Saturday, March 19, 2011

spring break


I have spent most of my spring break in Montgomery, but I drove down to Gulf Shores State Park yesterday. I got there early enough that the teens weren't out of bed yet :) I spent about two hours walking on the beach and taking pictures, and then drove home. Some would call me crazy, but I enjoyed it.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Just in...from California & the new Aussie pup of eight months

"Last night he got one of my good work shoes from the closet and chewed a hole in it (bad, bad dog). This morning he chewed through and totally severed our phone line. "

Well, Marion, it doesn't quite compare with Holly's feats but friend Susan was relaying Hamal's adventures today. Sandi, that baby is so darned cute. Not much designing or quilting done, I'll bet, these days.
This is great, the board is lively, picturesque and I think, what Eric hoped for.
Rosey

It's probably the way you do it anyway...

My "new way" is to go to "browse" and just click ......voila......my photos appear ! Prior to this I have tried to find my photos (they seem to be in a variety of places...!) and entered their reference in the space before "browse" . Sometimes this has taken ages and often leaves me feeling very frustrated and cross. Even just to get "My Pictures" up on the computer can take awhile. We didn't know about folders when we first started, so there are hundreds of them floating around in all sorts of places.... No wonder the computer gets tired from time to time... Anybody who knows anything about computers, despair when they see how we treat ours. Neither DH or I are technically minded (he would deny that ofcourse..)

Jane, did you remember that Holly chewed on $1000 worth of shoes when we first got her or was that a wild guess.....? a heel off here and a toe out there.. the insurance company was very understanding.... DH thought it was mildly amusing until his golf shoes got the same treatment...

Sandi, lovely photos. At one stage we had six grandchildren under 3 and a 1/2ys. It was like running a pre-school when they were all here ! Four of them are teenagers now. The years have gone by in a flash.

Christchurch is having a Memorial Service today, for those who lost their lives in the earthquake. Prince William has come over for it. I have been surprised to see how much that seems to mean to people. He went over to the coast yesterday to visit the mining community and the families of those miners who died late last year.

The events in Japan are frightening. So much loss and suffering there . I hope the worst of our fears won't be realised.

Marion.

Cuteness overload



Happy St. Patrick's day!
I had to post a picture of our little Irish Princess in her St. Paddy's day outfit.

It's hard to get anything done with that much cuteness around!

Yes, please tell us an easier way to post

Please! I feel so dumb when others post and I have to wait for DH to help me.
Sara in Fla.

BY THE WAY -

Marion, that is one sweet looking pup. Easy to love once they outgrow the need to chew up your bedroom slippers, especially the brand new ones.

Jane again

MARION

So what's the far easier way of posting pictures?

Jane

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Such a handsome dog !


I'm on a roll now ! Having forgotten how to post photos the way I used to post them, I have now found a far easier way of doing it . Prepare yourselves ladies , I could well bore you with more photos .... This is Holly, some of you will have seen her before, we have had her for five years. She's a lively little dog and loves company. Our friends and neighbours have a Beagle who is three weeks younger than Holly, they are great friends and she often comed here for a "play day". They give us a lot of pleasure.
Marion.

Lost quilt

This was posted on a sewing forum I frequent, and I am cross-postint it here and the main quilting board, as well.
http://lostquilt.com/ Kaaterskill is the quilt that is missing. Please contact the maker if you see or hear anything about it.

Wednesday early


Marion, it was so nice to open the chat board to the wonerful scenery of NZ and the pictures here are a nice relief to what are very dreary days that happen in March as we transition into spring here. We bounce between sunny days and drizzly days. Today, is drizzly with rain forecast.

Sara, it's kind of you to take the trouble to list verses of the bible for me. Many years ago, a very accomplished fibre artist here in Ontario did a number of commissioned wallhangings for a church on the theme of Revelations. They were nothing short of breathtaking and brought home that section of the bible vividly with her interpretation.
Here is my friend, Hamal, whom I've not met in person but feel I know from his many pictures taken by my friend, Susan, in California. He is a beautiful young Australian Shepherd pup; he lives on a compound of a ranch in central California not far from the coast and he is a monkey, full of energy and mischief as only puppies can be. This came in last night and made me smile with his tiny pink tongue tip. It's not unusual to see this in Aussie pups...they grow into themselves eventually.

We have a family funeral today; an uncle of whom I was very fond of and close to both he and his wife, my aunt Barbara, my mother's younger sister. She was only ten years older than me. Grandma was corpulent in older age, had had five children and Barb was a mid-life unexpected 'crisis' obviously for the doctor, who knew she was pregnant, thought it best not to mention that she was pregnant (she was mid-to late forties) and so, he did not confirm it until her fifth month. By then, of course, she was in shock and four months later produced my aunt, who became, in essence, an older sister for me. It will be nice to be with my mother's family...they are a jolly lot with a twinkle in their eye, always. But, also a sad occasion. My uncle simply marked time after Barb died. They were very close. She died eight years ago. Hard to believe. Life is like a totem pole. You get on at the bottom, rise to the top, fall off and the next generation takes over.
A hot bath is what I need now and then try to figure out what clothing will fit around my waist and rather plump bottom.

Rosey

The beautiful N.Z bush...


It would have looked even more beautiful if the sky had been blue....!
This is on the western tip on the Sth Island. We drove there last year about this time of year. I love the bush, the different greens and the variety of the shapes and sizes of the trees and their leaves...
Another gentle autumn day here today. So help- ful to those involved in the recovery work in Christchurch.
Marion.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Bible verses for Rosey, and so on.

