Public Boat Docks in Seeley's Bay

Sunday, June 26, 2011

CHECK THIS OUT IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!

Like me, I bet your always checking out something new and innovative.  I subscribe to many newsletters, but one of the newsletters I wait in anticipation to receive is the one from The Missouri Star Quilt Co. and once I have time I so enjoy reading the content and visiting the sites. There is always news about some new method or a new tool, something tried and true but brought into the 21st century. So something old is always being reinvented in an easier way.  I just love those quilters who can look at a quilt and reconstruct the pattern in their heads, one or two look sees and their off and reinventing how much simpler they could make that same quilt look even faster with less fuss and muss.
The MISSOURI STAR QUILT CO. in one of those places I love to spend the time I have, I always learn something new and exciting, and often I return to their video tutorials to reinforce something which I needed to refresh which my memory wouldn't allow me to remember...
Yesterdays' newsletter was no exception, and poof, new magic tricks were performed and my brain became animated with thing I could do and quickly, remember, I am one of the text impaired pattern readers!!  I am forever muddling and seeking the help I so desperately need during some of my projects.
In yesterdays' new You tube video tutorial,  Jenny Doan 
Jenny Doan
takes you through the method of how to bind a quilt using your sewing machine! (yes, I realize this is not a new concept, but, for me, it is a new teaching aid which inspired me with how simple the technique was made for me to comprehend.
Thank you Jenny, I learned something new to me, quick, easy and sew much fun.
Another new video tute is The Scrappy Four Patch Quilt, what fun and sew easy!!
If you haven't visited this site, you are in for such a wonderful treat!  You will find everything you need under one roof, as they say, and I am certain if you haven't been there yet, you will after your first visit return time and time again.  They have fantastic deals explain new tools and can even show you how to use that tool and made time to show you in videos.
One tiny aside from the Missouri Star Quilt Co., is my mother, who, while I was having a full day of my own, was out on the town with friends.  I thought she looked so lovely yesterday I just had to take her picture and show her off to you. 
Can you believe, she is 88?  While she suffers from Osteoporosis she manages to look lovely each and every time she goes out in public.  With yesterdays' weather being so gloomy she surely brightened up the day don't you think? 
Oh and just now, my neighbors with the 4 four legged rescued pets were walking past and I couldn't resist a photo. These are the four I dog sat this Friday and Saturday... 
While it is still nice and early, I believe I deserve another cup of coffee and will go back to completing the border I haven't had enough time with this week.
Thank you for stopping by today, I wish you a peaceful and soothing Sunday, don't forget leaving a comment is the only way I will make your acquaintance. 


Saturday, June 25, 2011

Finally

I have been busy and many of my chores have fallen behind and once again I seem not to have managed time very well.   
The weather isn't helping either, I thought this was supposed to be a wonderfully hot and sunny summer, not so, I guess.  The last many days our skies have looked like this  and we are once again expecting thunder, lightning and showers! 
I began my day rather earlier than usual today, first before doing a large bottle recycling job ( A garage filled with three years worth of wine and beer bottles). I had been asked by one of my neighbours to feed, water and walk the dogs, 4 of them, 2 large, one a retreiver type, one a grey hound, and I don't know what breeds the two smallers ones are, but they all needed someone to look after them as their owners got stuck and needed someone to pinch hit, so I did this last night, this morning and will once again do it this evening at supper time if they do not make it back here by then, but, that means I will be interrupting another job I am doing for this afternoon and this evening.  Imagine, these are all rescue dogs, isn't that great?
This week has been productive and fun even though my chores were put on hold.
You may recall my telling you I was a member of the local Lions Club.  This week we finished off our 2nd quarter of the year with more parcels to those Canadian men and women serving in Afghanistan.  Look, we sent another 10 huge parcels filled with a variety of items that simply cannot be hand from home.  From soup to nuts and from shaving gear to shampoo a plethora of goodies and books thrown in for good measure, candies which simply cannot be had over there, gum, instant noodles, coffee, tea bags, pencils, puzzle books, envelopes, writing paper and so very much I simply cannot remember all we crammed into those boxes.  We send out units of 10 boxes each time and this time we pary they will land on the base over there before or on Canada Day, because we put extra's in there for Canada's Birthday celebration.  To date in the past 2 years we have sent 100 boxes, and as we are but a tiny club compared to many in our District, that is a pretty good count.  This Chosen Soldier project is but one of the many causes we serve.All of the liquor and beer bottles we collect for recycling bring us money to take on these wonderful shopping sprees in addition to the other sources of earning money.  
We had alot of fun and we hope our men and women in uniform enjoy the mixed bag of goodies we sent them. 
AND I am finally making progress with that entwined border I was sewing.  It is progressing but slowly, do you ever have one piece that is a challenge to you?
Here are my two lengthwise borders so far.

