September 27 - October 5, 2013

How I miss cycling. After my bike "incident" (may the car driver have 2 flat tires every morn) 3 weeks ago, I thought by now I'd be enjoying the sunny trees and cooler temps. Alas, still hurt'ums. Every time I go into the garage, the bike bell does a little tinkle, OK, not really, but I look longingly at my bike. Sigh......
Well, on to happier things - here's the next 7 brooches.

You gotta like green to like this brooch. It's mildly over the top, bought it when I was on holidays a few years back for very little (that's my excuse), some days I like it, and some days it's way too green (and I love the colour green).

A great find at a second-hand store near Lake Erie. A lovely old silver-enamelled pin. Thank you to whoever donated it to that store.

A travelling friend brought this back from Sweden - Rtennesmed, Sweden (as marked on the back). It's been a favourite brooch of mine for many years. 

This was my husband's grandma's brooch who lived to be 102 - everyone called her Gan. She's been long gone but I think of her when I wear this - she was a very late-Victorian lady. I used to wear it all the time on a winter coat but a few "pile the coats on the bed" winter parties and the brooch got bent and broke. It's back in one piece, but the temptation is still to put it on a coat - maybe a fall jacket this time.

The coils running along the sides of this old pin are a wonderful design element - it gives movement to an otherwise plain (but twinkly) brooch. A few of the square orange glass pieces are missing, but hey, it was an old brooch when I bought it. It's a bit tricky placing it on clothing, but when I get it in the right direction and position, it looks fab.

Yes, I should have worn it in the Spring when seeds are going into the ground rather than harvesting them, but long ago I lost the centre silver dangly, and finally, I now have got around to prowling through the jewellery boxes to see what might fit in the space. Pluses to new addition: 1. It's sterling silver to match the rest. 2. It is a flower so it fits with gardening. 3. It's small enough. 4. It didn't have a home i.e. it wasn't attached to anything.......  But 5. It just doesn't look like it belongs, the search is back on. 

Another surprise gift - a big brown clay kitty. Looks like a silhouette of one of my cats as they sit in the windows, looking at the birds and swishing their tails.
A contented cat - always a good thing.

September 22 - September 28, 2013

Hooray! Autumn has arrived - my favourite season. It's early days yet but the leaves do have tinges of red and yellow. And although I heartily dislike having to shed my sandals for socks and shoes, I must say I have a goodly array of colourful, striped, and patterned socks to help brighten up the shorter days.
Here's the week's brooches.

This is the last of my London Underground pins that I bought on my honeymoon way waaaaay back in 1983. What a wonderful name for a subway stop - Elephant & Castle.

My work boss gave me this brooch - it had been her grandmother's - Marguerite. I wonder if she wore this as an X or a cross. Since I find it hard to place a brooch straight, I wore it on a rakish angle, since I couldn't achieve either.

Even though I wore brooches off and on as a kid (and this being one of those brooches), there isn't a single photo with me wearing one. Granted, I was number 4 in the conga line, and by then, no doubt, the charm of photographing the wee me wasn't as appealing. 

This was Aunt Molly's brooch, a work bud's Auntie, who was a teacher and travelled quite a bit from her native Newfoundland. It was chosen for me because it was made in France - the land of my Eiffel Tower.

A friend is a talented fibre artist and just for fun made a few of these flower brooches. I was the happy recipient of one of them.

Do you know the difference between a three-leaf clover and a shamrock? I don't, but since I have some Irish blood flowing through my veins, it's a shamrock to me - a pretty twinkly one.

Felix the Cat, the wonderful, wonderful cat - that's the only piece of the theme song I remember (did you sing along)? Felix - a childhood favourite cartoon, but the brooch, though now battered, I bought in my twenties. The brooch looks like it's been in a few bar room tussles, but I couldn't say.

September 15 - September 21, 2013

I've started a new culinary experience out of necessity. The only same meal we have is the Sunday one. It's a no worry, no fuss, easy on the budget, leftovers for Monday lunch type of dins. I make pesto, enjoy the garlicy basily numness during the summer and freeze tons for that breath of summer in the cold frosty winter. We have pasta, sometimes with pesto, sometimes adding grilled eggplant, and fresh cherry tomatoes from our driveway garden. The tomatoes were going gung-ho and then they went kaputs. We forgot to buy some local ch. toms so I picked a bunch of green cherry tomatoes from our plants (and who doesn't love fried green tomatoes). Cut those little guys in half  and sauteed them with some mushrooms and onions and tossed them with the pesto into the pasta - tres tasty.

Look, surprise, 7 more brooches.

Looks like an Easter basket to me, maybe from Avon - do they sell brooches? Shortly after I was given this, the pin at the back broke. A number of years later and I'm doing a blog, and I have to resurrect a few brooches that need a bit of tender loving care. Thank heavens for goop or glue galore or whatever it's called, it has worked, it's wearable again.

