Wednesday, July 19, 2017

We had a wonderful three weeks and it was a break from almost everything in my routine. I’m now trying to catch up on everything and it isn’t going as quickly as I would like.

We spent our first week “away” in Calgary. We were happy to be there to help celebrate Elizabeth’s birthday and, of course, we had to do a bit of shopping for the occasion. I also made an appearance at one of the quilt shops – I was able to pick up their Row by Row kit to add to my collection. We visited a few of our usual spots – the Rock Park, Elliston Lake Park and the “big” playground. We were unable to find any fireworks or Canada Day celebrations close by but we spent the morning at a trampoline park which the kids really liked (and it looked like a lot of fun). We were well-fed and entertained the entire week.

We brought Madison, Emma and Gavin back to Powell River with us. They’ve not been away from home often and they were a bit homesick a few times but I think they enjoyed the visit. I remember a time when I was homesick and there is no way I participated and “got on with it” the way my grandchildren did. We visited a different beach every day and the tide tables were cooperative so we had lots of beach sand. We did a few hikes, played a few rounds of mini-golf and enjoyed ice cream treats afterwards. Emma learned to knit and stitch with plastic canvas; she was a natural at it but I don’t think she believed me when I told her that her Mum could show her how to cross stitch (she went home with lots of threads and aida cloth to practice on). The time went all too quickly though and I flew them home to Calgary exactly one week after they left.

This past week we were enjoying some quiet time on Vancouver Island at the Applewood Cottage. We’ve stayed there before and it was just a nice this time as it always has been. We shopped at Costco (twice), I picked up a Row by Row kit at one of the quilt shops, and we found a couple of new-to-us restaurants. While Pat attended the music festival on Friday, Saturday and Sunday I enjoyed some sewing, some cross stitching, some knitting, and a few afternoon naps.

It is nice to be home but it is also sad to be putting away all the fun things we had out for the kids. I washed the bedding yesterday and the towels were today’s load – I hang them on the line so one load a day is about all I accomplish. I swept and vacuumed up a lot of sand, but the saddest of all was cleaning up the sticks Gavin had collected and made fishing rods from. There are still Mr. Freezie’s in the freezer so I’ll be reminded of our week every time I have one (Madison and I agree they are better if they’ve had a chance to thaw just a bit before sucking them up).

My hope was that today I would be able to get caught up on paperwork and do a bit of cleaning upstairs. So far I’ve done my paperwork and got the minutes for the last Cranberry Hall distributed but I haven’t even started on my e-mail yet. I’ll keep plugging away at it – we went out for lunch (on our way to do some errands) so dinner (if it exists) will be late.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

No doubt by the time you read this we’ll be settled in and having fun at Elizabeth’s. When we travel we usually take either the first ferry or plane out but today we had a leisurely morning and caught the noon ferry. It gave time for Pat to do a bit more business on behalf of Cranberry Hall and I had time to clean out the fridge, water the plants and even add a few stitches to my project.

Thanks to our very reliable taxi drivers (Peggy and Bill) we were at the airport in lots of time and even managed a coffee and doughnut along the way. We seldom stop at Tim Horton’s but when we were there I noticed they were selling a Nanaimo Bar Doughnut – I might just have to try that at some point.

I’m traveling without any stitching this trip – no knitting, no embroidery, no stitching at all! I have plans to stop at a quilt shop and needlework store while in Calgary so the trip home may be quite different. I’m about to check out the book shelf at the Comox Airport – I’ve picked up more than a few books from here in the past.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

I started my morning with a bit of embroidery while I had my coffee. After breakfast I went out to the yard and pulled the weeds that I’d given the vinegar treatment to. The small weeds came up easily but there are some tough dandelion roots that didn’t come out. I’ve sprayed them again so hopefully the vinegar on the roots will finish them off. I pulled a few weeds in the back that hadn’t been sprayed and swept the carport.

After my shower I came up to my studio(s) and finished cleaning things up. My sewing room is more or less tidy but a lot of things from the playroom moved across the hall so the kids would have room to spread out. Everything is vacuumed (and a few things are dusted) so this level is pretty much ready for guests.

I did a bit more stitching before lunch and then after lunch I went back outside and spray-treated the cracks in the driveway. I won’t be here to pull out the weeds but, if the spray works, dead weeds will be more attractive than green ones don’t you think?

I finished the afternoon with stitching. I’m off now to write some Bingo clues so we can play at the beach when the kids are here.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

I’ve been working all day but I haven’t accomplished much. I slept in so I had to leave for my hair appointment right after breakfast. From there I stopped at the Credit Union with another Cranberry Hall deposit. When I got home I pulled a few weeds because I wanted to test my killing-vinegar solution; some of the weeds pulled out easily but I think some of the others may need another dose.

In case you are wondering I found my missing pattern last night. How it got into a bin with some table runner kits (and a Winnie The Pooh cloth book) I’ll never know. I planned to take it to the Island to work on but now that I’ve read the instructions I think it is better done at home. That won’t be a problem time-wise because I’ll be moving my Bingo quilt to the back burner as Dylan and Taylor won’t be able to come up at the end of August as I had hoped. It will be ready and waiting for next year though.

I had three embroidery projects that I wanted to get ready for either our trip to Calgary or for the Island. I’m thinking now that they might be better left for our Island trip; if we take carryon luggage it is always a mystery whether or not they will allow my scissors and needles. I traced the patterns and have my threads picked; I’m going to use pearl cotton rather than floss for these particular pieces.

I really wanted to get the upstairs cleaned up today but I might not get that done. My sewing room is almost there but the kids playroom (my cross stitching room) is a disaster. Before I go any further though I have to get Christy’s birthday present ready for the mail on Monday.