Super Moon

I have to give all the photo credit to Hubs. He did a fantastic job finding the right settings on the camera and the ideal location to take such a beautiful work of art.


What makes this experience so special is this will be the first time since 1948 that the moon has traveled this close to the sun on its elliptical orbit. There are three super moons. The first was October 16th, Monday that just past, was the largest and the next will be December 14. So you have another chance if you missed the other two occasions. After that, the next super moon will be in the year 2034.

Beside watching the skies, I have been knitting like a fiend.

I cannot yet show pictures, because some are gifts.

I can however show you some pictures of slippers I just made!

Jackie and I are now having a serious discussion on whether to add poms poms.
I'm leanings towards no.
Jackie is suggesting add some challenges to going up and down stairs as the cats try to madly catch the pom poms.

Speaking of cats. I hear angry meowing. I suspect someone is trapped down in the basement. Again.
Sometimes they like to follow me down and I do not see them right away.
Right then. Off to rescue someone.
I hope you all have a great day!

Is Everyone ok?

I do not know about you, but I did not see the result of that election coming. Funny enough, The Simpsons did. How spooky is that eh?
I know a lot of people are frightened. And you have that right. To put it mildly, The United States will be experiencing a lot turmoil. I sincerely hope you all stay safe. The thing to remember is, you have to get past this. he may not be the president you wanted, but he is now in the White House. Remember that the States are still a democracy. Your laws have not changed. Your community leaders still need to be held to the highest standards. There are checks and balances in place to ensure no one takes gross advantages of their power. It there are issues to vote on, get out there and vote! You, the people are the ones to place citizens in power. Do not be fooled by what everyone says. Do your own research. Do not go blindly into situations without all the information. Learn about the democratic process. Educate yourselves. To remain ignorant to do yourself a disservice.
Do good out there. Volunteer. Help others. Find joy in the little things. Above all, do not sink to the level of hatred that is currently running your country. Rise above. You can get through this!
Times are scary right now. You might feel alone. But! You are not alone. That vote was freaky close. It may look like a lot of red, but those blue populated areas are very dense. You are not alone in your feelings. Lastly, i want you to know that this is a safe place. I will gladly listen or read whatever concerns you may be experiencing. I don't care what colour, creed, race, religion you participate in. I will listen and do so with all of my attention and all of my faculties.
Tomorrow is another day. I will be here and so will you!

November Beginnings

The Halloween decorations have finally made it to the basement. One of the many joys of having a constantly growing teenager in your house is there now almost always, someone who can finally lift the heavy and put things away on top shelves.
I was out in the backyard with Jackie the other morning. It was much to rainy to go for a walk.
Drivers just do not seem to care that there are massive puddles in the roads and the poor pedestrians do not wish to drown on their way to the post office. So, we stayed within the safety of our own yard.
Almost everything is dead or dying in my gardens. It is all very brown, black and muddy. There is however, one exception.
The red really stood out!

My lemon tree is enjoying its relocation.
The lemon is actually starting to turn well, yellow.

I was starting to wonder how long it takes for a lemon to ripen.

I was feeling rather adventurous yesterday and decided to make bread for Bruschetta.
Napoleon was a big help.


I was very helpful!


Looks like another rainy day here. We will binge watch some television shows and maybe knit a bit.
Have a good day everyone!

Happy Halloween!

What an exciting time!
Even Jackie had a bath to help celebrate.
Well, that is not entirely true.
We keep Jackie upstairs in the bedroom behind closed doors.
That many trick or treators that come to the door would do her little head in.
The bath was to help do away with the itchies she had been experiencing.


Now we are a little bit more hyper as opposed to calmer. I have no idea what they put in that dog shampoo.
The weather was absolutely perfect.
There were clouds, but not the ones that threaten rain as we have had for the past two weeks.

A perfect night for ghouls and goblins.

The marionette was able to escape her puppeteer and shell out candy.



Dark Link jumped out of the video game to hold perfectly still in our world and scare the living bejeebus out of people as they passed by.


