A newsletter by Lucy Ogletree
from her home at Winter Wheat.

Quote of the month

"Humor is the great thing, the saving thing.

The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place"

-Mark Twain

In This Issue

Featured Items

NEW SPRING ITEMS!

In store now - New items arriving just in time for spring.

It's time to start thinking of brightening up your home or garden.

New in our store: Spring home décor is arriving every day.

It's always exciting to see the new things especially when it's cold and dreary outside.

lilies

New in our store: Mike has been busy this winter designing whimsical birdhouses. He uses found and recycled objects for his fun creations.

New in our store: We're very pleased to have some of Danny Pollack's jewelry pieces in our store.

Danny is a jewelry artist from Toronto and his unique creations are fantastic. He has been designing jewelry for about 25 years. Each of his pieces is exceptionally made. Beautiful craftsmanship!

Danny says, "It's fun jewelry, a little weird, a little whimsical." Perfect for Winter Wheat.

Come take a look.

New in our store: We are now selling our popular outdoor metal flowers in a range of colors.

You can choose blue, red, yellow, purple, white or copper.

The unpainted option is always available too!

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January/ February 2010

Humor and laughter is such a wonderful part of life. Perhaps you're like me and you remember when as a child laughter and joy came so easily. It would flood over us so quickly and fill us up with happiness.

Today, I'd like to stir up a few of these happy moments from my childhood and from my recent trip to Sudan.

I hope they will remind us of good things and how important it is to share joy and laughter with each other.

"Camping Out" - Lucy Ogletree 2004.

Childhood moments of uncontrollable giggling.

Several years ago I painted the painting "Camping Out." Looking at this painting still makes me laugh because it reminds me that as a child my sister and I could find something humorous in anything and everything.

One summer's eve my sister Marian, a little neighbor girl, Snoopy our dog and I were camping out in my back yard.

Something funny was said, I don't remember what, but I do remember the uncontrollable giggling started.

You know the kind of giggling where you must find a bathroom really quick!

Our little friend tried to get out of the tent and into our house, but Snoopy was blocking the opening to the tent.

Well our friend didn't make it to the house on time which caused all three of us to laugh even harder.

Humor is a great thing

Sharing joy and laughter in Sudan

When people think of Sudan I think it's hard for them not to think of lives that are very difficult and quite often filled with hardships and sadness.

But having visited Sudan several times now, the people of Sudan have taught me how important it is to share joy and laughter with each other ...even in the midst of hardship.

Children of Sudan
- sharing their smiles as they have their pictures taken

There were many shared happy moments during my trip this past January to the village of Gordhim in south Sudan with the humanitarian organization Canadian Aid for South Sudan.

One of these moments was taking pictures of the children. These children love to have their pictures taken and then look at their images on the camera screen. It makes their faces light up. During these picture taking moments they shared their giggles and laughter with me as all their worries and troubles seemed to disappear.

The animals at our residence in Sudan also shared many humorous moments with me.

Each day my friends and I would begin our day by sitting outside our rooms enjoying a morning cup of coffee.

And each day we would be treated to a spectacle we called the "Pet Parade."

The morning "Pet Parade" - Sudan 2010.

Every morning a parade of animals would stroll past our rooms. First came the male pig, then the female and her babies, then some goats, followed by a few chickens. Then came the dogs and finally Lenard the resident monkey. All of them would be off to enjoy a morning romp somewhere.

Then a short time later the whole troupe would parade by us again having completed whatever it was they did on their short adventure.

It was a comical ritual we enjoyed each morning. These creatures made us smile every day. Especially Lenard, the monkey, who was a constant source of entertainment. He would playfully jump at the dogs, the pigs or at us. He seemed to enjoy it and he would make us laugh.

Sometimes the pets showed up at our doors when we least expected which also made us laugh.

One morning I heard a shuffling noise outside our room. Looking through the window I could not see anyone out there.

But, I could still hear the shuffling back and forth back and forth. I flung the door open and to my surprise I hit the pig right in the nose with the door.

One of the dogs in Sudan making us smile

Sometimes moments of laughter creep up on us when we least expect it.

On one evening, when our rooms were uncomfortably hot, the four ladies I was staying with decided to sleep outside under the stars.

It was a beautiful and uneventful night. In the morning I discovered one of the dogs sleeping on the end of my bed.

We all decided to sleep outside again the next night.

As I drifted off to sleep I was startled by something soft brushing up against my arm.

I thought it was the dog, it wasn't. I did not know I had the ability to levitate off my bed and travel sideways at warp speed.

Landing on my $300.00 eye glasses I gave the other ladies a moment of entertainment.

I am sure it was either a bat or a mouse, either way we all decided to sleep in our rooms for the duration of our stay in Sudan.

Quite often when the afternoon sun was at its hottest, we spent some time in our rooms resting.

During one of these rest times, I dozed off to sleep for awhile and when I opened my eyes I saw what I thought was wire attached to the wall above my head.

On closer examination I realized that it was not a wire but a huge spider. AHHHH!!!

I am usually not scared by bugs or snakes, but this was one huge spider!

Denise, one of the ladies in my room, and I quickly vacated our room to find someone to remove this unwanted visitor.

We weren't sure if it was poisonous, but poisonous or not it had to go!!

Our hero Luka, chased it around the room with a bamboo pole eventually capturing it and removing it for us.

Luka with our unwanted visitor

Other moments of joy and laughter in Sudan were when the women danced.

These women find joy and laughter through their songs and their dance.

And they loved to encourage us to dance with them which always brought huge smiles to our faces.

A happy moment dancing and singing

Wishing you a moment of laughter today.

Laughter at Winter Wheat

At Winter Wheat, Mike and I have tried to create an environment that will bring smiles and laughter to all who visit us.

Over the years we have created folk art pieces such as a purple cow in a bathtub full of bubbles, a six foot cat playing a saxophone. A big blue bird greets our visitors as folks pull into our driveway.

It's our hope that we can continue to create pieces of art that when viewed will lighten ones spirit and bring smiles to faces of visitors of all ages. "Enjoy!"

Our purple cow in a bathtub full of bubbles

Lucy Ogletree is a folk artist living in Southern Ontario. She inspires people through her folk art and gardens at Winter Wheat.

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