It would appear that blogger is not in the mood to upload pictures today. Sorry.

It is hot out. Very hot. Muggy hot. It is the sort of weather that makes you very grateful for airconditioning. We're lucky enough to have it here at home, and I have it at work. Most of the buses that I take coming home from work are air conditioned as well. At most I'm usually out in the weather for no more then 15 minutes during my trip home. But pampered as I am with all this delicious cool air, what happens when I have to be somewhere where there is no such luxury? I wilt.

We went to a wedding on Saturday. A lovely wedding. My sister in law decorated the church and the reception hall as a wedding gift to the bride (her god-daughter) and groom. The wedding was held in a conservation area called Ball's Falls. The church there was built around 1864, and there are other old buildings scattered around the park. One is an enormous old barn, which is where the reception was held. The barn is a remarkable, soaring creation with massive beams and graceful lines. It is an amazing example of the talents and resourcefulness of our pioneer ancestors. However, clever as our forefathers were, there was one thing they couldn't construct from the local trees, stones and metals available to them. They couldn't make air conditioners.

The small, white clapboard church was outfitted with ceiling fans which helped to move the air around the interior and coaxed the breezes outside to come into the building. A metal tub full of ice was placed next to the entrance way and filled with bottles of water to keep the wedding guests hydrated and reasonably conscious. My DH and I arrived an hour before the wedding to help my SIL and a friend of hers to decorate the church.

When the time came, the ceramony began with the groom and his ushers and best man in place at the front of the church. The bridesmaids, in mauve strapless gowns, came down the aisle first. Then the maid of honour in a gown of slightly darker mauve. Then the flower girl. Around 3 1/2 years old, hair of gold, eyes of blue, curls caught up on top of her head, and wearing a white princess gown. Carrying a basket of pretend flower petals she headed down the aisle, tossing invisible blossoms at her feet. About half way down the aisle she looked up from her basket and beheld the rows of guests watching her, with broad grins of delight and cameras flashing. Blue eyes grew larger, and rounder. She stopped dead in her tracks, spun on her heels, and fled back down the aisle and out the back door! The door closed behind her and there was a long pause.

Eventually the doors opened again, and there stood the bride and her step-father. They proceeded up the aisle, composed and unconcerned. The guests all rose to their feet to pay their respects and for a better look at the gown. As the pair passed to the front of the church all heads and eyes followed them. So few noticed a small fae child, in a white princess gown, creeping up the aisle after them, to slip unobserved into a pew and into the arms of her waiting mother.

More tomorrow, or later tonight as time allows. It's time to make dinner. Cheers.

Um...lets see if I can explain this view. Standing at one corner of the yard, looking across to the opposite end. Since this picture was taken three weeks ago we've had lots of rain and the grass which here is half dead, is now lush and green and (according to DH) growing too fast.

It's Friday. Tomorrow DH and I and my SIL are going to a wedding. I haven't been to a wedding in over 11 years. The last time was when I was a brides maid in my friend Charmaine's wedding. I had nothing to wear of course, so stopped at the mall on my way home to look for something. I had a gift certificate which DH gave me for Xmas to use at Northern Reflections and so I went there with fingers crossed.

I should mention here that on my way home from work, while waiting at the bus depot for my Go bus to Georgetown, it began to bucket down with rain. They are doing repairs at the bus depot so the buses are picking up their passengers on the streets surrounding the depot. There is no shelter on the streets to take refuge in when it rains. I got wet. Not the best condition to be in when going clothing shopping. I tried to dry myself off as best I could on the bus ride and tried not to freeze in the air conditioning at the same time.

Anyways, found a nice skirt, top and sweater to wear to the wedding. It looked nice on in the store. I'm sure it'll look even better tomorrow when I don't look like a drowned rat in fancy dress.

The wedding is in Welland, an hour and a half from here by car. We're staying overnight in a bed and breakfast about ten minutes from the place where the wedding will be. Our friends Pete and Terry are coming in tomorrow night to feed the cats and again on Sunday morning. Hope they can manage to get Phoebe to eat something. She doesn't like to eat unless I'm home and sitting with her. We'll have to see.

So will post again when we're home from the wedding. Cheers.

This is the garden which is in front of our deck. It's mostly a shade garden and is at it's peak in the Spring when the Primrose, the lungwort and the viola's are all in bloom. That's Heather reading her book in the garden.

Greetings to Joanie and Ann who left comments on my blog. It's great to have you dropping by and saying hello. Sort of inspires me to continue posting here because I know that someone really is visiting and reading.

This week seems to be creeping along for some reason. Kept thinking that yesterday was Thursday. We are enjoying some hot temperatures again, which may result in thunderstorms later on. DH will no doubt spend the evening watering the pots around the deck, which will just about guaranty the rain.

I'm making good progress on my "Coverlet" stitching. (see July 15th post). I have finished the green section and am about 2/3 of the way through the next colour which is DMC #223 rose. Once that colour is done the next section is again stitched in the green, and then the final section will be stitched in the blue. I'll have to try and arrange for Darlene to take some more pictures.

