I stitched this chart from an issue of Cross Country Stitching.
I believe that this was one of a set of three, but I only stitched
the one. It's just stitched on white Aida. It's been sitting in
my Done Drawer for quite some time and is not framed. Don't
know quite where I'd put it.

Lelia, you mentioned in your comments on my previous post
that one of your favourite books was written by Brenda Rickman
Vantrease, called The Illuminator. I was curious to know more
about it, so I looked it up on the Canadian bookseller Indigo/
Chapter's site to see if it was available and what it was about.
I found it in hardcover, read the description and was intrigued
by what it was about. Then I checked the price, and discovered
that it was on sale for $6.00 Canadian!!! Well, of course that
clinched it. So here it sits on my desk, ready to be read as soon
as I finish the Nora Roberts book that I'm currently reading.
I might add that the cover is quite lovely. Yes, I'm afraid that
I do sometimes judge a book by it's cover. Thanks for the tip
Lelia. Hope you and your daughter had a lovely weekend
together.

Gina, I'm afraid that I don't have any pictures of DH's old car
handy. I'll have to do some digging over the weekend and see
what I can come up with. I can tell you that the car is two tone
blue, with blue and white interior. It has fins on the back, and
a ton of chrome work, which is in excellent condition. The car
is all original except for one fender, I believe. When riding in it
we tower over all the other cars on the road, except for Vans and
trucks, and it feels strange after driving around in our modern
car.

Did everyone watch the Academy Awards this weekend? I
usually do, but this Sunday night we were out for a pot luck
dinner with DH's Praise Band choir and didn't get home
until after it had begun. I had put in a tape to record it, but
I haven't looked at it yet. I never use to miss watching the
Academy Awards, and looked forward to it every year. Loved
the fashions, and the stars, and sometimes the opening
montage, which was great when Billy Crystal did it. But in
the past few years I've gone off it. And I can't manage to sit
up until all hours watching it anymore. Hanging in until the
bitter end, around 1:00 am, and then getting up for work at
5:30 just did me in. I'd be asleep at my desk by 11:00. But
taping it isn't the same either. I know all the major winners
because you can't miss hearing about it on the news, so that
bit of excitement is gone. I'll bet I end up not watching the
tape at all.

I am on the last square of PS "A Prairie Garden". It won't
be long now. Regardless of where I'm at, I'll post a picture
by the end of the week. Promise.

We had a nice snowfall yesterday, which stuck to trees and
bushes, and covered the dirty bits left from the previous snow
fall and made everything pretty and magical. Big flakes of
snow drifting through the air. It was lovely to walk through.
And I'm a weird person because I enjoy shovelling the drive.
Except at the end where the plow makes a big, soggy mess.
Thursday they're calling for freezing rain. UGH!

Another family member is represented here. This cross stitch
project was stitched by my SIL for DH's birthday a couple of
years ago. It's done on white Aida. I don't know the designer's
name. DH is into old cars.


DH has a 1955 Buick Special, 4 door hard top. He bought it
many years ago, before we met each other. He is only the
second owner of the vehicle, and it's in great shape, all things
considered. Well, it does need some serious TLC to get it in
tip top running shape, but that is an expense that DH is
reluctant to put out right now.


It's too bad because it's an amazing car to ride in. It's been
used many times over the years in many weddings, both for
our friend's, and our own special occasions. It's been used
in movies and in advertising.


I remember one day we were grocery shopping, and were
walking down the aisle where the cleaning supplies were,
and all of a sudden DH did a double take, and pulled a
package of cleaning shammy's off of a shelf. On the front of
the packaging was a close up of the front of our car. There
were about three different styles of packaging for that
product, with a stove pictured on one, our car on another,
and I can't remember what the third one was. But whenever
we were shopping and passed the packages in that aisle,
we'd stop and make sure that a package with our car's
picture on it was on top of all the others. I wonder if we still
have a package around the house.


I am now half way through the stitching of square eleven of
the PS "A Prairie Garden". Getting there. I need to make a
trip to Michael's to look for some more evenweave fabric
for new projects. I've ordered some fabric from a LNS in
Ottawa, but that order is being held until everything that
I requested is in stock, so who knows when that'll show up.
I'd like to stitch Little House Needlework's "The Bookshelf"
next.


