I look forward to Sundays.  It is the only day of the week that I make a cooked breakfast for my hubby, and we spend many hours of the afternoon reading the Sunday newspaper.

This morning’s breakfast consisted of kippers and scrambled eggs, English muffins with lemon curd and coffee.  We have decided that fish for breakfast is not common in our area excepting bagels and lox.  If you liked smoked salmon,  you should give kippers a try- they are smoky and salty- perfect with scrambled eggs.

Today’s paper will give me many ideas for things to do this week.  Among the tidbits I saved are recipes, community events, articles on health, cents off coupons, the sales, a Broadway show coming to town, history lessons, and of course the crossword puzzle.

 

Ladies of a certain age will remember what a hankie envelope is.  Since I am not “of that age,” I had to look it up!

I did wonder about the number of hankies one would own and where did one store them after they were cleaned but not needed for the moment.  Hankies made of silk especially needed careful cleaning and storage, but linen and cotton required ironing also.   So the hankie envelope or hankie box became the answer.

The hankie envelope was a fabric case, many times embroidered by its owner and many things besides hankies were tucked away- a girl’s diary or love letters might be kept there too!  A hankie box could be shaped like a triangle- hankies would be folded on the diagonal, or a square allowing hankies to lay flat.  I have found vintage lady figurines with slits to insert hankies into making a skirt for the doll.

 

 

 

A simple vintage handkerchief has launched a thousand ideas!  There is so much to know about life before kleenex (invented in the 1920s).

Handkerchiefs made of linen, cotton, and silk- were an essential item.  I was surprised to discover the enormous varieties one could choose from.  Not only where they utilitarian, they were partly fashion.  Often they were given as useful gifts (displayed on a decorative cardstock to enhance their appeal).

It would be so much fun to collect these antique cards with their attached hankies (or to try to recreate these cards- I do like to dabble in art!

One of Britain’s favourite savoury pies is chicken pie- small pieces of chicken and mushrooms in a creamy sauce between layers of pastry.

In America,  chicken pot pie is popular- one variety is made in a pot with strips or squares of noodles in a creamy chicken base, and the other is more closely aligned with the British chicken pie- the chicken and sauce being placed in a pottery dish or pie pan and topped with a single pastry crust.

My husband’s grandmother made the square noodle type.   I was personally more familiar with the chicken pies with two crusts.  I remember one of my sisters and I eating chicken pot pie often and hiding the peas!

For tonight’s dinner I am making a  turkey pot pie- the one crust variety to be baked in my mother’s stoneware deep dish pie plate.

 

I am thoroughly enjoying my fountain pen with royal blue ink.  It makes writing letters and cards a little more special.

I am attempting to write a few letters, notes, and cards each week as a way to re-connect with a part of life that has gone “high-tech.”  Not that high-tech is bad, but it leaves a “sterile” feel- and life is certainly not impersonal or sterile!

When I was a child, my mother would occasionally let me and my second sister buy a stationery set with color-coordinated papers and envelopes and stickers in a box.  How I miss that and could use it now.

 

When I say “tweets,”  I am not referring to social media!  I’m talking about bird tweeting.  Today it was so insistent that it have me a headache.

I think the birds are rejoicing that our recent bitterly cold weather has given us a reprieve.  I hope they do not think it is Spring already and start laying their eggs.

I took Miss Maddie on a walk today and noticed that a neighbors’ Magnolia has budded out with large fuzzy olive shaped buds.

 

I believe I must have a case of Spring Fever along with my birds!

I am resolving to write more “old fashioned” letters- using paper, fountain pen, envelopes, stamps, etc.  I love it in movies and books when a person must read or write their letters.  They are always so excited when a letter comes by post or by special messenger (think Pride and Prejudice.)  There also seems to be such ceremony in writing letters in those days.   Pray do not disturb the Missus, she is attending to her correspondence.

I have a nostalgia for stationery and fountain pens, blotters and blotting papers and I would like to start actually using them. This morning I primed my fountain pen, rummaged around for real writing paper and envelopes and wrote a quick letter to my sister about how much I enjoyed the family party yesterday.  Of course, the mail doesn’t run on Sunday, and my postal service visits around three o’clock in the afternoon on weekdays.

I will have to exercise patience in this, as well as waiting for my ink to dry!

 

I think that Miss Marple would have liked my dog, Miss Maddie.  She is small and tidy and does not do destructive things when she is bored.  She pads along with me from room to room as I do the daily tidy, and when I sit down, she sits right down with me and curls up for a nap (she naps a lot).

As I am typing this now, she is curled up behind me (I am short, and don’t take up the whole chair) keeping the small of my back warm.  Surely you are tired of my complaining about the cold!

My Maddie was my mother’s dog before she passed away, and I love having her living with me and my family.  When it is a bit warmer, she will enjoy a walk with me and search diligently for signs of Spring.

Where I live in Ohio, we are in a deep freeze with lots of snow.  I feel so bad for birds and animals outside!

Recently, I purchased a birdbath water warmer.  It is an electric powered model, quite entry-level, but it really does work!  Each bitterly cold day, I peek through my window to see if the water has frozen, but it does its job and keeps the center clear of ice.

The next test was to see if my birds would really use it- and I am happy to say that I have happy birds!  I have seen several birds dipping their beaks into the melted center.  This weather has also done a number on my corn supply!  I must start buying a bigger bag- it would be great to grow my own.

How did Miss Marple cope with being snowed in occasionally?  She probably had better coping skills than most of us modern set.

She was an accomplished knitter and never had idle hands.  She wrote and received letters- something that was a bit of a ceremony- before BIC pens and e-mail.  Think fountain pens and scented paper in a box bound with ribbon.

She did have a telephone and possibly a radio-no texting, internet or TV.  She had books to read and birds to watch, photographs to remember by.

She was active in her village church, so perhaps she had projects she could do from home- my own mother in law presses the alter cloths for our Episcopal Church.

Today I find myself coming down with “cabin fever”- a little writing helps, a large number of hungry birds to watch, packing up Christmas, and perhaps a little drawing in the children’s book I am attempting to write and illustrate!