Enlightenment

I have been doing the Oprah and Deepak Chopra 21 day meditation. It is interesting and definitely motivating and eye opening. I am intrigued with this, but I am not sure I totally understand this. I have noticed I sleep better.  My big problem is that I fall asleep during this. The other day I fell asleep outside for almost two hours! Ridiculous!  I don't think this is the idea behind it.

So how do I stay awake? I have to find a position where I don't get into it this deep. But it sure feels good.

Empty Nesters

Empty nest, they are all gone.  ;(

I keep looking out the kitchen window to see what they're up to and there is.......nothing. An empty nest. That's it.

Wonder if they will reuse the nest..apparently sometimes they do. We shall await their return.

P.S.  Ollie got the littlest one yesterday. He was hiding under the strawberries. He should have stayed in the nest a couple more days to be able to fly.  I blame momma for that. So sad. 

Baby birds

So we have a nest with robins. 

Momma watches us carefully.

Ten days into it, I notice her being more active. I think they've hatched. 

Yup, there's some little beaks. 

They're getting bigger..

...much bigger..

And then they're so big they're ready to take flight. 

I had to make sure the dogs weren't around.  He fluttered from the ground to the little table to he fireplace to the railing. Momma came to feed and encourage him..

Then he took off onto the neighbours low roof. And he made it!

And then the second one took off.. He managed to make it into the tree. Woohoo! Two gone. Three to go..and we thought there was only four. As it turns out there is I've babies.. I still think he first one was pushed by his sibling.. Little buggers. 

Tomorrow I think number 3 will take flight. Momma keeps calling him, but he's not interested- at least not today.

Winter storm

Holy Smokes!! Second winter storm in a month..
Soon much snow.

The first photo is from Feb 8th. The others from today.

Life update

It seems a lot has happened since my last post. I had no idea I hadn't blogged for this long..lets see..
We had a wedding last September and most of last year seemed to be in preparation for this. Adrian and Heather tied the knot!
I cleaned up my photo file, so no photos. But I scrap booked a lovely album. Maybe I'll post some at a later date.
My best friend Carola and her husband Udo came for the wedding from Germany. We had a blast reminiscing and catching up. They hadn't been here for 34 years. That was at our wedding, so to come back for our sons wedding was special. What made it extra special was the fact that they got married at the same place we did. They stayed long enough to experience a Canadian thanksgiving. We had a blast.

Then in November I went on a scrap booking retreat in Stratford with Cathy and Doris, both of whom I had met on our cruise January 2012. We have become such good friends.

Christmas - ah Christmas. Always a special time of year. And no different this year, family and fun and good food.

And now it's 2013 and we have absolutely no plans for this year. Actually feels great. The kids will go on their honeymoon and we'll babysit the dog and cat for two weeks. That should be interesting. We have them both right now but just for a few days and he is a handful. The cat is easy in comparison. Mako definitely has ADD.

Well that's all for now.

TTFN

Lilly

Summer 2011

It's been a hectic and busy spring and summer, with continuous building projects around the house. We had to use the spare bathroom for weeks in order to let our ensuite dry out so we could re-caulk the bathtub. That was fun!... Then I decided that both bathrooms needed blinds, since they never had any to begin with! It was always so bright in there. Now the bright sunlight is diffused and it makes for a much nicer look.
In the meantime, hubby built a lovely gazebo out back extending our outdoor living space. (I will put up photos at some point). We can now sit outside and laugh at the mosquitos - hahaha!!! as it is screened with doors and all. For the fall and winter now, he is is adding plywood around the bottom and some panels at the top, with some other panels as glass, so we can still enjoy it in the fall without freezing to death. Then in the winter it will become storage for the lawn furniture.
I also bought some rope light which will will add around the top to allow for some "mood" lighting. ;)
All in due time, but this has basically kept us busy for the summer along with the garden. And might I add, this has been the best looking garden I have had so far. Now it's almost fall clean up time, so sad!
 On to more cleaning for today.

TTFN
Lilly

March 20.....Spring!!!

Well, I guess spring is really just around the corner now.. The snow has almost all melted. Walking the dogs has become easier again. I am not sliding all over the place. I actually can avoid stepping on icy patches now. Today is rather cool outside and the wind has picked up, so it feels a bit colder than usual.
But...the sun is shining and that is important after the long cold and gray winter we had. Even the dogs went outside and are staying there longer, sniffing the air and generally just enjoying the fresh air. I have been opening the windows in the bedrooms just to air them out. It reminds me of Germany. The fresh air and the spring like feeling. Can't wait for the flowers to come popping up.  

soon.....

TTFN
Lilly

Oh Mama Mia!!

