A Little Love Banner Free Printable

Here is a thrifty one-sheet banner to print that spells out "LOVE." Might be cute printed out, maybe grubbed on the edges, or sweetened with mica or metallic ink, and tacked on a shelf edge or across the top of an armoire. 

I had the pink version up on my old blog, and have added a tan and black raggedy version.

Use the links to make sure you get the full, uncompressed file, stored in the Google cloud. 

I'm still working on my Strawberry Bunny cross stitch designs. I've got the second one nearly stitched. Where I slow down is translating the actual stitchery to chart form. I dread that part! I like the stitching part best. Of course, I remember when charts were made using graph paper and an old Underwood typewriter!

We had our first foggy day of the year today. It's a rare event and was very exciting to those who have lived hereabouts their whole lives.

Pink Link

Tan Link

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    Holly, The Merry Olde Dame

A New Year Is Nearly Here!

These holidays are at a full gallop now, it seems to me! Christmas Eve - whoosh! Christmas Day - whoosh! Feast of the Holy Family - whoosh! And now New Year's Eve just about a day away! 

Today I planted many amazing kinds of mint in my courtyard. I usually would not plant mint in January, but a kind internet friend sent me many kinds of mint sprigs for Christmas, after my husband inadvertantly ruined my mint beds. At 86, he has good days and bad days, and on the bad days, things like dumping the water softener's super-salty water onto my flowerbeds (and thousands of salt pellets onto the driveway) happen. So, my courtyard, at ground level, has been salted and ruined.This spring I will remove the topsoil and replace it with good soil. I grow most of my plants in fire rings (similar to stock tanks, but no bottoms), so they were spared. I have a thick layer of pine straw and juniper branches over the mint, so it is tucked in tight and I believe the mint will rest easy until warmer weather. Being in the southern desert, our winters are not onerous but it does freeze.

I calmed myself by creating some tags for New Years, featuring antique designs. I love to create digital items. I love actual hand-work, too, but sometimes it feels impossible to organize and begin such work. The computer is right there, ready to go, so I hop onto it and do some creating. With nighttime (and daytime) breathing problems, I am rarely asleep during normal night hours, so the computer is good company.

Use this LINK <---- to save the full-sized file. Blogger unfortunately compresses large image files in posts and then they don't print nicely, so don't just right-click and save the image. Get the real file stored on Google Drive.

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    Holly, The Merry Olde Dame

Free Cute DIY Kitchen Gift Idea Printable

If you are in need of a thrifty and useful gift, consider printing out these little little 3x5 measurement equivalency cards and pairing them with a wooden spoon, a jar of spice or sprinkles, even some brown sugar in a Mason jar, and a favorite or interesting recipe.

You can punch a hole in one corner and put them on a ring or tie with baker's twine or raffia. I love thrifty, make-do gifts. Not everyone does, however; I was shocked (decades ago) when my own mother told me in no uncertain terms that she did not like handmade gifts after I proudly gave her a cross stitch creation and a jar of mulled cider spices I had blended. I believe it was partly a reaction to having been young during the Depression; my parents, and many of their generation, bore the scars of severe deprivation. They liked shiny and new, especially my mother, not reminders of lean times.

As always, please use the links so that these print out full size and are not the compressed files you see as images below.

Terra Cotta Tones Link

Mustard Tones Link

Turquoise Tones Link

Thank'ee for stopping by. Almost Christmas!

    Kind regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

Last-Minute Free Printable To - From Tags

I was a bit shocked to go into a Walmart yesterday to grab a few last-minute Christmas decorations, only to find Christmas gone except for a few things in baskets by the garden section, and Valentine's Day candy and decorations where the Christmas items had been. 

Here are some free printable tags in case you find yourself in a similar situation. Free, gratis, no strings attached.

I remember a very elderly neighbor when my first husband was in graduate school. She lived a few doors down in what had then become a "student ghetto," one of the last holdouts in the entire area not to be a student or married to a student. She was generous in sharing little things she had, and she would never just say they were "free" -- she would say, "Free, gratis, no strings attached." I picked that up and have said it myself for about 40 years now.

I don't like to always be sighing over "the good old days," but I do remember the fun of shopping the last week of Christmas, and indeed on Christmas Eve. The stores were still full of Christmas things and the bustle was exciting. I don't know when exactly that retail began acting like Christmas was over before it was over.

In other news, I have yet to be able to do my embroidery this month, or last. Maybe in January. I have so many ideas for early winter and Valentine's Day.

And speaking of upcoming holidays, be sure to get yourself a broom (straw broom is best) before January 6th! You'll need it for Twelfth Night! Twelfth Night is actually celebrated on January 5th, the Eve of the Epiphany. So have it handy before then.

Click THIS LINK <----- to save a copy of the file below. I have it stored on Google Drive. If you click and save the actual image below, it might not print nicely, having been compressed and shrunk by Blogger.

Thank'ee for stopping by!

    Kind regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

Gift Card Sleeves: Free Printable Holders for DIY Christmas

Last week was surgery week for me. Five surgeries, even short outpatient ones, in a row is draining! I feel like a very sore pincushion and look like one, too. Black and blue from stem to stern! After the third day, I got a bit lost. I'm not sure what happened to Thursday and Friday. I just know that now, instead of rest and magazines and pampering and daytime television, patients sit up in recovery, begin walking around, and keep up a schedule of walking every hour. It's evidently a lot better for us than the old way.

If you forgo sedation, you can even drive yourself home, to the pharmacy, etc. after just an hour's wait.

One thing I did notice in my few travels last week (to the grocery and the pharmacy) was that people were shopping like crazy. With stores just reopened this week in New Mexico, the shelves are being picked clean. We don't know if they'll be shut again before Christmas, so everything and anything is being bought. There are only a very few giftcards left, too, out of hundreds and hundreds per store. And for some reason, none of the little free holders are left. There are some rather pricey ones for sale, but that's not thrifty if you're on a budget. I love the fancy holders, but not the cost.

Here are two sheets of do-it-yourself printable holders for gift cards. You could also tuck cash into them. 

You can print them out at home or send them electronically to an Office Depot, Walgreens, or Walmart; in most towns they print them right there. Then you can cut out, fold in half, fold the tabs, glue, and the gift card holder is ready once dry. With the fancy dry-line adhesives, you don't even have to wait for them to dry.

The extra little card can be used or just discarded.

Use the LINKS to make sure you get the full-sized file stored "in the Google cloud." Blogger compresses and shrinks files and then they don't print as nicely. Better to use the "cloud" or "drive" and get the best file.

Use THIS LINK <----- for the old-fashioned holders.

Use THIS LINK<-------for the red/blue holders below.

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    Holly, The Merry Olde Dame

Free Seed Packet Printable for Christmas! Digital Download.

If you like to gather and save seeds, and then share them, click on the link and download the free cute seed packet envelope to cut out and fold. It makes a cute gift and can even be placed in a Christmas card.

I have a small gardening area, so when I buy seeds, I have a lot left over. Be thrifty and divide up those specialty seeds among your gardening friends! I love to get exotic and rare seeds as well as heirlooms. My gardening buddies love them, too. This year, all of my Christmas cards have seeds tucked into them, some from gleaning and some from boughten packs.

Use the link to save the image, so that it prints out the right size and clarity.

--->LINK CLICK HERE<---

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

Santa's Magic Key - Free Printable to Reassure Kids

Sometimes children become anxious that Santa will be unable to get into their home or apartment. They see their doors locked up tight at night, and most do not have fireplaces and chimneys.

I made this little printable sheet to reassure the kiddos. With the "magic key" tag left outside the door -- perhaps tied to the doorknob -- Santa can easily come in and leave the goodies.

When I taught in the primary grades, I had to be careful not to betray any information about Santa. My son was already older, and I had forgotten the angst some of the children felt about Santa. Some of the students had older siblings who would tease them about the veracity of Santa Claus and point out that they had no chimney for Santa-travel. That's when I started making "magic keys" for the students to take home - just old keys with ribbon tied on to hang outside the door and await Santa's magic touch. 

Print out the tags and either tape or glue on an old skeleton key, or fussy-cut one of the printed keys and affix. When Santa touches the printed key, it magically becomes metal, don't you know, and opens the door right up.

Please be sure to use the link to download the file. Blogger compresses large files, so the images in the post will be too small to print nicely. It's safe to download the full-sized image file from Google Drive.

