My Next Project

Our lives are like quilts - bits and pieces, joy and sorrow, stitched with love.

Quilting Quote from Greenfairy Quilts.
 

My next project....

I made a start with cutting the fabrics.

My apologies for the colour and quality of the next photo.  My night lighting is very poor.

This quilt will be for my mother or my nephew. I haven't quite decided yet.  I do have fabric and quilt ideas for several more quilts although I still have to purchase the batting and backing fabrics.

 One of the quilts I have in mind will definitely be for my nephew. Originally I thought to make it for his birthday but that date has passed. I will likely give it to him at Christmas.

 I'm still new to quilting and I'm realizing that I would save a lot of time both in cutting and in finding coordinating fabrics and colours if I simply bought pre-cut fabrics.  I'm also finding that a lot of the new patterns I've been admiring are designed to be made from pre-cuts (jelly rolls or charm packs).

What about you  dear reader?
Do you cut from fabrics you've carefully selected or do you purchase already coordinated pre-cuts?

Move # 2

I've just returned after a long 3 days away. I was moving my mother for the second time in the space of two months.  You might remember I moved her from one facility to another in early July.  At that time there was no room available on the ground floor which she had requested.  Parts of the ground floor were closed to residents due to flooding and it has taken two months for all the repair work to be done.  So this week was the 2nd move and I'm glad it's done. 

I found the move from one floor to another to be more difficult than moving from one facility to another. Even though I was better rested this time, the move was still a chore.

The temperatures were still very hot at over 30 degrees celsius so that made errands and moving rather draining.  Thankfully the residence has fairly good air conditioning. Even at that it was even too warm indoors at times.  Just imagine what it would be like without air conditioning!

I spent the first day moving from one floor to another and unpacking and putting most of the clothing and personal items away.  The next day I concentrated on arranging things according to mother's specifications; hanging more photos and making lists of everything that needed to be purchased.  Today was devoted to a Care Conference with all the staff, completing a number of forms and settling financial accounts as well as following up on medical supplies which are still outstanding.

The good news is that I had more thinking time to complete forms, make enquiries, make phone calls, meet people, tour more of the facility, make lists and purchase things for mom.  I also had a bit of time for my own personal business and got to take mom for a very short walk.  We didn't stay too long outside due to the excessive heat. 

It is always difficult to leave mom because I cannot visit her as often as I would like.  But it is also good to get home. The facility was having a special event tonight so it made it easier to say goodbye  knowing that she had something to occupy her mind tonight before sleep. I hope to visit her again in about 6 weeks.

Sunset on the freeway to Vancouver

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A Glorious Day After All

Everyone must have felt that a cheerful friend is like a sunny day, which sheds its brightness on all around; and most of us can, as we choose, make of this world either a palace or a prison. ~ John Lubbock

 Today started off cloudy and threatening to rain.
(I didn't get a photo of the cloudy sky for comparison).

I was getting together for breakfast with a friend from Alberta, who if I am lucky, I get to see once a year.

Last year it was coffee and muffins at my home. This year it was breakfast out. Her treat.

We dined, drove around, then dined some more.

I forgot to take photos of the food.

Well it wasn't much. 

She had a BIG salad. I had clam chowder soup and a fresh Caesar salad. It was the first time I've had Caesar salad without the romaine lettuce leaves being torn into bite sized pieces. But the capers were certainly nice!

The day turned  out to be sunny and warm.

The scenery from my chair was spectacular.

I love days like this.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.


Joining up with Our World Tuesday.

One Night This Week

I managed to catch a beautiful light in the sky a few days ago.

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Have yourself a beautiful weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Salt & Progress on Reading Goals

I finished my expanded reading goal of 28 books last Thursday. I can't help myself, I've picked up another book.

A friend and I were going to go out to the local annual fair.  When she heard how I sounded this morning she suggested I stay home instead and have a good rest.  I seem to be coming down with congestion in the chest. I took her advice and it gave me a chance to begin a slow read of my new book.

The new book I've had on my shelves for a long while. It is called, Salt by Mark Kurlansky. It is a book all about the history of salt and how it has shaped civilization. 

Did you know that wars have been fought over salt; that salt has been used for currency, or that in 1930, Ghandi initiated a salt march to overthrow British rule in India? I also found it interesting that "sal" is the Latin word for salt and that our "sal-ary" derives from the word "sal" because soldiers used to be paid in salt. The word "sal-ad" also derives from the word "sal" because at one time, salad was made of vegetables flavoured with salt or a salt based dressing.  I've only just started the book but already it sounds very interesting.

