A cockeyed view of the front of our house. That's an oak tree peeking into the picture frame on the left. Just by the front porch you can see the stone planter that is built in under the den window, next to the garage. This planter is just the right height to sit on and I often sit there in the evenings to stitch. Our house faces west so the backyard gets shadowy and cool in the evenings, while the stone work at the front of the house retains heat and the last bit of sun lingers over all. Good spot to watch the neighbourhood go by too.

I would like to send greetings and a big welcome to Gina who has stopped by my blog and left a lovely greeting all the way from Oz. So lovely to have you visit Gina and I'll be popping over to see you at your blog soon. Isn't it amazing that we can reach out over unimaginable distances to make contact with other people who share an interest in the same things as ourselves. We are encouraged and inspired by the pictures and words that we see and hopefully we develop a greater understanding of the cultures and beliefs of those others that we encounter.

Sadly, today marks the final day of my and DH's two week vacation. How depressing is that? It has been a wonderful and restful two weeks, and it went by all too quickly.

Yesterday we attended a family reunion of my DH's clan. He is a McClure whose origins go back to Ireland about 2 hundred years ago. His ancestors settled in the Brampton area of Ontario and have farmed here ever since. There must have been about 175 people at the reunion yesterday, all descendants of several branches of McClures. This amazes me. If my family held a reunion of Hatteys there would be maybe, oh say at the most 20 people. If we brought guests. On my Mum's side (Fogden) there were be less then half that. Oh well.

I'm fascinated by the old pictures and bits and pieces of paper that we have from our family's past. Panoramic pictures of past reunions, the first one taking place back in 1922, were on display and one was taken to commemorate yesterday's gathering. DH's father, a toddler, is in the picture from 1922 and presumably so are his parents. We sat at a table with a couple who'd come all the way from Sydney Australia plus people from Arkansas, and Pennsylvania in the U.S. and from Surrey, B.C.

I've been good today and spent some time doing housework. Also laundry and even some mending. I have to go make some dinner now, which means shifting Phoebe (purring kitty) off of my lap. She is not going to be happy when I'm not home tomorrow. She's gotten lots of cuddles and attention during the past two weeks. Ah well. Gotta work. Need money for books and cross stitch stuff. Cheers all.