Confined to quarters ....

The rain is pounding down on the roof above my head which

is a comforting, pleasant sound.    It's evening and I have decided

to update my blog since I am not really in the mood to do much

else.    I've been watching "Booktube" videos on Youtube,  I've

been stitching,   I've been reading .... but I am (I confess) feeling

a tad ... dare I say it?? ... Bored!!!!

Recovery from the gallbladder extraction has been uneventful

and everything seems to be fine.   Nurse Phil continues to 

monitor me closely and gives me hell heck if I do too much

bending or reaching.   Hopefully by next week I'll be able to

return to Curves to work out, though I realize that I'm going

to have to start out slowly and work my way back up to

where I was before my little adventure.

We went for a walk today and by the end I was flagging a

bit.  Now that the nicer weather is on the horizon I'm ready

to get out and walk, walk, walk but once again it's

something I'm going to have to build my endurance up for.

Being confined to the house and with the weather too cool

to sit out in I've been dedicating a lot of my time to my

current cross stitch project and I've gotten a lot done!

Now I am not the world's fastest stitcher by any means

so I'm not sure if this is a lot by anyone else's standards

but I'm fairly pleased with it.

The canoe and the streetcar were my favourite things

to stitch and the trees as well.   To the left of the 

streetcar is the Prince's Gates which lead into the

Canadian National Exhibition grounds.    On the 

far right of the design is the Skydome where our

baseball team the Toronto Blue Jays play.   Between

those two Toronto icons is the designers rendition

of the Royal Ontario Museum ... and that thing 

was a stinker to stitch!!!

Now above is a picture of the original building which is

quite a venerable old pile ... classy and typical of the

architecture of the 1914 era that it was built in.

     

And this is the section that was added in 2007.

It's called "The Crystal" and it was designed by 

Daniel Libeskind.   It is very ... modern and reactions

to it were ... shall we say .... mixed (!!!) when it's

plans were first revealed.     

I'm not a fan of modern architecture.  I much prefer

the original structure which the Crystal kind of wraps

around in one area.    And when it came to stitching the

darn thing it was ... for me ... a royal pain!

I couldn't picture in my mind how the stitched structure

corresponded to the real one.  It just seemed like

sections of random shades of blue and white.  It

still looks weird to me but at least I can sort of

see what the designer was trying to do.  I guess.

But that part is now done and I can move on to the

next layer of this piece.

And in case you're wondering .... yes, it seems that

at least for awhile the Crystal's roof did leak.   Ooops!

My reading for the past few weeks has been the

acclaimed fantasy series by Naomi Novik.

The first book came out and was nominated

for a Hugo award  for best novel in 2007

The novels are a retelling of the Napoleonic

wars but with dragons!!!   So a meld of 

fantasy and history which is skillfully 

blended into a fascinating and riveting

story by the author.   

I don't know why I haven't gotten these

books to read before this because I knew

that they were out there and were well

reviewed and quite popular .... but I didn't.

There are more books in this series which

I have in my collection and will read in the 

future but I wanted to get the first three books 

done all in one marathon read.   I don't know

if I'll pick up book four (then five, six etc) next

or if I'll go for a change of pace.   We'll see.

I don't have much else to write about tonight

so I'll just add a cute picture of the cats and call

it a night!

Cheers!

I meant to update my blog sooner then this however, as

happens, life got in the way.    Specifically... after five

attacks in the past four months due to gall stones ....  I had 

to have my gall bladder removed last Thursday night.   It

was something I was planning to do but a particularly bad

attack starting on Tuesday hastened the deal.   That was fine

since it didn't give me any time to fret and stress while 

waiting for a specific date to arrive.   It was a case of:  we're

here in emergency ... the surgeon is available .... we don't

have any other plans for the evening .... let's just do it!!!

A night in hospital ... spent in Obstetrics of all places ....

and a return home on Friday afternoon to recover.   Phil,

being retired now,  is able to provide nursing care and to

keep an eye on me during my convalescence ... and he's 

been quite diligent and very solicitous of my every need.

So all in all it's been good.   Keyhole surgery means an easier

and quicker recovery with minimal discomfort and that is

greatly appreciated.    So now I'm able to putter around the

house a bit, go for short walks around the neighbourhood

.... with my nurse accompanying me ... and relax at home.

It's all good.   

I've been enjoying my renewed delight in stitching again and

made further progress on my Country Chessboard as seen

above.    More border which defines the size of the piece

plus more houses.   And yes,  each house square completed

feels like a mini finish which provides a sense of 

accomplishment and encourages further production.

But of course what would the joy of stitching be without a

new start???    I mean, really?     Thanks to the enabling of

fellow stitchers I became aware of this chart available on

Etsy from a designer and had to get it, along with another

for Pretty Little Amsterdam.   There are charts for cities

throughout the United States and Europe featuring those 

well known iconic sites that each city is known for,  and 

each chart is in bright, vibrant colours.

So here is my progress so far on Pretty Little Toronto.

