Green Wellies

With thanks...

Mom and dad...we are grateful and we shall remember.

Recipe for a great weekend...

Take one warm sunny day (when cloudy weather and showers were forecast), add a bunch of family members and a heap of friends, toss in one wonderful three-year old grandson with a half-dozen small children, mix five rescue dogs together, blend in good food, fun conversations, a birthday party and a bocce ball tournament, add a dash of wine and beer (juice for some), stir altogether vigorously and you have an incredible weekend...

Congratulations to Sean and Annie for their win (in the dark, by flashlight...the game went on and on), but we'd all better hone our skills...with techniques like this one, it won't be long before Aethan will be taking home the trophy...

      

Party time...

This weekend is Canada Day and a time for celebration, but July 1st is also my daughter, Gwen's birthday and the family is heading to the city for a party.  This is the weekend that Gwen and her husband hold their annual bocce ball tournament and that means good fun, much laughter, hoards of people, wonderful food, a birthday party and this year, at last count, five dogs so far.  Can't wait for the good times to begin!

Jayne is arriving first thing in the morning and we're catching the ferry to Vancouver.  I thought I'd share a before photo...the first one ever taken with me at fourteen (dad always cut my hair) holding my new baby sister, a tiny thing at just over five pounds...

And after...my friend, my kindred spirit and a loving sister who makes me laugh out loud...

That fourteen years age difference doesn't mean a thing to us!

When I get home, I hope I won't have to wait too long for Barbara Kingsolver's latest book that I just ordered from Amazon.  I know the family girls will want to borrow it the minute I've finished reading it.  We're all Kingsolver fans...

 

Have a wonderful weekend...

Happy Mother's Day...

I present a green wellies bouquet to all of the mothers, grandmothers, mothers-to-be, future mothers, aunts, girlfriends, step-mothers, foster mothers and kindred spirits on our glorious planet.  Love, joy and laughter really do make the world go round.

My bouquet was inspired by this card from Gwen which reads, "Moms are like vases...they hold the whole bunch together!" and she added, "...and they're like wellies.  They keep you dry even when you're going through the muck!"

   

Enjoy, knowing in your heart that every day is mother's day.

Weekend rambles and random photos...

Several weeks ago, we welcomed Scout into the family fold and this past weekend, a new member joined us.  Jayne lost her beloved Molly dog just before Christmas and had a space in her heart for a new puppy.  She came to my place on Saturday with her youngest son, Declan and then first thing yesterday morning, we took the ferry to Vancouver to meet up with Sandy from 1atatime Rescue to pick up Libby, only 14 weeks old.  Libby came from the same high-kill facility in Louisiana that my Casper was rescued from and she was the only one of her siblings to make it out alive.  What a precious little thing...funny, clever, loving and from the first few seconds, she found a place in our hearts.  We stopped off in North Vancouver for a quick visit with Gwen and little big Scout...he's growing at a tremendous rate and looks like a young colt.  Casper, Libby and Scout raced about the garden for almost an hour and then it was time to take the ferry back to the Sunshine Coast.  This morning, before Jayne left for home, we introduced Libby to the beach and she took to it like a sailor.  Here's she is with her new momma, Jayne...

There was another surprise for me in the mail from my good friend, Deb...an amazing woman who showed up every morning in my classroom for years to help my Spec. Ed. kids with their reading and was my right hand woman...I couldn't have managed without her.  We latched onto the symbol of the heart in the hand...I told her that she started out lending a hand and then we became heartfelt friends.  Whenever we find something that has this favourite symbol on it, we send it along...cards, charms, drawings, you name it and now this...a lovely little pillow that looks as though it was custom made for my wicker chair and green cushion...

And just to let you see that spring has arrived at long last to the Sunshine Coast, I have this show of camellia blooms at the front of my tiny porch...

...and this to watch right outside the kitchen window...

 

Thank you, thank you...

