be wishing I was in one of those chilly, drab climates. 

I did live in a tiny log cabin on a little island in the Pacific Northwest for a few years. It was beautiful, in its way, and I absolutely loved the unusual plants I was able to grow there (like wintergreen and monkey-puzzle trees) but there wasn't enough sun, not enough warmth, and near-constant light drizzle. For all the years I lived there, there were only two days when I didn't need a fire or the heater (run with stinky heating oil), and I never was able to wear anything lighter than a thick long-sleeved shirt. I grew up not even wearing long pants in winter. I had summer shorts, and winter shorts. 

I finished this stitchery as...a pinkeep sachet! Oh, I'm getting wild, mixing it up here -- to finish not just as yet ANOTHER pinkeep but one with a handful of lavender inside. 

Link to my Etsy listing for the chart: HERE.

Actually, the pinkeeps are pretty versatile. I mainly use them as decor. Some call them "cabinet tucks" when they are used like that. 

I really miss the "open table" days at my local beadshop. Those were times when you could bring whatever you were working on, and just sit around the big table or on the old comfy armchairs and visit and work on your project. COVID ended that! I still do beading, and I like to add beads to my cross stitch, too. But how I miss the company of others who love handwork. It was my absolutely favorite part of each week.

Has anyone else experienced the end to a really fun activity due to the lockdown? 

As always, thank'ee for stopping by. Now I am off to read the blog posts I have been saving as a treat!

Kind regards,

The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

Free Easter Images and Free Thoughts

Warning about free stuff: As the old saying goes, "Free, and worth every penny."

One week ago, the U.S. was gripped by three winter storms in a row. Even here in the desert Southwest, we had snow, graupel, and several days where the high temp was below freezing. My heart goes out to those who were severely affected; two animal rescuers in Texas I know are still in bad shape, and only their lion-hearts are keeping their rescues afloat as they scamble for water and warmth for the animals in their care. 

But what a contrast, here: We have sun, spring-like temperatures, and flowers beginning to bud. I noticed that a winecup plant that last week was ice-encrusted, has today put up two big flower buds. I bought the tiniest size of the winecup at the nursery last year, a weak-looking plant with four leaves, and today it takes up half a fire-ring (fire rings are like stock tanks, but no bottoms). The winecup is in a struggle with an ice-plant as to who will dominate that particular bit of garden. My heart is with the winecup, so I give it a bit of help with judicious pulling and re-homing of the ice-plant. Do not grieve for the ice-plant! It easily roots wherever I place it.

I am greedy for flowers in my yard; flowers and wild grapes. I was able to snag a plot in our community gardens here in the city today, and that's where I will grow vegetables this year. That leaves all of my fire rings here at the house free for flowering plants. The "plot" of land I am assigned has had some improvements made, including PVC pipes arched over the top and secured at the sides of the raised bed. That is going to come in handy for "shade cloth," which helps shield the veggies from the full strength of the sun. Even full-sun plants here do better with some shade. I have the water faucet at the end of my plot, too, so that's a bonus. 

Here are some shabby tags for Easter. Maybe you will find a use for them: Glue them to a can or bottle, tie onto a cabinet pull, place with some greenery. As always, since mean ol' Google compresses files and makes them smaller, use this LINK <--- right here and download the original big size from Google Drive. Don't save the image, as it will print too small or be too fuzzy since it was reduced in size.

But...to get a better view of them, you can right-click them, choose open in another tab or window, then regular-click and use the little magnifying glass to see them better. Sometimes it's hard to make the little magnifying glass appear.

And as always...thank'ee for stopping by.

Kind regards,

The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

Hopping Towards Easter with Free DIY Digital Printable Tags

We interrupt this blog post to bring you this alert:

I hope you are all warm, with electricity, calm, and safe during winter storm Uri or any wintry weather abroad. 

Carry on!

The Valentine's decor is whisked away safely for another year. And, the Easter decorations are placed, with the exception of the cross stitch items I'm stitching up. They are in progress. Pinkeeps -- again! 

Here are some thrifty tags to print out, turn into garlands, use in cabinet displays, etc. I always hang a few from the armoire latches and tuck them here and there in the house. Please use this LINK <--- so that you get the full, uncompressed file stored safely in the Google Cloud. If you save the image below, Google will have unfortunately compressed it and it won't print as nicely. I am stuck on using the musical tags as the base for seasonal tags lately. The very first tag I ever received was a musical tag, and I must have imprinted on it.

I am continuing to be a bit lean in decorating. I do have my eye on some orchard grass. I want to put heaps of it in baskets and make "nests" of it in boxes, and put some empty eggs in them. I have seen some very expensive orchard grass online in some prim shops, but I usually get the Oxbow brand dried orchard grass that is good for guinea pigs (which I used to rescue). It's much less expensive and looks just as primitive.

Anyone have any decorating plans they are putting into place for Easter? And what about your color scheme? Yes, Easter is most often pastels and white, yet...I don't know why, but I'm going for very dusty-looking pastels this year. Muted. Faded!

Kind regards,

Holly, The Merry Olde Dame

Simple Decor for Easter, and Fabric-Wrapped Eggs

This year I am keeping Easter very spare, in terms of decorating. I am not buying anything new, and I will not put out very much of my existing decorations. In fact, I have a box of pretty decorations that are going to the thrift store that supports one of the main animal rescues here. I did the same with Valentine's day decor, a few weeks ago. Sometimes I get a "pang" when parting with something. But honestly, after I give things away, I often cannot quite recall them later. 

I did take a few plastic eggs and glue some strips of black-and-tan checked homespun onto them, while watching the Weather Channel's coverage of Winter Storm Roland, and their predictions about Winter Storm Shirley. Valentine's Day is giving the U.S. a very cold shoulder this year. 

The eggs are easy to do. I have seen eggs finished much more neatly for sale, but I don't mind my less-perfect creations. I tried two different ways I found on the internet, and I like the way that uses strips best, not the way that wraps the egg and just has some slits to overlap. Aleene's Fast Grab Glue worked very well on these. The egg underneath is one of a dozen "chalkboard" finish eggs that I got last year at Walmart, for just pennies after Easter. 

I mix my primitive items with sparkly ones, new ones, vintage mid-century, whatever. I like a mix. Some are purists, and that is fine, too! I put several nests and eggs in a big tin "tart" on a pedestal, and that is by my front door, at a window that looks directly at the courtyard. 

I know how to make Ukrainian eggs, known as "pysanky." I don't know if I will make any this year. I would need to order new dyes. A very kind Ukrainian mathematician taught me how to make them, and gave me a "kistka," the tool that draws wax onto the eggshell, decades ago now. I have so many little projects going that I am not able to get to them all! But with these winter storms coming, it might be best to have some distractions on hand. I think there might be quite a few power outages and certainly it is going to be hard to get around in many areas. Do you have enough yarn, fabric, paint, and trim to tide you over the coming winter storms?

DIY Beaded Easter Egg, Some Pretty Roses, and Free Printable Valentine's Tags

From The Merry Olde Dame's Almanac:

Forecast for February 1 - 7, 2021: Wishes for a peaceful week ahead, with scattered bursts of laughter and sprinkles of delight, followed by strong gusts of good fortune and contentment.

The roses above are from a birthday bouquet. After admiring them, I drove from church to church in our parish and laid a bloom at the feet of each statue of my Queen of Heaven. What a delightful drive!

I am mingling Valentine's decor with Easter decor now...I made this egg by simply glueing on, with a "fast-grab" white glue, seeds beads onto a papier mache egg. I do a small section at a time, placing some glue down, picking up one bead at a time with a toothpick (I blunt the end) that was dipped in glue or beeswax. While the glue is wet, you can slide the beads around a bit and get them into position with the toothpick's other end.

It is therapeutic, methodical work, but very easy, so that it can be done while listening to music, podcasts, or television. I am going to try to depict a pansy next. I love their little whisker-faced blooms! I planted their little cousins, Johnny Jump-ups, earlier. Just scattered the seeds and am hoping they will come up.

Here are some free printable tags featuring the wonderful artists of yesteryear. They might be cute for decorating. As usual, use this Google Drive LINK <--- for this large file, so that it isn't compressed and so it will print out the right size.

Anyone else decorating or crafting this week?