First Monarch Egg of 2020

I haven't seen any monarch butterflies at all. Yesterday Skip saw one in the garden on a particular patch of milkweed. I went out to check for eggs this afternoon and found one.

I have retreived it, leaving it on its milkweed leaf, and have put the stem into a water reservoir. The egg will hatch right on that leaf and the little larva will eat it for the first few days.

Another monarch-raising season has begun.

A Rare Patriotic Project

This time of year, we see a lot of July 4th projects in the cross stitch world. Rarely do we see a Canada Day project or even a conversion from the American projects. However I saw a fun Canadian conversion on a Facebook page or other and quickly purchased the .pdf file of the pattern.

July 1 by Shannon Christine Designs

I had all the threads in my stash but was missing DMC 3801 and on a trip to Michaels, noted they were out of it, too. So I substituted DMC 666 for it and it's working quite well.

The fabric is a remnant that I had picked up at Gitta's on our road trip a year ago spring. The pattern didn't call for a specific colour so I just copied the grey background. This is 32ct Pearl Grey Belfast Linen. I substituted a Rhodes star for one of the cross stitch stars. Like my needle minder? I made a bunch of them last year and our guild made some, too.

I've made several counting mistakes and have ripped out and redone bits here and there. I've decided to change the banner across the top to "Happy Canada Day!"

While at Michaels, I purchased the white frame it will go into when I'm done stitching.

I had to consult with Teresa about one of the colours in the lady's dress in the sampler model  I'm stitching for her. The correction has been noted and I'll be finishing up that project by the end of the weekend so I can send it off to her. It will very much appeal to folks who love prim themes and colours. She hopes to release it in the fall.

I've been watching some good real crime/detective/reporter series on Netflix. If that's your 'bag' check out Lenox Hill, Athlete A, and How to Fix a Drug Scandal. 

An FFO (Fully Finished Object)!

I've had the stitching and beading done on this Mill Hill Buttons and Beads (2017 Spring Series - Goldfinch) project done for a long time.

I swapped out the perforated paper for linen dyed the exact same colour and thread count (28). Then it sat and sat, waiting for me fully finish it.

Finally, today, with a desire to actually finish something, I got the foamcore and batting cut and laced the piece to it. I did a snug lacing using dental floss. I did quite a quickie job of this spacing so the lacing quite far apart.

I added little bumper squares on the corners of the frame so the wall wouldn't get marked.

I popped the piece into the frame. Friction is holding it into place so I can pop it out in the fall and insert my autumnal pieces. The whole thing took me about 10 minutes.

The American Goldfinch is a bird that frequents my feeders so I was particularly drawn to this project. I gave the perforated paper to Marilyn and she stitched her own goldfinch and used beads she already had in her stash. She finished hers a couple of years ago.

Mine now hangs in the front hall of the house where I hang my seasonal pieces.

I have another summery one from Lizzie Kate that I need to locate and get FFOd as well.

Not a lot new has happened since my last post. The days blend into each other. My regular videochats with various crafty groups add structure to my week. In between calls, I am beavering away on the Teresa Kogut piece which I hope to finish by the end of June and get it off to her as she wants to release it in the fall.

Today is Father's Day. Tomorrow will mark 53 years since my father died as a result of injuries from a car accident 12 days earlier. The guy who hit him had bald tires and t-boned him while hydroplaning on the wet road. Dad was quite a character and although I only had his direct influence for 13 years, I do have a lot of his traits. I sure wish he could have seen me into adulthood.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. You have a bigger influence on your children than you can even imagine.

Visiting During a Pandemic

On Monday, I had 4 stitcherly friends over for a socially distancing visit outdoors on the deck. We all wore masks and sat 2m apart. I provided hand sanitizer and gloves if anyone felt they wanted them. The powder room on the main floor is accessible from the side door. I stripped it of towels and provided disposable hand towels and bleachy cleaner if anyone needed to use the toilet. My guests brought their own drinks and drinking vessels and entered the yard through the gate rather than coming through the house. It was so nice to see them in person for the first time since mid-January before Skip and I left for TX.

