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Arlene Stafford-Wilson QUOTES

Arlene Stafford-Wilson QUOTES

1 " Warm familiar scents drift softly from the oven,
And imprint forever upon our hearts
That this is home
and that we are loved. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Calendar

2 " It wasn't until I worked in the Perth Hospital kitchen in the 1970s that I began hearing stories about the ghosts that haunted their halls at night. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Chronicle

3 " On harsh, frigid January days, when the winds are relentless and the snow piles up around us, I often think of our small feathered friends back on the Third Line. I wonder if the old feeder is still standing in the orchard and if anyone thinks to put out a few crumbs and some bacon drippings for our beautiful, hungry, winter birds. In the stark, white landscape they provided a welcome splash of colour and their songs gave us hope through the long, silent winter. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Calendar

4 " The air was fresh and crisp and had a distinct smell which was a mixture of the dried leaves on the ground and the smoke from the chimneys and the sweet ripe apples that were still clinging onto the branches in the orchard behind the house. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Recipes and Recollections: Treats and Tales from Our Mother's Kitchen

5 " We need only to close our eyes and we are back on the Third Line, walking up the lane, through the yard and entering the bright, warm kitchen. We are home again. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Calendar

6 " If her walls could talk they might recount the stories of generations of families, of two World Wars, of prayers she has heard, of joys she has shared, and somber times of sorrow, grief, and loss. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Comfort

7 " We stepped a little quicker, laughed a little louder and chatted over the fences a little longer. We gathered bouquets of wildflowers, dined on fresh strawberries and began to ride our bikes up and down the Third Line again. We ran up grassy hills and rolled back down through the young clover, feeling light and giddy, free from our heavy boots and coats. There were trilliums to pick for Mother and tadpoles to catch and keep in a jar. Spring had come at last to Bathurst Township and was she ever worth the wait! "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Calendar

8 " Some things were done a certain way and they had been done that same way for ages. Most of the time it was a good thing, a reliable thing, and we grew up being able to count on life being very predictable and very dependable. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Chronicle

9 " Endless flocks of honking geese surged across cool September skies announcing to all below that Lanark County's warmest briefest season was coming to an end. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Comfort

10 " The eldest ones said that the laughter and tears are sewn right into the quilt, part and parcel, stitch by stitch. Emotions, experiences, heartbreak, mourning, pain and regret, stitched into the cloth, along with happiness, satisfaction, cheer, comfort, and love. The finished quilts were a living thing, a reflection of the spirits of its creators. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Connections - Memories Among the Maples

11 " A hot dry day was perfect for cutting hay, but Sunday in those days was a true day of rest, and no hay would be taken from the fields, nor any labour done inside or outside of the house. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Collection: Winding Our Way Down Memory Lane

12 " Around the time of the summer solstice, when the sun shines brightest on our little corner of the world, field after field of hay is cut, baled and carted away in a non-stop parade of wagons, up and down the rural routes. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Comfort

13 " The crows squawked and scattered from their perch on wooden rail fence, as the rhythmic clip-clop of the horse's hooves grew louder. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Collection: Winding Our Way Down Memory Lane

14 " Long past the first official day of spring on the calendar, old man winter slowly loosened his icy grip on the Lanark County farmlands. We waited and watched for the tell-tale signs, hoping that the mercury in the old thermometer would being to move in the right direction. Even as the sap began to drip slowly from our beloved maple trees, the bitter winds blew relentlessly from the north. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Calling: All Roads Lead Home

15 " The passage from childhood to independence is a rough and winding road, with potholes, bumps and hollows, like a country lane after a spring thaw. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Comfort

16 " With school over for the year, and days that stretched as long as our country lane-ways, we enjoyed a pure and joyful freedom, an elusive state of complete happiness, one that some would fail to recapture, ever again, in our all-too-brief time on this Earth. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Comfort

17 " Our bathing suits, waving like summer flags on the clothesline were begrudgingly packed away, and replaced with long-sleeved sweaters and woolly socks. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Comfort

18 " Fall air had an unforgettable fragrance; as the scent of wood smoke drifted across farmers' fields, when hearths and stoves were fired-up again, crackling softly on those cooler, darker nights. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Collection: Winding Our Way Down Memory Lane

19 " Many say autumn is by far the most spectacular season in Lanark County. During these brief few weeks Mother Nature paints our landscape with her most vivid palette, colouring our trees with broad strokes of the richest crimsons, fiery oranges, and the sunniest yellows, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that these sugar maples are the crown jewels of our forests. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson , Lanark County Comfort

20 " Autumn days were often silent; under skies bluer than any other time of the year, and maple trees ablaze in vivid hues, nearly impossible to describe to those not familiar with our Eastern Ontario landscape. "

― Arlene Stafford-Wilson