What a difference 12 hours can make

Conditions at 5:15 am - overcast and 0'
Expected later -flurries and remaining at 0'

What a strange day yesterday. In the morning we had 18 cm of new snow (Summerside got 27 cm). The drive to work was slow as the road was quite slippery in spots and I followed more tractors with snow blowers on,  than cars! Then later in the morning it started raining a really fine rain. By the end of the day all the snow was gone from the parking lot at work (it had been plowed in the morning but what was left was also gone) and the roads were completely clear. It snowed a little last night but nothing to get very excited about. So much for our snow day!

Good old Brenda. She never ceases to amaze me. Whatever resource I might be looking for, she has one. She called last night to tell me she had spoken to a woman in our area who has at least 3 looms and is more than willing to come over and have a look at the one I have and see if we can figure out how to put it together. Brenda also told her I will likely want to go to her place for a visit as well to see what she has set up. There is also a very active Weavers and Spinners guild in town that I knew existed but had no idea whom to contact. Nice work Brenda!

I have to admit I just vegged last night. I caught up on some TV programs I had taped before Christmas and finally got those off the list. I was going to do some hand sewing on Lloyd's quilt but I had an open cut right in the middle of my right thumb and it was just in the wrong spot for pushing the needle through. This morning it seems to have closed up so hopefully tonight I can get myself motivated to finish the rest of the quilt. I have to finish this project before I start in earnest on figuring out how to weave. The book I ordered hasn't arrived yet but I did get an email telling me it has been shipped so it should arrive sometime next week.

Brenda is going to start a new fitness group that meets on Saturday mornings at 9:00 so the plan is to meet at  Timothy's for coffee then we can both depart and go do our Saturday morning things ( in my case, it's work). It will be great for her as she can go to the fitness class then go to the farmer's market before heading back home. I'm a little envious! But that day will come for me too.

I came across a quote the other day that has stuck in my head, and is a little thought provoking. It reminded me of all the stories Brenda has told me over the past year and a half about what life was like here on the island before highways and bridges, and I've asked if anyone is writing these things down. I'm sure someone must be but I'd hate to think all these lovely remembrances will be lost one day and someone will say, gee, I wish that had gotten recorded. The quote went like this:

"Teach the children.

When an elder dies,

an entire library burns to the ground"

Food for thought for the day.

Happy Friday everyone!

I think it might be a snow day for me

Conditions at 5:30 am - LOTS of snow with more expected.(okay we got 18 cm but it looks like a lot more) The temperature is 0' and we're headed for +1'
Expected later - another 10 cm of snow is expected between this morning and tonight

Last night looked like a blizzard when you were outside. You could see the shed and the trees but everything was just snow. It's been a while since I saw such snow. But we've been extremely lucky so far this winter, and it had to come sooner or later. It's too early for the list of cancellations to be posted yet on the radio but I will be very surprised if there's school today. I can tell right now that I won't get out of the driveway until the snow is blown and I doubt the road has yet been plowed. I know that Honda doesn't declare snow days and everyone is expected to get to work, but I don't think it's work the risk. It's not like there aren't people there who can do my job if I'm not there. I'll wait till 6:00 and see what they say on the radio (there's no live people on the air till then!)

Our grand dog (Meadow) is growing in leaps and bounds. She has lost that little puppy look. But what I'm most impressed with is the photo of her that Meghan took. Nice job, Meghan!  It's a great picture. We may have a budding photographer on our hands.I've not actually met Meadow yet but I know we'll be spending lots of time together when I'm there in February.

 I was chatting with Bernie on the phone yesterday and he asked me what on earth I've done to his wife. I asked what he meant. He replied "Running around the country, putting looms together. I haven't seen her this excited about something in a long time". I think it's going to be a lot of fun for the two of us to figure out how to make this thing work (or extremely frustrating, who knows!) It's too bad I don't have the book yet to help with it since I may be home all day. But I suppose I could use the day to get my guest bedroom ready for my guests in February. I will only have a few day between the time I get back and they arrive so it's better if I can get most things done now. I know they will have great expectations!

Well, it's now 6:00 and the buses haven't been canceled yet - they've just delayed the the schools opening one hour. So maybe it's not so bad out there. But regardless, I don't think I can get out of the driveway until it gets blown out so I'm not rushing anywhere anytime soon. For Brenda's sake I hope they cancel the buses. It's still early so that may still happen.

God bless my internal alarm clock

Conditions at 5:00 am - overcast and -2'
Expected later - 0' and snow later in the day

I woke up this morning to see the numbers flashing on my alarm clock. It appears the power went off sometime during the night and I had absolutely no idea what time it was. So I got up and went downstairs to look at the battery operated clock on the wall and it was 4:55. My alarm is set to go off at 5:00. Fortunately I didn't sleep in.

In spite of her smart reply yesterday, Brenda was intrigued enough to come over after supper and help unload the loom.  It was in pieces when I arrived after work to pick it up. There are some generic diagrams printed off the internet but nothing really
concrete on how to put it together. But we did manage to get the basic assembly done but we still have a lot of pieces left over and at least one that we know should have gone on first before it was all assembled. But the bare bones of the structure are together. We had fun assembling the puzzle because that's what it resembled. I'm hopeful that when the book arrives it may be a little more helpful. Brenda also has the name of someone who lives in Dromore that she knows weaves so I will try to get in touch with her as well for advise.

I had mentioned that the lady I  bought it from works at Avonlea Village, and when I was leaving she gave me a family day pass for Avonlea for the kids to use this summer. I'll have to go with them this time as I've never been.

Yesterday morning Lloyd sent me an email that he received from someone at work. It seems his boeuf bourguignon was such a hit at the company pot luck that they want to print the recipe in the employee newsletter. So I had to call and give him congrats on being a published cookbook author (sort of). He was quite tickled at that. After reading my post yesterday, he was thinking. He thought that since he's going to be building a garage in the future anyway, why not make it a story and a half tall and put in a craft studio on the second floor for me and my "stuff". Personally I think he just wants to get me and said stuff out of the house, as we have tended to take over! But I thought it was a wonderful idea. I am SO spoiled (I think I've mentioned that before). I could put all my crafty stuff up there and have my own little area. It will be big enough that I could have a friend or two over to play as well. How great will that be! But I know that's a little ways down the road.  In the mean time I have to figure out how to get this loom put together and how to use it. It's going to be a long learning curve, I think! But a fun one.

When Brenda arrived last night we decided to do Friday Feast this week as our curling has been moved to Sunday for this week only. But instead we will do it on Saturday. She has some lamb we want to use up so I'm going to have to give it some thought and do some research today on lamb recipes.

She also wants to do a scrapbook of Bernie and Caitlin's trip to New Zealand. SO we have designated Tuesday nights as our Scrap book night. She will come over and we'll work together on hers and when she gets a little more comfortable with it, then I can work on mine at the same time. It's always much more fun to scrap book with someone else.

You'll all call me crazy, but it's a long time dream

Conditions at 5:15 - overcast and windy at 1'
Expected later - the same 1' but with a mix of sun and cloud

Yesterday I was poking around on the internet and came across something I'd wanted for a very long time (since the 70's at least). It must have been meant to be because it was an amazing price, and it was here in Charlottetown. So I emailed the person to see if they still had said item, and they emailed back and said yes. So on my way out to pick someone up I stopped by her house to take a look. It's quite large but I know just where I'm going to put it. It's a weaving loom.  This lady has had it for some time but she also does machine knitting and has an internet company doing custom sweaters. She has the loom in her basement along with all her knitting stuff but has gotten so busy with the knitting orders that she has no time for weaving and needs the space to bring in another knitter to help fill orders. She also happens to play the part of Rachel Lind at Avonlea Village in the summer (except one day a week, she's Marilla.)  So today I'm taking the truck into work so I can pick it up.It does come apart for easier transport. Weaving is something I have always wanted to try. When I first met Rosie at the university I discovered that she has a loom and I've seen some of the things that she has made and they are absolutely gorgeous. So yesterday afternoon I was very excited. I know it will be a bit of a learning curve to actually get to where I can make something useful but she has the directions on how to put it all together and she recommended a book that is excellent. I researched the book when I got back to the showroom and it is very highly recommended as a great resource to learn how to weave. So I went online and found the book and it should be here within 10 days.

I'm looking forward to spending my winter evenings doing something other than parking myself in front of the TV. I'll still be parked in front of something but at least it will be somewhat constructive.  There is a spinners and weavers guild here on the island and I'm going to contact them to see if they have any classes of any kind coming up that I might be able to take part in. I'm very excited!

