#14 - done!

I finished sewing the i-cord sun rays onto the Suzanne Atkinson square this morning. This square is VERY cute.
















I really liked doing the tree and the bobbles were done using a different technique than I had ever used before. After k,yo, k, yo, k for the bobble, you don't turn but slip the stitches from the right needle back to the left needle. Then you k5, and slip them back to the left needle. Then ssk, k1, k2tog, and slip them back to the left needle. Then k3 and skip stitch 2 and then 3 over the first. From what I've read some people really do not like doing bobbles but I think they're fun. Another modification I made was to do reverse stocking stitch on the triangular area of the top of the house front so it would look more like a house and not a church.

Now I'm ready to tackle the Ada Fenick square that has a tree, moss stitch clouds and a type of celtic cable up each side.

At the gym yesterday the trainer put me through my paces. I'm surprised I'm not sorer today. I know when I tell Nicole that tomorrow, she'll ramp up the weights again. I did deviate from the meal plan for dinner last night when Skip, Scooter and I met friends at our newest Mexican food restaurant in town, Los Cabos. The food was delicious and they had a lovely mango pico de gallo that they use as salad dressing. My beef enchilada was not the usual greasy (which I love, BTW) ground beef but it contained delicious, tender shredded beef. And the servings were not huge! So I don't feel TOO guilty. Before our dinner outing I made another huge batch of gazpacho and a bean salad which will be my 'salads' for my next few lunches and dinners.

I just found the link to clear 'croc'-type clogs. They'd be awesome with almost any hand knit sock.

Tonight is Knit Night at Kniterary. I'll probably take my reversible cable scarf again - it's an easy knit and I don't have to think while knitting it.

Lucky 13

I finished the Meredith Morioka square on the GAAAA last night and have started the 14th.
















The Suzanne Atkinson square has a church with a spire and cross, a tree, 3 birds and the sun. One Ravelryer, who sounds like she is as non-religious as I, left the spire and the cross out and added an extra bird. Here's her square. I think I'll do the same.(I normally don't steal others' photos but a link to Ravelry wouldn't work for non-Ravelryers).
















I had my third personal training session yesterday. The actual time with the trainer is about 20 min. We discuss how the meal plan has been going, how I'm feeling and what spots on my body ached after the previous workout. Nicole then has me do 10 - 12 reps on each machine at the heaviest weight I can tolerate and I quickly go from one machine to the other. After that I hop on the elliptical trainer and get my heart rate up to 65% - 80% of its maximum rate and do 20 min. of fat-burning cardio. If I didn't dawdle and watch the TV shows in the cardio theatre right to the end, I could be in and out of there in under an hour.

My pants are already starting to feel looser and this morning, I noticed my tummy didn't jiggle when I was walking around in my jammies. That is not to say that it doesn't protrude - I just think the underlying abdominal muscles are tightening. On the scale, it appears I've lost 5 lb. Not eating sugary snacks whenever one feels like it sure makes a difference in one's calorie intake! 16 more pounds to go before my first goal.

Skip and Scooter have gone golfing about 1 1/2 hours from here so will be away until late afternoon. We used to golf at this course when we used to rent a cottage at Friendly Acres from 1999 - 2003. S & S go back there for a round of 18 holes every year and enjoy a good meal in the clubhouse after the game.

It's stitchin' time tonight. And I'll get some more knitting done on the Atkinson square.

Star Sweater

I just finished this Mission Falls baby sweater - Star. (click to see detail)

Three buttons are still needed for the shoulder closure.











It's an easy knit and the Mission Falls 1824 100% cotton yarn was nice to work with. It took about 3 1/2 balls of the purple and almost an entire ball of the green. I think the knotted i-cord on the top is very cute.

The fridge continues to chug along with its temporary fix. It'll be good to get it permanently (hopefully!) fixed.

I didn't even go out today. I did some minimal housework and caught up on my knitting. I may actually leave the house tomorrow.

A Quick Fix

I got in touch with a fridge repairer this morning only to be told he couldn't come 'til Tuesday. I called the Maytag/Whirlpool/Amana people and they gave me another repairer's phone number. I called it and the guy at Prompt Home Appliance Service was able to come in 1/2 hr.! Yay! As soon as he looked in the freezer, he knew exactly what the problem was. He needed to order a new part which wouldn't be in 'til at least Tuesday. He did however, tell us how to fix things temporarily. Our freezer is not defrosting so a bunch of ice had built up preventing the cold air from chilling the fridge. He suggested we clear out the freezer and use the hair blower to melt the built-up ice. I followed his instructions and put the hair blower in the freezer on low and moved it a couple of inches over every couple of minutes. Within 15 min. all the ice had melted and the fridge was cooling again. Eureka!!! I love that man. I can't wait to see him to tell him how awesome he is.

