Does Anyone Recognize the Melody?

When I was in Grade 9, so many years ago, I was in the Glee Club. That year, one of the local radio stations was recording school choirs singing Christmas carols. Our club had learned I song that I thought was called You, You, Tender and Wistful. Our director said that if anyone wanted to write some words to make it a Christmas song we could sing that for the radio. I tried to find the song on the internet but couldn't find it, I'm thinking now that it might be a classical piece that later had words put to the music.

Anyway, one of my fellow students wrote the following words:

Snowy fields in the winter

White sheep looking for food

Star and angel appearing to the poor shepherd so good

Star and angel to the poor shepherd so good.

Haste to Bethlehem stable

There in manger for bed

You will find the Christ Child

That's what the angel had said

Find the Christ Child that's what the angel had said

Bowing before such glory

on that beautiful morn

there the shepherds beheld him

thus was the Christ Child born

They beheld him, thus was the Christ Child born.

After all these years I still remember the words to the carol but not the words to the song I originally learned.

Since I couldn't find the original song or music, you'll just have to listen to me sing. My apologies. If you know the melody please let me know what it is.

Snowy Fields

Meet Fergus

 A few years ago, after I saw that a friend named their Christmas tree, I decided to do the same.  To date, my trees have been named Gaston, Albert, and Cailun. The names in the running this year were Theodor, Huw, George, Tasha and, of course Fergus.

Fergus was the overwhelming choice of my friends and family. I really liked the name Fergus but also liked Huw. I use coloured lights on my Christmas trees and thought it was neat that a homophone of Huw is hue. But also because my father's middle name was Hugh. Maybe Huw will be the name of next year's tree. The deciding factor for Fergus was when one of my friends commented Fir GUS.  I hadn't even clicked in on the fact that the tree was a fir tree.  

Anyway Fergus is a hefty guy. Lifting him into the house was quite a feat. The trees always look so small on the lot but when I got him home I wondered if he was going to be too tall. He wasn't he was just the right height. He does have a bend in his trunk so to make him look straight in the tree stand he had to be at a bit of an angle. It's not visible from the front as he leans back somewhat. 

With no further introduction, meet Fergus. My Christmas tree for 2025.

Welcome home.

Getting Lit

All lit up.

Introducing Fergus

The Christmas Tree of 2025 - Fergus

Quilt Ribbon Balls

After 20 some years of competing in dog agility, I have many ribbons stored away in boxes, never to be seen. Only title ribbons are displayed and even then most Nationals Qualifier, Regional and National placement ribbons are boxed away. 

Just one box of ribbons

One lady I know from agility, who is very crafty, had made some Christmas ornaments last year using her dogs' ribbons.  This year she offered to host a workshop to show us how to make them. She prepared a tip sheet and the styrofoam balls for us.  We had a nice afternoon learning how to make Quilt Ribbon Balls.

My first Quilt Ribbon Ball

I decided I would decorate my little porch tree that I put in my sun room so I bought a package of balls, some ribbon, tassels, straight pins and craft glue. I originally intended to just make two more balls but now I've already made four more. So as there are six styrofoam balls in the small package, I'll likely end up making another two.

Multi-coloured

All Canadian

Royal Purple

Traditional Christmas

You can also make some simpler ornaments using the rosette from the ribbon. Several of these brought back memories. The green rosette ornament is made from two of Tucker's qualifying score runs in Advanced Team, one with a Border Collie named Meg and the other with a white Boxer named Cassius Clay. One of the white rosettes was from one of Ceilidh's Master Gambler runs. Not sure if it was a qualifying score, but the back of the rosette said it was her first run after surgery. She had surgery to remove a Mast Cell tumour in Jan 2010, we started back in agility in Mar 2010 but I had to let her go in May of 2010. 

I would say for me the hardest part of making these ribbon balls is marking the ball. My first one had lines going off everywhere. You don't have to mark the ball but it helps keep things lined up. 

Cutting the ribbon squares is easy to do but I'll admit it was hard for me to cut that first ribbon. I'm sure I'm not so careful as I should be cutting the squares so I've become somewhat of an expert at trimming the ribbon squares. You have to trim the squares if you're starting the reach the equator of the ball when doing the first half.  You don't want too much bulk where the rows will meet or the band of ribbon that hides the final row's raw edges won't sit nicely.

The link below is the video we watched to learn how to make the Ribbon Quilt balls. The lady in the video is using 2 1/2" fabric squares so it only takes three rows to cover each half of the ball. 

Fabric Quilt Balls

Our ribbon quilt balls use 2" ribbon squares as that is the width of many of our dogs' ribbons.  Because we are using a 2" square, it takes four rows to cover each half of the ball. That means pushing in a lot of pins, three pins for each square needed to cover the ball. You need a thimble or a chapstick tube to push in all those pins or your fingers will get sore. I find a chapstick works well for me, using the recessed end the actual tube to set the pin and then using the cap as a thimble to push the pins in.

My little porch tree is now decorated with my agility ribbon ornaments which is so much better than having them hidden away in boxes.

So many memories now decorate that tree!

Never Again!

There are so many unsung heroes out there. This week I learned about Arie Van  Mansum. Born in Holland, he emigrated to Canada after the war. During the war he helped hundreds of Jews escape the Nazis. He himself was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned. He didn't talk much about his experiences in the war until he realized that people either had forgotten about what happened or didn't believe in the Holocaust.

How did I learn about him? Through an award that is given educators who have significantly helped their students understand the history of the Holocaust and the dangers of hatred, discrimination and anti-semitism.

The 2025 recipient is my nephew. He's a local high school teacher who has always had an interest in history especially World War I and World War II. He had been to Vimy twice, once while in high school and once while in university.  This year he has also been selected to lead a group of students on a battlefield tour.

All his interest in history is not to say that he glorifies war but that he understands the sacrifice and the loss that is involved to maintain our freedoms. 

"The evil forces of racism can emerge in the world at anytime and it is possible for the individual to make a choice to resist them." 

Arie Van Mansum

Hopefully in these days where discrimination is all around us, each one of us can do a little to make this world a better place.

Never again should apply to all peoples!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

A lady I know through agility is very crafty. She makes the most beautiful Ukrainian Easter eggs. This week she helped a few of us make something a little easier. We made quilt balls using ribbons we'd won in our dog sports. 

Here's my Quilt Ribbon ball.