What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 Breakfast in front of the fire. 

You know I like whimsical...especially involving mice, fox, deer, dogs, bunnies; well I guess any critters actually. I love the details in this scene below. 

Snug little fox with her knitting, cup of tea and pizza slice. And note the dream catcher on the wall and the tiny cowboy boots.  Does a scene like this make you feel cosy and snug too? As far as I can find out this illustration is from a children's book called Jezeva Kucica by Branko Copic.  Translation, The Hedgehog's House. If you know more about the artist, please let me know ...

 When in the work world, I often lamented not enough time for my hobbies. I used to think I would spend all morning reading for instance, when I retired and had nothing else to do. However, to sit around reading in the mornings still doesn't work for me. My days must still have busyness in them but, what do you know, there is no end it seems to the things to do. Filling the hours is not only not a problem, it is uncanny how busy we seem to be and this is even in a semi-lockdown situation.

Autumn ...

Dylan Thomas

                                       Especially when the October wind

                                       with frosty fingers punishes my hair,

                                       Caught by the crabbing sun I walk on fire

                                      And cast a shadow crab upon the land

No shadow crab cast that day. Hubby and Murphy enjoy one of our daily walks in cloudy weather. Someone asked and yes, we walk no matter the weather. We have all the gear.

And wild autumn New England asters are everywhere! From this meadow area, our trail leads through those trees to the left of the white birch branch, an area ...

This summer has been busy.  Since COVID destroyed all of our travel plans DH built a vegetable garden at waist height.  Wow, I don't even mind weeding it.  It is so easy when you are not bending over or crawling on the ground.  The cucumber died, but the zucchini made up for the loss. My rhubarb, which has struggled for 4 years, "dying" every summer, survived one more transplant into the "box" and is loving it there.  I have great hopes for rhubarb pie next year.  Then we had 22º weather and a snowstorm in the first week of ...

 These three things below were birthday gifts and I thought I'd share them with you. I've mentioned Eckhart Tolle before and how much I love his writing. Saying that though, it is kind of involved in a way and you need to keep your wits about you if you are to take anything away. But I do enjoy his talk about the need to banish negative thoughts and as he puts it, making sure the present now is your friend not your enemy. 

 This week was a whoosh. My guess is I must have been having a whale of a time, never mind just fun. 

Is it because I was a teacher that September still feels like a fresh start somehow. Because I do seem to have that "new start" feeling. Kind of invigorating and here's hoping it lingers. And that's another thing I love about living where there are seasons. As each rolls around it provides a perfect opportunity for a new beginning.

I've been rewarded for my gardening efforts in two tiny ways.

First of all, the Madagascar ...

Though the air was quite warm almost moist feeling, the look of the landscape yesterday morning was dark and gloomy. Definitely a fall look to things though not a feel. I spotted the first of the wild asters, an autumn flower. So still lots of growing things to enjoy for a while longer. Like this orange/rust blanket flower type (not sure which it is as I've lost the packet, grrr) in the garden, another hardy perennial that is spreading well.

Here is a new to me bug which I enjoyed seeing up close. And he seemed to like ...

 I made a hearty soup with the leftover pasta sauce. I've never used it for a soup base before but it makes so much sense to do so. It has many flavours and spices and with added broth and vegetables as well as kidney beans, it was quite good. I had made another whole wheat loaf in the bread machine so with a slice of that, we had a filling supper. 

It was an extraordinary morning just yesterday, with an abundance of wildlife in the early morning fog.  I didn’t get photos of the five deer that were grazing in the meadow, as they went into the forest before the camera could boot up.  Fog is a frequent morning visitor here, and I love how it delineates the layers of hills across the valley and the mountain ridge in the distance.  Photo taken from our veranda.

Mere moments after I shut the camera back down, My Sweet Babboo said there were three foxes coming towards the house.  I jumped up ...

 Sometimes I get down on myself because I'm not as productive as I used to be and still have in my head that I should be. For instance, there's the matter of my photos. With Windows 10 I can create albums which would be such a terrific asset when trying to find just the right photo to insert in this here blog. I started doing it, was excited about it and then the will to keep doing it drifted off across an ocean somewhere. But the idea of it still nags at me. I really must get that ...

It's turning into one of the hottest summers on record here just outside Ottawa, Canada. Several days have broken a 100 year old record. Of course, it is the humidity that people complain the most about as there has been lots of that too.  I find it saps my energy when it hits a certain point and working outside becomes uncomfortable. That being said, it is cooler today with continuing sunshine so promising to be a beautiful late July day.

A walk around the trails this morning, Murphy pulling hard on the lead. Something interesting had strolled in a zigzag fashion before us. We later looked at deer and unknown paw prints streaking the muddy area of the pond. Rather large...perhaps we don't want to know what made them. 

A special day. It is Canada Day today Wednesday, July 1.  I have a couple of Canadian things to share. One of the Quilt Bible blocks is a maple leaf, rather an iconic symbol of Canada. It pleases me to see how many maple trees are growing on this property.  I pieced one block to get a hang of it and in colours that match the others. A couple of things could have been done differently so I guess I'm still learning.

Mister sun has been blazing all week.