I've been reading Stephenie Meyer's books "Twilight" and
"New Moon" which I'd read about on other blogger's sites.
I basically devoured these two books in a matter of days.
They were fabulous! These are suppose to be "young adult"
books, but they are very well written, and I would heartily
recommend them to anyone. The only trouble is that I've
gotten so "into" these books and become so attached to
the main characters that I'm finding it hard to leave them
behind and move on to another book. I picked up a Nora
Roberts book and I'm enjoying it but I keep thinking about
the Meyer's books. I believe that there is a third book in
the series coming out this summer.

This is the second "large" cross stitch project that my Mom did
for me during the time that she was stitching. It sits on the
counter in our kitchen behind the table and it's really nicely done.

I want to thank Barb, Lelia, Becky and Shannon for the
encouraging words regarding my PS project, and the sunflower
"alteration" in particular. I'm so eager to see this one finished
although I have no idea when it'll get framed. I have a friend
who has offered to help me frame some of my projects and I
must take her up on that offer someday soon.

I'm very excited because this year is shaping up to be a musical
year for me. Last year I saw only one live show and that was last
Spring when DH and I saw The Lord of the Rings at the Princess
of Wales theatre. Darlene gave us the tickets for Christmas, which
just blew us away.

This past Christmas I gave DH tickets for us to see The Irish
Descendants at the Rose theatre in Brampton on March 17th. We
have seen these guys twice before in concert and they are fantastic.
Great voices, and lots of humour, which is about what you'd expect
really from a group who hail from Newfoundland. It will be a great
St. Patrick's Day treat.

Then DH gave me an IOU at Christmas for tickets to any show that
I wished to see this year. So when tickets for "We Will Rock You"
were offered through work at a great price I told DH that it was my
choice and we ordered the tickets. That show is in August, while
we are on holidays and I think is at the Cannon (formally the
Pantages) theatre, in Toronto. I love the music of Queen, so this
should be fantastic.

Then I got an email at the beginning of the week from Quinlan Road
announcing that Loreena Mckennitt was doing a North American
tour starting with dates in April at Massey Hall in Toronto. I'm a
member of her fan club (yes, how dorky am I?) and we get first crack
at ordering tickets. So I did. This will be the third time that I'll
have seen Loreena in concert and I can't wait. I so love her music.
My credit card is wilting a bit around the edges, but hey...you can't
hesitate when an opportunity like this comes along. It's been a long
time since Loreena toured and I'm not going to miss her.

And as if that's not enough I see that a live version of Dirty Dancing

is coming to Toronto, also in April. One of my most favourite movies
of all time, with fantastic music and incredible dancing. And Patrick
(sigh!!!) Swayze. I'd love to see this show too but I'm afraid that I
just can't afford it. Drat.

Rupert asked me to thank all his fans for the lovely comments
that they left for him, and to let you all know that he appreciates
every one of them. Above is himself curled up for a nap with
DH around Christmas week. Hmmm...Dignified? I don't know
about that Shannon. He didn't look very dignified that time when
he tried to cram himself into a box that came in the mail with
DVD's from Columbia House in it. Or when curled up in the
laundry basket with a pile of warm laundry piled on top of him.
Or the many, many times he chases his tail....or....well, you get
the idea.


We've had a good foot of snow here thanks to a storm on Tuesday
night and it's been windy and so very cold too. Our neighbours
are down in Costa Rica right now, and we're looking after their
mail and stuff while they're away, so DH shoveled their driveway
and walkway for them and cleared their car of snow, so it looks
like someone is home there. I shoveled our driveway. We got off
fairly lightly compared to Hamilton and other areas south west
of here.

This is a water colour painting done of DH and I by my very dear and
talented friend Elaine as a wedding present 17 years ago. Can you believe
that it's been that long Elaine? Elaine is one of those naturally talented
people who can do anything artsy wise and make it beautiful. She is
blessed with natural talent. This is her first, and so far only water colour
painting. She used several pictures of DH and I to get the look and a bit of
artistic license to compose the final picture. She gave it to us on our
wedding day and it just about knocked my socks off. It is something I
treasure, just as I treasure her friendship. We have known each other for
almost 30 years now and I know that Elaine is always there for me, as I
hope she knows that I am always here for her. I am very lucky to have her
for a dear friend. Oh, and although DH still pretty much looks like he does
in the picture (except for touches of the inevitable grey in hair and
moustache) I don't look much like that any more. Sigh!

