Christmas — Page 24

The Sheep

December 12, 2019 at 10:27 am by Claudia

It’s not easy to take a photo of all the putz sheep. It’s always a bit dark in this room. I’ll try to take a better one with my big girl camera later today. I have two other sheep on this shelf, but they’re not putz sheep, so I didn’t include them in the photo.

Eventually, I want this entire shelf filled with sheep, leaving no empty space between them. I’m going to highlight some of the sheep.

First, on the far left, is a sheep that dear Judy sent me, complete with party hat.

The next sheep is my tallest – I can’t remember where I found him.

He’s one of two sheep that have the word “Germany” on their collars. His is fainter, but it’s there. And he has two broken ears, poor thing.

Next, one of the sheep I bought on Sunday – the one with the tilt to her head.

Next, my Vignettes sheep:

The owner of Vignettes in Ocean Beach, CA had a large collection of putz sheep which she was selling after having them in her home for several years and I bought one from her. (Can’t remember which one!) I visited Vignettes on a weekly basis – I bought my cherub painting from her. I’d been out there working for a couple of months in 2010 and after I got home, Lori said she was sending me something. Lori had pulled a sheep from her collection and had one of the women connected with the shop who does exquisite work with paper decorate it. She made a hat, a blanket, ruffles for the ankles, and a pack that says “Vignettes or Bust!” There’s a little Eiffel Tower hanging from the collar.

Needless to say, I was gobsmacked. It’s exquisite. It means so, so much to me.

Next to the Vignettes sheep is the sheep I purchased last week. It has a bell and is my fluffiest.

Next to her, the other sheep I purchased on Sunday.

Next to her….The Lamb with the Party Hat!

The LWTPH was my first buy. I was working out in San Diego for six months in 2009 and I drove to Country Roads Antiques in Orange, CA on my day off. I saw three little putz sheep in one of the glass displays. My sister loves sheep as well – she’s a knitter and crocheter – so I took a picture and mentioned them to her. I ended up going back for all three – two went to Mere and I kept the third.

I’d seen a blog post by a blogger showing a party hat on a much larger sheep that lived on her mantel, so I set about making a hat for my little sheep. That photo of her that is my blog logo was taken in San Diego. She’s my tiniest – only 2 inches high.

The next one I found a few years ago. She has everything: the elusive bell, a collar, wool ears, and a bow on her tush. Probably worth the most of any of the putz sheep. She might have come from Sydney’s booth a couple of years ago, but I can’t be sure.

The next is my other sheep with Germany on the collar:

Fairly fluffy, as well.

And finally, another little sheep with a pink collar. Most of the little sheep are 2 ½ – 3 inches high. Finding one with a bell is a plus. Finding one with Germany stamped on the collar or the leg is a plus. And finding wool ears is a big plus (I just read that bit of info the other day.) There are also black sheep out there, but I’ve yet to see one that’s vintage.

Many of them are well-loved. They’ve been handled, placed in scenes under a Christmas tree, loved by family members. Many of them have broken ears. Some need a bit of gentle adjusting to stand upright. That just makes them more precious.

I’m off to look at more antique shops today, hoping for another inexpensive putz house or something else that is vintage and Christmas-y.

I’m also going to change up the background for the sheep. I wanted something contrasting because they are white and the wall is off white, but this isn’t doing it for me. I have some ideas. We’ll see what I can come up with.

Thanks everyone.

Happy Thursday.

Some Christmas Finds and a Few More Thoughts

December 11, 2019 at 11:13 am by Claudia

I had an errand or two to run yesterday and I also had to pick Rick up from the bus station, as Doug has been out of town and won’t return until today. On the way to the bus station, I stopped at a local antique shop. Actually, it’s a barn and there are multiple dealers there, including my friend Sydney of Fox Run Antiques. Same place where I found the egg cup cubby. Happily, I ran into Sydney and had a nice chat with her.

