It was with great delight that I opened my mail one day
last week and discovered the latest issue of Victoria.
And it featured an article on one of my favourite
writers, Jan Karon. I've been browsing through this
issue here and there since then, and enjoying every
page. I find it a very relaxing and soothing read.



And here was my progress on my red sampler as of Monday.
I've been working on it a bit since then of course, but not
enough to warrant taking another picture. I have started
stitching the last row of this piece although I have stuff to
put in beyond the small alphabet yet. And there's the
outline of a book to stitch with backstitch in that big empty
space above the key.


And of course theres stash. From Mary Kathryn. Some
32 count fabric in Waterlily and Lambswool, since I'm
more comfortable stitching in that count now then I was
before, so I'm collecting more fabric in that count, as well
as my old favourite 28 count.


And since I want to build up my thread stash I ordered
some Carrie's Creations threads. I just ordered them
by name, without looking at the actual colour, because
I wanted to surprise myself. Lol!! I'm especially
pleased with the red (Ruby) and the blue (Bluebird).
And the Dusty Rose and Rose. Oh heck....they're all
lovely!!

DH and I had a busy weekend, with two major events
on our social calendar. On Saturday afternoon we
went to the 7th birthday celebration for our friends
son Jonah, which was a blast. Jonah's Mom
Charmaine is an amazing talent in the kitchen and
she made some absolutely scrumptious food for the
occasion. And the weather was spectacular on
that day so we were all able to sit outside and enjoy the
most perfect of Spring days.

On Sunday we were up bright and early (groan!!)
to head into Toronto to attend a service at DH's
old church. They were commemorating the 40th
anniversary of the arrival of a minister there who
started up a youth choir called the Chancellors.
DH and a great many of our friends were members
of this choir, which traveled all over Ontario
singing at various churches. They even recorded
four albums of music, and one year they went to
Holland in an exchange with a youth choir from
there.

Sadly Rev. Fields died a number of years
ago, but members of his family attended the
service, which was also attended by many
Chancellors and their families. And needless
to say the sound of all those voices singing during
the service was wonderful. It seems that many
were able to remember the old arrangements
for some of the songs chosen for the service. At
times there wasn't a dry eye in the church I think.
Afterwards there was a luncheon and then a
Hootenanny after that where old favourites were
sung and memories were relived and friends now
gone were remembered.

This week I've been getting ready to close this
old computer down in preparation (I hope) of
getting a new one next weekend. So if you
don't hear from me around the blogging
community for awhile it's just because I'm
getting acquainted with my new Mac. Or
because I've locked myself out of my new Mac.
Or have blown up my new Mac. Whatever.
(a computer geek I am most definitely NOT!!)

Lynn, when I ordered from Barnes and Noble
I paid full shipping costs which would have been
prohibitive perhaps if I'd been paying full price
for all those books. But since each book was
vastly discounted, and one was free, I think
it all worked out pretty good. I wouldn't order
from them all the time necessarily, but once
in a blue moon, for a special deal is okay.

Anybody been naughty with the On Line
Needlework Show???

I finished reading All Together Dead by
Charlaine Harris, and then read The Silver
Bough by Lisa Tuttle and now I'm deep into a
Nora Roberts book called River's End.

Cheers all!

This is primarily a book-centric post because I haven't
done any reviewing of my reading finishes lately.
There is an update on my red-work project but that's
further down from here. Hang in there.

I finished Peony In Love a little over a week ago. I'd
had my eye on this book for quite awhile when it came
out and finally grabbed it during a book browsing spree
in a real world bookstore earlier this year.

It takes place in China, about 300 years ago and
is a love story. But it's also a great introduction to the
culture and beliefs and way of life in China back then.

****Peony is from a well to do family. She is about to
celebrate her 16th birthday and her arranged marriage
to a young man whom she has never met is due to take
place within the year. She is expected to be the
dutiful daughter and marry a stranger and leave her
family to live with his family and eventually bear
him a son, which is the duty expected of all women.
But Peony is not without dreams of her own.

Peony has lived all her life within the confines of her
father's estate, never allowed to venture out beyond
it's walls. As the story begins she is very excited to
be attending a performance of the opera The Peony
Pavilion which her father has arranged to take place
in the garden of their home.

Having studied the story of the Peony Pavilion and
relating strongly with it's cloistered heroine who
falls in love with a young man not of her father's
choosing, Peony is eager to see the epic opera
performed live. Against her mother's wishes she
and the other women of the household gather
behind screens to "watch" the performance, safe
from the view of the men also attending the event.

But during the performance Peony peeks between
the screens and spots a young man sitting in the
audience next to her father and she is smitten.
Restless and unnerved by the glimpse of this male
stranger who captures her imagination Peony slips
away from the group of women to roam the garden
and consider the wonder of the handsome young
man and the beauty and tragedy of the opera.

In a pavilion near the lake which her home is situated
on Peony inadvertently meets the young man she
had spotted and they speak. During the next two
nights that the rest of the opera is performed they
meet again and they fall in love. But the young man
does not tell Peony his name, nor does she identify
herself to him. On the third night the opera finishes
and Peony sees her young man for the last time.
But her love for him continues to grow. *******

In many ways Peony's life mirrors that of the heroine
in the opera, and the author Lisa See weaves a tale
both magical and tragic using the complex traditions
and mystical beliefs of the Chinese people, as well as the
history and controversy surrounding the opera to tell
Peony's life story. It is a beautifully written story
with it's roots in Chinese history, and it's heart in
the way the Chinese see the natural world, and what
they believe of the afterlife.


After Peony I decided to read something lighter in
nature. I'd gotten behind in my Charlaine Harris
series so I decided to read a few of her books. They
are small books so I figured that I would be able to
read a couple in a week. I'd read the first four books
in the series over a year ago, so had three more to
read to catch up. I've read two and am well into a
third book and then I'll be up to date with these. I
believe that a new one is coming out in May.
(These books in hardcover have wonderful,
sparkly dust covers. Really cool)

Sookie Stackhouse is a delightful character. Sassy and
smart, with a big heart Sookie is also a telepath who can
pick up the thoughts of those around her. In the first
book in the series Sookie meets Bill, a 130 year old
vampire who moves into the old house next door to hers.

