November 1st

All Saints Day.  In case you didn't know that, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints_Day  -- but y'all probably know that already!

It was a very quiet All Hallows Eve yesterday.  No trick or treaters - not allowed in my apartment building - and no fireworks in my neighbourhood.  Miss Boots approved of the peace!

Finally heard the dreaded "S word" (snow) in our local weather forecast ... possibly middle of next week.  Knew it was going to happen soon, but I'm really enjoying the autumn leaves and hate to see that end!

One of my most favourite fall activities ...
Scuffing through fallen leaves!

 Here's another favourite thing ...

... spotting cute little lemon yellow cars!
(I don't drive anymore, but I could have
been persuaded to drive one of these!)

 This one NOT one of my favourite things ...

... spotting these window washers going up UP UP
the side of a downtown building ... made me quite
QUEAZY!

Can you tell I don't have anything terribly new or exciting to blog about this week????

Socks and Shoes

Yup.  My feet are in 'em.

Hear that faint voice?
That's my muffled toes trying to yell "No!  No!  Not 8 months of foot wear again!"

 As much as I dislike colder weather necessitating socks and shoes, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the autumn colours!  I swear I could die this winter and go out with a smile on my face thinking "it was the most beautiful autumn ever"!

That's my morning bus ... waiting for me!
LOVE the colours behind the bus shelter!

Just look at the amazing colours running down the centre of the avenue!  Same kind of tree, but each one unique!

And the size of the wild rose hips!  Wow!

It's been very foggy the past 10 days or so.
This was a fairly clear day - some days it's been like pea soup, you could barely see beyond your own nose!

The last rose(s) of summer?
Even these roses are spectacular in colour!

 On an entirely different topic, I thought I lost Miss Boots this past week!  Let me tell you, I was just HEART SICK!  I just plain do NOT want to imagine life without Miss Boots!

This is our balcony railing.
Those are the frozen remains of a late Morning Glory vine on the right.

This is our balcony railing ... and the balcony railing belonging to the apartment next door to us. 
That stucco wall between the two railings is 10 inches thick.
That's like ... um ... 25 centimeters in Metricspeak?

 You need to remember that our apartment is 3 floors up ... as in a LONG WAYS DOWN should you happen to fall!

You also need to remember that Miss Boots is an indoor kitty who has regular "manicures" to keep her claws short and my furniture in one piece.

Miss Boots and I were both out on the balcony about 8:30 pm, enjoying a last cup of tea and surveying "The Queendom" to make sure all was peaceful for the night, when my phone rang.  It happened THIS fast ... 3 steps inside to pick up the phone and I heard a frantic scrambling ... turned my head and NO CAT!

I grabbed my flashlight and peered over the balcony railing ... expecting to see a broken kitty lying on the ground ... but NO CAT!  So I ran downstairs (in my jammies and flip flops), around to the back of the building, thinking she was so scared that she just RAN in whatever direction she landed, and thinking about the pair of fox and the bear that frequents the green belt behind our building that would enjoy a quick snack of domestic kitty!

I spent an entire hour (in my jammies and flip flops) peering into every bush, every clump of grass, calling and calling ... and NO CAT!  Finally, with frozen toes and tears, I headed back in.  The hopeful part of me thought MAYBE she didn't fall, that she was still on our balcony, maybe hiding under the BBQ, so I shone the flashlight up the side of the building ... AND HEARD A VERY PLAINTIVE LITTLE meow.  It took a while, but I finally caught the reflection of her big green eyes in the balcony next door ... so I raced back upstairs, out onto our balcony, and CLIMBED ONTO OUR BALCONY RAILING.  No, I wasn't THINKING ... I was on adrenaline "must rescue kitty" mode!  I know, I know!  No lectures please!

