Happy Valentine's Day

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, EVERYONE ♥♥♥

Sorry about last blog post.  At the end of the post, when I had saved it, I got a message that some HTML thing wasn't closed, the whole post, including pictures went into HTML mode, which I can't read, so I couldn't edit after that, nor could I do anything about the formatting.  So, today I began as usual, and as soon as the first five pictures uploaded, everything went to HTML again.
Thanks to Bev,  I tried the new editor,and it sure made everything easier. 

I love history.  I have a great imagination.  When I drive by old, abandoned farmsteads, I stop and walk in, and as I look around I can see and hear the pioneers working and playing.  So it's no wonder I love my old church.  It was built by the Polish settlers in about 1915--they built a church even before they had good houses of their own.  At the time, an artist named Peter Lipinski travelled around this area, painting churches.  He hand-painted our Church--it was completed in 1928. 

Faux-marble--the modern decorators only think they invented the ragging technique.


The panels of the altar area and the pulpit.  I think he must have had a template of sorts, but looking close up, the individual brushstrokes are evident.

The church dome.  This scene was first painted on canvas, then the canvas applied to the dome.  After that he painted out from the canvas onto the dome to blend the two together.

I love being in the church alone.  I really have a spiritual sense in this historic place.  The church seems to breathe with the thousands of breaths of all who labored to build it, and all who have worshipped there in almost 100 years.

On the way home this is what I encountered.  We are having fairly warm weather, but with strong, cold winds.  I love to look at snowdrifts.  The delicate patterns and edges, but I don't like driving through drifted roads.

Our greenhouses.  The smaller greenhouse in the foreground is half-buried in the snow that had slid off its curved surface all winter long.


Beautiful hoar frost.                                                           

Now an update on the renos.  I have 2-10'lengths of crown mouldings up in the Living Room.  They are hiding the speaker wires of our surround-sound system.  I love the look of these crown mouldings.  I was supposed to put more of these on today, as well as baseboards, but the mouldings and saw (my new toy:  Makita compund sliding mitre saw) are in the garage.  Since I am very allergic to sawdust, I can't cut in the house, but the thought of fighting the cold wind to get to the garage and back likely means I'm not doing those today.  The color is a strange sage-greenish-greyish-tan by Behr, called "Koala Bear".













Varnishing doors in the downstairs kitchen.  You can just see a glimpse of the new cabinets.
















The Angel Tree Skirt is coming along.  Angel #2 is close to finished.  Angel #1 is finished.  There will be one more angel on the far right.

 

Kubota Man fired up the small greenhouse yesterday.  Tomorrow we start working in the greenhouse.  There are tags to sort and inventory so I can place the order.  Here is a glimpse of a new Supertunia color.  It's called "Pretty Much Picasso".I'm looking forward to seeing it in person.  All I've seen so far is pictures.









Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to Painting I go.  And maybe I'll put on my woolies and cut some millwork, too.


Till next time:  One day we think, at last, we have escaped the ties of children, their troubles and their demands. And then we feel a little tug---and find ourselves bound, once more, by the needs of our grandchildren.  And their love. (Pamela Brown)

Méli-Mélo (This n' That)

Before I start, you need to know that my computer is taking forever to get me to all your comment pages,and then half the time my comments don't connect. Please rest assured that I am faithfully reading everyone's blog, and am mentally making comments.
After 2 weeks of not posting, all I can open with is a cliché: Time flies when you're having fun. I've been cleaning and organizing, and knitting, and watching, and taking the odd picture, too. So, here goes:

Teddy Bear Baby Afghan: I made this several years ago, and found it when I was re-organizing--because my daughter's friend is expecting, and she wanted to make it for that baby. But I couldn't find the pattern, so I dug around till I found the afghan, and then I wrote the pattern off it. It is a hexagon-shaped shawl. I offered it to my daughter to give to her friend, since I hadn't given it to anyone in all these years. I had made 2 of these, one in sports weight and one in worsted weight.