Here's the LINK <------

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

Free Printable Digital File ADVENT SET

Hello Bloggie Friends, I have a quick upload for you. It's little tags you can print and use for Advent. Numbers 1-24 and some other tags to add to make a gift of the set. I hope you enjoy!

I had a different post up but I'm switching it to tomorrow. I had forgotten today is December 1 until I saw another blog friend mention turning her calendar page over! Had a flu shot and have been kind of muddled and ill for a few days.

Here is a peek at what the little tags/cards look like, but use the link to get all the pages of the set. I sell this set on Etsy so ignore the watermarks, your files will not have them. The link is BELOW this photo:

 Advent Set <----click this

This is my first time uploading a "zip" folder, so I hope it works. Let me know if you have trouble. Remember that this link will Pop Up in a different window. If you have trouble, try to copy and paste this long linkie into your address window: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17i0-3FdmzvG3310K568UP9LHsT_6kCWW/view?usp=sharing

Thank'ee! 

     Kind regards, 

     The Merry Olde Dame

Free Printable: Christmas Lanterns Tags, Retro Style

Here is a little printable set of Christmas Lantern tags to begin the week. I worked on several dozen image sets this weekend, including these simple tags. They are from copyright-free lantern images, mainly from Christmas cards. In the 1940s through early 1960s, lanterns were prominent in the card industry. I can remember a kerosene lantern in our Destin, Florida beach house. This was in the 1960s. We'd use it at night to walk the beach, looking at the sea denizens that had come ashore. We saw many strange creatures, with the most impressive, to my eyes, being the horseshoe crabs. We never tried to hurt or gather anything we saw. We were just looking and marvelling. 

I have seen on some Facebook and Pinterest pages that old heaters and lanterns are being used as decor now. My husband has two old railroad lanterns on a shelf. The big lanterns I've seen have red or amber "fairy lights" or "rice lights" in them, and it really does give a glowing look. 

Please use this link HERE ----> CLICK HERE <----- to download your copy of the tag file from the Google Cloud, if you care to. If you save the sneak peek below, the file will have been compressed by Google Blogger and won't print nicely.

I know I did something this past weekend, but most of it escapes me. Oh, chores, of course, but some crafty things, too. That's right, glueing mini-pompoms on some commercial Christmas cards, and starting on some beaded ornaments. Knew I did something. Came up empty on my fir branch/pine branch hunt, though. Did you do anything enjoyable? I'm working on my HTML coding to try to get "threaded comments" going, where I can reply to the interesting remarks left on the blog, but so far, no success.

    Kind regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

Free Printable Hang Tags: A Pink Christmas

I was a bit surprised when I first started collecting and using Victorian "scrap" images, in how many were in peculiar colors and had odd imagery. Paper, diecutting, and printing were extremely expensive then, and yet really strange images would be produced. Using so much pink for Christmas amazed me. Santas in pink robes are not uncommon. Pink angels abound. The next time pink was so prevalent was in the 1950s and early 1960s.

So I made a free printable hangtag sheet out of some of these images. As usual, it's stored in the "cloud," wherever that may be. It's Google, so it should be safe. I think Google has control of just about everything so I've stopped worrying about what they may be doing. 

Remember to click the LINK to save the actual sheet, which is shown as the small inset in the graphic below. It's just one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet with six images. 

LINK IS HERE! <---click that

It may seem far from Christmas, but I feel it bearing down. It seems so long off for so long, and then I feel it rushes by me too quickly. That's why I always get an early start on the season. It goes much too fast for me. And as my mother warned me, the older I get, the faster it all seems to go! And as she solemnly told me, "Even if you live to 90, that's just 90 Christmases." 

We are under a "lockdown" again in my state. It all feels so strange, to have no Black Friday coming up, to have the season unfurl so differently. I feel so very badly for the very elderly, who depended on going to Cracker Barrel or Denny's for their holiday meals. Their meeting places are closed now. 

But, we all carry on, don't we? The mantel is done, the two tabletop trees are up, and the top of the pie safe is quite crowded now. My decorations are nothing compared to what I see on the blogs I hop around visiting. Years ago, I loved the blogging world, and I was so happy to rejoin it and see the numbers of steady, stalwart bloggers who keep blogging alive! Some people have extraordinary imaginations and sense of color and style. But I'll share some pictures tomorrow of my little inside efforts. The courtyard has been aglow since November 2nd. 