She was crouched back against the wall, and NO amount of calling or cajoling was convincing her to come anywhere near the balcony railing!  Naturally, or maybe fortunately, the neighbours were not home ... and being Canadian Thanksgiving, might not be home for several more hours.  I didn't know if she was hurt, but I knew I couldn't leave her there.  Eventually, I managed to swing one of my dining room chairs over onto the neighbouring balcony and then coaxed her up onto the chair.  Once on the chair I could reach around that 10 inch stucco wall to grab her and bring her back.  Then I had one heck of a time retrieving my chair!  It was about that point that I realized I was hanging off my balcony railing (in my jammies and flip flops) 3 floors above the ground!  And I'm scared of heights!

"Not going out there.  Nope.  Not EVER again!"

 A week has gone by, and Miss Boots is still rather uninterested in the balcony.  She wasn't seriously injured ... just one scraped paw pad, probably from trying to catch a grip on the stucco.  No hu-moms were injured either.  Phew!

Since Miss Boots became an EVEN MORE INDOOR cat this past week, she decided the best place to be was in the hu-mom's lap.  And what can be better than a hu-mom's lap?  Why, a hu-mom's lap underneath some cozy knitting!  With her ... ahem ... "assistance", we finished this 72 inch long kid mohair and silk shawl.  It's hanging over a curtain rod in this picture ... I spritzed it generously to block it and bring up the fuzzy halo of the mohair.  I've already given it away, but I think I want one for myself now.

Have a great week y'all!  Enjoy the autumn colours ... and keep your cats safe!

Casual Friday

So what's YOUR thoughts on casual summer wear in the office???  As I type this (am at work - shh! - it's supposed to be my day off!) I'm wearing shorts and flip flops.  Respectable knee-length shorts, mind!  And I won't be here all day.  We have all adopted casual Friday wear, and would like to do this year round.  So far, no clients have complained.  In fact, a few have actually commented that our office feels very friendly because we're not all in "suits"!

How many of you remember when we called flip flops "thongs"???  I have to watch I don't say "thongs" when referring to summer footwear ... or risk giggles and funny looks.

I know at least one of you lurking blog readers is going to text me about being in the office on my day off.  Let's just say if I'm HERE, I'm NOT at the yarn or fabric store ...

16 degrees Celsius temperature here and climbing rapidly toward the high 20s -- that's about 85 Fahrenheit, I think.  Good day to be near a cool fan! 

Now departing for Sevilla, Spain ...

Yes, really.  Well, really IN MY MIND!  Remember, I did say it was going to be an INNOVATIVE vacation!  If you want to travel along with me, check out http://www.knittingmywayaroundtheworld.blogspot.ca/
If you're not into knitting socks with a truly global flavour, I won't bore you with my imaginative travels here.  However, if you ARE into knitting socks ... or travelling ... I heartily invite you to join me!  Bring your knitting needles ... we'll knit our way around the world together in our minds!

And in other news ...

When was the last time you ate this???

Celery sticks with Cheez Whiz used to be fancy food in our house ... the kind of "gourmet" appies reserved for company and special occasions.  I had me an urge for that kind of food over the weekend ... do you ever get urges for something from your childhood like that?  If so, what?  If I had gone all out, I would have had me some radish roses and green onion curls in a bowl of ice water too!

It's a wee bit warm here at the moment ...


That's 28 degrees Celsius here in Canada.
I'm a child of the 1950s ... I still think in Fahrenheit.

 Perhaps that's what got me thinking about company and special occasion meals ... I think most of the visitors my family entertained when I was growing up arrived in the hottest part of summer.  Dinner ... we called it supper ... generally included a big plate of sliced "cukes and tommy-toes" (cucumbers and tomatoes) from our garden.  My family always had an enormous garden.  I kind of miss that ... although I do currently have lettuce and green onions growing on my balcony (if Mizz Bootz would leave them alone!) 

Those childhood company and special occasion meals also included individual glasses of icy cold orange Tang. Did you drink that stuff?  Was it even remotely good for us?  Why on earth did the adults in my family think that stuff belonged in the fancy foods and bevvies department?

