I know it's been a while. Life has exploded since September started. I don't even really have time to be writing this, but I'm going to anyway! Here's a quick run down of what's been going on:

• We had a great time visiting with a couple friends from university who came up to attend the U2 concert last week. It's fun being a tourist in your own city!
• Work has gone absolutely crazy. My boss is steps away from having a breakdown, and the rest of us aren't too far behind. There's just too much to do and not enough time to get it all done. But we have to get it done anyway.
• I now have to carry a blackberry around with me wherever I go, so that I'm always available should a work-related emergency come up. Boy am I thrilled about that.
• My brother is getting married in less than 2 weeks. Last week he sent me an email asking me to play the piano for the wedding. We still haven't picked the music :)
• TC has started back at school, and will be teaching a Shakespeare course for the winter semester. Which means he's now Professor TC. At least for 3 months.
• It's been so busy that I haven't gotten groceries in over 3 weeks, other than picking up a necessity here and there.
• I'm almost done the mystery crochet project that I've been working on, which means I'll hopefully be able to post pictures of it soon.
• Our home church has started up for the year, so we've been attending various elders' meetings, training sessions, and kick-off events. It's good to get back into things though.

Right now the pace of our life has picked up to the point where I'm starting to feel like all I can do is dig in and hang on for dear life. The good thing is that I know this will pass, so I'm not as stressed out as I would have been a few years ago. In the meantime, I'm going to keep trying to laugh at life and enjoy the ride.

A little something to help with the laughter:

Weekend of Wonderful-ness :)

I had the most wonderful weekend! In fact, it was almost perfect. I got up nice and early on Saturday and headed out to our local farmer's market, where I chatted with the vendors and did some leisurely shopping before it got too crowded. The weather was perfect for it - sunny and warm with a nice fresh morning breeze - and I came home with two bags full of goodies, which included...

...blueberries that had been picked the day before, local Ontario cherries, organic sweet potatoes (and a couple of 'Oh Henry' potatoes that the vendor threw in because he thought I'd like them - I love markets!), fresh peas in the pod that I shelled when I got home, a dozen organic duck eggs, and a head of crisp leaf-y lettuce. My favourite purchase of the morning, though, was this:

A bouquet of fresh lavendar. It's now in my living room, and I spent all weekend sniffing it's lovely fragrance. It may eventually end up in some soap, but I haven't decided on that yet. For now I'm enjoying it right where it is :)

Once I'd come home and put all of my market finds away, I ran out to pick up the other groceries we'd need for this week, and started on the many loads of laundry that have been piling up because we'd been busy the past couple of weekends. By that time, it had clouded over and become ominously dark, and just after I had brought up the first load of dry clothes, the skies opened up in a torrential downpour that lasted all afternoon and most of the evening.

Have I mentioned before that I absolutely love rainstorms? I especially love them on days when all I'm doing is puttering around the house. It was perfect! I had some rolls in the oven, and a chicken ready to go in once the rolls were done, which made the house smell divinely comfortable. And between running downstairs to shift loads of laundry, I sat out on the sun-porch in my big comfy obesan chair, wrapped in an afghan and reading a good book while listening to the wind and rain. Heaven!

After supper, which included the aforementioned chicken and rolls, as well as the newly shelled peas and sweet potatoes, TC and I played a few rounds of Carcassonne. He'd found the game, with all of its pieces, at a local thrift store earlier last week for $1, and it has turned out to be one of our favourite games.

Sunday, we were off to church and lunch with friends, and then in the afternoon, while it continued to rain, I made these cookies with the left-over sweet potatoes. They're super yummy, so I have to share the recipe with all of you :)

Sweet Potato Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed sweet potato (you can also use canned pumpkin puree if that's
what you have on hand)
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
1 - 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time until well blended. Mix in the vanilla and sweet potato. Combine the remaining ingredients and add to the wet mixture. Drop by tablespoonful onto greased or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets, and bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

I also spent quite a bit of time playing my piano and working on an afghan that is going to be absolutely gorgeous when it's done - I'm not going to post any pictures of it until then, which shouldn't take too awfully long, since I'm already about 1/6th of the way there.

All in all, it was an ideal weekend, and now it's Monday and I'm feeling wonderfully rested and refreshed :)

Eye of the Storm

Life hasn't been completely swept up in the craziness of adoption.