Some trees,  the shores of Lake Ontario,  a streetcar

(sometimes known as the Red Rocket) and starts on

other landmarks.   Loving it!!!

Hey!   Did you know .....

                                                So, I was on Vonna's blog site a week ago 

http://thetwistedstitcher.blogspot.ca/

and discovered that she'd made some videos on how to 

do various styles of finishes which she'd posted on Youtube.

Well,  Vonna being the Queen of Finishing .... along with

Andrea from The Craft Room .... I knew that I had to check

those out at once.   I went to Youtube and watched Vonna's

videos and was suitably impressed and fascinated with her

skill and her talent.   Then I looked at the videos "suggested"

at the side of the screen and was surprised to discover that

there is a community of cross stitchers there who are calling

themselves "Flosstubers"!!!!

I am quite aware of the "Booktubers" on Youtube plus various types

of crafty vloggers, and I follow those communities regularly, but it's 

never occurred to me to check for cross stitchers.

DOH!!!!!

So while I stitch on my projects I watch vlog posts from cross 

stitchers from all over the world as they display their WIPS,

hauls,  and UFO's as well as discussing other things related

to their hobbies and interests and lives.

Did any of you know about this community?   Is it the "it"

place to be now that interest in blogging seems to be waning 

for a lot of people?   I would think that vlogging would be

much more time consuming and more work then blogging

plus you'd need some degree of technical know-how and 

the equipment to make decent vlogs.    

And with vlogging you'd have to be more aware of your own

personality and have the ability to "selling" yourself on screen

to your audience to hold their attention and engage them.   I

think an ability to write a good, interesting and colourful blog

post may not necessarily translate to the vlogging world.

So, go check out Flosstube on Youtube (if you haven't already) 

and see what you think.

In early February I spent a weekend in Toronto with my

friend Darlene for our annual "Girls Weekend".

This time we had tickets to Kinky Boots at the Royal

Alexandra theatre as the highlight of our weekend.

         

What a fabulous show!!!!   The music was fantastic

(courtesy of the talented Cindi Lauper with book by 

Harvey Fierstein)  and the production colourful.   The 

story was a nice mix of thought provoking,  tender,  

upbeat and a bit sad at times.   But ultimately it was a 

celebration of our differences and acceptance of ourselves 

and of others ... be who you want to be!!

Our "Lola" in the show .... Alan Mingo Jr .... has left

the Toronto production to reprise the role on Broadway

which is quite an honour.    But given how amazing he

was here it doesn't surprise me at all that he was given

the opportunity.

The show was Friday night.   Saturday we walked a

bit around Toronto on a bright, sunny and warm day.

We went to the St. Lawrence Market to check out

the colourful, diverse selection of foods and goods

that are available there.

The place is a crowded, colourful and lively

mix of ethnicities with already prepared foods,  plus

the fresh ingredients needed to make your own and 

the seasonings and the tools as well.

It's a feast for the eye and for the stomach.

And full of welcome colour in the midst of the dull,

grey days of winter.

We spent the afternoon at the Art Gallery of Ontario, taking

a tour as well as just walking around on our own.

The architecture of the place was as fascinating to

see as the art works were.

In the evening ... after dinner at Swiss Chalet

(of course) .... we went to the movies and saw

Kung Foo Panda 3, which was quite cute and

fun.

Sunday we slept in,  swam in the hotel pool, 

went out for breakfast and then lined up to buy

Japanese cheesecake from a shop near the

bus terminal called Uncle Tetsu's. 

Another book I read this year was The Aviator's

Wife.   A fictionalized account of the life of 

Anne Morrow Lindberg which I really, really

enjoyed.    I knew something of the lady's history

and I knew about her husband's accomplishments

and scandals ... and of course about the kidnapping of

their baby son but I'd never read anything about either

of them before.   It's a really good story, well told by

Melanie Benjamin who has also written about Alice

Liddell (Alice ... in Wonderland fame) in the book

Alice I Have Been and The Autobiography of Mrs Tom 

Thumb.   I'm going to check those out soon.

Phil has been relishing his retirement ... in spite of the

fact that the weather changed as soon as Spring hit

and gave us a good wallop of cold and snow for a 

few weeks that had us all questioning Mother Nature's

sanity ... in rather colourful language.   Ahem!

After a very mild and dry winter it stung a bit.  Especially

when we had more snow and colder temperatures in 

the first 10 days of April then in all of February!

But now the temperatures are warming up and the sun is

shining and we can sit outside without coats and boots,

hats and mittens.   Blissful!

Meanwhile, Phil will be out mowing the lawn and racking

last Fall's leaves and puttering around the garden to his

heart's content .... as well as a bit of puttering around the

house.    Life is good!

Cheers!

Lookie!!!

Guess what I've been doing???

My stitching mojo disappeared quite some time ago,

around the same time that I discovered that my ability

to see what I was doing .... even with a magnifier ....

was not very good.   Or at least not as good as I would like 

it to be.

