IT IS WHAT IT IS: January 2016

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

CHANGES

Believe it or not, this blog post with this title was on my mind to write way back in November. I was walking one day and the changing of the season was so evident ...the weather, the colours all around. All the gorgeous coloured leaves that just so recently had been on the trees was now dry and crinkly and blowing all around my feet on the ground. There was starting to be a nip in the air. The changes I was working on in my health were starting to pay off. I had planned to go to Ontario in November to do my annual Christmas baking and buying and wrapping with my sister and brother, but because Mr. O offered to come along, my travel plans changed. Insted of flying we would now be driving, and the date changed to December, then we decided to meet up with friends and spend four days at Boyne Mt Resort after the Christmas chores were done. In the meantime, our son and his family decided to come home for Christmas, so we were excitedly looking forward to that, but I had only left myself 3 and a half days to prep for Christmas. More changes, because all the things I normally did for Christmas in the baking dept were just not going to get done due to time constraints, and you know what? That was okay with me...I was just happy to have them home, and the fact that I didnt get the home made chocolates done, or the peanut brittle , or the poppycock, or...or ...or were okay. I was having a change of heart. What was more important to me was having them home, not what I baked and cooked. I managed to get a few of the traditional things done and it turned out to be way more than we needed. There was no Christmas tree, but I did get out my Robert Kincaid village and set it up on the mantle, and we did some outdoor decor earlier, and a few candles and favourite Christmas/snowmen decorations turned out to be just perfect. I hung a quilted Christmas tree with lights and that was okay too...

Can you see why Changes seemed like a good title for a blog post...the one I intended to write but just never seemed to get around to it.

Well here I am almost 2 months later finally writing my Changes post!

I think I have probably mentioned before that the hardest part of writing a blog post is coming up with a title. Give me a title and I am off and running...you may have also noticed that very often I will end with a quote that has reference to my topic of conversation.

Well I am on the road again because of more changes...life is ever changing...while Mr O is snoring away and the television newscaster is rambling on in the background, about all the newsworthy events. The big story was about the death of David Bowie....another headliner was about the Mexican drug lord that had been recaptured, and of course the weather. (Because the weather is almost always newsworthy) I decided it was time to blog, so the first thing I did was Google the word CHANGE/CHANGES and the first thing that came up was David Bowie...apparently he recorded a song by that name( by now you have guessed I was not a David Bowie fan, because I did not know this...The next item referred to a song by Tupac Shakur; Changes...a hip hop song that makes reference to "the war on drugs". (Apparently I am not a fan of Tupac because I did not know this either)

By this time I was thinking, maybe I better CHANGE my title to something else, but I knew that if I had to come up with another title this blog post just would not get written, so I put my foot down and decided that this was one CHANGE that was not going to happen! Now you know the story behing the title, let me show you a few (well okay maybe more than a few) photos.

As you can see, the leaves were mostly off the trees and on the ground. This was taken at a local walking trail at Daley Point. I always bring along a little bag of seeds because the chickadees are so friendly they come and eat right out of your hands! We went back with the grandchildren on Christmas day, because I thought they would enjoy feeding the birds too. Quite a change in the scenery eh?

Meg sprinkled seeds on my beret and the chickadees ate their Christmas dinner atop my head. My witty son said I looked like the "crazy bird lady in the park" from Home Alone! Some things never change!

In November on a warm day Mr O and I collected branches and berries and I made some seasonal arrangements while he built me some ornamental wildlife for the yard. By the end of the day I was pretty pleased with the outcome.

We woke up the next morning to some beautiful changes!

There have been a few other drastic changes and people who know me, know that I don't accept change easily, but let me tell you that I love these changes!

Mr O bought me new custom cabinets and bookshelves for my quilt studio! And new lighting! 2 flexible track lights with a total of 10 LED daytime lights on them. We also swapped ends of the family room to accomodate all the changes and I managed to sneak in a few more inches of space 👍😀😄😜. This is one change I am loving!

I celebrated by getting out a 10 year old UFO, and that baby will be finished by months end! The quilting may not be done but the top will be finished! I probably would have finished it by this evening but a very dear friend we have known for many years passed away this morning so we are on our way to Ontario for a funeral. This very special lady has a very special daughter who just happens to be my Bosum Friend(inside joke) but kidding aside we are long time friends. She has been such a loving and caring daughter and has devoted a lot of her time to spending it with her Mom and this is going to bring tremendous CHANGES in her life! It just won't be the same going to visit our Son and family without a little visit with Marie. I will miss her big smile and just sitting and sharing old times.