Close to my Heart

Something new

I've been back from Vancouver for a few days now, and it's great to be home to Joe and the kitties.  I had a lovely time in Vancouver, and was busy the whole time I was there.  One thing that was clear this time though, is that I'm not a city girl at all, I found that the noise and the busy-ness really bothered me.  The city is a great place to visit, lots to see and do, but it is great to come home to a quieter environment.  I have another week off work still, which will be used as a staycation.  It will be nice and relaxing to stay closer to home, I anticipate lots of time knitting on the patio, sipping an ice tea and listening to my Ipod.

On my last day in Vancouver, I had the pleasure of visiting Sweet Georgia Yarns. I have admired Felicia's work on line for a few years now, and it was lovely to meet her and see her studio in person.  Unfortunately, her stock was a little low, but there was still lots of lovely yarns to admire, and of course some came home with me:

 

The roving on the top is a bamboo blend that I'm really looking forward to spinning up.  The two skeins are sock yarn, however I think much too nice to be stuck on feet, maybe a shawl or something?

While at Sweet Georgia, I found my birthday present from Joe.  My birthday is today, so I am now able to officially use it.  Joe and I often buy are own gifts from each other, however the rule is that we are not allowed to use them to the actual occasion rolls around.

 

I've been wanting a loom for a while now, probably since before I even started spinning, if the truth be known.  I chose this inexpensive starter loom, the Schacht Cricket, as a way to see if weaving is for me or not.  If it is, I will upgrade to something a little bigger and more versatile.  The price of this lovely Schacht loom was very good, and it has received excellent reviews too.  I'm happy to have entered the Schacht fold, I know so many people that rave over their products!

We are currently experiencing a bit of a heat wave, and by the time I cleared off the kitchen table today, I was too hot and tired to set the thing up.  Soon though!  For now I'm grabbing my knitting and heading out to the patio.  Speaking of the patio, check out this dragonfly that Joe found out there this morning:

Summer Scenery

Yesterday, Joe and I made a brief trip to the beach, as he wanted to gather some small rocks to decorate our fish pond.  It was one of those beautiful summer days that the mountains and ocean are absolutely spectacular.  I was glad that I thought to bring the camera along, and while Joe gathered rocks, I gathered pictures.  Here's a few of the best ones (click to enlarge for the complete scenic experience):

 

 

Cherries

I've just switched over to the newest version of typepad, I signed up to be a beta tester.  I thought I'd write a quick post to see any big differences.

I'm getting excited for my summer vacation, which all going well will start at 4:30 on Friday.  There will be some relaxing stay-cation time, but also some time in Vancouver visiting my sister, as well as another yarn crawl with Uli.  It was so much fun last year, and I'm really looking forward to getting together with her again.

In the meantime, Joe picked an ice cream bucket of cherries yesterday:

He figures there may be as much as two more buckets left to pick.  We have had our tree for several years now, but this is the first year we've had a decent crop.  Very very tasty too. While a cherry pie is very yummy and probably my favourite pie (I remember awesome sour cherry pies my Mom used to make), I love eating them by the bowl full too. Cherries are definitely my very favourite fruit, and I even think they are almost as good as chocolate. Mmmmm.

EDIT for grammar and clarity, I was evidently half asleep when I originally wrote this post.

Summer Love

Another weekend has come and gone and it's back to work today.  After this week I'm on vacation for three, can't wait!

This summer has been the one that our yard is looking better than ever, thanks to Joe, and we learned that our thumbs do after all have some green in them.  On Saturday we added some pretty pink petunias to the mix:

The sunflowers we purchased last week are now repotted and line our driveway:

The cherries will be picked this week, they aren't QUITE ripe but we need to get them before the birds do!

The tomatoes are growing well:

And the summer of the barbecue continues, with a new gas grill:

I know I've mentioned it before, but I LOVE summer!

Coordination

During the early hours of this morning, we experienced a thunder and lightening storm like nothing else we have ever experienced living in this part of the country.  The thunder crashes were so loud and seemed so close, that the house and bed literally shook.  At least one cat went under the bed and did not emerge until I got up this morning, not even when Joe awoke earlier for work.  It also hailed a bit as well, and I immediately began to worry about my plants, because I really want this to be the year that we successfully grow our own veggies.  I later was relieved to see that all was well, phew!