Time just flies!!!!  And am I having fun?   Probably.....otherwise it wouldn't take me this long to post.
Not a heck of a lot of things have happened but still exciting small things.
I am flip flopping back and forth at work. They asked me - politely I might add - to move to a different department - I agreed.  Do I like it?  ...not so much. I do not like call centres. They are impersonal, and I feel I am not doing my job to my full potential. It is easy to fluff things under the carpet and I hate that. I like to deal with the person on the other line. I like to get to know them, I like to help and if I can't this moment, I like to investigate until I have the answers - good or bad. So I plug along.  Flop back....they have asked me - politely again - to move back to my old position ( which by the way I had no idea I liked so much - You always miss things once they're gone, but don't know how to appreciate them when you have them). I agreed....now I just wait for the time I am to move back. Will I like it? Most likely. I am really an easy going person, but this is wearing me down a bit. So.... I have been looking for career alternatives and come up with a great career choice. I always wanted to do home inspections, and low and behold - a new course is being offered - at a college 8 hours away!  So...having to continue employment in order to afford to do this continued education and living in a different part of the country, well...let's just say - not feasible!  So now what do I do?  no idea yet, but hopefully my research into this matter will shed some more light on this. Maybe by the time I am sixty, I will have figured out what I want to do...sigh....maybe I'll just do what I know and just shut up about it.

On another note, I have a small little sidejob, knitting for a local woolstore - that has been a dream of mine and it has come true...maybe in my retired life I might just work in a woolstore....who knows....

TTFN
Lilly

Update

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!!!

It's come and gone and the festivities are once again over. It's time for me to take the Christmas tree down today. We like leaving it up to January 6th at least. I wish I could keep it all year long, but that's just unrealistic.

That picture is "before" all the other presents arrived. We just kept stacking as people came in. It was a total of only 16 people, but the presents overflowed. We had to keep some in the other room as there would have been no space for people. I kept saying that I thought we scaled down, but apparently no one took it to heart this year.
It was a lovely white Christmas and then it warmed up. all the snow was almost gone, however, the last couple of days and nights it has been snowing again and this was the scene this morning:

All the snow is back. Now I just have to wait until some kids in the neighbourhood build a snowman again so I can get a photo of it- there was a perfect one up the street, but he now looks rather skinny.
See the sort of "window" in thee fence partition?  Well look at this:

There is my Ollie taking a peak through one window and I was looking out my kitchen window calling him. He is just to photogenic...lol.
Still knitting like crazy I just finished another Shawl - Gipsy Girl by Birgit Freyer from Die Woll Lust.


I still have to block it, but already started on Antonia - also Birgit Freyer.  Photos to follow.

For Christmas I made the "man shawl" Oblique by Birgit Freyer. My brother in law was beside himself. I absolutely loved it.

I just bought more patterns too - not sure when I'll get to them, but one of these days I will be bored!!!!

TTFN
Lilly

close up of the rose

forgot to add this closeup. I just love the colours.

Lilly

autumn leaves

look at this...I just had to try this.

This is from leaves from my maple tree in the backyard. Isn't it just gorgeous?
It's from this website  http://www.lobzik.pri.ee/modules/news/article.php?storyid=244
I had to use google translator to get the gist of it. Really simple, I made this in under 20 minutes.

and this is what the trees look like with the leaves still on:

The colours this year are absolutely spectacular. Driving to work I get to see fields of this. It is awesome.

TTFN
Lilly

...and another one I missed...

....this is Flamenco 2.0 - Noro wool. Interesting to knit with. Love the look of this one. It's sort of our every day shawl for cool days.

fun or what?

TTFN
Lilly

Bella Roque

Forgot to add photos of the finished product. I ended up making 2 as the green one didn't match my dress. I ended up making it in black with green beads.
It did look smashing....if I do say so myself  ;)

The last one is the black one... hard to see the colours.

TTFN
Lilly

Lazy Anna

Just a few pictures of my lazy Anna, which went to my mother-in-law for her birthday. She is always cold and loves warm things around her neck. So this was perfect for her.

I really enjoyed making this one. It was quick and easy, and I didn't need a whole room to block it.

TTFN
Lilly

Summer....ending....sigh

Hi all.

Well summer nights are getting cooler and I can hear the geese flying overhead. That is a sure sign of summer ending. The other day driving down to work, I noticed that the leaves are starting to turn colour already. I am depressed.  However, it is a great day today and I really should be outside instead of inside at the computer.
Yesterday we had a lovely breakfast outside and I so enjoyed that. Hopefully there will be more days for that yet to come.
I have started a new mystery by Birgit Freyer - Heavenly G - and I am finished clue 2, now it's repeat clue 3 - 3 times. It's a slow progress. This one will be a poncho. We had the option of choosing a shawl, cape or poncho. I decided on the poncho just for something different.
Pictures will follow once I clear my camera of the wedding shots.

Our dining room is sold and will be picked up in 2 weeks. That was totally unexpected as I have had no response from Craigslists. The guy delivered wood and was interested in our dining room - sold!  Just like that. I had just finished printing some flyers to put on the local store bulletin board. So much for that.
Then I was making flyers to sell our piano and decided to do some research on it instead. I found out that it was built locally anywhere from 1879 to 1912, It's an antique!  So now we're not sure what to do. We may just keep it and have it restored at some point, or donate it to the local museum if they want it.
We'll see how well it fits with our new furniture when it arrives in October. Can't wait!!

TTFN
Lilly

Mystic Glance #2

OK.  so I knit a second one because the first one didn't match my dress for the wedding. This one is now black and I knit in lime green beads. It actually looks really good with the beads.

It's so hard to get the beads to show up. Maybe one of these days I'll get a good shot. Hey..maybe at the wedding?

So now I am going to place an add to sell my dining room. As the kids are moving into their own house in a couple of weeks, we have ordered new furniture and I need to get rid of the old stuff.
TTFN
Lilly