Going to be missing in patch trading action for a little while

 

My goodness, can we really be nearly half way through the sixth month of the year?! I realize that there haven’t been too many new posts so far throughout 2011 on this site, my friends, but serious ongoing health problems have been occupying much of my time.

To that extent, this message is actually to let you all know that I’m going to be heading into the hospital for a pair of surgeries this week, and that I will not likely be online much (if at all) for the rest of the month. (For more details about this matter, please see the post on my other blog, Chronically Vintage, about it.)

As always, you can send patch trading offers my way, just be aware that it may be a smidge before you hear back from me.

Whatever you’ve got planned for the coming summer (or winter, for those south of the equator) months – from starry nights spent in a sleeping bag under the stars to mountain hikes, international Guiding trips to some good old fashioned patch trading around a campfire, I wish you all an absolutely fantastic summer!!!

Have you seen Lee Ann's awesome Girl Guide patch collection?

No? Neither had I until a Google search last night (for "Northwest Territories Guide patches", a term I periodically hunt for in the hope that someone out there on the good ol' interwebs will be looking to swap some of their NTW or Yukon patches) led me to discover the delightful homepage of a fellow collector named Lee Ann, whose put up images of some of here wonderful Girl Guide patch collection on her site.

Sadly over the last few years, many folks who once kept similar sites bursting with photos and/or scans of their great collection of Girl Guide and Girl Scout patches have closed down, which makes it all the more awesome that people like Lee Ann (whose patch collection - which includes very recent items, including some GGC centenary patches - attests to the fact that this site is currently wonderfully up-to-date) decide to share their treasured collections with the world.

Though I couldn't find an email address on Lee Ann's site (so as to contact her to discuss doing a patch swap), she does have guest book on her site, which you can contact her through (or simply leave a friendly message from a fellow patch collector, if you prefer).

Thank you, Lee Ann, for sharing your marvelous collection of beautiful GGC items with the world. Finding your site has definitely been one of the patch collecting highlights of 2011 for me! :)

Are you looking for Girl Guide cookies?

 

Like many of us, I have scores of memories pertaining to Girl Guide cookies. I happily trooped around my neighbourhood as a youngster (often with my elementary school best friend and fellow Girl Guide, Karen, and my little sister in tow) selling box after box, case after case of Classic Vanilla and Chocolate cookies, as well as those wonderfully scrumptious Thin Mint cookies (which were often easier, I found, to sell in multiples).

Girl Guide cookies are delightfully fun to eat, while also being highly important to the GGC (the funds they generate go a very long way in helping the organization). However, sometimes they can be tricky to track down (even during cookie campaign time), especially if you don't live in the immediate vicinity of a Guiding unit. For example, I've lived at the same address for the better part of three years and never in all that time, have I had a single Spark, Brownie, Guide, Pathfinder, or Ranger come merrily knocking on my door with their case of cookies.

Yet, what some folks may not know is that many Guide units (and/or District offices) often have a supply of cookies available for part or all of the year (or know another unit that still has some in stock). If you're not a member (or have a child who is) of the GGC though, it can sometimes be tough to find unit in the phone book or by word of mouth.

Happily for all those who are looking for Guide cookies, there's a great form on the Girl Guides of Newfoundland and Labrador's website that you can fill out and then be put in touch with the nearest GGC unit in your area.

So the next time a craving for a wonderfully crisp vanilla sandwich cookie or delectably sweet Thin Mint biscuit strikes you in between cookie campaigns, you can get in contact with the just the right person to help satisfy your need, while your purchase helps the GGC at the same time (definitely a great - and very yummy - win-win situation all around!).