Today has been a hard day, and I'm ready for it to be over.
DH went to Dermo Dr. had 2 biop. on face, lots of things frozen on the hands and arms. The biop, results will take 2 weeks, but he heard the Dr. talking to the nurse, and believes they are squamous. Which is better than melanoma, but will still leave him with scars on the face.
One is under his chin, and he thinks the surgeon will make him shave off his beard, which he has had for 20 plus years.
I've been scraping the last bit of wallpaper off, the parts behind the toilet. DH took the back tank off and moved it into another room. Soooo tired of this. And to think it was MY idea!

There are 2 passages from the Bible that could apply to earthquakes, etc. First is Psalm 46, then Isaiah 34, mainly vs. 3 and 4. Isaiah is refering to the Judgement on the nations, I won't type all of it, but my footnotes say The blood of the slain will be so great it will create mud slides, imagery of the day of the Lord on earth. 34:4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll --the footnote says as the Lord stretched out the heavens at creation , in the end He will roll them up. (Mark13;24, 25, and Rev. 6:13.)
I think Rev. 6:13 is what R. was looking for.
Psalm 45 vs. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
(this last bit sounds like earthquakes and the (how do you spell it?) tsinaumi .
A GF and I walked in the 15K on Saturday. It took 2 hrs. 30 min, 15 seconds. A beautiful day, but sore muscles in the legs Sun. and today. I did get the finisher's medal, so I'll add it to my collection. Don't know what to do with them, maybe get a shadow box to display them in where the stationary bike is. My eyes were red with the pollen and too much sunshine. They burned and stung until this afternoon. Lots of "Genteal" eye drops, and Tylenol.
The blanky-blank time change is bothering me also.
I have greatly enjoyed all the flower pictures. Hopefully I can find some to post. The trumpet vine by the front door is just sending out buds.
All for now, going to go to bed early, as started way too early this morning.
Sara in Fla.

wow

aren't those pics wonderful. And yes I knew Vancouver Island would have their flowers out already. I have not heard too much from DDIL , which must mean she is very busy filling up her greenhouse and getting ready to start making her basket.
We still have major ice and snow, but the temps for the week look good, so here are crossed fingers.and if not , it will leave eventually.
Thanks for the flower pics. I really enjoyed them
Grace in On
BTW, thanks for the encouragement on my knee surgery. Doing better all the time. Second knee will be done sometime after June.

Big thank you !

Doesn't the page look lovely ? All those beautiful photos have really cheered me up.

Today I went to a celebration of the life of the 21yr old who was killed in the earthquake. About 800 people were there. He was a member of a well liked family and he himself had made a positive impact on many lives. His father spoke so well of him, as did many of his young friends. The service was inspirational and comforting. It was also very noisy ! He was a keen musician, good on the percussion and on the guitar and his friends played some of his favourite music. He would have liked that.

Lets keep the photos coming. The colours are amazing..

Marion .

Ummmmmmm

It looks a bit like a Clivia. Bee.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

flowers


Such beautiful flowers, ladies! Thanks for posting. Here's one we took at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens the other week. No idea what it is. Any idea?
Fran

Dutch Iris, Feb. 2011


Hope this comes up okay. For some reason it looks like it might post sideways. I can't figure out how to turn it. :-( I guess if it's sideways people can look at it sideways too? LOL!
Hugz, Mary in Oregon

Spring, 2011




I sent my granddaughter outside with my camera this afternoon. Here are a couple of the results -- the blue dwarf Siberian Iris is my favourite Spring flower, although the yellow crocuses are a pretty close second.
Jean, with apologies to Rosey...

Lady Slipper


Lady Slipper from a few years ago. I'll try to post another picture from this year but it seems to come up sideways. :-(
Hugz to all,
Mary in Oregon


WOW! Fabulous flower pictures! OK, this is not a flower picture but it is my dog, Daisy! lol She's keeping the fabric from escaping.I'd post a picture of Violet, the rat, but she doesn't sit still long enough for a good shot. Note the green grass in the background.

I'm finishing up quilts, tops at least. I did a blooming 9-patch for my sister and a disappearing 9-patch for my niece (wedding gift, married almost 2 years!) And, I'm working on a couple of new patterns which,hopefully will be out by May. Other than that, just quilting for others which helps with my sons tuition payments.

Hugs to all!

I wish it looked more like Spring


in Minnesota. We still have close to a foot of snow covering most of our yard and huge piles of snow in the front of the house as well as on the back patio where the snow landed when we had the roof shoveled. This picture is from a couple years ago and was taken in June - it is the view out the window of my kitchen. There are twinkle lights on the right side that we sometimes have on at night.
With all the tragedies going on in the world now, sometimes it is good to reflect on how fortunate we are. Being able to think ahead to a spring where we will see flowers blooming really is a gift. Joleen in MN

Spring

Sandi - what a darling picture of your granddaughter. And that hair! I'm always jealous because our son had very little hair, until he was three years old. ;o)

I love the photos of flowers and color! We don't have much here, yet. The Bradford Pear trees completely opened up their (white) flowers this weekend, and a lot of (wild?) cherry trees are blooming white flowers. There are some pink variety of cherry trees in bloom right now (not Yoshino variety), forsythia, and I saw a flowering quince bush in bloom this morning on the grounds of our church. Spring is coming . . .

I'm very concerned right now for the New Zealanders in ChristChurch, because they are heading into winter with damaged homes,and some are homeless. On another sewing board a NZ'er posted a link to the long drop home page. (copy & paste) http://www.showusyourlongdrop.co.nz/ Well, I always say it's better to laugh than cry, although sometimes we need a good cry before we can laugh. Our dear Kiwis have such inner strength (and creativity!) in trying to find the lighter side of their serious disaster. They set an example for the rest of the world, IMO. Well done.

More spring color


Mine is from last year. This year's poppies are barely starting to show green on the leaves. Won't be long, though, until we have more of these beauties.
Kathi