Next job, washing, after that a stint with a senior neighbour who cannot be left on her own until nine this evening.
I realize I am talking too much, but gee whiz, so very much is going on and this post is just bringing you up to date, I know, more information that you may have wanted?
Thank you so very much for stopping in and catching up on my week with me, I sincerely appreciate the many visitors who stop by, if you have a comment, kindly leave it here, I will be sure to respond. 
Have yourselves a wonderful weekend whats left of it that is.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Entwined Quilt Border

Happy Monday to you all.  My weekend was non productive in that I was away from home both Saturday and Sunday, ahhhhhh the surprise of summer weekends.  This weekend the weather was absolutely perfect, not really a time to be cooped up indoors, wouldn't you agree?
Now that I am back in my sewing corner making myself follow through on the challenge border I set myself to make for the Double Irish Chain quilt I showed you a picture of earlier.  I really believe this Entwined Border will enhance the quilt and like I said before, it also will show the sentiment of friendship between myself and my best friend.  
Having said that I must confess to the high degree of challenge this has set for me. Being visual, it seems I am not visually vigilant enough!  I went to The Quilters Cache as I told you and printed off the border pattern, put together my first of three sets and thought I had done very well, however this morning while looking at my work with fresher eyes, I noticed that I have blundered and done it incorrectly, so, back to the drawing board I went. This is what it is supposed to look like!!!


It might help if I remembered to keep my colors all in the same sequence...This picture courtesy of Sand and Sunshine Blog.  I love this border, now all I have to do it do it properly and make it sing. 
I have taken my completed units apart and am beginning all over again.  Due to my need for visual aids, it might also help if I had planned out my sketch much better.  I have reworked my sketch and am beginning all over again.  Arrrrgh!
DO you have such challenges that face you after believing you have done it well and discover you have not? 
What is it you do, do you leave it as it is or do you take it all apart and begin again?
I would be so interested to hear how you handle those situations where you have discovered a mistake in whatever block or pattern your putting together.
I just bet myself quilters would see the mistake immediately while other non-quilters probably would not notice, but having discovered my mistakes, I would notice and that is to me the most important of all.  Taking it all apart then is the best remedy for me, or as Tim Gunn, (one of my most favorite people in the fashion industry) would say, "Make it work"!  Sew I am making it work, the way the pattern was set forth. 
Blogs are wonderful and those of us who write them are always interested in what others have to say, it is called Feedback!  Do others agree or disagree, are they interested or is the content not so interesting, is there one subject more than another that interest others?  
Please help me out here, if you have a comment, please leave it for me, comments really would be nice and a conversation is always better if entered into with more than just one.
THEA M. was the only person to comment on the "getting my Blog Back celebration giveaway, so THEA M. if you reading, kindly send me your snail mail address so that I might send you your prize, the Quilt Journal.
Thank you for visiting with me today, I wish you a day filled with the blessing of joy in whatever you are seeing or whatever you are doing, may it be JOY.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Muscles, why must they make a person suffer so much?  My 88 year old mum has a pulled muscle in her right hip area and is creating havoc for me!  My dear ole mum refuses to believe her age, but bent over for hours at a time in her garden doesn't seem to fizz on her at all, I have to pull her in for meals and now I must watch her suffer until that pulled muscle mends, ouch, I can feel her pain each and every time she moves.  Getting her into bed was a tad difficult this evening and when she got stuck on her knees up high on that huge queen bed she has I began to laugh and while she was in pain being stuck there, she also laughed until finally she fell over on her side and there she stays for sleep.... I have applied topical pain medication for her, given her a pain tablet and hopefully she'll not have too difficult a night to get through.  My but she looked so funny stuck up high on that bed of hers... even while she was in pain she saw the fun in it too. 
I have been seeking just the perfect border for the Double Irish Chain I have pulled out to be finished, I chose the entwined border from A Quilters Cache.  I am as I have previously told you a visual person, text just doesn't cut it for me (no pun intended).  Marcia Hohn's site is so perfect for visual people such as me.  I am so happy her site makes visual patterns and instructions which are easily followed. 
This quilt border is special, it will add that special meaning and touch to this quilt.  While a Double Irish Chain quilt isn't difficult, it was made 5 years ago as a 60th Birthday gift for my best friend, but, because our 60th birthday plans fell through, I set it aside and never finished it, so, it has to be finished now because I intend to take it with me for her. 
Can you just picture how pretty the Entwined border will make this?  Why Entwined, because our two lives have been entwined with one another since we were tiny children and have been friends our whole lives long.  If God spares us, we'll be friends for many, many more years to come.  
Hopefully once the border is complete, I then must make the very best job of the quilting, and we all know that the quilting is the best part.  Wish me luck everyone, I certainly shall need it. 
Now these stretched stars will also need to be completed.  Wht do you think, should I place all of the stars in one direction, or, leave it the way I have it laid out now?  I have all of the blocks finished, I just have to put it all together and surround it with a nice plain border to that it won't be too busy for the eye. 
I have some nerve waiting until nearly the last moment to complete this quilt too, but, as luck would have it there will be a wedding when I arrive in Holland and I simply cannot go empty handed.  Now I really wish I had a Tin Lizzie, maybe by this time next year I will be the proud owner of one, that is if I save long and hard enough for it.  Then I could give my quilts the real finishing touch all quilts deserve. 
61 sleeps and it will be boarding time for me, so the time I have is crucial.  Unfortunately for me I am also a volunteer and Canada Day is looming, I will be responsible for the Scavenger Hunt as well as my fellow members of the Lions club will  be busy all throughout the day and evening helping everyone to celebrate and enjoy Canada's Birthday. So I will have to double up on my days and get these two quilts finished.  Like I asked you earlier, please wish me luck.
Meanwhile, my mother loves movies, so I managed to get Seasons two and three of "Lark Rise to Candleford", a most enjoyable British series adapted from  Flora Thompson's trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels about the English countryside, published between 1939 and 1943.  If you haven't seen it and your interested in this type of entertainment, I highly recommend it.
Thank you for stopping by and your allowing me to share my life with you, it is so welcome to have someone who isn't my mother to talk to (sigh), I sincerely hope you have a wonderful Saturday. 





Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Diane Sawyer and the HUGE CHALLENGE for us all

I meant to ask those of you who are shoppers and are interested in your economies if you have seen this Special from Diane Sawyer and her Team? It might be quite interesting to take Diane's challenge, mind you I have been buying as local as I can for the last several years, but, in truth, many of the items I seem to be wearing and toting around with me were definitely made in China, Tiwan or Pakastan and Romania, I know because since watching this special that I somehow missed seeing back in February/March that today I began rooting through the hundreds of items in my cupboards! I have made a decision from here on in to practice what it is I think, that if we support our local economies jobs will eventually return and hopefully we will all become contributors to the well being of our Nations.  IT won't be easy and that is an understatement, but, so worth the effort and the trying. 
What triggered this renewed interest?  An e-mail from a friend, so, possibly because it took my friend to REMIND me, I thought I might let you in on it too, possibly your as interested in this as I am?
Enjoy watching this, I hope you might find it worthwhile.

I can't believe it's Wednesday again!

Wow can you believe it is Wednesday Already?  Only 62 sleeps left and then it will be August 17th - why is that date important - well important to me that is, it is the day I make my way to Toronto's International Airport and board my flight to Holland - YIPPEE.
Yesterday my mother was in need of a pick-me-up,  a sort of mental health break so I bundled her into the van and off we set for Watertown, NewYork.
 Lots of sales on the go there and as fortune would have it our Canadian Dollar is a tad higher than the U.S. dollar and so we spent.....My mother at age 88 can shop anyone under any table, she's like the Pink energizer
bunny, she just goes, and goes and goes.  
We left here yesterday at 11:30 a.m. and didn't return until 11:30 p.m. She and I finally had our first great time in over several years. 
She was in her element, "SALE", her favorite and best majic word in the whole vocabulary for her. 
Just About Everything in the Mall was on SALE!
We shopped until I was finally stopped as my back simply wouldn't allow me any more, but it was after 7 and we found a Bob Evans, ate something delicious and hit the road for home, loaded with all of my mothers goodies. She shopped until I dropped!
As tired as I saw her looking (she'd never admit to being tired while shopping) she kept up a steady patter about her purchases and I was entertained all the drive home.  This morning she's trying on all of her new items, making me look once again at each piece and hearing once again just how very much money she saved. 
Not to be outdone, I also purchased some things, after all in 62 sleeps I too will want my purchases with me, to use on my vacation.  I bought an e-reader from Borders, a pair of jeans (hey, a size smaller than last year) and a top, and last but not least, the thing I didn't need but I wanted, a new handbag, is it ever pretty, golden orange, something akin to pumpkin.  Well, I think it is pretty! You be the judge! It will certainly stand out in a crowd!  LOL
I love this golden/orange color
Now, would you like to be entertained?  Take a look see at this You Tube video made by Freddie Gredde, I really believe you will enjoy this, it is a one-man band  by a FANTASTIC great You-Tube video????  I bet you'll really enjoy it.  Here then is the link to FREDDIE GREDDE I know you will enjoy this very much. 
Thank you so much for stopping by today, I hope I have managed to keep you entertained!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

CANCER - READ THIS!

