Christmas Promise

I promised my grandkid, Elise a quilt for Christmas--two Christmases back.

It had been years since I'd made a quilt and this pattern was pretty straightforward, I thought. The trouble is, I developed eleven thumbs and had to keep ripping out ugly mistakes.

My new-ish sewing machine and I never got along from the first day and we were both miserable.

Finally, the quilt was done in time for this Christmas, loaded with errors and a heaping of love and I feel empowered to start again, especially since I bought a new sewing machine and we are totally in love and compatible.


This is Ben, big brother to Elise. He was the shortest kid in his class during the primary grades and here he is in second year of hight school wearing size twelve shoes. He's funny and fun to be with.


I wish you all the happiest of New Years.

It's A Cat's Life

Just when I thought Harry had cornered the market on sleeping spaces, he found another.

Winter Wonderland? Not Yet.

Yesterday we were warned to prepare for a humungous dumping of snow and as the first flakes were falling, I prudently rushed to the store for necessities, like gin and bread.

Then I stayed indoors watch the storm and it was pretty nasty at times.

This morning I woke to a pleasant surprise--the bulk of the snow had passed us by and instead is concentrating on cities east of us.

This is the best it could do, a nice drift by the kitchen sliders.


Harry thought it was lovely and as soon as I find some galoshes for him he is welcome to play out in the stuff.


The bunnies had fun.


And inside the Christmas Cactus is holding up its end of the bargain and blooming its little heart out.

My cat the pretzel

Now I ask you--does this look like a comfortable nap position?


Apparently Harry thinks so.

An Excuse To Decorate

I love the pageantry of Christmas; the world looks drab outside but indoors I have license to go over the top with embellishments.

I usually begin in mid November but restrained myself this year and started a week later.

The tree, lovingly called "Toilet Brush" has been pressed into service for something like twenty-eight years and the old girl is hanging in there.


somehow the village survived the slap- dash packing away as well as a house move.


The Santa collection has found a place to hang out and the carousel horse is trying to be a good sport.


The mirror reflects lots of color.


Superficial? You bet. I get the chance to play dress-up-the-house for a whole wonderful month.

And December flies by.

Harry Meets Snow

Harry's first encounter with snow is a success; his front paws are buried up to his chest and he loves it.


I had to pick him up to get him inside and he was shocked at my unkindness.

I wonder if I can buy cat-size snow boots and parka?

The First Storm

Like all good bloggers, I woke this morning and thought, well this is a natural for today.

I never got around to crisply fastening the tarp around the barbecue; there should be some pleasing shapes there during the next few months.




The garden gates opened during the night to welcome the snowfall. To each his own. If closing them could keep the snow away I'd be out there in a flash.


I like the look of the Llama wondering what happened. There is a tiny bird nest clinging to the tree behind him.


One more storm and this will no longer be fresh and new; just the start of a long winter.

A New look

This was the way the bathroom looked when I moved in last year. It was the first time I ever saw taps with most of the chrome worn off.

While Steve was installing the new taps I figured he might as well replace the counter, lights and mirror and that should have been enough but the room still looked like a dungeon. I decided the fault lay with the muddy green walls; they cast a gloomy spell on the entire room.

The advice I received was, "Don't paper. Nobody papers anymore. It's so yesterday."

So, I bought the paper and set to work. It took me something like fifteen hours to work my way through all the horrors that bathrooms present, beginning with the small space.




Now it's done and I'm happy camper.

Steve The Tornado

There must be some sort of trade-off for Steve.

Before he can adjust to the time difference from west to east he's hard at it installing his sister's flooring.


Chaos prevails but the Princess manages to get her homework done.


If there is a lull, say a coffee break, he is whisked to my place for a bathroom update.


We did allow him time off for his favorite meal, Sushi. Here he's preparing the chopsticks for action.


We'd love him even if he sat still and just chatted but how do you harness the force of a tornado? And who says we're trying?

I Know What You're thinking

You're thinking those nut cases in Ontario do go on about their bloody leaves and continuing decent temperatures.

You're right, but soon this will end and we're smart enough to savor this unexpected continuation of fall.We're into November (okay just barely into November) and today was so wonderful I wanted to catch it in a bottle to preserve forever.

The wind made that wonderful whooshing sound as it tumbled the leaves off the branches and the trail was like a beautiful golden carpet.


Look at that sky; the temperature was twenty C and that's perfect.


These red leaves are gorgeous.


And these leaves are like liquid gold. Perhaps a bit of Black spot mixed in there but nobody's perfect.


Before you know it we'll be complaining about the snow and ice. We need this moment.