Vampires in the world created by Charlaine Harris
revealed their existence to the human world about five
years before the "Dead" series begins. They have been
somewhat integrated into the human world since then
but the arrangement is an uneasy one at best. There
are other supernatural beings existing in the world as
well, all of whom Sookie discovers through her relationship
with Bill. But they continue to hide their existence
from the world while watching to see how the Vampires
fare and how things will ultimately work out for them.

These are not rocket science books by any means, but
they are funny, and sweet, and sexy, and a rollicking good
time. Suspend your beliefs, and go along for the ride.
You'll be glad you did.

Oh lookie....cross stitching! Here we are with my weeks
progress on the red work piece. I love the three fancy
motifs running under the numbers. They are as lovely as
the lettering to stitch, and to look at.

Haven't been able to sit outside and stitch this weekend.
Yesterday it rained off and on for much of the day, and the
temperatures are much cooler then last weekend. Today
isn't suppose to be as rainy, but it'll remain cool and cloudy
so no outdoor stitching today either.

This evening there's a spaghetti supper at church and
DH's choir Kahilla are performing afterwards for a few
songs so I'll be going to that, and don't have to cook dinner.
Last night friend Mary came for tea and we sat chatting
until 1:00 in the morning!! Don't know quite where the
time went but it was lovely.

And there has been some serious book stashing going
on here this week. My order of books on sale came
from Barnes and Noble, and yesterday morning there
was a used book sale at the Georgetown high school
which I always attend. Got some interesting stuff
there too. Click on the picture to see the titles.

Note about the picture in last week's post of the
front of the house. This was taken during the summer.
It doesn't look anything like that right now. Things
are beginning to poke out of the ground, and the
daffodils should be blooming pretty soon but we've
got a few months before things'll look as good as that.
All in good time.

Cheers all and have a great week.

Let it be recorded officially that this was the first weekend
of this year that I was able to sit outside and stitch. We're
lucky enough to have a house with a West facing front, and
we have a knee high stone wall in a half oval under the den
window (see above picture - upper right corner to see
what I'm talking about) which absorbs the heat from the
sun. (as does the driveway around it) So it's always a good
five degrees warmer then it might be in say the backyard.
I put a blanket on the little wall to give me a softer seat,
and I sat there most of the afternoon yesterday, and for
a few hours today and stitched.

And so I've made good progress on my redwork piece
from Cross-Stitch and Needlework magazine. I think that
I'm pretty much half way done at this point. I'm pleased
to be making progress, but sorry to be done with the
wonderful fancy alphabet.

Goodies from Mary Kathryn. The inevitable moment
of weakness when Mary Kathryn has a "free shipping"
announcement on her site, and the resultant delight
when arriving home from a long day at work to find a
parcel or two on the kitchen table from her. The
Milady's Needle chart also came with a little key chain
plastic holder for one of the little designs to go in. If
you click on the picture for a closer look you can see it
on the top right edge of the chart. I also got myself
one of those pretty needleminders, with lily of the
valley on it. Those are the flowers of my birth month,
May.
The Peep chart is a freebie from Prairie Schooler, and
the Lavender and Lace chart Firefly Fairies was actually
a gift from a friend at work who'd bought it years ago
but decided that she'd probably never get around to
stitching it, so gave it to me. Don't know if it's some-
thing I'd be able to stitch with my meager skills, but it
sure is a pretty design. I don't recall seeing it before.

I really love these Lizzie Kate flip-its and I may just
have to get the rest of the series, and of course all
the threads to stitch them with. Took the little charts
to work and used the photocopier to blow up the
designs so they'll be easier to follow when I'm ready to
stitch them.


Signs of Spring in the garden. The crocus is always the
first hearty soul to flower in the garden. Sometimes it's
as early as January when we spot green shoots poking
through the earth. Of course with all the snow we've had
this year there was no chance of that happening. The
snow is just about gone on the grass except where it was
piled high around the driveway and backyard paths.

DH and I stood shoveling snow off of these mini
mountains yesterday and scattering them across the
lawn to get it to melt faster. Right now the grass looks
like shredded wheat with the hot water poured onto it.
It'll be a few more weeks before we might start to see
some greening there.

Heard from my Mom that she and another lady were
out yesterday for a walk in the warm sunshine. Their
place has been in quarantine since Easter because of a
bad cold or virus bug that hit some of the residents
quite hard. Mom didn't catch it, thank goodness.
Quarantine was lifted on Thursday.And finally, here's Rupert enjoying cleaning day and
the blankets from a stripped off bed which had been
tossed on the floor. Rupert's a nester.

Cheers all!

Snatching a bit of sunlight to show off the progress on my
redwork sampler. I'm over 1/4 done with this piece and
have a bit more alphabet to do before moving on to the
rest of the design. The colour of the fabric shows up a
bit better in this picture. It compliments the red very
well.

This picture was not taken in full sunlight, but might
show off the stitching better. I've used up one full
skein of DMC 150 to get this far, and had to get DH
to take me to Michael's yesterday to get more.
Annoyingly, they only had two skeins of this colour
left. Ideally I would have prefered to get three. Oh
well, it just means that in about a months time DH
will have to take me back again.

-----------------------------------------------------

We picked up my Mom and took her with us to do
a bit of shopping, and to allow her to get some fresh
air. It's been a long winter for those living at the
retirement residence as all the snow has forced them
to remain indoors pretty much since November.
Needless to say they're all suffering from cabin
fever, even the ones who don't usually care whether
they go out or not.

Mom was wanting to check out Michael's wool
selection, looking for wool and needles for knitting
a scarf. Since she's unsteady on her feet, and
severely bent from Osteoarthritis in her back, she
uses a walker, and she tires easily so we didn't want
to be too long in the store. Once we'd made our
purchases there we took Mom to Shoppers Drug
Mart in the Georgetown Mall to pick up some of
the makeup that she uses before taking her home.

It's kind of funny that my Mom, at 86 years, won't
go without her makeup. But I haven't worn makeup for
many years, although I do use it for special occasions.
Is it a generational thing??? Do you wear makeup
all the time???

