I have a story to tell you.  It is the story of a cross stitcher

and it demonstrates how much the love of a hobby can

draw people ... often complete strangers ... together to

create joy and happiness.                                       

I have a dear friend named Mary who works as a 

secretary for Knox Presbyterian Church here in 

Georgetown.   Often I pop into her office at the

church to say "hi", catch up on news and so forth.

A while ago, when I popped in for a short visit she showed

me a lovely little round cross stitch ornament that a lady

who sometimes goes to her church had made for her.  It

was a cardinal in the boughs of a tree and had been neatly

finished into a round ornament which Mary kept on her

desk to enjoy.

Knowing that I was a stitcher Mary showed it to me and

I expressed my delight with it.   How sweet the design,

how well stitched it was and how nicely it was finished.

Whenever I was in her office after that I would see the

piece and enjoy looking at it ... as one does when seeing

another stitcher's work.

Well,  in July I once again stopped in to see Mary and 

when she saw me she smiled broadly and said that she 

had something for me and she handed me a small

tissue wrapped item.   Curious I carefully opened the

tissue and revealed this .....  

Apparently Mary had told the lady about me and how much

I'd admired her stitching and then told her that I was a 

stitcher too and a few weeks later the lady had brought

this in for me .... even though we'd never met!!   Can you

imagine?

I cried!  Yes, I did.   I was so moved and awed by the

lovely, generous thoughtfulness of someone I'd never met

who would take the time to make me something so

personal just for me.   Mary had also told her that I loved

cats and that my first cat had been a grey one which is how

she choose to stitch this particular design.

So now this sweet ornament has a home in my craft room

where I admire it every day and it reminds me of how 

wonderful cross stitchers (and people) can be.   

And speaking of the spirit of giving .....

We celebrated Christmas last weekend!!!

Hang on now .... don't get excited.   We haven't lost our

minds up here just yet!    It's just something that we've

been doing for quite some time now in early August.

We have a party ... a Christmas in August party .... and

invite as many of our friends as we can.

Here's Phil all enthusiastic and excited before the start

of the party.   He is wearing a t-shirt that had been a 

Christmas gift from friends of ours last year.

If you blow up the picture you'll see that the picture on

the shirt is of Phil singing in the Children's Christmas 

Pageant two years ago.  (they'd apparently needed someone

to play the role of an "old man" in the story - hehehe)

And the caption reads:   A Star Is Born

Me on the right and my dear friend Darlene on the left

just before things got busy ... and note Santa Claus

on my left.   Hohoho!!!

We decorate with some of our favourite Christmas 

decorations and put Christmas lights up around the

back deck.   I spent two days baking and cooking

and our friends all brought their own favourite pot

luck foods as well so we always eat (stuff ourselves

actually) very well.

A picture of our yard taken from our deck which

Googlephoto then randomly chose to turned into this 

lovely picture.

Close up of the flowers that we bought for the tables.

Love Gerbera daisies!

We lucked out on the day of the party because the 

horrendous heat that we've been having took a 

break that day and we just had normal tolerably

warm weather that allowed us to be outside all

day without worrying about anyone passing out

from the excessive heat.

The past month has not been a good stitching

month for me.   I guess that I needed a break.

Instead I was bitten by the doodling bug again

and have been working in my sketch book

filling the pages with floral patterns.

And a bit of Zentangling as well.

I haul all my markers and pencil crayons and

other drawing "stuff" out to the back deck and

sit there all day .... unless it gets too hot like it

is today.

More.

And the rest.

We went to Stratford on July 13th which is something that

we try to do at least once a year.   We love it there because

it is such a lovely town, with neighbourhoods full of old

homes, beautiful gardens, a fabulous downtown area for

shopping,  a peaceful river to picnic by and ... of course 

... the plays and musicals that are performed there every

year.

Above is the Festival Theatre where we saw A Chorus

Line this year.  It's the main theatre where most of the

Shakespearean plays are performed and it was the first

theatre built in the town.   There are many more now.

One of the lovely, gracious old homes ... many of which have

been turned into B&B's.  

Frustratingly the day we went was an absolute scorcher!

It was literally too hot to do much of anything because

to move was to sweat and to suffer.   We tried a bit of

walking but even on the tree shaded streets it was 

unbearable and left us feeling sick and light headed.

So we found a bench beneath a tree by the river Avon

and we parked ourselves there until it was time for dinner.

Then went back there after dinner to sit some more until

it was time for the 8:00 pm show.

We got home that night around 11:40 (Stratford is an

hour and a half drive from here) and about 20 minutes

later a tremendous thunderstorm roared through so our

timing was perfect.   I love a good thunderstorm but not

while out driving in the dark of night on unfamiliar

roads.

Not much reading going on either last month.

I did read the above fantasy and I am now 

reading it's sequel Froi of the Exiles and then

there is the third book to be read Quintana of

Charyn.

And that's about it from me.  C