Iris - The Mighty Huntress

I know I know, she doesn't look terribly ferocious, but looks can be deceiving!!!! Last night Iris Sweetiepie Norris surprised her mommy and a poor recently fledged avian. I was in the front watering my Fall mums for - well maybe a whole 2 minutes, when I went back inside there was Iris Sweetiepie with a wee sparrow in her mouth.

ECK! What's a Mommy to do?

Well, firstly I calmly separate one very proud kitty from her winged hostage. Then I tossed a kitchen towel over the poor thing which was laying on the floor feigning a broken wing andsomewhat laboured breathing. Then, as calmly as I could I picked up the injured/scared birdie and kitchen towel and walked it out into the yard where I deposited the poor distressed sparrow under a pine tree.
I then spent the evening listening to Iris (formerly Sweetiepie, now renamed Mighty Huntress) meow plaintively at the screen door in a desperate attempt to get back outside and retrieve her prize!

NOT A CHANCE SWEETIEPIE, I mean Might Huntress!

TTFN

I'm on Public Display!!

I'm on public display !! a real gallery, not a quilt show, not to knock quilt shows by any means. As a matter of fact our guild is having a show next month and you're all invited!

 So here' s my Cosmic Pumpkins and my Zebra Duet. The Zebras was a first place winner in 2004!

A Harvest of Quilts 2008
Friday, October 24, 10AM - 8PM
Saturday, October 25, 10AM - 5 PM
Rowntree Memorial Church
156 Elliott St. (at Cheapside)* (London On)
Admission: $5.00
(shamless plug) ;)

TTFN

A Rose by Any Other Name ...

And a great big thank you goes out to my friend who generously gave me 3, or 4, or 5 or was it 6 Rose of Sharon sticks late last summer .... or was that 2 summers ago. Anyway, here's the result of her generosity and my green thumb (?). Oh, and the pic is mine mine mine! Yup, I took the pic with my very own new digital camera, and I (oh, I'm so technoproud) uploaded the pic just to share with you!

At first I thought there was only going to be one blossom, but it appears there are more than half a dozen blossoms now. Why it's flowering so late in the season I'm not sure, but hey- I'm not complaining! Along with the new hibiscus I just planted, I actually have some colour and blossoms in my wee garden. Things are picking up!
TTFN

Lord of the Flies ....

I am Lord of the Flies I have conquered ... they are gone ! YEAH. Of course it has meant a considerable expenditure of effort and homicidal sweat ... and once the dastardly deeds were done I also needed to re-clean the glass in my sliding door and living room windows. Piggy would be proud of my glass cleaning efforts. And to my sorority sister who, not having read last week's entry, tried to insist that I must have a dead body somewhere around, you know, a dead mouse or a dead racoon or a dead skunk or something .... NO, like I stated clearly before - NO DEAD BODIES unless you count the flies, in which case there are hundreds - I'm proud to say!

Besides this rather dubious achievement I can not say I have achieved anything too significant this past long weekend, other than to talk with friends, hang out on the patio (mine as wells as a one belonging to a public drinking establishment), two relatively unsuccessful sewing projects which will need to be repeated/made larger/better/improved in some fashion, and in general relaxed and enjoyed the fantastic weather before the gathering storm.... of the returning hordes!


Wish me luck!
TTFN

YIKES - Flies

FLIES - OMG - the last two nights I must have killed over one hundred of them. I'm a mass murderer, a serial killer, a genocidal maniac! I've battled and swatted and vacuumed up their remains. Soon I'll have to re-wash my windows to remove all evidence of my homicidal rage. Disgusting, buzzing, dirty, disease carrying, annoying insects. YUCK!

Where the heck do they come from ? (rhetorical question ladies ...) My garbage is double bagged, not full and away from the house anyway. The kitty litter is cleaned regularly, there are no dead bodies laying around - at least as far as I know, but then again there is that "mound" in the backyard I jokingly referred to early as the grave.

