Good day one and all. It's Sunday morning once again which
means it's time to compose and create another post for my blog.
Thanks to my long absence from blogging during the summer
I've got a backlog of pictures and other "stuff" to catch up on
as well as reporting on the things that have been happening in
the here and now. And I've got to keep from boring you all to
tears or into a coma in the process. Well, I'll do my best to
make this entry entertaining and informative and ... AHA!!
Your eye lids are drooping there!! Just for a second ...
Stay with me now ...

We're starting out with a couple of glamor shots. I was out
walking yesterday morning when the sun was just clearing
the tops of the trees and houses and the light frost was still
spread in patches on the ground. I happened to notice a
carpet of leaves lining the sides of the sidewalk and each was
limned with frost along veins and edges. Lovely. I
wondered if my magical camera would be able to capture

this amazing detail. It did.

I'm really delighted with how these pictures turned out.
Click on them for close ups so you can see the tiny beads
of frost on each leaf. Especially in the above picture.
Mother Nature is a whiz with her magical paintbrush and
knows just when and where to add the bling ... and how
much is just enough.

Last week I gave you a small glimpse of my current
stitching project and wondered if you could guess
what it was. Well, here is the full picture showing
my progress so far. Now don't tell me you're surprised
by my choice of this design because I know you're not.

I'm all over the map with this one, stitching a bit of
this section, and then a bit of that section, and then
working on a bit of the border. Do you do that??
Or do you just stitch each section and finish it before
moving on to the next part?

I've been dabbling on Ebay this month as well and found
a great dealer selling lovely small cuts of fabric in gorgeous
colors. I love the color of the piece on the right which is
called Autumn Blush, appropriate considering the season
we're in right now. So much so that when I placed another
order for a few more cuts of fabric in other colors I also
ordered another one of these. These will be a joy to work
on.

Another of the samplers that I found and photographed
during our visit to Black Creek Pioneer Village. This one
is lovely too, with some wonderful motifs and amazing
colors.

Here's a close up of the verse and some of the motifs.
Sorry about the flash in the centre of the picture. Isn't
that butterfly wonderful?? Next week I'll post a picture
of Sarah's sister Margaret's sampler which is a variation
of this one

What I've been up to this past summer and Fall - an ongoing report .....

A few weeks ago a bunch of us attended the twentieth
annual Word on the Street festival which took place
on the grounds of the Ontario Legislature ... also known
as Queen's Park ... in the heart of downtown Toronto.

A beautiful place to have a festival of any kind because
of the many wonderful old trees on the grounds and with
the lovely stonework of the Legislature building itself as a
backdrop.

We ate hot dogs and samosas and spring rolls and
corn on the cob, and I had my first Funnel Cake.
Look at that thing!! Deep fried batter sprinkled
with sugar and lots and lots of cinnamon. I love
cinnamon!!! And yes, I'm ashamed to admit, I
ate the entire plateful of it.

Now you know why I walk ... a lot!!

The booths were scattered amongst the trees and
shrubbery on the park's grounds and there was so
much to see and so many books to buy. We worked
our way around from booth to booth, browsing
through the books that caught our eye and making
the odd ... ahem ... purchase.

There were celebrates on hand for the occasion, including
this well known fellow who was, if I remember correctly,
celebrating his 70th birthday this year.

I've been chasing this lady around Ontario for years!!

Uh ... let me explain.

One of my most favorite authors is Kelley Armstrong.
I've got all of her books and love 'em so much!! Ms
Armstrong is from Ontario, and presumably doesn't
live all that far from me. In all the years that I've been
reading her books, and in all the years that she's been
making promotional appearances around Ontario, as
well as the rest of North America in general, I'd yet to
meet her and get some of my books signed.

There were lots of Canadian authors appearing at this
years Word on the Street and one of them, happily
enough, turned out to be Ms Kelley Armstrong!!

Of course me being me I forgot to pack one of her books
to be signed during the event so had to buy another
copy of one that I already had just so she could sign it.
DOH!!

But the important thing is that I finally got to meet her,
have a book signed and my picture taken with her. I
was delighted.

So guess who showed up in Georgetown on Friday for
a visit and signing???

Isn't that always the way???

Sponsored by a local kids bookstore, The Freckled Lion,
Ms Armstrong appeared in the gallery that is in the same
building as our library to give a talk, read excerpts from her
Young Adult book series, answer questions and sign
books.

Well yes, of course I went. And this time I
remembered to pack a few of my books for signing. And
I even remembered my camera. It was a great evening.
Kelley (may I call you Kelley??) is a funny, eloquent
speaker and it was cool to hear her read some of her latest
stuff to us and answer our questions.

Did you know that Angelina Jolie wanted to play Elena when
the screenplay adaption of one of Kelley's early books was
shopped around?? Wow!

Sadly the movie never got made. The powers that be in
Hollywood decided that chick flicks featuring women with
super powers just were not in demand thanks to the failures
of the movies Catwoman and Electra. Of course the fact that
these two movies were badly written and produced in the
first place might have had something to do with that, but it
would never occur to those bozos to take that into
consideration.

Well, another epic production comes to an end for
another week. So many of you left wonderful
comments after last weeks post offering comfort and
sympathy for the emotional first Thanksgiving
dinner without my Mom and I am so very
grateful to you for that. It helped so much to
read your understanding and eloquent words.

I hope you all have a wonderful week with lots of
stitching time and I'll be back next week no doubt
with more stuff to share. Take care!!

Cheers!