Saturday, September 17, 2022

This is the only moose I have ever seen – other than maybe a dead one at Uncle Jack’s after one of his hunting trips. Moose didn’t live around the farm when I was growing up but apparently they are back. Kathryn and Dave see moose every time they go camping. Heck, there was even a moose in Saskatoon that tried to get into a school classroom. I have resigned myself that this moose from Nova Scotia may be the only sighting I get.

I spent the morning out in the yard weeding. I went over the patio bricks again – it is surprising what grows up in the space of a week. I kept telling myself that the weeds I was pulling today were probably ones that were too tiny to get a grip on last week. After taking a break for coffee on the patio I worked my way up the north side of the yard. When our gardener was here he didn’t pull weeds but he weed-whacked them. I was surprised at how few had actually grown back up. I wasn’t able to get all the dandelion roots out but I certainly hope I did them harm. The north side of the house is covered in small pebbles and I couldn’t help but think that when we did the yard shortly after we moved in we missed an opportunity to cover it all in cement. I know I wouldn’t have liked the look but after years of pulling weeds I like to think I might have gotten used to it.

I went over all the patterns in my Botanical Garden series and I’ve got lots of work ahead of me – a dozen sections that either need to be completely redone or need a part of them redone. I’ve done two sections under my new plan and I really like them so I’m not worried about the set back. The way it was looking before wasn’t making me happy and, you know, it is all about me!

This afternoon I’ve quilted the next calendar block. It is ready to put the binding on so that’s what I’ll do next. My evening knitting has been going well, but slow. I have two panels done – I think I need at least ten so hopefully we can continue to find good shows on TV.

Friday, September 16, 2022

This photo of the Anne of Green Gables house on P.E.I. brings back so many fun memories of the trip to the East coast that we made with Stacia and Ron in 2008. How can it be that long ago? I’m remembering particularly Magnetic Hill, the mine tour, the “mushroom” walk, Peggy’s Cove, and the midnight tour of the cemetery. Did you know that a photo I took at Peggy’s Cove won a photo contest? Ooh, and remember that lobster dinner that freaked me out completely? I have recently been transcribing my paper journal from that vacation so all those memories are very fresh in my mind.

I’ve spent almost all day working on my Botanical Garden. I haven’t ripped out anything other than the last block that I did but I like it better already.

Thursday, September 15, 2022

You know me – there is a story behind every picture and it seems wrong not to share it.

Day 2 of my challenge. The McKnight women might remember this sign from the year we got together at Roberta’s Clearwater Lake cabin. We’ve spent so much time together over the past 21 years – so many laughs and tears and so many memories. Our weekly chats are priceless but we must do it again soon in person!

Neither Pat nor I had anything scheduled on our calendar today. I don’t remember the last time that happened if, indeed, it ever has. No excuse for me not to get something done so I had Pat help set up the tables on the deck and I sandwiched all day. I’m certainly feeling it tonight. I always say I’m only going to sandwich one or maybe two projects at a time but once the tables are set up I can’t seem to stop until the pile of projects is done.

I was working on my Botanical Garden last night and noticed there was a mistake. I knew of a way I could easily fix it so I started down that path. But for the past several weeks I haven’t really liked the way it was turning out so I’ve decided to start over. I will keep the outline of the blocks as they are but I’m going to take out most of the other stitching. I’ll use some of my leftover floss to add more colour. I think I was mostly unhappy with the two colours I was using and the floss for the leaves was too dark compared to what I was using for the flowers. I was already quite far behind and at this point I won’t even try to keep up.

I noticed that there is another Hallowe’en stitch-along happening. I’m going to try to stay away from it but last year’s was just so darn cute it will be hard to ignore the new one.

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

I’ve been following Tiffany’s 10-days of photos on Facebook and I’m enjoying them all, particularly the ones I can associate with her. I hadn’t a care in the world about being tagged so you can imagine my surprise this morning when I saw that she had picked me. My original thought was OMG what will I do but then the news of her granddaughter came through so it was an easy choice for today. I admired this photo on her timeline from a few weeks ago and it certainly made me smile and brought me joy and even more so now that little Sawyer has arrived. Tiffany looks much too young to be a Grandma but I’m thrilled for Audrey and Marcel as great grandparents. I’ve picked my photos for the next nine days and, watch out, you too may be tagged!

I managed to get batting and backing cut for six small-ish projects this morning. I expect that while I have the tables set up I’ll go ahead and sandwich the Community Quilt as well. There will be lots of quilting and binding in my future but it will be nice to have them off the pile and sent off or stashed away.

As I expected the meeting with the surgeon didn’t tell me much. The biopsy results aren’t in yet so it was hard to talk details. If surgery is needed there is about a 3-4 week wait but he says that breast cancer is generally very slow growing so the wait won’t make any difference. So I’m back home and waiting again – maybe no news is good news though!

I feel done-in so for the rest of the day I’ll play on my iPad or do some work on my Botanical Garden.