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...a glimpse into life on Vancouver Island, needle felting, photography, food, gardening, etcetera...etcetera
"Happiness always looks small when you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and at once you learn how big and precious it is."
Maxim Gorky

Friday, March 22, 2013

Up to some good....

Norene and I got up to some felting last weekend and since we both have
new babies in the midst of our families, we got to work on some booties.
The pair I made were for my friend Irma's daughter who I've known
since she was a young teenager. Now she's in her 30's and has
started a little family of her own.
Yup, the babies are having babies!
(you know you're getting old when...)
So Jenny had a wee boy named Linden and I made this pair for him...
After wet felting, I needle felted the bee and the flower onto them...
Norene's daughter is having a little girl so she made not one but THREE pairs!...
Love the polka dots on these!
She has really taken to needle felting!
Look at these sweet little purple ones...( do I see a little crocheted hat there too?)
We've been using silk/merino blends to keep tiny feet from being itchy.
Tom and I just found out today that our nephew and his partner had a baby girl yesterday!
Welcome to the world little Abigail!
Looks like I'll be making some pink themed ones as well.
So there you go...projects for a rainy day before the chores of the garden take priority.
 
 


Song for Friday...for spring???

I was all set to write a post yesterday about 'spring in the forest' when we were
whollaped with the worst spring storm I've ever witnessed.
We had hurricane force winds, snow, sleet, hail and rain and then
the power was off for 24 hours!
Yikes!
We had a nice night though by candle and kerosene lamp light, I worked on
some projects by hand and we listened to some lovely Scottish fiddle
music on the computer (yes we still had SOME technology!).
Anyway, I'm not really going to say much about this
song except it's a funny excuse for entertainment!
Happy Spring Equinox all!
Have a great weekend!
 

Monday, March 18, 2013

A delicate balance...

The other morning the world around here was covered in fine webs.
 Everywhere I looked they were stretched from here to there and back again....
A cats cradle of the finest silk string...
 Nature is always there to remind us...
 ...of the fragility...
 ...the strength...
 ...the pursuit of perfection...
 The need to connect to something solid...
 To anchor ourselves ...
 To find the right zone...
 Sometimes life makes no sense.
 Leaves us incomplete...
 How it can all fall apart in one breath...
 But in the end how beautiful it all is...
 
 "Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.
It will never fail you."
Frank Lloyd Wright.


Sunday, March 17, 2013

Bits and bobs of green...

Happy St Patrick's Day to you all!
It's a half sun half cloud day here on the coast
 and the spring is coming on with many shades of green.
The weather is typically March changing every five minutes but
it's this climate that I love, I can't complain.
Must be in my blood.
Speaking of green...
I thought today I would share some of my favorite green things...
Some pretty little pieces of Irish porcelain found in the thrift shop.
 I can't resist those sweet little shamrocks!...
 Another thrift store find was this travel book published in 1939...
 It's full of stories and pictures from a time long vanished.
The inside cover has a lovely vintage map to gaze upon and dream of another trip someday...
My favorite green velvet scarf and the one decent thing I ever knitted, a hat, with wool from Ireland...
A green Irish linen blouse...from the thrift store as well!
A few postcards sent home from the Motherland...
...this was attached to a sweater I bought on the Aran Islands...
Did you know that each family had their own stitch so that if a fisherman
drowned, they could identify him by the stitches on his sweater?
These are but a few of my favorite photos I took in Ireland.
( I've probably posted a few of these before so pardon my love of these times.)
The first is my dad's hand near his pint in a pub in Dingle.
One of those priceless nights we had on our travels...
One of the most beautiful places on earth, The lakes of Killarney...
 Galway at dawn on a Sunday morning...
 My daughter Aja and my dad strolling in the rain on the Aran Islands...
 The amazing Atrim coast of Northern Ireland
A card a friend sent to me once with an Irish blessing to pass on to you all...
...and what St Patrick's Day wouldn't be complete without a wee jig ...
Ladies and Gents...
The Pogues.  
 
If I should fall from grace with god
Where no doctor can relieve me
If I'm buried 'neath the sod
But the angels won't receive me

Let me go, boys
Let me go, boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry