Quest for Christmas Spirit

With Christmas just around the corner, we thought it best if we set up our Christmas tree.
We found an exciting ornament this year!

I'm hoping this tree survives until Christmas.

We also experienced our first major snow fall for the season.
Perfect for walking and exploring!


Today it is a bit chilly to venture very far outside so we will binge watch some of our favourite shows and continue to knit on a new project. Right now I am enjoying Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. The plot has quite the twists and turns. I watch this on Crunchyroll through an Itunes app.. I do not have the premium version. With that, you avoid advertisements. I rather enjoy the commercials. It gives me an idea what to look our for when I finish watching a series.

I also completed an oil painting the other day. Winter Tree Line.

My canvases are getting a little smaller because of the colder weather. You see, where I work, in the garage, the ventilation is not that great. I tend to get a bit loopy if I work in an enclosed space for too long. Until the weather warms, I find the best solution is just work smaller for the time being. Eventually, a better ventilation system will be found. For the time being, I just try to work a bit quicker.


I hope you are all well and not too stressed for the holiday season.
Enjoy your quality family and friends time.
Talk later.

First Time for Anything

Turns out Hubs has never heard of short bread cookies.
So I made some.


Rorschach is still learning how to drink from a dish. He prefers Jackie's large water dish.


He was also on hand to help me with a few of my paintings.


This is what I was working on:
Starry Night


And my Christmas Card:


Both paintings are done in watercolour.

Jackie and I have been enjoying the cold, warm, cold, no wait, warm again winter weather.


I hope the end of November is going well with you.
Talk to you later!

Happenings from November

Mother Nature appears to be off her meds once again.
One night, I walk to work and it is pouring rain.
It was also rather warm. At the time it reminded me of March weather where you can almost feel Spring.
By the time I arrived at work, the temperature had dropped rather suddenly and it was snowing.
I love weather in Canada!

I'm slowly starting to organize for Christmas.
I have in my head an idea for gifts and good intentions to locate the tree in the basement.
To be honest though, Christmas is not really my holiday.
There is always all this pressure.
I try not to succumb.
It is one of my main reasons why I elect to work that holiday.

I have also been knitting and doodling.
Nothing much to really show as of yet.
The knit project I'm working on is a test knit.
Progress has been quite slow due to our new addition to the family.


I named him Rorschach after one of my favourite characters from a comic book, Watchmen.

It took a good day for everyone to get used to each other.
Now they are all pretty brothers and sisters.
If I cannot locate Rorschach, I just have to look for Jackie.

I might have to find Jackie a larger bed to fit everyone more comfortably.

Lately I have also been obsessed with my new gaming system!
I finally located a mini Nintendo gaming system that has a lot of my favourites built into the tiny console.
I have been reliving my childhood and playing a lot of Super Mario Bros. with Rorschach.


I'm off for a walk with Jackie while the sun is shining.
I hope you are all well!

Hallowe'en 2017

We had another successful Hallowe'en this year!
Part of the joy for me is to create something unique that you will not see another person wearing.
I believe I have passed on this thrill to my family members.

The very idea that you can make something out of string, or have lines on a page formulate another world is simply mind blowing!
You can take pride in the fact you did that with your own hands.

Little man got into the spirit of the event and made much of his own costume this year.
The only I did was knit his sweater. I made it large enough to fit over a winter coat.
The joys of Hallowe'en in Canada that have been plaguing mothers for decades.

I think he did a great job!

Hubs was a mad butcher.

He was a big hit with the two to ten year old crowd. Not so much with the older trick or treaters.
I had to run after a lot of young people to give them candy. They refused to go by the scary guy.
At one point I had to rescue The Mad Butcher from mini hulk who claimed, I am not afraid of you! Then proceeded to drag The Butcher by his Chain! That little hulk received extra candy for his efforts.

I was a demented Fairy!
Heavy her head who wears the horns!

Those hons were getting heavy towards to the end of the night. I'll think have to think of something more light weight for upcoming years.


I will also invest in more feathers so I can cover both sides of my wings.



It truly was a fun night. I love how everyone gets dressed up. Everyone is a kid on Hallowe'en! That is why it is so magical.
I hope you are all well.
I finally see a break in the rain we have been having since the start of the month so, I am off for a quick walk with Jackie.
Talk with you all later.