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame

Just My Cup of Tea

Here is a little printable that would be cute tied to some honey straws, a vintage  teacup, a box of teas, or little infuser and given as a small token of appreciation during the upcoming holidays. It has a sappy poem and a lovely Victorian image of a flower-filled teacup.

When I taught school, I was given so many sweet gifts. Many of them were mugs, and I think I have one of them left. One of my very most favorite gifts was a single, small bottle of "Mexican Coke," which is the Coke (of which I am extremely fond) sweetened with cane sugar. They used to be very hard to find, but I think I saw a six-pack of cane-sweetened Coke in Walmart the other day. 

As usual, click on THIS LINK HERE to download the full-sized file stored in the Google Cloud. If you just save the image below, it will be too small and will not print nicely.

    Kind Regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame

A Few Little Animations for You

Thanksgiving animations are not as popular as some holidays. So, I have just one pilgrim girl walking to offer, along with some cozy candle ones. They can be placed on your own blog, on Facebook, in an email, etc. 

These are small enough so that you can just right-click and save them directly! No need for any links this time.

I hope you enjoy.

    Kind regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame!

Free "Jar" Hostess Gift Tags for Thanksgiving

I don't know what will be happening around Thanksgiving this year. Perhaps no one will be visiting for the holidays, but if they do...here are a few printable decorations to celebrate the upcoming feast. They would be pleasing tied onto a real jar filled with something good or interesting, like a cookie mix, honeyed pecans, homemade spice mix, and so forth.

As always, click on the LINK under the preview image below to save the file for printing. It's saved in the Google Cloud, so it's perfectly safe. The link pops up a new window. If you can't see the pop-up, you likely have that blocked and will have to "manage pop-ups" in your browser settings. If you save the little image below, it won't print right. USE THE LINK!

Thank'ee for stopping by!

 

LINK IS HERE! *Click*

And We Roll Towards Thanksgiving!

My Hallowe'en decorations are safely tucked away, and Thanksgiving and Yuletide touches are now begin placed in the house, with full Christmas lights going up outside. And on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the honeycomb turkeys and harvest items will be put away, too, and the entire house will be changed over to exclusively Christmas/Winter/Holidays!

I have notice a trend this year, probably because of COVID-19 and the feeling of bleakness that has gripped the U.S.: Christmas is being embraced much earlier than usual. For once, the stores are lagging behind the consumer. We want Christmas! 

It reminds me of the dear song, "We Need A Little Christmas" from the play Mame. The song was written by Jerry Herman:

Haul out the holly
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again
Fill up the stocking
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now

 

For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
Candles in the window
Carols at the spinet

 

Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
It hasn't snowed a single flurry
But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry

 

So climb down the chimney
Turn on the brightest string of light I've ever seen
Slice up the fruitcake
It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough

 

For I've grown a little leaner
Grown a little colder
Grown a little sadder
Grown a little older

 

And I need a little angel
Sitting on my shoulder
I need a little Christmas now

 

Haul out the holly
Well, once I taught you all to live each living day
Fill up the stocking
But auntie Mame, it's one week past Thanksgiving Day now

 

But we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
Candles in the window
Carols at the spinet

 

And we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
It hasn't snowed a single flurry
But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry

 

So climb down the chimney
It's been a long time since I felt good, neighborly
Slice up the fruitcake
It's time we hung some tinsel on that mayberry bough

 

For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
Candles in the window 

Carols at the spinet

 

And we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
We need a little Christmas now

We need a little Christmas now
We need a little Christmas now

 

Yes, I need a little Christmas now, but I also love Thanksgiving! So here are some FREE printable rustic tags celebrating that wonderful holiday. Check out my rustic and shabby Printable Tags and Postcards that I'm putting in my Etsy Shoppe, MerryNeedle, this week, too!

 

As always, CLICK THE LINK RIGHT HERE to download the full-sized, correctly printing file, stored over in the Google Cloud. It's perfectly safe! A new window should pop up, so make sure you allow pop-ups. If you don't know how to do that, here is the link written out, so you can copy and paste it in your browser address bar: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19htV_wmd8Z2qYBiS_p42SuMQXgI4ag0n/view?usp=sharing

 

 

 

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

DIY "Harvest Blessings" Sachet to Print

If you are hosting a Thanksgiving get-together -- if it's allowed where you are living -- you might want to have a little party favor for your guests. And if you're lucky enough to be a guest, it might be fun to bring a little hostess gift along. 

