Minimuscular Monday

minimuscular ~ tiny

There were a couple of days that were nicely foggy last week, and I do love me a good fog, but it was also kind of rainy so I didn’t want to risk my good camera by going out and taking pictures. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

The picture above is one I took last summer, of our neighbourhood fox waiting patiently for the daughter to take his picture. After we put the big fence up last year we didn’t see much of the foxes in our backyard, but there was a bit of a gap under one part of the fence at the back where they could crawl under and then leave again by a different gap. However, the neighbour behind us jammed some bricks in the gap so no more wildlife save for squirrels.

UPS took pity on me and delivered five more Nora Roberts books over the course of last week and so far I’ve only read one of them. I’m trying to make them last because I prefer the trade size paperbacks and once I’m done them I’ll have to start getting the mass market editions.

As my nod to the holiday weekend where tradition says it’s time to start gardening, I planted some bulbs on Saturday. I had more black lilies than I realized and planted a cluster in the center of the little square garden with the lamp post in it in the front, and two clusters behind the fountain in the pond garden at the back. The rest I gave to the daughter when they stopped by – the grandbaby wanted to show off her bike-riding prowess and biked all the way over to our house (with her parents and the dog walking alongside).

I also had some miniature iris that went in a corner of the front garden as well as the pond garden, something I can’t remember the name of that I have my doubts will grow at all because the bulbs seemed dried out to me, and four bleeding hearts spaced along the back fence.

If it stops raining again, maybe I’ll think about getting the vegetable garden started this week. At least the peas and beans.

Manubrial Monday

manubrial ~ shaped like a handle

So . . . how’s everybody doing these days? Getting tired of your own company? Need help digging the hole for the bodies? Those voices in your head starting to make sense?

There seems to be two kinds of people observing the social distancing: those who are taking advantage of all this time to themselves and getting an amazing amount of stuff done, and those who . . . don’t. Needless to say, I fall into the latter category.

What have I been doing lately?

Yesterday I baked – brownies, mini chocolate chip banana muffins, and a pumpkin bread. And I gave them all away because I’ve gained seven pounds since the pandemic started. And because I’m diabetic and shouldn’t eat a lot of that stuff.

I ran out of Nora Roberts books to read last Monday or maybe it was Tuesday. Yes, I have other stuff to read, but I’m kind of stuck on Nora these days. I had two more books that were supposed to arrive on Thursday, but there’s no sign of them yet.

I took a day in front of the TV to work on my stitchery. I started an appliqué piece when I was able to meet with the stitchery group, and I mustered up some renewed interest in it. It’s more fabric art than appliqué to my mind, and I have ideas for two or three more pieces.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and the daughter and her family dropped by. They parked in the driveway so we could have a socially distant visit. We froze our butts off, but it was worth it. I didn’t get hugs, but I did get to cuddle my first grandbaby, their dog Bishop. Wasn’t quite the same, but it was better than nothing.

The picture at the top of this post is of my gifts. Aren’t they beautiful? The pressed flowers were all from their garden (I put the sheet of white paper behind it to show them off a little better). And I love the felt flowers too – they did Aunt Florence proud (an aunt we used to do a lot of crafts with).

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to. How about you?

Multiflorous Monday

multiflorous ~ many-flowered

So here’s the thing. If you thought my life was boring before COVID-19, that was nothing compared to now.

Pretty much the only time I leave the house is to grocery shop – which has become more and more of a trial each week. The weather’s been pretty grey and crappy, but we did have one day nice enough to get outside and pick the sticks up off the front and back yard. Still too early to plant anything though, and I have to wonder if the stores are going to be getting any bedding plants in anyway.

The world seems to be divided into two types of people right now: those who follow the rules and observe social distancing, and those who think they’re impervious and the rest of us are making too big a deal out of this. It’s the latter group who need to grow up, pull their heads out of the sand, and start toeing the line or the pandemic will just keep dragging out.

I think the worst part is the uncertainty. As I mentioned on my other blog we have no clue how long this is going to last. Events that had been rescheduled for later in the summer are starting to get cancelled, as are events that had been scheduled for the fall. The government sets a time-line and constantly revises it.

On Saturday the daughter parked in our driveway so we could visit and give the grandbaby her Easter present. While it was nice to see my girls in person, it was hard not being able to give them a hug. We tried to video chat on Sunday for dinner, but the camera in my lap top wouldn’t work. We could see them, but they couldn’t see us. Still, I guess it was better than nothing.