I was so very bad yesterday. I went on Indigo/Chapters site and ordered books! Five of them! Most in hardcover!

Books ordered - and eagerly awaited as always....
1. Death In Belmont - Sebastian Junger
2. Cross Bones: A Novel - Cathy Reichs
3. Dragonart: How To Draw Fantastic Dragons And Fantasy Creatures - Jessica Pefffer 4. The Art of Detection - Laurie R King
5. The Tenth Circle: A Novel - Jodi Picoult

I guess that you could designate this as book stash.

Booking Through Thursday Question :

1) Have you read Lord of the Rings?
2) If so, how many times have you read it? Just once? Or so many you can't count?
3) If not, why not? Not your cup of tea?
4) And, while we're on the subject, did you see the Oscar-winning movie(s)? What did you think?

1) Oh yes indeed. First time when I was around 13 I think.

2) I've read the books about three times each. Most recently just before the release of each of Peter Jackson's movies.

3) *********

4) And yes I've seen the movies, got the extended versions of the movies on DVD and absolutely adore them.

1) Do you ever reread your books?
2) If so, which ones? If not, why not?
3) Do you read the books the whole way through or pick through for favorite scenes?
4) What qualifies a book for the reread pile?

1) So many books to read, so little time. But I do reread my favourite books.

2) I have a number of books that I read over and over again.
Karen and With Love From Karen : Marie Killilea
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn : Betty Smith
The Mummy : Anne Rice
The Lord of the Rings series : JRR Tolkien
The Time Traveler's Wife : Audrey Niffenegger

I'm currently rereading Melanie Rawn's Sunrunner series.

3) Sometimes I just pick up a favourite book and turn to my favourite parts. This is what makes cleaning the library take so very long. But I do read cover to cover as well.

4) It's hard to say what qualifies a book for reread status. If it makes me laugh, or cry during the first read, or keeps me on the edge of my seat (so to speak) or has a character that I just adore, it qualifies as a rereadable book.

Please note that the above list of reread books is just a SHORT list. I'm sure there would be more if I really put my mind to it.

The picture at the top of the post is our deck with some of our pots visible. It's a cool and rainy day out today. Poor DH is champing at the bit to get out and mow the lawns and putter in the garden but the rain is too heavy and steady at the moment. He mowed the backyard this morning and the grass is so lush and thick he had to do it twice. The front yard will have to wait until tomorrow. At this time of year the grass is usually a delicate shade of brown due to lack of rain and hot temperatures. But in the last few weeks we've had a fair amount of rain and so the grass is lovely and green. And so is everything else. I love the rain.

Tonight we're going to a little gathering to celebrate the 25th wedding anniversary of our friends Mary and Kevin. It is taking place at the Copper Kettle Pub and should be nice. Their son Ian is our godson. Cheers all!

Booking through Thursday question.....

1) Do you read non-fiction books for pleasure, not counting books required for courses or for work?
2) If so, what areas of non-fiction interest you the most? If not, why not?
What are some of your favorite books from those areas?

1) Yes I do read non-fiction books. Mostly biographies, but I also collect books on any subject that catches my fancy.

2) I've been fascinated by the story and history of the Titanic for a long time and I have lots of books about her, and also books about the Lusitania, and the Empress of Ireland. All luxury liners who sank during 1912-1916 period for various reasons. I also collect books about shipwrecks in general. I have four books on Dinosaurs, my favourite being a Readers Digest publication with great illustrations and fascinating information. I love Egyptian history and have many books on it and on the archeological work being done and the artifacts found over the years. I have tons of books on England, either dealing with the history or with traveling there. I have a selection of Mary Englebreit books, Tasha Tudor books and lots of craft/home decor books. Lets see, what else? Books about movies, and movie stars covering the 1930's to 1950's. Books about my favourite movies, sci-fi or fantasy tv series etc. And much, much more.

More pictures of the library. My library is in the basement of our house. When you come down the stairs from the den level the bookcases that you see ahead of you are the ones above. The windowed wall is to your left and has short book-cases as well as two tall ones. The wall on the right has a triple sectioned bookcase which is hardcovers above and paperbacks double shelved below. See pictures in previous post. My old desk ended up down here when we decorated our upstairs and had a desk built into the computer room. It's from the good olde days when you only need room on a desk to write. Yes, that is a witch hanging from the ceiling over the glass top table. Since I read alot of fantasy I like to collection fantasy type things - or have been given them as gifts. The witch and my crystal ball on one of the shelves which I don't think you can see in any of the pictures was given to me by my friend Linda. She also made many of the stuffed toys that you might see scattered around the room. Incredibly talented is my friend Linda.

