When I received this e-mail message from a new website customer, it sure made my day! It’s lovely to hear back from people who buy the things I make. I suspect that for people like me, who make the things they sell, it means more than other kinds of sales. “I received the [Smallbones'] parcel a few days ago and just love everything!…”

Yes it’s true and finally there is a scientific study to back up the hype! Beeswax candles are the very best in every way, including the emission of air-cleaning negative ions.
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On Saturday, I attended a demonstration of Monarch butterfly tagging at Dorothy’s House Museum in Garden Hill. It was fascinating! I had no idea that butterflies were such hardy souls! Amazingly, Monarchs fly in masses to the same winter roosts, often to the exact same trees. I watched as he withdrew each one & attached a tiny ‘tag’. (Click on title for full post)
“‘Normal’ is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job that you need so you can pay for the clothes, car, and the house that you leave empty all day in order to live in [...]
How do you pronounce “ghoti”? (Hint: it’s English) We should never criticize somebody whose mother tongue is not English but is trying to learn this crazy language!

Fast forward eight years and a move from Toronto to the tiny hamlet of Gore’s Landing…I was working at Hospice Northumberland and the day of Hospice’s 2005 AGM was Maggie’s last day in this realm. I won’t go into details. I was devastated. I would never become attached to another dog — never, ever! …As I was opening the door to leave the pound, there was a blood-curdling howl. Naturally, I turned around and headed straight back for the cage that housed the hound.

A short list of absolutely free and simple things everybody can do, some so simple that we sometimes forget. A quiet example can have positive affects that we may never know about. It’s often difficult to bite your tongue (as I know so well) and that’s where a gentle suggestion and doing your personal best may do the trick.
