Of Mice and Men

Here we are at the cottage at Whiteside and yeah!.... my internet stick works! We tried it out on the way when we stopped in Cobourg and had no luck connecting. I didn't hold out much hope that it would work at the cottage. Imagine my surprise when we arrived, plugged it in and immediately had a connection. When we took our first boat ride that evening I could see a new tower in the distance. I think that was a major factor in our success.

We had rain most of our drive up here but since our arrival the rains have held up. As you can see from the picture, the skies were a strange, mottled mess of clouds. The weekend is supposed to be a washout but that makes for good stitching, right? Next week is supposed to be rather nice with some sunny days starting midweek. Some things have changed here but other things haven't. We have a lovely new mattress for our bed. This is great since last year I woke every morning with a backache and when trying to sleep I found myself rolling to the centre of the bed. This bed is smaller than the one we have at home and I was often crowding out Bob.

Next on the list, the boathouse is currently being rebuilt. It should resemble a small barn when completed. They've also extended the dock so there is more room for relaxing lakeside.

However our dear rodent friends are still around. Our first night in bed I hear ....rustle, rustle. Did you hear that Bob? Yup, it's in the waste basket. I quickly turned on the bedside lamp and spotted two little feet hanging on to the far side of the basket. When I made a move towards it , he jumped down and scampered away. I may not have mentioned it before but my DH is afraid of mice and so he was definitely staying put in bed! I didn't sleep well that night because I could hear them scurrying around in the eaves. Night number two... all is quiet, we fall asleep fairly quickly only to be awakened around 4 by a thud. It seems there is a small hole where the wall meets the ceiling and I think our little friend dropped from that height to land on the little bench at the end of the room. He was trying to get into a plastic bag containing some new purchases. He gave up soon though and all was quiet again. Meanwhile Dan, who is sleeping on the futon in the sunroom, has heard nothing mostly because he's using ear plugs to sleep. Drowns out my snoring you see!

Every morning Bob heads down to the lake for a morning swim. It's a little too cold for my liking (70 F). His first morning down there he spotted a heron coming in for a landing on the neighbour's dock. He was heading back to the cottage and when he came in he told me to grab the camera and see if I could get a pic of it. By the time I headed down there though there was no sign of the heron. At least not on the neighbour's dock, but when I looked straight ahead, there he was on the foot of our dock. I snapped this picture from the upper deck which is halfway to the dock. Right after I snapped it he took flight.

Bob is off for a rehearsal this morning since he's playing handbells on Sunday morning with another parishioner at Bannockburn Community Church. Dan and I are just headed down to the dock with our coffee, books and my stitching of course. I plan on putting in some time on Spring Lace. Don't you just love the lazy days of summer?

Muskoka- Here I Come!

Yippee! After weeks of counting down, my vacation time has finally arrived. The last few weeks at work have been just horrendous. Anything that could go wrong did and I'm glad to be taking my leave for a couple of weeks. This coming Thursday we head up to the cottage in Bala where I can hardly wait to take a seat on the dock, stitching in hand. The only stitching I've done recently doesn't count since there's very little progress but I do have a pic of Nature's Beauty to show you where I am so far.

As you can see, I haven't got very far but I'm hoping to rectify that in the coming days. Spring Lace is still hanging around too but I haven't got enough progress for another pic right now.

I have a new toy to aid me in blogging while I'm away. Last week I bought my very first laptop. I've been saving for one of these for awhile and I'd already researched them and had an idea as to what I wanted. This will make things so much easier for us while we're away from home. My DH likes to keep in touch so that he knows whether or not he has to play any funerals or weddings when he returns. In the past we've wasted a lot of time waiting to get on the computers at the local library and then your time is limited so I never bothered. Now we'll be able to keep up right from our home away from home. When I bought the computer you also got a deal on an internet stick so that we should be able to access the internet wherever you can pick up a cell phone signal. We'll see just how well it works! So if you don't hear from me while we're away you'll know that it was a washout.
My son Dan is accompanying us on this trip and he's quite excited since this is his first visit to Muskoka. We're going to head out on Thursday morning and we have about a six hour drive ahead of us. Since we're pulling the boat it might take us a bit longer. I can't use my usual lead foot when I'm towing the boat! Please keep your fingers crossed for good weather. I don't know about the rest of you but it's been a pretty lousy summer here so far. Much cooler and plenty of rain. The weather network forecasts improving temps but I don't trust them since they've been off on their forecasts most of the time.

