Category: update

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Amaryllis

Before heading to Australia brother John gave me a few plant to look after. A fern, 3 bonsai trees and 2 amaryllis bulbs. Over the last couple of days I’ve been enjoying the first amaryllis blooms. Here are pictures of the progression.

The second amaryllis bulb is doing nothing. But I’ll keep watering it for now, maybe something will grow yet.

Then Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows—he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain. When the grain is fully formed, he reaps—harvest time!  Mark 4:26-29 MSG

 

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A Stump

Back in December 2013 we had an ice storm that brought down a lot of the Russian Olive trees that line on side of our street. ice stormAfter City workers cleaned up the fallen trees there were quite a few stumps left behind.

In August 2015 I noticed some marigolds growing amid the litter in one such stump:

On my walk this morning i noticed these marigolds blooming in a littered tree stump.Then a month later there were zinnias blooming as well:September 10Now, when I walked down the street I would look for the stump, to see how the flowers were doing.

The end of October and fallen leaves add more colour to this tree stump, the flowers undeterred by the cold:October 30Notice that someone has removed the litter out; wasn’t me.

Finally, in the third week of November we have our first significant snowfall. Looks like the flowers are finished for this year:IMG_1493And then, just days later, the City trucks were back. The stumps have all been removed. I wonder what will happen with the marigold and zinnia seeds. Will they grow some place else? Who put them there in the first place?IMG_1504

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A Ramble in the Woods

Yesterday morning I awoke from a peculiar dream a felt rather disoriented. I feed the dog and myself, but as the morning went on I felt more and more like I just couldn’t face anyone today. I had a deep need to take Billie and go away, just the two of us.

I battled with this, thinking, no, I must go to work; get over yourself, Barbara. But another voice said, when you are physically ill you stay home, you take care of yourself. Why can’t you do that when you are emotionally/mentally ill? Why is there such a stigma attached to that?

And so I took the day off. I drove to the Crown Land just west of Kitchener and Billie and I tramped through the woods for 2 hours, covering over 5 kilometers of trails. The wind blew more strongly near the edges of the woods, and less when we were in dense pine forests. Billie had a wonderful time smelling this and that, here and there, only running into difficulties when we met other walkers with large dogs off-leash. (Billie is very frightened of large dogs and thus gets very aggressive; they usually respond in kind.)

Here are pictures from my morning in the woods:

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California Crochet

After finishing Mina’s afghan I had a request to make Kwazii for Volker. Kwazii is a former pirate in the show The Octonauts. I bought a pattern from Etsy and started. But I didn’t get it finished before leaving for California. I dutifully packed all the necessary parts into my carry-on luggage, intending to work on it on the plane.

First thing I discovered – I’d brought the wrong crochet hook! I have previously travelled with my case of crochet hooks, but I also almost lost them in security at the airport, or it felt like I almost lost them. Some of my hooks came from my Grandma Roth and I do not want to lose them, so I don’t take them anymore. So no crocheting on the plane.

Trina did not have a 4mm hook, so I had to buy a new hook. In the US Amazon is really amazing; I decided to buy a set of hooks, 2mm – 6mm, for less than $10 with the exchange! a really good deal.

Once I had the right hook, it didn’t take me long to finish Kwazii. I redid his whiskers as I didn’t like the first set. Volker was pleased.Volker with KwaziiLieutenant Kwazii Mina wanted a toy too. So I crocheted another character from a pattern book that Trina had purchased. This is Tweak: IMG_0896IMG_0895Then Trina decided to try crocheting a toy while I was there to help. She chose a Vegimal, Tunip (also from the Octonauts), to start. She caught on quickly and decided to make more. Volker is quite in love with the Vegimals.IMG_0911 It’s hard to hang onto all your friends and climb around on the playground equipment too!

Mina also wanted a Vegimal, so I made one with a different yarn and smaller hookIMG_0907This is the size difference, my Codish and Trina’s Tunip:IMG_0908And here are my two favourite children

IMG_0904How I do love them!

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