Prior to the thunder storm, it was a beautiful summer weekend.  Saturday morning we were up and out of the house by 7 AM, went out for breakfast, then drove to Courtenay for the Farmer's Market.  I've been a bit disappointed at the lack of actual fresh produce at our own market this summer so decided to try the one in our neigbour town.  Much better, we scored lots of great stuff.  On the way back home, we stopped at a couple garage sales, but found mostly junk.  Joe however spotted this fun handmade wooden duck (for a whole 50 cents!) that now flies in our patio area.

I just noticed that the storm broke one of the strings attached to his wing, but nothing that a little surgery can't fix.

I was able to get in a bit of patio knitting this weekend, always a relaxing treat.  As I looked down at my new boxy bag from ZigZag Stitches, I had a thought:

Would it be reasonable to always coordinate the colours of one's knitting bag with the item being knitted?  Probably not (even for the bag ho that I am!) and I honestly did not realize how coordinated my current sock WIP was to my new bag when I threw it in there the other day.  Really!

July 1

First off, Happy to my fellow Canadians. To me the country I love is all about Diversity.  I love that my country has people of many cultures, religions, and lifestyles, a Vertical Mosaic as I learned many years ago in Sociology class, and this is something that I reflect upon every July 1.

We have had a low key day today.  We did a few errands and had a quiet barbecue at home.  Often I attend our local Canada Day Celebrations, however this year I enjoyed staying closer to home and spending time with my husband.

Remember the attempt at growing veggies I showed you a few posts back?  Well, so far so good:

With sunny warm temps in the forecast for the next little while, I'm cautiously optimisitc we will be enjoying fresh veggies in a few weeks.  Fingers crossed......

Green or Black?

Despite having fathers who grew up on Prairie farms, neither Joe or I have very green thumbs.  We have tried to garden a few times, always failing dismally.  The last spot we had our garden in now hosts our fish pond and patio area.  My Dad continues to have an awesome garden, and we are able to enjoy his produce as often as we can connect during the summer months.  I also love the Farmer's Market for fresh garden veggies.  Nevertheless, there is still something in me that wants to grow my own produce, so I recently acquired these three tomato plant pots and one pepper pot from the Farmer's Market.

Hopefully our black thumbs will not prevail and we'll be able to enjoy some yummy tomatoes and peppers this summer.  Wish us luck!

Otherwise, I will count on enjoying the spoils from Dad's garden, already he has brought us some rhubarb which turned into pie yesterday:

Mom's rhubarb custard pie recipe, yum! Recipe in the extended entry.

WWKIP Day

Our weather for the World Wide Knit in Public Day could not have been more perfect, nor could the beach side venue of Rebecca Spit.  I love the summer ferry ride over to Quadra Island, and rather than stay in my car, I  grabbed my camera and headed to the front  of the boat. 

After a quick stop at Fun Knits, I headed to the lovely beach location.  Here's where we were:

And our view:

If we walked across the parking lot a few feet, we were treated to this spectacular mountain view:

The obligatory WIP shot:

And approaching Campbell River on the ferry trip home:

Even after 18 years living here, I'm still in awe of the surrounding beauty, and welcome any opportunity to photograph it.  There are even more pictures over in my Shutterfly album.

Truly a lovely day: outdoors, sunshine, friends and knitting.

I Love Summer!

We have had unseasonably hot temps this week, and I absolutely love it!  I love summer, the warm weather that makes me happier and gives me more energy.  Heck, I even like the clothes better, and always have a larger summer wardrobe than I do winter.

The last couple days, I've taken myself on a little getaway during my lunch break.  It's been nice to get away by myself, to kick back, eat my lunch, knit, and listen to my i Pod.  I even remembered my camera yesterday and took some pictures.  I feel fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of the world, on the ocean and surrounded by mountains.

This view shows the ferry that I now associate with visiting my favourite LYS, Fun Knits.

My current sock WIP got in on the action too:

And of course another thing I like about summer is new shoes and new jewelery, the anklet is a lovely chainmaille piece from Creations by Uli.

So there you have it, My Favourite Thing is Summer.

Signs of summer

Hanging baskets add some lovely colour to the outside of our house:

Yummy grilled Sunday dinner:

And a very summery looking new dishcloth:

The weather here has been absolutely superb.  I've been able to hang laundry outside to dry, and have spent lots of time out on the patio.  More unseasonably warm temps in the work week ahead, and although I'd rather be outside than stuck in the office, I do have more energy and am in a better mood when the sun is shining.

Ah, summer!