------------------------------------------------------

Last night DH and I observed Earth Hour from 8 to
9 o'clock, when we turned out all the lights and lit
candles. (Hurray for Partylite!!!) We had all kinds
of scented candles lined up on the dinning room
table where we sat and played Cribbage for the
duration of the hour. And actually we went passed
the hour since we were in the middle of a game and
wanted to finish it. We played two games, and I won
both!! A quick look around the immediate neighbour-
hood from our front and back windows showed that
about half of our neighbours were observing the occasion.
Did you turn off your lights last night???

I finished reading this historical fiction novel last week.
It was recommended to me by a friend when we were
at the bookstore together during my holiday in Feb.

I've been fascinated by the story of the "Princes in the
Tower" since high school, and then I discovered Josephine
Tey's book "Daughter of Time" which argued that
Richard III wasn't necessarily the monster that Shakespeare
painted in his play. I've read a few books on Richard since
then and I guess I'm also a believer that it's possible,
if not probable, that he didn't murder his nephews, and
has been much maligned by history in general, and the
Tudors in particular....for obvious reasons.

A Rose for the Crown is about Kate, who became
Richard's mistress when he was a young man, before he
married Anne Neville. Richard's devotion and love for
Anne is well documented in history, so the story is
careful to follow that lead, and have Richard give up
his first love Kate to be faithful to Anne as his
conscience and religion demands.

The story begins when Kate is a child of nine, and
it follows her through her life until middle age. Born
of a humble farming family, Kate is sent to live with
her mother's more well off cousin's family, to be a
companion to his young daughter. Kate is a
strong minded, intelligent girl, quite beautiful
and a talented singer/musician as well. In spite
of her low birth she catches the eye of a wealthy
older man to whom she is married at 15. Widowed
a few years later she then marries a young man
closer to her own age with whom she has fallen
in love. But that marriage proves to be a huge
disappointment for her and it is around this time
that she meets Richard, two years younger then
herself, and they fall immediately in love.

The book is well over 200 pages along before the
two young lovers meet and consummate their love
and I would imagine that they probably have less
then a month in total together during the course of
their lives. Kate bears Richard three children before
their affair ends when Richard marries Anne, and
even though widowed once again she chooses to
remain unmarried and relatively independent for
the rest of her life. Richard's fate of course we all
know and it's a sad, tragic waste. I've often
wondered how history would have unfolded if
Richard had defeated Henry Tudor that day at
Bosworth field. There's another book right there.

This is one of those thick, richly detailed books that
I love most because I can really loose myself in them.
Lots of period detail, historical fact, and secondary
characters both real and imagined make the story
come alive. There is a section at the end of the book
with questions for book clubs to use if they've chosen
to read it, which is kind of neat. The author Anne
Easter Smith has a second book out called Daughter
of York and I've ordered it to read as well.

------------------------------------------------------

Barbara, according to Wikipidia Maundy Thursday
is:

"In the Christian liturgical calendar, Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday is the feast or holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. It is the fifth day of Holy Week, and is preceded by Holy Wednesday and followed by Good Friday."

This is only a partial explanation, but you get the idea.

----------------------------------------------------

Thanks to everyone for their encouragement
regarding my start of the redwork piece and
the (temporary) abandonment of Cottage
Garden. It seems that we've all been there.

And belated thanks for all the advice and
encouragement regarding my tentative attempts
at framing. I've got a lot of excellent information
to take into consideration for my next framing
project.

Cathey, I would like very much to see your
instructions for framing if it's not a problem.
My e mail address is: crazee4books@hotmail.com
if you need it.

I've ordered a pile of books from Barnes and
Noble, all hardcovers and all on sale for a pittance.
Even with shipping costs it's a good deal.
Michelle, included is the book on Marie Antoinette
by Sena Jeter Naslund....have you read it???
I read her novel Ahab's Wife a number of years
ago and enjoyed it. I'm also expecting books from
Indigo/Chapters. And stuff from Mary Kathryn.
My DH is going to kill me!! And the postman too.

Cheers all.

I haven't done much blogging during the past week. Why??
Well, I have to lay the blame directly on the latest issue of
Cross Stitch & Needlework - March issue. I picked it up
while at the grocery store a week ago and flipped through
it quickly, not really expecting to see anything that would
appeal to me. Then I hit the pages featuring a "historic
redwork Sampler" and let out a long "ooooooohhhh!!!".

It's an alphabet in upper and lower casing, plus numbers,
and a few motifs and things. It was love at first sight. I
abandoned my CCN garden series and started right in on
this design and haven't been able to put it down since. I
am having a blast with this piece.

I'm using DMC 150, which is not the colour of red used to
stitch the model in the magazine. They used DMC 321,
but that didn't appeal to me as much. I'm stitching it on
32 count Jobelan lambswool, which looks amazing with
the red thread. Don't go by the picture I've posted
because the fabric looks horrid in it. I've started in the
upper left corner of the design and am working on the
large case alphabet, using my spring hoop.

The alphabets, and motifs and stuff were taken from
a sampler stitched sometime around 1856 by Catherine
Archer, who lived in an orphanage in Bristol, England.
There is an entire article in the magazine about the
orphanage, it's founder, and the original sampler. I
think it's meant to teach novices how to stitch a sampler
so it's not a difficult design to stitch.

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

This has been a busy long weekend for us, which didn't
allow me much time to stitch. Thursday night and
Friday morning DH was singing in the main choir at
his church for Easter. I attended the Thursday
evening Maundy Thursday service, which was a
solemn and moving experience.

On Friday afternoon DH and I joined other members
of his Kahilah choir to drive to a church in Caledon East
which was hosting a concert featuring a choir from the
Philippines. Six young men and six young women, plus
their director and their pianist. They were so amazing.
They've been here in Canada for six months already,
traveling around southern Ontario and singing, and
they've extended their stay for another three months
to accommodate all the requests for them to appear.
They sang for just over an hour, finishing their set with
the Hallelujah chorus, which was fantastic.

After the concert our gang returned to Georgetown
and the home of one of our choir members for a
potluck dinner and a hotly contested game of Trivial
Pursuit, guys against the gals. The gals won by a
narrow margin.

