Sunday, May 9, 2010
A wee brag
It's been a long and busy week, but I managed to finish this quilt for Annie's baby. I struggled with the machine quilting concept a bit, but settled on sewing around random squares. I like it. The back is fleece and it's soft and cuddly and warm.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Too tired to think of a post title
Things are crazy around here. Today, we had our family photo session. Here are a few of the photos I took while Lindsay was doing the real ones.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Debunking the myth
Tonight at our joint belated birthday party for Annie and Charlie I was taking photos and Edwin kept saying, "Man, I hate your blog." Then somebody else said, "Yeah, she blogs about EVERYTHING."
I just want to set the record straight, in case you were wondering.
I didn't blog about my trip to beach with friends on Friday and the fun we had doing the scavenger hunt as we were driving there and the shopping and the walk with Barb on the beach and eating too much chocolate and then coming home and not being able to go to sleep until 2am because of the chocolate and then being woken up by Jon a few measly hours later at 5:45.
Oh wait, I did mention that last bit.
But I didn't blog about going back to bed and finally waking up when Annie got up and was worried about Nana because she wasn't out of bed yet and how I was dog-tired all day and decided I have been sick all week and didn't know it.
Or about how nice it was to go to church today and almost fill up the bench and how much I love these two guys...
And about how worried I am about my Mum because her short-term memory is shot and I don't know how she is going to go home and live on her own again and all of the dilemmas that are presented by that situation.
So, I'm just saying, in my own defense.
I don't blog about EVERYTHING.
I just want to set the record straight, in case you were wondering.
I didn't blog about my trip to beach with friends on Friday and the fun we had doing the scavenger hunt as we were driving there and the shopping and the walk with Barb on the beach and eating too much chocolate and then coming home and not being able to go to sleep until 2am because of the chocolate and then being woken up by Jon a few measly hours later at 5:45.
Oh wait, I did mention that last bit.
But I didn't blog about going back to bed and finally waking up when Annie got up and was worried about Nana because she wasn't out of bed yet and how I was dog-tired all day and decided I have been sick all week and didn't know it.
Or about how nice it was to go to church today and almost fill up the bench and how much I love these two guys...
...and Annie too of course.
So, I'm just saying, in my own defense.
I don't blog about EVERYTHING.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Weekend warriors
6:30 am.
Ready for a big day playing paintball.
Jonnie spent all week getting his gear ready for action.
At my house.
Which was a mess.
Apparently, it's okay for my house to be a mess but not his.
He should be a Sergeant Major.
He called at 5:45 this morning to wake up the crew.
They were reluctant.
He was full of energy.
He lives for this stuff.
They arrived home early this evening.
Tired, but happy.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
The demise of a tree
Planting a mimosa tree in the front yard seemed like a good idea at the time. After all, they grow quickly, have pretty pink, sweetly scented flowers, and would provide shade for the cars. However, after many years of exuberant growth and almost continual mess from flowers and leaves and seed pods, I finally convinced Jeff that its time was spent. Maybe the roots that had raised and cracked the driveway concrete were the deciding factor. Or maybe my nagging every year to trim the branches wore him down. We took down several branches early in the spring and I told him it was okay if it took all summer, I just wanted it gone by the end of it.
Then fate took a hand in the arrival of Charlie and Edwin.
Our soldier and marine decapitated the beast with a borrowed chain saw in one afternoon.
They were branch-lopping animals.
Edwin is a rigger and can work miracles with a rope and a few good knots. That chainsaw got hauled up and down the tree so many times I lost count.
The conquering heroes.
The only casualty of the endeavour was a glass bird feeder that I really liked but that didn't work too well anyway.
Oh.
And we completely lost the goodwill of the resident goldfinches, who spent the whole time dive-bombing the places where the branches used to be and chirping at the top of their little lungs.
Sad.
Now. I'm thinking a nice, well-behaved deep pink dogwood would look very nice in that corner when the mimosa roots have rotted a bit.
Maybe tomorrow I will post a few nostalgic photos of the tree. It has, after all, been a signature sight in front of our house for a long time.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
A good book...
...has no ending. R.D. Cumming.
One of my shameful little secrets is that I love to read books that are full of murder, manipulation, and mayhem. And, of course, you know those books usually come with a few other spicy and gruesome details. I've been known to go through 5 or 6 books in a good week. The other part of the equation is that after I am done with the book, its plot usually becomes unmemorable. More times than I care to remember, I will be half way through a book and be struck with random fits of deja vu.
I'm sure I've read this before, I think to myself.
A few chapters later, I'm still wondering.
Sometimes, I will finish the book and still be unsure whether or not I have read it before.
Pitiful.
This is in contrast to Jeff ( and Jon, who apparently inherited the trait) who reads slowly but retains everything.
The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. James Bryce.
Several months ago, I joined the book club at our local library. Gone are my days of mindless reading. So far, every book has not only been one that I normally wouldn't have chosen to read, but also unforgettable. Maybe it's the process of reading, thinking , and then talking about it with like-minded people, but I find myself with new ideas circulating in my mind. Thoughts engendered by these books. So I am sharing the books with you, hoping that you will be as enlightened as was I.
Please note that un-dangled participle.
It was a tricky one.
The first book was So Brave, Young, and Handsome, by Leif Enger.
It's not a book I would have chosen at all, set back in the dying days of the Old West, but it was a quick and enjoyable read. Go here to read a better review than I could write. Leif Enger also wrote Peace Like a River, which is highly recommended by club members that have read it.