I've been infested (ooooh I hate that word) - invaded (that's better) by ants before. Ants I can handle, just a few quick sprays with a can of insecticide (I know I know should not use insecticide - should not use CFC sprays), a couple of ant taps and the pesky ants are gone bye bye. But Flies? Euuwww. OK, I did have a few fruit flies buzzing around the basket of peaches a couple of weeks ago, but not a whole swarm.

Of course the cat is totally put off. She' not allowed to go outside because of the busybody who reported her to the Animal control, and now when she comes downstairs to get fed and be friendly mommy's busy swatting flies!

ENOUGH ... I've had ENOUGH
I'm mad and I'm not going to take it anymore
Flies flies go away
Invade someone else's home anyway!

And the saga continues .... TTFN

I'm Back

I'm baaaack. Yup - I survived my so-called vacation. Never worked so hard on vacation as I did this year. Mother moved from her home of 20+ years to an apt., which meant that I (as the do something child as opposed to my sister the do nothing child) helped pack, move then unpack! Phew! Oh, and did I mention that mother stayed with me at my place for the whole 2 weeks! Yikes. On the one hand it was nice to be able to help out and repay mother for the time she let me stay rent free at her place for 2 years - yup I owed her big time. On the other hand, I've never had a house guest for 2 whole weeks ! Glad to have her but also glad she left for her summer vacation!
Now, to catch y'all up on my personal goings ons .... I jumped in and joined the digital age. I purchased a digital camera so will shortly be able to update y'all with countless pics of my very own ... watch out for it. YES, I plan to bore you all to death with endless pics of my projects and my house and my baby (cat), and my life, and my friends and my my my my my - just like all the other blogs ............................................................... NOT ......................................................
But I will try to add a few pics for flavour and to show you my ever expanding creativity (haha) and interests.

What else , what else ... well, another birthday over. Some people remembered - even the ones who didn't know when for sure (thank you thank you thank you), some hibernated (hmmm), some actually did the right thing for a change and celebrated my day and not a combination of me and everybody/everything else in the whole world - well sort of. Imagine that, one whole evening out of 20075 just about me. Is that really too much to ask for? Has been so far.

Got lots of chores done around the house including the floor washed - even tho the newly purchased steam mop for Z...... (you fill in the blank letters) was a bust! 5 bags of shredded papers, patio stones re-leveled, file cabinet moved to office so sewing room is now just that - for sewing! Mom gave me her small freezer, so I got the "stink" out and cleaned it up, now my little ol freezer is defrosted and ready to go to my niece whenever her dad comes to get it. I even got the doorbell fixed - Woohoo. And after all that I managed to read 2 and 1/2 books and even got some sewing done, not enough, but some.

And somehow, while I was off and my brain was functioning on less than normal power ... I became addicted to the Sopranos ! Yes, I know, they're in reruns now - but who cares - its certainly the best summer time tv I've seen in a long time! ;) ;)

Finally, just to kill the suspense, the "grave" in my backyard was finally put to rest (pardon the pun) after 3 2hour power outs by our local Utilities guys, and yes, I also sprung for a new bedroom TV. So no more adventures with the red shoe, although, I recently had a very strange dream about shoe shopping in the old downtown Agnew Surpass (sp?) shoe store . Hmmmm.

Anyway, now it's back to the daily grind, with it's absurdist politics, silly high school cliques, disrespectful administrators and mind numbing meaningless tasks all to earn a meager pittance they call a salary - HA! I could really get used to the retired life, but with this market volatility will have to win a lottery before I can ever retire early. Ah well, such is my life ....

TTFN

Miss Scarlet, in the Library with a Candlestick

So, I arrived home Friday pm after a rather long and anxiety prone week only to find a grave in my backyard! Yup, a grave!
To anyone with eyes it looks exactly like a grave, not a full adult sized grave ( phew! its not meant for me ...) yet not a tiny child sized one either, but a middling sized barrow. What the heck! Now someone with just the tinniest bit of imagination could get all paranoid about this event ... and just one week before I'm to take summer vacation - you know, stay home, relax, sit outside - AND STARE AT THE GRAVE ? Yuck, I don't think so!