I hadn’t been there for a while and I’ve been on a search for some more vintage Christmas. I found two more putz houses:

The green house was made by the Dolly Toy Company, which I referenced the other day.

They were modestly priced at $4 and $5 each, which – for fairly well-preserved vintage – is a good deal.

Then I found another bluebird ornament!

You might remember that I have another bluebird ornament, slightly different in design. It has a “thumbprint” indentation. This one does not. Both of them have the same style of bluebird. It was only $3. I had a brief fantasy of slowly collecting bluebird ornaments and having a whole tree of them, with a bluebird tree-topper. Wouldn’t that be fun? But, since it’s taken me several years just to find two of them, that seems unlikely. If you ever see one, let me know!

With tax, $13 for all three. You can’t beat it.

We had some snow overnight, but it’s just a coating and I can see some of it melting already. Because it was rain transitioning to snow, it was a wet snow and it’s currently coating all the tree branches. Very pretty.

This is my favorite kind of snow because it’s pretty, there isn’t much of it, and the driveway doesn’t need to be shoveled because it stayed wet. If we had this kind of thing all winter long, I’d be fine.

We finished Season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel the night before last and now we’re watching it over again, which is what we did with the two previous seasons. Excellent. Brilliant. A heads up on upcoming series: Schitt’s Creek returns to PopTV and the CBC in early January and Grace and Frankie returns to Netflix in late January.

Thank you for your kind comments yesterday. I knew you would understand my sadness. Frankly, if you didn’t understand, you would most likely have left this blog long ago because I’ve never hidden the way I feel about these things. I try not to be judgmental – it’s a constant struggle because I’m only human – but those who think of animals as expendable and as beings we shouldn’t concern ourselves with are not going to be my pals. Likewise those who berate me and tell me I shouldn’t waste my worry on animals and, instead, worry about humans – as if caring about one automatically rules out caring about the other. That’s a false dichotomy.

Having ‘dominion’ over animals means caring about and for them. It doesn’t give us free rein to slaughter them or abuse them or hurt them. And I don’t believe we are ‘superior’ to them – far from it.

Happy Wednesday.

Tuesday Thoughts

December 10, 2019 at 9:22 am by Claudia

I had to share this photo with you, taken last week in the late afternoon when the sun floods the den. I hadn’t yet acquired my newest putz house, so it’s missing from the photo.

There’s been no sun lately! Yesterday it rained all day. Today it will rain all day. Tonight, the rain will turn to snow and we’ll get about an inch or so. Much of the snow already on the ground has disappeared in all the rain.

It’s been a tough couple of days around here. Sunday, as we were returning home, we saw four deer that had been hit by cars. Two of them were near our house – one of those two, just down the road, was a young deer, perhaps one of the four young deer that are frequently on our property. Then on Sunday night, we heard a noise outside but didn’t realize until the next morning that someone had hit an adult deer right in front of our house. That driver never stopped, never checked on the deer. Don had to move it off the road. He, of course, was trying to keep it from me because he knew how upset I would be but I happened to look out so I saw it happening.

You know how I feel about this. It makes me sick to my stomach. Hunting season ended on Sunday and all I heard that morning and every morning for two weeks was the sound of rifles being fired.

People driving too fast down our road. People seemingly not caring about the carnage they have created, not caring about the loss of life. I’m still reeling a bit from all of it. Don was quite shaken by it, as well.

I know that it is sometimes unavoidable, but 95% of the time it is. Staying within the speed limit gives one time to react.

I hope things calm down. I’ve never seen two deer hit in one day on this stretch of road.

Don has to head into the city today and I’ve got some work to do here. We continue to love the Christmas tree and the lights that gleam all day long. The tree seems to make our cottage even more of a haven, even more beautiful and welcoming. We’re grateful for the Christmas season. And thankful for our life here in our little cottage.

I pray for the safety of everyone – human and animal – during this holiday season.

Happy Tuesday.

The Sheep

Some Christmas Finds and a Few More Thoughts

Tuesday Thoughts

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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