Well, here we are at the end of the second week of work on this project
and the first shop is almost done. There is a gate to add between this
building and the next one along, and then I'll be working on building
number two.

I've been back stitching quite a bit today. I think many stitcher's have
a love/hate relationship with back stitching. On the one hand it can be
mighty tedious, and if being done in a dark area of a project it's hard on
the eyes. Then there's the..."did I back stitch this area already or is it
just the dark cross stitches tricking my eyes?" On the other hand it
must be admitted that back stitching a project really makes it POP!
Suddenly the project becomes three dimensional. And back stitching
can be a relaxing process, as long as you don't get carried away and
back stitch where you shouldn't.

This week at work I celebrated (??) 30 years with C.I.B.C. It's hard
to believe but I've been working for the same company for 30 years.
Started out as a teller at a branch at Bay and Richmond, in downtown
Toronto and worked in that branch for 12 years. Then I transferred to
back office processing, which was in it's infancy then, and I've been
there for almost 18 years.

As a teller I was held up twice, once during my first summer on cash
and the second time was in the 12th year of my time at the branch.
It was the reason for my request to transfer out of the branch and
into back office work. Enough was enough. I should point out that
neither of my "hold ups" were in any way traumatic. The first time
actually ended up as one of those "funny" stories that everyone
wants to hear and laugh about. The second time it was some older
guy off the street probably looking for booze money. And in both
cases I did not hand over any money. Not due to bravery or fool-
hardiness or anything on my part. It just didn't work out for the idiot
with the holdup note. Long stories.

So at work yesterday I got a cake, and a bunch of co-workers gathered
to wish me well and eat the cake. Mostly I think that they were there
to eat the cake. I got a couple of letters from the powers-that-be who
run our professional lives, thanking me for my years of service, and I
have been given my choice of gift cards, to use as I wish. I've got to talk
to DH about that. Now, only 16 more years to go and I can retire.
Arrggghh!

The weather here has been just wonderful this week. Especially on
Tuesday when it got to be in the mid 60's. Lots of sun shine too. It's
been glorious. Even sat out on the front stoop cross stitching for
awhile. And visiting with the neighbours. We don't see each other
for much of the winter, so when the weather improves we venture
out of our dens and renew acquaintances.

Shannon, I know what you mean about short distances making an
amazing difference in how our gardens are fairing. But I think that
many of our plants got a head start in December and January when
we had those unseasonably warm temperatures, no frost and no
snow. Things were starting to poke out of the ground back then,
before we got our first frost and the cold weather finally arrived.

In Bold are the books I've read from this list.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

This was the second cross stitch project that I did. The pattern came from
a magazine but I don't remember which one at the moment. I stitched this
on the same even weave material that I'd done my first project, a sampler,
on. I remember vividly my elation and relief when I neared the end
of the project, having started with the rose and leaf to the right centre of the
heart and working my way all the way around the heart to the rose and leaf
on the left centre. The tips of the two leaves met on the exact same line,
exactly one space apart, as charted. I gave this piece to my parents and
they had it framed. It now hangs in my Mom's room at the retirement
residence.

Yesterday was a busy, run around day for us. It began when we picked my
Mom up to take her to her second dentist appointment at 10:00. She's
having a series of fillings done, about five in all, and they are being spread
out over about three appointments. Once she was settled in the dentist's
chair DH and I sat in the waiting room, where he read multiple copies of
old issues of Reader's Digests and I cross stitched.

Once done at the dentist we came back here for lunch, and to relax a bit
and to let Mom visit with her grand-cats. Then we took her back to the
residence and dropped her off before heading off on a mission. Last week
Mom's television died a dramatic death, after years of service. She was
given a temporary loaner from the Residence to tied her over until we
could get out and find her a new one.

So DH and I started at the mall, with a visit to Walmart, where I found a
nice 27 inch LCD flat screen tv that would have been perfect for her.
Unfortunately they didn't have any in stock at that store, nor any other
store in the general area. Great. I dithered over other models for sale
there but was rather fixated on the first choice and couldn't accurately
judge the merits of the other tv's because of that. We decided to shop
around some and walked through the mall to Zeller's, which is sort of
Canada's answer to Walmart, only not anywhere near as successful.
Walmart is always buzzing with activity, whereas in Zeller's you could
shoot a canon down any of the aisles and you'd probably only hit the
odd sales person. Zeller's tv selection was a joke. No wonder no one
shops there. So back to Walmart. Still dithering. DH suggested the
Sony tv store in a strip mall down the road from the main mall. Went
there....no luck. Tried Canadian Tire (sells everything, including tires)
but had no luck there either. Running out of options and reluctant to
head out of town we decided to go back to Walmart, of course. I
toughened up my resolve, tuned out the lovely LCD tv that I'd first
picked out, and chose a 27 inch regular tv that still had a nice picture
and over all look to it. Paid for tv, got it brought out to our car,
tied to the back of the car (we were only driving a short distance) and
headed back to Mom's to set it up. Phew!!!