AS many of you who read my blog posts from day to day or from time to time, you will understand I am interested as many of you are in more than just our passion in Quilting.  Therefore, today I am blogging a letter I received from someone I enjoy reading and from time to time he makes me look at myself in a new and different way.  In this letter I received today, it had been such an eye opener and in my opinion of interest to everyone. Here then, is my Blog Post for today.


Today I was offered an opportunity to watch a movie, for free.  I really was skeptical, I really thought ya ya, another something for free probably trying to sell something I didn't want or need.  Truth is I trust the many things I read from Chris Cade and because I do I decided to watch this movie.  Truth too, I had heard of this doctor, named by Chris in his opening letter which offers the reader this free movie and because I do trust the many things I read through Chris I am going to blog his letter.  IF you are in any way shape or form interested in the many facets of CANCER RESEARCH and CANCER TREATMENTS or CANCER CURES I urge you to at least donate close to an hour and watch this free movie, only free for today and tomorrow.  IF you believe I shouldn't offer this as my BLOG Post today, then, by all means, please ignore me today and forget I even mentioned it.  Here for your information then is the letter about the movie which I did watch.  I reserve my comments on my personal point of view after having watched it because I really want you and yours to form their own opinions........  I offer you this letter as the preamble to the actual movie, it is long, but in my humble opinion, very worth the time and effort of reading it and watching the movie.

"My Brother Died From Cancer - 10 Years Ago On This Day"

IMPORTANT... If you know somebody who has cancer, had cancer, or if you have cancer, please read this entire message. There are some important resources (and several links) I want to share with you in addition to my own story...
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the day my older brother died from pancreatic cancer. Throughout this entire year I have been more aware of this than normal. Michael was 34 when he died, and he had a wife and two young children... one of whom was a 4 year old boy at the time.

In a few weeks I will turn 34. I have a 4 year old son.
As I'm sure you can imagine, this year has been a continually humble reminder to me of the preciousness of life.
Michael was a kind, loving, compassionate and strong brother. Out of high school he went into the US Marine Reserves so that he'd have something great to put on his resume. It worked and he quickly started working his way up successfully within the corporate world just like my father did, and just like I eventually did.