After the hair blowing miracle, I headed to the gym so Nicole could kick my ass. We discussed my heart rate range for cardio and I explained that I had a hell of a time getting my heart rate high enough on the treadmill. She said it sounds like my heart is already 'good' and suggested I try the cross-trainer to see if that would get my heart rate up. It worked! So I happily did about 8 min. on the cross-trainer and then quickly hopped on the treadmill and did the rest of my cardio workout.

I whipped home and had lunch, cleaned up and caught the GO train into The Big City. My first destination was the Purple Purl - a knit café on Queen St. E. I spent some time looking at the yarn and saw a couple of things I could have bought but didn't have any projects in mind for them so didn't bother. I looked at their nice selection of books, including a couple of Elizabeth Zimmerman ones I'd heard about but had never seen. There really wasn't anything "to die for" so I didn't buy anything and headed back to the Eatons Centre to meet Lorna and Nancy for our Girls' Night Out taking in the Mamma Mia! movie.

The movie was fun. Meryl Streep is a professionally trained singer but Pierce Brosnan sure isn't. Surely there's one hunky mature actor in Hollywood who can sing? Anyway we had a lot of fun and didn't seem to have bothered anyone with our singing. After that we went to a very cool restaurant call Spring Rolls on Dundas just west of Yonge and had a delicious Thai meal. They even have dim sum on the menu. Skip and I will definitely need to go there sometime when I'm not on a strict eating plan. There are several locations in the GTA. Yum!

Scooter returns to us tomorrow afternoon. He and Skip plan to do a lot of golfing next week, weather permitting. While on our trip last week, I got a shot of Scooter in a shirt we bought him while we were in Texas.
I'm going to ask his permission to put it in one of my Facebook photo albums.

Only 16 personal training sessions to go!

@#$%^&*

I had my first personal training session yesterday with Nicole. She took my measurements, weighed me, and went over the meal program for the next 6 weeks. Then we had my first training session. It wasn't too strenuous and I had no major aches or pains this morning as a result. As the day wore on, my inner thighs were achy but that's about it. Session #2 is tomorrow.

I got all the major knitting done on the Star sweater from the cover Mission Falls' "Wee Knits too". I've blocked them and they're drying. It'll take a while. Hopefully they'll be dry by Saturday morning so I can get everything off Scooter's bed and can start assembling the sweater and knitting the neckband. I just started the hat a few minutes ago.

After supper I noticed our brand new fridge was not working properly and the thermometer read 60F degrees. I bumped up the cooling setting and waited a few minutes - no change. I unplugged it and plugged it in again hoping it would reset it - no change. After knitting tonight I checked again, no change. The freezer is working great, it's just the fridge that is on the fritz. I will be calling to arrange for a technician tomorrow morning. I sure hope (s)he can come tomorrow and fix the damned thing. @#$%^&*.

And to top things off, stupid old msn Messenger wasn't working this evening. @#$%^&*

Fortunately, I just tried to sign into Messenger and it worked. Yay.

After my training session tomorrow, I'm heading into The Big City to meet Nancy and Lorna. We're having a 'Girls' Night Out' and going to see the Mamma Mia! movie. I won't be able to have an alcoholic beverage but will be fine having a club soda.

I feel cranky right now so that is all for now. Tomorrow is another (hopefully better) day.

One more thing!!! Skip and I were surfing for funny bumper stickers and t-shirts and I came across this hilarious mug.

Pictures as Promised

This is what the Palindrome scarf looked like last week.
















This is what it looks like now.

I think I'm happy with it now and will actually finish it.


















Here's the yummy Noro Iroha Cash yarn. It's a deeper shade of purple than the picture indicates.





















I knit another petal bib with Creme de la Creme cotton yarn.


















This much was left - 46g - enough to knit another.

















Ollie was glad that we returned and was Velcro TM Kitty.