This is my current crafty project. I fell in love with the yarn - it's so soft and fuzzy, and masculine enough for the men in my family who wouldn't be caught dead in something that's not an earth tone. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was destined to become a scarf. It's also the first thing I've knit (knitted?) on my new birch needles, and I don't think I'll be able to go back to metal or plastic. The yarn glides so beautifully, with just the right amount of hold so that stitches aren't slipping off.

A batch of cinnamon soap that is currently about 2 weeks into the curing process. My sunporch smells glorious! At least when the landlord's son who lives out back isn't "relaxing" in the evenings with his smouldering herb of choice.

The highlight of this past weekend, other than finishing the training course?

We went to see Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood (of Whose Line Is It Anyway? fame) perform an improv comedy show on Saturday night. I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time - and did we ever need it!

And so life carries on in the midst of the whirlwind.

Yay - it's summer!

What a lovely weekend! It was the first one that has felt like a summer weekend, which is my favourite kind :) We were able to get outside and enjoy the warm sunshine, attend a friend's baptism, as well the birthday party for our little friend H who turns 2 today, and still manage to get some stuff done around the house.

One of the first things we did was to give TC a haircut. We recently purchased a razor for $30 so that I can cut his hair at home rather than having him go to the hairdresser every 3 weeks. The end result:

Not too bad for a first attempt, I think (though he doesn't really look all that enthused about it, does he?). We have determined that next time I'll leave it longer on the top, and I need to go a little easier around the ears, but all in all we were very pleased. And in two more cuts, we'll have paid for the razor :)

I also made some yummy apple-cinnamon muffins. I'd post the recipe, but I don't have it with me right now. It's from this book, though, which I have mixed feelings about recommending. It supposedly has 250 muffin recipes, but I've noticed that some of the recipes are actually identical. For example, there are 2 banana chocolate chip muffin recipes - one called Banana Chocolate Chip, and the other Chocolate Chip and Banana. The difference in the recipes? One uses metric measurements and the other imperial. All of the recipes that I've tried from the book have been very good, but I don't like to support that kind of sneakiness.

On Saturday morning, we went for a walk and came home with this little guy from our local florist. I have no idea what he is, but isn't he adorable? I wanted a little plant to have on my desk at work, but needed something that doesn't require a whole lot of sunlight, so the florist recommended him. I'm really hoping I manage not to kill him.

We also picked up this hanging geranium, at TC's request, to put in our sunporch. I love the bright, cheery red - geraniums are such happy looking flowers, don't you think?

Last but not least, we stopped at our local hardware store to pick up some magnetic tape so that I could finish making these fridge magnets. Aren't they cute? They're a birthday gift for my future sister-in-law, and since she lives in a different province I had the extra challenge of finding a gift that met my gift-giving resolution requirements and could be sent through the mail. These fit the bill rather nicely, I think :)

That's pretty much the weekend in review. I'm hoping to get the rest of our France pics up this week, but my land we took a lot of pictures in Paris! I don't want to subject you to 30 pictures of Notre Dame from every possible angle, so it's taking me a little while to sort through and select the highlights. They'll be coming soon!

Check and Check :)

I'm always so much more productive when I take the time to make a list! Check out all I've managed to get done already:

16. Charge the batteries for our camera so I can start taking pictures again! √

Isn't this tree gorgeous? It's right across the street from me, and I love walking by it every day on my way to and from work. It's always the first to bloom every spring - does anyone know what kind of tree it is?

1. Re-pot my houseplants that have outgrown their current homes. √

This was fun! The trickiest part was re-potting the samona (top right) without getting pricked by its thorns, but it was well worth the risk just to be able to play in the dirt :)

2. Pick up the clothes that have erupted all over the floor and wash them. √

Despite appearances, I'm not quite done this one yet - there's still one load to be folded. But when the second-last load came out of the dryer at 11:30 last night, I had to throw in the towel and go to bed. TC will (hopefully) get the last one done before he heads out this morning, though, so I'm counting it as done.

18. Randomly select winner of mystery gift from previous post and send the gift. √

Except I haven't sent the gift yet :) Austen, if you'll email your address to bloomingpatterns at gmail dot com, I'll get it in the mail asap. Thank you all for your wonderful book and author suggestions - I'm looking forward to some good reading in the next little while.

4. Order a shampoo bar. √

The wonderfully talented and generous Sherrie of Birch Bark Soap fame has offered to send me a shampoo bar to try. I can't wait - thank you so much Sherrie! Her soaps are amazing, so be sure to check out her etsy shop and order a few :)

12. Get milk. √

15. Book a massage at the spa. √

Done and done. Not bad for a little less than a day, eh?

To Do This Week:

1. Re-pot my houseplants that have outgrown their current homes.
2. Pick up the clothes that have erupted all over the floor and wash them.
3. Listen to old mix tapes and determine if they're worth keeping.
4. Order a shampoo bar - Sherrie, do you make those? Or know someone who does? I want to try one to see if they work.
5. Order some books from Chapters with my gift certificate (thanks for all the wonderful suggestions, folks!).
6. Plan crocheting lesson for a friend who wants to make a baby afghan.
7. Start making list of what to pack for our upcoming trip to France (17 days and counting...).
8. Arrange for someone to cover my shift in the nursery the Sunday we're away.
9. Buy a pile of non-electric pencil sharpeners. Did you know that many African children become infected with HIV because the only thing they have to sharpen their pencils with is their father's old razor? A friend is going to Africa next week and has asked everyone to bring in as many pencil sharpeners as we can.
10. Pick up one more skein of yarn to finally finish the latticework afghan.
11. Photocopy some sheet music and return the originals to their owner (I know, I know - I'm a criminal).
12. Get milk.
13. Look into sources of local, preferably organic produce this summer.
14. Come up with an idea for celebrating mother's day that doesn't require buying gifts (any suggestions?).
15. Book a massage at the spa.
16. Charge the batteries for our camera so I can start taking pictures again!
17. Call the folks.
18. Randomly select winner of mystery gift from previous post and send the gift.

That ought to keep me occupied! Have you all been out enjoying the glorious spring, even summer weather? TC and I went for a walk last night to pick up the soil for item #1, and it was lovely! The grass is green, the trees all have leaves, and some have started to blossom; daffodils and pansies and tulips are everywhere - it's a beautiful time of year.

Along the way to the hardware store, TC got ice cream while I got some sour gummie bears, which reminded me of all the summers I managed to beg a dollar from my mom to spend on penny candy at the local convenience store. Good times! We got home exhausted, TC from carrying 10 lbs of dirt for half an hour, and me from forgetting that it was 30 degrees out and over-dressing.

It's a warm, rainy day today - the kind that makes the earth smell delicious, and the worms come out to play on the sidewalks. A puddle-jumping kind of day. I'm going to have to find one on my way home :)

Tuesday Recap

Only thing that made me smile = Having TC call me at work just to tell me he loves me.

Least stressful task accomplished = Going to the dentist to have 3 holes drilled into my teeth and then filled.

Most challenging task accomplished = Trying to eat supper with half of my mouth and all of my tongue completely frozen.

Lesson learned vicariously = Don't vent frustration by posting violent threats to co-workers on facebook, especially if some of those co-workers are your facebook friends and can read said post.

Discouraging realization = I misread the pattern for a crocheting project I'm currently working on while commuting. Had to frog half of it.

Amount of holy-crap-you-want-that-done-by-when? work done = Not nearly enough.

I can't wait for this week to be over.

(On an unrelated note, why is it that when I have lots of time I can't think of anything to post, but when I have no time, all kinds of ideas pop into my head and I feel the almost uncontrollable urge to blog?)

Curtains, Crafts and Cussedness

Don't you just love tulips? We had an almost perfect spring day here in TO on Saturday, and let me tell you, I took full advantage of it! TC was gone for most of the day, which provided the perfect opportunity to get so much done...after going for a little walk to McD's for some breakfast and people watching, of course :)

The biggest project that I accomplished was to take down, wash, dry, iron and rehang all of our curtains, which hasn't been done since we first moved in almost four years ago (it's at times like this that I really miss having a clothesline). I must have spent about 6 hours ironing on Saturday afternoon, but it was worth it. Incidently, did you know that prolonged sessions of ironing can give you blisters? Fun fact.

Between ironing and waiting for the next load of laundry to finish, I finally got around to taking some pictures of the various crafty things I've been up to. This is the batch of vanilla soap I made last weekend, which is now curing out on the sunporch. It smells so good, I can't wait to try it!

This hat has been the bane of my existence for the past two months. It's a lovely design, and I quite like the look of it, but the pattern was way off in terms of size. I used the recommended yarn and the correct needle size, and when I followed the pattern exactly, ended up with a tiny hat that fits a baby, not the "average lady's head" as it claimed. I made some alterations, and version 2.0 was wide enough, but too short. This is version 3.0, and it's just right. I guess I should probably start swatching.

