Have a Little Faith

Last fall, I planted a series of bulbs in my garden.
I placed markers so I wouldn’t accidentally dig the up or disturb them.
Now they are making their debut and I have no idea what they are!



This surprise gardening has become my mantra. Just keep going and have a little faith.
As a side note, it’s also how I cook.
I try to follow the instructions, but sometimes, you JSU have to roll with it.
It works with Banana Bread!

This is a banana with frozen berries mixture that my family loves.

I have been working steady on my Rainbow Wave Socks, designed by Christina Danaee.
Jackie and I have decided to take advantage of the warmer weather and sunshine and moved our little workspace outside.

I’m at the Afterthought heel. It’s still a weird concept for me to wrap my head around.
Jackie is supervising the progress on the chicken coop.


Meanwhile, little Luna is showing her displeasure of not being allowed outside.


I hope wherever you are, you are doing well.
Take care and enjoy the little things.

Progress!

We have been pretty occupied this weekend constructing our chicken coop.
It has been quite the learning process for Little Man who has been feeling pretty good about his accomplishment.
So far, here is the progress up until this afternoon:

What a wonderful feeling to see something built from the actual ground up!
They are a bit out of order but you get the main idea.

For myself, I dedicated this weekend to cross stitching.

Little Luna has been very helpful!
My Deathabilly by Marcus Jones, has been so much fun to work on!

With the weather getting a little warmer, my green friends have sprung up!

It seems each day, something new returns!

Jackie is giving me the side eye.

She is a more efficient time piece than any clock I have!
I am scheduled to work tonight so, off to bed I go.

Let me know how you are all doing. I hope wherever you may be, you are able to get a bit of fresh air.

See you later.

Spring Has Sprung

First some weird news.
I’ve had severe nasal congestion for longer than is normal for me.
It’s almost panic inducing because I’m not able to breathe properly.
So, naturally I think, let’s make an appointment with my doctor.
I’ve never actually had one before because I was always on a wait list.
I have one now.
Unfortunately, during a pandemic, things are not so easily accomplished.
I called to make an appointment and was met with a lot of questions.
No problem.
They need to know.
I do not want to unknowingly infect anyone.
Long story short, I had to take one of those tests.
I did see a video on YouTube.
I was not prepared.
They took two swabs.
One of my throat. Very far down my throat.
One up my nose. Very, very, far up my nose.
I think they touched my brain.
I tried my best to remain still because the last thing I want is for the nurse to try and chase after me with that incredibly long swab thing.
Now I wait. As I wait for the results, I’m supposed to remain home.
No problem.

On a more Spring like theme, things are showing up in my gardens!


As you can see, we are now minus a tree.


There used to a Corkscrew Willow Tree there.
Now there is a stump.
Have no fear. We have some seedlings that Hubby cleverly took from the old tree before it met its demise.


Now to plan out where to plant them!
I’m off. Be safe out there!
Stay home. You are saving lives!

Always a Work In Progress

At the moment, Jackie and I are enjoying A Wrinkle In Time. I read the book a little while ago and truly enjoyed it. I was browsing my options of things to watch as I work on my sweater.

This Is Morag Pullover designed by Elly Doyle. I love the way the cables move. I am currently working on the back which doesn’t have the cable pattern so I can afford to have my mind do a little multi-tasking.

I was quite productive this morning. After I arrived home from work, I started my laundry, (I am in need of more scrubs for work or I’ll end up sporting my pajamas), baked some cookies and did the prep work for lunch.

The cookie recipe, which is my go-to recipe, is super simple!
A box of cake mix, doesn’t matter what kind.
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
3 eggs, though the recipe calls for only 2. I just the added oomph the extra egg adds.
Lastly, add in whatever your heart desires for the extra tastiness!
For this batch, I added mini marshmallows and salted caramel bits.

This particular batch yielded a rough 2 dozen. I say rough because my cookies are never uniform in size.

I’ve done a little bit of painting as well.


These are all watercolours inspired by photos I found on Unsplash.

I think my laundry is just about dry.
I hope you are well and doing the social distancing and self isolation. It’s important! We need to keep the distance to protect the members of our communities.
Be safe, do those projects you’ve been putting off and enjoy the vastness of the Internet! All sorts of worlds to discover without ever having to leave your home!

Just Calm

Today was a video game day.
I booked off last night because I was tired.
I work in a nursing home.
Before the Corona Virus was upon us, we were already short staffed. Now, well. Now it’s getting interesting.
With the epidemic, we can’t train new people. Our residents are of the vulnerable population. So we have to exercise extra caution.
Last night, I took time for me. I haven’t slept very well for quite some time.
Despite all my bravado, I do get quite anxious about the situation. It’s not for me though. It’s s for the people I’m in close contact with on a regular basis. If something happens to them that could be prevented, well, it would be too horrible to imagine.
On the lighter side, I have been enjoying playing Witcher 3 on PS4. Lovely game. It has a great storyline. I love how you can level up the character and find and craft all these different weapons. Also, it has a huge area to explore. I’ve always loved these games. These role playing games. RPGs. Does anyone have other recommendations for games along this similar thread? I would love to hear about them!