Back to the Blog

Scooter, Skip and I spent the weekend in Port Huron, MI just across the Bluewater Bridge and St. Clair River at the mouth of Lake Huron from my hometown, Sarnia, ON. We were able to stay for free with my accumulated Choice Privileges points which was a real bonus. Our room had a somewhat erratic wireless Internet connection but we persevered. Upon our arrival on Friday afternoon, we checked in and then went for dinner at the Red Pepper Restaurant - a Mexican restaurant I had never been to. There are two locations - one on 24th St. south of Griswold and the other in a plaza across from the Kroger on Krafft up Pine Grove. The one still on the map on 24th in Fort Gratiot has closed. The food was inexpensive and tasty. Their tamales were excellent. We would definitely eat there again. As I was trying to fall asleep that night, I realized I had consumed two caffeinated drinks with dinner and was 'buzzing'. At about 2am I got up and recommenced knitting my 4-cable-wide Palindrome scarf whilst sitting on the toilet seat in the bathroom. I went back to bed at about 3 and finally fell asleep at about 4:30.

The next morning I dropped Skip and Scooter off at Leaning Tree Golf Course and returned to Port Huron to shop. At JoAnn Fabrics I bought the Leisure Arts' "50 Fabulous Knit Stitches" by Rita Weiss with the 40% off one item coupon they give you in the store. I also purchased some inexpensive black acrylic yarn to knit the Counterpoint scarf - look under 'My Patterns'. I have lots of white acrylic yarn in my stash that I'll be happy to use up. I then proceeded to my favourite clothing store, Christopher and Banks and bought two summer tops and a pair of stretch denim capris on sale. Then I went to Mary Maxim and looked at a few things. I bought a couple of square craft frames for two cross-stitch projects I've finished and some Noro Iroha yarn that was deeply discounted as well as couple of balls of Creme de la Creme cotton yarn to knit a couple more petal bibs.

After heading back to pick up the guys, we all had lunch in the clubhouse and journeyed back to Port Huron to do more shopping.

We had supper at Cracker Barrel where I consumed a non-caffeinated diet Stewart's root beer. Consequently, I slept a lot better that night.

The next morning, we returned to Leaning Tree with the intention of playing a round of 9-holes but it continued to drizzle so dejectedly we drove back to Port Huron to spend a couple of hours at Barnes and Noble (the US clone of Chapters/Indigo). I bought a couple of knitting books, "Learn To Knit" edited by Sue Whiting, a brand new book by Lisa Lloyd called, "A Fine Fleece" and Alice Starmore's "Fisherman's Sweaters". Drool, drool.

After lunch, we headed back to Canada to meet at my sister's place and then go for a family get-together at my niece's place in Camlachie. We had a nice meal and had a chance to visit while the various children played. Back at Valerie's, Skip and Scooter chilled out in the guest suite, Sleepy Hollow, while Valerie and I yakked and knit.

This morning Valerie served us a delicious breakfast and then we hit the road, arriving home at about 2pm after dropping Scooter off at his mother's place. He will return to us on Saturday.

The cat was glad to see us and the caterpillars had consumed every bit of milkweed. It didn't look like the neighbour had been in to feed them on the weekend. Ollie's tins of food where right where I left them. I'm not sure what happened there. The newspapers were shoved between our doors. Maybe he couldn't find our key? Who knows, we'll get if figured out at some point.

Sorry, no pictures right now. Hopefully tomorrow...

In a Past Life

Before I became enthralled with knitting, I was an avid cross-stitcher. Since Vickie opened Hedgehog Stitchery, I've taken up cross-stitching again - at least on Tuesday nights when 'It's Stitchin' Time'. Last night I started a wee project using silk threads. It's a Jeannette Douglas design called "Take Time To Knit". It calls for one ply of the silk thread over two threads of 32 count Jobelan fabric. Vickie helped me separate the colours of thread as, in some cases, it was really hard to distinguish between two different shades.

I have a bunch of FOs (finished objects) or nearly FOs so I thought I'd take pictures of them for posterity. I recommend taking pictures of one's projects because incomplete sections are really easy to spot in a picture. (click on image to enlarge) For example,

the outline of the toe stitches on the horse stocking on the left and many of the stitches need crossing. This is from Need'l Love "Barnyard Stocking Stuffers".



Here, I need to finish the stitches on the 'p' of 'sheep',

This is an X's and Oh's design. I finished it last week.


















I just need to finish the one line of stitching around the border and attach the snail charm in this Lizzie Kate Flipit - May.