Then one of my favourite all-time books, The Widow's War, by Sally Gunning. Set in eighteenth century Cape Cod, it tells the riveting story of Lydia Berry, who is widowed after 20 years of marriage and finds herself subject to the laws of the time. She has no rights without a husband and the book tells of her rugged journey to establish her independence. Here is a good site for Sally Gunning and her books. It made me think about the rights and freedoms enjoyed by women in much, but not all, of the world. and about how many women in the world are still stuck in the mores of eighteenth century America, or worse.
The Geography of Bliss, of course, has already been covered here. I have probably spent more time contemplating this book than any other.
Last month we read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Again, not a book that I would have chosen, consisting of fictional letters between an author and various residents of Guernsey Island after the Second World War, and I don't really "do" books made of letters. I was enthralled. Did you know that the Channel Islands, off the coast of France but belonging to England, were occupied by Germany for five years? My parents have vivid memories of growing up in wartime England, so I was fascinated to learn of another aspect of those years. I took Mum to the book club meeting and everyone loved hearing some of her experiences, being evacuated to "the country" for two years and also enduring the bombing of Birmingham. I love the way history comes alive when presented by a good author.
This month's book is Moloka'i. I was reluctant to begin, thinking the subject matter boring and depressing. It follows the story of a young Hawaii'an girl who is taken from her family at a young age because she has leprosy. My goodness, talk about opening my eyes to things that I never knew existed. Leprosy in Hawaii in the early 1900's. I spent about half an hour in tears this morning, lying in bed and finishing the book.
You should read it too.
Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. P.J. O'Rourke.
One of my shameful little secrets is that I love to read books that are full of murder, manipulation, and mayhem. And, of course, you know those books usually come with a few other spicy and gruesome details. I've been known to go through 5 or 6 books in a good week. The other part of the equation is that after I am done with the book, its plot usually becomes unmemorable. More times than I care to remember, I will be half way through a book and be struck with random fits of deja vu.
I'm sure I've read this before, I think to myself.
A few chapters later, I'm still wondering.
Sometimes, I will finish the book and still be unsure whether or not I have read it before.
Pitiful.
This is in contrast to Jeff ( and Jon, who apparently inherited the trait) who reads slowly but retains everything.
The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. James Bryce.
Several months ago, I joined the book club at our local library. Gone are my days of mindless reading. So far, every book has not only been one that I normally wouldn't have chosen to read, but also unforgettable. Maybe it's the process of reading, thinking , and then talking about it with like-minded people, but I find myself with new ideas circulating in my mind. Thoughts engendered by these books. So I am sharing the books with you, hoping that you will be as enlightened as was I.
Please note that un-dangled participle.
It was a tricky one.
The first book was So Brave, Young, and Handsome, by Leif Enger.
It's not a book I would have chosen at all, set back in the dying days of the Old West, but it was a quick and enjoyable read. Go here to read a better review than I could write. Leif Enger also wrote Peace Like a River, which is highly recommended by club members that have read it.
Then one of my favourite all-time books, The Widow's War, by Sally Gunning. Set in eighteenth century Cape Cod, it tells the riveting story of Lydia Berry, who is widowed after 20 years of marriage and finds herself subject to the laws of the time. She has no rights without a husband and the book tells of her rugged journey to establish her independence. Here is a good site for Sally Gunning and her books. It made me think about the rights and freedoms enjoyed by women in much, but not all, of the world. and about how many women in the world are still stuck in the mores of eighteenth century America, or worse.
The Geography of Bliss, of course, has already been covered here. I have probably spent more time contemplating this book than any other.
Last month we read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Again, not a book that I would have chosen, consisting of fictional letters between an author and various residents of Guernsey Island after the Second World War, and I don't really "do" books made of letters. I was enthralled. Did you know that the Channel Islands, off the coast of France but belonging to England, were occupied by Germany for five years? My parents have vivid memories of growing up in wartime England, so I was fascinated to learn of another aspect of those years. I took Mum to the book club meeting and everyone loved hearing some of her experiences, being evacuated to "the country" for two years and also enduring the bombing of Birmingham. I love the way history comes alive when presented by a good author.
This month's book is Moloka'i. I was reluctant to begin, thinking the subject matter boring and depressing. It follows the story of a young Hawaii'an girl who is taken from her family at a young age because she has leprosy. My goodness, talk about opening my eyes to things that I never knew existed. Leprosy in Hawaii in the early 1900's. I spent about half an hour in tears this morning, lying in bed and finishing the book.
You should read it too.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Happy Tuesday things
Waking up to see Charlie sleeping on the couch.
Three happy preschool groups this morning.
Finding tiny Lindt chocolate bunnies for cheap at Grocery Outlet.
And Yoplait blackberry custard yogurt.
Annie, Charlie, and Mum going out to lunch at Freddies.
And bringing home chicken strips so that I could eat some.
Little boys in the rain.
Finding an indoor space for our family photos next week.
Check out the cool sculptures.
Caramel bread pudding and vanilla icecream for dinner.
Um, dessert.
My aubretia in full bloom. Also called rock cress. I brought these seeds back from England about 15 years ago. I love how these plants grow through the lattice fence and spill out onto the driveway.
The setting sun shining on newly leafed trees.
Happy trails to you!
Three happy preschool groups this morning.
Finding tiny Lindt chocolate bunnies for cheap at Grocery Outlet.
And Yoplait blackberry custard yogurt.
Annie, Charlie, and Mum going out to lunch at Freddies.
And bringing home chicken strips so that I could eat some.
Little boys in the rain.
Check out the cool sculptures.
Caramel bread pudding and vanilla icecream for dinner.
Um, dessert.
My aubretia in full bloom. Also called rock cress. I brought these seeds back from England about 15 years ago. I love how these plants grow through the lattice fence and spill out onto the driveway.
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