Thursday 14 July 2016

Apropo of nothing much




Its Mid July and summer is in full bloom.  I brought the Lavatera seeds from Calgary and when I moved, chucked them in the back of the frig and sort of forgot about them.  This past spring, before the accident, I hauled them out and along with the tomato seeds, put them in peat pots in the sunroom.  This is the reward.  Pink seems to have dominated here, but the white came through.  I'll gather the seeds when it is time.  They put on quite a show don't they.
The small pink flowers are Oxalis, or as we say in our family "Grandma Landry's clover"  Most of us have a plant that we baby and nurture and split up and repot and then share. 
I strung lights over the door in the spring and this moth fell in love with them.  He hung around for days clinging to the screen.


I  might have mentioned that after the accident - creativity flew south and knitting and crochet were complete non starters.  And that remained the case until last week when I decided to dig into my yarn stash and reacquaint myself with my supplies.   Digging through stuff I came on a square that I had started a few years ago when I was still hip deep running Patricia's Yarn Cabin on Vancouver Island.  I  read an article showcasing Valentina Devine's"Creative knitting technique" and the bottom square is the result.  The pile of yarn at the top was tucked into the bag with the square - Obviously I had planned to continue.  Well...life happens doesn't it.  

 In any case, this period of my life now - recouperating and healing-, seem like the absolute right time to dig back into this project so here I am.

 The deal is this is garter stitch - I can handle that- garter stitch for short straight rows and then casting off, turning the piece and picking up stitches and not caring that the ends are there.  The ends get to be the embellishment afterward and you an do anything you want with them  I chose to crochet the ends and then tack them down randomly.  Some of the ends will reach over into the next square when they are joined.   I have no idea at the moment what this is going to turn out to be -  a throw?  A wall hanging?  I think it is enough right now that I'm doing it and it is getting the juices going again.
And that's it for now.
Have a good week.
Patricia

Saturday 2 July 2016

Happy Birthday Canada!



I’m sitting on my deck, enjoying a delightful glass of wine in the late afternoon.  It is July 1st, Canada’s birthday and the temperature here sits atbalmy 26 degrees.  One year ago today I was deep into the chaos of Moving into this new house – boxes everywhere, two intrepid moving men manhandling furniture out of the van and into the house in pretty intense heat, a phone that packed it up, an emergency visit to Telus to buy a new phone, and a mouse who somehow snuck into the house either during the former owner’s move out, or my move in.  Jury is out on that.  Somehow we made it all work – “where do you want this Lady?”  making snap decisions about where furniture was to be placed.  Three moves in the space of 5 years – too many. I swear this is the last move!  I like it here.

I just went into the garden to pick a fresh onion and some snap peas to make a stir fry for supper.  There is a nice breeze blowing through here keeping it comfortable.



The onion is quite spectacular and the result of a great experiment.  In early spring I cut the root heads off some green onions I bought, soaked them for a while until the roots grew a bit, and them put them into the raised garden.  I have been handsomely rewarded I’m pleased to say and am now eating fresh onions in the stir fries.  Not too shabby   The beans are all in flower and the snap peas are ready for the picking …some of them at any rate.   There were some potatoes going to seed in the frig too that I just planted a couple of weeks ago – not sure if they will make it or not – no loss if they don’t but it would be fun to have some.  Lettuce should be coming but it is slow which is surprising.  Well...I was late getting the seeds into the ground.


A monarch butterfly flutters by and two hummingbirds just put the run on a robin for some reason.  Bird world is not without its danger I guess.

Actually the world is full of danger - I had a terrible fall 10 weeks ago today.  Rushed to emergency, then into Surgery and the result is I have a new stainless Steel ball inserted into my hip.  I have been relearning all sorts of things - how to walk, how to shower, how to drive.  But things are coming along and I'm getting better.  It's been a journey.

Knitting has been on hold but I do have a wonderful pair of socks to show off because what would life be without socks to knit.
 I'm spending the summer recuperating and heeling.  Libby gets me out for walks to build up my muscles again.  
So here are some pretty flowers for you to enjoy this Canada Day weekend.  

Cheers for now.   Patricia