How on earth do you thank people for fabulous birthday gifts and greetings?  It's difficult to find the right words.  First of all, I have to say that my friends and family are the greatest gifts anyone could possibly ask for and if you know me, you know that sentiment is sincere and comes from the heart.  I feel so blessed to have such a network of caring, loving, crazy, fabulous people in my life.  You make me laugh, you make me see life as a wonderful adventure, you make me appreciate everything around me and you make me a better person each and every day.  The pressies were out of this world...Old Navy gift certificate, Emma Bridgewater mug, Cath Kidston plate, subscription to a favourite magazine, J. Crew madras bag, homemade pottery, handknit shawl in sea blue, bouquets of flowers, new fridge from mom, basket of teas and coffees and a gift from neighbours wrapped in layers and layers and layers that took ten minutes to peel away like onion skin.  The greeting cards were gifts in themselves...each one so meaningful, from the funny sock monkey, to the one with the picture of Johnny Depp pulled right off of Leslie's fridge to the heartfelt words and sayings.  I appreciate each and every one and they were all signed, "Love."  It doesn't get any better.  Ain't life grand!

City mice, country mice...

Yesterday morning, Jayne set off from her place with the van loaded to the gills on her way to catch the ferry to my place.  On board, were her two daughters and two friends of theirs.  Bron is Jayne's eldest daughter and she just finished high school in January, worked hard all year to get her lifesaving and instructor's certificates, held down three jobs while getting great marks at school.  It's payback time and she and two friends are heading to Costa Rica for three months to surf and see the sights.  I couldn't be happier for her.  This trip was the first leg of their journey.  They stopped off and picked up me and Casper (lucky dog...he gets to go everywhere with us) and then we made another stop to pick up the girl that I do respite care for.  It's a good thing Jayne has a large van...seven people, three huge backpacks and a dog. We managed to make the next ferry connection south and landed in Vancouver about one o'clock.  We made a hasty trip to my nephew's place to drop off Bron and her friends and then with the van a little lighter, we just had to head to IKEA to top it up again.

Jayne and I had our lists and we made a frenzied dash through our favourite store and managed to get most of what we wanted.  We treated ourselves and the girls to dinner in the IKEA restaurant and found a patch of grass by the parking lot to let Casper stretch his legs...I'm sure by then he was thinking that this wasn't such fun trip for a dog after all, but being the good sport that he is, he never complained and made a show of sniffing the bags of goodies that we bought.  We dashed to the ferry and made it home just after 8:30...tired, ready to pull on some comfort clothes and regale in our IKEA buys.  Two weary country mice home after a great day playing the part of city mice.

The icing on the cake...Jayne stayed overnight with Caitlin and left later this afternoon, which meant time to walk the beach today, laugh ourselves silly and gab up a storm.

* Here you go Kim...your very own copy of the catalogue, the next best thing to being there in person!

* Because the mountains reach the sea and there's long fjord-like inlets, it means that no roads lead north from Vancouver and we have to rely on ferries to get from one place to another, even though we both live on the mainland.  Journeys anywhere are strictly governed by ferry schedules, so planning ahead and watching the clock is a must...or you can end up sitting in your car for two hours until the next one arrives! 

Memories are made stitch by stitch...

Once upon a time in 1923, there was a mother who held her baby son and had a wonderful idea.  The mother was my grandmother, Greta and the baby was my father.  The mother began to stitch a quilt, block by block for her baby.  She used white and red blocks with red embroidery thread to follow nursery rhyme patterns from a book.  She finished the quilt in 1925 and marked the date on a special block.  She also designed a block with her son's name.  Then the mother had two more children and they in turn were tucked in on cold winter nights and snuggled under the warmth of the quilt.  Years and years passed and the son married a beautiful war bride and they had a daughter they named Barbara and the quilt became hers until her brother, Philip was born.  Several years later, the quilt went from house to house in the small New Brunswick village, as babies were born...a red and white community comfort blanket.  When Barbara was fourteen and Philip was thirteen, they welcomed a little baby sister, Jayne.  The quilt was there to wrap her in its folds as it did her father so many years before.  When Jayne married and had children, the quilt made its journey from the east coast to the west coast and found a place of honour hanging on a wall in her home.

One day, Jayne decided to take a picture of the quilt and posted it on flickr.  Far away in Germany, a lovely woman saw it and a new journey began through photographs.  The woman is Etja and her life's passion is redwork...collecting antique and vintage pieces and the incredible work she creates new.  Etja decided to take on the daunting task of reproducing Greta's quilt, block by block.  Jayne sent her photographs of each one and Etja researched the patterns and actually found a vintage copy of the original ones that Greta used.  She painstakingly chose the exact colour of red floss and white cotton and devised her own way of transferring the patterns from Greta's blocks to the cloth.  Here's the original quilt with some of the redwork blocks.