Jackie has been a wonderful cheerleader throughout our epic game playing. She always has Mr. Monkey or The Moose close by.

She actually does seem to follow along.

I hope you are all keeping well and most importantly, keeping safe.

Good Morning!

The world is a scary place at the moment. People, trying to avoid fear, uncertainty, start to commit actions just to stay busy. Unfortunately, this only helps the person in motion. We need to just stop for a moment. Breathe. Gather our thoughts and do what is best for our society.
These thoughts of mine were sparked by seeing pictures of people lining up to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. We need only to look to Italy to see how this is going to affect us in the long run. Their country has been devastated by the virus. They have lost countless loved ones because of being unprepared and not following the directions strongly suggested by their medical experts.
To be fair, unless you’ve experienced this sort of virus before, how can you truly understand how to act, behave, protect? At the moment, we are to told to practice social distancing. Some of us are experts in this field. I happen to be one of them. For the rest who are unfamiliar with this sort of practice, remember. It’s not forever. We are doing this to protect our more vulnerable population. These are our older people. Our people with compromised immune system. Folks who are already being ravaged by illness. Remember, we are social distancing ourselves for this little amount of time for the greater good.
We can do this! We can help others. We can do the right thing and reduce our social outings, look after out vulnerable, and be a better community at the end of this all.
Be careful. Be safe. Be smart.

Happy 2020!

It feels very weird to write that number. My brain has a difficult time to process it, which is weird since it's just one number repeated.
I hope you all survived the holidays. If you're reading this, well done. I know for some of you it is not the easiest of times to get through. I struggle a fair bit myself during this time. For me, it's hard to pinpoint exactly why. I feel like a fraud. I paste on my happy smile and go through the motions but inside, I'm not really feeling it. I have moments of actual joy. Those are nice. I try to savour them. Most of the time I can hardly wait for the festive season to be over.

We did erect our Christmas tree.

Note the protective force around the tree.
Jackie was on a mission to take all the presents from around the bottom of the tree and redistribute them to more appropriate locations around the house, like in front of the patio doors to go out to the backyard and the in the shower. I'm sure she had her reasons.

Little Man is not so little anymore. He celebrated his 17th birthday!

Yes. He is counting all the candles. There were 17 on the cake!



I surprised both of us with his Cherry Chocolate Cheesecake.

That was quite the adventure in the kitchen.
Jo helped me out with some of the technical parts.
It's in situations like these, where the differences between us really shine.
I'm more of an, eyeball it, approximate to the best of my ability.
Jo is really, exact measurements, follow instructions to a T.
Either way, it works for us.
I found the recipe here on The First Year blog.
It was a bit tricky. That could just be my lack of experience.
This cake was worth the hardship.
I tried my best to follow the recipe. The only difference was I had frozen cherries on hand.
They did not seem to compromise the taste.

We visited with my parents for New Years. I can't believe I never attempted this before but, I made more of an effort to photograph the regions of Quebec and Ontario from the vehicle as we drove along.
I managed to capture some wonderful images.


While visiting with my parents, we did enjoy the squirrel antics.

This time they were joined by Doves and Blue Jays.

Back at home, we enjoy our feathery daily visitors.
They actually come pretty close to the back patio doors to let me know when their feed is empty.


To get over the winter blues, Jackie and I try to get out as often as possible. The last few weeks however, have been trying. We had a few ice storms and today, lots of snow. that did not stop Jackie from exploring our local nature trail.

It was just us and the ducks today. With all the snow, our walk was incredibly peaceful and calming. We both needed that.

We recently acquired a new family member!
This is Little Man's kitten, Luna!

With all the attention Napoleon pays her, you would think Luna was actually Napoleon's cat.

It always surprised me how maternal Napoleon can be. He was the same when we welcomed Rorschach into the fold. Constantly monitoring their every action. Making sure they go to the litter box. Ensuring they eat and drink properly. He really is quite the marvel in his old age.

Jackie is not really sure what to make of the little one. She is quite hesitant to approach Luna. She does regularly inspect her but, it's not at all how she was like with Rorschach when he was a kitten. We suspect it's because Luna is female.


Finally, I have been knitting.
I completed a pair of Basketwork Socks designed by Mone Drager.

The only modification I made was not to continue the basketwork at the back of the sock. I just found it too tight.

I also just started working on Rainbow Wave Socks, designed by Christina Danaee.

Oooh. That photo came out darker than I intended.
The only modification I am making on this pair is not having a contrasting colour. I just can't seem to locate that particular ball of yarn and I really do not want to tear up the house looking for it! I am actually okay with just the variant sock choice.

I think I covered everything.
If there is a photo that you would like to use as a reference, feel free. Just please, show me how it turns out. I would love to see your efforts!
I hope everything is going well with you.
Happy 2020!