I'm really late blogging this weekend but I'm here

and I've cobbled together some stuff to blog about.

Whether or not you find it interesting is another

matter.  

Today's opening subject is "where I stitch ...

and craft ... and blog .... and relax.   May I 

present to you .... my craft room.  Aka:   the

office and the computer room.

The work desk.  Please excuse the clutter.  I did

tidy it up ... a bit ... for you.    I was putzing 

around with my new Cuttlebug today, getting to

know how to use it and how to get the best 

results with it when cutting out designs with 

the various dies.   The floor is covered in bits

of paper from this because I knocked over

the stupid garbage pail afterwards.  

On the left side of the desk are two boxes, the smaller 

of which holds pictures and other stuff that are to 

go into my Smash book.   The bigger box on 

the bottom holds my current stitching projects.

Some storage.   Mostly paper crafting stuff.  

I will not open those doors for you.   My

modest collection of framed cross stitch

pieces are here, and all the little cross stitched

treasures that I've received as gifts over the

years.   And of course pictures of the cats.

The tall cupboard here is my full of my

stitching supplies.   No, I'm not opening

that either.

Close up of some of the work space ... which is

no where near big enough for what I do.  

Especially since I have to share this space with

Phoebe and she likes to spread out .... it's a 

cat thing.

Close up of the stitching wall.   My cherished

collection of Crescent Colours threads are

kept in the three drawer unit in the 

centre of the picture.

The door to the hallway.   To the right

of that is the closet which holds our filing

cabinet and more of my paper and

scrapbooking stash.

Nothing fancy and the room is tiny but

I love it just the same.

Vonna at http://thetwistedstitcher.blogspot.ca/

showed off her stitching place on her blog 

(actually she's got more then one .... sigh)

so I'm doing the same.   How about you??

Todays weather report.   Cold.  Snow.  Strong,

blustery winds.   Rinse, repeat.

This winter thing is unrelenting.   Hibernating on

the weekends whenever possible is advised.   Walking

anywhere is hazardous to your health.   

And it's going to keep being bitterly cold well into

February.    Oh Joy!!!!

Since scenes of winter are rather depressing I now

present to you scenes of summer.

You remember summer?  Don't you???

This is beautiful little Crawford Lake, located in

the middle of the Crawford Lake Conservation

area about a 30 minute drive from here.

Forest trails and a recreation of an

Iroquois Indian village which once

existed on the grounds, a picnic

area ... and of course the lake.

Lots to see and do.

We were thrilled to see two Snapping Turtles

in the lake while we were there.   These guys

are BIG and ... true to their name ... their bite

is definitely worse then ... well ... you know.

This was actually a busy weekend for me.

Friday night after working out at Curves

I had a wonderful, though quick, dinner

at a local bistro where I ate the most 

amazing Ravioli stuffed with Lobster

meat and cheeses.   YUM!!!!

Then I met my friend Mary and her son 

Ian (my godson) for a couple of hours of

music at a local church.    A combination

of Jazz, Classical and Pop music performed

by a five man group.   It was most 

enjoyable.   Especially since there was a

blizzard raging outside.

Saturday it was a birthday celebration for

a dear friend which is a yearly

tradition.  Good food and good friends

and lots of talking and laughing.

It was most enjoyable.   Especially since

there was a blizzard raging outside.

Er ... yeah.

So all in all the weekend has flown by.

Sad to see it done.

Hope you had a good one too.

Cheers!!

Mea Culpa!

I missed a week of blogging.  I'm trying to

blog faithfully once a week but last weekend

I just didn't have all that much to say.   And we

spent most of the January 11/12 weekend

packing up Christmas and storing it away

for another year.    I miss my Christmas

tree but I have to admit it is nice to be back

to normal around the house.  

This weeks blog is short on thrills and

excitement too so I decided to raid my

photo stash for some activities from the

past summer to report on.

DH and I spent an afternoon visiting the

Raptors Centre at Mountsberg Conservation

area in August during our vacation.   This

beautiful Barn Owl was one of two raptors

used in a live show there.   I guess because

it was a week day there were hardly any

visitors at the centre so it was just DH and

I and one other guy watching the show.

The Barn Owl's name was Jazz and 

she was around 9 years old.   Most

Barn Owls in the wild only live 3 or 

4 years so Jazz was an old lady indeed

but she flew around the show area's 

enclosure with grace and breathtaking

beauty.

There were lots of Red Tailed Hawks

in the pens around the centre.   All of

the birds there had been brought to the

centre after being found injured in the

wild.   If they can be nursed back to 

health and released back into freedom

again they are.   But if the injuries are

permanent the birds are given a home

at the centre which allows visitors an

opportunity to see them up close.

This little guy was all ruffled and 

shedding feathers.   A young Red

Tailed Hawk perhaps?   I can't 

remember now.

There were a couple of Bald Eagles,

a Golden Eagle and a Gyrfalcon there

as well.  