I've never seen Fred Astaire in a sparkly bow tie like this but I think of him all the same. My feet start a-tapping when I wear this.

OK, who gave me all these Texas pins? Well, here's the Texas flag - hope you like it.

I've had this heart on that chain for many years. I've had that metal bow pin with an empty loop for many years. Duh - put them together and voila, me like.

How sad you cry, a one-eyed turtle. Wipe the tears away, this brooch has had a long and happy life. This is one of my childhood pins, in pretty good shape for a well loved and used brooch from the fifties. Back then, we had little turtles for pets - Lulu and Pokey. They lived in a small plastic home that had a ramp curving out of the water with a palm tree at the top. If there's anyone from that time reading this, you know exactly what these "homes" looked like. Lulu and Pokey were held and admired by many kids, and surprisingly I remember and love them still.

Quel surprise, un autre photo de vacance dans la jolie ville de Parie.

This was a hat pin that I never wore. I wear a number of hats in the winter - I love wearing hats, but I'm not a hat pin wearer, so I cut off the long pin stem, and attached a pin back. Voila, now it's a pretty flower brooch.

September 8 - September 14, 2013

Crappers, I just deleted my last post - I tried to right the upside down fish so it was right side upwards! I've tried everything to retrieve it - alas, it is lost. To those few who read it, please ignore this one blog or read on, see how well I do. I will blather again about the brooches, likely similar to my last lost blog, depending upon how good my short term memory is .....hmmmm. Let's see what I remember.

Here's deja-vu pour moi.

I bought this silver brooch at one of my favourite antique stores "Renaissance" on King Street in Toronto a long time ago. This store has been long gone but lives on for me in a few brooches, a bit of this, a bit of that, and a wonderful set of drawers.

I've made a number of these brooches in numerous colours and hues. I'm glad I kept this one - the colours turquoise and lime green make me happy. 

I like shiny things, it must be the magpie in me. This pretty snazzy bird is from a pretty snazzy friend.

I found this small Mountie pin lurking in a corner of my jewellery box. When I was a wee babe my "Baby Bowl" (written along the lip of the bowl) was a Mountie on a horse with Winnipeg Canada written below. I think this is what started my enamouredness with Mounties, don't you think? On the cork board just over my left shoulder as I type there is an old pennant with a Mountie (and of course his horse) on it from Dauphin Canada. I have no idea where that is but they made a fine pennant in their day.

I was recently given these little mice with the bendy tails. Methinks they are night-time critters with their shiny pink eyes and large alert ears (we have a house full of felines). It took me a while to decide which ways they would run on my shoulder. I think next time I wear them they will be running out of a pocket.

This is a large brooch, likely looking to grace a coat or jacket.  For some reason unbeknowst to me, I like to keep the same brooch on a coat until the coat is on its last legs. But I couldn't resist this one. I like the homemade quality of it, the imperfections and the rightness. 

When I bought this, I couldn't tell whether it was old or newish. Now it is old since I've worn it for decades. Love the fronds climbing up the right side. Always wondered if the glass "berries" were added on at a later date. It's a fave of mine.

September 1 - September 7, 2013

Even though my school days have long since past, the beginning of September brings with it a flood of first day of school memories - the excitement and the terror of it all. Everyone is reunited, friendships reforged, the simmering early days of crushes, the dreaded teachers and the beloved ones.
Here's a week of brooches.

I love my travelling buddies. This was brought back from one of my favourite places. When we went to Paris, we climbed all 3 of these buildings -  Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and Notre-Dame. We call them our vertical holidays.

Friends of mine go every year to the Pembroke Fiddle and Step Dance Contest held on the Labour Day Weekend hence the wearing of this pin. One year a group of us went to the Shelbourne equivalent. Seven of the eight of us slept in the van, and one under it. People were surprised to say the least when we all tumbled out of the van in the morning. By the way, if you ever get a chance, go and see the wonderful fiddlers and dancers, it will make your heart happy and your feet do a tap or two.

A brooch from a London England toot. I think the image is made from bits of wood fibre, bamboo.......The price sticker is still on the back - a steal at 4 pounds.

I laughed and laughed when I received this brooch - great gift. I'm a proofreader. But please ignore any spelling/grammatical errors in this blog - this blog ain't work!

Wore this at the first meeting of my Rug Hooking guild for the year. A few of us used to go every Monday night to our teacher Nancy's in Princeton where we would hook, and laugh. She taught us how to make this strawberry brooch. Miss you Nancy!

During my years as a step dancer we performed at many folk festivals and had the great good fortune to be paired up with wonderful musicians. We were a group of 4 women called The Mulligan Dancers - we named ourselves after our teacher and friend Alex Mulligan who bravely took on the job of teaching us when we were in our twenties. This brooch reminds me of the 5 handsome fiddlers from Sweden who we performed with on one occasion. Very nummy!