Some don't care for the smell of chrysanthemums, but I love it. It seems so spicy and fresh: Bracing, like the essence of a cold snap.

Use the link to get the full-sized printable stored by Google. If you use the image below, it will be a smaller file and won't print at the proper resolution or size. It's perfectly safe and the link should open in a new window.

It will be just myself and my husband for Thanksgiving this year, and of course the pets. The pets are our lives: Two kitty rescues, and two doggie rescues. Scruffy little things we love beyond belief.

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

LINK: Click HERE

Antique Images on Olde Postcards: Free Autumn Printables

I love the digital window to the world, but I miss snail mail, too. That's one reason I collect ephemera, especially colorful cards and postcards as well as paper dolls.

These are printable digital images based on a scan of an old postcard, with vintage images of autumn added.

Mayhap they will find a place among your decorations and vignettes.

 As always, use the link to pop these up and save them. If you use the preview image in this blog post, it will be too small and not print nicely. The link is perfectly safe and is a Google storage link.

I have some autumn hang tags in the rustic style up in my Etsy shoppe, MerryNeedle. Click HERE to visit the shoppe, or the image up to the right on the sidebar.

And here is the LINK to click: Autumn Postcards a la Yesteryear 

         Kind regards,

        Olde Dame Holly Rose

Rescuing Paper Doll Ephemera

I didn't have as many toys as a child as my peers did, but that was fine with me. My interests were not typical, perhaps because I could not see well, being extremely nearsighted and having no glasses at the time. Ever since I could remember, I loved ephemera. My treasures were things like confetti, the miracle of round glitter instead of the usual squares, diecut cardboard (especially Beistle Company's Halloween offerings), honeycomb paper designs, and paper dolls and animals. I also loved tiny books.

When I come across paper dolls, I try to buy them, especially if they are paper animals. Online, I rescue and refurbish images of dolls and paper animals. 

Here then is a refurbished paper doll girl in her original dress and also with a mirrored image holding a pumpkin, and her lovely stove, printed by now-defunct Lion Coffee Company. A kitty hunkers down by the warm stove, biding her time until she gets some of the cream intended for the coffee. I hope someone who also treasures these things will come across this some day and enjoy! Could be cute as part of a prim display or diorama.

Use the LINK if you think you might want to save this and print it out. It prints out on letter-sized paper or cardstock. The image below is just a preview and won't print nicely, so use the Google link. It is perfectly safe and should open in a new window.

To download and print: CLICK HERE

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

Antique Color Advertising "Trade Cards"

About 150 years ago, there was not too much in the way of bright colors in most humble people's lives. Their clothes tended to be drab, they had few decorations, and they could not afford even the smallest, most rudimentary painting. They ate on plain crockery or wooden planks, and did not have the colorful china the wealthier citizens possessed. Businesses soon realized there was a real hunger for color among these households, and invented not only colorful advertising "bills" that would be glued throughout towns, but later small lithographed "trade cards" featuring the name of their product accompanied by pretty or fanciful images. Both adults and children prized and treasured these cards, which were most often free or in later days, included in a package of the goods sold.

Soon not only the poor, but the middle and upper classes wanted these trade cards. In fact, these cards were so desirable that the best room in the home, the "parlor," featured albums of these cards. For those without a spare room and without the funds for an album, they might be stored in a box or kept in a tin. Baby boomers such as myself remember practically wearing out the Sears Wishbook; so too the children and adults of the late 1800s perused, re-perused, and perused again these cards. Mothers and children first latched onto the cards; when racy or sports-themed cards began to be produced as well, men began saving them, too.

It all waned after the advent of fancy magazines in color, in the early 1900s. But many of these cards survive, having once been treasured possessions.

Here we have a few "autumn-themed" Victorian trade card images to peruse yourself or even print. They would look cute in an old-fashioned display tucked in a corner or perhaps a dough bowl. 

REMEMBER, click the link to save the images, or you won't get the full-sized image. I store the full-sized ones via Google. The link is safe and goes to Google Drive or Google Photos. I'm trying to find a way around that, but so far, no luck.

