Ironic

It's not Alanis Morrissette's song I'm referring to, but the fact that I decided to go into Ottawa a day early for an appointment and stay overnight to avoid the hazardous drive during the next day's impending snowstorm only to find myself getting rear ended on dry roads!! Yup, I think I must have a permanent target sign on any car I drive. This time I was heading to my Tuesday night SAL after which I would join my DH and spend the night with him in Ottawa. I had an early morning medical appointment which I didn't want to cancel and snowmaggedon was slated to make an appearance in the early morning hours on Wednesday. I was driving through rush hour traffic and had just come to a stop behind a long line of cars when BANG!!

I found myself being thrown forward and then back, my seat even flying back and dropping on its rails, as I was pushed into the car in front of me. So naturally, damage to the car front and rear. The man who hit me was from out of town and driving a rental. He hadn't seen me stop early enough and when he slammed on the brakes they locked and he ran right into me.

I immediately felt the impact in my back and the next day my DH convinced me to pay a visit to the emergency department at our local hospital when I'd returned home. Six hours later I was told that I had some whiplash, given some pain killers and sent home to rest from work for a couple of days. I always thought that whiplash resulted in pain only in the neck but apparently not since most of my pain is concentrated in my upper back. So here I sit, on an absolutely beautiful day post snowstorm, feeling sorry for myself.

I'm watching our neighbour's tree, shown in the picture above, where these little fellows reside. The chickadees have all been stopping by our feeder to stuff themselves after hunkering down all night during the storm. We received a little more out here than the Ottawa area did. I believe it was between 20 and 25 cm which is 8-10 inches for you non-metric bloggers. I just happened to glance out our back door and spotted the snow covering the old BBQ sitting on the deck.

It's shaped into the most perfect mound! I hate to see it get disturbed.

I'm trying to get some qualtiy stitching time in since I'm home but I can't sit for very long before the back signals me it's time to get up and move again.
Either that or the pain killers make me drowsy and I drift off into LaLa Land.

My progress on Tuesday night at our SAL was understandably meagre. I just couldn't concentrate so I chatted with the others and walked around the table, checking on what designs they were stitching. There wasn't the usual crowd out. I assume that some were expecting the snow to arrive that evening and didn't want to get caught.

I've spent most of my time this past week concentrating on Fair, Kind, True. I would love to have it done in time for Valentine Day even if the finishing isn't complete. Sorry, the picture is a little cockeyed.

I finally pulled out North Wind this past weekend and gave it some of my attention. It's coming along nicely. It won't be long before all I have left is the border. Gotta get that robin in there first though!

The week before last at our Tuesday night group we had a real treat. Maria and Louise from our group used to run Crafty Ladies, our retreat blog and they organized our fall and spring retreats. They have found it time consuming and wanted to devote more time to other pursuits so Laura, of Enchanting Lair fame, has taken over. She sent down a box of some of her beautiful hand dyed fabrics for us to look at, drool over, fondle and oh yeah .... buy!! There were so many that I would have loved to go home with but I limited myself to these three. All are 32 ct, two are evenweaves and one is a linen.

The one on the right is the linen and its a one of a kind colour. It's really gorgeous and I can't wait to find something to stitch on it!

OMG, I can't believe it! I just glanced out the window and spotted this fellow sitting in my tree. I believe it's a small hawk and usually I only see them in the country, not sitting on a branch in our neighbourhood!
Fortunately I had the camera sitting right beside me on the table, grabbed it, and got this shot. As soon as I stood up to get a better picture, he flew away. If you look closely at the photo you'll see his head was actually turned and he was looking my way!

I hope that those of you living in the US and Canada in the path of the recent snow have managed to make it through with no major problems. Apparently the storm hit 1/3 of the US! It has moved on now and is battering the eastern coast of Canada. I must say we've been lucky here so far this winter. This was our first major snowfall which is really unusual.

I'll leave you with a picture of Clarisse. I think it was Judy who recently asked if I had any recent pics of my sidekick. This one was taken as she sat at my feet watching me stitch. I've been trying to get one to show you just how beautiful her blue eyes really are and this one is it.

Keep on stitching!