It is a cool, grey day outside and the rain is falling steadily. It has been
doing so for about an hour now, and is suppose to continue for most of
the morning. There is a possibility that the sun will appear, at least
occasionally, this afternoon. Then in the evening we may get a thunder
storm. It is Spring. It's also April first, and therefore April Fool's Day.
Hope you've all avoided any pranksters who may abide in your home
or amongst your acquaintances.

DH and I have begun a week of holidays. Usually when DH is off on
vacation the weather is invariably gorgeous. We have a neighbour
who has actually asked DH to let her know when he's taking time off
because she wants to plan her holidays for the same time to guarantee
her good weather. Unfortunately, when I take holidays the weather
tends to turn sour. Either that or I come down with some nasty virus
to entertain for the duration. So far this weekend I remain sniffle-free,
however my weather jinx has proven to be stronger then DH's weather-
bliss. It seems the next week will be cool and rainy. No sitting out on
the front stoop cross stitching for me.

This morning when I got up DH informed me that another harbinger of
Spring had arrived. The Cedar Waxwings are back in town. During a few
days each Spring, and again in the Autumn, the Cedar Waxwings appear,
to feed on the berries in our Cherry trees. They use to come for the
berries in our Mountain Ash tree, but the mature tree that we had, and
loved, came down in a wind storm a few years ago. We've planted a new
one but it will be years before that one is mature enough to satisfy the
hungry hoards. I think that the Cedar Waxwing is one of the most
handsome birds that I've ever seen. Very elegant, with hints of brilliant
colour. Their tails look as if they've been dipped in yellow paint, with a
brush stroke of orange placed just so on their wings. And that black mask
over the eyes would put the most dapper of super hero's to shame. They
also have a crest on top of their heads, which adds to their charm.

Yesterday DH and I spent the afternoon shopping for pants for him. This
may sound like a simple enough task, until you take into consideration the
fact that DH is 6' 5", with almost all of his height being in his legs. Men's
clothing stores don't carry a lot of stock for men of that height. There are
specialty stores that do, but they are more expensive and are not handy
to get to. Especially when shopping with a man who HATES to shop. We
were lucky enough to find what we were looking for in two branches of
Mark's Work Warehouse, one here in Georgetown, and the other in
Brampton. The one in Brampton had the added bonus of being practically
next door to a Michael's. So I was able to pop in there and pick up some
plain evenweave and linen fabric for stitching. Yes, I'm sneaky.


Books relax me. Especially books with lots of pictures. I was browsing
through blogs a few weeks ago and came across pictures of this book on
Ann's blog "http://tempusfugit,.over-blog.com/" and I knew it was a
keeper. Wonderful photographs of french influenced decor, crafts and
lifestyle in general. I've been reading it, and I've been browsing through
it whenever I can, and it transports me away from my day to day world.
It's as good as taking a trip away physically, only in my mind.

Thought I'd show you some of my bear and bunny collection, while talking
about things that relax us. I love country style stuffed animals, and this
lot are sitting next to our tv stand in the den. The basket was hand made
by a local artist who also paints lovely watercolours.


And finally, I finished reading Brenda Rickman Vantrease's book "The
Illuminator" on Friday. Quite an enjoyable read, with great historic
detail. It takes place in England in the late 14th century, which was a
time of great upheaval, with a child king on the throne, and the church
fighting to retain it's supremacy over the people in the face of growing
criticism and anger, and challenges from those who believe that all
people should have the right to read the bible in their own native
language, instead of only priests and the nobility who can read Latin
or French. A bit of a love story in there as well. I understand there is
a sequel just come out so I'll have to check that out. My thanks to
Lelia who raved about this book in her blog recently.

Sorry, no stitching stuff in this entry today. I've been stitching (and
frogging, alas) but nothing much to show. Today I must clean this
house, but I look forward to much stitching time this week.
Cheers all.