Michael had a wonderful sense of humor, always playful, and found balance between his quieter side and his love of social interactions. When I was younger, Michael was both a brother, a friend, and sometimes like a second father. As he got older, Michael was more like a friend, an inspiration, and an example of the kind of person I aspired to become.
Given his phenomenal health, the cancer was a shock to our entire family. "Fortunately," his health qualified him for the most aggressive chemotherapy treatment available. The doctors knew his body could handle it.
Some months later, the doctors were doing the scans and determined that the legions over his body had spread. There was nothing they could do, and he was going to die.
Fortunately, they were wrong.
It turns out that the legions were healing legions... not cancer. He went into full remission, and given the type of cancer he had, that was in and of itself a miracle.
Not only that, he lived life as a miracle. I could see a change in him; a renewed spirit... a reverence for his time hear on Earth. His relationships deepened, his smile broadened, and his heart expanded even further.
He stayed in remission for about a year before the cancer came back more aggressively than before. It was only a few months before he was almost completely incapacitated and confined to his bed. Even then, when I talked with him it was clear he understood everything I was saying and that he was grateful for the presence of all who visited. He couldn't speak with his mouth, but his eyes told me he was still there.
On the day he died, my family was with him. I was inches away, holding his arm, connected during his last breaths. While I don't ever wish the kind of painful death he experienced, I am grateful to have been with him as he passed.
10 years later I reflect further...
Almost everybody I know has lost a loved one due to cancer. Friends, siblings, parents, grandparents, and even their children. My story is not a strange one, it's not even unique. It's surprisingly common.
And I wish I knew then what I know now. I wonder if he might have been saved if the pharmaceutical industries weren't so selfish and profit-driven.
See, it turns out there's been available and ~effective~ NONTOXIC cures for cancer for decades. And while some of them are holistic or spirituality based, very few have the backing of scientific, peer-reviewed studies.
That has changed.
Today you have a chance to make a difference and help this information reach a larger audience.
Back in the 1970's, Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski discovered 'antineoplastons' that attack the harmful cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact. Because of that, antineoplastons have ZERO side-effects, unlike the toxic chemotherapy and radiation treatments that are carcinogenic, destroy the body, and often cause cancer themselves.
In fact, Dr. Burzynski is the first scientist in the history of medicine to cure a brainstem glioma cancer with a 30-50% cure rate, and his research is fully endorsed by Dr. Julian Whitaker. (if you know that name, you know that means something)
There are billions of dollars invested in cancer pharmaceutical research, products, and services... which would be likely be ~replaced~ by Dr. Burzynski's less costly and more effective antineoplaston treatments. To be clear: antineoplastons are still pharmaceutical grade medicine, they're just not toxic like other cancer treatments.
That's why certain "unnamed" powers that be have done everything they can in their power to stop Dr. Burzynski's work from being accepted and used to help heal people. They've tried to jail him, take away his medical license, and used many other tactics to delay and ideally stop antineoplastons from ever reaching the public.
And despite all of their best efforts to stop him, they couldn't. In 2009 Dr. Burzynski completed Phase 2 FDA-supervised clinical trials that have demonstrated the effectiveness of his work.
Now to give you some perspective...
Big pharmaceutical companies can get some new drugs approved by the FDA sometimes within a few months. Dr. Burzynski has been trying for nearly 30 years.
Don't tell me there isn't a conspiracy to keep safe and effective cancer treatments off of the market.
I won't believe you.
There's too much money to be made.
That's why Dr. Burzynski has had to basically do all of his research on a shoestring budget (as compared to the billions that the pharmaceutical industry has access to). While the US government spends on war and supports dirty energy like coal and oil, it cuts education and public benefits and won't allow even a single CENT to go towards Dr. Burzynski's research.
That's insane.
Imagine what further developments in cancer cure research could be made if he was left unhindered to continue this without harassment... and perhaps even received just 1% of the funding that is currently spent on pharmaceutical cancer research?


Here's what you can do...
(1) Watch The 'Burzynski Movie'
A documentary film "Burzynski: The Movie" has been created about Dr. Burzynski's effective treatments and experiences, including his battles with the various entities that have tried to stop him. This movie is now being sold in all 140 Whole Foods stores across the United States.
I've personally connected with the producer and director of the movie, and for today and tomorrow (June 11th and 12th) you can watch it for FREE online:
Click Here Now And Watch It
It's only free for 3 days (June 11th, 12th, and 13th), so please watch it and share it with everybody you know who you think would care about supporting a nontoxic cure for cancer.
And if you're reading this message after the free viewing window has passed, then consider picking up a copy at Whole Foods or on Amazon.
After you watch the movie, write a review of the movie on Amazon (as well as Netflix if you have an account)
To learn more about the movie and stay updated about future calls to action, you can visit the official movie website at BurzynskiMovie.com (click here to visit
).And if you're on Facebook, visit the official movie page and press the 'Like' button (click here to visit).

(2) Share this information with other people.

With so much criticism and lack of scientific evidence of the effectiveness 'alternative' cancer treatements (some of which appear to be effective, such as Gerson therapy and supposedly THC), Dr. Burzynski's antineoplastons present a rery REAL and promising alternative to chemotherapy and radiation.

More people need to know about antineoplastons. More lives can be saved.

Forward this information to anybody you know who wants to help cure cancer.

Share this information on Facebook and Twitter using the links below:

Facebook (Click To Share)

Twitter (Click To Share)



(3) Donate To Patients

Consider making a donation to the patients of the Burzyski Clinic (BurzynskiClinic.com) to help cancer patients and their families afford critical but uninsured medical related expenses through on-line fundraising and direct financial assistance.

Click Here To Donate



(4) Write your legislators, congress people, President, anybody you want to listen

One place you can start easily is with Congressman Jeff Duncan (click here to learn how).

Also find your local congress person, Senator, etc, and write them an email. Here's a sample message you can start with:

Please introduce new legislation making it illegal for any oncologist to not inform any inoperable childhood brain tumor patient of all of the options available to them. Even though Antineoplastons are in FDA-authorized clinical trials, most oncologists refuse to even acknowledge this clinical trial option to their patients. Doing so is highly unethical. Discriminating against one clinical trial option as invalid - it is the same as saying all FDA clinical trials are invalid. Not a single drug on the market today made it to public without a series of FDA - authorized clinical trials. An FDA clinical trial - is an FDA clinical trial, yet in regards to this, it seems the Hippocratic Oath is something to be "negotiable" in the eyes of most oncologists.




