Sunday, October 11, 2020

I picked the right day to come over to Texada. Friday was an absolute gale and Saturday was supposed to be nasty as well. Pat and I looked at the weather forecasts and thought an earlier ferry on Saturday was my best bet. The crossing was glorious and I even stood out in the sun while I waited to load on the Powell River side. The rest of the day was nice but it is back to heavy rain today.

When I contemplated pumpkin pie for our Thanksgiving dinner I didn’t know how I would manage it – taking all the ingredients to Texada seemed like a better idea than trying to do a walk-on with a pie. Christy suggested I buy a pumpkin pie filling so that’s what I did. I thought the pie filling would just need to go into the shell but there was an egg and evaporated milk involved as well. So really, all the filling gained me was not having to have a bunch of spices.

I got the filling ready after breakfast this morning and pre-heated the oven. The pie filling fit nicely into the shell and into the oven it went. It needed to bake at a higher temperature for 15 minutes and then for 35-45 minutes at a lower temperature. I set the timer and when it went off I reset the oven and again set the timer. After the expected amount of time I tested the filling but it wasn’t ready. The pie went back in the oven for another 15 minutes, then another 10 minutes and finally I called in the expert (Pat) for help.

Turned out that when I turned the timer off the very first time what I actually did was turn the oven off. So from that point on the pie wasn’t cooking at all. We sorted out what my problem was, reset everything and Pat took over for the rest of the process.

I’m thankful today for many things, and this pumpkin pie is just one of them.

Friday, October 9, 2020

No, Ron and Laurie have not taken over the sewing room! I’m still working along with Stacia and Deloise.

My music choices today are the men – starting off with David Francey, moving on to Elton John, and finishing the afternoon with Fred Eaglesmith. If I last long enough Garth Brooks will see me through the evening.

Stacia and Deloise, of course, are finished and both have moved on to something else. I’m still moving along but it probably won’t get sewn together until I get back from Texada. I’ll make my way over there tomorrow (in the rain) and will stay for just over a week.

Thursday, October 8, 2020

I’ve had the best day – and it’s not over yet. Stacia, Deloise and I started sewing this morning and have checked in with each other several times during the day. Not a surprise, but they are way ahead of me on the project but I expected that. They were already planning their second project for tomorrow; I know where my second project is stored should I need it but I didn’t bother pulling it out of the bin.

I’ve had the music on most of the day – more of my favourite ladies. I started with Connie Kaldor, switched to Adele, a bit of Barbra Streisand, some Beatles added in just for variety, I’ve just finished listening to Beyoncé and I think I have enough Celine to finish my night with.

And I have another day of fun tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

I had a couple of things that needed to go out in the mail today so I walked up to the letter box to post them and I stopped at the fabric shop on my way home. Based on my earlier experience I had my rain hat on for the journey. As it turned out today it was just mist and there wasn’t any rain at all.

I started work on some Christmas cards today. I am following a table runner tutorial online but I decided to re-draft the blocks to a smaller size and they will work as Christmas cards. The hope is that by starting in October I won’t be panicking at the end of November. I often start my Christmas projects at the Texada Retreat around mid-November but the retreat, of course, has been cancelled. I ordered a couple of Christmas gifts today as well.

One of our quilters from Texada had a bad fall and I volunteered Pat to take her some flowers when he goes back over. His turn-around time will be tight; he’ll come back tomorrow morning and go back tomorrow night. He has sold some equipment and he’s going to have to get the packages sorted out with the post office, and he’s hosting an online session tomorrow afternoon. Since I volunteered him for my task I told him I’d go out and get the rest of the groceries we need for our Thanksgiving dinner – mainly vegetables and whipped cream (for the pie). I’ll go just before the store closes and I don’t expect it will be very busy.

The mist that was out there this morning had burned off by lunch but it has rolled in again worse than ever. The ferries are sounding their fog horns this afternoon and that is a sure sign that it is thick out there.

I’m ready to sew tomorrow – a new blade in my cutter, three bobbins filled and my cutting table cleared!