And out in the park proper we saw this Heron

stalking through the waters of the man made

lake, while Ospray and Buzzards flew over

head.   

With the destructive Ice Storm that swept through

our area over Christmas I wonder what the

many conservation areas are going to do.  No

doubt they've got a massive clean up to do and

trees to check wherever visitors might walk

looking for broken branches that haven't 

fallen yet.   It's going to be a massive and

expensive job.

I paid a visit to Michael's yesterday and came

home with lots of fabulous stash.    Micron pens

for Zentangling, copic markers for colouring, 

washi tape, stamps, jewels, paper .... oh I had

a blast!!!

A new sketch book, more pretty papers, a new

embossing folder for my Cuttlebug, Gelatos for

journaling .... Yummy!!!

I've done a few pages in my Smash book.  The

black embellishments on these two pages were

made on my Cuttlebug.   Cool eh?   That's my

DH in the white shirt.

Another Smash book spread.

This was the day after Thanksgiving when we

had an open house for friends to drop by for

goodies, tea and chatting.

And more "tangles".   This one in blue

marker.

And this in black.

After a period of warmth when temperatures

rose to +6 Celsius at the beginning of this

week and have been lingering around -2 Celsius

by weeks end we are now facing temperatures

around -15 Celsius for this week, which does

not factor in the wind chill.    This winter is

taking a lot out of us this season and there is still

two full months of it to get through.   

Stay warm all!!

Cheers!!

No, this isn't a picture of our house during the brief

thaw that we had a week ago.  I wish!    I took

this picture and the one below during a day trip

into Toronto a few years ago ... June 2011 to be exact.  

I took a ferry from the pier in downtown Toronto 

to Toronto Island for a day of hiking, picture taking

and to escape a stinking hot day on the mainland.

A picture of the ferry terminal taken last summer.

It had just been renamed the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal

the previous day in honour of a local politician who

had passed away from cancer a year earlier.

From the island you have beautiful views of downtown

Toronto ... as long as either the smog or the weather is

being co-operative.  Parts of the islands (there's 

actually three islands linked together .. or is it four?)

have cottages on them, large parts are parkland,

there's a children's amusement park, an airport

and beaches ... including a nudist beach.

Why am I posting these pictures today?  Well,

I don't have  much else to show you from the 

previous week and a blog post without 

pictures is pretty bland and boring IMHOP.

We did have a brief thaw at the beginning of

last week which allowed the thick ice that

had been coating everything outside to melt.

It cleared off of tree branches, power lines

and eaves troughing but not off of all of

the sidewalks ... alas.   

Then a couple of days of frigid temperatures

hit on Thursday and Friday which had 

everyone huddled indoors.   With the wind 

chill it dropped to -35 Celsius which made 

being outside something to be avoided at all costs

if possible.   I walked home in it on Thursday

night.   Train station to home took 40

minutes.   I was dressed for it but even so

I was a human icicle when I walked in our

front door.    Should-a called for a ride.

I've been drawing/doodling again.  A

couple of pages of this and that.

My neighbour and her daughter came over 

one afternoon and we sat at the kitchen

table drawing, drinking mugs of tea

and munching on Christmas treats.

That's when I started the above tangle.

New Years was quiet but enjoyable.

We had some friends join us for

dinner and visiting though our

numbers were fewer then normal

because of those dreaded "bugs"

that are going around.  Just about everyone 

is affected it seems.  Either getting 

sick .... being sick ... getting 

over being sick .... or married to sick!

So there were seven of us to dine

on my usual go-to dishes of home

made lasagne, mac n cheese, asian

salad and other yummy party

fare.   Then we sat around yakking

and laughing and drinking 

lots of tea and eating lots of

goodies.

And the last guest left before 

midnight!!!   Yes, we are

a rowdy bunch of New Years

revellers aren't we?  Oh well.

My current read.   I stumbled on this

at the bookstore just after Christmas

and as soon as I read the description

of the story on the cover I knew it

was my kind of book.    I've been

reading it ever since and loving it. 

This is the author's first novel and 

I believe that this is the start of a 

series.  If you've read and loved  

Deborah Harkness's All Souls trilogy 

then you'll enjoy this book too!

I can't believe the holidays are

over already.   We haven't

taken the tree and other 

decorations down yet because 

frankly I don't want to.   I love

my tree and hate taking it

down even though it's been

up since Nov 16th.   I am

giving myself one more week

to enjoy it before we pack it

up until next November.

That's it from me.  Sorry for the

uneventful post.   We're expecting

a snow storm tomorrow evening

that is predicted to deliver about

15 to 20 cm of the white stuff.

Hope the weather isn't being too

harsh where you are but it does

seem that nasty weather is happening

everywhere ... and Winter is only

three weeks old!   Yeesh!!!

Cheers!!

You know ... I can't remember if

I've posted those pictures of

Toronto Island before on a blog

post or not.  It's bugging me.

Oh well.