TRAVEL TUESDAY

It has been a long time since I have had a major travel post.

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This is pretty much the scenery along the way when you travel in North Western Ontario…Trees, trees a bit of water more trees and 
Sparse population. The towns are small and few and far between once you pass Parry Sound and Sudbury. It is not uncommon to me though because although I lived 40 plus years in New Brunswick and the last 2 in South Western Ontario, I was born and raised in Northern Ontario. 

Destination this time is Sault Ste Marie. It has been awhile since I have been to see my brother and because the nursing homes have lowered restrictions I am finally able to see him after 19 months. My sister, Barb and her husband are also on the highway travelling from the West and we will meet up and spend 5 full days with Gary. 

We have been reminding him we are coming to visit, but because of his health and dementia issues it is a surprise to him each time. One thing for sure, he will be ecstatically happy to see all of us. Unfortunately Pam, our “baby sister” is not able to travel from BC to be with us. 

Fortunately we are able to do a group Facetime video once a week thaks to the Activities department of the nursing home Gary lives in, but it isn’t the same as face to face and getting an old fashioned hug.

 Guaranteed Gary will be getting a big hug all around and he will be up on wobbly legs giving us the biggest smile and even bigger hugs.

Covid restrictions have kept us apart for a long time and 5 days will fly by, but in these times of change we will grab what moments we can.

Even more special, is that it is Gary’s 64th  birthday tomorrow! And yes I baked a cake last night so it would be fresh and my sister has candles…I brought along a mixer, bowl and spatula, so we will pick up ingredients tonight to make frosting in our hotel suite and between us we will have a cake to present to him. A few balloons and gifts and it will be a real honest to goodness birthday party! Watch for pictures later…

I  brought a few hand projects along for the ride…so far the only thing that has gotten any attention is a bit of sock knitting. I am well set up.headphones, knitting, and a movie on my ipad which is precariously perched on the open glove box. What more could a girl ask for?

P.s. I have taken a quick glance to make editorial corrections but forgive me for any errors…it is a bit bumpy typing in transit.

“I HAVE COME TO ACCEPT THE BUMPY ROADS OF LIFE; THEY SEEM TO LEAD TO THE BEST PLACES.”

Steve Maraboli

Here we go again!

We are taking a road trip! I know, know…if you have read any of my blog posts you know that travel is not a big deal with us, but just in case you have been stuck under a rock somewhere and haven’t heard, we here in Ontario, Canada have been in lockdown almost constantly since last fall. 

The last trip that was over an hour away and not for a medical/dental, optical appointment was last October. I have not checked,  but I am pretty sure that must be a record for us!

Because I was typing I missed out on a photo op…we just drove through the little hamlet of Dublin. We are coming up to the Thames Road on our way to London!

Now don’t get to excited for me…sadly, I am not in Britain…just on my way to Costco, in London, ONTARIO…It is 2 hours from home which seems like a major road trip these days!

Not in Britain, but in I am in a lovely rural area of our beautiful country. Lovely little hamlets with quaint British and German names, lovely farmland, lots of roadside markets, and my favourite…sheep! The countryside is very popular for sheep. I never tire of seeing them.

I am slowly settling in to our new location but in all fairness, we really didn’t have much time to enjoy our surroundings the way I had planned. We were here 7 months, went to AZ for almost 2 months and when we returned back home the PLANET pretty much locked down! 

Thankfully I have had a generous stash of fabrics, batting, wools and sock yarns to keep me occupied.

Over the last 2 years I have gradually started back with cross stitching after a very long hiatus. If you think quilting is a pricey hobby, you will be alarmed at how expensive xstitching has become. It is like a new hobby all over again with all the designers and charts, and fabrics and overdyed flosses and project bags and notions and even a complete YouTube community for xstitchers called Flosstube. I have fallen down a rabbit hole and although I haven’t bumped into the Mad Hatter or Alice yet…I am pretty sure I will!

I made a stop for some new threads/floss…what an eye opener! Years ago when i was stitching, DMC and Anchor were our choices and if you watched for sales you could get 3 skeins for 99 cents. Now you get 1 for that price and there is a myriad of thread choices and companies to choose from..hand dyes, solids, silks, wools . 

I stopped in London to pick up threads for 4 projects in my line up and I spent $125.96 and came out of the shop with all my purchases in a baggie!

There are ingenious ways to organize threads and while watching a Flosstuber a week or so ago I commented on her post and I won a package she was very generously giving away! Yay! I was skeptical it was actually me but sure enough…I was the winner! Cant wait for my squishy mail to arrive. This gal has the most organized floss collection I have ever seen! She is giving me a little taste of some of her organizing tools! …another rabbit hole! …sigh I am falling deeper and deeper…

Lest you think I have given up on my quilting, I am here to assure you I have not! But after not blogging for such a long time, I don’t want you to have to read a novel of my activities; just a chapter will do. I will leave you with a couple pics of pin cushions I have cross stitched. I am slowly filling a wooden dough bowl with little stitched pin cushions. Some I have stitched, some are gifts from a dear friend and a couple that I stitched will be donated to my local quilt guild for an upcoming quilt show. 

So there you have it! A little peek at what I have been up to. Trust me this is just the tip of a very large iceberg!…or should I say the rabbit hole?