Our Lilacs
Forget-Me-Nots
Spirea Blossoms Closeup
And last but not least, the potatoes have sprouted.
Lovely in White
White Feather Hosta
White Iris
Frilled White Tulip
Bridal Veil Spirea
Our 2020 Garden Blooms
Cheerful yellow daffodil
Blazing Red Tulips
Grape Hyacinths
Three Birthdays
My mother’s 5th birthday in Newfoundland, 1920. Mom is the dark-haired, dark-eyed girl under the window. Mom said that they had sandwiches, lemonade, birthday cake and homemade ice cream.
This is my fifth birthday in Ontario in the ’50’s. I am the dark-haired girl, third from the left in the second row. My parents did just what my mother’s parents did and invited the whole neighbourhood. I’m sitting next to my best friend, Sue (face is blurred). My dad put up some sawhorses in the backyard and covered them with two doors for our table. I think he made some makeshift benches too for us all to be able to sit around the table. Mom made lemonade and sandwiches and we had birthday cake and watermelon for dessert. I remember that the boys were spitting watermelon seeds at each other and all over the backyard lawn. We had a wonderful time. Everyone got balloons and suckers as their treats.
Birthdays were always well celebrated in our family, whether we were five or twenty-five. One of my favourite memories is the celebration we had for my mother’s 90th birthday. We had a party for all Mom’s oldest friends in the church she attended and it was a wonderful occasion which the church women’s group catered. The very next day we had a celebration at our home in the country to which we invited the whole family. We had three tents put up, one for all the guests, one for the food and one for people to sit and talk. We all wore name tags because Mom’s memory was getting a bit hazy. We played games, watched a video of Mom’s life, made speeches, ate delicious fried chicken and a special cake. Mom was the centre of attention. We brought out an easy chair for her to sit in to watch the fireworks which the men arranged and we all enjoyed each others’ company. Mom was the Queen of the day and the true family matriarch. I wish we had been able to celebrate my dad’s 90th but he passed away in his 72nd year. I think he would have approved of Mom’s birthday celebrations.
Heaven’s Handiwork
Heaven’s Handiwork
©2020 Mollie Pearce McKibbon
Delicate Belgian lace
Has historical place
On the clothes of women and men;
And old Ireland’s flair
For point lace so fair
Enhances some now and then.
But Pines in raiment green
Won’t steal the scene
In any mortal art of ours;
So God gracefully encases
His wildest woodland places
In glorious winter’s flowers,
Draping tree to tree
Lace made so intricately
That artful human eyes
Gaze in delight and surprise
At the handiwork of heaven.
Snowed In
Snowed In
©2020 Mollie Pearce McKibbon
Snow falls on a frosty day
When spruce and pine can barely
Lift their long, sagging branches
With their thick, icy burdens
And my mind, oppressed by
A tyranny of empty pages,
Determinedly pursues
An erratic, errant muse.
Snow Falls
Falling Snow
© 2020 Mollie Pearce McKibbon
Snow falls on a dreaming day,
When spruce and pine barely
Lift their dragging branches
For the weight of their icy burden,
And the empty white expanses
Of vellum and screen
Press down on my bowed shoulders
While I pursue an errant muse.
Rag Doll Love
When I was just a year old my Great Aunt Bess made me a doll from a bleached Robin Hood flour bag. I know that it was a Robin Hood bag because his picture, although faded, was still faintly visible. When I was old enough to talk I named her Mary and she became my constant companion. She had long yarn braids and an embroidered face. I absolutely adored her and slept with her, ate with her and dragged her (usually by one arm) around wherever I went. Over time her face got tear stained, orange juice stained, and otherwise well-loved. I decided that in the face of any disaster she would take precedence over any other possession I would rush to rescue. The painting above is a water colour I made for my parents in 1971. It hung in my mother’s room until she moved out of her home and into a seniors’ residence. Now it has returned to me and will be passed on to my daughter.
The chair on which my doll is sitting was won by my grandfather who enjoyed lawn bowling. My parents had it repaired and reupholstered for a wedding gift for my husband and me. Hopefully someone will want it as a family keepsake one day.
Winter
Winter
©2020 Mollie Pearce McKibbon
The winter howls; the winter blows;
The winter sleets; the winter snows.
The winter makes us put on clothes
In other climes we’d never wear,
But here there’s winter everywhere.
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The winter’s white; the winter’s cold;
The winter’s ice; the winter’s bold.
The winter’s beauties do unfold
As we trample high and low,
Plowing pathways where we go.
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Winter’s fierce and winter’s mean;
Winter’s silver and so pristine.
Winter paints a magic scene
On earth, in sky and on the glass,
Enchantment never meant to last.
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Homemade Christmas Gift
Here is a photo of one of my Christmas projects – an afghan. It is finished and wrapped awaiting its recipient.
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