My Jaywalker socks, which I finished a little while ago but haven't posted about because I hadn't gotten around to taking pictures yet. I love them - they're extremely pretty and very comfy. Plus it's supremely satisfying to wear something that you've made yourself :)

I also did some major organizing of my craft supplies - moving all the leftover yarn from various projects into storage, sorting through the collection of patterns, and getting rid of the ones that, realistically, I'll never use. Then I sat down and made a list of all the people I need to give gifts to this year, and decided what I'd be making or giving them that would fit the criteria of my gifting resolution. It's looking like there will be no shortage of projects to work on between now and December 31st :)

If I ever finish the cussed top-stitching afghan, that is.

Dreams and Drudgery

I really need to dig out the camera and get some pictures up! Life has been trundling along pretty much non-stop for the last little while, so my efforts here have been less than they could be :) Most of my free time is spent working on the Latticework Afghan that I'm making as a wedding present for some friends who got married over a month ago. This sucker is taking forever! The top-stitching is super-pretty, but it means that you're essentially making 2 afghans, one stitched on top of the the other. It will get done, though, sooner or later (probably later).

I'm also starting to dream about what I'm going to try to grow in my little garden this year. Last year's garden was a complete disaster. Every plant was destroyed by some type of bug - the lettuce by aphids, the beans by an unidentified black bug that hung on the underside of the leaves, and everything else by spider mites. All I managed to harvest was 3 tiny tomatoes and a few stalks of swiss chard. I threw out all the soil/mulch/etc. and left the pots out in the unheated sun porch all winter, so I'm hoping that, with a good washing, any remaining creepy-crawlies will be taken care of. And I'll be buying sanitized soil this year.

I love the idea of growing my own food, but I seem to have a rather well developed black thumb. I need to find some hardy plants that do well in containers. Maybe just an herb garden this year? Except for TC's jalapenos. Or a mix of veggies and flowers? Herbs and flowers? What do you think?

Homemade Goodness - for you!

I first read about this over on Sherrie's blog, and have since seen it in a couple of other places and I want in! I'm always looking for an excuse to start a new project :)

So here are the rules - The first 5 people who respond to this post will get something hand made by me: it will be my choice, but will, hopefully, be something you can use or enjoy for its aesthetic merits. I won't guarantee that you will love it ~ but I sure hope you do! I also promise to mail my handmade gift to you before the end of the year (December 31, 2009) or sooner.

To participate, you must "Pay It Forward" by posting your own hand made giveaway on your blog. Then put together something to be sent out as 5 surprises of your own. These surprises can be anything ~ a piece of art, a photo, a poem ~ whatever you choose.

Now I'll just wait for the comments to come rolling in! If you're one of the first five to comment, please e-mail me your mailing address (bloomingpatterns [at] gmail [dot] com), and my gift to you will go in the mail sometime in the next 9 months!

HIvje' vo' Quch

Whew! The week is finally over, and the work situation is now somewhat under control - at least enough so that I can relax and enjoy the weekend :) Why is it that crazy days always seem to wait until I'm overtired to hit? Come to think of it, there's probably a correlation there. Anyhoo, it's my own fault that I'm so tired. A friend of mine hosts a games night every Thursday, and it's always a ton of fun, so I'm usually pretty wired by the time I get home which is late enough to begin with.

They're a fun crowd, and quite unique. Last night the conversation (between myself and 3 guys) ranged from an upcoming "Klingon-meets-Batman" costume party, to an art installation/performance recently enacted in Manchester, to the supreme mediocre-ness of the Leafs, to a rather well-informed discussion of different sorts of tea. I love it! One of them showed us this video, and since it tickled my fancy I thought I'd share it with you. Have a great weekend folks!

Crafting Conundrum

I think that a change may be in order. Perhaps.

What kind of change, do you ask? I will tell you.

I need to do something to bring my crafting under control. It has ballooned a bit beyond what I can handle at the moment.

It is now generally known among my circle of friends and family that I love to knit and/or crochet, and that I'm good at it. It's true - I do and I am. That's not the problem.

Some of those friends and family have begun asking if I'd be able to make them something. Again, I have no problem with this. I really love to do it. My response has always been a positive one - all I ask is that they cover the cost of the yarn necessary for whatever project they've selected.