We had dinner with Mom, watched the news on her new tv, which she
loved, and then came home to relax. Spent much of the evening on
the phone with various friends and relations. It was just one of those
nights when the phone kept ringing. Ended the evening reading blogs.

Today is laundry day, and would be cleaning day but my vacuum
cleaner is out for repairs and won't be back until mid week. DH
leaves for his training course in Montreal this afternoon and I'm
missing him already. He's at church right now. I'll work on my
Country Shops project this afternoon since I won't have much
time this coming week to do so. Making my own way to work on
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday means no time to stitch in
the mornings. Nuts!

It's been rainy, foggy and cool this weekend. The crocuses are
up and the flowers would be open, if the sun was shining. The
daffodils are coming up now. Still the odd patch of melting snow
around, but that's disappearing fast. The robins and the gold
finches are back and making a grand feast of our bird feeders.
Oh, and I saw a bunny in our yard this morning too, poking
around the garden and under the bird feeders. DH will be so
pleased. Lol!

Here's Rupert snoozing in the sun last weekend. Laying on his back. Love
his stripes.

Many thanks Shannon for your instructions and advice on how to use my
new hand dyed threads when I'm ready. I think that I'll stitch four of the
Little House Needleworks charts together on one piece of material and
frame them like that for hanging. Eventually I would like to get all of them
in the series. I've been enjoying my new stash so much, and I haven't
even begun stitching any of it yet.

Stash..........

Oh boy! Lookie what I found waiting for me in my mail box today. I am so
excited! This is my order from Stitching Bits 'n Bobs that I sent in a request
for less then a month ago. I've finally gotten three of those awesome little
chart/thread sets from Little House Needleworks and Crescent Colours. I
have been yearning for these wonderful designs ever since I saw the first
one and now I can see them in person at last. The Drawn Thread chart for
Sampler Game Board is another that I've had my eye on for awhile. And
with the SAL going on at the moment for this project I just had to order it.
Finally, three Prairie Schooler designs. Autumn Leaves has been stitched
by many bloggers out there and each and every one of those projects has
been so beautiful. And Autumn is my most favourite season of all. The
other two PS charts are Nursery Rhymes I and II. I saw these stitched by
Ann at Tempus Fugit and fell in love with them too.



This order came from The Cross Stitch Cupboard which is located in
Ottawa. I placed this order in mid January and there are a couple of
specialty threads still to come. I ordered 32 count Summer Khaki and
Willow Green linen and 28 count Cashel linen in light Mocha. These and
the threads will be used for various projects. The charts are Britty Kitties IV
and two by Linda Myers featuring quilt blocks to cross stitch. I don't quilt so
this is the next best thing. The threads are from Weeks Dye Works and The
Gentle Art.

I have never used hand dyed threads before and I'm feeling a little anxious
about them. The tags say that the colours are not colourfast. Does this
mean that I should wash them before using them? If so, do I just rinse them
in cool water? Is there anything else I should know about using hand dyed
threads? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

Yesterday I stopped off at the little strip mall near where I live to go to the
hair dressers to get my hair chopped. It feels so nice to have it short, short,
short again. It'll be quicker for me to get ready for work in the mornings
too because I won't have to fuss with it and it'll blow dry faster. This is
especially important because DH is going away on a training course next
week. He leaves on Sunday afternoon to fly to Montreal and will return
on Wednesday. This means that I have to make my own way into work
for the first three days of next week. This entails leaving here at 6:35 to
catch the Go bus at the top of my street. Then, after numerous changes
which I won't go into here, I'll arrive at work sometime around 8:30.
I plan to still get up at 5:30, which is our usual rising time, but I'll make
my lunch at night to save some time. Feeding the cats will take up that
little extra time.

After my stop at the hair dressers I visited a little thrift shop located in the
same strip mall, which is run by the Humane Society. I struck gold!!
I collect books about the Titanic and they had this book on sale there for
$12.00. I'd had my eye on the book at the bookstore but never bought it
because it was selling for over $50.00. Wooo Hoo!! And this is in mint
condition. I love when this sort of thing happens.