Together we can make a difference and help more people heal from cancer with this non-toxic cancer treatment. People have tried to defraud Dr. Burzynski, they've tried to persecute him like the witch hunts, false information is spread about his work being a scam to try and deter people from discovering antineoplastons...

It doesn't have to be that way anymore.

I've done my part to help this information reach more people and save more lives.

Now it's your turn.

Your Partner In Transformation,
Chris Cade
Liberate Your Life

P.S. I am aware there are other natural cancer treatments available, some of which people have experienced amazing healings with. I hesitate to recommend them at this time due to the lack of scientific evidence supporting those approaches. If we want to make a REAL impact then we have to focus our energy in ways that the majority of our world can recognize. Only then can we create the necessary framework by which other alternative cancer treatments will be given the proper resources required to demonstrate their true effectiveness (or lack thereof).



Friday, June 10, 2011

Finally Online Again

One moment it was very hot and very sunny on Wednesday at 4:40 p.m., then, out of nowhere a storm ripped through our region creating havoc.  One moment the sun was in full shine and the next the sky turned a deep purple and opened itself up with high winds and rain like I haven't seen come from the heavens in many, many years.  Here is a link for The Kingston Weathernetwork where, if interested you can see many more photo's and videos.

scarey clouds 2

Posted by: Brandy // Today
Kingston, Ontario // Shot: June 8, 2011
Trees were uprooted, hydro poles no longer stood at attention but were toppled, and hydro power was lost to hundreds of thousands throughout our entire region.
Fortunately, we just needed water to drink and for flushing, because we blessedly didn't trade our propane cook stove in as we were going to for one that was electric...
To say it was unpleasant is an understatement!  Though many of us have now  learned some valuable preparedness lessons here in the Bay.  First lesson, MAKE sure you have a safe environment to wait the storm our with your children and pets should the weather exceed safe levels; second lesson, GET A GENERATOR if for no other purpose than to run your refrigerator/freezer, and heat food and liquid sustenance, and the Third lesson, make sure you find and keep containers of water for flushing and see your local fire hall for drinking water. These are the important lessons first and foremost, the other smaller issues you will have to adapt to depending on the situation. Check in on all of the shut ins and seniors in your area, make sure they're all right and have everything they might needs until power is once again restored. Check for pets to make certain your loving companions are feeling safe and not being driven crazy from the thunder and lightening.   Many Fire Departments in the Region have Drinking Water in Huge jugs to hand out if you do not have drinking water, you should check in your area to determine what measures your local government, police, ambulance and fire departments have in place should an event occur such as the one we just experienced.   I give our Fire Department HIGH KUDOS for the work they did these past few days in dealing with the situations around our Bay.  Toppled trees and hydro poles were the worst hit, but no loss of life or limb recorded in my Town, thank you Creator.
Me, what was I doing during the aftermath of this event?  I was on what I called the FLUSH patrol.  I was delivering first drinking water and then flushing water to those who couldn't get it for themselves.  We have quite a number of shut ins here who could use a little help now and then.  DO you have such people in your neighborhood, if you do, please check on them to make certain they're all doing well.
Now all I have to do is go back to collect all of the buckets and jugs I left everywhere, and, open the doors to my van and let the carpeting in the van dry out, because the water did a lot of sloshing in the back for every curve or bump I encountered.
My beautiful garden is in shambles, the beautiful snowball bush so full with plump snowballs are stripped bare, all of the petals washed away as well by the winds and the rains.  My peonies began blooming and the winds tore them all apart and what the winds left the rains managed to take care of so the peonies which are so very beautiful have taken a sad beating.  I am on my way out to the gardens now to see if I can't tie them up and give them some additional support.
I REALLY must say this about our storms on Wednesday and it is this!  What we experienced is a minor inconvenience and nothing compared to the devastation and damage storms, hurricanes and tornado's and tsunami's have done to other areas on our globe, and for this, I am extremely grateful.  I have but a fraction of the understanding of how devastated those people's in circumstances are from the aftermath of such severe weather around the globe and my prayers are ten thousand fold for them as is my desire to help others.  I hope I live up to my own expectations.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Hey, Do You Have A Bucket List?