 It unnerved me.   You see one of my biggest secret fears is of 

loosing my eye sight.    The thought terrifies me!   And being 

unable to see my cross stitching as clearly as I once did 

aggravated that fear.   When I picked up a project I would start to 

get to feeling a bit .... um .... anxious or panicky.    Not a pleasant 

feeling.   So I began to avoid stitching and eventually I just 

sort of let it go.

Just to note here:   I'm not actually loosing my sight at all.

I just have lousy eyesight .... always have .... and with 

age it's gotten worse. It's normal.   One of the perks 

of aging.   Whoopee!!!

But I missed it!   Terribly!!!   

So in the New Year I picked up an unfinished and long

neglected project and ... ignoring my inner fears ....

finished it.

(Stitched in my favourite colour of red.)

Well ... I thought when it was done.... that didn't 

really go too badly.   Peering over my glasses and 

holding the project up close I could see the stitches

that I was making clearly and could therefore

see that they were laying properly.   I 

stitched this one in hand .... without a hoop or

Q-snap .... which I don't usually do.   

I had another unfinished project or two languishing

in my To-Do box .... as one is apt to do .... (rolls

eyes and grimaces) so picked up this one and ....

finished it too!!!! 

Wow!!   I was on a roll!!!

So now I was feeling the itch to begin a new project.

I went into my cross stitch cupboard .... covered

in cobwebs and dust and neglect .... and began to

rummage and root around in there.

I pulled the chart for this one out and it appealed to me.

Simple and easy with lovely, bright Spring like colours.

In the past I would have worked on this for a day or

two and then put it aside and forgot about it for days

... or months ... or years!  But not this time.   I could not

put it down!    I finished it in one week!   I cannot remember

the last time I finished a project .... even a small one like

this ... in that time period.

(Note:   stitched this on a spring frame.  I'm not keen on

stitching in hand really)

More!    More!!!     More!!!!!!

I've had this project on the go for years.   It's been 

sitting in a corner, neglected and ignored, for a 

shameful amount of time.   It's not a difficult stitch

at all.   Just huge!    I had it being worked on a 

large Q-snap frame which was very ungainly and

awkward to work with.   So I switched to a smaller

Q-snap frame and went at it.

I have done a couple of houses and some border

and the stag.   I'm enjoying it ... a lot!!!!   I sit at

my craft desk with the radio tuned to a Toronto

talk radio station (I'm a talk radio/news/politics

junky) and while away the hours with needle and

thread.

Don't know how long this is going to last but I'm

making hay while the sun shines ... as it were ....

I also don't know what the heck I'll do with this 

if and when it's finished because .... as I said ....

it's huge!    But that's not the point, is it?   The 

whole point of doing this ... or any craft ... is to

have fun!

I'm having FUN!!!! 

Behold my DH.   Phil.   He retired last week.

After 40 years with the same company he 

decided that he'd had enough and filled in the

paperwork last summer to give notice to his

company.

The branch where he works had a grand send

off for him last Thursday.   Unfortunately it was

one of those days when the weather folk advised

their listeners ... if you don't have to go anywhere,

then don't!    Freezing rain, snow and strong 

winds.   Great!

But Phil is a superb driver and had no qualms

about heading out.    The schools in our district,

and those in other districts that we drove through, 

were closed due to the weather and since it was the 

day before Good Friday the roads weren't busy anyways 

as people prepared for a long weekend .... the first 

one of Spring (ha ha!!)

So we got to his work place in normal time.  He

finished packing up his desk and then it was time

to party.   They barbecued!   In that awful weather

they set up the barbecue in a sheltered area near

the building and they barbecued!

There was tons of great food,  speeches,   gag gifts

and lots of laughter and hugs and stories told.   Phil

was thrilled with it all.

So now he's home with me.  All.  Day.  Long!!!!

We'll see how that goes.

Fortunately,  and I should say this here and now,   Phil

is a putterer.   And he loves to garden.   And he has lots

of interests to keep himself busy with.   So I'm not worried.

Much.

Reading for the last few months.   My first love

in reading genres is fantasy.   If I didn't watch

myself I'd read fantasy novels pretty much non

stop.    

V. E. Schwab is the name that this author uses

for her adult fantasy novels.   She writes as

Victoria Schwab for her YA books.   This is the

first book of hers that I have ever read and I 

quite enjoyed it.   I've since got the sequel to

this one plus her other books in YA and adult

fantasy because ... well ... that's what I do.

**Cough**

Heard good things about Paullina Simons

around "Booktube" and decided to get a

few of her books and try them out.

Historical fiction.   This series is based

in Russia during the second world war

and is a love story that takes place in

Leningrad during the awful siege that

took place during the Nazi's attempts to

invade and conquer Russia.

This is a nice, hefty novel with lots of 

period detail and historic info though not

so much that it dragged the story down.

There are two more books in this series

and yes I did get those too.

My current read.    The author's first novel.

First of a series.    I love books with 

sequels.   This one is a combination of

fantasy (featuring the Greek gods now 

living in the modern world) and murder

mystery.   I'm enjoying it so far.

That's it for now!   Cheers!