Country Shops with the stitching on the shops complete, except for the
names of the stores back stitched onto the signs. I'll save that for last. I
have to stitch the vines, hearts and checkerboard corners above the shops
and then it'll be done. I remember from the first piece that I did in this
series that the vines were a major pain to do for some reason. Had to do
a bit of frogging as I recall until I had it all placed correctly. We'll see how
this one goes.

I've meant to write about a lovely evening that I had one week ago when
I joined my neighbour Amy for a lady's night out. A local church was
having a "Desert and Lecture" night and Amy and a few of her friends
were going, and she asked if I'd care to join them. Desert Night???
Oh, yeah sure, twist my arm.

So, kicking and screaming, they dragged me to Desert Night. I was
surprised by the crowd that showed up for this occasion. They said
that there were about 400 women at the event. There were tables
set up in the auditorium, covered in crisp white table clothes, and set
with flowers, lit candles and the necessary tableware. There were
tables loaded with deserts scattered around the room, manned by
teenage volunteers and each table was assigned to a specific "Desert
Station". The deserts ranged from home made to store bought and
there was something there for every one's taste. Oh, and there was
a chocolate fountain as well! We lined up, loaded our plates with
goodies, and returned to our seats where we shared bites of
whatever we'd chosen with each other. My favourite was a chocolate
meringue cake with whipped cream on top and sprinkled with
raspberries and blackberries. Oh heaven indeed!! The Bailey's
cake was good too.

As much as the Deserts were a big draw though, the person giving
the evenings lecture in the main hall of the church was probably as
much of a draw in her own right, if not more so. Her name is Kim
Phuc and most of us know her because we've all seen her in a very
famous photograph. She was the nine year old child in a picture
taken during the Vietnam war, running down a dirt road, her
clothes burned off by napalm, arms outstretched and face contorted
in anguish and terror. Yes, most of us know that picture and we
shudder at the memory of it.

Amazingly, Kim Phuc survived that horrible experience, thanks in
part to the photographer who took that picture, and who rushed
her to the hospital. Sadly, her three year old cousin did not survive
that day. There were pictures taken of him too, in his mother's arms.
Most of us could not look at those pictures.

Kim grew up in Vietnam, after the war, under the Communist
regime. She was used as a propaganda tool by the government,
and was unable to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor because
of it. She was sent to Cuba, and lived there for six years. She met
her husband there, and after they married they were allowed to
go to Moscow for their honeymoon. It was on the return trip from
their honeymoon that their plane stopped in Gander, Nfld for
refueling, and they took the opportunity to defect. They have
been living in Canada ever since.

Kim's faith in God is strong, and that was part of her lecture. She
also feels strongly about the futility of war, and she is working to
raise money to improve the lives of other's less fortunate then us,
who live in war ravaged countries. She also talked about her
recovery from her injuries and how she still has to deal with a
great deal of pain, even after all these years. She is a lovely
woman of 44 years now, with a beautiful smile. She has two
young sons with her husband and she is proud of how Canadian
they are.

Listening to Kim Phuc speak, and indeed just seeing her
walk out on stage, alive and relatively well, after knowing her
only through that infamous picture, was an emotional moment.
Not many people could have survived such a horrible experience
with the grace and the joy and the gratitude that she has. It was
an evening I'll remember for a long time.

Spring has certainly arrived here in earnest at last. In just a week
the trees have put out buds, the garden is growing by leaps and
bounds and the grass is growing. DH mowed for the first time this
season on Sunday. He spent much of Sunday afternoon digging,
raking and poking around in the yard. He was in his glory! I got
my household chores done as early as possible, and spent a few
hours out on the front porch stitching. Then, in the evening, we
went to a pot luck supper for DH's praise group choir which they
have at the end of each month. This month food theme was
Italian. Mmmmmmmmm.

And finally, a picture of our hallway linen closet. Well, it was our
linen closet. When we had the bathroom renovated about 13 years
ago we had a linen cupboard built in there. So this one was not
necessary. Two years ago, when we had the upstairs bedrooms
and hallway done we had this little closet turned into a book shelf.
Because, after all, you can never have too many bookcases.

Finished reading "The Sunday Wife" by Cassandra King on the week
end and am now reading "A Girl of the Limberlost". I couldn't put
"The Sunday Wife" down and read it in a couple of days. I highly
recommend it.