Watching Kite-Skiing ... Again!

Last week Terry and I headed over to Andrew Haydon Park to walk on the Britannia Winter Trail...

When we arrived, we could see large kites in the sky above the frozen river. So we headed down the path to see them again.

There had been several snowfalls since our last visit, so walking was more challenging. Good exercise to have to lift my legs a little higher! 

I wished I were wearing snow shoes - like this group we saw in the distance.

Talking to one man who was unloading his skis and kite from his car, we discovered that a kiting event was planned for this weekend... 

I guess it's a safely distanced activity... It could be risky to get too close to each other on the river... Every kite needs generous air space around it...

Maybe we'll drive over to watch.

With a Little Creativity!

A lot of fresh snow fell this past week.

Unless you’re a skier, it’s hard to look out the window and get excited about this much snow.

For Terry, it means a lot of shovelling before we can get out of the driveway. For me it means hidden ice - so I’d better stay indoors...

But with a little creativity, the snow could be an opportunity to bring smiles and laughter! !

What a way to bring joy to a winter-weary world!

Black and White Quilt - What Now?!

I’ve been wondering about the 22 black and white quilt squares I found in my stash a few weeks ago...

What did I have in mind when I created them? 

Did I have a quilt like this in mind? I really like it.

Or - noticing these small white squares, did I have a quilt like this in mind?! 

Was I planning to add a dark border around them? Then mix them together, alternating dark and light?

Or something like this? I don’t remember.

Right now, I prefer black squares with a white background - but I’d need more white fabric of the same shade of white to complete that. (Some of the whites I have on hand looks a little more cream-coloured...) Right now, with non-essential stores closed in Ontario, I probably couldn’t buy fabric anyway, let alone go in and choose my own shade of white...

(It’s decisions like these that make me pause... then put projects away!)

Icicle Time!

Icicles are appearing on many buildings these days - as snow melts, begins to drip, then re-freezes as ice. 

They’d be beautiful - if they weren’t so dangerous. Shortly after taking this picture, I heard a crash as one came falling down onto a driveway - just missing a parked car.

This house had a for sale sign in the front yard. 

I’d think twice before buying that house, Terry commented, noting a for sale sign posted in the yard. There may be serious issues with the  roof.

(I wonder if that thought would have crossed his mind had we not been homeowners ourselves - for many years.)

Using Our Library During the Pandemic

The process of borrowing books from our library has changed several times over the past year, due to the COVID pandemic.

At first, all public libraries were closed and no borrowing was permitted.

I was glad when they re-opened and we were able to start borrowing books again.

For a while, we were permitted to go into the library and pick up books we had on hold - then go to an automated machine to check them out.

But recently all that has changed... Now we pick up books we have on hold outside the library. We stand in line and one by one give the librarian our card. The librarian comes back a few minutes later with the book, already checked out.

It can be hard to stand waiting outdoors on a cold day - if there's a long lineup.

To return a book, we simply put it in the cardboard box at the library door. The boxes are brought indoors and stored for a few days before anyone touches them. Then librarians clean them to prepare them for re-circulation .

I'm thankful this service is still operating. During the pandemic - now that winter is here - it's  more important than ever to have interesting books to read.

Canal Skating

Last Sunday was sunny but cold.

Perfect for outdoor skating!

The frozen Rideau Canal was a busy place!

I wonder how long this great skating surface will last... 

Once warmer weather arrives, it’s over ... for another year!

Almonte in February

The day was sunny - so Terry and I headed by car to Almonte, a 45-minute drive away.

Our part of Ontario hasn't had a lot of snow this winter, so the paths we usually take when we walk around were all passable.

Many pedestrian paths are not maintained in winter.

It was lovely to see the ice clinging to the waterfalls... 

A totally different look!

A large house backing onto the river had a "for sale" sign on it. We often admire its addition - magnificent sunroom with a futuristic glass tower overlooking the water.

I checked the listing - three bedrooms and four bathrooms...

Price: $2 million!

Not our price range, I told Terry... who was disappointed... Besides, how would we clean all those windows?!

The only house we can afford is the house we've got! Fortunately, it still meets all our needs...

A quick stop at Baker Bob's for cherry pie...

Then home again past farms and horses. 

Always a lovely drive!

An Unusual Medititation...

I think I'm a pretty logical person. Whenever I reflect on my childhood and early years, I try to understand what happened and figure out why I reacted the way I did. One example that comes to mind is an exercise from a book on sparking creativity (The Artist's Way), which at one point asks the reader to write down negative comments received during childhood and to respond to them...

This kind of reflection has helped me get rid of some of the "baggage" that has burdened me over the years...

Recently a book I'm reading encouraged me to do a different kind of meditation. It took my mind on a different kind of journey of discovery - not as logic-based, but also interesting...

It comes from the book, The Artist's Rule by Christine Valters Paintner, page 76. This is the meditation:

Place your hand on your heart to make a physical connection...

Begin to imagine back through time to the moment you were first created, shaped, and molded. Imagine that in this first moment of emerging from God's creative energies God blesses you with gifts for the world. You are bestowed with gifts that only you can give in your unique way, and your call in this life is to give them freely. Take a moment to notice the images that come to mind. What are the gifts God imprinted on your heart from the very beginning? Focus on these gifts, allowing images, feelings, and memories to rise up. Simply be present for them without trying to figure anything out. Rest for a while in this experience. Then in your imagination, allow for an energetic connection from your heart to your hands as a symbol of extending your gifts to the world. Hold your hands out and picture them as the way your heart meets the sacred presence in the world around you. 