And I'm going to end this posting for now because it's
getting late and DH is coming up to bed. Don't want to
keep him awake with my typing. Will try and leave the
stitching alone long enough to post again later this week.
Cheers all!

My First Framing Attempts....

Had some fun, and learned a few things, when a
friend, Heather, and I got together and framed a
few of my stitching finishes. Heather has the
cutting tools, and has framed a few things for
herself, but I've never done anything like this before.
Probably because when it comes to figuring out
widths, heights and adjusting for edging materials
my mathematical skills are less then stellar. Which
is why I went into banking as a profession??? But
I digress.....

We started out with visits to a art materials store,
which used to be called Loomis but has now been
bought out and runs under another name. There
we looked at mats, and other materials for framing.
After we'd gotten everything that we could from
there we moved on to Michaels, where we finished
off our shopping with the final ingredients for our
projects.

Then it was back to Heather's for lunch, and then
we got to work. I'd chosen five pieces for framing
but only one was a priority because it was a gift.
The others were for me so fell under the category
of "it'd be nice if...". I let Heather do the measuring,
cutting and stuff and just handed her tools and
offered a helping (steadying) hand where needed.
Probably my biggest contribution at this stage was
just staying out of her way.

We worked steadily at it for the entire afternoon
and well into the evening. We framed three pieces
in total, with varying degrees of success. We
framed Faith first and it's the one with the most
flaws I'm afraid, which is a shame because it's the
one I'm giving away. But again I emphasize that
we're not experts at this, and I've never done
anything like this before. And from what I under-
stand cutting mats for framing can be really
tricky....and it is!


Okay, the stitching should have been stretched over the
mounting board more on one side, and the mat cut isn't
perfect on one side. But I love the choices we made for
the mats on this one and it was such a thrill to see it
matted and framed, with the mats bringing out the
design details. We fussed and refitted this one so many
times, but in the end decided that we'd just wreak it if
we kept picking at it, not to mention diminishing our
pleasure in the whole enterprise. So we declared the
thing done, and moved on to our next project.


This was the biggest of the three pieces that we framed
and the one that I wanted done most of all. We chose
a dark green mat for the outside, and a gold mat to peak
through around the edge, which is meant to bring out the
bits of gold thread in the project. I helped more with the
adjustment of the project on its base, and we didn't get
too stressed out with the stretching, and all in all I think
it turned out really good. Actually, I'm thrilled with this
one and can't wait to get it hung now. And finally we did this one. Bees was the smallest of the
three projects, and therefore in some ways the easiest to
handle. I placed this one on it's base myself because it
was too small for both of us to work on, and it turned out
just fine. We couldn't find a mat in a colour to suit the
project so we bought some rosy pink paper which was
the colour we wanted and glued it to the mat base.
There really wasn't much room for a mat edge on the
sides of this piece, but we managed to show just enough
and I love how the mat colour makes the project pop!
This is such a pretty design.

So there you have it. I'm pleased to have some of my
most recent pieces framed, and I think I've gotten over
my initial fears and trepidations with regards to
framing, and I'd like to try it again.

I do have questions though and if anyone reading this
post has experience framing I'd love to hear from you.
We used tacky board to mount the pictures. This had
it's good and it's bad issues, but I'm thinking I'd like
to try pinning to foam board next time and seeing how
that works. Also, we used paper tape to secure the
stitching at the back. I know many stitchers weave
the back to hold the stitching in place for sewing
projects, but do you also do this for framing?? That
wouldn't work for bigger pieces would it??

------------------------------------------------------

Not much else going on around here at the moment.
The temperatures continue to hover above freezing
and the snow continues to melt away. The birds are
convinced it's Spring, even if the rest of us have our
doubts, and they're singing their little hearts out. And
we can see signs of Spring migration in progress. The
Cedar Waxwings are back in town, in their bi-seasonal
stop over, and they're sharing the last of the cherries
on our trees with the Pine Grosbeaks. The cardinals
are serenading their sweethearts first thing in the
morning, and we've got a young hawk visiting the area
and throwing the mourning doves into a tizzy. I
haven't spotted any Robins yet, but I'm sure they're
around and I'll see one soon.

Cheers all!

It's nice to end the week coming home from work and finding
a package from Mary Kathryn sitting in your mail box. I've
been picking up some of the newer charts that have come out
recently, and this is a part of that order.


And I received some threads that finished off an order from
awhile back as well as the buttons for that Stitchy Kitty
snowman pattern Willy, Chilly and Milly, or whatever it's
called.

And this is my latest book finish. I read this one in two
days. It's just a small book of maybe 275 pages, but it's
a little charmer and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Claire Waverley lives a solitary life, which is just the way
that she likes it. She lives in the old house which belonged
to her grandmother, and has been in her family for years.
She tends and nurtures her grandmother's garden, and
uses the flowers that grow in it in her catering business.

Claire has no friends, and only an eccentric elderly cousin
named Evanelle for family. Her younger sister Sydney
fled their small town of Bascom, North Carolina when
she turned 18 and Claire hasn't heard from her since.
But that's what people do, Claire thinks. They leave.
They either die, as her grandmother did, or they leave
town never to return, as her mother did when Claire was
six and Sydney was an infant. So it's best not to allow
anyone to get too close.

But the Waverley's are not an ordinary family, and
Claire's catering business is a success because of her
special flowers. Taught by her grandmother, Claire
knows how her flowers effect and influence people when
they're eaten. And everyone in Bascom knows this.
They also know about the apple tree in Claire's
backyard.

A special apple tree that almost seems to have
a mind of it's own. And when someone eats an apple
from the tree they have a vision. They see either
the most wonderful event of their life, or they see the
absolute worst. Usually their death. So Claire makes
sure that no one gets near the tree to pick the apples
and if apples fall from the tree Claire gathers them up
and buries them in the ground.

But Claire's carefully arranged life and self imposed
isolation and routine are disrupted by the arrival of
a handsome new neighbour who meets her and
is immediately smitten. And then her sister Sydney
returns home with a young daughter in tow
and a dark past she's reluctant to reveal, and Claire's
carefully crafted isolation and her cherished routine
are suddenly and irreparably breeched.