I've been stitching away on Prairie Schooler's A Prairie Garden, ignoring
the temptation to start any other projects so that I can concentrate on this
one. I have stitched 9 squares so far and just have 3 more left to do. Seeing
each flower come alive is still a thrill and I am enjoying this piece very much.
Please excuse the wrinkles and the hoop mark in the above picture. I was
stitching this in a Q snap, but in the last few weeks I've started using my
old, reliable spring hoop which I tend to prefer even though there is a lot of
fabric spilling around me when I work with it.

Oh, and I've made a major...er...adjustment with this project. See the
sun flower on the left of the project in the middle row? Well, it's a solid
piece of grid stitching in my project, but the official piece is suppose to look
like this...I ...um...decided to stitch mine as a solid piece and I really like it like that.
And it was so much fun to just sit and stitch it, without referring constantly
back and forth to the chart. At all. So there we are.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Last night was dinner at the pub for Valentine's Day. Aside from the
usual delicious main course and an incredibly scrumptious Caesar Salad to
start, the real treat was the desert platter that they do every Valentines
for couples to share. Servings of at least half a dozen deserts to share
between DH and I, and we even managed to be gracious and make sure
we each got a fairly equal portion of each. Actually, the Valentines
dinner at the pub was being served on the actual day, which I believe is
next Wednesday, but DH and I don't like going out on week nights after
work, so Brenda and Tracy at the pub made a special dinner just for us
last night. And what blog entry would be complete without a picture of Rupert taking
possession of a box in which an order of books arrived from Indigo/Chapters
a week ago. See my book blog for more info about that incident of self
indulgence.

World War 1 era embroidered postcards - Part 2

During my second trip to England (I think) my final stop was in
what we've come to consider our "home" town, which is Chichester in
West Sussex. My Mother's family on her father's side are pretty much
all living in that area. So whenever we go to England we spend at least
a few days there for visiting and exploring of our roots.

The hotel that I stayed at was right across the tree shaded street from
Chichester cathedral, and consisted of two old hotels that were combined
into one many years ago. The names of the two hotels were also
combined to name the single hotel...The Dolphin and Anchor. One of
those old buildings with multi levels, long winding hallways and no logical
floor plan. And uneven floors which made walking along them an
adventure. The Dolphin and Anchor was owned and run by the Trust
House Forte at that time, but I believe that it is now closed and last I
heard was not being used for anything. A pity.

Anyways, while I was staying there they had a small antique fair in one
of the larger rooms, and of course I had to pop in there to see what was
available. I don't remember what all else I might have bought there that
day, but I do very clearly remember the embroidered postcards that one
dealer was selling.

The dealer had at least one, possibly two binders full of these wonderful
postcards. They were a collection put together by someone who had also
obviously loved these small treasures and had gone to a great deal of
trouble to collect and save them. Unfortunately the man had passed away,
and I guess no one in his family wanted them, so they were sold to this
dealer, who was in turn selling them as part of his business.

I regret that by the time that I stumbled upon them the collection had
already been picked over and there were cards missing from the binders
as people bought individual cards that appealed to them. If I'd found the
collection intact I think I would have maxed out my credit card to buy
them and keep the collection in one piece, as it should have been. But I
bought six of the cards, keeping in mind that my Mom had six from our
family, and with the intention of having them framed the same as she'd
done. I made sure that I picked out six cards with sayings on them
different from the ones that we already had.

1) With Love to Mother
2) Happy Birthday
3) To My Dear Wife

1) To my Dear Sweetheart
2) Happy Christmas
3) Remember

It wasn't until later that I sat down to examine the cards closely and
discovered that the one that said "With Love to Mother" had a bonus in it.
Inside the sleeve of the postcard was a little card which said "Forget Me
Not" and a picture of a young man in uniform! I was astounded.
Sadly there was no information on the postcard or on the picture to give me
an idea of who this young man might have been, or what happened to him.
I'd like to think that he survived the war to live a long and happy life, but I
know that that might well not have been the case. But I'll treasure these
pieces, and even if I never know his name I'll still remember him and his
courage in going to war and serving his country. May he rest in Peace.