I took this picture of Phoebe this afternoon while taking the pictures
of all my new stash. She's such a little sweetie.

Finished reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" today. Excellent
read but kind of sad. It's very well written and I highly recommend it.

As you can see I have not yet figured out how to take an unblurry, close up
picture of my stitching. But at least you get an idea of what I've been up to
since Saturday afternoon. This is another of Cross Country Stitching's
"Country Shops" series which will feature a bookshop, a historic society
and the above gift shop. I haven't done any back stitching on this yet, so
it doesn't quite POP like it will once that's done.

On Saturday, after two whole days without cross stitching I convinced DH
to drive me to Acton (20 minutes north west of here) to go to the Needle
Gnome, our LNS. I needed material to stitch on. My orders from the
on line LNS shops were coming via donkey train, with stopovers in Siberia,
Antarctica, Easter Island and the outer rings of Saturn, so I had to do
something to tide me over until they showed up.

I was very good and was only in the store for under half an hour. I
concentrated on picking up several cuts of creme coloured 28 count linen
for a couple of these "Country Shops" and another piece of linen in 28
count in a flax colour which might work out for another piece, the "Sampler
Game Board" by Drawn Thread. I'll have to see when I get the chart.
I browsed through some of the charts in the store but they don't carry many
of my favourite designer's charts and I can order those on line and have
them delivered directly to me at home rather then having to privale upon
DH to taxi me there and back again. Oh, I did pick up one chart at the
shop....Stargazer by Mirabilia. Don't know when I'll get around to stitching
it, but at least I have it here, safe and ready to go.

Since DH was so patient, sitting on a chair in the Needle Gnome and
snoozing while I dithered over fabric, I treated him to a trip to the pub for
lunch and a Guiness to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. I skipped lunch
because I'd had a late breakfast, but DH enjoyed a bowl of home made
Leek and Potato soup, and a warm herb scone, fresh from the oven. He
allowed me a nibble of the scone and it was so delicious!

Once back home DH settled for a nap in front of the fire, while Phee and
I adjurned to the computer room to begin stitching my next project. See
above picture.

Saturday night we had tickets to a concert at the Rose theatre in Brampton
where we saw the Irish Decendants, one of our favourite bands. The Rose
theatre opened last Fall and is a lovely little theatre. Not fancy, but quite
elegant and well layed out. I don't think there is a bad seat in the house.
Parking is right under the theatre so you don't even have to venture out-
side unless you want to. And it was free. Can't beat that.

The Irish Decendants are from Newfoundland, and have been together
for about 15 years or so. DH and I have seen them in concert four times
now and we have many of their CD's. The line up on Saturday night
featured the four guys, playing fiddle, accoustic guitar, accordian and
electric guitar, suplimented with various other instruments such as
mandolin and bodhran. The guys also sang acappalla a few times during
the show. The music was a mix of down east tunes and music from
Ireland and Scotland, with lots of humour thrown in. All in all a great
evening.
This is Sunday afternoon, in the living room. I cross stitched and the cats
sun bathed. Tried listening to music while I stitched but we had two
power failures during that time, including one which lasted well over an
hour. Not sure why, but it was quite windy that day so perhaps that was
the reason.

I'm reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards. It's quite
a good book and I've been enjoying it. Should be done reading it tomorrow.

Once more across the floor...

Blueberry House Quilts
From: Cross Country Stitching
Issue dated: October 1995

I started this one a year ago, and I guess I got around 90% done when
something else caught my attention. So this became a UFO and
languished in my stitching drawer for almost a year.

After finishing my PS yesterday I was suddenly bereft of something to
stitch. Such a state of affairs could not be tolerated, so I went looking
for this project to finally finish. I even had the threads for the project
still in one of my little portable storage boxes waiting for the final push.
So today at work I made the supreme effort and finished off some back
stitching, one section of the vine at the top of the project, and all the
back stitch lettering. What I couldn't quite finish at work (they tend to
get a little huffy at the bank when you sit at your desk cross stitching
all day. Don't know why.) I finished here at home this evening.

I really love this piece. The bright colours and the fanciful architecture
of the houses is right up my alley. I love stitching houses. And this is
just one in a HUGE series published in various issues of this magazine
over the years. I think that I have about six or so of them, but there
are in fact probably close to 15 or more. I believe that they all use the
same colours, just mixed up and rearranged to match. I have another
one that I want to do with a Book Store in it. Well, of course.

Thank you to Becky and Shannon for your kind remarks, and hello
Maree and welcome to my blog. So glad that you dropped in. I'll be
coming to visit your blog soon.

