The Flower of the Family

My father used to have a joke he liked to tell. He would say that I was "the flower of the family -- the bloomin' idiot."

My family was exceptionally intelligent, except the baby of the family -- me -- lagged far behind them. In my family, the intellect was the be-all, end-all. My siblings had extraordinary intelligence, as did my parents, especially in the areas of mathematics and music. I have no real talent for either one, although I tried very hard to do well in those subjects and please my loved ones. But I never pleased them!

I do feel I have a special gift, however: I am transported by beauty. Sometimes I feel like my heart will burst when I see certain flowers or hillsides or paintings; or the way the light goes through a vase at sundown or a leaf at sunrise, or through Champie the Chiweenie's ears anytime, making him look like a dog with bright pink petals growing from his head. Note to Champie: You are a handsome, handsome lad, my fat and faithful friend, and you wear those petals well.

Here are a few more "purloined pictures" (thank you, Joanne from Cup on the Bus) from the little park I "accidentally" found myself in after accidentally scaling a rock wall (at MY age!) and accidentally avoiding detection by sneaking about. I was NOT the only one to enter this off-limits park, however; a well-known ne'er-do-well character wearing a black mask (over its eyes, not its nose and mouth) was there before me! Yes, the paths were covered with paw prints of raccoons! 

Hope you enjoy. Three kinds of crabapples and some other pretty plants like quince and redbuds were also blooming. Some are not in sharp focus; I was too busy trying to sneak to concentrate.

Kind regards,

Olde Dame Holly

Lilac-Violet Cactus Welcomes Spring in the Desert

 

Before showing off the "unicorn cactus" as I like to call it, here is my favorite kitchen decoration. These little chalkware chickens are always on display. The hen was painted by my son while I painted the rooster, when he was very little. I love children's artwork and handwork. Their creations are so open, so fresh! 

I had to mail some seeds that I sold, so I stopped by the landscaping at City Hall, which is downtown like the post office. Spring arrived within a week: Trees that were bare last week are fuzzed with green this week.  Ice plants have dozens of blooms and have plumped up. The agaves (above) are stretching out. I think the center of the agave looks like a little dolphin face. And the prickly pears are barnacled with buds.

I am very partial to these lilac-hued cactus, called Santa Rita prickly pears. They are a very unusual spot of pastel color in the landscape. In winter and early spring they are lilac and purple with aqua; by late spring and summer they will turn more a pastel blue gray.  In the landscape, they are striking. I wasn't the only one taking photos of them; in nearby Old Mesilla, tourists had phones in hand, taking photo after photo of the violet-hued prickly pears that line the famed La Posta restaurant's parking area.

I know many of you are still awaiting spring to truly show herself! But when it is over 100 degrees here (37 C), you will be having the last laugh as everything dries up in the heat!

Kind regards,

Olde Dame Holly

Your Favorite Smell, Garden Surprises, Desert SNOW in March and Printable Spring Tags!

Well dearies, here we have some free digital speckled spring tags to download and print out. I was thinking of speckled eggs, and flowers, and decided to combine the two. As always, please use the link, because Blogger compresses and resizes images posted and then they don't print properly. TO GET A GOOD LOOK at the tags to see if you want to download them, RIGHT CLICK and choose "Open link in new tab" and that will make the little magnifier appear.

You can download from Google Drive (safe) from this LINK <-----

Amazingly, it snowed today here in the desert -- on our mountaintops. It sprinkled some cold rain on the foothills and in our valley, the Mesilla Valley, where the Rio Grande is and where the chiles, onions, cotton, and pecans grow.

 

The mountains are the Organ Mountains, so called because the tall granite outcroppings (locally called "the needles") looked like organ pipes to some, probably homesick settlers who had left such heavy instruments behind. I can't really imagine the grit that the people had who moved here, the ganas, as they say in Mexico. All these g-words, basically meaning the desert pioneers had guts.