Naturally, plenty of mashed potatoes, fried chicken (also grown in our back yard), gravy, and biscuits filled out those supper menus.  Who eats biscuits with their meals these days?  I miss biscuits too!  We ate them WITH our meal, then ate them AFTER supper as dessert ... warm, with real Quebec Maple Syrup on very special occasions (my Dad was born and raised in Quebec's Eastern townships, and his family provided at least one container of "down home" Maple Syrup every year).  Or with home-made jam on less special occasions.  If there were any left, we ate them cold as a snack, or the next morning for breakfast, but leftover biscuits didn't happen very often.

Dang!  Now I want some biscuits to go with my celery!

"Me?  Move?  Nuh uh!  It's too hot to move!
I'm going to lay right here until sundown!"

 I'm with The Bootz on that idea!  And I certainly hope there's no company coming ... cuz it's much too hot to fry chicken, boil potatoes, and bake biscuits!  Stay cool, y'all!

Getting excited!

July 3 today ... 3 more sleeps (until launching off on my innovative European vacation)!  Hope you're going to follow my adventures!

So how was YOUR long weekend?

Cloudy / rainy here.

 The Boots and I enjoyed balcony time together and caught up on our reading.

"Hey!  Get your thumb outta the way ...
I'm still on that page!"

Sometimes I really need a couple of quiet days to just hang out on the balcony with La Feline.  It recharges my batteries!

I did manage to get myself dressed and out once over the weekend ... took myself on a Saturday night movie date. What a waste of money and time! "That's My Boy" ... an Adam Sandler thing. I find Adam Sandler's brand of humor thoroughly obnoxious. Had I realized he was in it, I would NOT have bothered ... I bought my ticket based on a brief synopsis about "a teenaged father reuniting with his grown son" ... thought it sounded like an interesting story line. NOT!  I have to admit, however, inflicting this movie on myself was my own fault.  Usually I take the time to check out movie trailers on line and read multiple reviews before heading out to the theatre.  That will teach me not to be spontaneous (in the movie-going department)!



Then, just to add insult to injury on Saturday, I missed the last bus of the evening and ended up WALKING HOME. I don't mind an hour long walk, but after NOT enjoying a movie date with myself, wasn't such a happy camper. Of course, once I got home, I was AWAKE and energized ... not a good state to be in after 11 pm!



I guess The Boots was too busy reading (and snuggling) to cause further gardening havoc.

What's left of our lettuce is growing well ...
I'll re-seed the middle of this pot AGAIN this week
(shhh!  Don't tell Bootsie!)

I have no idea what this happy little plant is
in the planters on my balcony railing ...
but it is sure PURTY!!!

I just heard there's a weekly Scrabble thing happening at our local book store ... YES!  I've been feeling Scrabble deficient lately.

Cheers!

End of June

Our province has been experiencing sporadic but significant rain and spring run-off at the same time, so there are floods and danger of floods all over the place.  My heart goes out to anyone who is negatively impacted by rising waters.  I remember catfish swimming in the ditch beside our driveway when I was a little girl, and that was scary enough!  (Later, we found dead catfish in our alfalfa field ... my Dad figured they tried to take an overland route back to the river cuz our alfalfa field wasn't ever under water.)

Although there have been homes evacuated around our city, Miss Boots and I are safe and dry as we live well uphill of any running water.  The rain combined with some great sunshine has contributed to blooms on my balcony!

Planter boxes on the balcony railings.
(Yes, I know ... that date stamp thing is wrong
... yet again!)

These little geraniums are the MOST VIViD
and brilliant happy SCARLET!

 Other stuff is growing well too ...

Thanks to my 'kitty deflectors', the Sweet
Peas are finally prospering!

The Parsley and Thyme is finally producing
enough to contribute to my kitchen.

Even the Sunflowers are starting
to shoot up!

 Yes, I overplanted ... that's way too many Sunflowers for one plant pot.  But there was a reason ...

... a very good reason like "WHERE DID ALL THE LETTUCE SPROUTS GO?"

Hmmm ... wreckage ...

"Whaddya mean 'DID I DIG UP THE LETTUCE AGAIN'?
I'm GARDENING here ... don't you get that, hu-mum?"