I’ve been trying to keep busy – reading, writing, doing stitchery – and I’ve been watching more T.V. than I used to. I confess I’ve been getting hooked on the home renovation shows: Love It or List It, Love It or List It Vancouver (with properties costing 2 and 3 million dollars – what do these people do for a living?), Flip or Flop . . .

Got lots of books, lots of craft supplies, lots of electricity for my writing gizmos. I will survive, I’m sure.

So will we all.

Monophylletic Monday

monophylletic ~ descended from a common evolutionary ancestor or ancestral group

Just so you know, I’m not enjoying the forced social isolation as much as I thought I would. As a matter of fact, I’m finding it’s a lot like the books we had to read for English class in high school. It’s great when you do it of your own free will, but another thing altogether when you’re forced to.

I can’t say that I’ve been making good use of all this extra time on my hands. Mostly I’ve been reading or playing solitaire on the computer. For variety I’ll do a hidden objects game or on-line jigsaw puzzle. It’s hard to generate motivation when the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Sometimes I muster a little energy to do something constructive though. I’ve been plugging away at my appliqué piece for the Stitchery Guild, but the light’s not so great in the living room/dining room area and I can only work on it when it’s sunny out, which it hasn’t been much lately. But I did finally finish the sweater for the grandbaby.

I had so many problems with it I started calling it ‘the cursed sweater.’ First the darker turquoise I’d chosen for the yoke wasn’t the right weight of yarn, a fact I didn’t realize until it was finished with the ends tucked in.

With a lot of patience and good light (and a great deal of cursing) I was able to unravel the yoke which included the button bands and collar. And I ended up with two extra stitches on my knitting needs. Oh, well. Better two too many than two too few.

Then I had to figure out where the middle of the sweater was again. Not an easy task when you’re working on circular needles. But I figured it out and the new yoke went on fairly quickly. Then I finished it and . . . overlapped the button bands the wrong way and sewed them in place with the button holes on the inside.

*sigh*

And of course I didn’t figure that out until I’d tied up the loose ends and skillfully woven them into the sweater. OMG! I sweated over getting that piece apart again, I tell you what! It taxed my patience but I got apart and sewed it back up, and sewed on the bunny buttons because the grandbaby loves bunnies, and here she is, modeling the finished sweater:

Isn’t she adorable?

And totally worth everything I went through for that sweater.

Melismatic Monday

melismatic ~ florid in melody

How much things have changed in such a short space of time . . .

This time last week the Coronavirus (or COVID-19 if you prefer), was just something that was happening overseas. Didn’t really affect us unless we were travelling. Now it’s a pandemic and we’re pretty much on lock down.

Schools are closed, trips are being cancelled, businesses are closing up . . . the NBA and the NHL have suspended their games, the Juno awards have been cancelled . . . grocery stores are emptying out of stock faster than you can say “toilet paper.” We’ve been told to avoid social gatherings and stay at home whenever possible.

The March Break (which is this week) has been extended by two weeks, coinciding with the closing of many family friendly venues – Neb’s Funworld, the YMCA, the Cobourg Community Centre. Several daycares have closed their doors temporarily as well, which begs the question, what are parents going to do with their kids for three weeks?

For myself, this week’s poetry reading has been cancelled, tai chi classes have been suspended, and I suspect I’ll be getting word any time now that the Stitchery Guild meetings will be suspended.

My normal strategy for the weekly grocery shopping on Fridays is to hit Walmart at 7 a.m. when it opens, then No Frills at 8 a.m. when it opens. Walmart was nightmare. I’ve never seen it so busy, even at Christmas during a half price sale. No Frills was downright terrifying. People were buying non-perishables by the case, and bottled water and paper products (toilet paper, tissues, paper towels) by the cartload.

Seriously, do they really believe buying a year’s worth of toilet paper is going to keep them from getting sick? Wash your hands, people. And stop touching your faces!

Magnetograph Monday

magnetograph ~ instrument for recording measurements of magnetic fields

A funny thing happened to that sweater I was knitting for the grandbaby. The contrast yarn I bought was a lighter weight than the main yarn. The colour was good, but the yoke is kind of . . . stretchy. And the collar (which is made from the heavier, main colour yarn) looked kind of small. And I didn’t notice how bad the overall effect was until I’d completely tied up loose ends and finished it up right.

*sigh*

At the very least I plan to unravel the collar and re-do it in a larger size. At best I’m hoping that if I get the collar off I might be able to unravel the rest of the yoke and re-do it in a different, heavier yarn. But no rush. Spring appears to be here so it won’t be needed until next winter anyway.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

The annual Vintage Clothing Show was on this weekend, and the daughter and I made the pilgrimage up to Toronto to see what treasures they had to offer. This is the second time we’ve gone and it’s turning into kind of a nice mother/daughter tradition.

We got there a lot earlier than the last time, and were glad we did – by the time we broke for lunch it was getting really people-y in there. I found the price discrepancies from vendor to vendor very interesting. Some places seemed reasonable, others bordered on ludicrous.

And speaking of ludicrous, lunch was insane. Our choice was a $7 hotdog or a $9 bagel sandwich. A bottle of water was $4.50. If we had realized how little we had left to see, we would have skipped lunch at the show and walked over to the nearby Starbucks afterwards.

Still, we managed to come away happy. The daughter snagged a gorgeous poufy skirt for a song – apparently the guy selling it couldn’t read his own hand writing. I found a matching jacket and skirt with lots of beadwork and appliqué for a less modest price. They’re a little too fancy to be worn together, in my opinion, but they'll look great with other stuff.

The picture above was taken at the show. The doll heads looked a lot creepier in person than they do in the picture. And yes, those are real ducklings on the bottom left – not live, of course, which made them also creepy.

We came away from our excursion with money left over, so we stopped at the Oshawa Costco on the way home. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this Costco before, it’s the one I found annoying because everything is backwards to the one I’m used to, and the customers are really mean.

Well, now I have a witness. The daughter didn’t like it either. It kind of sucked all the fun out of going to Costco for us. And why go to Costco if you can’t have fun?

All in all, despite Costco, we had a really great day.

Mustelid Monday

mustelid ~ otters, badgers and weasels

I was hoping to have a picture of the grandbaby’s sweater for you today, but as the typing of this post it isn’t quite finished yet. But it’s close, very close. However, it’s a good thing I made it a size larger because it’s a heavy sweater and the long range forecast is for above freezing temperatures. It might be next year before she has a chance to wear it.

Instead the above picture is of the nifty craft case I went all the way to the Peterborough Costco for. The hubby and I saw it last week (?) when we were there and although he urged me to get it, I wasn’t so sure I’d be able to use it. I was thinking stitchery stuff at the time.

But that was before I attended the Stitchery Guild’s appliqué workshop. The pieces we were creating weren’t just appliqué, they were more like fabric art, which included lace and ribbon and assorted doodads. And wouldn’t that craft case come in hand for all that stuff? Of course it would. The only thing that kept me from going earlier in the week for it was the weather. LOL

So Saturday morning I hied me to Costco and bought the case. And since I was in Peterborough anyway, I also stopped at Michaels (you know, the giant craft palace). I honestly didn’t need to stop there because I had more than enough doodads at home to fill the case, but you know how it is. Craft Store.

One of things I scored there was a set of beading needles that had collapsible eyes. I used to do a lot of beadwork – one year for Christmas I beaded dragons on velvet bags for a select group of friends – but it was hard enough to thread those beading needles when I had perfect vision. Now that my vision is much dimmer it’s pretty much impossible, so it’s been a few years since I’ve done any beading. Now, however . . .

Anyway, after a lot of debate I decided to use the case for beadwork and fabric art. I could have used one side for stitchery stuff, but I already have a bag that works for that, and the beading/fabric art stuff seems to just fit together.

The case is nicely compact, but the picture doesn’t do justice to just how much it holds. Each side has two layers, and the dividers are removable so you can make the rows as short or long as you want. My only complaint is that although there are a couple of large compartments, they’re not large enough to hold works in progress.

So . . . in my case you’ll find glass seed beads, sequins, charms, larger glass beads, jewelry hardware, needles, wire, thread, and all my beading odds and ends. Believe it or not, I didn’t fit everything in there – I still have a plastic bin with wooden beads, regular seed beads, cords, beading looms, and bigger, bulkier supplies.

Now the push is on to finish that sweater so I can get at some stitchery. I was off to a slow start with my ideas for the appliqué piece, but now I know exactly how I want to lay it out and how I can enhance it with some beadwork – if those new beading needles work.

And once I’m finished that piece, I have ideas for two larger pieces.

Things are about to get very creative around here.