The problem is that I've now been inundated with enough of these requests that, in addition to the projects that I'm doing for my own purposes (gifts, etc.), I have no time to do anything else. And I'm falling behind on some of the time sensitive projects, like the afghan I'm trying (in vain) to get finished in time for a wedding next weekend. I will probably have to give them a gift I.O.U. - it won't be the first time. But that puts me behind for the next project that's due. And where do I fit in the projects that don't have a specific due date but are important nonetheless?

I realize that this isn't the end of the world. And I really do want to keep making things for the people I care about. However, I do have a full-time job that I need to keep to pay the bills since I don't think I'd be able to make a living on knitting/crocheting without charging way more than most people are willing to pay. And it's usually a labour of love for me anyway, so I wouldn't want to charge more than the cost of the materials.

And I don't want to tell people that I can't make them that hat, scarf, pair of mittens, etc., since I truly can - it just may not be right away.

So what am I going to change to improve the situation, you might be asking?

I have no idea.

Any suggestions?

Crafty Goodness...

I realized the other day that it's been a while since I've updated you on all the crafty doings round these here parts. I'd like to say it was an oversight, but I've simply been too lazy to take the pictures, download them to my computer and then upload them here. After a wonderfully relaxing and fun-filled weekend spent crafting and spending time with TC, I finally got around to it. Ready? Off we go...

This is part of an afghan that I'm currently working on. It's done with a lot of top-stitching, which means a lot of ends to darn in, which is why it seems to be taking a long time to get it done. I love how it looks, though, so I'll keep plugging away at it. I always like to have one or two big projects on the go that I can work on while I'm between smaller projects.

One such project was this tam that I was originally hoping would fit me, but alas! I used a lighter weight yarn than the pattern called for, and the result was a hat for a toddler. It's still pretty cute, though.

Isn't this yarn just gorgeous? I fell in love with it in the store, and brought it home to knit into a scarf for myself since my current scarf, which I've worn for almost 10 years, has started to discolour around the neck. All I need to do now is block it to keep the sides from curling in - I can't wait! It's so soft and warm and cozy. I'm also working on a hat to match made from a yarn the colour of the dark blue-green in the scarf. Here's hoping it fits this time!

And last but not least, I made these Christmas potholders for my mom as part of her present. I know she doesn't read my blog on her own (the internet is still pretty much a mystery to her), so I'm not too worried about posting them here, but just in case - Dad, if you're reading this, don't show it to Mum until after Christmas :)

I'm also still knitting away at the Jaywalker socks that I started back in the summer. I put them on hiatus for a while, since I was starting to see them in my sleep! I'll probably break them back out once I've finished my hat.

And that's basically it on the crafting front!

Resolution Recap - part 3

Resolution #3: Fun - I want to cross one of the things off of my 'to-do-before-I-die' list this year, whether it's going on a ride in a hot-air balloon, having a glass of wine at an outdoor cafe in Paris, or one of the many other things on the list.

Check. One of the things that I had on my list was to have a spa day, and back in March, thanks to my wonderful hubby, I did. It was a lot of fun, but I won't go into great detail because I already did that here.

I also had a great deal of fun visiting with our friends JP & KP this weekend. They came to Toronto for a conference at which JP was presenting and stayed with us. We managed somehow to get a lot accomplished and yet still have a blast :) On Saturday, while JP was at his conference and TC was at school, KP and I got groceries, made brownies, baked bread, roasted a chicken, and made a batch of grapefruit-scented soap with calendula petals (so pretty) all before the boys came home. Very domestic, non? Then we played some games and watched a couple of episodes from the BBC's Planet Earth series, an early Christmas present for TC. Oh. My. Goodness. What an amazing series. If you ever have the opportunity, it's definitely worth checking out.

Also worth checking out - the sermon that our teaching pastor gave this Sunday. I don't normally make unsolicited recommendations in this area, but if you're anything like me, every Christmas season you experience a lot of guilt and/or confusion about the best way to celebrate the season. Our church is dedicating the next few weeks to a series called Don't Drink the Kool-Aid: Exposing the Lies Our Culture Tells Us, and yesterday's lesson was entitled "Lie #1: Christmas is for Giving." I found it really helpful, since the point wasn't to condemn people for how they celebrate Christmas, but to make us aware of the different aspects at work in the process and the choices that we have. You can listen to it online here or download the podcast here.

In Review...