Click HERE ON THIS LINK to save!

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

Free Printable Hallowe'en Fun Food Labels

Spooky cards for fun foods!

 

Here is a redo of a free printable I offered years ago on a different blog. I hope that we are able to have some sort of safe Hallowe'en get-togethers despite COVID-19. Perhaps families who live together could have a little party, or offices where everyone works together could have a cute lunch.

Most of these labels are designed to be able to stand for more than one type of food or drink, although Jellied Puffer Fish is rather specific to Swedish Fish. Swamp Scum, for example, could be guacomole, Lime Sherbet Island Punch, or baby-leaf salad. Toad Legs can be wings or celery sticks or something really scary, such as a fish stick. Zombie Eyeballs could be olives, melon balls, really anything remotely round. Gargoyle Gulp can be any punch or drink. Wands & Snitches can be pretzel sticks and peanuts or M&Ms. And so on, and so forth.

Hallowe'en is one of my absolutely favorite holidays, mainly because it refuses to be tamed. It is a very old, very earthy fest, full of mysticism. I stay up all night on most holidays, and most especially on Hallowe'en. I can almost remember what it felt like to be young, on All Hallow's Eve.

But of course, I'm ancient now. So ancient, that I do not wish to give up the spelling of Hallowe'en as I was taught it, with the apostrophe, to remind us it was a hallowed evening. I also miss using the ligature "æ" in many Latin words, such as æsthetic. Precision in scholarship was still important, during my early education. Later, it was ruined by the "modern" 1970s, but luckily I had a firm foundation by then.

As always, use the LINK to save the printable. If you save the picture, it will not print nicely, due to Google shrinking images in websites and limiting their width, but allowing them to be their original size when saved in Google Drive.

Link: Click HERE for the full-sized printable.

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose

Colorful Antique-style Seed Saver Packets to Print

Well my dears, today we have a colorful version of the small printable seed packets posted on Monday.

These feature old images of pretty flowers and vegetables, so you can use one for flowers, one for food seeds.

I think these would make it extra-special if giving gifts of your collected seeds, especially if you are out of glassine envelopes or mylar pouches, and don't have time to get any. 

In these times, it is more important than ever to have an eye to the future, and future needs that may look more like pioneer days than we expect. If you can, have seeds on hand, and plant fruit trees and vines that can help you get vitamin C and other nutrients. 

If you live in an apartment or rental home, consider growing mint in a bright window. It is medicinal as well as delicious. I consider it a very important item to have growing in the home. It has vitamins C, K, and B-6 as well as E, and it has folate and manganese. It has magnesium, calsium, iron, potassium, and riboflavin (another type of B-vitamin). It can settle a stomach quickly, too. 

Sadly, many have forgotten that within the lifetimes of our eldest citizens, Victory Gardens were vital to the survival of individuals and the society. My widowed grandmother kept a "milch cow" in town, and chickens, and grew many unusual fruits and vegetables, during World War II.

My own father would have starved, had he not been adept at foraging for wild foods and hunting squirrels during the Depression. He hated shooting the squirrels, and after the war never picked up a gun again, but he hated the sight of his tiny siblings crying in hunger more. 

If you get a chance, read "Once Upon A Town: The Story of the North Platte Canteen." It will amaze you. The farmers and ranchers of North Platte, Nebraska, the very heart of the heartland, provided so much food to the troop trains during World War II. Day in, day out, blizzards or scorching summer days, every troop train was met with an abundance of baked goods, fruits, vegetables, and meals. Popcorn balls studded with peanuts, pink-iced cakes, cookies and rolls were served by the tens of thousands, too. And this was before high-tech agriculture and GMO. This was clever thought, hard work, generous and no-nonsense spirits. It was quite unusual, in that the women who ran the canteen ignored the segregation of the day and served everyone, with no differences. They didn't have time to be petty. The fate of the world was at stake, and their part was important, and they knew it.

So save those seeds, including flower seeds that "do nothing" -- except brighten hearts. Seeds provide us with the means to have food for the stomach and the soul. 

As always, DON'T save the image! Use the LINK provided, because only the link gives you access to a full-sized file that will print correctly.

LINK to Google Drive file HERE.

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose