These Are A Few of My Favourite Things....

What a super cool Sunday. Last night (Saturday), I was on Ravelry (I know, big surprise :P), and in the forums was this post of a fiber festival. This peaked my interest. I saw that it was being held in Grimbsy, which is not very far from where we live. In that area are a lot of wineries. We have not been on a wine tour in quite some time. We are thinking perhaps when we were first married was the last time we did something along those lines. We decided to go for it. We set out early this afternoon. The weather was beautiful. It was a tad cooler than I would prefer, but we can't complain. There was not a dark cloud to be seen.



The fiber festival took place at a farm in Grimbsy called Silmaril Farms.


There was all sorts of things to capture your interest.
There were a few artisans and spinners,


Lots of adorable livestock.



Husband enjoyed petting a future skein.

I came home with a bright skein,


and a few cat toys which were greatly appreciated:


After we saw what we could of the festival we drove on in search of vineyards. Our first stop was Mountain Road Wine company in Beamsvile:

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Then we skipped down the road to Angel's Gate, also in Beamsville:




Not very far from there is Thirty Bench:

We also enjoyed our lunch at this point and just watched the scenery.


After we staved off hunger, we traveled to Jordan's Station and visited at Flat Rock Cellars:




Moving on, we drove through St. Catherine's.


At one particular intersection we came across this interesting piece of metal:


When we finally got our bearings, we found ourselves going towards Niagara on the Lake. I wanted to visit Coyote Run. I just like the sounds of the name. It was a bit trying to find.


When they say unimproved road,

they are not kidding:

I think I almost lost the truck in one of those holes.

Coyote Run has something that is quite interesting, two types of soil:

This might account for the variety of wine.


We also visited the only winery that just makes ice wine in this region.



I was getting a bit snacky once again and turned into this little market.


I couldn't resist the jams. They are another weakness of mine. I love toast and jam at any part of the day.

I had a wonderful day. I stepped outside of my comfort zone and discovered a few parts of southern Ontario that I had not yet visited. If any of you are interested, this site, Niagara Falls Online: Wineries in the Niagara Region, I found quite helpful in planning our day.
I'm off to enjoy our score. I'm a little sleepy. That was a lot of action for a Sunday. Have a good night everyone.

That There is a Big Ball of Fun!

There has not really been anything terribly exciting going on. The rain has kept most of our activities confined to the indoors. I am very OK with that by the way. It leaves me more time for different kind of fun. For instance, I have a big ball of yarn and I think I know what to do with it:

This is a skein of Fleece Artist's Hand Dyed Donegal. At least that is what is says on the label.

It is a bit scratchy at the moment. I have worked this before and know that the scratchiness will wear away. As you are working with it, a fine oily layer seems to coat your fingers. I'm not sure if that is just a quirk with this particular yarn or it is something that belongs to this brand. I am enjoying the process all the same. I am really liking how it is knitting up. I trust my little project to look pretty cool by the end.


I have also found a lost project among the little baggies while I was tidying up this past week end. My Olympic socks from last session's Pentathlon on Ravelry.


Rebel seems to like the process


Which leads to my next question. I wonder if I missed out on an information file for the current session of the Sock Knitter's Pentathlon? I keep checking, but see nothing new happening. I guess I will just enjoy my drink and not worry about it. Eventually I will learn new information.

This is what I am enjoying at the moment:


I am actually a bit sleepy at the moment which is my cue to head to bed. Good night everyone. I hope your Fridays go well for you. :)

Wine, Dine, 5 Flight Decline

I am so happy to be on the mend. To celebrate, we had an awesome week end filled with lots of sunshine, sitting outside, good eats, excellent beverages, and lots of entertainment.

With the arrival of spring, comes the farmer's market where you can buy an assortment of goodies. The husband is usually the one elected to attend this event as I don't normally see Saturday mornings. The things he came home with made an extremely good meal.

It all started with appetizers:

Blue cheese on fried flat bread.

Followed closely by the main course:
Asparagus


Sweet Potatoes


And New York strips

All prepared on the barbecue.

I enjoyed my wine, and Husband enjoyed his Manhattan.

If any of you would like the mix recipe for any of the above, just send me a comment and I will be willing to trade :)

Now for part of the entertainment of the evening.
Apparently, there was quite a bit preparation involved in this little scheme, approximately seven months worth. The outside world is very attractive to Rebel and Napoleon this time of year.
It is a simple plan really, involving brute strength and a bit of cunning.

Rebel dislodges the broom handle we keep propped in the door to avoid such adventure and Napoleon runs like hell to see what all the fuss is about at our next door neighbours.

We are not really worried about Rebel.

He pretty much just sits there looking slightly ticked off that the sun is out.

Napoleon is a whole other story.

He tends to munch on the neighbours flowers and peer into their unit. Not exactly the most comforting experience.

We also went on a few walks. We took some pictures of the various things that are out in bloom.


We have a wonderful trail that circles Mill Pond close to where we live. There is always something of interest to behold.

Today it was a bit warmer so we were able to enjoy the balcony a little longer. We were also better equipped to keep the cats confined to the safety of the indoors.


I also learned another lesson.
This:


May sometimes lead to this:

It takes about half a can of cider to wind it back up. :-|

Once the yarn was re wound, we sat to enjoy another great meal:

Lamb burgers with blue cheese, more yummy asparagus and in the tinfoil are carrots. Very tasty indeed.

The cook is pretty fun to watch as well ;)


I hope you all had a wonderful week end. I'm off to go knit the straps for my Askew tank. Good night everyone. :D

P.S Rebel and Napoleon did apologize for causing grief yesterday. It might have helped that there was food involved.

Stop The Spinning.....Please

I still am not quite feeling myself. I have the same sleeping habits as Rebel, which is not entirely bad. My mom always said if I found myself sleeping, it was because I needed to. That does make sense. Now if I can get this pressure out of my ears, I will back in business. I am actually feeling a bit more like myself today. I was very adventurous. I've been labeling my CDs and started working on my comic book again. I go through phases with this little project, like most of my projects actually. I go at it full tilt, then I put it down. It gathers some dust, then I start again. It's a vicious cycle.

I'm not sure what I will watch on television for the next little while. America's Next Top Model and Fringe aired their season finales. Does anyone have any suggestions?

While going through my CDs, I found this song that I absolutely loved when I was in high school. I thought I would share it with you:

Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
Uploaded by jesus_lizard - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Hope you are all healthy and enjoying the wonderful weather. Talk at yous later :)

I'm Icky :(

I once again find myself with a cold. This is not good. I suspect it is because my co-workers are experiencing this bloody so-called "change of life" and must maintain their workplace the temperature of a meat locker. So here I am, at home, watching the weirdness of furry kiddies.
This is Rebel's new place to hang out:

Every three weeks or so, Rebel likes to cycle through his favourite spots. Napoleon is not very fond of this place. Try as he might, he cannot penetrate the force and sneak in there beside Rebel. Rebel does not seem to mind. I believe it is the only place he can escape for a little bit.

Speaking of escapes.........
How is that for a transitional phrase?
I had to escape from my workplace for my lunch hour. I find that if I stay there, I get interrupted, frequently. Conversations start out something like this:
I know it's your lunch hour but....
Before you go to lunch, would you be able to...
etc etc...

I found this neat little park not far from where I work. It had wonderful scenery and was not very crowded. There was no one around. I had the place practically to myself.




Since I was home today and not feeling very motivated, I was looking at my Askew tank. It was not working for me. It is miles too short and tight. So, I ripped it apart and begun anew. I will just call the first version a draft.


I also decided to rip out my two socks at a time and try from the toes up. I have a better feeling about these ones as well. It is going way more smoothly the second time.


Rebel might be having a stressful week as well. I feel sorry for Hampton. He is looking a little violated.
I don't really want to explain their relationship. I believe the pictures do that justice.


It sort of looks like he is just giving Hampton a powerful hug.


Then you get closer and realize its with his sharp little toes and teeth.

I'm going to go veg over there and hope I feel better soon. Enjoy the long week end everyone.

Troubles :(

I am having a very difficult time signing onto Yahoo at the moment. I don't like when a machine wins. :( I have tried to un-install, re-install, and then just for kicks do it all over again. The end result is........I'm using Pidgin. :) C'est la vie.

With all the icky weather, I've sort of lost my momentum.

This past week end, we had hail and torrential downpours. It almost restricted our movements. We still managed to rent a few movies:
The Spirit. If you enjoyed Sin City, you might like this one. It has similar graphics and the same creator, Frank Miller. I was introduced to Miller's work through the comic Daredevil. Leave it to say I'm biased. I will watch just about anything this man has created or has had a hand in.
Also, Bedtime Stories, which I unfortunately know nothing about because some strange little fingers had the made the disc unreadable to our PS3 :(.
Parents, guardians, please do not let little people touch things that has to do electronics. Especially if you do not own the electronics. I'm sure they have the best intentions, however, they tend to be sticky little people.
Lastly, The Day The Earth Stood Still. I am a big fan of Sci-Fi. This is like Close Encounters meets Fire in the Sky. I enjoyed it. :)

I'm still attending the gym, knitting, work, etc., I just wish for the warmer weather. I'm what I would like to think of solar powered. I just seem to keep going when I've been fully charged by the sunlight. I used to think the SAD concept was just an excuse. Over the years however, I notice a lot of those symptoms with me. My solution is to try and just get out into the sunlight as much as I can.
I thought I would leave you all with a picture I snapped before while I was waiting for my ride into the city:

I am off to work on a summer inspired knit project and catch up on the remaining episodes of Dollhouse. Have a good week everyone. :)