Do you remember those socks that I started way back in July? I finished them this past weekend - yay! They're not perfect (I still haven't nailed the 'finish-off-the-toe' thing), but for a first attempt at sock-making, I'm immensely pleased with them :)

We actually did quite a bit over the weekend, come to think of it. Friday was spent with some friends from Calgary who were in town at a part of the city known as the Distillery District - one of my new favourite parts of Toronto. Check out this picture from their official website:

Very Dickensian, don't you think? Of course it was daytime when we were there, and there were no Christmas lights, but there was an Art Fair and my new favourite store - Soma Chocolate. Mmm...all you have to do is go in the store and breathe and you get your chocolate fix. They make it all right there (you can watch them do it) and it is soooo good!

I need to stop thinking about it, though, or I won't be able to avoid sweets this month. So far so good, by the way. As of Monday morning I haven't touched anything that might be classified as 'dessert' (which, for me, is a pretty extensive list). 27 more days to go...

Anyhoo, on Saturday we made one of our tri-annual trips to Wal-mart (that horribly addictive place) and came home with so much stuff (I console myself that none of it was useless - we actually did need all of it). I won't bore you with all the details, but I did spend September & October's yarn budget for an afghan that I'm excited about. Another awesome find:

That's the first of my Jaywalker socks with the Fleece Artist Seawool, which isn't what I got at Wal-mart. See the bag that it's sitting on? We've been needing a new set of sheets, and the ones we bought came wrapped in that bag rather than in plastic. I think it's rather cute - it's now my knitting tote for the subway. Hooray for reuseable packaging!

Sunday and Monday were spent visiting, relaxing, knitting (see above) and making a batch of lavendar soap, which I'll show you once it's out of the mold. All in all, the weekend was a perfect blend of activity and inactivity. Don't you just love long weekends?

Fall Organizing

Everyone has heard of 'spring cleaning'. After a long winter shut up indoors, out come the cleaning supplies and everything gets a good scrubbing while the windows and doors are flung open to let in the fresh spring air. It's a ritual performed by households all over the northern part of the hemisphere, including my own and probably yours!

What I've just come to realize, though, is that for me there is a counterpart to the spring cleaning ritual - 'fall organizing'. Every year, as soon as that crispness hits the air, I begin to feel the need to get my life in order. Closets and cupboards get emptied, sorted and organized. The filing cabinet, with its myriad of paperwork, is given a once-over and reams of stuff is sent off to be shredded and recycled.

So far this year, all of my organizational zeal has been focused on my crafting stuff. With some wonderful results! I have now condensed and downsized the contents of 2 giant storage tubs into 1 giant storage tub. How, you may ask, was this miraculous feat accomplished?

To begin, I pulled out all of my scrap yarn - a rather sizeable collection of leftovers. I then channeled all my crafting energies into completeing a scrap yarn afghan that I have been working on for 5 years. It felt wonderful to finally have it done, but I still had a huge amount of scrap yarn to use up, so...

...I started working on another afghan - this one not quite as stylish, but definitely colourful! Right now I've used up about 90% of the scraps, so it's almost done.

I was also able to give away this afghan to some friends of ours who just got married this weekend. And I've made the commitment that I will not be buying any more yarn until I've used up the rest of my stash.

That being said, before I made that commitment, I had stopped by a local yarn store that's having an inventory sale for the month of August where if you pay cash, you get 10% off and they pay the tax. How could I not buy something? So I picked up a skein of Fleece Artist Sea Wool, which is going to make a lovely pair of Jaywalker socks. But not until I finish all my WIPs!

Crafty updates...

Remember that yarn I told you I bought in Yarmouth? Well, I'm loving it. It's such an earthy yarn, if that makes sense (it's Briggs & Little Tuffy in forest green). And I'm really enjoying the making of my first pair of socks. Check out the progress I've made so far:

Not bad, if I do say so myself! I've just started making the heel and I'm rather excited that it's actually looking somewhat sock-ish :) Blogless Annie has been wonderfully helpful, answering all my knitting-related questions, since I'm very much a newbie knitter.

I also bought some yarn in Saint John while we were at the city market. My mum wanted me to make her a scarf, so she picked out the yarn and I brought it home with me. And here it is:

The pictures don't show it very well, but it's actually kind of sparkly. And it's wonderfully soft, at least partly because of the pattern, which is very open.