"Now PUSS OFF!  Cuz I'm going to have a NAP
in my garden!"

 Life with La Feline is sure never dull!

So I've been having fun planning my innovative European vacation.  Departure date is Friday July 6!

I had a tough time decided exactly where to start, and finally settled on SPAIN.  I've been brushing up on my Espanol in preparation ... ¿Dónde está el baño?  Cuánto cuestan estas agujas de tejer?  ... I'll be blogging as I travel, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, I have a CRAZY work week happening ... 2 staff members away on holidays at the same time (who was IDJIT that allowed THAT to happen?!?!?!), a Board meeting, a monthly newsletter to get out, and so on.  If i didn't already, now I REALLY NEED A VACATION!

Happy July Long Weekend, y'all!

Rainy week

Rain and more rain ...

I know ... forgot to reset the date stamp AGAIN!

... not terribly pleasant on the tootsies (when one is too stupid/stubborn to put real shoes on ...)!  But that's okay, cuz I'm planning a European vacation!  Yup, I'm going to do some travelling next month ... in an innovative way, of course.  Will blog more about my itinerary once my plans are solidified.  STAY TUNED!  (I can hardly wait ...)

In the meantime, I found some more interesting trees and shrubs ...

 These scraggly pines looked like they were sprouting PINEAPPLES ... quite remarkable.

 I don't know what this sad little specimen is, but it's blooms were attractive.

Apparently I did not look very attractive yesterday morning.  It was raining, so I had my pink rain jacket on.  I never really cared what colour it was ... it was waterproof and cheap when I bought it in Vancouver, and it has served me well for quite a few years now.  I'm not sure if it was the rain jacket (pink) that drew that woman's attention, or my purse (emerald green), or my (wet) sandals (brown), or my skirt (navy and cream / tropical floral print) ... anyway, she laughed aloud and said I looked like a THRIFT STORE REJECT!  The nerve!  She did make me laugh tho.  I DO spend very little time dressing all "matchy matchy" ...

We Haz Bloomz!

Last Thursday afternoon on my way to a work-related presentation, I happened to walk down a street that is not usually included in my regular travels.  It was a blossomly lovely experience!  So I felt obligated to share ...

What a delicious fragrance!

pls ignore date stamp ...
i haz a mental block against
remembering to change it
when i recharge the camera's battery ...

Oh so pretty!

I don't like the smell of lilacs,
but the new blossom clusters are such a nice colour!

A few trees in blossom is probably no big news to folks in other parts of the world, but it is exciting to me ... only a week had passed since our last snow showers!  Here in "the north" (which is really the geographical centre of the province of BC, not the FAR north), it feels like spring/summer will NEVER get here, then you blink once and IT ALREADY ARRIVED!

Over the weekend, I also found blossomly loveliness in a few other places around and about my own neighbourhood ...

This tree (my apartment building is behind)
isn't the nicest shaped specimen ...
it was run over by a truck two years ago ...
poor thing ...
but the blossoms are SO PINK!

They look so nice ... a long row of them
right down the middle of the street!

These poor beauties are drooping
from the effects of an unexpected rain storm ...
So was I ... I got caught several blocks away from home
and without a sweater or jacket!

I have no idea what this prickly little bush is ...
but the blooms are interesting!

Real good crop of these indestructible beauties!
(They're going to populate the earth
along with cockroaches and earwigs
after the nuclear holocaust ...)
My Dad used to batter and deep fry the blooms ...
yummy!
We also ate the new greens in salad ...
double yummy!

There is a short cut that I often take on my way home which runs behind two churches, across a green belt, and comes out right beside my apartment building.  Here is the entrance to that short cut path ...

It was about 8:45-ish in the evening when I snapped the picture above.  There was a big steaming pile of VERY fresh bear poop at the other end of this path ... I didn't hang around to take a picture of THAT!  Didn't see the bear that left the "deposit", but guess I'll stay away from this short cut on any early morning / late evening walks now!  Foolish of me to walk there at that hour ... I knew there had been a bear in the neighbourhood just a few days earlier.  Mizz Bootz was quite excited to see it from our balcony!  She spent an hour racing between our bedroom window and our balcony door trying to see it again after it disappeared, and was "chattering" and gnashing her teeth like a deranged Siamese cat all the while!