This book is charming and funny. If you've ever read
Practical Magic and enjoyed it then you'll like this one.
It's a book full of southern charm, and whimsical magic.
And quirky characters.

I absolutely fell in love with Evanelle, who stocks her
house full of things, some practical and useful and
some odd, because she often feels compelled to give
people things. Things like a box of strawberry Pop Tarts,
or a mango splitter, or a band aid. When Evanelle gives
someone something they'd soon have a sudden, unexpected
use for it. Evanelle is a wise, loving and feisty old woman
who has a special gift that has made the townspeople of
Bascom wary of her. She knows that Claire needs to
find someone to love, and Sydney needs a home to put
down roots in.

Sarah Addison Allen is a first time author, and she's
crafted a delightful, magical tale that is fun, wise and
mischievous. I look forward to seeing what she comes
up with next.

------------------------------------------------------------

Two weeks ago today we were having a snow storm. A
week ago today we were starting a two day snow storm.
Today the temperature crept up to 8 degrees Celsius
and it actually felt warm out. I was reading my book at
the bus stop, and had my mittens shoved into my purse.
It actually felt like Spring might just be about to make
an appearance after all. I'm sure it won't last, but it's a
promise of things to come....I hope.

My book reading is getting a little ahead of my blogging.
I finished reading Loving Frank last week, and if I don't
write about it now I might forget what I want to say
about this book.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan, is a fictionalized account
of the love affair between famous architect Frank Lloyd
Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney. Lloyd Wright
was married to his first wife Catherine, and the father of
six children, Borthwick Cheney was married and a
mother of two when they both left their respective
spouses and families to be together.

Their affair made headline news at the time, circa 1908,
and Lloyd Wright's career was stalled for several years as
potential patron's refused to have anything to do with him
due to the stigma, and the public condemnation that resulted.

But this is mainly Mamah's story and it soon becomes clear
that her love for Lloyd Wright was only partly responsible
for her decision to leave her husband and children. Married
to a kind and loving husband, but unable to feel the same way
towards him, frustrated at the lack of purpose and intellectual
stimulation in her everyday life, Mamah was prone to depression
as her married life seemed to confine and stifle her.

Mamah wasn't content to stay at home, raise her children,
and restrict her ambitions and dreams to the home life
expected of women of that era. She wanted to make her
mark in the world, and find work that would allow her to
explore her creativity. And she wanted to use her linguistic
and writing skills to encourage and support all woman to
have the freedom to be able to choose to do the same.

But the price that she would pay for following her
heart, and for pursuing her dreams and her freedom, was
estrangement from her children and her family,
public humiliation and scorn, separation (for a time)
from Lloyd Wright, and an uncertain future.

Nancy Horan has created a thought provoking story by
taking the small bits of detail known about the real
Mamah Borthwick Cheney and weaving them into a
believable and credible tale. She draws the reader into
the lives of it's main characters, allows us to experience
the world of pre WWI America and Europe and
introduces us to a woman who was perhaps born 50
years too soon. I didn't necessarily agree with all of
Mamah's decisions but I realized that she was acting
in the honest belief that both she and her family would be
better off in the end if she was true to herself.

Not a lightweight read, but most certainly a fascinating one.

I've finished the two books by P.C. and Kristen Cast,
(both devoured in four days) and have started another book
which will probably be a short read.

Cheers!

Adding pictures to my blog post has been like pulling teeth
these past two days. Usually I can add 5 at once, no problem.
Yesterday I couldn't add any at all. Kept coming up as a
server problem at Google. Today I've been able to add
pictures, as long as I do them one at a time. So, I'll post a bit
today, and see what happens.


Here's a surprise....it snowed over the weekend. Actually, it
snowed all over the weekend. Starting late in the afternoon
on Friday, and finishing up Saturday night, we probably
received about 25 cm of snow, with some ice pellets mixed
in for good luck. Add to that the blowing wind which tossed
the snow back up into the air after it had landed on the ground
and caused snow drifts to form that were pretty deep in
places.
And once it stopped and we were able to venture outside
to shovel out the driveway (hey...has anybody seen the car??)
it was mainly up to DH to do most of the shoveling because
he was the only one who could reach the tops of the piles of
snow left over from previous storms to dump the new snow.
See the above picture? See the pile of snow that DH is
standing next to? Keep in mind that DH is 6'5" tall. :)

This picture was taken from our dinning room window,
looking out into the backyard. The deck is piled with
snow that has fallen off of the roof (we have a metal
roof....the temperature rises....we get avalanches) and
DH also digs a path so that the meter guy can get to
the gas meter. See the bushes at the back, in the corner?
There's a bench in front of them. Really. Oh, and we
have raised gardens surrounding the yard. Yes we do.

See the bench? There it is!! This was taken a couple of
summers ago. Just to give you a point of reference. Ah
.....do you remember summer??? Will it ever come
again???


I've been hitting the online bookstore again. Got caught
up on some books that I'd been wanting. All but one in
this pile are by authors that I've never read before. And
I think that all of these were mentioned on other bloggers
sites at one time or another, and since they sounded good
I wrote down the names of the authors and the titles of the
books to get them for myself.

I've already read Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast.
I'm half way through Betrayed. I'm not reading these
books, I'm devouring them!! If you loved Stephenie
Meyer's Twilight ~ Eclipse ~ New Moon trilogy (with
book four due out in August) then you must read this
series. They are suppose to be Young Adult books, but
they are so well written, and well plotted, that I wouldn't
hesitate to recommend them to anyone, of any age.
And much as I love Meyer's books, this series is (to me)
much better.

No stitching to report on. No time last week thanks to
work.

Cheers all!

Hello everyone. Here we are again. It's Sunday morning and
DH has gone off to church, picking up one lady from the
retirement residence, and an elderly couple from their home,
along the way. Collectively, we refer to them as the "packages"
and he picks them up every Sunday to take them to church.
Phoebe is dozing on her blanket next to my elbow, and Rupert
is downstairs sleeping off breakfast. The sky is a clear blue,
and the sun is shining.