I bought this kit in San Antonio, TX March 2006.










Here's another Lizzie Kate kit in the Boxer series. They're very cute kits which include the pattern, needle, buttons and fabric in a CD case. You just need to provide the DMC floss.

I just need to add the little buttons which are the bees' wings. I have all 4 seasons completed now. I have them in 5" frames and hang them in the foyer and switch them with the seasons.

I believe Vickie could order any of these kits and patterns.

I continue to work on the 'Palindrome Scarf' in Berroco Ultra Alpaca. It's lovely yarn to work with.
It will be about 7 feet long when finished as I'm going to completely use up the second skein.

If I were to do it again, I'd add a 4th cable row to make it another 1.5" wider, especially if using a lighter yarn like a DK weight. That would involve casting on another 12 stitches. Vickie also suggested that the cables could be staggered so that every other one starts half way up.

It is a very easy knit and I would definitely use this pattern again.

Beehive of Activity

I finished sewing up this little sweater today. I used new yarn at Kniterary - Naturally Magic Garden Classic Prints, shade 890.
















It's preemie size. I have finished the hat and booties. I still need to get some buttons and sew the seams on the booties.

This morning I had this real burst of energy. I hung out a load of laundry to dry, I vacuumed the floors and rugs and then washed the floors. I also did some spot cleaning on one of the rugs. The new fridge is arriving tomorrow afternoon so I wanted to clean under the old fridge and took all the fridge magnets off it. I also washed the sliding door windows. I did some grocery shopping. I used $30 of PC Points and only had to pay $0.60!! Whoopee! Free groceries! I have over $600 in free groceries left.

I made gazpacho this evening and will be consuming vast quantities of it for lunch and possibly dinner for the next 3 days.

We're all set for our golfing holiday on the weekend. With my Choice Privileges points, we are able to stay both nights in a nice Comfort Inn with indoor heated pool, hot tub, deluxe continental breakfast and wireless Internet for free! Whoopee! The men will golf and I will shop. I haven't told them yet but I'm also going to golf 9 holes with them on Sunday. :-) Scooter will like that because he likes to beat my scores. He's an excellent golfer.

On the weekend, I had occasion to get in contact via the Internet with two gals I knew in high school. The first one, Liz, I haven't seen since 1970 when she moved to Beaconsfield, QC. She majored in music in university (as did I) but unlike me who majored in Music Education, she majored in Performance. She is a professional bassoonist with the Canadian Opera Company and at the Stratford Festival. Skip and I are going to see "The Music Man" in September and will get to see Liz then as she plays in the pit orchestra for that show. She and I were also friends with Cathy, a clarinet player, who now lives in London. I actually saw Cathy briefly at our high school reunion back in 2006 but didn't get her e-mail address. Sure enough, she was on Facebook and I was able to contact her there and put her in touch with Liz. Cathy and I were members of the Sarnia Citizen's Band and I remember bombing around in her Isuzu Bellet. I think we called it "The Weasel".

Cathy reminded me that I had taught her to crochet in high school and that I had learned to do it left-handed so I could teach her left-handed. I only have a vague memory of that. She is now an avid knitter. Liz also is a knitter. Isn't that freaky that the three of us music geeks are so crafty?

Pyrotechnical Mishap

Yesterday we went to Skip's cousin's place for their annual pot luck summer party. This year all the cousins were invited so it was pretty much only family. Other years friends and acquaintances have also attended. Chris and Rosanne live in the beautiful hills north of Bolton, ON about an hour NW of Toronto. It's always a lovely drive and we take less-travelled roads to avoid traffic.

One of the traditions is the after-dinner lighting of a huge bonfire. Chris collects wood all year for this event and piles it behind his garage. A fire permit is obtained and a charged hose is at the ready to put out any little grass fires that may start. As we've had a very wet summer and it poured rain at about 4 yesterday, things weren't as dry as usual. After gets really dark, the fireworks begin. Last night, things went terribly wrong. The bucket of sand used to anchor the fireworks was plastic and one of them tipped over and burned a hole in the side of the bucket. That should have been a warning that was heeded. Then one of the multi-firing rockets tipped over and headed directly for us! We scattered like quail hiding behind the lawn chairs we were sitting on. Unfortunately, Jenn, our hosts' daughter was sitting closer to the bucket and one of the shots hit her right in the chest. It melted her blouse and sparks went down her cleavage to her stomach. I didn't actually see the damage however she was burned. What a way for her to start her week's vacation.

Fireworks can be very dangerous and cause a lot of damage, both to property and people. Yikes! I think they're something that should be left to professionals. I'm glad no one was more seriously hurt.

I've been working on the Palindrome scarf. Here is a picture of it from a while back.
















I am doing the cable repeat every 8 rows instead of every 6 rows. I'm also slipping the first stitch of every row to make a nice, smooth edge. The very cool feature of this pattern is that the scarf is identical on both sides (hence 'palindrome' - "Able was I ere I saw Elba", "A man a plan a canal, Panama", etc.). I'm more than halfway finished now that I've started the second ball of Berroco Ultra Alpaca yarn. It's now almost 4 feet long. If I were to knit another one, I'd probably modify it to be 4 cables wide just so it would be another couple of inches wider. In between afghan squares, I'm attempting to finish some UFOs. I may work on the clapotis next.

Petal Bib

While perusing the Leigh Radford's "One Skein" book, I saw the adorable Petal Bib.
















It took no time at all to knit and I used up the rest of some Bernat Cottontots yarn I'd used for a baby blanket back in the winter.

I also found a photo of the baby cardigan with the buttons on it. I had forgotten I'd taken a picture of it all finished.
















Today, I learned two more methods for a stretchy cast-on. I've been using a ribbed (K1, P1) cast on from the www.KnittingHelp.com website. The other method was taught to me by Mary Patterson at Knit Night this evening.

I signed up for a Kool-Aid dying class for next week but it might get cancelled due to low enrolment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Knit night tonight was packed. We get so many people now that we have to break into two groups and half go upstairs to the classroom. Social butterfly that I am, I try to circulate between the two groups.

Today I did an uphill walk that got my heart rate over 80%. I've been making myself go for my daily 40 - 50 min. walks and have only missed 2 days in the last 3 weeks. On Tuesday, I did the BodyPump (weight-lifting) class at GoodLife and really felt the effects yesterday morning of the 120 squats. I squatted lower than usual and really gave my 'glutes' a workout. I'm still achy. I'm on disk 4 of 4 on the Joan Didion book, "The Year of Magical Thinking". It's a pretty graphic and detailed account of her annus horriblis back in 2004. It really is a testament to the resiliency of the human spirit. I'm looking forward to starting the book about music, math and the brain. I can't recommend books on CD enough. It really has been an incentive to get my rump out the door every day. The time sure passes fast while listening to a book.

We are going to a summer party at Skip's cousin's in Loretto near Bolton, ON. It will be fun. There will be yummy sausages done on the barbi and the rest of the food will be pot luck. I hope someone brings baked beans. Mmmmm. I've heard complaints at other pot lucks about people bringing baked beans but I love them! Hmmm. Maybe I'll make some devilled eggs, too! I have a nifty devilled egg container, too.

We're all set for our road trip in a couple of weeks. Plan A has us going to Sparta, MI (just north of Grand Rapids) for a lawn mower race. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get very much information about when and where exactly it will take place. If I haven't heard back from them by next Tuesday, Plan B will come into effect. We will instead take a trip to Port Huron, MI and Skip and Scooter will golf at two different golf courses (18 holes each day) and I'll go shopping - yippee! The really cool thing is that I've accumulated enough Choice Privileges points that we can stay for free in Port Huron. Either way, we'll spend at least one day in Port Huron. Then we'll stop at my sister's on the way home.

Baby Hat

I knit the baby hat from "One Skein" today (Tuesday).

The 12 row stitch pattern on the edge is an 18 stitch pattern called 'umbrella pattern'.








I just happened to have the book checked out from the public library. Wasn't that lucky? It was a quick knit. Probably could be completed in 2 hours of uninterrupted knitting. Now I can send the sweater and hat off before Chloe grows out of them.

We had two monarch butterfly eggs hatch today. I'm calling the caterpillars Alpha and Beta. I brought three other eggs in today. I was reading my entries from last year and had forgotten that the larvae (caterpillars) grow 2000 times their size from hatchlings to when they pupate. The eggs take 4 days to hatch after they've been laid. It will take 2 to 3 weeks before they pupate.

Today we had visitors back to the feeder. A male and female American goldfinch (carduelis tristis) partaking at the same time.


She is visible on the left. His tail feathers are just visible on the right as he sits on the perch on the feeding hole just above and behind her (click on the picture for a better look).













