Mary Really Did Have A Little Lamb

I've never been bored. I love being at home. And if I did not leave the house for a year I would never need to buy anything to add to my collections. All my time would be taken up as they are so neglected. I'm in the process of making dolls for a craft fair and trying to finish a calendar of Cross stitch for the year. I started a year ago and I've only made it up to April.

Now I'm trying to learn a new script for the docent program at the museum which is so daunting to me I've decided to work on my stamp collection.

That is what I was doing this morning. I've not touched my collection for 5 years. It was hard to find albums, stock books and other material when the only stamp store that I knew of closed.

So the other day I decided I will start small. I've been soaking stamps for a few days now but had no idea what I was going to do with all of them as I don't have a place to put them. Two nice things appeared while going through the boxes of my stock.

I found a letter dated October 22, 1991 from the Sterling Historical Society, Inc. They were apologizing for the fact that they had run out of the postal cover Of "Mary and her Lamb."

but they had attached a pamphlet by way of a consolation.

The pamphlet contained the story of Mary and her Lamb! What fun I thought.

The poem as you all know, goes;

Mary had a little lamb;

Its fleece was white as snow;

And everywhere that Mary went,

The lamb was sure to go

The pamphlet explains that in 1918 Mary and her dad had found two newborn twin sheep in their sheep pen. One had been rejected by it's mother and was nearly dead. Mary asked if she could take care of it and was granted permission.

The lamb grew strong and attached. He followed Mary every where as the poem goes.

It followed her to school one day,

Which was against the rule;

It made the children laugh and play,

To see the lamb at school.

As Mary and her brother headed for school one day it followed her. Her brother thought it would be funny to sneak him into the class. The lamb sat under Mary's seat covered with with her shawl. It worked great until Mary was called up to the front of the class to recite something. Of course the lam followed her up their.

The kids got a kick out of it and were all laughing as was the teacher. She must have been a wonderful teacher to not get upset or was just thankful it wasn't a frog I guess.

And so the teacher turned it out,

But still it lingered near,

And waited patiently about

Till Mary did appear

I guess the laughter was too much or the bleating of the lamb to loud as the teacher suggested to Mary to put the lamb in the nearby shed until noon. So yes the lamb was put out but was nearby and then Mary did take it home.

I love it when I find these little trivial pieces of nursery rhymes and their connection to history.

Oh, and the second good thing I found today is a web site that offers free pages for US stamps. Now I will be able to start organizing for sure. At least until I come across another neglected hobby or get down to the serious business of the dolls and museum script.

It's Ice not snow in Hawaii

Nico and I are headed to Haleiwa. I want to photograph Liliuokalani's clock at the church named for her, the last reigning monarch in Hawaii.(more in another blog) and take Nico to the little library hidden away in Wailua. (Hmm. Another blog?) Nico has been very, very patient with me while I've taken every photo I could with my two cameras, and talked and questioned the very patient secretary, Kuulei. He's even taken photos too. Mostly of the church door.

As a reward I tell him I am going to take him for a Shave Ice. Not Shaved Ice, as some say who don't live here. I look across the street at Matsumoto's. It is in direct line with the Church where I am currently photographing the clock. As you can see there are people siting and standing and they are eating Shave Ice. If you look closely, (click on the photo to enlarge it) you can see, there is a line in front of the store. I wonder if Nico will be patient again, this time to wait for his treat? We enter the line.

This is a photo of the inside of the store at the head of the line looking out. As we entered the store Nico was amused. It was as though we had gone back in time. There were glass cases cramed with odds and ends, enough to fill any tourist suit case. Old photos of celebrities, arm around owners, workers etc. There were towels, books, post cards and of course tee shirts.
As I stood in line I looked up at the menu. Mainly this store sold shaved ice. I've read that they sell on a good day maybe 1000. Now you do the math. Average sale $2.50? and that's on the inexpensive side. Not to mention all of the tourist gobbledy goop. That's not bad for a treat that used to be something that the Japanese immigrants made with a machete to quench their thirst while working on the plantations. This ice cone was a part of their culture as far back as the 1500's. Now it is a staple in the Hawaiian community thanks to these first immigrants.

I made my choice. The Matsumoto Special and Nico, whom I had to interrupt as he looked longingly at all the merchandise (no problem entertaining him in this line) said he wanted a cherry snow cone because "that's my favorite color".)
With flavor decided I turned back to look at all the tchotchkes. There was something about these pleasant beige keychains that I found attractive. I almost stepped out of line to get one for myself. But I was not going to loose my place now as the line was even longer then when I first got into it. Meaning it had gone out the door and turned down the street.
The old advertisements on the wall were amazing. Can you imagine how many years they had been up there. I think as long as the store has been there. I believe it originally opened in the early 1950's.

Now were up to the front. Notice the big block of ice on the machine. She churns out the ice and then someone else puts the flavor. Unless you want the black bean and ice cream.

This is the way you order your Shave Ice. Number of Shave Ice you want, size and if you want the beans and or ice cream that would be next, then flavor last. Oh and if you want the fancy plastic cup you bring that up to them and they add the finished product to that. There's an extra charge for the cup but I eat mine to fast I don't need it. (it keeps juices from flowing onto your hands which can be a problem.)
Here is a finished product. This would have been a rainbow as it has more then one flavor.
And last but not least, here is Nico, enjoying his red cherry cone with his red shirt in front of a red sign. It was a red letter day for him. Oh and mine was just delicious.

Today Is Not The First Day of The Rest Of My Life

After crunching down on decrepid knees, clawing my way through the weeds and chives I was almost finished with the weeding of a very small patch of dirt on the side of the house.

The Night Blooming Jasmine had been inundated with strange bed fellows. The pineapple was camouflaged, spikes peaking out between tufts of green aliens growing in front of them. The only clear color in the patch was Nico's plastic trucks intwined with some kind of vine that had leaves in the shape of a heart. But the garden was not showing me any heart as I tried to stand and un-kink my back.

As I walked towards the patio I looked back at what I had just done. Despite all the work and sore knees and back I could not wait until I could get down to the garden shop and pick up plants to once again dig, compost and plant.

I was quite happy with the bit of work behind me as I headed into the house. Then I smelled the brownies baking. I wanted to grab them all and stuff them in my mouth. Fill that Sugar craving that I've been fighting forever. My feet were sore, my knees ached, and I had told myself "your a blob."

Then I thought of the mangoes, papaya, and watermelon that I could enjoy instead. If I want to enjoy the fruits of my labor a little longer I had best start with eating some Fruit. I want a healthier life ahead of me. Why heck I thought, if I can beat this sugar thing, then today can be the first day of the BEST of my life.