Winter Coat

This cedar has spent many years trying to hold its globular shape together despite savage winter snow and ice attacks. It gave the impression that its too-tight girdle had suddenly given way.


My trusty helper and I wrapped it up and hope it regains its pleasing shape over this winter.

Darth Vader Vs Piano Recital

Lorrie, my piano teacher/daughter-in law, helps organize a piano recital each Halloween. The kids perform in costume and that relaxes them so they aren't overcome with performance jitters.

Did I mention that Miss Elise is a ham? She is also the daughter of said music teacher and appears in my blogs from time to time.

When it was her turn to perform, out marched Darth Vader to the piano, ditched the mask and managed to ace her performance.

Her friend apparently didn't find the need to be evil.

I brought her cousin the Princess along to observe; she has a different teacher and her recital is next month. This is what an evil Dracula looks like, althugh she assures me she'll do better when her mom applies the makeup.

It's a Good Thing?

I am a task- oriented person. I don't consider this to be a great thing, but that's just the way it is.

My old system worked nicely; I had dozens of little slips of paper on my desk with a task written on each one and the day I intended to accomplish it.

Then along came my son Steve, breezing in from Thailand and Calgary (don't ask) and he carried a planner at all times. Probably takes it to bed with him but I didn't check.

Next thing I know my little slips of paper are gone and everything is written neatly in my very own planner and I wasn't allowed to buy one at the thrift store either.

Now It's all there in one place and for a task-oriented soul it's torture. You think I can take the day off, sip tea and simply read a book in one sitting? Not any more.

There are blank pages waiting to be filled.

At least with the little slips of paper system, some of them were used as library book marks and that was the end of them but this way, nothing gets away from the evil planner.

It's like a narcotic--I've got to have my planning fix every day or I'll start to twitch.

Here is today's list.


there is one redeeming factor--you can draw in a horizontal arrow and that means it can be done tomorrow.

I love Steve dearly but I privately thought he looked a little dorky marching around town with that little book under his arm and now I am another dork.

I can hardly wait to see what I am doing tomorrow.

A Clean Slate

I was so proud.

I sat down before the mounds of paper on my desk and dealt with every scrap. No more A,B and C piles, just a bare desk and everything up to date.

I rushed for my camera to record this important event, but I was too late.
As far as Harry is concerned, it's just another napping place.

Going, going--

And almost gone.The trees are having their last hurrah and my morning walk was cold. soon I'll have use the indoor track.


I met these toadstools on the front lawn this morning. the triplets appear to have faces; are they shunning their pal to the left?

How Did This Happen?

Okay now, we've been coasting along nicely into fall and whammo--today there was frost on the ground. Frost.


The leaves on my favorite trail actually crunch now.


The sky doesn't have that summery sheen to it.


The pond is winterized and the fish are hunkering in.


This is as far as I got this year turning the garden into a mini paradise. A rough path leads to the archway where the cow is on guard and that's that.


Until next year.

Cute tushie

There's a chipmunk out there taunting Max; the poor fella is itching to make it a fair fight but he isn't too clear about what that hard, invible stuff is separating him from the outdoors.


He gets all tuckered out trying to crash through the glass so he figures no one will see his shame if his back is turned.


I'll close my eyes and I'm invisible, right? No one can step on me, right?

Mini Harvest

I brought in the second-to last of the tomatoes and green peppers today.


These are slated to become salsa.

This was my first summer with this garden and while I was figuring it out,I planted only two tomato bushes and one pepper in a spot where the builders had dumped their left-over sand. The veggies couldn't contain their joy and flourished with wild abandon.

The orchids are staying in the kitchen until they stop blooming; I keep plugging away with these exotic blooms and sometimes they behave brilliantly. I'd love to take credit but I think they're just good sports.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving weekend is a ritual around here.

Mike and Lorrie get away for the weekend to celebrate their anniversary and I move in with the three kids.

This is view of their back yard. Yes, it's really a park and they have at their doorstep access to the baseball diamond, soccer pitches, the playground and cross country skiing.


Since these things are always available we went further afield; we went to Herley's, a perfect place to work off energy and there is plenty of opportunity to chase girls through the corn maize and visa versa.




Then off to the dollar Store to see how creative one can be with two bucks each to spend.They were up for the challenge.


I don't do lunches so it was a round of hamburgers at Wendy's.Why is it that picky eaters can consume the equivalent of six meals in one when it's fast food?


They got in some miniature golf and Elise managed a hole in one.


At home,they don't have cable and this is a grandmother who thinks Cable Rocks, so they made up this petition to plead for mercy.


I'm back home now and today they come over for the festive dinner.

It's been a fine weekend.