Update on my community garden plot: Whoever had this plot before was a blue-ribbon gardener. I thought I was going to have to amend the soil and dig a lot to prepare the bed. But no! My very first shovelful of soil showed that not only was it already amended, but it was PLANTED! With strange bulbs, pushing up to the surface! And the bed has different mints including apple mint, big mounds of what turned out to be the best-smelling lemongrass ever, other herbs yet to be figured out, and I don't even know what-all. Some heirloom tomatoes, too.

I gingerly poked in a few seeds of sunflowers along the western side of the plot, for shade. And put in a few pumpkin seeds (bush pumpkins) and some Korean Melon seeds that were given to me by a fantastic gardener in a seed club we're in. But I didn't dare dig anything. I just made little holes with a stick.

Those with mint-phobia, don't worry. In the desert, mint cannot take over your beds. They are limited by the extreme dryness and easy to keep in bounds with watering methods.

I am most excited about the lemongrass. I haven't grown it before. I gave it a good haircut and the little blades are already coming up from the roots. I think it's one of my new favorite smells!

What is your favorite smell? Does it vary by season, as mine do? 

Kind regards,

Olde Dame Holly

Early Spring Blossoms Abounding

I am somber today, thinking of several new blog friends who are undergoing trials and tribulations. They are good people, and it seems so unfair that they have these burdens on them. But it is as St. Paul said: "Who can know the mind of God?" 

Some bloggers are also right in the danger area of the bad storms and tornadoes we are having. "Tornado Alley" has shifted since I was young; many in Eastern states have been in peril.

Back in autumn, I predicted a severe spring, with winter hanging on. The signs were there.

My mind is all over the place in this post. Just a little tired, I guess.

In gardening news: The bottlebrush trees that I thought were dead have poked up some little new branches from the roots. In fact, it seems all of the plants I thought were gone, are not. I gave the courtyard a good soaking when I got home from work.

The strangest garden happening is that the winecup is putting up yellow buds. These are deep magenta blooms, thus the name, winecup! What is happening, with these yellow-petalled buds? The leaves are deep green!

I hope that near or far, these blooms bring a little bit of sweetness to your day.

Kind regards,

Olde Dame Holly

Giveaway Winner and...Shy Violets Already

Nature is so amazing. Where there was ice-blasted grass and brown soil, there is now new green and a sprinkling of early violets. These are growing near a grotto on the grounds of a former convent. I lived here once, long ago. I think these are the only violets in Las Cruces, and they grow only near the Grotto. I think they grow for Mary, Queen of Heaven. Since I lived there, the statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe was removed from the Grotto. They can remove her statue, but the very earth remembers!

And...we have a winner! I did this old-style, with bits of paper that we put in a bag, and my husband drawing the winner. 

Sheri at Red Rose Alley, a delightful blog, congratulations! If you email me your address, I will send off your giveaway items.

This was so fun for me, that I am wondering...any of you interested in a giveaway featuring seeds? I have so many, many unusual seeds, for all climates and all skill levels. Let me know in the comments if anyone is interested in a Spring Seed Giveaway, and please, if you have any thoughts or stories about gardening from seed, tell them in the comments or even in a blog post, as your time permits. I know weekends can be busy.

See you soon, on the blogs...

Kind regards,

The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

 

"Plum" Ready for Spring...

The Bradford pears and the purple-leaf plums have begun blooming in the southern desert area of New Mexico. I saw a single poppy in the rocks of my neighbor's yard, too, so the Mexican poppies, in their millions if we are lucky this year, are about to put on their sunny yellow show along the foothills of the Organ Mountains.

I do not think the finest, most rare blossoms placed in a costly vase can outshine the beauty of a plum branch in a Ball jar in March, although both bouquets would be lovely! 

Now, who is it who has a blog header with a glass "frog" holding all her embroidery scissors? I cannot recall, but I enjoy the blog. But do any of you remember when "frogs" to hold cut flowers were common? I have my mother's frog, and I am thankful for that. It's a simple piece of clear glass, with cone-shaped holes to hold stems in a circular, arched pattern, and hers is chipped here and there. But to me, it is precious. 