My library - well - some of it

This project is going to be for Josiah. Youngest of the brood across the street. I still need to put black beads on each animal for their eyes. I love the chicken the most of the four critters here. It was an easy, bright and colourful project to stitch. It is from a book that I have called "Sweet and Simple Country Cross Stitch" featuring the artwork of Lori Gardner. It's full of pretty projects, small and large and there's lots that I'd like to stitch someday.

It's a HOT day out today. People are clinging to their air conditioning units if they're lucky enough to have them. There are suppose to be thunderstorms this evening and I hope so since I love a really good, rip snortin' thunderstorm. We had them last week during our two heavy days of rain but I was in work for most of them, and no where near a window, so couldn't enjoy them.

I have two new x-stitch patterns to add to my collection of current patterns. One is "It's Halloween" and the other is "The Cat's Meow" both by the Drawn Thread. My first patterns by this designer/company. I have a large pile of patterns which I collected during my first period of cross stitching ten to fifteen years ago, but the ones that are out now are so amazing. And my tastes have changed over the years. That's what reading other peoples blogs has done for me. Introduced me to a wide range of new designers. And seeing other peoples interpretations of these designs is very encouraging and inspiring.

Time to go make dinner. DH will be home soon. Cheers!

This is the view that I have of my garden when I sit at the table on our deck. I love this view. This picture was taken last weekend by Darlene and her digital camera. The garden was doing well at that point, but the grass was beginning to suffer from the lack of rain. We have a large silver maple tree in the other corner of the yard, which provides a substantial amount of shade for the yard during the day. But even so, the grass does not tolerate the drought well. Luckily this week we have had two days of heavy, steady rain. Monday was the first day, and Thursday was the second. The grass has come back beautifully thanks to this bounteous gift and is looking healthy and green right now. Mind you, we're not due for any more rain until at least Thursday next, and it's been mighty hot and sticky out there since Friday so the grass may not retain it's healthy glow for too long. Long range forecast is for cooler temperatures and rain next weekend, but that could change.

Last night we went to the Shepherds Crook pub for dinner. We were planning to go to the Copper Kettle pub, which is our favorite pub and is owned by a friend of ours and run by her and her daughters. We hadn't been in for awhile due to one thing and another (mostly time flying) and both DH and I decided independently of one another that we should go on Saturday. Unfortunately the pub was closed for a private party according to the note left on the door and so we had to rethink our plans. Luckily we have several nice pubs in Georgetown, and so we went to the back up pub to eat instead. Both the Kettle and the Crook are situated in buildings that are over 120 years old, which is pretty old for us here in Canada. Both buildings were once general stores when originally built. We had lovely food and DH had his Stout and so all was right in our world.

Worked some on my cross stitch project last evening while sitting on the deck, and I've just got a wee bit left to do before starting the next colour section.

Darlene came to visit on the weekend of the 8th. Another movie weekend for us. We went to see Superman Returns and Pirates of the Caribbean. We've been waiting for the Pirate movie to come out with great anticipation and we were not disappointed. It was a rollicking ride from start to finish. I need to see it again just to catch all the stuff that was going on. Superman Returns was quite good too and I loved Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. I'm not a big Superman fan (Spiderman being my favourite super hero, followed closely by X-men) but this movie told a good story, had great effects and was a nice homage to the Christopher Reeves movies. In the Pirate movie Johnny Depp was marvelous as usual as Cap'n Jack Sparrow, and Bill Nighy as Davy Jones (of locker fame) was terrific under all the tentacles and claws.

Darlene brought her camera again. She took pictures of my current cross stitch obsession, the previous one that I did for Josiah, and also pictures of our garden and of my library. The garden ones especially turned out beautifully and I can't wait to show them off.

My newest cross stitch project is from an issue of Cross Country Stitching (June 1995) and is based on an antique coverlet design. Since this picture was taken I have finished the medallion on the right, which is the same as the one on the left, and I'm working upwards towards the next section of the picture and the third of the three colours used for this project.

Ran into a problem with this project. It appears that in the list of the colours used for this project given in the magazine the second colour was listed wrong. In the picture the magazine shows of the finished project the second colour is a steely looking blue. Sort of DMC #932-ish. But the colour in the chart is listed as DMC #501 - blue green. Defiantly not the same colour as the picture. I didn't like the look of #501 next to the dark blue of #939 so I used the lighter #502 instead. Which may mean that the next colour #3721 may not look right when I get that far. I'll have to cross that bridge when I get there.

I'm re-reading a favourite fantasy series of mine, which I haven't read in many years now. Melanie Rawn's Sunrunner series, beginning with Dragon Prince which I finished this week. This book was published in 1988 and is one of three in this series. Then there are three more in the next series. Melanie Rawn has a wonderful sense of humour, and she creates vivid pictures of both people and places with her words. And she has created a wonderful world which is complex and colourful and rich. Nice big, thick books and stories that keep you on the edge of your seat, so to speak. It's so nice to renew acquaintances with the characters and the story.

I just bought Jacqueline Carey's latest book Kushiel's Scion last night. Ohh...
can't wait to read this one.