Ok, Ok - relax. It seems the local utilities company is laying new underground wiring - or something equally technical and uninteresting. The "grave" is actually some kind of mound where, yes, something has been buried, but there is nothing nefarious about the whole episode. Drat, and I thought I was going to have an eventful week off!
TTFN

Loose Screw

I have a loose screw. I am a loose screw.

At least that's what my neighbours must think ...

Ok, now let me explain. My bedroom TV has this rather annoying and stupid, yes I mean stupid little idiosyncrasy. You turn it on, and just as soon as you get nice and cosy under the covers with your weary head on the pillow the screen turns a lovely shade of blue. No picture, no sound, just blue. Not navy blue, not royal blue, not azure blue, not robin's egg blue ---------- JUST BLUE! It's driving me nuts!

Let me explain something else, in my middle years I developed insomnia and have come to rely on the idiot box to get me through those wee hours in the middle of the night. Somehow I developed the habit of sleeping with the remote in my hand, so when those vexatious wakeful moments/hours occur I can quickly turn on the boob tube, tune out and hopefully zone out just enough to fall back to sleep.

Except ...... just when whatever on the idiot box becomes ever so slightly captivating and my mind climbs up into consciousness - well, that's when the stupid machine turns blue !

So, somewhere along the line I have learned to beat the $#%@)*&*(# machine with a red shoe! I have stashed one of my ruby slippers (ok, not red, burgandy if you must be precise) on the floor beside the TV - close to hand so that I can quickly leap out of bed (ok , ok - stumble out of bed) while still in a state of semi consciousness and wail away at the boob tube.
I usually only need to beat the TV once per beddiebye time but last night, at 2 AM - there I was beating the machine with that garnet pump with such a fury that was surreal , and for some strange reason rather exhilarating, hilarious and satisfying. My neighbours must reallllllly wonder what the heck is going on! They must thing I've a screw loose somewhere - a real nut case! I know the cat certainly things I'm wild.

After that I got back to a wonderful albeit short sleep.

TTFN and happy ZZZZZZs to you all.

Perspective ...

Once again the world has brought me back to reality, an appreciation for the things I have and perspective on things I don't have, have missed out on, don't care to go there, or whatever ...

Recent conversations with friends and other readings has once again given me a new lease on life (yeah for friends!) It may not be a mansion, nor compare with your abode, but my castle is just that, and I'm happy! It's large enough to hold my stuff (and I don't know about you, but I have way too much stuff), yet still small enough for me to manage (aka clean - occasionally).

I may not earn as much as you, but I do have a stable income which gives me some extra $ above and beyond the bare necessities. Someday I will take a real vacation, someday I will plant that extra garden, and from time to time I blow a few $$ on something silly ... Another YeaH.

My job is not my dream career, it may not have the status of your position, but it is secure. I'm lucky 'cause I'll not experience the meat market called looking for work, and I'll not experience the daily stress of trying to push myself ahead in your dog-eat-dog ambitious world. Besides, I'm a cat person ;)

I don't drive a Mercedes, but I also don't pay for one . My car is in a Red/Green stage, with duct tape plastered all over the front bumper to hold onto the last scraps of paint. Never mind, it gets me where I want to go quickly, efficiently and affordably. YEaH

I don't dress in the latest fashions, a new outfit for every occasion. I do manage to get something new each season and am not too out-of-date. Neither do I look like a middle aged frau attempting to be the perennial teenager. I know who/what I am and dress accordingly. I have a good sense of colour and what styles look good on my body frame. Yes, I watch What not to Wear

I don't have my very own DH (I'm really beginning to hate this particular abbreviation), and guess what - I DON'T CARE! I don't have any kiddies or grand babies, and guess what - I DON'T CARE ! I really, truly am a well adjusted, happy independent spirit ... I have an active social life, lots of friends, interests and hobbies - enough to keep me busy for a lifetime. YEAH

SO THERE - Large raspberry to all you doubting Thomases/Thomasinas. There is life, real life, meaningful, fulfilled, happy life without a DH, kiddies, professional status, wealth or big cars.

TTFN

Think Think Think - Read Read Read - Google Google Google

Some of my quilting friends have been asking how is the internet changing the Library world? Well , my best answer to this question comes from an article "Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicholas Carr at Atlantic Monthly July/August 2008.