Don't forget to enter the giveaway with a comment on this post or the previous post! I remembered I had bought a little packet of funny round carrots as part of the prize, so here is an updated photo.

As always, thank'ee for stopping by! Any signs of spring where you are? I would love to hear.

Kind regards,

The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

Giveaway and Surprise News

Inspired by Cathy's giveaway a few weeks ago over at Acorn Hollow, among several others, I am having a giveaway, too! Yes, I am harkening back to the Glory Days of Blogging and having a little giveaway.

These are not fine things, just little items that I hope will brighten up someone's day as they wait for spring. You will recognize most of them, if you have followed this blog. The eggs are little prim wooden eggs. International bloggie friends are welcome to enter, too. 

Free cat hair with every giveaway! Sorry about that!

To enter, just leave a comment on this post. I will pick (random #) and post the winner Friday. 

My surprise news is that I got a full time job. I am not a hale and hearty person, and in fact I have trouble walking and standing, so I applied for a simple half-time positionbut was offered the full time position of senior legal secretary.

I worked for a law firm in the past, sandwiched between two teaching stints. I have taught, but I did many other jobs, too. I moved around a tremendous amount, and when you do that (following hubby's career), you can find yourself in places that don't have "reciprocity" for your teaching certificate from your other states. I will say here that I enjoyed the other jobs much more than teaching, except for teaching adults. That I loved. But I absolutely loved working at the law firm. It was very old, over 100 years old, and old-school in many things. 

The attorneys, male and female, were courtly, somber, and kind. On Fridays, some of the partners would walk through the office, putting $100 on each desk, saying to "buy a treat for yourselves." 

Probably the strangest thing they did was have their version of a "Cuss Jar." A Cuss Jar is where you have to put in a certain amount of money if you curse, or "cuss." In their version, the Cuss Jar required $10, which was a LOT of money to us, if you accidentally used the term "lawyer" in place of "attorney." 

As I type that, I'm wondering...how much of that $100 each week was funded by the staff's inability to stop saying "lawyer"? Hmmmm...

Another tradition was the Jello Diorama. One of the senior partners liked to make scenes out of food items, but also incorporating dollhouse/model train miniatures, and encase them in Jello (usually lemon). Whenever he was so moved artistically, he would bring one in, and unmold it on a special raised platter reverently placed in the biggest conference room, where we would each go admire it. 

If you think any of the above is weird, just wait until I post about working for a young billionaire, with a B! That came after the law firm.

So now, I am no longer a retired "lady of leisure" (and I am guessing whoever made that title up didn't count housework as work!) - but I will still be blogging and loving the blog reading. 

Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

A Finished Spring Stitchery, At Last

Today and yesterday were busy, for me! But I finally finished the last cross stitch chart of my Spring Bees series. I don't know why I am into such muted palettes lately; I think it might have to do with "watching" somber British mysteries while stitching and charting. I keep them on as some sort of "company" as I stitch. The landscapes are so washed out, not by blazing sun but by lack of it! Come summer here, however, I will be wishing I was in one of those chilly, drab climates. 

I did live in a tiny log cabin on a little island in the Pacific Northwest for a few years. It was beautiful, in its way, and I absolutely loved the unusual plants I was able to grow there (like wintergreen and monkey-puzzle trees) but there wasn't enough sun, not enough warmth, and near-constant light drizzle. For all the years I lived there, there were only two days when I didn't need a fire or the heater (run with stinky heating oil), and I never was able to wear anything lighter than a thick long-sleeved shirt. I grew up not even wearing long pants in winter. I had summer shorts, and winter shorts. 

I finished this stitchery as...a pinkeep sachet! Oh, I'm getting wild, mixing it up here -- to finish not just as yet ANOTHER pinkeep but one with a handful of lavender inside. 

Link to my Etsy listing for the chart: HERE.

Actually, the pinkeeps are pretty versatile. I mainly use them as decor. Some call them "cabinet tucks" when they are used like that. 

I really miss the "open table" days at my local beadshop. Those were times when you could bring whatever you were working on, and just sit around the big table or on the old comfy armchairs and visit and work on your project. COVID ended that! I still do beading, and I like to add beads to my cross stitch, too. But how I miss the company of others who love handwork. It was my absolutely favorite part of each week.

Has anyone else experienced the end to a really fun activity due to the lockdown? 

As always, thank'ee for stopping by. Now I am off to read the blog posts I have been saving as a treat!

Kind regards,

The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

Free Easter Images and Free Thoughts

Warning about free stuff: As the old saying goes, "Free, and worth every penny."

One week ago, the U.S. was gripped by three winter storms in a row. Even here in the desert Southwest, we had snow, graupel, and several days where the high temp was below freezing. My heart goes out to those who were severely affected; two animal rescuers in Texas I know are still in bad shape, and only their lion-hearts are keeping their rescues afloat as they scamble for water and warmth for the animals in their care. 

But what a contrast, here: We have sun, spring-like temperatures, and flowers beginning to bud. I noticed that a winecup plant that last week was ice-encrusted, has today put up two big flower buds. I bought the tiniest size of the winecup at the nursery last year, a weak-looking plant with four leaves, and today it takes up half a fire-ring (fire rings are like stock tanks, but no bottoms). The winecup is in a struggle with an ice-plant as to who will dominate that particular bit of garden. My heart is with the winecup, so I give it a bit of help with judicious pulling and re-homing of the ice-plant. Do not grieve for the ice-plant! It easily roots wherever I place it.

I am greedy for flowers in my yard; flowers and wild grapes. I was able to snag a plot in our community gardens here in the city today, and that's where I will grow vegetables this year. That leaves all of my fire rings here at the house free for flowering plants. The "plot" of land I am assigned has had some improvements made, including PVC pipes arched over the top and secured at the sides of the raised bed. That is going to come in handy for "shade cloth," which helps shield the veggies from the full strength of the sun. Even full-sun plants here do better with some shade. I have the water faucet at the end of my plot, too, so that's a bonus. 

Here are some shabby tags for Easter. Maybe you will find a use for them: Glue them to a can or bottle, tie onto a cabinet pull, place with some greenery. As always, since mean ol' Google compresses files and makes them smaller, use this LINK <--- right here and download the original big size from Google Drive. Don't save the image, as it will print too small or be too fuzzy since it was reduced in size.

But...to get a better view of them, you can right-click them, choose open in another tab or window, then regular-click and use the little magnifying glass to see them better. Sometimes it's hard to make the little magnifying glass appear.

And as always...thank'ee for stopping by.

Kind regards,

The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

The Golden Age of Blogging...Arising Again?

Cloudy days are rare here, and they usually place me into an introspective mood. I was thinking about blogging, how it was in the early days, how there seems (I hope) to be a resurgence, and then more thinking about Facebook versus blogging. I'll save that last thought for another post.

One of the fun things in the early days of blogs was the giveaways. They added so much excitement to the community. During the time blogs were really hoppin', there were giveaways in abundance. Sometimes they were held to encourage commenting, and sometimes just to reward faithful readers, and sometimes just  because the blogger was so generous-natured. 

I am noticing that on Facebook, in some of the groups, there are giveaways happening. I think the "Groups" are following along a track similar to what happened in blogs, but I will boast here that I do not think Groups will ever equal the true community of blogging. 

I was happy to see a giveaway on a BLOG the other day! It made me smile, thinking of the heyday and how fun those times were, and how strongly blogging is rebounding.

I like to comment on blogs (one childhood nickname was "Loud Mouth Lime" due to my spouting off constantly) - just to add in my little bit of knowledge, chit-chat, or support. But a comment left did enter me into a giveaway, and I won, over at Acorn Hollow! What a wonderful bounty: Hooked pillow that is an absolute heirloom, hooked heart box with delicious chocolates (even shared with hubby), let me add here all wrapped so beautifully, fuzzy socks I put on immediately, and fussy-cut vintage Valentines. As someone obssesed with paper items, I can't tell you what a thrill the Valentines gave me! It is all so lovely.