Most of us use salt on a daily basis. North American table salt tends to be heavily processed,  stripped of its trace minerals and enhanced with anti-caking chemicals like aluminum to make it easier to shake from your salt shaker.  In fact, salt is crucial to your health but many of us use overly refined salt and  too much of it. In recent years, the governments in North America have been creating awareness of the danger of too much salt, warning that amongst other ailments, too much salt contributes to high blood pressure.  Consequently, many of us have cut down on our table and cooking salt, eliminated it or replaced it with herbs or what we think are healthier versions of salt.

I switched to "sea salt" years ago.  I put the words "sea" and "salt" in quotation marks because really, all salt comes from the sea.  Once salt water evaporates you are left with salt. The real difference comes in the processing of the salt and what is subtracted from, or added to it.  For more information on the difference between table salt and sea salt, please read here if interested.

First, I tried Himalayan Sea Salt and I also bought one of the Himalayan salt lamps) to counteract the positive ions created by the computer and television). This type of salt is sold in health food stores here and is very expensive so I switched to a refined Greek sea salt called Kalas, made by the largest producer of sea salt in Greece.  I've moved on again to another type of sea salt from an ancient sea bed in Utah, called Real Salt.  It is an unrefined salt containing over 60 trace minerals. I can't say it has made a huge difference in how I feel or in the swelling of my extremities but I'll stick with it because I believe the lack of processing and the presence of 60 trace minerals has to be good.

What about you dear reader? Do you also still use regular iodized table salt or have you made a change?

My Lodgings in Lanoraie - Images of Le Belle Province Pt. 4

On my recent travels to Quebec and the eastern USA, I mostly stayed in motels and hotels.  But in the small town of Lanoraie I got to stay in a charming old house.

It has a plaque showing the original owner of the house. 

When you are in the house, you know you are in an old house, at least by Canadian standards.  The house is primarily made of wood and has fairly low ceilings and a very narrow stairwell to the attic where there are two large bedrooms.  There is also a bedroom on the main level as well as a living room, kitchen, dining room, office and bathroom. I think there was also a basement but this would likely have been an addition to the house when it was moved from it's original location to it's present one

 in Lanoraie.

I slept in the attic.  There were two beds in my room. The bed in the photo below is made of wood but I  chose to sleep in the antique metal bed which I did not capture in a photo.

I did get several photos of the various nooks and crannies in the room.

 There were beautiful prints all over the room and many things to draw the eye.

 I thought this little bedside table with the "rabbit lamp"was cute.

 There were lots of books too in every little area where there could possibly be a small bookshelf.

 I had a wonderful sleep which I very much needed.  But the night was all too short as we went to sleep very late and had to leave very early in the morning.

However before we started on our journey, we had breakfast in the dining room.

The house has been modernized with the necessary conveniences but the room sizes and ceiling heights have remained more or less the same.

A view into the kitchen from the dining room.

The grandfather clock.

 

The office and television area. 

 I didn't get a good photo of the living room area or any of the other bedrooms and bathroom.

This historic house was featured in some kind of  exhibition along with 3 others historic houses in the towns of Lanoraie and Lavaltrie.

I really enjoyed my night in this historic house. Apparently while I slept, I was oblivious to the pounding rain, thunder claps and lightening. I had the windows open in  the bedroom for a cross breeze and it was such a welcome relief to have a breeze to help me sleep through the humidity of the summer.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday.

You can find some of my other travel posts on Quebec in the Blog Archive to the right of the screen. I also have some posts on New York from this trip. More to come.

Night Images of La Belle Province - Pt. 3

All these photos were taken in the Town of Lanoraie, along the St. Lawrence Seaway at night. We had spent the day in Louiseville & Lavaltrie & had come back to rest in Lanoraie. We quickly went for a walk along the waterfront before the light faded entirely. It was lovely there except for the mosquitoes which were thick. I dislike mosquitoes immensely but wanted to see what I could before the light was completely gone.

My French relatives were very much involved in the planning of the tourist information and the art works that now exist along the waterfront. They also helped to plan for a small stage (I didn't get a good photo of it) so that productions could be presented on  the waterfront.

My 80 year old relative wrote and produced a historical play which was enacted on this small waterfront stage. She was a bit younger when she did this creative work.  All in all it was a real treat to see the work the relatives (all sisters) had been involved in and to hear their passion for the cultural work they seem to do so much of. Her and her two sisters have a passion for history, geneology and writing. She says she has about 4 more books (in her head) but is running out of time to put them on paper.

Church on main street near the water front.

It is said that when the French explorer, Jacques Cartier passed through Lanoraie in the 16th century, the Iroquois had already been established in the area. They called place Agochanda or Agouchonda, which means a place to stop and eat and rest.

The parish in this area was established in the late 1600s but development of the village didn't really occur for another few hundred years.  The small town is steadily growing with the current population at about 5000 people who predominantly speak French.

My next travel post will feature the historic house where we spent the night and then we will drive north to Quebec City and farther. Join me later.

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