DUCK, DUCK, GRAY DUCK

Did you play the game "Duck, Duck, Gray Duck" in grade school? Some say goose instead of gray duck according to Wikipedia. I do remember playing it. Wikipedia says it was played in Minnesota and is of Swedish origin. Well, we played it in Iowa too.

I don't really have a gray duck but I do have a very small collection of Mallard ducks that I started years ago. I am not really a collector of 'stuff' (recipes, yes!) so I didn't collect very many.

I didn't have very good luck taking pictures that day. So I tried again with the result below and still ended up cutting the top of the head off the fabric duck. My back was hurting at the time so didn't feel up to taking more  pictures. So deal with it! 😃

 It all started with this stuffed fabric duck. I and two friends went to a class to learn to make them. These two friends and I had annual craft sales in one of the lady's home for a few years. We each had our own type of work to sell and mine was always fabric or yarn creations.

Then I found a cross stitch pattern book with several Mallard pictures. I chose this one to make a pillow. I am so glad cross stitchers say to initial or 'sign' and add the date it was made because otherwise I would never remember. This one was done in 1984.

The next duck was found at a rummage sale a neighbor across the street had one year. There were two old wooden duck decoys.

One was much nicer than this one but they were asking $45 for it. I wanted it but not for that price! This one looks a little sad but I think it has a lot of character. And it was only $15. I love it.

This small figurine has beautiful detail. It was free! If any of you watched "Hour of Power" with Dr. Schuller many years ago, you might remember that he always had something they would give away, wanting a donation to keep the show on TV, of course, but the donation was not required to get the item. You just had to ask for one. And this is one of those.

I do have another duck but this could be any kind of duck, not a Mallard. I found this in a neat little antique/decor shop in another town several years ago. I apologize for the flash glare. Again, blame it on my back and not taking enough time to take better pictures.

The words in the frame say, " Be so happy that when other look at you they become happy, too."
Daughter Rhonda found that at a craft show in her town and it reminded her of when I was getting prepped for my hysterectomy. We were having so much fun while they did what they needed to do to get me ready. I joked with the nurses and other attendants and we all laughed so much. When each one would leave they would laugh and say we made their day.

One of the funniest things was when my daughter's phone started saying in a very loud, crazy voice, "Help me, I am stuck in your pocket and can't get out," over and over because she got a text. She had forgotten to turn the ringer off earlier. This happened when a nurse was listening to my heart and she said that was the first time a heart talked to her. We roared! I can only imagine what others outside my curtained cubicle thought of us. Here I was, having surgery for cancer, and there wasn't a sad eye in the room.

This shows the complete arrangement with the little duck. It is sitting on a wooden tray table. They make wonder, inexpensive end tables. I got mine at Walmart. They also have them in dark wood but I like the blond. It seems to 'disappear' and makes the area feel like there is more space. The picture on the wall is a counted cross stitch project I did several years ago.

This picture was taken a long time ago and yes, I still got the flash glare! When I had it framed I wanted it behind glass because my husband smoked and everything got stained from the smoke. I think you can see that I like a challenge with my needlework.