Mr. Carr provides a wonderful explanation as to how the internet, and Google is changing the way people think, read, research and, sad to say, interact with libraries and each other. He makes the point that the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, "media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought." Carr postulates that the "the style of reading promoted by the internet, a style that puts efficiency and immediacy above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading". This is all rather worrying for academia and libraries. Carr continues that "The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration As people’s minds become attuned to the crazy quilt of Internet media, traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations"

For Nicholas Carr, deep reading is " a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds. In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that matter, we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas. Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf ( Center for Reading and Language Research Professor of Child Development) argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking. " Carr asserts that "we risk turning into pancake people — spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”

OUCH - pancake people! I'm flat chested enough and don't need to be challenged in any other way! I know my life and my job have been dramatically affected by the internet. Although I agree with much of Mr. Carr's thesis, I still wouldn't be without Google or the internet! What to do, what to do ...

TTFN

Restoration!

Thank goodness for the restorative powers of weekends!

Not that my weekend wasn't busy - never fear superwoman (me), was able to accomplish ever so much AND work a very dull Saturday. Managed to squeeze in a haircut, getting new tires (yup - the ol car is once again a safe beastie) and made it out to the local quilt store for brown "wood" fabric for the screen door baby quilt I will soon design. Also managed to sit on the patio a while reading, completed some vacuuming (yech), re-hemmed the sleeves of my new jacket, took in/altered 3 pairs of summer pants, did the dishes and took mother and her friends out to dinner to celebrate mother's 81st birthday! Phew!

And, just to validate that I'm not crazy, and my personal feelings are not just menopausal blues ..... this afternoon I came across a book on the new books shelf, Upon on opening this book to random pages I came upon these gems of wisdom:

"Being divorced and without children places a woman 'out of sync' with the majority of her peers in a world where the roles of wife and mother are still central to the perceived worth and value of women.
Despite significant social progress, these overwhelming pro-marriage, pro-natalist mandates continue to drive women's lives in pervasive ways.
The pathologizing and stereotyping of women who are, for whatever reasons, (not married) divorced, not remarried, not living with anyone, not in a traditional full time relationship, and childless, is a reflection of continued attachments to patriarchial paradigms about the expectations of women's roles and functions.

Divorced, Without Children. D.D. Castaldo

See ladies ....  Just what I've been telling you for years ..... It's not just my personal rant - it's actually being studied seriously by academics and clinicians ... FINALLY! Sometimes its just nice to know you're not crazy!!!!
TTFN

Grand National!

Water, by Catharina Breedyk Law

So another road trip, yes ladies, my friends and I are travellers! This time to St. Jacob's Quilt Shows and Merchants Mall, followed up by the Grand National - Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow at the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery. The exquisite image above is my "favourite" pick from all the wonderful art quilts in this exhibition. What more can I say .... we lucked out once again with wonderful weather, good company and that handy GPS gadget that got us into KW and back without a mixup (yeah).

And to top it all off at the end of the day Iris the cat came out of hiding, down the stairs to greet my friend and even allowed herself to be petted by a "stranger". Will wonders never cease???
TTFN

Road Trips ...

In the last two weeks I've fortunate in that I have gone on two very enjoyable road trips. The first was to Michigan on a home brewed shop hop. Although leaving home @ 7 am (NOT my idea of fun) we drove to the border and proceeded to shop 'til we dropped! ... I thoroughly enjoyed the drive, the company and the new quilt shops we visited. My friend, who did the driving (thank you thank you thank you) purchased a GPS .... tada ..... we did not get lost - not once! Marvelous gadget! One thing I must say, I was a wee bit shocked at the lack of customers in the quilt shops in Michigan - so the evening news is right about their depressed economy. Besides the price of gas - it's still a bargain for us since our dollar is more or less on par with theirs and their fabric prices are definitely lower!!! So a U S shop hop is worth it!
My second road trip was to the semi-annual outdoor semi-local antique show. I started going to way back when I was collecting vintage quilts. My collection now is well into two figures - more than my shelving capacity, and the prices of vintage textiles has shot through the roof! None-the-less it was a gorgeous day outside and wonderful to be out and about with friends doings what I enjoy - shopping!


