Words

Today is a day ..... my daughter had a poetry book when she was younger that had a poem in that started with these words. I can't find it. It will annoy me and I will keep looking until I find it.

Thinking about it leads me to ask - are you a picture person or a word person?

I thought I knew which I was but while we were compiling the website, I looked through hundreds, if not thousands of photographs and read even more words. Sometimes the images were highly evocative and would have needed sentences to describe them. Sometimes there were words that no picture could quite express. I think maybe the mood of the day has a lot to do with it.

So here are some words because today is a day for words.

 
 
And in the time that it has taken me to do this, I have had a reply to my text. The book is no longer with me, it is with Hannah. So ..... ?  It was her book and I'll just have to get a copy of my own!
 
In the meantime here  is the today poem. I can't believe there will ever be just one image for it.
 

Butterflies not Flowers

I had decided to feature flowers today but then I saw butterflies! Floraltrims is an American company but they do ship internationally and have some beatiful feather butterflies.

Obviously, it's a big deal to make the cover of any magazine but to make it to Martha Stewart's front cover in the States is well - like winning the world cup!

These are some other of their butterflies that have 'made Martha' !

and a couple I found whilst browsing their product list

and a garland

They have lots of other wedding decor items as well. I think it would work out quite expensive to ship small quantities but they're good for ideas.

Will probably do flowers tomorrow.

Ontario, Canada

Today I am worried that Ontario is not a well known place. In fact I'm worried that British people in general don't know much about Canada. I always get the same answers when I ask what people know about the country. Niagara Falls is a definite, Calgary sometimes [the Stampede?], Winnipeg frequently - but the name of a province or territories?

Canada is very big [and that is not an understatement. For example, from Vancouver (British Columbia) on the west coast to Saint John's (Newfoundland and Labrador) on the extreme east cost, it's 3110.5 miles; whilst the distance from London UK to Saint John's is only 2322  miles. That's why you'd get an odd look if you asked someone from Ontario [east coast] if they might know your second cousin who lives in Vancouver. Would you expect someone from London to know your second cousin from Newcastle and just how far is that? 283 miles

Then there is the thing about Canada and snow. Not all of Canada is covered in snow all of the time. The town of Niagara-on-the-Lake is actually further south than Cannes. We expect the South of France to be hot so why not Canada? I've just got these two temperature maps from the internet and you can see that the temperatures were slightly higher in Canada at lunchtime today.

In winter, it is the other way round. I was never good at Geography at school so I can't tell you why. Something to do with land mass heating and cooling maybe? Having said that I was never good at Geography [which is true], the only thing that I do remember being taught was the names of the Great Lakes. How odd I should fall in love with Canada so many years later. Might even look out my old school report and see what was said about my geog skills - that they werre non-existant probably!

So - lecture over, school's out and I'm looking forward to next Wednesday when I will be on a flight bound for? How did you guess? Toronto and then a drive onward to Collingwood on the shore of Georgian Bay. Hope there's a cool breeze off the lake [Huron !]. It's currently 6.27pm and 22c. Taken a peek at the town webcam and it looks glorious. Can't wait.

Some comings and goings of the people who make up Maple Leaf Weddings

I've been away for a few days in Leeds - a fab city and also visited Harrogate which is quite nice [use Mary Poppins accent for the last two words]. I visited my 'baby' and her baby, also her partner. The time just flew by so fast and now I am back at my desk trying to get into work mode.

I saw quite a few pretty things but was really in Gramma mode so they were mainly in the Little White Company and Baby Gap. I did however buy a sign to hang up when I don't want to be disturbed.

Will let you know if it's effective when I have tested it!

I then bought a 'Pretend Mousehole'. Yup that's right, in fact I bought one and then went back and got three more! They are so ...... One was for Ivy [my granddaughter], one for a friend in Canada who may give it to her granddaughter or may keep it in her house, one is for my grandsons who are moving to Madeira shortly so it's something to take from Gramma to their new house and the last one is for me.  The two girls [cos I just know Chris will give hers to Sophie] have got pretty mice, the boys have the one of the Rest Room  and I have the one in the Study. Can only show you 3 cos Ivy kept hers.

If you like the look of them Parma Violet in Kirkby Lonsdale stocks them and does mail order. There are  other cool bits on there as well.

However, all this aside,  the most important thing about this weekend  is that I have found out that my 'baby' really is mine! Sounds strange I know but staying in her home, her own environment, has highlighted some likenesses that I hadn't realised were there. We both like buttons and ribbon, we both have a thing about ANYONE reading, flicking through or even handling our magazines before we have read them, we love to shop and don't care if we don't buy anything, we both decided we needed a proper camera (not just a phone one) and to learn how to use it within days of each other! In fact we seemed to spend a lot of time saying "Me, too".

Some of Hannah's buttons

I make no apology for the lack of wedding talk on here today. Except, look at the colours of the buttons on the red card - they'd make a lovely Autumnal colour scheme and I think the shades of teal would go well with a dark orange shade. Maybe Hannah will make me a couple of mood boards or colour palettes. Don't think she has a lot to do at the moment and she's not due back to work for months. It was a lovely weekend and after saying that I hope I'm allowed to go again. Good job she has my sense of humour!

Happy Birthday, eh!

Today's the day when Canada is officially 143 years old. Everything is closed while people party in celebration - and Canadians sure know how to party! In the UK they have taken over Trafalgar Square and it looks like being a great day there - so wish I could make it. Take a look here http://www.canadadaylondon.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1

When I'm in Ontario I love seeing the Maple Leaf flying sometimes along with the Ontario flag and that's in people's own garden! Some even go a step further and fly the flag of the country their ancestors came from! There  is a tremendous national pride that makes me all warm and fuzzy, even to the point of thinking about a flagpole in my garden here. Then I get back into the UK and think right, we won't be having a flag in the garden. Just doesn't work. I'm fairly sure it was Miss Pickering who was saying early in June that flags elsewhere seem fine but here they're not quite right [or words to that effect].

Anyway Canada Day works in Canada and in Trafalgar Square! Have a good one wherever you are.

My granddaughter's Canada Day attire!

Etsy finds

Well not quite finds .... they were in today's email update. However, there are really neat

a wedding invitation

a save the date

and finally

a guestbook fingerprint tree!

Your guests leave their fingerprints as leaves on the tree. How cool is that?

They are all from 'i do' it yourself who also have a blog you can find at

http://blog.idoityourself.com.au/

Website LIVE!

The last few days have been rather busy! The website has finally gone live and once we have got the email address sort it will be a close to perfect as I feel I can get. My thanks to Sasha Branch from the Olsen Partnership who designed it and to my son Ollie who now hosts it. They have had infinite patience with me. Thanks too, to Hannah - you must be detailed out.

So now we begin again - looking for new venues and ideas. There are already quite a few in the pipeline and you will more than likely be getting peek previews on here before they appear on the site.

You will have to be forgiving if we go off at tangents - it's how we get inspiration and we always remember where we started so that we can get back there. As we post more onto the blog, I hope you will come to feel like friends and understand more of what makes us tick. Equally, we hope to understand more of what makes you tick as we hear from you. Feedback will always be welcome - good or bad, although we always hope for good.