B6 started to get creative with some scissors.
No problem, dad can fix it.
Scissors
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A free weekend
This weekend was what we term not terribly accurately “a free weekend.” There was much to do but it wasn’t rehearsals, classes, meetings scheduled by someone else.
So they raked,
I baked,
I ironed,
he ran errands,
the childrens’ friends came over and they played,
they knitted,
they created,
we read,
I stamped and created,
we worshiped,
we napped,
she quilted,
we ate.
Keepers at home
Saturday morning the girls and I gave up our sleep in and were on the road by 8:30 on the way to a Mother/Daughter craft workshop. The day was organised by a group called Keepers at Home and I had been invited to teach a scrapbooking class. I had agreed after the girls had both said they were keen to participate too. It is not a group we belong to so we only knew a couple of people there, but it was a wonderful day and a blessing to each of us.
My class was scheduled for the afternoon so A10 and I signed up for cake decorating in the morning. We learnt some great tricks and techniques before decorating a cake each. At the same time L12 was doing the beginner crochet class. She learnt how to start and do single and double crochet and then started on a granny square.
We enjoyed a potluck lunch together and then A10 helped me with the scrapbook class while L12 learnt how to do a log cabin square. My scrapbook class was great fun, everyone had a different theme in the photos they had brought with them and approached their pages with a different style. They all finished in the time alloted and the pages looked wonderful. A10 and I were kept busy cutting, advising and encouraging everyone.
L12 did a beautiful job on her log cabin square and now a week and a half later she has started on her first log cabin quilt. Some of the classes were taught by teenage girls and others by older women, it was great to see the women of different ages all working together, learning from and encouraging each other. I hope we are invited again.
A cup of…
A friend gave me this cup to me last Saturday. It is to go in my new china cabinet, which the same friend introduced me to, you might say. This friend and I have known each other for a few years but we keep finding new common interests we can delight in or participate in as “partners in crime”.
A month ago my parents returned to Australia after a wonderful two month stay. As a diversion the day they left, my friend invited me to accompany her to a house which had recently been vacated. The owners wanted to sell anything that was still there. I was after furniture for my living room, which has been a furniture free zone for six years. (except when two Lazy Boy recliners visited for a couple of months..). My friend was after china, linens and vintage Christmas tree ornaments. I spied a sideboard and a couple of other pieces I thought might work. She found some beautiful china, and as I looked over her shoulder I commented on the lovely little black cup, thinking that it was unusual to see black in a delicate piece of china. I was not after china, as I have inherited some from both my grandmothers. We made our mental lists and left to talk to our husbands about how and when to pick up our finds.
When we did go back the sideboard was even nicer than I had remembered and while watching my friend carefully chose her cups and saucers I looked at the cabinet they were sitting in. It would be perfect, only one place for it, it was the same colour as the sideboard, could I have it? Yes. How had I missed it last time? I was quite excited and my friend was just as excited as I was. My living room would be devoid of furniture no longer.
So as I wait for the cabinet to be put in its place and made level I am so grateful for my friend who wished to cheer me up, encouraged me to buy the pieces I’d become smitten with and then rejoiced with me over the thought of filling them and using them in my home.
Something Warm
In her book, Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge, Mem Fox tells the story of a little boy who tries to help his dear old friend find her memory. He questions a group of elderly folk and one of them tells him a memory is “something warm, my boy, something warm.” The weather right now makes me wish for something warm. The mornings are quite cold and the leaves are constantly falling. We have a back yard full of leaves and even when four of us raked for an hour we hardly made a dent.
I have been making soup. Last week I made Corn Chowder, inspired by the wonderful fish chowder we had when we visited Grand Manan in August. This week I made Pea and Ham and then yesterday Beef and Barley with Mushrooms. The Corn Chowder and Beef and Barley were from Delicious & Dependable Slow Cooker Recipes.
I have also been knitting a sweater. I have not knitted in years, ever since I spent ten years knitting a sweater for my boyfriend/fiance/husband. I am determined to finish a little more quickly this time and it looks promising. I began on August 21st and have finished the front, the back and one sleeve. After the sweater I am hoping to knit scarves or a poncho, hopefully something fluffy.
Tulip Festival
Here is a very low quality mp3 recording of L11’s String Orchestra performing at the Tulip Cafe in Ottawa’s Tulip Festival. It was made on a Samsung MP3 player which is really only made for recording voice. The weather was cool but at least there was no rain.
Children who talk about Narnia…
get gradually balmier and balmier. Well, that is what Eustace says in “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” and if it is true the children in this house would be the balmiest children around. Narnia has been a favourite topic in this family for a while but the arrival of the movie and the radio theatre cds A9 received for Christmas has increased its popularity immensely. A9, in particular, answers questions and gives directions in the manner of a true queen of Narnia. I have read the series several times and a few years ago I read it to the girls and they have since read some of the books themselves. We went to see the movie during the Christmas break and enjoyed it. I was in two minds about seeing it as I have clear pictures in my head of what it should look like and I was afraid Disney would not be true to the story. I was impressed, as were the girls at how close to the text it was. There were some amusing additions and some unnecessary dramatic additions eg. white water rafting on ice! but no huge diversions.
a9 says: I especially liked the movie. My favorite character was Lucy. I was reading a magazine which had things about the movie, and I read that the character who played Edmund had been taught a dance with a green furry creature and he had not known that it was being filmed so is now wondering if it might turn up as a special feature on the dvd. I’ve also been looking for websites about the movie and I found a few movie trailers
l11 says: “Aslan is on the move!”(The Lion,the Witch and the Wardrobe) I recently went to see the new Narnia movie and thoroughly enjoyed it. My favorite characters were the Pevensie children and the White Witch. I also thought the fauns, centaurs and other mythical creatures were very well done. I have been listening to A9’s Focus on the Family Narnia CDs as well and really enjoy them. A9 and I are constantly reciting scenes from them. “For Narnia and the north!”(The Horse and his Boy)
Sentient 