Organizing: Sigrun's Handy Method of Organizing Fabric Stash (and will later do it for yarn stash, too)


1. Collect about 1000 uniformly-sized boxes (I use the boxes that photocopy paper comes in--I haunt the local schools and bribe the secretary)

2. Build shelving to hold these boxes--I use 2x4's for uprights and horizontal braces and 1/4's for shelving. I made the shelves so they hold 4 boxes across and 3 boxes high on each shelf, with a little wiggle room. That way I never have to move more than 2 boxes away to get to a specific box.

3. Get a 3-ring binder and lots of subject dividers with index tabs.

Measure the fabric, note how wide it is, snip a piece off. Write the width and yardage beside the sample. Staple onto the divider. Fill the box. Number the box with a big felt marker. Label the divider tab with the same number. Start a new page for the next box.

5. Go shopping in your binder.

I always felt guilty when I needed a new outfit and had to buy fabric (or an outfit) because I didn't know where I had a fabric I could use. Now I know I will sew and start to use my stash.

6. Quilting fabrics: I took these out of the general stash, these have their own binder pages, and the boxes are labelled by color.
It is obvious how this could be adapted to yarn stashes. At the present, my yarns are in boxes, with the contents on the outside, but I plan on using a binder.

Mixed-up Christmas Cactus
This Christmas cactus doesn't seem to know that Christmas is long past, and that it's not time for Easter (in case it's an Easter cactus). The truth is, it's my fault. I horribly neglect my house plants, then, when I finally water them, they start blooming, regardless of the season. Like they're saying they are so grateful for a little water.














Winter Scenery in Central Alberta
This is a winter view of one of my nasty flower beds, and the un-cleaned garden.
Doesn't look nearly as bad as in summer. I think that's what landscape professionals mean when they say one should plant for winter interest as well as for summer beauty.

A Cheeky Visitor

The Hairy Woodpecker

This is the male Hairy Woodpecker--you can tell by the scarlet patches on his head. The female is identical, but lacks the red patches.

The Downy Woodpecker

The Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers are identical in apperance except for size and shape of beak. The Hairy is the larger, with a dominant long beak, while the smaller Downy has a little beak with lots of fuzz around its base.

Common Redpolls

These little finches like Nyger seed. The male and female both have little red caps, but only the males have the red breast. These cute little visitors travel in flocks.

Latest Theatre Project

This 24"x96" shawl of Kit Seta is for a production going into dress rehearsal on Thursday. I had about 10 days' notice. All done, they are pleased, and I'm happy to be finished because the dander from the kid mohair gave me some grief with my respiratory allergies.

Project from my Childhood
This filet crochet was my first piece. It was designed by my dad (I have a whole book of his original designs of doilies, tablecloths, runners, even bedspreads--all hand-colored on tiny graph paper). I was about 12 when I made it. The thread is finer than buttonhole thread, but not as fine as sewing thread. I found it as I was going through some of my mom's things, and was immediately carrried back to the time I was making it.

A few other updates:

Last week I took Mom to the dentist--her last 6 teeth, lower front had to come out. She did well, even though her gums were sutured. Two days later she was gumming hard cookies. The denturist will wait 2-3 weeks before fitting her with a new denture.

On Saturday my CWL (Catholic Women's League) hosted the Zone Meeting , so we were busy with food prep for 25 ladies. After the agenda and reports were completed we had guest who taught us how to make rosaries. I made myself a glow-in-the-dark rosary to keep in the truck, and another for my daughter. These ladies have made and given away more than 60,000 rosaries in the 9 years since they started this ministry. Their rosaries are in the Cancer Clinic, in the Inner City (Skid Road), and in Third World Countries. Amazing! God Bless Them!

Tomorrow we have painters coming to spray paint our stippled ceilings. They are moving all the furniture, and removing and replacing the light fixtures. After they move the heavy TV Cabinet, I will leave it out and immediately paint the 2 adjoining walls, put on the baseboards and crown mouldings, then replace the cabinet--no point moving it twice.

My basement kitchen cabinets are installed--oh, so pretty. Our SIL, the plumber, will soon install the sink and hood fan, then I will tile (walls) and paint. Floors as yet undecided. Will post pictures when that's finished.