We've brought over Dan's cat Tugger to keep Clarisse company while we're gone and a neighbour will come in and feed them for us. They're making acquaintance again right now. I can't say that it's all going well though since there seems to be quite a lot of fighting and hissing going on. They should settle down in a couple of days.

My Mom and Step-Father were visiting our place this past weekend and just headed home this morning. It's been 2 yrs since their last visit. We're about 500 miles apart and I know that my Mom just hates the drive, which is 8-9 hrs long. We tried to get my oldest here with his girls but it didn't work out. However the other two boys each got to spend some time with them which was nice. Dan was already here and we managed to hook up with Chris in Ottawa for lunch on Sunday. Saturday afternoon I took them to the village of Merrickville, which is a lovely little village along the Rideau Canal system. There's a set of locks there where you can watch the boats coming and going and the village is full of lots of quaint shops to check out. We had a lovely afternoon and the rain skirted all around us but we weren't touched. The photo on the left is a view of the main shopping district and shows some of the lovely architecture in the village. The photo on the right is of Dan and my Mom.

Now I'm in the process of deciding which stitching projects I should bring with me. I'd like to start another small for the trip up. I was also checking out Chapters this weekend for some good reads. I picked up the last novel in the Harry Potter series as well as one called Reading Lolita in Tehran which is a true story of students in Iran studying forbidden Western classics. This one promises to be interesting.

As I'm working on this post I'm having a heck of a time moving my photos about on this new laptop. This is going to take some getting used to.

My next post should be from the cottage if we ever get that internet stick working! I really hope we do because I also want to get caught up with all of you. I've been away for too long.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Canada Day wishes go out to all my Canadian blogging friends. Here's hoping you spend a relaxing day with family and friends celebrating our Canadian heritage. As for me, I'll be working. That was my choice this year since my DH is away this week . When the work day finishes I'll be joining my son Dan for some Canada Day festivities in Cornwall provided that the weather holds out. Last year we tried to get close enough on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to view some of the Mounties Musical Ride (as seen on the left) but it was nearly impossible to see anything with all the crowds. This year I'll just settle for the fireworks display.

I'm afraid I don't have much to report on the stitching front. There hasn't been an awful lot of time for stitching these days and my progress has been pitiful on what little I've finished. By the time I'm finally able to pick up my stitching each evening I find that I'm too tired to concentrate and it isn't long before I put it aside. With summer's arrival I'm much more likely to be found outside gardening or reading in my gazebo after supper. Work continues to be hectic and I love to just sit and enjoy the outdoors when I return home. I've taken up the camera a lot lately and been snapping pictures of birds in the area.

For the past few summers we've had a pair of cardinals, Mr. & Mrs., visiting our feeders. This past week they were joined by Junior. At least that's what we've been calling him. As you can see in the picture, his colours aren't fully developed yet. He gets quite put out when Mom and Dad take a turn at the feeder and leave him sitting to wait on his perch.

I've also been enjoying visits from the Cedar WaxWings. They usually show up between 8 and 9 in the evening to gorge themselves on berries in the neighbour's tree. At one point yesterday there were as many as 1o of them fighting for the treats. I love their eye masks that make them look like bandits.

Our home renovations are slowly getting started. Remodelling the kitchen isn't something that I wanted to rush into. Add to that the fact that it takes me forever to make up mind about some things. After weeks of debating a plan has finally been decided upon and the cupboards will be ordered next week. I don't expect that they'll be ready until August but in the meantime a wall is coming down between our dining room and kitchen to open things up. I'm thinking that maybe I should have taken holidays when all this was finished so I could really relax. Too late now!

With everything that's going on here right now I haven't had much time for the computer. I miss checking in on all of you and promise I haven't forgotten about you.

Next post I should finally have a pic of my progress on Nature's Beauty. It's been slow going because I'm not very good at working with linen. My eyes play tricks on me when it comes to counting and the frogs love visiting. I really do prefer evenweave even though I love the look of the linen. Any tips ladies to help me out?

Time to sign off and head on up to bed. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday and for all of my American blogging friends.... Happy 4th of July!

Cirque has returned..

Home that is. While we were away last week the framer left a message that Cirque des Cercles' framing was complete. I only had one day at home before I headed off for lab training in Rochester, NY so my DH picked it up for me. This is a new framer that I'm using since my LNS closed. However the gentleman who did all the stretching for my LNS had recommended this particular framer and he is now working for them so I knew I was in good hands. I decided not to go with a mat and chose a mahogany frame. When I returned home and finally got a look at it I was very pleased with the framing except for the fact that they had placed the hardware on the reverse as if this was being framed vertically instead of horizontally. We were able to change that ourselves and it is now hanging in my guest bedroom. I'm not sure yet if this is where it will reside permaently. My bedroom is lavender and it would look great there but then nobody gets to see it. Decisions, decisions!

A vacation followed by a work-related training trip has had me suffering some serious stitching withdrawal symptoms! The only time I managed to get in any stitches was on the car trip to and from visiting my family. I had a great visit home although it wasn't long enough. My DH was involved in a concert tribute to his former music professor from university and while he was involved with that I spent time visiting with my family. We both also managed to squeeze in a

visit with some close friends in Michigan.

Just before leaving we paid a visit to our old high school where one of our former classmates is now principal. It felt really strange to be back. The school hasn't really changed all that much but the total number of students now is only 500 as opposed to 1200 when we attended. We wandered around the school for a bit and during our travels we found a picture of the basketball team from 1944-45. There in the back row, the shortest boy on the team, was my Dad(2nd from the left in the back)! We took this picture so that I could show my sons since they were very young when their Grandpa Denny died.

I was having such a super time on the trip and wanted to visit with other friends but I had to be back on the Friday so that I could pack for my next journey. I was off to a lab training session in Rochester, NY. for a new instrument that we're receiving in the chemistry lab. I travelled with a co-worker and following each day's classes we were off to check out the local shopping. Needless to say, there wasn't exactly much time for stitching. The shopping was great though!!

Above is a picture of where I'm at now with Spring Lace.

As for my new start, well I'm afraid that all I've managed to put in on that one is some of the lettering. Since I'm stitching it on linen I really need my magnifying lens to work on it and it's not portable. I find that with evenweaves I don't need the lens much but when it comes to linens I usually screw up in my count and definitely need to be able to see what I'm doing. I don't return to work until Wednesday so I'm hoping to be able to put in some time on this one during the next few days.

One of the fun things about returning home is seeing what's waiting for you! Besides my welcoming DH, there was dear, sweet Clarisse who hasn't quit following me around since my return. Wherever I go, she follows. When I headed down to our storage room this morning with my suitcase, I think she thought I was leaving again. She cried the whole time I was carrying that case until she figured out that I was indeed staying put.

Then there was the stash waiting for me! I was really only expecting one small order but I'd completely forgotton about another order I'd placed earlier. Some of the items were on back order and since I was in no hurry I didn't care. However, my mind being what it is lately, the order was gone from my memory until its arrival. Memory loss can be a great thing when it surprises you in the form of stash arrival!

What I was expecting was a couple of Threadworx floss for some upcoming projects as well as LHN- To Bee or not to Bee and Val's Chilly Willy. What I'd forgotten about was Glendon Place - With Hope, By The Bay- In My Father's House, and last but certainly not least, Ink Circles - Cirque des Carreaux. Yeah, those Ink Circle designs have really hooked me!

Now I'd better go and make some headway on my laundry. I've got a lot to catch up on around here. Enjoy your weekend!

Bug Bites

I got bitten this week by a bug ... the new start bug. This has resulted in a case of startitis which could only be remedied by a look through my stash and a subsequent new start. The mad itch has now abated and my needle is happy at work on its new project, Nature's Beauty by Little House of Needleworks. I still have several pieces of fabric by Sugar Maple Fabric in my stash although sadly SMF have now gone out of business. I chose a piece of 32ct linen in the shade Arthur. I've only just got started at it and it's not worth posting a picture quite yet. I'm also looking at some freebies that I'm anxious to try.Instead I'll show you my latest small finish, Bayview Estates. I thoroughly enjoyed stitching this little piece. It was my first By the Bay pattern and I'll definitely be doing another. I plan on finishing this one as a pinkeep. I'd love to do the Colony series and finish them all as one piece.
The pattern for this called for 2 over 2 but after I stitched the house I felt there wasn't enough coverage so I used 3 strands of floss for the tree.
I almost wish I could have done the house over but since it's a small piece I'll leave it as it is.


