Hello! I'm starting off this week's blog post with a photo
that might be one of my most favorite of all the pictures
that I've taken so far with my new camera.

DH and I were invited to a birthday party for a little boy
turning one year old back in September. The gathering
took place in a park near the parent's home so we were
outdoors for the entire time.

It was a cold, windy day unfortunately and there really
wasn't much in the way of shelter to get away from the
elements. We tried huddling around the barbecue but
it got a little crowded which made it difficult for the cook
to work, so DH and I went for a little walk around the
grounds to try and keep the circulation going and perhaps
warm up a trifle.

One side of the park grounds was edged with tall grasses
and weeds, all of which were nearing the end of their life
cycle for the season and were either drying out to brown
stalks, or were bursting their seed pods and sending the
tiny seedlings out to find themselves a safe place to set
down roots and sleep for the winter. With the wind
blowing and blustering that day there were a lot of
fluffy bits dancing through the air.

The tops of these plants caught my eye and I just
held up my camera and took a quick picture as we
passed by them, and here is the result. I love it!!!

Yesterday I actually sat down and did some stitching!
I've been itching to start a new project that had caught
my eye recently so I ignored The Book Store and started
digging around in my fabric stash looking for something
suitable for the irresistible new design. I chose a cut of
Sassy's Fabbys Jobelan, 28 count, in the color Toffee.

The design is a Halloween Quaker by Jardin Priven
which is stitched in black and off white DMC thread.
As you can see I haven't gotten much done yet, and
since Halloween is just a week away it won't get done
in time for the holiday itself this year (and we won't
make any promises for next year either because we
know better) but I'm enjoying myself and that's the
important thing.

This weeks featured sampler from Black Creek Pioneer
Village is by Margaret Ann Todd and it uses some of the
same motifs as her sister Sarah's did, plus the same
colors. But the border is different and obviously so is
the verse.

I should note here that I'm just assuming that Sarah and
Margaret were sisters since there was no information
provided about the samplers that were hanging in each
of the buildings in the village. Maybe they were cousins?
I still can't get over how well the colors look on their two
samplers. Still quite bright and vibrant after all these
years.

And this just in .....

I am once again in love and lust!! What a beautiful
design Diane has come up with here!! Wonderful
colors (RED) and lovely motifs. And bunnies!!!
'Scuse me while I go rifle through the laundry and
the bottom of my purse to rustle up some coin for
this sweet chart ... and maybe one or two others.

Note: Photo above filched from Stitching Bits and Bobs
website.

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

In August my DH's company arranged a boat cruise and
dinner to take place on one of the many boats that sails
around Toronto Harbor in the good weather. The boats
leave their berths during the late afternoon so you can
enjoy the views of downtown Toronto, the Toronto Island
Airport, and the Toronto Islands during daylight. The
cruise continues into the evening, ending around 10:00 pm
so you also get to see the Toronto skyline all lit up after
dark. It's quite spectacular to see.

DH and I arrived over an hour before we were to meet up
with everyone for the cruise so we had time to wander
around the Harborfront, looking at the attractions and
venues that are there, and people watching as well.

I use to work in this area and so know it pretty well, but
it's been 11 years since our company moved it's office
out to the suburbs, and things have changed considerably
since then.

Condos, rental apartment buildings and Co-Op buildings
have been going up everywhere on the valuable, much
sought after and somewhat limited shoreline of Lake
Ontario and that has caused some concern for the other
residents of Toronto who are loosing their views and
their access to the waterfront.

But we're not here to debate Toronto's building choices
today. So let's move on and do some site seeing instead.
A much more pleasant topic, don't you agree??

This is the ship that we were to spend the evening on.
Two levels with tables to eat at, places to set up the
buffet meals, and small dance floors for those who might
wish to work off their meals a bit afterwords. The top
deck was open to the sky, and you could sit up there and
watch the views pass by.

There was a market in full swing at Harborfront, with
booths selling clothes, jewelery, and all kinds of other
treasures and trinkets. And food vendors selling just
about any type of cuisine you would care to think of.
In this picture you can also see the stage on the right
where live music was being played, and the ubiquitous
condo's surrounding the area.

There is a very shallow pond where you can rent a canoe
and paddle around for awhile.

And right next to that is an artificial (obviously) skating
rink where you can rent skates and take a spin on the
ice (??). There was one or two kids wobbling their way
around the square ice pad but I didn't manage to get
them in this picture.

Walking along the boardwalk at the water's edge you
pass the many small cruise ships as well as this
bigger, masted schooner.

A pair of smaller cruise ships that can be rented for
group excursions on the Lake around the harbor
and the islands.

There are bays where people can rent a space to dock
their boat and I suppose that they can even live on
board for the season if they so choose. I would imagine
that the rent would be quite dear for a space here and
there's not a lot of privacy.

And sometimes the neighbors can be a bit ... er ...
off the wall??

Anyone for tennis???

It occurs to me that this post is getting pretty photo
heavy so I'll finish off the narrative for this fun day
next weekend. Here is a view of the Toronto skyline
taken as dusk is falling and the two most famous
of Toronto's downtown buildings ... The Skydome
where the Toronto Blue Jays play baseball, and the
CN Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world.

Scrounging money out of the pockets of clothes in
the laundry to buy stitching charts. Why???

Wellllllll ....

Ya see, there was this sale of books at Chapters and
... well ... uh ...

And did I mention the new second hand book store
that's opened in downtown Georgetown as well???
The one that I now walk passed just about every
day of the week???

******************************************************

The week just passed was pretty uneventful until Friday
afternoon at work. I was just sitting at a table in the
cafeteria reading during the final few minutes of my
lunch break when the evacuation alarm sounded.

After climbing down from the ceiling (damn, that thing
is LOUD) I gathered up purse, lunch bag and book and
joined the rest of the employees shuffling out the front
door.

Heading through our parking lot we walked toward
the parking lot of Leons furniture store which is next
door to us and which is where my department is suppose
to meet so the team leader can count noses. At first we
had no idea what was going on of course but then our
noses clued us in.

Do you guys smell gas???

Uh oh.

Yup. Workers at the back of the building had been
drilling (no idea why) and of course they hit and
punctured a gas pipe.

We milled around in Leons parking lot for awhile
with those of us without coats huddling together
for warmth. Then we were sent to a banqueting
hall nearby where we waited inside where it was,
thankfully, nice and warm until it was safe to
return to work. It took about an hour for them
to shut off the gas and then we headed back to
our desks.

And that was our excitement for this week.

********************************************

Is it my imagination or is this the never ending blog post??
I've gotta learn not to be so verbose I think. I don't talk
like this, on and on and on and on, in real life ... do I Jennifer??
Darlene?? Linda??? Dani??? Kathy???

On second thought ... never mind.

Have a great week folks! Thanks for stopping by and
plowing through all this stuff, and for leaving comments
for me. Love hearing from you.

Cheers!!