Gotta go and spend some quality time with a neglected and annoyed
Phee cat who hasn't had her evening cuddle yet. Cheers all!

(Judy glides gracefully from the blogsphere.......trips over a footstool
and breaks her fanny....)

Shall we dance....

"A Prairie Garden"
By: The Prairie Schooler
Design by: Pam Brunke

Well, here we are. I was so close to a finish at work today it was almost
unbearable to have to put the piece away and settle down to work. So
when I got home this afternoon I sat myself down on the couch in the
living room and got to work. Half an hour later I was done!

I have given the piece a light pressing for now. I have taken the obligatory
pictures. I have even performed the final, official act of closure for any
stitching project. I have gone through my small travel box, removed the
little floss bobbins with the left over thread on them, and returned them to
the 4 big organizers full of DMC threads, where they shall sit and wait until
such time as they are pulled forth into the light again for use on yet another
project.

I left the project on the kitchen table and waited for DH to come home.
When he arrived he greeted the cats, who were waiting at the front door
to welcome him home as usual, stowed his coat and stuff in the hall closet,
and came up to the kitchen. I was getting dinner ready so we talked and
exchanged news while I worked and he put stuff on the table, looked out
the back door, and wandered back and forth.....all without comment.

Finally I couldn't stand it any longer and I planted myself in front of him
and looked him dead in the eye and said....."Well? What do you think?".
He looked at me, beamed and said....."Oh, you got your hair done."

Anybody know where you can dispose of dead bodies without encouraging
any undo attention from the authorities???

This little pattern came from a chart book published by Dimensions called
Country Angels ~ Book three. The designer is Barbara Mock. I stitched
this one awhile ago, and gave it to a friend's daughter as a birthday gift.
It is stitched on Aida cloth.

I love opening up my craft cupboard to get something out, like the chart
for the above project to look up the designing info. I keep some of my
supply of Partylite candles in there as well, and so it sends out a waft of
beautiful scent whenever the doors are opened. Just have to watch that
the piles of cross stitch magazines and charts don't pour out in an
avalanche of thunderous proportions and land on my (bare) foot. They're
balanced a little precariously in there.

This has been such a lazy morning for DH and I and the cats. DH got up
first because the cats were getting hungry and whining about it to him.
I got up next, about an hour later and went down to put the kettle on and
see about breakfast. After a leisurely breakfast with multiple cups of tea
and the latest People magazine featuring their coverage of Oscar Night,
DH headed back to bed for a snooze, with Rupert joining him. Phoebe and
I came into the computer room to do some book keeping and read blogs.
It's coming up on noon now and DH is having a shower and I'm typing this
blog entry before I go in for my own shower. Rupert is still in bed.

Last Tuesday was DH's birthday, which was a quiet affair because of it
being a work day, and I worked a full day and didn't get home until late.
So today we're having his birthday dinner. My mom is coming, and SIL
was suppose to come, but she called earlier to say that she had a nasty
cold and didn't feel up to it. She was suppose to be bringing the birthday
cake, so now I have a problem. Perhaps when DH goes to get my Mom
I'll go too and get him to stop at the store so I can pick up a cake or
something.


This picture shows another of my friend Linda's special creations. I believe
that the pattern for the doll was an Alma Lynn design. I don't know if you
can make it out, but Linda has stitched a little x-stitch pattern on her apron.
Linda use to make things like this and sell them, and my Mom bought this
one for her place. When she was downsizing to move into the retirement
residence a few years ago I inherited her, which delighted me no end
because I love her colours and the fabrics used for her clothes.


This head on shot is a bit dark around the edges, but you can see the
detailing on her apron better. I love her pigtails and her lacy under
drawers.

I've been so naughty this past week. I ordered a pile of charts from
Stitching Bit's n Bobs, including three of the Little House Needleworks
charts with the Crescent Colours threads. I've never used anything to
stitch except for DMC regular threads so I can't wait to try these out.
I also ordered Drawn Threads "Sampler Game Board" chart which I've
seen Lelia and others doing on their blogs and I love it so much. And
I've ordered Prairie Schooler's "Autumn Leaves" chart because I've
been drooling over it forever. I love Autumn themed stuff, and indeed
any charts with a seasons theme.

I'm still awaiting an order from the Cross Stitch Cupboard in Ottawa
which I placed in January. I ordered fabric, threads and a few charts
and have been awaiting them in eager anticipation. After six weeks
had passed I sent an enquiry about the order and have received a reply
that they are waiting for some of the threads to come, as well as one of
the fabrics. They are sending out the rest of the order now and will
forward the rest when they get it.