Pardon the glare - I was shooting this between Venetian blinds* through the kitchen window.







* Q: How do you make a Venetian blind?
A: Poke him in the eyes!

In the Garden

I took these photos in our garden a couple of days ago. Most of our plants are perennials and do not require much extra attention.


Clematis (clematis alba)













Maltese cross (lychnis chalcedonica)












Snapdragons (antirrhinum)













We call them sun roses or primroses.














Geraniums (pelargonium)












Sweet William (dianthus barbatus)













Verbena

Milkweed (asclepias)

On these leaves monarch butterflies will lay eggs which we will harvest, hatch and care for until the new butterflies emerge from their chrysalises. Our goal this year is to hatch 4 butterflies. I've already harvested 2 eggs.

Multi-tasking

I've been working on a few projects practically simultaneously. This "Easy Baby Cardigan" is from the Knitting Pure & Simple website. And it was a really easy top-down, raglan pattern with no seams! I used the Hot Pink (880) colourway.

(click on photo to 'embiggen')













I did the buttonband and buttonhole bands after finishing the body because I liked the look of it better than doing the garter stitches as I go along. I also did a 3/4" ribbed collar first but later decided to pick up the cast on stitches and do a couple of inches of moss stitch on the collar to match the moss stitch edgings. I now need a yellow, a green and a blue button. I will definitely use this pattern again.

The yarn, Naturally Magic Garden Buttons, was nice to work with. And I used slightly more than 2 balls. I will knit a hat with the rest.
















I haven't done much on the Morioka square on my afghan for a couple of days as I've been trying to finish the baby cardigan.

Martina got some new baby yarn into Kniterary, Naturally Classic Prints 4ply. I'm knitting a little sweater from Pattern K578 for a store sample. I'm almost done the back. The yarn is 100% washable wool and is lovely and squishy.

Standing on Guard for Thee

Yesterday was the 141st anniversary of the confederation of Canada.

Now that Scooter is older, we don't go to town-sponsored events where he can play on jumping castles or get his face painted. Instead, he and his father worked in the yard trimming trees and chopping up the branches for kindling next winter. I went on a glorious 70 minute - 5.6km walk along the Waterfront Trail. I wished I'd had my camera with me as there were lots of goldfinches and tree swallows on display. The wild flowers were all in bloom and everything looked lush. There were people and dogs everywhere. Kids cavorted in the splashdown park, families bicycled along the trail, folks sat on the beach by the harbour, sailboats tacked back and forth on the water. The sky was cloudless and brilliant blue. What a fantastic day!

I finished knitting this square I designed. I'm not as pleased with the look of it as I was with the 'Knitting with Cables and Bobbles, oh my!' square but #12 is finished none the less.
















We went for Mexican food at our local restaurant with horrible service and after returning home, I watched Douglas Coupland's (the author of the best-seller 'Generation X') "Souvenir of Canada" an artful documentary of how he attempted to capture all that is Canadian. He collected Canadian icons such as fish net floats (which he made into floor lamps), Kraft dinner cases, Ookpiks, a poster from Rush, a centennial (1967) maple leaf quilt, butter tarts, Cowichan Bay knitting, etc. etc. He then acquired a 1970s house in Vancouver on Grenville St. and spraypainted the entire interior white - including the windows, stove, sink, bathroom fixtures, etc. as he wanted a blank palette for his work. He then assembled his collection and invited about 400 people to view it. He dedicated 'Generation X' to his father who was one of the most Canadian people he knew so throughout the documentary he interviewed his parents about various aspects of his upbringing and the activities they pursued as a family and adventures his dad had flying his own plane to various locales. All in all, it was very enjoyable and I hope to make watching it an annual tradition, thanks the my local public library.

After dark, Skip and I went over to the park to see the pyrotechnical festivities. 'O! Canada' was sung on our way over (a 2 min. walk) but we arrived in time for the wonderful fireworks display and had the best vantage point from the hill. The fireworks lasted about 20 min. and are among the best I've seen any where.

While knitting square #13, I enjoyed the Yarn Harlot's Canada Day posting. She really captures the essence of what life is like here in C-A-N-A-D-A.

I leave you with a photo of the shirt I wore today (from the Athens Olympics) on a the first quilt I made (which now is on Scooter's bed) from the January 1993 Canadian Living magazine.

Caaaaa-Naaaa-Daaaaaa, We love you!