But there is a winter storm warning in effect, with ominous
predictions of freezing rain and ice pellets over night, which
should make the drive to work tomorrow morning an absolute
joy! Then tomorrow the temperature is suppose to rise to plus
7 (Celsius) and it'll rain.

We had a storm on Friday, which started mid-afternoon,
and was only suppose to drop about 5 cm of snow on us.
I left work at 3:30 and should have gotten to the Brampton
train station by 4:10 or so. I got there just before 5:00.
The Go buses were running an hour late, so I grabbed
the first one that came into the station, even though it
wasn't going as far as my neighbourhood, but just to the
Georgetown train station.

I got off at the Georgetown mall, figuring that if I was
going to get stuck somewhere I'd prefer it to be the warm
mall, with places to sit and eat, and a bookstore. The train
station is closed at that time of day, and the only shelter is
your standard bus shelter. Unheated. The trip from Brampton
to Georgetown is usually half an hour long. It took us 50
minutes to do that night. To sum up....I left work at 3:30
and got to the mall at 6:00.

I called home and left a message for DH to come and get me
whenever he managed to get home, and then went shopping.
It took him two hours to get home from work, twice as long
as it should've. We had dinner at the mall, and then drove
the short distance to church, where DH had a choir practice.
I sat and stitched while they practiced. Oh, and the 5 cm of
snow? Try more like 10 cm.

Now then...on to more interesting topics. My progress on
CCN Cottage Garden. This picture looks dark, but it shows
up the colours of the project better so I'm going with it. I'm
concentrating on this project right now, and hope to see this
square done before moving on to another project.


And here is my no name project, which for the moment
I am considering done. I finished the bee hive and added
another bee. I'm still pondering a boarder of some sort
for this, but if I decide to frame it then a boarder might
not be necessary.

-----------------------------------------------------------

I started a new job in my office last week. It's a secondment
which is suppose to last a year. I'm covering for a girl who
has gone off on maternity leave. The job is full time, which
is great for me because I'm part time. The extra money
will be great for household stuff, bills and ...er...maybe
some stitching stash and books.

I actually use to do this job up until about 3 1/2 years ago,
and I enjoyed it very much. But then the bank decided to
move the whole section to their office in Scarborough for
reasons that I won't bother going into. I couldn't make the
commute to Scarborough, so after much fuss and bother
and worrying ended up working in another department,
switching jobs with a girl who lived in Scarborough and so
was keen to work out there too.

Then, around this time last year, the bank decided to move
the section back to our location, again for reasons which I
won't bother going into here. Suffice it to say that the
people working in this section are pretty fed up with the
whole business, and less then impressed with the powers-
that-be who arranged the first move, and then changed
their minds.

I finished reading Tracing the Shadow on Thursday.
I'm afraid that it got forgotten during my week of
holidays, but I soon got back into the story, and
whipped right through to the end.

This is an author whose previous trilogy "The Tears of
Artamon" I collected and read in the past couple of
years. The new story takes place in the same world,
and around the same time frame as the previous books,
but it centres around characters who only appeared
briefly in the first trilogy. Now, we get their full story,
which will also be carried through into a trilogy.

The Kingdom of Francia has purged itself of magi,
those who are descended from the offspring of an illicit
love between a fallen Angel and a mortal girl, who wield
magical powers condemned and feared by the Church.

But survivors of the purges that decimated their numbers
in Francia are living in secret in the country of Enhirre,
gathered around a sanctuary which holds a statue of
the mother of their race, holding a crystal of mysterious
power. The sanctuary is also claimed by the church in
Francia who believe the location and it's relics represent
a saint worshiped in their religion.

There are three main characters in the new book,
with the narrative focusing on each one in alternating
chapters. Reiuk Mordiern, apprenticed to an alchymist
in Francia who survives a purge at the college where
he is being trained and discovers his talents are more
then he dreamed. Celestine de Joyeuse, gifted singer
rescued from the grim streets of Francia's capital when
a small child, who hides the secret of her parentage
from those around her, and the existence of a book
which belonged to her father, either of which would
see her burned at the stake like her father before her.
And Jagu Rustephan skilled musician, haunted by an
incident at the seminary where he was raised when a
dear friend died at the hands of a magis who had come
seeking a cluster of crystals hidden in the sanctuary of
the cathedral.

The story may be fantasy, but the religious struggles
and persecutions are a reflection of those we see all
around us today in our world. Both sides are as
guilty of oppression, murder and prejudice as the
other. The battles, acts of revenge and purges all
done in the name of either religion or freedom
threaten to tear both peoples apart and makes
villeins of them all. And victims of those they
rule through fear, oppression and fanaticism.

Well written, and well plotted, the stories of the
three main characters allow us to get to know each
of them, their pasts and their personalities, their dreams
and their fears. As the story builds to it's tragic
conclusion it weaves the lives of the three main
characters together with skill and holds the
reader riveted with curiosity, wonder and dread.
I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

--------------------------------------------------------

Our godson Ian was home for reading week this
past week from Fanshawe college. He and his mom
Mary came here for brunch and a visit yesterday and
we had a great time, with lots of laughter and stories.
Ian is studying acting, and having a grand time being
out in the world on his own for the first time.

I swear that he gets taller every time that we see him,
but he's also skinny as a rail due to some health concerns
which he needs to address. Due to his height (6'5")
he's had both his lungs collapse on him a number of times,
and is due to have one treated at the end of this
semester to stop this from happening again.

Well, it's getting late, and DH is due home soon. After
lunch we're off to do grocery shopping, and then laundry
when we get home. The HD unit is still not hooked up to
the tv because DH is frustrated and bewildered by the
instructions and programing that needs to be done. So
perhaps he'll look at that again later on and make another
attempt to get it working. And I hope to stitch a bit.

Hope you all have a great week, and the weather doesn't
cause you any headaches. Oh, how I long for Spring......
Cheers!!!

Today marks the final day of my first week of holidays for this
year. Sigh!!! Where did the time go??? It was, of course,
wonderful to have the time to do whatever I wished, or to do
nothing if I wished. So what exactly did I do with my time?