A giant scarecrow took his job a little too seriously and scared anyone or thing that walked onto the property.

It was a really horrific scarecrow.



There were a lot of screams this year. A lot of screams!
It was a great time celebrated by lots of chocolate and stickers.
The only down side were the amount of parents staring at their cell phones.
In one instance, a Mom was so into whatever she was looking at, she lost sight of her children.
Thankfully the scarecrow had them in his sights and was able to direct a very frantic mother in the right direction.

Now all the spiders and skeletons, all of the ghosts and cobwebs have been put away for another year.
I hope you all had a great time!
Cheers!

Banishment

What a strange word.
To ban.
A form of punishment.
In Montreal, there has been so much controversy over the the Montreal council banning pit bulls.
This has upset not only me, but thousands of people.
Let's look first at what exactly is a pit bull.
A breed that encompasses a variety types including also terriers.
I was reading that even experts find it difficult to name specific characteristics that identify a dog as a pit bull.
So, if experts cannot name specifics about what a pit bull is, how can a council of mere lay persons identify that the breed pit bull must be banned?
This ban came about in Montreal because of an incident where a woman was killed by a neighbour's dog. This is a tragedy. No one should have to die that way. It is traumatic. That being said, police said it was a pit bull, but that was not actually confirmed. No DNA was taken.
I can understand why the call on some people to ban a breed of dog that was engineered to look "tough". Their jaws were a characteristic sought to be extra strong. They have a horrible history of being bred to fight.
The by-law created by Montreal asked for numerous regulations to be followed. Sterilization and micro-chipped. A special license must be obtained of the dog will be euthanized. They must also be muzzled at all times.
On a website created to try and answer some questions, many are addressed by, "unable to provide the information". That is reassuring is it not when lives lie in the balance?
So much of these by laws are created out of fear with little to no information. The part of this whole fiasco that hurts the most is the lack of control over people who can even own animals in the first place. Why has that not become an issue. Are there any people out there in the world who has not at some point witness animal abuse? Animals are considered property by so many people. The rest of us however, consider them family. Look at all the hoops you have to jump through to get a loan or a mortgage, even a job interview. Why can't these sort of practices be enforced when people want to adopt or purchase a pet. There are some people out there I would not even trust for the care of a plant. That is where our law makers need to exercise their power. More strict codes as to who can own animals.
I have never had a problem with large, intimidating dogs. Most of the dangerous situations I have encountered involved small dogs, less that ten pounds, who have come charging out after me and my dogs. The owners tend to think it great fun their little darling is trying to "take on" a big dog. They treat these small breeds as babies with little or no discipline. That is poor pet ownership.
Currently, the by law is being suspended by a Quebec superior court judge amidst all the protests by people who feel just like me. The big statement for me was the court being under the impression that certain articles of the bylaw were written in haste. Is this not the start of most arguments? People reacting out of fear and anger before actually investigating both sides of the story? The mayor wants to overturn the courts ruling and continue to ban pit bulls even though no one can readily identify this breed. He did say one thing I agree with, "It's not a right to have a dog, it's a privilege."
Stricter laws need to be enforced for the safety of every living being. I agree, but good owners should not be penalized.

Frost

We woke up to frost this morning.
This made Jackie's trip out to the backyard take a little longer than normal. There are so many more smells out there Mom!!!!!
In my neck of the woods, we have just finished celebrating Thanksgiving.
My family and I visited with my parents. There is some absolutely, drop dead, gorgeous scenery.
We drive past a lot of camping areas next to lakes.




I am always super anxious before I arrive at my parents. I wonder if a lot of other daughters feel this mixed lot of feelings.
I know she means well. I know she loves me.
Her main goal in life, when she was my age, was to please her husband, keep the house and children tidy. There were clear lines of women's work and men's work.
I do not have these defined lines in my life. In our home, if you have time, you do it, be it cleaning, food prep or whatever other domestic chore needs attending. We are teaching Little Man, if you have two feet and a heart beat, you can do a lot of things as well.
Surprisingly, my step-father is a feminist. He believes that he can make a sandwich for himself just as well as asking my mother to do it. In fact, he cleans and cooks as best as he can, whenever it needs to be done. I say surprisingly because he grew up on a small island within a home that was not always a happy place to be. His father was quite the patriarch with very clear ideas on what was done and not done. When my step-father suffered a stroke many years ago, it limited his mobility quite a bit. At that point, he learned to appreciate the task of just making a simple meal without have the full use of his body.
I wonder if Mom understands that when she takes a very simple little situation, like where will I park with the all the construction in front of her house to: OMG parking will be impossible. You will have to park on the next street over or in the park, that it does not really make for an easy going drive.
When we arrived, the city was putting sidewalks on her section of road. We park in front of her house. No problem. I get a lot of my anxiety from my mother. I realize this. I try very hard not to go from 0 to crazy over insignificant details. I am very lucky to have a partner who does not experience stress on my level. Keeps me grounded.
The dinner was lovely. My parents roast a great turkey. Little Man, with his growth spurts was pleasantly stuffed.
We had quite a few little feathery visitors.



We even had a very fluffy visitor!


It was a lucky break that my parents were in charge of Thanksgiving dinner this year. A few days prior, the lower element in our oven had an electrical situation.

I was already in bed, almost at that sweet spot where you are so very ready to actually sleep, when all of a sudden, I smelled something very weird.
I find my glasses, go downstairs and lo and behold, a little flammage in the oven.
I open the door. Yep, there is a tiny flame. Oven is off. I grab baking soda. That was drilled into me from such a young age.
Sprinkle the baking soda over the little flame.
Nope not working.
Sprinkle a little more.
Nope. Still not working.
I grab my oven mitt and beat the shit out of it.
Nope.
Fire still going.
I'm way too tired. I think I had better call a more effective brain.
I call Hubs at work.
He tells me, turn the oven all the way up, then down again.
I'm thinking, ok. Sounds weird. But it is probably more effective that beating the hell out of your oven.
At first, nothing was happening. Then that little flame got smaller and smaller and then vanished.
So, if ever the element in your oven is feeling a little naughty and decides to make an appearance when it should be resting, you turn your oven up to broil, then off. It was like magic!
Now we are on the hunt for an element small enough to fit into the oven. Ours is an older model. Saturday we will have to venture to the larger city to pick one up as there are none available closer to us.

Those are my adventures.
We are all safe. Healthy, with the exception of a little cold that is running amok in our house at the moment. Have a roof over our heads and very supportive of one another.
There is so much to be thankful for.
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!
Talk with you later.

The Philosopher's Stone

I have been binge watching Daredevil, Bates Motel and Supergirl while working on my Philosopher's Stone. I am proud to say that it is finally complete. Coincidentally, I also finished reading the Harry Potter series. Sort of a mad parallel.
At the moment it is blocking in a secure location away from the curiosities of fuzzy children.

I don't know about you, but when I finally complete a big project like this, I am left in a state of shock. I cannot really explain it properly. All those different stitches, twists and turns, for months. Then at last, one day, there you are binding off. It was a pleasure to work on this particular shawl. The only criticism I have is that the amount of yards needed for the piece and the amount stated are quite off. Over estimate if you plan on trying out this pattern.

Jackie has also been hard at work. She has destroyed almost every toy. I thought I would see what she would do with something described as indestructible.
Mommy?

My new toy is scary.

I think that because it makes quite a bit of noise when it moves, she believes it is alive.
Jackie keeps trying to get it to play ball with her.


I have managed to contract a wicked cold. One of my ears seems plugged which is really throwing off my depth perception and balance. So, not too much happening in my little workshop at the moment. Here is a look at things as they stand now.

Quite a few works in progress.

I hope you are all enjoying the cooler weather and colour changes. We have a few beautiful, large Maple trees on our street that have the brightest red leaves I have seen. I'm off to see what else I can work on. Have a good day everyone!