One of our friends is very nervous about catching the virus. She has had serious pulmonary issues in the past and also an elderly father whom she hopes to visit at his retirement home next week for the first time since mid-March. With all my safeguards in place, she will be coming over next week for a visit - her first social outing since all this began. It should be fun to be able to visit in person. I have tried to do everything possible to reduce any transmission risk and make her feel comfortable.

Skip and I picked up our completed taxes last week. Since I turned 65 in 2019, I now qualify for some tax benefits and for the first time I get a refund and Skip has to pay! We await his notice of assessment and this time make sure to pay before the September 1 deadline. There weren't any late filing penalties after all because I didn't qualify for any of the benefits that had to be applied for by June 1. Phew!

To celebrate, we picked up some lunch and went down to the waterfront park, found a picnic table in the shade and enjoyed our lunch. It was the perfect temperature and there was a light breeze.

On our way home we visited the donkeys again. This time we brought clippers so we could cut some nice grass from across the street to feed some of the donkeys a treat.

The baby donkey that was born on June 1 is doing well. His coat is fuzzy and it shone in the sun. His ears are pretty big.

He doesn't stray far from his mum.

These guys came over to try and mooch treats from Skip.

These two always come over to check us out. They like being skritched on the forehead.

It's so serene there. Every once and a while one of them bellows out some 'hee haws' and the rest go on munching the grass. I can almost feel my blood pressure going down just standing there.

Umbrella Cover

A few years back we had a great gazebo on our deck that consisted of a metal frame and a fitted synthetic, woven top. After a couple of years, the sun degraded it so much the top just shredded. By that point we were unable to find a replacement top and for a couple of years I just used a tarp that I would cleverly fold and secure. It never looked very good.

Then I bought one of those offset umbrellas that covered a good portion of the deck.

It came with a cover. What a great idea! But the cover was only tarp material and only lasted a couple of years before the sun degraded it beyond usefullness. However, the umbrella, because it was always covered when folded up, was in almost pristine condition. So I bought some indoor/outdoor fabric and made a replacement cover.

Here we are, a few years later. The umbrella is still in pristine condition but the cover has really faded. Yesterday I got more indoor/outdoor fabric (50% off!) and made a replacement for the replacement cover. I selected fabric that was primarily light coloured so the fading wouldn't show so much. And I purchased extra fabric to make placemats for the table and a cushion for the storage bin.

It's about 8ft tall. I used a duvet zipper, starting about a foot below the top.

I put a ring and a cord on the zipper tab so I could reach to pull it down once the top of the cover is in place. (the umbrella came with a 7ft. metal pole for opening the zipper and putting the cover back on the top of the support post) .

There was still a gap at the bottom so I attached some velcro tabs to complete the closure.

I boxed the corners at the top. Here it is all zipped up.

The umbrella is protected again when it is closed up. It's easy to remove the cover with the pole. I then stuff it in the brown patio bin to the left in the photo above. I plan to make a cushion for the top of this bin for additional seating as required.

Dodged A Bullet - metaphorically speaking

I got a call from our tax preparer this morning with the news that our taxes are done. AND we won't have to pay late-filing penalty because we don't qualify for any of the programs for which June 1 was the application deadline. Whoop dee do! AND since I turned 65 last year I now qualify for some benefits so will be getting a refund and Skip will have to pay. So we're going to take another drive up to Port Perry (where we get our taxes done) to sign the documents (observing all social distancing protocols) and pay for her services. On the way home we will stop in and visit the donkeys again. We will be taking our newly sharpened hedge clippers (our knife sharperner worked great) and snip them off some nice hay from across the road from them.

The garden is coming along nicely. Our one dark red peony is in bloom. It's a small plant and only has 4 blooms and is always the first one.

Also making an appearance are some bearded irises

and Siberian irises.

This little patch of violas thrives on neglect.  I got it at a local bacon and eggery after Mother's Day 2019. It was in a little 3" pot. Skip just stuck it in the ground and it seems to be doing well. I really like the little sunny centres.