To begin with, the latest issue of Victoria magazine arrived
at the beginning of the week and so I spent some quality
time relaxing with a cup of tea, and this magazine. As the
magazine's title says....Bliss!!

It was cool to see a couple of articles that feature Canadian
subjects. The 100th anniversary of the Empress Hotel in
Victoria, B.C. and the gardens of Hatley Castle, also in B.C.
Since my maiden name is Hattey I could just about imagine
that the article was about Hattey castle. If only..... Lol!

Hey, did you know that the publishers of Victoria are also
the publishers for Sampler and Antique Quarterly magazine
and for Just Cross Stitch magazine???


I spent Tuesday morning cleaning the library. I have been
squeezing new books in there with a shoe horn lately as the
shelves are full, the tops of the bookcases are just about
covered and you can only pile them on tables and things to
a certain height before they start to tumble. I was able to
transfer some big coffee table books to a bookcase in the
den, sacrificing nicknack display space in the process, and
thus opened up space for transferring books from the top of
the big bookcase. So now I have space on top of the book
case for new books for another year. Are you still with me??
What will I do next year when that space is full again, you
may be asking......Don't ask!!!

I've been stitching too, of course. I started working on the
next Country Garden square, which is Daisy. This photo is
a bit washed out, because the daisy colour (Magnolia Blossom)
actually shows up quite well against this material. And the
Blueberry Tart used to frame the flower name is very pretty.

And I've been building a bee hive on my older project. I
actually changed something on this design that I wasn't
too keen on. The pink flower was suppose to be a patch,
sort of like what you'd see on the knee of a pair of pants.
I didn't think that it belonged on a bee hive however, so
I took a flower from another design in the book and put
it there instead. There is a green leaf vine to be put onto
the bee hive, which will compliment the flower better
then it would a patch.

Got a wee package from Mary Kathryn this week with more
lovely thread in it. And this sweet chart from LHN which is
going to be a delight to stitch. I've ordered the red silk
thread to stitch this with but they have yet to come.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I met my friend Charmaine for lunch and shopping at
Yorkdale mall on Thursday. We had a lovely lunch,
shopped for books (for me) and children's clothes
(for her....kids) and talked and talked and talked.
I came home footsore, but buoyed by the outing and
our discussions about everything from crafts to kids
(I listened), to politics.

I made use of the new tv some, and watch a couple
of episodes of Medium ~ Season One, which I'd gotten
recently. Good show. I look forward to more of this.
I picked up the first season of Bones while at Yorkdale
since I missed getting into it when it began. Love Mr
Boreanaz ever since Angel.

I found the answers you all gave to my question as to
what books should be made into movies or tv series
quite interesting. Especially since everyone had a
different preference. I have to agree with Wendy,
that seeing Diana Gabaldon's Outlander translated
to tv would be awesome!! It's been optioned and
dropped, and optioned again so many times, but no
one has really been able to get the thing made. A
shame really. But then....Wendy....who'd they get
to play Jamie and Claire????

I'd like to see what someone would do with Stephenie
Meyer's Twilight series too. I see they've announced
the next book in that series Breaking Dawn, which
will be released in August. Great!!! I can't wait. And
the chance to see these books made into a movie or
tv show (whatever) would also be cause for debate.
Who on earth could you find to portray the gorgeous
Edward????

-----------------------------------------------------

It also seems that most of you prefer not to stitch
something that features another country's flag,
unless you were doing it for a gift. Although I
liked Sue's suggestion of stitching something for
each country you've traveled to, if you've been
lucky enough to travel a bit. I'm still liking that
Heart of America pattern by LHN. Especially
after seeing it being featured by Nicole at
Carolina Dreams, with the threads laid out next
to the pattern, and the little buttons to be used
on it.

-------------------------------------------------

Jaimie, we've been watching your leadership
races for each party with great interest here. It's
been the topic of conversation at work, where
one of our girls sits up 'till all hours to catch the
results of each Primary. With the race between
Obama and Clinton garnering the most attention.
The debate as to which of those two candidates
would be best to run for the Presidency is both
passionate and enthusiastic. And we can't even
vote!

I've got to go and get ready because I'm off to
my Mom's for lunch and an afternoon of stitching
and jig saw puzzle solving. DH will be spending
his afternoon trying to hook up the new HD
cable box which arrived this week. He was not
impressed when he saw that box, and all the
cables and stuff that came with it. After spending
last weekend hooking up the new tv to all the
gadgets and equipment, now he has to do it all
over again. I figured it would be best for me to
get out of the house (if not the province) and leave
him to it.

So I'll leave you with another question series:
Will you be watching the Academy Awards show
tonight??? Will you watch the whole thing???
Are you a loyal follower of this awards show???
Have you seen any or all of the movies nominated
for best picture??? What do you love about the
Academy Awards...if anything??? What do you
hate???

And finally....shhhhhh....don't let the cat out of the bag!!!

:) Have a great week everyone. Cheers!

Yikes!! I've been tagged by both Lynn and Beatrice.
That doesn't mean that I have to post 7 weird things times
two does it??? I'll do what I can with this. Bear with me
folks!


1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged


1) I was a big Osmond Brothers fan when I was in my teens.
Saw them in concert about 9 times. I still have a soft spot
in my heart for the older guys. Not so much Donny or
Marie.

2) I've posted this before in another meme but I have a rare
blood type. AB RH negative.

3) I love Vampires. Books, movies, or tv series. But not too
gory please. (just realized that I listed this after my
rare blood type. Lol!)

4) I have an insect phobia, but my main terror is reserved
for spiders. I freak!!

5) I love end of the world movies. Day After Tomorrow,
Twister, Independence Day, Deep Impact.

6) I don't watch much tv either. I prefer the computer,
books, music and stitching.

7) I have over 3000 books in my library. I am pretty
much running out of room to put them. But they
keep writing them.


I don't know who to tag next. And I'm not too good at
linking with other blogs. So if you haven't been tagged
yet, consider yourself tagged. Come on now...we
want to know everything!!!


Cheers all!!

Good morning, and good week everyone. It's a dreary Sunday
morning here in Georgetown, with freezing rain warnings out,
and rain forecast for this afternoon as temperatures rise to
4 degrees Celsius. A good day to stay indoors.