Second Thoughts

I would never phone a friend to whom I hadn't spoken in a long time, and say, "Hi, I'm alive and well, and busy. Goodbye." and hang up. And that's exactly what I did in the earlier post. So, I hurried through my work and made it a point to show you what I have been doing.

Renovations: That sort of went on hold over Christmas, but right after Christmas, I did the suspended ceiling in my basement kitchen, while waiting for the plumber and electrician.

Behold:
It was really easy, took only a couple of hours. After I had completed it, and one of the flourescent lights went out, I realized that I hadn't dropped it low enough to work on the lights easily, so, this is what I did. (Remember, the ceiling grid is suspended by wires, and supported around the edges by an L-shaped track) I drew a line all around the edges, 1" below the track. Then I lifted up the panels and released the screws and rescrewed them along the new lines. Then I released the wires and lowered it to the right depth. Voilà, 30 min. later, the ceiling is in its new place. Light changed. Fini.

The cabinets are coming in on Monday. I bought more of the same wall tiles as upstairs, since I had to open a new box of grout to use only 1 out of 10 lbs. I love those tiles. Will post later about upstairs.

Knitting/Crocheting/Embroidery

Madli's Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia, for my cousin's wife (Germany) who sent me a batch of lovely sock yarn for Christmas. I will be making a pair of socks for him, too.

Rainbow Baby Shawl. Although crocheting is not my favorite pasttime, I love making this shawl. Two evenings of work. It's for a very special young lady who is expecting at the end of February, it will be blessed at church--it is a joyful prayer shawl.

Cross-stitch Christmas Tree Skirt: before I retired, I made up my mind to give each of the kids a Christmas tree skirt. While I still had a paycheck, I assembled the materials. So far I have one all finished, and have been working on this one in 2010. I want them all finished by the next Christmas. I also want to have a cross-stitch Christmas Stocking for everyone. The four grandkids got theirs last Christmas. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures.

Wedding Update: The wedding plans had been all finalized for Labor Day Weekend, then my daughter got the news that the groom's mom, who is a radio announcer in Fiji, could not get the time off work, due to some special event for the Muslim population. So we tried August 14--the caterer wasn't available; Aug 7-- the hall wasn't available; July 31--Maid of honor can't get time off work; Aug 24--no caterers available, local town's 100th anniversary; so now everything is (I think) all set for July 17. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Till next time: You can't wrap love in a box, but you can wrap a person in a hug. (Author unknown)

Wee sign of life

I am alive. I am well. I am very busy. I love blogs that include pictures, so I would like to include pictures, but that's the time factor--due to dial-up I need to resize all my pictures smaller, then post them. My internet line is unreliable at best. And now what was once news, is somewhat old hat.
Please keep visiting me, I will try to do better.

Happy Birthday to me!!♫♫♫

As a gift to you on my Bday (Jan. 9), I will share another story with you that I wrote for the local paper some time ago. Some of the references are somewhat dated.

In Praise of Difference
When my DH and I still lived in the city, we had a "different" neighbor, named Shirley (changed to protect her identity). Shirley and I were born the same year.
We both had favorite expressions which we used to guide our children into adulthood. You might say we each had our own brand of wisdom.

I would say, "You want a ride to school? In my day, I walked thirteen blocks to school, rain or shine (true, but I never said uphill both ways in a blizzard).
She would say, "I'll be glad when you're old enough for your license. Then we can hit the road together on our Harleys."

I: "Pull down your miniskirt!"
She wore a miniskirt.

I: "Who's M.C. Hammer?"
She dances like M.C. Hammer and no joints creak.

I: "Curfew is midnight."
She: "They're only young once."

I: " Work before you play."
She: "Let's give it a lick-and-a -promise then we'll boogie."

I: "Walk before you run."
She: "Take a risk."

I: "A penny saved is a penny earned."
She: "Let's put a few bucks down and enjoy it while we pay it off."

I: "Make a plan and stick to it."
She: "Hang loose (be flexible)."

I: "Modesty is a virtue."
She: "If you've got it, flaunt it!"