I should concentrate on building up my supply of fabric and specialty
threads rather then charts because I have a ton of stuff to stitch and
very little fabric, except for Aida, to stitch on. And I love the look of
the fancy threads, but haven't had any experience or first hand exposure
to them as yet.

The weather is wet and grey today, but the temperature is suppose to
go all the way up to +6 which is practically summer after the cold
temperatures we've been enduring lately. I've got three weeks to go
until a weeks vacation, at the beginning of April. I'd really like to be
able to spend my afternoons sitting on the front stoop cross stitching
like I did last year at the end of March when I had a week off. Will it
be possible? One can only hope.

And so, as promised, here is an update on my Prairie Schooler project "A
Prairie Garden". I am stitching the last of 12 squares, although only 6 are
featured here in this close up. I've been wondering what each flower is
meant to be in this project. Some, like the sunflower and the thistle, are
obvious. Others are a little more problematic. This chart doesn't give any
clues, although another PS chart that I have with fruits and veggies does
give a list of what each picture represents.

We had some fun weather on Thursday, which made for a nasty trip home
from work. We'd been hearing warnings about this storm for days over the
radio and the tv so we knew what was coming, and we even knew approxo-
mitly what time of the day it would be arriving. I'd already planned to work
a short day (5 1/2 hours) instead of a full day, so that I could try and get
home before the worst of the storm hit. Well, that was the plan anyways.

The storm was suppose to start around noon in our area. At one o'clock I
checked out one of our few windows and it was still clear, though quite dark
and gloomy. Hmm. Perhaps we'll get off lightly on this one after all. Ha!
Fifteen minutes later someone in the department yelled out "It's Here!!",
and it was. It was snowing like a sonofagun. Big, fluffy white flakes
streaking out of the lead grey sky. What fun!!

I left work at 2:20, even though I could have worked a full day, and would
have been pleased to do so on a normal day. In one hour of snow fall we'd
had significant accumulations already. And the wind was whipping it along
in a solid wall of white. Apparently I wasn't the only one who decided to
head home early either. It was obvious by the traffic on the roads that
most business who could do so were sending their employees home early.
The roads were jammed with traffic.

The first part of my journey, which requires two buses, and usually takes
me about 35 minutes, took me two hours. One hour of which was spent
huddled in a bus shelter with 8 other popcicles...er...people waiting for a
bus to show up. We were not impressed since that bus was suppose to
run every 10 minutes.

Once at the train/bus depot I switch from city transit to the Go system,
which are trains and buses which cover the entire GTA (Greater Toronto
Area). Unfortunatly the Go buses, which travel the 401 highway to
reach us in Brampton, were running about 2 hours late. But at least we
were inside the bus station for much of the time, which was warm and
dry.

From Brampton to Georgetown, which takes half an hour by bus, and
about 20 minutes by train, took me a further 1 1/2 hours to do. The Go
trains start running from Toronto to Georgetown at 4:15. I caught the
first one, which arrrived in Brampton 20 minutes late, at 5:20.
And I was lucky to be offered a ride from the Georgetown train station to
the end of my street by a lady going in that direction. Didn't know her,
she just called out to the people huddled around the train station (which
was closed for the day at that point) that she had room for one person.

I felt badly for the crowd of people waiting for the Go bus to come from
Toronto to take them to Guelph, another 45 minute drive further in
the good weather. I doubt that they would be seeing a bus for hours.

DH left his work at 3:00 and it took him 2 hours to drive home. That's
twice as long as normal. Which isn't too bad, all things considered.

The snow was turning to freezing rain about the time that I got home,
and that's what we had for much of the night. Then it turned to rain,
mixed with freezing rain by Friday morning. The drive to work wasn't
too bad for us. DH dropped me off at my work and then headed off to
his and he said that he was only a few minutes late. The rain/freezing
rain mix ended later in the morning, and the trip home for me at days
end was pretty much normal, although soggy on the feet. Discovered
that my boots leak.

During those two days of sturm und drang I didn't bother to take my
cross stitch to work and so didn't get any significant work done on it.

I did finish reading Nora Roberts book Sanctuary. It was a light read
which was amusing but quite predictable. Nothing special. Got it on
sale cheap so I'm not worried that it didn't turn out to be War and
Peace. I'm now reading Erik Larson's latest book which is called
Thunderstruck. I love his books and have already collected and read
Isaac's Storm and The Devil and the White City. Great mixtures of
history, and crime novel.

Missed watching Lost on Wednesday night for the simple reason that
I forgot that it was Wednesday night. DOH!!