   

Block by block the quilt is being reborn by Etja's capable hands.  When my father passed away in July, Etja did a special block as a tribute to him...a copy of the one that his mother made just for him over eighty years ago, his name block.  Here's Greta's...

And here is Etja's...

I thought that Etja should have a photograph of Greta and her baby.  Another photo I sent to her was a portrait that my grandmother had done for my father to take with him when he went off to war.  As inspiration, Etja tranformed the portrait into a piece of redwork and has it sitting on her worktable.  Here's my nanan, Greta...

   

This fascinating saga continues with each newly created block.  To read how Etja began the process of this immense project with thirty plus blocks to be completed, it can be found in her archived posts of April 2006 at www.redwork-in-germany.blogspot.com.  We feel so privileged and grateful as a family that this legacy continues, that a few pieces of cloth became a quilt and that the quilt has connected us with this wonderful woman.  News of the quilt became such a focus for my father in the last year of his life and I'm thrilled that he could follow the progress picture by picture.  From Greta's hands to Etja's hands, from first stitch to last, the quilt's journey continues.  And in her words, my grandmother would have been so proud from the bottom of her pea-picking heart!

Farewell to our golden boy...

Today marks the second passing in just over a month of another beloved family dog.  Gwen and Sean had to make the most difficult decision for their thirteen-year old Lincoln, who became ill this past week.  Lincoln was our golden boy, a lab and retriever cross, who came into the family fold with an ever-wagging tail, a kind and gentle nature and a gleam in his deer-like eyes.  He embraced first my old Salty Dog and then Casper with brotherly love and taught them to run the trails in Lynn Valley when we went to visit.  He was a protective guardian of Aethan as a baby and toddler and relished times spent with neighbours and friends.  He swam in the ocean, chased sticks and balls with an energy that was hard to beat and gathered in respect and joy from everyone he met.  He was a true member of every part of our family, extended and otherwise.  We will carry you in our hearts and miss you tremendously, dear Lincoln.  Seek out the dogs that went before you...Sally, Molly, Tess, Gypsy and Salty...and run as free as the wind.

A holiday of unexpected happenings...

There isn't a Christmas song out there that could sum up in a few verses the things that happened to us this holiday season.  I think mom was banking on a quiet celebration with grandchildren, great grandson and daughters, but ended up rolling up her sleeves and dealing with some unpleasant surprises.  Christmas Eve and Day were wonderful at Jayne's and went according to plan...heaps of great food, games after dinners, a walk on the beach, watching gifts being unwrapped, decorating gingerbread cookies, chocolate fondue, greeting guests, pulling crackers, going to town...all amid much glee and mirth.  On Wednesday, mom and I drove home to my place, only to discover that the fridge's condenser had blown up, filling the inside of it with black plastic smelling soot that coated absolutely everything.  We ran right out to Sears, purchased the cheapest fridge we could find (good Boxing Day sale), found out they could deliver within the hour, raced home to empty the ex-fridge and whip off the massive collection of magnets.  I played second fiddle to the delivery man, helping him take out the old and bring in the new...no mean feat through the back door, up and over steps to the garden and down the walkway.  Mom attempted to wash the oily black stuff off of packets of cheese, juice containers, ketchup and sauce bottles and finally ended up pitching half the goods because of the horrible plastic smell...not a recommended way to clean out one's fridge two days after Christmas.

Em and Aethan arrived on Thursday morning via the float plane.  We had such a great day with them, walking the beach with Casper and giving mom and Aethan some good bonding time with each other.  It was the first time she'd met her first great grandson and she was smitten...so was he!  Yesterday, we discovered that things weren't flushing down the toilet as they should and the bathtub was as slow as molasses to empty...plugged drain pipe for sure.  After taking Em and Aethan to the float plane later that afternoon and seeing them off, mom and I bought One-second Plumber, came home and went to work.  We're still flushing with our fingers crossed and trying to keep faith in the toilet.  Mom has been a real trooper about everything and I don't know how I would have managed without her help, but she must be wondering at this point what is next on the west coast Christmas agenda.  A toilet and blackened fridge don't make for interesting holiday photos, but here's something that does...wellies lined up by Jayne's door waiting for walkers!

Casper in a beached boat on Christmas Day, looking like an old salt of the sea blowing in the wind...

...and mom and Jayne reaching the end of the spit on a Christmas walk we took, waiting for the turkey to cook...