Monday, August 23, 2010

What a day!

"Well Maggie Muggins, I'd say you've had quite a day!"
Did anyone else ever watch Maggie Muggins on TV when she was a little grl, or was it confined to Ontario in the 50s? Anyway I felt like Maggie Muggins on Saturday and I'd say we all had "quite a day"
45 stitchers came to our stitching day from all parts of Ontario from Ottawa in the east to London in the west!
We stitched!



We displayed our beautiful work....








Some took a break from stitching, eating and enabling to play light sabre star wars with their cell phones!
We ate well.
Many many stitchers also took time to shop and for that I thank you very much. Knowledge and Needles had a very good day! Of course I am happy to have the business, but really what thrills me the most about the day was joining my friends, new and old, in doing what we all love. The coming together of so many diferent people who share the passion for stitching is a cause for joy and the sight of the amazing work we all produce is a cause for awe!
I feel so fortunate to have found such a supportive and wonderful group of friends.
Thank You so much.
More pictures on Beatrice's blog





















Monday, August 16, 2010

Mother Nature

Mother Nature asserted herself last night. We had quite the display of lightning, thunder, rain and big wind.
This is the view from the south... And this is the view from the north.I was on the front porch taking this one.
This is a Manitoba maple that had 4 or 5 trunks coming up from the ground. One fell a number of years ago when Dani was here. It went on the road. A second prong fell one night when someone ran into it. Fortunately it fell straight down the ditch and whoever hit it took off.
This prong is in the front yard and has only taken out the top rail of the fence. We are fortunate that it did not go towards the road nor did it hit the gas line pressure thing...that could have been a mess!
Well there is at least one trunk of the tree left...stay tuned, no doubt in a year or two it will also sacrifice itself to our wood burning stove.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Bib and stocking

I finally got back to some stitching this week. This is my progress on the Christmas stocking. It is coming along well but oh! the backstitching!!! On Tuesday our young friends Shawn and Susanna welcomed their son into the world. Shawn and Dan frequently work together...and as you may guess Shawn is a carpenter/builder....hence the theme of his son's bib.





Monday, August 9, 2010

Wasn't that a party!

Warning.... this is not a post about stitching. I haven't had a needle in my hand for over a week...
No this is about a fabulous reunion of old friends who have been getting together every three years for the last 30 years! Dan and I were on the committee to plan Lahrfest 2010 in Prince Edward County. We and 11 others have spent the last three years planning it all and I have to say it went off beautifully. 108 of our friends and colleagues who taught with me for the Canadian Forces in Lahr, West Germany 30 years ago attended. Some taught there earlier or later than I did so we did not all know everyone but we all had plenty of old friends to catch up with. We had friends from Halifax to Vancouver in attendance and my friend Heather made it up here from Virginia as well.
We spent 4 days reminising, partying, car rallying, wine tasting, historical walking, golfing, biking, partying, 1000 Islands cruising, barbequing, dancing and eating and drinking. The food was second to none and the local wines and beers were very popular. The weather was spectacular. The band at Thursday nights dinner/dance played our 60s and 70s music...totally appropriate since we are now all in our 60s and 70s!
I learned that we can still party as hearty as we did when we were 30...it just takes a lot longer to recover!
It was also wonderful to learn, as one participant quipped that we can enjoy each other's company just as much whether we are discussing travel tips and the best route to Greece by car as we did back then or various medical procedures and hospital tips as we seem to be doing now! I did spend quite a bit of time with some of the women discussing orthodics and brands of comfortable shoes as I recall!
It was just a wonderful experience and we had a blast organizing it with the rest of the committee.

On another note...HAPPY BIRTHDAY greetings go out to Beatrice , Christin, and Kathy, who all have birthdays around now!