This morning when I left the house at 7 a.m. it was chilly, windy and damp,  the sky was overcast most of the day, but, as good fortune would have it, the sun finally made its way through those dark gray clouds around 2:30 this afternoon and it has been out ever since.  I am companion sitting with an elder neighbor while her family is away in Scotland, ahhhhhhhh wonderful, beautiful Scotland, a place which is on par with New Zealand and both are on my bucket list as a must to visit and experience.     New Zealand where the "Lord of The Rings" was filmed with scenes so hauntingly beautiful in the early morning misty light and haunting hills and valleys
which are a must travel to on my Bucket List. 
Do you have a Bucket List?  
I realize we all have projects we have either in progress, or a special quilt pattern we seem to hunger to do, but, this is our passion, but what about that Bucket List, you know, things out of the usual confines of your everyday to day life.  Like, I have a fear of heights, but on my Bucket list I want to climb a high mountain; or, shave off all of my hair, just so that I can feel that wonderful sensation of being bald;
 or,to  visit Dolphins and go swimming with them;

and, do you remember the 1958 movie "South Pacific" with Rossano Brazzi and Mitzi Gaynor and John Kerr (wasn't John Kerr handsome?)  Well on my Bucket list I want to find Bali and visit the spot where "Bloody Mary" played by Juanita Hall sang "Bali High";
 or to visit Noonberg, Austria and Salzburg, Austria where the "Sound Of Music" was filmed and visit that same spot where Julie Andrews sang the opening sound track. 


And visit the painted dessert,
and swim in the Colorado River that flows through the Grand Canyon
revisit my youth and go horseback riding again along a sandy beach
to stay in a cottage up high in the Hebrides of Scotland and 
 walk through Wales, and listen to Welsh choirs,  
 and one of the very most important items on my Bucket list would be to live in a Lighthouse overlooking the ocean, makes no never mind where, just so long as I can have that tiny dwelling all to myself, with room enough for a full sewing room so that I can listen to the crashing waves and watch all of the sunrises and sunsets 
and to be surrounded the entire day with the sounds of the surf as the waves crash against the rocks, this is my one most important wishes of all. 
These then are some of the things which I would ordinarily in my day to day life never do, those are but some of the things I believe I would love to do. Guess I am a closet traveller, though I have always favored Florida's Gulf Coast, I believe I am now ready to let it go and just try out my Bucket List........Sigh.....some day!  
SO do you have a Bucket List, whats on it for you?  I would love to know. Lets begin a BUCKET LIST conversation, it would be a lot of fun to hear what others would like to do just once in their lifetime.   
Thanks for visiting today, I sincerely hope you have enjoyed a stroll through my Bucket List, and that you might share some things on your Bucket List with us.

Friday, June 3, 2011

I Forgot To Tell You

I knew there was something I had forgotten.  It's Anderson Cooper's Birthday today - CNN sure is lucky!  WISH him a happy one today.






Inspirational Gals

When I first began quilting I had no concept of how the internet and this new hobby form I was learning would live side by side.  In the late 80's and early 90's I used the computer only in my place of business, then, along came the desire to work from home and do research.  While doing research I actually began to stumble upon a few  e-commerce quilting sites, and these sites are not the sites of todays' world.  TIME (there is that word again!) has certainly changed the face of the world wide web and relative to those of us who live and breathe quilting.  In my humble opinion,  it has become the thread that binds most of us together.  The fact that most Quilters of Note have embraced this medium is too marvelous for words. The quilting community is alive and flourishing across the entire world.  As I do not consider myself anything other than a Beginner when it comes to quilting, there is so very much I do not know, but, when I do need to learn something or I would like to accomplish a specific task as it relates to the project I wish to undertake or have begun, I have these special ladies I turn to for their knowledge, guidance as well as inspiration.  Like Oprah and Madonna these Quilters have taken hold of their destinies and are steering their own course in Quilting history.  
There is a place that I simply love to visit time and again because of the visual video tutorials at this site and the ease with which they teach the viewer on how to accomplish something new, or something which has been renewed by using a new and improved method.  WHAT am I talking about, I am talking about the Missouri Star Quilt Company! This Blog is fantastic, if you haven't had the pleasure of meeting these ladies, your in for such a special treat!!!
 To be more precise, the video tutorials they so freely provide for people such as myself who are considered to be visual learners.  Their claim, "Everything Quilting Under One Roof" is so very true.  I get lost there when I go, so I go mostly late evenings when I no longer need to wear my  caregiver, cleaning lady, secretarial, companion or chauffeur hats.  When you decide to enter this site, be prepared to spend some time, do it when you won't be distracted.  I find it so very interesting and the video tutorials are the best ever I have seen. Their use of the latest equipment or fabric ideas are simply very inventive and fun!  IF you haven't visited, your missing out.  There is a place for everyone's type of genre, at least it is my humble opinion that this is sew well put together that you simply cannot NOT enjoy your experience there. 
NOW you all know I am a BONNIE HUNTER fan, always have been. Bonnie makes everything easy to understand and shows you how and in my book, she's a talent all unto herself, she's a quilter I have followed for over 12 years and I continue to go back to Bonnie's Quiltville's Quips & Snips over and over again. 
Then there is PAT SLOAN,
Pat is a very busy quilter also, her Blog and her radio show, she manages to keep you well informed and there is always someone special she has as a guest to inspire or motivate you. 
Not just the three mentioned above promote the quilting hobby/industry, there are hundreds more, these are just the special places I cannot help visiting most of the time.  
As most of you who come to visit, you know I love to talk, so my posts are generally a tad too long, but once I get started on a course of conversation I sometimes forget to stop.  I hope you are enjoying your day today. 
**** As a quick note, I would like to say, there are those of you who have made comments, but, like the proverbial dummy these are in the comment section and I never could figure out until today they were there, hiding and not showing up below the posts, nor was I receiving any mail to inform me that I had comments.  To those of you who have commented, I will now see if I can correct the problems I have been having and cross my fingers that in future, if I have followed the rules for setting comments correctly, that these will begin to make their appearance known after today.  For the moment, please accept my apologies for not checking this section hidden inside the makings of these Blogger posts and be assured, I will respond to you and thank you for the time you took to make your comments known to me.****