It's been quite cold here for much of this week, and we've had
another snow storm. But we've been having so many snow
storms, in every week this season, they're all sort of just running
into one another in our minds. It's hard to remember which
incident happened during which storm. Suffice it to say that
we're quite ready for Spring to arrive. Please!!

Thought I'd post a picture of the book that I'm taking my
latest stitching project from. This isn't the best picture,
(the colour is off) but at least you get an idea of what it
looks like. There are some terrific projects in here, and
they correspond to the four seasons. Very colourful,
and great for stitching onto clothing, as well as the more
traditional uses.

And here is where I am today. I've finished the bunny
and stitched the topiary, although it still needs some red
beads or colonial knots for flowers, to be added. I added
a bee to the flower section but that was taken from
another design in the book. I'm quite pleased with how
it turned out, although it was fiddlie with a lot of quarter
stitches.
And here's a close up of the section that I've been
working on. I might add another bee once I've finished
stitching the bee hive, and then I'll consider adding a
boarder or not. There are other motifs in this design
that I love but I don't think I'll add anything more
after the bee hive.

I'm on holidays this week, which has me in an
excellent mood, as you can imagine. Tomorrow is
a province wide holiday.....our very first Family
Day. We've been wanting a holiday in February
for ages, and one of the Premier of Ontario's first
acts after being re-elected last year was to
declare a holiday on the third Monday of February.
I think it's the first campaign promise that he's
ever kept in all of his years in office.....okay, I'm
exaggerating....a little.

I received a couple of packages in the mail this week,
which is always a cause for excitement and rejoicing.
The first was from Mary Kathryn, and her most
excellent on line LNS, and service. This is a part of
what I ordered. Stocking up on thread for projects,
and a piece of fabric for a Stitchy Kitty design.

And last weekend I made my first order from the
Etsy handcrafts site. I saw some of the things that
Monique (at http://mymarkdesigns.wordpress.com/)
had posted in her Etsy shop and I was so charmed by
them that I had to visit, and then register and place
an order. I ordered a thread holder, which you can
just see in the upper left corner of the picture, a
zipper fob with the prettiest blue bead, white tassel
and lacy gold flower charm, and a LHN scripture
series package. I was astonished when this package
arrived on Thursday because I wasn't expecting to
see it so soon.

---------------------------------------------------

Since I had a dentist appointment on Thursday (yes,
a dentist appointment on Valentine's Day...I'm such
an incurable romantic) the arrival of this little
package was a great pick me up. Not having any
cavities was also a great pick me up. The lovely card
that DH gave me that morning wasn't too shabby
either.

We celebrated Valentine's Day last evening with a
visit to the pub and a nice dinner. It was cozy and
warm, with a fire going in the fireplace, and great
food and a warm welcome from our friends Brenda
and her daughter Tracey. We've been going to the
Copper Kettle Pub in Glen Williams since moving
here 16 years ago and it's the place we go to for
celebrations.

Last night's treat was the desert platter that they
make up for Valentine's Day. Selections of deserts,
from Cheesecake to Lava Cake....little tarts to a
piece of caramel torte....a mound of whipped cream
and a scoop of lemon sorbet...and mixed berries
scattered around the platter....oh, and chocolate
dipped Strawberries too!!! One platter, two spoons.
It was heavenly!!!

------------------------------------------------

DH deserved a treat after spending yesterday
afternoon patiently putting the new tv together.
It was delivered early yesterday morning, while
he was out at the monthly men's breakfast at the
church, and so when he got home from that he
started unpacking everything.

I left him to it because I just don't have the patience,
or the brain, for such work. He had to hook up the
new DVD player, the VCR, the surround sound, the
Nintendo player, and the cable. He read the instruction
booklets (Simple Instructions for Installing Your New
Home Theatre.....Yeah, uh huh....whatever!!!) and went
at it. There were wires, cables, nuts and bolts and
hand held converters everywhere. It looked like he
was training for a job with the shuttle crew to build
new sections of the space station.

Everything was working last night, except for the
surround sound. That part has him stumped. There
is sound coming out of the tv itself, but all the little
speakers scattered around the room are silent.
He's going to speak to some of the tech savy people
at church this morning to see if any of them can give
him some advice/help. Failing that I suppose there's
always thirteen year old Dakota across the street.

Monique: a 42 inch tv is cool, but it is by far so not
the biggest tv available. I think you might say it's
one of the mid-sized tv's that are available. For the
size of the room that we have it in, and the stand that
it's on, it's the biggest we could accommodate. Our
friends just got a tv that's a 58 inch model. It's huge!!
You don't need to go to the movie theatre anymore
with a tv that size in your family room.

-----------------------------------------------------

I finished reading Atonement last Tuesday, and if I
hadn't been at work at the time, on lunch, I think I
might have shed a few tears at the outcome. What
a sad, tragic story. As I mentioned before, I didn't
find it easy to get into at first, but I persevered and
there were parts of the story, such as when Robbie
was in France, and when Briony was doing her
hospital training, that I just lost myself in the
narrative. Author Ian McEwan gave vivid, detailed
descriptions of that era during WWII, so that the
experiences of the characters were as clear to my
mind's eye as if I were watching a television program.

I haven't seen the movie yet Cathey, but I certainly
want to now after reading the book. I'm always
curious to see how a book is translated into a movie
or tv series. Usually, unfortunately, the movie
doesn't seem to do the book justice.

Here's a question for all of you book and movie
lovers out there, if you care to think about it.

What book that you love would you like to see turned
into a movie or tv mini-series??

-----------------------------------------------------

I haven't seen many designs out of Nashville that
have got me champing at the bit to order and stitch.
I rather like the new LHN Heart of America, but I'm
not sure that I'd stitch it since....well.....I'm not
American.

What do you think my dear fellow Canadian stitchers
and everyone else for that matter. Would the fact that
a design is geared towards a country other then your
own stop you from stitching it and hanging it
(or whatever) in your home???

Hmmm.....And I was wondering what I was going
to type about this morning. If you've lasted
through all of the blather above....good for you.
Hope you all have a wonderful week. Have a
great stitchy time. And take care.

Cheers.