Just take a look:

Lovely Valentine's red wrapping

BUNNY ALERT: An heirloom of my house now, in pride of place on the mantel

Two of the dear Valentines

Thank you, Cathy, of Acorn Hollow! Charming name for a very charming blog! If you admire hooked rugs and love sweet blogs like I do, please visit Acorn Hollow. Her work is beautiful, and just wait until you see her new workroom devoted to her rugs. 

It truly is delightful, for me, to follow the blogs I do, and read and see their posts. Some may think that their days or their gardens or their thoughts or crafts aren't "interesting" enough for a blog or worthy of a post, but I assure you, I read them with great interest and learn many things, am reminded of many things (my mind will go a mile a minute on the memories I recall), and take joy in the "small things" written about, photographed, and shared. And I am hardly alone! There is a whole army of us out there, who really enjoy the special sharing done on blogs. And once again, our ranks are growing!

Wild Strawberries and Passing Years

I finished my second Spring Bees counted cross stitch chart, "Bee and Bunny Frolic," and sewed it into a pinkeep yesterday, and have it out on the nature table. I have to watch my little "lamb" dog, Sophie: She is very smart and wants to get the pin keeps / pillow tucks down and play with them. 

Click here for link to my Etsy shoppe

When I first taught, I was very surprised that the students, without appearing to, watched my EVERY move. It came very much in handy: If I called out, "Where did I put my coffee?" all the kids would call out, point, even excitedly jump up and go immediately to wherever it was. No more lost keys, cups, grading, etc. Sophie is like that. She doesn't appear to be watching, but she is. Always! 

The new design has some little strawberries in it. The house where I was born had 3 acres around it, a small hill, and a beautiful clear creek. All along the slope of the hill down to the creek, wild strawberries grew by the hundreds, perhaps even thousands. The berries were so tiny, but the flavor was out of this world. Their bigger cousins cannot compare. Wild garlic also grew on that slope, in the sunnier areas, and the bulbs sent up tens of thousands of stems topped with delicate pale purple flowers. At first they had no scent, but within a few days, they reeked. I loved them. Tigerlilies and amaryllis grew wild there, too, with native plums, maypops (passionflower vines), and muscadine grapes all through the pine woods.

 I warned of this on my old blog: Do not go to Google Maps and look at the "street view" of long-ago places unless you can take a shock. I decided to go look at my old home after stitching the strawberries. All I can say is, 50 years is a long time to be gone from a place. Evidently the acreage was subdivided, and the hill razed, and the creek diverted or stopped somehow. There are houses encroaching on the house my father built, and the flora is gone. My mother's incredible gardens, gone. The house is still beautiful, but it is no longer sitting in splendor, surrounded by trees. Now untidy houses are right up to the setbacks. Have you ever gotten a shock from the changes the years have wrought on a favorite place?

I am now working on design #3 for the Spring Bees series. I think I will leave it at three. And I think this next pinkeep will be stuffed with lavender, and work as a sachet/pincushion.

Simple Decor for Easter, and Fabric-Wrapped Eggs

This year I am keeping Easter very spare, in terms of decorating. I am not buying anything new, and I will not put out very much of my existing decorations. In fact, I have a box of pretty decorations that are going to the thrift store that supports one of the main animal rescues here. I did the same with Valentine's day decor, a few weeks ago. Sometimes I get a "pang" when parting with something. But honestly, after I give things away, I often cannot quite recall them later. 

I did take a few plastic eggs and glue some strips of black-and-tan checked homespun onto them, while watching the Weather Channel's coverage of Winter Storm Roland, and their predictions about Winter Storm Shirley. Valentine's Day is giving the U.S. a very cold shoulder this year. 