SEE I told you I talk too much!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Why Does Time Fly To?

Seemingly I am not having fun, so why is time flying?  Isn't that what is said? "Time flies when your having fun"!  It just seems like yesterday was Friday and I was planning a not too busy weekend, now here it is, Wednesday and I haven't done anything of note with quilting since last week, but darn it all I sure have done a lot of seeming everything but nothing you can see that is tangible.  Why is that this happens, it happened to us all at some time or other during our much too busy lives. 
Finally I found time to find myself a good priced flight for my vacation this year and I am off to Holland for two months for a much needed sanity check.  There is sits, the plane that will fly me home and bring me back again when my vacation ends.


I plan on taking in all of my Birth country with fresh eyes as I haven't been home since the early 90's and even then it wasn't for an extended stay so there was no time to really see it and rekindle memories from my youth.  Now I shall have "Time".
This time there are family and friends with whom I may visit and take time to get reacquainted, plus I will have time to visit all of the museums I didn't have time for in the past, just to wander at will with no "time" constraints will be a pleasure and then to view as many of the Masters as I can, including my most favorite of The Masters, Vermeer.  To see The Milkmaid once again will be another wish fulfilled.  A Museum Card can be purchased which will allow you entrance into any one of the 600 Museums which are throughout Holland.




Museum Card

 I will have time to wander through, the gardens and the flower growers fields to ooh and aah over again. 
Keukenhof

Keukenhof








 as well as artisans of all types including market stalls where there is a plethora of goods to choose from, just take a look at these little houses.  


Market Stall selling Tiny Dutch Architectural Houses
I have some of these which are fridge magnets, but I intend to buy a few more and make a magnetic board with all of them and have it as a picture in my sewing room.
Begijnhof
A revisit to the Begijnhof is definitely on my itinerary, this is the 14th century residential hideaway deep in the city of Amsterdam, built for a sisterhood at that time and as time has progressed it was turned into a place for single women to live in, and to this day this is a peaceful and beautiful place to be in the heart of a busy metropolitan city and where the noise of the city is quieted by the walls of the houses.
Then I really want to investigate as many of the Dutch Quilt Shops as I might find, here at the Passionate Quilter you can read all about one of her trips to Holland and read what she discovered, and I plan to follow in her footsteps as it applies to the "Dutch" quilt shops.   YAHOO quilt shops are now plentiful in Holland, whereas in the 80's and 90's there were but a very few, lots of fabric shops but not many dedicated to quilters...now there are so many and the question is, will I manage to find them all?  I especially want to find and buy the book titled  A History of Dutch Quilts by An Moonen, that should be a welcome read and study.
I think you get the idea of my panned vacation and I do so hope if the opportunity ever arises where you might have the chance to visit Europe that you will also have the time to visit my native land, small, compact, jammed full of people and so very warm and welcoming, I know you will fall in love with the country because the welcome you receive there will be genuine.
Thank you for your patience in waiting for me to post again, but, as I said in the beginning, TIME just has not been very friendly to me lately.  I do hope you will post a comment, no matter where you live, tell me about your summer, as you can see I have mine all planned....