This elephant head looks a bit like it has "Wiener" (Daschund) dog ears. Now that would be an interesting cross breed.

August 25 - August 31, 2013

I have to admit, I thought the Morning Glories were toast this year as not a bud was to be seen. But happy days, they are blooming in profusion and it makes my heart glad. When I was a teenager at camp my Mom would send me postcards with a tally of how many daily were in bloom along the backyard fence. The highest bloom day was over a hundred. I can't believe she took the time to count them, but she knew of my passion. I couldn't have asked for a better Mom.

Another picture brooch of the lovely fountain situated near the end of Boulevard Saint Michel looking up towards the Jardin du Luxembourg in the far distance. Tres magnifique!

When I left my old job in Toronto, a friend made me a brooch with my beloved Eiffel Tower on it (you will see it in a later blog),............... and this one. I'm not keen on masks and this one is a little spooky don't you think???? but it was kind of him to give it to me anyway. When I wore it to my current workplace more than a few eyebrows were raised. You would think they would be used to my brooches by now.

I have 2 of these portrait kitties. Bought them decades ago in London England from a store called Katz. There is something about enamelled brooches that are so appealing. Wish I had bought more. As a side note. I lost the 3rd brooch also decades ago - if you see a brooch that's heart-shaped, with a white cat face on it with blue eyes and 1 of the blue eyes has "exploded", that's my lost lamented brooch.

Love this funky ceramic fish. I think he could tell a good fish story or two as he looks like he's lived an interesting life.

Look you cry, another Toulon pin. When I like something, I really like it. I find this so beautiful, the lovely detail.

I had to make sure that I wore my last CGIT pin in August. When I was a teenager my CGIT camp days were in August at Ryde Lake Camp near Gravenhurst. It was and no doubt still is a beautiful spot. My young life at camp was full to the brim. One of my favourite places was a quiet spot that was set aside for contemplation and for sermons - Alma held lovely sermons/talks. I will never forget the intense peace and quiet; sitting on logs or large flat rocks; facing the setting sun over the water and the long fingers of shadow among the trees. Such places hold a time and memory in my heart.

I was thrilled to receive this pin as it reminded me of happy times in the Food Building at the CNE in Toronto as a kid. You were fed royally for free. I still have miniature (about an inch high) glass Coca-Cola bottles, no, not filled, that were given out along with a ton of other advertising "stuff". I wore this to the Paris Fair as a nod to past times.

August 18 - August 24, 2013

At last, the little green tomatoes are turning red - it's the beginning of the cherry tomato explosion. 
There is an huge Black Walnut tree that overhangs our backyard. It is a home to a variety of living things and because of its great height, the birds like to twitter and sing away in its uppermost branches. It's a wonderful tree. Why the abrupt segue from tomato to tree? Anything from the Nightshade Family cannot grow with a Black Walnut, which means tomatoes etc. Hence, we have "the driveway garden". Pots are lined up along the driveway against the house - herbs, basil, tomatoes, basking in the afternoon sun. Num!
Here's another week of brooches.

I like receiving brooches out of the blue, for no reason. It's always thoughtful.
Now, wouldn't it be wonderful if sheep came in a rainbow of colours? 

Turquoise and silver - lovely combo. A nice substantial brooch.

Wore this pin today because tickets for FIFA 2014 are now on sale. A few years back a friend had a mitt-full of team pins - I chose this because I liked the colour and design. I like soccer but don't follow it - my husband is a big fan - his team is Barcelona because "they are a pleasure to watch". Translation - they play tres bene.

Here's the last of my tin pins that were made in Japan (as marked on wing). Haven't seen as many dragonflies flitting around the garden this year as previous. Hope for a bumper crop in 2014.

I found this pin amongst some funny jewellery my Mom gave me years ago. Don't know its providence, don't know if they are moonstones, but I love the soft moony glow anyway. I even like the unusual shape.

This is one of my favourite brooches. Such an elegant shape and the green tops of the onions are pliable and soft to the touch - love it!
Here's a little story. My husband's Mom grew up in Montreal. When she was nineteen or so, back in the late 1930s she was a hat model. She was taken out to lunch to some fancy restaurant with some execs, and she wanted to appear grownup and worldly, so for an hors d'oeuvre she ordered scallions, thinking she had ordered scallops. And of course, when the scallions came on a little plate, she ate them with great elan, never hinting of her mistake. 

I seem to have a barn-full of cat pins. This one is pleasing to the touch since it follows the contours of the kitty, and it's so true to the nature of cats. When I'm rug hooking, if there's any wool unprotected you'll either find a cat firmly ensconced on it or if it's a ball of fibre, it's wet since it has been mauled when I wasn't looking.