Next up is this week's progress on Spring Lace. I'd hoped to have a lot more completed on this one although I have completed one page. I had full intentions on going to the Tuesday SAL and concentrating on this stitch. I came home from work and planned a 30 minute nap before my drive into Ottawa. It was an hour and a half later before yours truly managed to drag herself out of bed. By that time I was out of sorts and the last thing I felt like doing was driving. I parked myself in front of the TV and vegged for the rest of the evening. This is one of the reasons I hate taking a nap after work. I end up feeling like a zombie for the rest of the night. I really must have needed the sleep though cause I had no problem hitting the sack again a few hours later. So I've only managed to sneak in some stitches on this one during my breaks at work this week. I'm off work this coming week so with any luck I'll get a bit further on this one.


The reason for my week's vacation is a quick trip home to Windsor. I'm not looking forward to the 8 hr drive but maybe I can stitch in the car. My DH is taking part in a recital to honour his former music department head at the U of Windsor. While he is in rehearsals, etc., I'll be visiting with my family which I haven't had the opportunity to do for several months now. My youngest sister is taking a day off work to lunch and shop with me and then the following day my other sister is driving over from Michigan to pick me up and take me back to her place in Livonia for the day. Later in the day Bob will join us and from there we are driving to Okemos ( a suburb of Lansing) to stay overnight with some close friends. This will be a real treat for us as well. Nixon and Bob can talk music while Ann and I stitch! Ann, if you're reading this, we can't wait to see the two of you again.
After our brief visit stateside we head back to Windsor to visit with our mothers before we return home again at the end of the week. We really would have loved to stay a bit longer to visit school friends but Bob has to work on the Saturday and I'm flying to Rochester, NY for a week for training on a new lab instrument. So if you don't see any postings from me for a couple of weeks you'll know why. On one of these visits to Michigan I'd love to drop by Stitching Bits and Bobs. It's a little out of the way for us though I think. If we'd had more time I'd make the effort.
I've been feeling quite badly about leaving little Clarisse by herself for the week but my son Dan has decided to stay at our place during our absence and keep her company.


Now that our lab accreditation is finished, work should have improved somewhat, right? Wrong!!
We've lost another tech due to illness and a meeting is being held while I'm away to figure out how to deal with the staff shortages. The summer is shaping up to be pretty hectic so I'm already counting down the days until I'm doing this:

Yup, stitching at the cottage has never looked better! Muskoka, here we come!! Have a great weekend everyone. With any luck I'll have a pic of the framed Cirque when I check in next.

A great weekend!

I'm feeling much more relaxed now. First I had a lovely Mother's Day celebration. My youngest son Chris treated me to lunch at my favourite deli in Ottawa for the occasion. Then I celebrated my birthday the following day at the home of my son Daniel. Bob, Dan and I had a lovely dinner at a local Greek restaurant followed by birthday cake back at Dan's place. Since the boys are all scattered now in different locales it's hard to ever get together with all three. My oldest, who is the furthest away, called me with his wishes.
Next our lab accreditation, on which I've worked non-stop for the past few months, finally finished up this past Friday. My area saw only one minor non-compliance which I have 90 days to correct. What was the first thing I did when I got home? I picked up my stitching which had been woefully neglected for most of the previous month. I didn't have too much time to spend with it though because we were expecting house guests on Saturday night and believe me, my house was in major need of a cleaning.

Cleaning finished, I headed out Saturday morning to spend a day at Dani's house for a SAL. What a great day! I got to see Dani, Rebecca, Beatrice, Kathy, Barb (all of whom I've stitched with before) and a new friend, Beth. I had not spent a day stitching like this in so long and I hadn't realized just how much I needed it. It was so much fun seeing everyone's WIP and catching up with each other. As you can see in the pictures, even Hunter got in on the act! Another SAL is already in the works for June at Barb's home but unfortunately I'll have to miss this one since I'll be away. When I returned that evening my guests had just arrived so it was perfect timing. Thanks Dani for a wonderful day! The proof is in the pics.