The white and pale pink peonies are getting ready to bust out. AND I have several healthy milkweed plants that are all ready for the female monarchs. Monarchs were spotted last week along the north shore of Lake Erie so should be here soon. I plan to do a big effort this year and surpass my count from 2018 of 74 (or so) as we will probably be staying home and not travelling anywhere. Later on in the summer I'll order tags for the supergeneration that ecloses in mid-August and beyone. It would be so cool if one of them gets recovered next spring in Mexico.

I have been stitching a lot on the sampler for Teresa Kogut. I have about 1/2 of it done. I did a lot this week on two video chats, filling in spots where I didn't really have to count. However, the border is tricky and I'm going to really have to pay attention when I start it. I got another skein of one of the colours I knew I was going to run out of. The other colour that I need more of is a DMC colour which I probably have in my stash or can get commercially. I wish I could show the project to you but alas, I cannot. I hope to have it done by the end of June so I can get it sent off to Teresa for finishing and she can get it ready for release in the fall.

We Are Dopes

On Sunday, I realized that out taxes were due the next day. EEEEEK! I panicked and wondered if I should just send CRA money - a guestimate based on what I had to pay next year. We file jointly and Skip gets a refund (which we split) and I have to pay (which we also split). I sent Jeanette (my financial and stitching guru) and asked her what we should do. She wisely suggested we call our tax preparer and see what she’d suggest.

So on Monday morning, Skip called the preparer and she informed us that the deadline to pay the taxes was September 1. Because we are still under COVID-19 restrictions and concerned about spreading the virus, we can drop off our forms, they leave them for 24 hours for any virus to die. Then they get done and we get a call to come in and sign and they get efiled. We’ll have to pay a penalty for filing late but I don’t think it’ll be too much.

This morning we headed up to our tax preparer’s office in Port Perry. On the way, we stopped in at the garden centre and bought several plants for the garden and pots. Then to drop off the tax forms. We stopped into Canadian Tire to pick up a cabin filter for Skip’s car. Their online inventory showed that they had a couple in stock but the service person couldn’t find one so we decided to try another Canadian Tire closer to home. On the way back to Whitby, we stopped in again at the donkey farm.

The baby donkey is doing well and stayed pretty close to his mama. We saw her rolling in the dirt a little later.

This one came wandering over to check us out. Its ears are enormous.

Skip picked some long grass across the road and brought it back to her. She really appreciated the succulent snack.

It stood there for a while after we started back to the car.

We then picked up the cabin filter at the next Canadian Tire we tried. How the heck did it get to be June so soon? It was really easy to find and I made it through the lineup for the cashier very quickly. I’m still quite surprised at how few people are wearing masks when out shopping.

Then we went to Skip’s bank to deposit a US cheque into his account. I don’t have a US account so have to use his for this purpose.

Finally we picked up a couple of salads at Subway and rerned home to eat them. I really miss going out to eat. We used to do that quite a lot and miss the experience. I am also sick and tired of meal planning, shopping, and cooking. Bleah.

After our late lunch we both had long naps for most of the rest of the afternoon.

I then changed the cabin filter in Skip’s car. It was really dirty so the new one should improve his heater and air-conditioning output. I had watched a couple of YouTube videos on the subject and realized it was a very simple process. If it is done at the dealership they charge you a lot! The cabin filter is accessible from the glove compartment and takes about 5 minutes to replace. My hands didn’t even get dirty. It is recommended that it be changed every 24,000 km. Now I kick myself that I had the garage change the one in my own car at its last servicing.

All our errands were mundane but during the pandemic, any time we can get out is a bit of a change to our monotonous routine - quite fun, in fact.

Yesterday, I had Marilyn, Jen1, Jeanette, and Poppy over for a social distancing visit outside on the deck. We are finally getting nice enough weather to be able to comfortably spend some time outdoors. We all wore masks and I had hand sanitizer and gloves available. I hadn’t seen 3 out of the 4 of them in person since mid-January when we went to TX. I have felt connected to them as we’ve been having online Crafternoons twice a week since early April. We have no trouble stitching while we gab away for a couple of hours each time. Thank goodness for Wifi and being able to have video conferences with my friends! It was great seeing them but weird I couldn’t give them hugs or serve them treats or drinks.