Here is the cross-stitch picture of the winged lion I have been working on.  Now that I've "de-stressed" myself, I'm finding it hard to focus on this project!  I know ... totally weird ... I can focus on counted cross stitch when I'm over-tired and over-stressed, but not when I'm relaxed and healthy!

This past week has been graduation/convocation time for a variety of people in my work and personal life.  I was delighted to attend one of the ceremonies at UNBC as "rent-a-mom" for one of this year's graduates.  Being back around the academic community makes me wish I was a university student again.  Maybe I will be ... I haven't totally abandoned ideas of completing my Master's degree ... but for now, I'm enjoying a non-academic Aromatherapy program (in my spare time).

Do you have a "bucket list"?  My list of things I want to do/learn/experience before I die is SO LONG that I'm either going to run out of lifetime or have to live to 120+ to accomplish everything!  I think I should retire soon so I can devote more time to my bucket list!

Fish Sticks and Counted Cross-Stitch

I had a weird experience last week.  I had a 'fish sticks' moment.  I don't quite understand it ... so perhaps you can help me?  Let me explain ...

The last three weeks (well, all year, but especially the last three weeks) have been extra long and busy at work.  On the May 5 / 6 weekend, I facilitated a 'Retreat and Refresh' weekend for some of our volunteers (senior peer counsellors) ... which I really enjoyed preparing for and doing, BUT it was two very full and mentally-intense days on top of three long weeks without a proper weekend break in sight.  I was so tired by the end of that Sunday, I couldn't sleep.  The little hamster in my head just kept running and running on its little wheel ... all the while screaming 'I need to sleep!  I need to sleep!'.  This is not normally a problem for me.  It has been said (by insomniac partners) that I could easily be sold with a 100% guarantee for my ability to sleep on demand.  Did you know it starts to get light outside around 4 am now?  No, I didn't wake up early ... I WAS STILL AWAKE!

Consequently, Monday May 7, I was seriously dragging and even contemplated 'pulling a sicky' ... but had yet another busy week ahead, so went to work as usual.  By 2 pm that day, I suddenly realized I could see and hear people talking to me, but their words were not making sense.  I suspect I wasn't making sense myself at that point.  We lock up our office at 3 pm (although that is 3 or 4 hours away from my usual day's end), so I decided to pack it in and go home early.  My receptionist offered to give me a ride home, but Mondays after work are my usual grocery shopping time.  I debated on whether to stop at the grocery store ... needed necessities like cat food and toilet paper ... or just go straight home.  And I truly couldn't decide!  My brain was totally incapable of making such a decision at that time!

So my (wise and kind) receptionist made the decision for me, packed me into her car, and drove me to the grocery store where I promised to pick up the small handful of important things that couldn't wait and then catch the #55 bus home.  Which I did.  Once home, I put away my groceries, fed the cat, and thought to myself, 'I'll have fish sticks for dinner tonight'.  So I put the frying pan on and looked in the fridge and then in the fridge's freezer for the fish sticks.

No fish sticks.

I had no recollection of buying fish sticks.

Which ... if I had been able to think about it ... was not really a surprise because I NEVER BUY FISH STICKS!!!  Sometimes I make my own fish cakes, but I do not buy nor do I eat prepared/frozen fish sticks.  I can't even remember the last time I ate fish sticks ... probably childhood.  My partner used to say they were made with fish factory floor sweepings ... not a very appetizing concept.  I often remember him saying that when I walk past the frozen fish in the frozen foods section at the grocery store.

Anyway, there I was, looking for fish sticks cuz I had it in my head that I was going to have them for supper.  I could not shake the idea, and since I couldn't reconcile that idea with the apparent lack of fish sticks, I found myself so frustrated that I started to cry.  And when I realized I was crying over non-existent fish sticks, turned off the frying pan and went to bed.