I: "Isn't Sean Connery's smile sexy?"
She: "I sure like Mel gibson's cute toosh."

I just bought a body shaper: an "I-can't-believe-it's-a-corset".
She burned her bra in the sixties and still hasn't replaced it.

My husband shows me his holey socks, and I say I'll darn them on Friday.
She tells her hubby, "I"ll darn your socks when you fix the runs in my panty hose--buy new ones."

My adjectives are "groovy, neat, and cool".
She describes things as "totally awesome, rad, and like-funky."

I: "I love you, kids♥♥!"
She: " I love you, kids♥♥!"

My neighbour Shirley and I didn't always agree with each other's ways, but we both survived child-rearing.

Our kids all turned out to be responsible citizens.

But I never could figure out why everyone always thought I was older than Shirley.

End of another Year and a Wedding Anniversary

My computer was at my son's for updating (he has high-speed) and needed some housekeeping and maintenance as it was slowing down--with dial-up internet , the last thing I need is a slow computer, so that's why I'm late with Christmas posting.

We had a lovely, busy Christmas, and I can't believe I forgot to take pictures!!! All but one family of kids came home on Christmas Eve, I went to church for "Midnight Mass" at 5 pm (since the priest has to drive 35 miles, we have the service early). Then picked up Daughter #1 and Granddaughter #1 from the Greyhound, which was 30 min. late because the driver forgot his travel mug at the donut shop and went back to get it.

On Christmas Day, I got up at about 6 am to put on the turkey. There were sleeping bodies everywhere, on every couch and spare bed--they had played board games till 2 am. The last family arrived at noon, I forgot to put on the potatoes to boil (which I had peeled at 7 am after the turkey was in the oven), but it was OK because I make a big roaster of stuffing outside the turkey, and a huge pan of sour cabbage rolls, and a huge pan of Nalysnyky (A Ukrainian dish of tiny crepes filled with cottage cheese, all bubbly in a sauce made with sweet cream fried in butter and lots of dill and onions) Everyone enjoyed the dinner.

One of the main topics of conversation was, of course, the wedding.

I had asked the kids if they thought I could make the wedding cake to save them some money, so I made sample frostings for Christmas. I baked devil's food cakes, filled them with cherry jam laced with cherry brandy, sprinkled some brandy on the cakes, then frosted one with chocolate ganache (which didn't glaze as smoothly as I would have liked--will have to practice to get the temperature just right for pouring), and which tasted very good, and the other with fondant icing, which went on beautifully, but didn't taste as good.

Then we divvied up the baking and made up their care packages of samples of about 20 different kinds of Christmas baking favorites. We visited and ate and ate and ate, then we nibbled some more.

Half the kids went home in the evening, the other half stayed over till the next day. On Saturday I got the church ready for Mass on Sunday. Then I took the girls who had come on the Greyhound back home to the city. Got home at about 8 pm. Relax, relax, knit on a lovely shawl for my cousin's wife, in Germany, who sent me another 3 balls of beautiful sock yarn for Christmas. I'm also swatching for my daughter's wedding shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia.

So my knitting priorities for early 2010 have already developed: 2 wedding shawls, one for Aug. and one for Sept., a gift shawl, a baby shawl for a baby due end of Feb., and a baby gift for a baby due any time now. And the kids would really like new sweaters for next Christmas, and now the granddaughters are asking for hand-knit socks for Christmas.

Tomorrow I need to start on the basement kitchen--the suspended ceiling, as the cabinets are ready and waiting to be installed. Need SIL the plumber to do some plumbing before the cabinets come in, and the electrician to run the line for the hood fan. After the Christmas decorations are packed away, I plan on painting the Kitchen, living room and hallway ceiling (all one surface with no breaks), but I need to smell the ceiling paint (which has to be oil-based)
to see if I might have to wait till summer for that part. Then it's back to painting walls and deciding on floor coverings for the other parts of the house: hardwood or carpet, did the pros and cons and it's pretty equal.