Jan 10th - Lebanese New Year

Conditions at 5:15 am -  1' and windy and overcast
Expected later - staying windy and 1' with a mix of rain and snow

What odd weather we're having. Yesterday Brenda called to say she had just been out for a tour around the yard on her skis and it wasn't too sticky. By the time she got to my house, it was raining. But we ventured out anyway and it turned to snow so we
got a bit of a run in after all. We went down the road to the Dromore Trails
and we followed the path of some snowshoers who had been there earlier. But it wasn't an easy trip and I must admit I'm feeling it this morning. That combined with filling up the wood rack ( which was empty) has made for a few stiff muscles this morning. When we got back here, we went for a short jaunt down the back lane but coming back it was quite windy with almost sleet like precipitation.
Fortunately we hadn't gone too far. We truly earned the hot chocolate and Bailey's we enjoyed when we got back.

:Lots of snow now

Friday night we curled (and won!). While I was waiting for Brenda to pick me up, Scott emailed me a picture of Lloyd and the Thai chef who was at the after Christmas party at the Pollards. He had called me in the afternoon to tell me he had been invited to join everyone. I called him back and left the message that he wasn't  THAT special - it's an age old trick: invite the neighbours to the party then they can't complain about the noise! I called the house before leaving and it sounded like they were having a grand time. Sorry I missed it - that particular event has always been fun. 

Earlier in the week,  I was invited to attend the Lebanese New Years Levee at the Delta. Then on Saturday Sharon called to see if I knew anyone who might want to go as there had been a cancellation at our table. So I called Brenda from work to see if she might be interested. She hesitated for half a second then said "Sure". So after work, I came home and got ready then I picked her up around 6:30. She was thinking she didn't have anything to wear, but she managed to pull it off with a dress she'd worn to a wedding in the summer. Sharon  had indicted that people got really dressed up for this event. We arrived early, a little after 7:00 and met Sharon in the lobby. I had worked with her at the University and it turns out that Brenda knew her sister really well a long time ago. We were introduced to some of Sharon's friends just as Tracey and Darryl arrived. We had a glass of wine and then the doors opened. We went inside and found ourtable. We expected to find the table number on it but instead it had a large holder with Sharon's name on it so she was quite impressed with that! The evening began with some short speeches from various dignitaries including the the Lieutenant Governor and the Premier. Then we watched a very talented Belly Dancer perform as well as some Lebanese folk dancers. The meal wasn't being served until 10:00 and I didn't realize I hadn't mentioned that fact to Brenda. The poor woman was starving by the time we got to eat. We noticed that a  lot of people didn't arrive until around 9:30 so it seems they only come for the meal. It was an interesting night and we're glad we went. Brenda has heard about this event for years and has always wanted to go. While we enjoyed it we both agreed that once was enough. If we want Lebanese food, there are several restaurants in town that serve the same thing. But the company was good and we had a nice time.
Sharon sent me some photos but I wasn't able to copy any to put here.

Jan 7 - Happy (belated) Birthday Caitlin

Conditions at 5:30 am - clear skies with lots of stars and -8'
Expected later - flurries with a total of 5 cm expected by tonight

The weather prediction for today has been all over the map for the past few days.  The weather network was predicting lots of snow and the radio was saying just flurries so we'll just have to see. The story changes every day. But Mother Nature will do what she pleases so we may as well just sit tight and see what that is.

A belated Happy Birthday to Caitlin VanGaal. I didn't actually know when her birthday was so now I can put it on my list. Brenda told me she had a really nice friend visiting from Ireland and they were out enjoying the snow earlier in the week. She left a few days ago to tour around but will be back on the island for the weekend. I know that Brenda really enjoyed listening to her stories about Ireland and I think that's where we should go - perhaps next year. It makes perfect sense. We've been trying to think of a place to go where we could use a week of our time share. We both love Maeve Binchy's books and I know I would love to explore that part of the world. I also know that Brenda has some Irish heritage so how perfect would that be?  We'll have to do some planning over  the winter for next year.



 What a surprise to open up yesterday's post and find an invitation from one of the gals at UPEI to attend a Lebanese New Years dinner at the Delta on Saturday night. That sounds like a lot of fun. I'll have to call Sharon this morning and let her know I'd love to come. ( I had no idea she has found my blog and was a reader!)

Of onto another tangent (I tend to do that a lot sometimes!). I received an email this morning from Patti with a photo of James at the Hard Rock Cafe in Ottawa. I would have loved to be there with him to explore all the artifacts. It's a bit grainy since it was probably taken with a phone, but it's a picture I know he will cherish. He's a big fan of Queen so to see one of their guitars must have been a real treat for him.

Jan 6 - One of those things that makes you go hmmm.....

Conditions at 5:25 am - clear skies and -9' but no wind
Expected later - sunny and -4' - perfect weather for cross country skiing (if only we were that lucky)

I opened up my blog this morning at 5:20 am  Atlantic time (4:20 Ontario time) and someone from Kitchener had viewed it 40 minutes before that! Whoever it was, must have  a really SERIOUS case of insomnia to be reading my drivel at 3:45 in the morning. Hopefully it was what they needed to put them to sleep! (I'm sure it would have that affect on lots of people).

Last night I talked to Patti about flights to Toronto and she's going to book it today. I'll let Lloyd know once it's booked so he can perhaps plan to pick me up at the airport.   I think I'll fly out on Friday late afternoon and I talked to Brenda and she's going to go in later and pick up my car for me (we're not allowed to leave them on the lot overnight anymore). Anyway, while I was chatting to her, Meghan(2) asked to talk to me. She wanted to report on what she did with her money and I was quite surprised. If you recall, I gave each of the older kids a $100 bill. With that they were to donate $25 to any charity they chose, put $25 in the bank and the remaining $50 was for them to spend on whatever they chose. Apparently a large part of Meghan's road trip to Ottawa was trying to decide what to do with her charity portion. Patti says she would make a decision, then write a letter to me in her journal, then change her mind, and have to do another letter to me. She went through that process several times before making up her mind, but at least it kept her occupied for a large chunk of the trip.
The end result was quite surprising. She informed me last night that she is donating $20 to the local food bank, $20 to the World Wildlife Foundation and $60 is going in the bank, leaving her with $10 for herself. Well, actually she only has $5 for herself because she owes Patti $5 for something she asked her to buy for her at the museum. I suggested to her that she was only required to donate $25 to charity but she said that's what she wanted to do. Well done, Meghan. I'm very proud of the choices that you've made. I look forward to hearing what James is doing with his. There was some mention over Christmas that he needed a music stand for his guitar practicing at home and we suggested that might be a good use of his portion of his Christmas money, but we'll see.

A little recipe to share this morning with Meghan(1). It landed in my email yesterday from the Kraft Kitchens and I gave it a try last night.It was really very good. I love chili and this vegetarian version was great.

Two-Bean Vegetarian Chili

6 servings, 2 cups (500 mL) each

What You Need

1-1/2 cups long-grain brown rice, uncooked

2 Tbsp. Kraft Calorie-Wise Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing (I had balsamic dressing but an Italian or any other type of vinaigrette dressing would work here)

2 carrots, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

1 onion, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped ( I didn't have any, but it was fine without)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (28 fl oz/796 mL) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained  (I only had whole tomatoes so I chopped them up )

1 can (14 fl oz/ 398 mL) no-salt-added red kidney beans, rinsed

1 can (14 fl oz/ 398 mL) no-salt-added white kidney beans, rinsed ( I substituted a can of chick peas as that's what I had)

1/2 cup Kraft BarBQ Sauce

3 Tbsp. chili powder

1 cup frozen corn

1-1/2 cups Kraft Tex Mex Light Shredded Cheese

Make It

COOK rice as directed on package. Meanwhile, heat dressing in large saucepan on medium-high heat. Add vegetables and garlic; cook and stir 6 to 8 min. or until vegetables are crisp-tender.
ADD next 5 ingredients; stir. Bring to boil; simmer on medium-low heat 30 min., stirring regularly.
STIR in corn; cook 5 min. Serve over rice; top with cheese

I didn't actually cook any rice, I just ate the chili in a bowl with a dollop of sour cream on tip and sprinkled with shredded cheddar. It was very tasty and I'm looking forward to having some again tonight.

Enjoy - I know I did!