Left - Beatrice Right - Rebecca



Hunter

Left - Kathy

Right - Barb

Bottom left - Beth

I spent a good portion of the time at Dani's working on my Spring Lace. It's coming along well and I'm really enjoying it. Last night after our guests had left I pulled out the little By the Bay freebie, Bayview Estate. I should have this one finished in the next couple of days. What to start next? I haven't kept up with any ornaments the past couple of months but I feel like I need a break from those anyways. After all I still haven't completed the finishing on most of last year's!

So I'm browsing through my stash trying to see what grabs my attention this time. The wind has picked up and the sky is turning dark so I guess it's time I got my wash off the line. Until next time happy stitching! I'll leave you with a picture of our provincial flower, the Trillim, which Bob photographed on his way home from work last week.

Wow!... has it been two weeks already?

I can't believe how much time has passed since my last post. We've been so busy around here between work and other commitments and I feel like we're only touching down at home briefly anymore. Poor Clarisse, she's been left on her own too much and when we do land in at home she gets so excited . It's just like a kid who's trying to get your attention, getting into everything! I have a lovely arrangement of silk cherry blossoms and pussy willows in my entrance. Well it seems she's taken a shine to them and each day when I arrive home I find little silk cherry blossoms all over the house. Pretty soon she'll have the arrangement stripped clean!

Unfortunately I don't have too much to report in the way of stitching. The only stitching I've done lately was with my Tuesday night SAL group. There were at least 15 of us out this past week and it was so much fun to hear what everyone had been up to and to see their latest stitching accomplishments. I really needed that break this week. Thanks ladies for a great evening! I spent my time working on my Spring Lace. I've had so many compliments on this piece. Everyone seems to be fond of the colour of the floss. I'd been feeling a loss without Cirque to work on and Spring Lace is filling the hole nicely. Sorry the picture quality isn't all that great. My camera battery is getting low and when that happens the pictures tend to look a little unfocused. I took this piece with me to my DH's concert last night and while they were rehearsing before the concert I sat and put in a few stitches. However, not long after I'd picked it up, I found that the frogs had paid a visit and I ended up tearing out the section on the bottom left. I'd started the whole thing one row down from where I should have been and of course it didn't match up with the upside down heart in the bottom center. That's what I get for stitching when I'm tired!

Renovations around here won't get started until after Bob's concerts are finished. At that point he will be finished with all his choirs for the summer and will have a lot more time to devote to our upcoming projects. I'll also be finished with our lab accreditation which takes place this coming week. I had no idea how much work was involved in preparing for this. I've put in several hours of overtime trying to get everything completed in time. By the time I get home from work I'm just too exhausted to tackle anything thing else. My birthday is coming up this Monday and when my DH asked if I wanted to celebrate this weekend I told him no. Too stressed and too tired. I'll celebrate when it's all over. The only bonus in all of this is that I got a promotion to a Senior Technologist.

Rebecca sent me an email this week to see if there was any interest in getting together for a SAL at her place. I gave her some dates but indicated that I could only go for the day rather than the whole weekend. Since Rebecca lives a fair distance from my place she asked Dani if she would host instead. Dani's place is a little closer and it makes things a lot easier when I can only go for the day. We really wanted this to work because we haven't been together for a SAL for quite some time. So next weekend is the date we've chosen. I think there are a few of us going and I can hardly wait! I've needed an outlet for all my extra stress lately and this will certainly fit the bill. It also marks the start of a much needed week of vacation.

I've really missed my time spent visiting all of my blogging friends. I apologize for not having dropped by lately and I hope to catch up with all of you very soon! There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day lately.I'll leave you with a picture of the latest visitor to my bird feeder. He's a red-breasted Nuthatch. I've seen several of these in the neighbourhood but this is the firt time that one has elected to drop by our place. I love how they hang upside down! Have a great week everyone and I hope to be in touch again sooner rather than later.