The eggs are easy to do. I have seen eggs finished much more neatly for sale, but I don't mind my less-perfect creations. I tried two different ways I found on the internet, and I like the way that uses strips best, not the way that wraps the egg and just has some slits to overlap. Aleene's Fast Grab Glue worked very well on these. The egg underneath is one of a dozen "chalkboard" finish eggs that I got last year at Walmart, for just pennies after Easter. 

I mix my primitive items with sparkly ones, new ones, vintage mid-century, whatever. I like a mix. Some are purists, and that is fine, too! I put several nests and eggs in a big tin "tart" on a pedestal, and that is by my front door, at a window that looks directly at the courtyard. 

I know how to make Ukrainian eggs, known as "pysanky." I don't know if I will make any this year. I would need to order new dyes. A very kind Ukrainian mathematician taught me how to make them, and gave me a "kistka," the tool that draws wax onto the eggshell, decades ago now. I have so many little projects going that I am not able to get to them all! But with these winter storms coming, it might be best to have some distractions on hand. I think there might be quite a few power outages and certainly it is going to be hard to get around in many areas. Do you have enough yarn, fabric, paint, and trim to tide you over the coming winter storms?

Mint to Be

I know in other areas mint can be very invasive. Here, I can keep it in its place through watering. Where I do not water, it does not grow. I call it "water edging." Even with ample water, I must implore it to grow. This is my new mint. This one is called "Chocolate Mint," in honor of the famed peppermint patty confection. I think some dollar weed has emerged to keep it company. The juniper branches placed on the area to protect it did a good job, but the weeds, of course, saw their chance to grow, too.

The mint is disagreeing with the groundhog's assessment as to how long winter will last, and thinks it's safe to poke up its fragrant head and begin spring. It's clearly a foolhardy plant; brave, but unwise. It is the plant equivalent of a chihuahua. 

I brushed my hand across the sprigs to gather their scent, then picked up my rosary. Now, I have it on the nightstand, and I can smell it from here. 

The Superbowl is on in the other room, but I am watching another battle: Which will win, my newest cross stitch chart, or my ability to count properly? I have "frogged" so much it's like a rainforest in here. Usually, when I butt heads with a chart, I put that chart down and pick up another one for awhile, except when mulishness sets in. I want it done, and on display, starting tomorrow. This will be too long ago for most of you, but does anyone recall "Francis the Talking Mule?" Well, we have "Holly the Stitching Mule" now. But I am wanting a basket of spring-themed pinkeeps on my nature table, and I'm going to have it, by golly!

DIY Vintage-Style Ceramic Jar Knobs, and...CANDLEMAS

It is Candlemas! Groundhog Day and Candlemas fall on the same day. Today we had a blessing of candles at church. Before Mass, there was a sudden rustling of bags and parishioners flooded to the front to place them before the altar, but respectfully to the side a bit. Then the priest, warning that few churches do this anymore, blessed them. He ran through a quick list of many "-mas" events, with Christmas being the best known, of course. He mentioned Candlemas, Michaelmas, Martinmas, and Lammas. I had not heard of Lammas and am going to research it. 

I found a mislabeled box today that I had not opened since our move of over a year ago. I opened it up, and there were several items inside that I had been missing. Not the vintage Pyrex I'm missing -- boo! -- but some other cute things.

What I'd like to know is why it didn't bother me, and why I didn't notice, a rather large cardboard box sitting against the wall of the den for over a year. The cats like to sleep on it. So there was the raggedy box, with a ginger cat (both are gingers), always a-snooze atop it. 

But inside was this little Mason jar lid with a ceramic knob added.

When the knobs at Hobby Lobby are half off, I often pick up a few. They reside in the "junk drawer" until needed. I seem to use up a lot of them. In fact, I have none left.

Do you see that feather in the photos? I'm pretty sure that's an owl feather.

 

To add a knob to a metal jar lid, you can drill a hole in the top of the lid just slightly larger than the diameter of the screw portion of the knob. Obviously, the lid will no longer be airtight, but it's not meant to be. It's more for storage of non-edibles or a little "terrarium-style" decor item. If you do not have a drill, or a hand-drill, then you can use a biggish nail and turn the lid upside down (so you don't dent it), and carefully tap a hole.