Tomorrow it's our 44th Wedding Anniversary. I wish I could have got better definition on the old picture, but it doesn't really matter, since you'll likely believe me if I say we look a little more weathered than in that picture

There was a blizzard that day, but we still drove around town beeping the horn. Our wedding dinner was at my parents' house, with only immediate family, since I didn't have the heart to burden my parents with the cost of a wedding, and I was supporting myself through university, and DH was saving for a house, so we couldn't afford one either. No regrets about that. My dress cost an atrocious $50, and the flowers about the same. I made the pillbox hat with a little veil, and bought satin shoes for $10.

Our wedding night was spent at my in-laws', who had the courtesy of giving us an hour before they came home from visiting with my parents. Our apartment had already been leased, but the previous tenants didn't have their stuff moved out because of the weather.

Until next time: Happy New Year: Good health, prosperity, love , and all that other good stuff.

On a positive note: The days are getting longer!!

Curiosity, Pain, Patience and Joy

I would like to share a real Christmas story with you. I know the next few days will be hectic, so I might not have time to post. Almost 20 years ago I wrote short, mostly humorous articles for our local country newspaper. This was the story I published that Christmas:

1953 seems like so long ago, yet just like yesterday. We were a young immigrant family escaping post-war Europe, where the reconstruction was slow to take place. The immigration posters had painted a pretty picture of the vast new land called Canada: "Land for Everyone--Streets Paved With Gold!"--such were the promises.

Guided by the beacon of a bright new future, we went off across the sea: my parents and we two little girls. We left behind our ancestry, our relatives, and poverty.




 


Dad settled us on a small homestead near Cold Lake. Our first home was a granary with no insulation, one small window, a plywood door and a mattress on the floor. A full quarter of the room was taken by our steamer trunk which held clothes, linens and mementos of our homeland. I remember vividly the paradox of the barrel stove burning red-hot while ice formed on the bare wooden floor.

Having arrived in late fall, we had little time and fewer resources to prepare for winter. There was no way we could have envisioned the severity of the northern Canadian winter that was to come.We had had wonderful European customs of home baking and decorations which were newly home-made each year: walnuts painted gold and silver and candy wrapped in tissue paper. Now we had no oven and no utensils (only one cooking pot). But we had oh-so-much pride! I do not ever remember feeling that we were hard up. We spent that winter in the granary while Papa picked up casual work and learned the language.

Never did I think that the Christkindl (Christmas Child) would overlook our house on Christmas Eve. Stepping retrospectively into my parents' shoes, I can almost experience what they went through knowing that there would be no gifts that year. As if by a miracle, the local hotel needed a chambermaid for a few days. My mother, Mama, left us to go to work for the very first time in my life. I remember that terrible feeling to this very day, as I waved good-bye to her, knowing that we children were home alone.
Not long before Christmas--the weather had been very severe--my sister and I had cabin fever. We decided we would play dress-up and hide-and-peek in the trunk. Upon opening the mysterious trunk, we found--OH JOY!--a pair of wonderful, soft, teddy bears. We began to play, and Mama walked in.

She blanched as if she had been struck. Mama was generally a very gentle person, but she grabbed the bears away roughly and stuffed them into the trunk. We expected a spanking, or a scolding, but instead, we watched our brave, strong mother collapse onto the mattress in uncontrollable sobs.

The bears were our one and only Christmas surprise. There wouldn't even be a tree.

Mama collected herself and never mentioned the incident. It wasn't until years later, that I realized that, in our innocent curiosity we had deprived ourselves of two great pleasures: our own surprise and our parents' parental bliss as Mama and Papa vicariously participated in our joy.
To this day I have never again shown any curiosity about presents. I don't squeeze, poke, rattle or sniff. I'm perfectly content to wait for the fullness of the special occasion.

PS: About that long ago Christmas: the bears had new hand-knit toques, scarves and sweaters on that Eve--Mama's eyes did sparkle!


Mama, the culprits, the bears and a new Baby Brother born in 1954, after we moved to Edmonton.


In the first picture above, of us in front of the granary, the little toddler is the son of a neighbor.

Until Next time: A very Merry Christmas, the Peace of the Lord, and a Happy, healthy and prosperous New Year from our house to yours.