Over-tired?  Exhausted?  Yup.  But WHERE DID THE FISH STICKS IDEA COME FROM?????

I still didn't sleep well that night, but managed to sleep over 12 uninterrupted hours the next night, made it through the rest of my workweek, and enjoyed a lazy 3 day weekend last weekend.  And now I have a 4 day weekend ahead of me. 

I'll be fine now.  I promise!

I should have been crocheting last weekend as I have an outstanding order for a crocheted bunny, but I had a serious urge to do some counted cross-stitch.  It's hard for me to do counted cross-stitch ... it's an eyesight thing.  Or rather, the LACK OF good eyesight thing.  I need really good light and lots of concentration, and even at that, I'm largely stitching by feel ... thank goodness Aida cloth has all those nice little holes you can actually feel with the tip of your sewing needle!  You wouldn't think it's a good thing to take on when my brain was clearly suffering overloadimminentshutdown, but I find counted cross-stitch the exact opposite.  Focusing on making all those tiny little stitches neat and orderly is actually RELAXING!  Why do you suppose that is???

The cross-stitch project is a 'Winged Lion' adapted from the ancient Book of Kells and in a needlepoint pattern in the book 'CELTIC NEEDLEPOINT' by Alice Starmore.  (I'm a BIG fan of Alice Starmore!)  I'd share a picture, but Blogger is being a Bitch at the moment and I don't have the patience to make it play nice today!  Sorry.

So ... am I weird????

Have a great long weekend, all you Canadians!  (Sorry, all you Americans, you'll have to wait another week.)

PS:  I just looked out my window, and IT'S SNOWING!!!  I love the North!

Is it? Can it be? Is it possibly ... ?

I don't want to say the word too loud (for fear of jinxing it!), but I think it might be ... SHHH! ... spring.  The air just has that feel.  Oh sure, we've had a psychotic weather week, from thawing and refreezing

Snow just starting to get slushy ...
Ignore the date stamp.
Mutter mutter ... stupid camera ...

to more thawing

The Big Thaw, Take 1.
The Great Lakes where storm drains are still frozen!

Road rash.
I managed to do a little personal research
on the general topic of
SENIORS and FALLS ...
Roads are covered with (dangerous) gravel
where they are not hidden by The Great Lakes.

to a big dump of snow

Look at this!
The date stamp is right for a change!

and then the entire cycle all over again!

Dry and somewhat gravelly sidewalks today.
So far today, that is!

I was out and about wearing shoes instead of winter boots today.  That means it is going to either, (a) snow ten inches tonight, or (b) continue thawing and looking more and more like (SHHH!) spring.  Which do you think it will be????

I have been working on my multicoloured cardigan ...

Lots of colours!

... with Miss Boots help, of course ...

"Look!  These circular knitting needles mean there's
a HOLE IN THE MIDDLE of the knitting!
Just right for me to pop up through!"

... but, as usual, have been pulled away by a couple of other small projects.  My cardigan is currently on sleeve #2, so I'm getting closer to the home stretch with it.
In the meantime, here's a little teaser from one of my small projects:

What the heck is all this wooly loopy stuff???

And why am I taking the scissors to it???

I've been feeling a bit guilty because I'm not blogging as often as I intend to.  I've decided the reason is computer fatigue.  Please bear with me while I explain.  My work day is pretty much glued to my computer, so by the time evening or the weekend rolls around, I don't want to look at another computer monitor or laptop screen.  I don't even want to be in the same room with another piece of modern technology.  Well, except maybe my tea kettle!  After supper, I quite often think to myself "I should blog about ..." and then I think about the effort of booting up my laptop and how weary my eyes are from staring at my computer monitor most of the day.  So I go back to my tea and knitting instead.

I'm noticing a number of friends who were very active bloggers / Facebookers / texters, etc are doing a lot less of that sort of thing.  When I ask about it, I usually hear similar versions of my comuter fatigue theory.

Are we burning ourselves out with technology?  Do we need to return to hand-writing letters to communicate with friends and family?  What are YOUR thoughts on this???