The problem with most decorative knobs is the length of the screw that sticks out. You're going to have to cut it shorter, with a hacksaw. I sometimes just wrap a rag on a loose blade and use it, but that's naughty.

BEFORE you cut the screw shorter (way shorter), you need to thread a nut on it. They come with a nut on them, usually, and sometimes two, and sometimes they also come with a washer. Anyway, this is important: THREAD the nut on it, snug it up, and cut BELOW the nut. Then, when you work the nut off, it will rethread the threads that were damaged when you cut them off with the hacksaw. That way you can then get the nut off and on easily, which is important because you will need to be able to thread that nut back on there and snug it up once you stick the screw end of the knob through the hole in the lid.

My explanation is way too wordy, but as you actually do this project, it will all be obvious.

So you will end up placing the knob's end (the shortened screw part) through the hole you made in the lid. Then add the washer if you want, and definitely add the nut. Tighten up that nut but don't be too rough. Now you can put the lid on a jar. 

The workaround for those of us who don't have a drill or just don't want to deal with punching through metal is to get one of those metal lids that already has a hole for a straw. You will DEFINITELY need to add a sizeable washer with a small hole under the lid if you plan on using one of these lids, so that the knob is held securely and doesn't wobble.

Do you remember that song by Barbara Mandrell? "I Was Country, When Country Wasn't Cool." Well, I was a canning jar fanatic before they were popular. They can be "out" now for all I care, but I will always love them and decorate with them!

    Kind regards,

    Holly, The Merry Olde Dame

Bee Mine Cross Stitch is Finished! And...Free Valentine's Day Images!

I loved creating and stitching this. It's that durned charting that gets me. I have a new charting program and it's smarter than I am. The learning curve for this olde grey mare is very steep indeed. I have the chart up in my Etsy shop <---Link 

Now I'm working on charting up some little Free Bees charts (freebies, ha ha) that make cute Petite Pinkeeps or Tiny Tucks. I just binge watch on an old phone or listen to Christmas music (I know, I know, it's weird to love to listen to Christmas music all year) and stitch the "littles" up.

In the meantime, here are a few "single" Valentine's images to save, free, gratis, no strings attached. Why single tags? Well, it's all email now, texting, WhatsApp, Zoom, etc. Maybe someone has a friend, child, or grandchild who would like a digital Valentine. In years past, I sold many digital printable Valentines. With COVID, nothing sold this year. Classroom Valentines are just not happening this year! So, I'm thinking some free Valentines for viewing on a phone or screen might be just the ticket for our strange times.

I'll put up a few antique images, vintage images, and modern images below.

Right-click to save! 

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    Holly, The Merry Olde Dame

I don't like clowns but the Victorian "jester" kids were cute...Clowns proper make me scream, run away, and just feel very anxious...I had a colleague (teacher) who taught kindergarten, and she would dress up as a blankety-blank CLOWN for the first day of school. I was astounded. As if the first day was not bad enough...but a very hefty lady in a garish outfit, huge red shoes, and badly applied clown makeup scarred some of those wee ones for life...

Oh gosh the boy doggie doesn't look happy...he doesn't like "mushy" stuff...

This one is pretty...love Lily of the Valley...

For the Crazy Cat Lady (CCL) we all know (yes, yes, I'm one)...would also be good for your weird artist friend (we ALL have a weird artist friend, admit it)...

For the Horsey Set. I was "horse crazy" at age 10...would have loved this Valentine...

Another one for the CCL set...or those who are "just PLANE crazy."

Kokeshi style...

LOVE the puns on the old classroom Valentines...

So cute, you can see where to bend her and she would stand up...

Cute hangtag...

Prim crow getting in on the act...

Baby penguin...And I'll leave it at that. NOTHING can successfully come after a BABY PENGUIN.