The first time I read the meditation, I was immobilized... I have long believed that every person on earth contributes to making the world into the place it is. We are all different and the world needs all of us. But to think about the specific gifts God has given each one of us and thinking about how we can give them away to the betterment of the world was not easy for me.

It took me a second reading to actually get through the exercise... and I plan to do it again, as I feel I've only skimmed the surface...

University Memories

When I finished high school, I spent one year at university in Vancouver.

It was an unhappy year for me. Looking back, I don't know if I simply wasn't ready for university... Should I have worked for a year first? I thought I'd like to study journalism, but there was no program for that at UBC...

Perhaps it was the rainy weather that I wasn't used to? Or the grey clouds overhead that I found depressing?

In any event, I ended up only staying there for the one school year.

Now, sorting through papers, I've come across this yearbook from the year I was there.

I've only come across one person in the book whom I knew... a girl named Jody. Here she is wearing the white silk grad dress my mother made me... (Do I still have it?!)

I used to accompany Jody to her aunt's house for supper from time to time. I remembering her aunt serving spaghetti and meatballs, something I rarely ate. I wonder where Jody is now. Her cousins were horse jockeys who rode race horses.

Then there's this picture of someone I don’t remember who autographed his picture. It looks like a scene from a musical... Was he a music major?

Googling his name online, I discover that someone by that name - from Prince George, BC - became a well-known Canadian director in musical theatre... Is that him in his university days?

One unique thing about the university experience is that, living on campus, we meet people from so many different fields, who are so different from ourselves - all pursuing different career goals.

It's a pity I didn't appreciate this more at the time...

Indoor Gardening... in February

Last fall I was given an ornamental pepper plant to keep indoors over the winter...

The tiny red peppers resembled red Christmas tree lights... 

I really love it!

Then the ornamental peppers started to shrivel. I removed half a dozen and put them in the freezer, as they are apparently edible... But I've never put them into food, as peppers of any kind now disagree with me. 

How long will these ornamental pepper plants last? I wondered, and looked them up online.

Four years - I read... I don't know how old the existing plant is, but it may have a few more years of life in it.

Now in winter, I noticed a few tiny flowers blooming... There's a purple flower in the top left.

Maybe there will be more peppers...

In the meantime, I've cut off the shriveled ones and planted them with other in indoor plant around the house. 

(That's a trick I use to make sure seedlings get watered.)

If new plants grow from the seed pods, I'll transplant them...

Now to bury the pod, water it... Then wait and see! 

Finding Yet Another Unfinished Quilt!

I was looking through my bin of white - and mostly white - fabric, checking to see if I had enough for some plain white squares... 

I want to add them to this quilt that was given to me by a neighbor a long while back...

Suddenly I uncovered a bundle of about 20 black and white squares bordered in white. (I remember making them but I don’t remember why I stopped assembling them...)

Hmmm! Another quilt to add to my unfinished quilt pile. (Now I have 5!!) I wonder if that’s about average for quilters!

Cute Knit Blanket

I recently came across this picture of a cute knit blanket. Each house is knit individually, then the house squares are sewn together. 

I notice that each house square is actually knit in four different directions! That would definitely be different! I’ve never done that before!

Should I order the pattern to download? (Or simply continue knitting socks?)

And I think I have several unfinished shawls or afghans in a knitting bin somewhere...

It’s always fun to be inspired by a cute pattern... but if it’s too complicated, I often just start and never finish!

Walking on Ottawa River Ice!

One day recently, Terry and I headed to Andrew Haydon Park, on the Ottawa River, to go for a walk.

When we arrived, we could see a number of kites hovering above the water... So we wandered towards the kites and soon found ourselves walking on the ice!

It felt very strange to me... I'm walking on the river, I told myself...

Of course, the river was ice - thick ice, I'm hoping! And the ice was covered with snow...

Several dozen people were enjoying the afternoon there. Some were cross-country skiing, others like us were walking, and still others were using kites to skim across the ice on snow-boards.

It looked as if the hardest part of all that was setting up the kites. They kept blowing in the wind.

It was really exhilarating being so close to the action.

Then someone drove past on an all-terrain vehicle, looking for a place to do "wheelies"!

After a while we headed back to "land"! What a fun spot to spend a sunny winter's day!

Winter Stew

Stew is one of my favourite meals in winter.

I originally used the recipe in my Fanny Farmer cookbook to guide me, but I don’t follow a recipe anymore...

Every once in a while I experiment by adding new things. Currently I add sliced mushrooms to the onions and garlic I sauté with the meat. And when it comes to adding spices, I simply add half a cup of spicy salsa. I don’t need to add many more spices than that!

Skating on the Rideau Canal

One day last week, Terry and I headed downtown for a walk.

The weather was a little chilly...

Let's walk over to the Rideau Canal and see if there are many skaters on it, I suggested.

Some years, the weather is so mild, that it's a to challenge to keep the ice in good skating condition.

But this year seems to be cold enough to have a good surface.

Terry walked onto the ice in his shoes. He wanted to go for a walk on it - but I was afraid of slipping and falling!

Later, as we drove home along the canal, we were amazed at how many skaters we saw all along the route - all the way to the pavilion at Dow's Lake.

It's too bad that, due to the pandemic, our winter festival has been cancelled. This year the weather is cold enough to have really great ice.

Bird-shaped Coffee Filters

My daughter makes what she calls “pour-over” coffee. It resembles what I used to call Melitta coffee, back in the day.

M

She recently showed me some novelty coffee filters (from Japan) that she bought...

(My first thought was that I could probably cut Regular Melitta-style filters into a similar shape... But that’s just me!)

When I saw this picture of two shadow filter “love birds,” it occurred to me that these bird-shaped filters would be perfect for coffee on  Valentine’s Day!