Home Once More

Home once more, after a restful and relaxing vacation! The weather in Florida was lovely, I couldn't have asked for better. The view on the lanai while stitching was also much improved from the usual view out my front windows. Lush greenery and palm trees waving in the breeze.....makes me wish I was back there already! Does anyone know what the tree in the above photo is called? They're very pretty and have these fuzzy red flowers which hang from the tree. Whatever they are, the bees love them!

Isn't this a cool palm tree? It looks like a giant pineapple to me.

We've had a pleasant Easter weekend both company and weather wise. The temperatures were well above average for this time of year. Friends of ours were also returning from a trip to Florida . Their plane arrived at suppertime yesterday so we invited them to join us, along with my son Daniel, for our Easter meal. We had planned on doing a leg of lamb on the BBQ but the burner died and DH wasn't able to replace it in time for our meal. So I roasted the lamb instead along with some yummy asparagus. DH has a signature dish, rice almondine, which he prepared to accompany the meal. For dessert I tried a new dish. It consisted of fresh crushed raspberries, orange juice and tapioca. You cook it until it thickens,then add a small amount of sugar, and refrigerate. It basically is like a raspberry filling for pie. When you serve it you add either a vanilla custard sauce or Dreamwhip. DH preferred his served with angelfood cake. I was looking for something light and relatively fat free and this filled the bill.

During Lent, both myself and DH usually give up our sweets and snacks. This year I also tried to make healthier eating choices. The result: I've lost 12 lbs and DH has lost 11! I was pleased to see that I even managed to maintain the weight loss during my vacation. I stuck to eating lots of fish and chicken along with salads. On my last night there I treated myself to a Florida specialty....Key Lime Pie. Mmmmm! It was worth it.

Okay,enough of food talk. I'm getting hungry! I have a small finish to show you. This is the piece I worked on during my flight and while waiting in the airport. Hoppity was a very quick stitch. Not sure if I'm happy with the floss colour of the bunny but I don't feel like stitching it over. I got started yesterday to make it into a small ornament and discovered that my glue gun has gone missing. Perhaps a pillow finish instead.

Nantucket Sampler surfaced during my last few days of vacation. I just have to add the long stitches to the tree on the left. After that what remains is to finish up the flower border and then add the mermaids and the alphabet to the top of the piece. Doesn't sound like much but I'm slow.

Next up, HoaN (too). Pretty well only the borders top and bottom remain on this one. I really dislike doing borders. I know it means I'm close to a finish but they're so boring.My next LHN ornament, Snowy Pines, arrived while I was away. I just have to dig out a piece of fabric for it and then I'm ready to go. I didn't touch my LHN Easter piece while away so I want to concentrate on it for awhile. I'm limited though to evenings at home since I need my light and magnifying light for this one. I'd really hoped to visit a needlework shop that I know of in Port Charlotte while I was away. Problem was, I shared the rental car with my sister but my name wasn't on as a second driver. So I had to depend on others for transportation. We did head that way but spent the day shopping for other things and ran out of time. It's not like I really needed more stash but I would have like to look at fabric.

My surgery is scheduled for this Friday. I've been fighting some cold symptoms so let's hope it goes ahead. I don't think it will be a problem since I'm almost over my sore throat. I haven't had a cough, fever or runny nose. Just a bit of congestion. I'm thinking allergies rather than a cold. I'm having an epidural rather than a general anasthetic so it shouldn't be a problem.

Back to work tomorrow for a couple of days and then lots of down time while recuperating. Today is overcast with scattered showers. A good day to sit and stitch and a pleasant way to end my holiday.