TTFN

Winner

Yes folks - we have a winner!!! Not the first prize I was hoping for - but still a winner! This piece is for the challenge in two of my guilds. The appliqued fish around the outside and in the very center are fussy cut from a piece of Laurel Burch fabric, the challenge from my first guild, and the fish theme is meant to represent Blue Hawaii since the theme from my second guild's challenge is anything Elvis!

It was meant to be a real Hawaiian quilt, but I have to admit that I cheated somewhat, and it's not all made out of one fabric ... none-the-less it is pretty much all a mirror image of itself. What you can't see in the pic is the amount of beading that I put on this. I also wanted to do something with tulle and angelina fibre, and a lot more echo quilting - but simply did not have enough time!!! (who does). As it is I did hand applique, hand bead and hand quilt, but the quilting pattern was circles - to represent bubbles in the ocean!

My other "win" this week was with BMO, or more specifically with a particular male employee who did not understand the word NO and got a much needed lesson. I made a formal complaint which I am happy to say was taken seriously and handled well by the local area manager. It's not that I'm vindicative, but as I explained to the area manager - I'm old enough now to not accept passively when I am disrespected or mistreated. So, for all you ladies out there, and that includes my mother, who think "Oh, just let it go" WRONG. If you let it go then the next woman gets dumped on, and the next and the next... etc.

TTFN

Quiltus Interruptus

Well I'm deep into panic mode ... I'm sure I'll never get the stupid thing done. Why do I think I can work full time, go to quilt shows on the weekend, visit family and friends, do my spring cleaning and still complete a dual challenge for the two quilt guilds I'm in ??? Am I superwoman ??? No - just crazy or overly ambitious!

Well, it could be that I was truly inspired - yeah, that's right, inspired! Aha! The one guild's challenge is anything to do with Elvis. Hmm, ok, I'm a wee bit young to have experienced Elvis, but I do remember my aunt taking me to see the movie Blue Hawaii .
Now the other quild used a fat quarter of Laurel Burch's Ocean Songs fabric. So, I decided to make a wall hanging using the Hawaiian quilting technique, with lots of fish - some of them blue of course - and fussy cut some of the Laurel Burch fabric around the outer edge. Well , so far so good.

I do a search on Amazon and find just the perfect Hawaiian quilt book. It appeals to me for multiple reasons, one being that the proceeds go towards the Hawaiian Humane Society, the other being the lovely cat pictures ... (No, there will be no cat in my wall hanging!) So, I order the book through my local University bookstore and it arrives just before Xmas - wohoo! Again, so far so good. I get started doing the applique in the New Year and dutifully work away stitching this thing together.
Then - I get the brilliant idea that I have to do a whole lot of beading, and voila - it's now one week before the challenge is due and YIKES - I'm still quilting it! OMG I'll never get the stupid thing done!!! And I wanted to do a whole bunch of echo quilting around the outside, and a scalloped border - WHO AM I KIDDING?
Now, if only I could get the cat to stop nagging me to "play with me mommy - play with me" or "please mommy, let me sleep on your lap" I might - just might get the quilting done - of course it will be covered in cat hair - but it may just get done!

Wish me luck ladies ~~~

Adhesive Capsulitis - aka - Frozen Shoulder!

While I love Iris SweetiePie dearly, its ALL HER FAULT! While hanging a door into the laundry room, to keep Iris out of the laundry room, I fell off a small 2 step ladder and wrecked my shoulder. OUCH! One of those injuries where you lay on the floor breathless 'cause you can't even scream or cry. Well, that was before Christmas. Its now almost 4 months later, several hundreds of $$ later and I can kinda, just barely move my shoulder.
You always hear about these silly middle aged women (who me????) who experience silly middle aged injuries as a result of a silly middle aged fall. No - can't ever happen to me! Oh yeah?
It's oh so much fun (sarcasm intended) 'cause its one of those invisible injuries people can't see. If only I'd fallen and broken something - I would have had a lovely cast to boast about, and even better I could have stayed home from work! Arg!!!
As it is I have one left arm which only functions at half mast. The physiotherapists keep asking me if I'm in a lot of pain - well, no not really, but this dull unrelenting throbbing ache is really getting on my nerves, and the lack of mobility keeps startling me ever time I reach out for something and miss the mark... Then there's the lack of sleep ... can't sleep on that side you see, well, that's just doing wonders for my sunny dispostion - ha! And they say it could take up to a year to fully recover. AND I DO EXPECT to FULLY RECOVER!