First Day of Autumn

I'm a little late in recognizing the start of the Fall season. To be fair, so is Mother Nature. Yesterday in my neck of the woods, it was 27 deg. C. Today it will be 30 and tomorrow, pretty much the same. Where was this temperature while I was free to enjoy it on my summer holidays?
All well. It is what it is.
Hubs is almost finished the roof.
He put the finishing touches on the siding that was removed to add the shingles. The hips were placed and the odds and ends were sealed.
All that is left is my little gazebo on the back deck!

That is one happy king of the mountain!

This was my first actual week end off in some time.
Jackie and I enjoyed ourselves by just exploring our back yard.


There are some very interesting bugs out there.

I finally finished (or I think I did), my sunflowers painting. I need to wait until it is dry. I tried to move it and left green fingerprints everywhere.


I also finished a pair of socks!
My Sparkle Socks.


With Halloween just around the corner, I was inspired by those cheery colours for my next pair of socks, Dublin Bay Socks!


Well, I am off to plan for more Halloween festivities!
I hope you are all well.
Talk with you later.

Start of a New School Year

August has come and gone so quickly.
In just a few days Little Man will be heading off to his first official year of Secondary school in a new school in a new town. Needless to say, there is a lot of anxiety this week. He will be entering into year three of Secondary. After living in Ontario for most of my life, the Quebec school system still baffles me. My job is the scavenger for the school supplies. I finally have that nailed down.
My parents just left from a little visit. They arrived last Tuesday and left for home yesterday. They had a nice time although, it was not without some adventure. Unfortunately, one of their cats planned a great escape in New Brunswick. This wasn't one of the friendliest of cats you would ever encounter. In fact, I had only seen it once and very briefly. My parents travel in an R-V. They have been doing so for years. Most of their trips are from Ontario to Prince Edward Island to visit with family. They have always brought their furry children with them who have for the most part enjoyed the trips. Being in the camper is like traveling in a mobile home to which they have adjusted easily enough. It is filled with common objects and smells. This particular cat, is having none of it. He hissed and snarled all the way to P.E.I. and homeward bound. My parents had pulled over for the night in New Brunswick. The next morning, they went to step outside, walk around a bit, get some fresh air and.....swoosh! The great escape was made. They stayed there at the spot for the entire day, trying desperately to locate and bribe the feral creature back into the trailer. Mom came close, but it made such a swipe at her, she had to leave him be. They were both very heart broken, but there was just nothing left to be done. Sadly the cat is now a resident of New Brunswick.
On to the next province where they discovered they are not too fond of the lighting system. Quebec highways do tend to get rather dark a bit early this time of year. The longest day of the year has passed. There are lights at intersections but the signs to inform you of what town you are entering, how to get to the next location et cetera are not always clearly visible. My parents do not drive after a certain time of day. It just becomes too difficult for them and zaps out all of the fun. They were a few hours from my place. It was getting darker. They had an idea where they were, but just needed confirmation to make certain.
Was that a road sign? asks Len.
I think so. It is just so dark. says Mom
I'll pull over we can go back and check.
They pull off to the side of the road, grab their flashlights and walk back to the sign they hoped they had seen.
Staring up at the sign using their flashlights to illuminate the letters, they find out they are indeed just a few hours east of me.
I got quite the chuckle out of this image. If you could picture my parents, both are not very tall and they feel the cold very easily. They tend to be quite bundled and look just like garden gnomes. Standing there in front of this giant sign holding up their little flashlights to read the letters. Anyways, they arrived at my place and we all had a nice time. Usually it can be a bit tense. I don't do things like my mom and she continues to try and "help" me by providing background commentary on absolutely everything. This time though, it went nicely.
My vehicle was washed. It looks almost like new.


My step dad cannot really sit still for too long. That is how he says thank you for a nice week. Little Man also learned how to do windows properly.
My parents really get along well with Little Man. Mom and Jacob watched quite a few movies together when it was too chilly to sit outside. It was nice to hear them laughing together.
Things are slowly returning to normal this morning. Our roof is almost complete.

With the heavy rainfall we experienced this summer, it really is something that Hubs was able to complete so much in such a short amount of time. I think it looks fantastic! Almost has a story brook feel to it.
The rain was not too great for my tomatoes. Sadly this is all I was able to save.

Eventually they will ripen on the counter.

I am currently working on a new pair of socks.
Sparkle Socks by Violet LeBeaux

It is a nice sock to work on while I catch up on Iron Fist.

I hope you are all well.
Talk with you later.