I'll tell you one thing, though. After winding these two skeins of yarn into balls, I've decided that I would really like to get ahold of one of these and one of these, in that order!

Hello Yarmouth!

At long last, here are the pictures from our vacation - or at least the Yarmouth half of it :) They aren't an exhaustive account of the trip, but they definitely hit most of the highlights!

One evening we went for a walk with our friends Blogless Annie and M. I love the fact that you don't really need sidewalks in rural Nova Scotia :)

Some pretty scenery:

Does anyone know what kind of flower this is? This one was standing all by itself in a sea of green just off a back road behind the in-laws' house. Isn't it gorgeous?

I like this picture because it shows how foggy it was that night. It was pretty foggy almost the entire time we were in Yarmouth, which was ever so appropriate :) This little stream bed was part of TC's tour of his childhood haunts.

Then we went on a treasure hunt, and found...

A peanut butter jar, shoved down inside the middle of a log in the middle of the woods behind the in-laws' house.

Apparently, people with GPS's run about the countryside with a set of co-ordinates for these caches, and once they find them they take a 'treasure' from the cache and put a new one in along witha little note. Pretty neat, I think! We didn't take anything, but we left a coffee coupon and a hair elastic and signed the little log book.

This is a lovely place to buy yarn and soap-making supplies in downtown Yarmouth, where I bought some gorgeous wool yarn and the needles to attempt knitting my first pair of socks (thanks for all your help Blogless Annie!), as well as some dirt cheap essential oils.

The rest of the time we spent out at 'the camp', which in Ontarian is called 'the cottage'. It's a beautiful spot...

TC went for a swim...and then a little visitor waddled up on the lawn...

What a cute little duck! After I took this picture, she came back with her 6 little ducklings - so cute! I didn't get any pictures of them, though.

Our last night in Yarmouth was the MIL's birthday, so we had a little shindig at the camp for her, which ended with some fireworks which we picked up a local grocery store.

Next stop: New Brunswick!

Movie vs. Book?

As you may have noticed, my new Book du Jour is the Maltese Falcon, and can I just say that I'm thoroughly enjoying it? I love the description of the main character, private eye Sam Spade, who "looked rather pleasantly like a blond satan." I guess the casting execs decided that a "blond satan" wouldn't sell very well as a hero in the movie version, which starred Humphrey Bogart.

Which made me think of all the other book/movie combinations and the differences that exist between the two mediums. How many of the changes that are made when the books are turned into movies are actually necessary? Would the Wizard of Oz have been less successful if Dorothy's slippers had been made of silver instead of ruby? Or the Lord of the Rings if Frodo had been 40-ish?

But then, some movies have actually improved on the books they were based on, such as the Princess Bride (My apologies to any fans of the book, but having all the characters die or be captured at the end is just plain wrong!). Others, of course, have done the opposite and ruined the story (i.e. the Golden Compass - fabulous book, horrible movie!).

I recognize some changes are necessary, since there is indeed a significant difference in what can be done with a 2-hour movie and a 350-page book, but I'm always a little leery of going to see a movie if I've already read the book. There have been far more failures than successes as far as I'm concerned.

Wedding season has arrived!

Sorry for the lack of postings recently. We're currently in one of those busy phases, which will hopefully calm down a bit after all the couples in our home church finish getting married and all the activities we're part of finish up their 'end-of-year' festivities. So, mid-June-ish. I'm looking forward to the slower pace of summer, even though I'll be working throughout.

This weekend was spent at the first of three weddings this summer - a couple from our home church who met online. My favourite part about the wedding? The groom's face through the entire ceremony, and most of the reception, was covered with a great big beaming goofy grin :) The reception was held at the Old Mill Inn & Spa (more so the inn than the spa, of course), which is a huge and exquisitely beautiful spot, surrounded by gardens galore and located next to a meandering river, which on the day we were there was covered in flower petals from the trees that were blossoming everywhere - so pretty! Unfortunately, we forgot to take our camera, so there are no pictures...sorry!

I did remember to snap this shot before we left, though. I made a set of dishtowels and dishclothes for the wedding gift, which I wrapped in this gorgeous (and completely recycleable) paper that I got at Walmart (I'm weak, I know).

We didn't get home until rather late, and because I haven't been sleeping very well lately (stupid neck!), I slept in on Sunday and just lazed around for most of the day. About the only productive thing I did this weekend was fold the 2 loads of laundry that have been sitting around since Friday. And you know what? I'm okay with that :)