Taxes ! Arg !

Taxes - taxes - taxes. Have I told you that I'm math phobic? There must be a specific cognitive disability for those afflicted with the curse of numbers having no meaning . The larger the number the more meaningless it becomes, especially when the number is related to space, size or money! Oh, I can tell you that 5,000 is larger than 500, but it might as well be 5 mill or 5 gajillion. Comparisons I can make, but relating to big numbers is impossible. Perhaps that's why I'm a pointless person rather than a pointed person (quilt talk).

Anyway, its tax time and once again this year I challenge myself to do my own taxes. Many many, many years ago a sympathetic friend taught me the tricks of using the calculator. I simply do not understand the math of why I press .05 X some number in order to get a percentage, but that doesn't matter. What matters is I can still get thru the complicated mess of doing my own taxes, and come within $40 of being correct (that's my personal wiggle room). This year I used an online website to check my math for me ..... and I was within ----- Ta Tata Da ----- $21.04. Not bad eh? I'm happy - so off it goes to the man so I can get my $$ back!
Yeah!

Iris (facsimile pic'd above - darn I really need to get me a digital camera!) is a tap drinking, tub sitting, sink sleeping, kneady (no, that's not a typo - I mean she kneads, her new cat bed, my lap, etc), scrunchy catching/retrieving ball of fur. Although she seems to have adjusted very well to her new home, and purrs now even when I'm giving her twice daily food supplement/medication, she still hides under the bed whenever there is company in the house. Any other person in the house sends her into paroxysms of neurotic fear and sends her scurrying under the bed. This one has me flummoxed. I'm really not sure how to help her overcome this timidity. Any ideas out there???? feel free to comment.

TTFN

I Hate Winter!

Ok, it's official, I reallllllly hate winter. How is it that I always - yup, I mean always - manage to get scheduled for the weekend shift just when a super storm decides to hit?
As if digging your way out the door to the car, digging the car out, cleaning the car off then getting stuck in the parking lot isn't enough, having to actually come into work to just sit and wait and wait and wait for something to do - 'cause everybody else in the world is more sane than you and stayed home in this snow storm - DUH!

On top of all that I already have an injured shoulder. So now, lets include the added stress of shovelling snow for 2-3 days to the already "frozen shoulder" syndrome and what do you have - one miserable hunk of not happy.

But guess who is happy - you guessed it - Iris! Mommy bought some off white fleece fabric, with the best of intentions of recovering the pillow in the cat bed so Iris will not smell/sense Sada (previous now deceased cat). Well, I brought the bed downstairs and placed it next to my chair. Then threw the fabric over it and everytime Iris tried to sit with me I placed her in the cat bed for one whole evening. The next day I placed some of her favourite toys in to the bed, and lo and behold - she likes it, she really really likes it! We have a winner here folks! As usual the pic above is what I'd like Iris to have, and the pic below depicts what she's getting

"Iris and me"

It would be so lovely to have a real cameo of me and Iris ... as it is we shall have to do with this virtual cameo. Iris's transition from her former home, where she was no doubt well loved but not the centre of attention, to my home where she has all the attention, seems to be accomplished. Her former owner has contacted me for reassurance, but has still not coughed up any veterinary records .... I guess we have different ideas of pet owner responsibility.

Iris is now well adjusted to her new home, literally rolling over with glee in welcoming me home each evening and letting me rub her tummy, playing catch (in mid air) as well as fetch, allowing me to give her medication orally twice per day, and "spitting" at my toes when I tease her from under the covers - this makes me LOL! As the picture depicts - she has landed in a good spot and is now living the life of Riley!

TTFN