Friday, January 20, 2012

Another photo of the CBD !

The containers make surprisingly good shops ! I wouldn't mind having one at home to use as a sewing room !

Marion.

Central City Christchurch !

Today I took a deep breath and decided it was time to look at the central city ! It was a strange experience. Only one familiar building remains in the main shopping area. On the cleared ground these buildings and gardens have appeared. In another area shipping containers have been painted bright colours and turned into shops. Not many people around and the shop keepers seem accepting of the fact that most of us were there just to check it all out. The hanging baskets in the photo,were all donated by a garden group. They looked very pretty. Another area was covered with large sun flowers. There is a Buskers Festival on at the moment, so there was entertainment to enjoy while we sat in the sun and sipped coffee. We figured that we would be a safe there as anywhere else, in the event of another quake... ! That possibility is never far from the minds of Cantabrians... Anyway. It was an interesting day, full of emotion as we remembered how it was and all that had happened there last year... I have another photo showing the shipping containers, I don't seem to be able to post two at once (!) so will send that through too. Half way along the street there are barriers to prevent you going further. From there you can see the cranes and the rubble. What a HUGE job. It's hard to see how the city can come back from this. We looked through the windows of a restaurant which was fenced off, and the tables still had cutlery and china all over the floor. It looked as if the quake happened this morning..

I'm relating all of this in the hope that it may be of interest to some of you. Not many of us have this experience. The headline in Tuesdays paper read. "500 days.......9,500 quakes" which approximates to 1 quake (magnitude 3+) felt every four hours since the Sept. 2010 quake which started all this business !! No wonder we are getting used to them !

Lovely sunny day today, I hope you've all had a nice day too.

Marion.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

NORTH CAROLINA QUILT SYMPOSIUM 2012

SARA, I'm inclined to sign up for the layered landscape or the Joen Woolfram class (excuse the spelling) because I've always admired her use of color. Ever since that damned accident almost four years ago I've become less active. The guild has grown to about 160 members most of whose names I don't know. My pal and perennial roommate at retreats and I have agreed we should separate at meetings and sit next to someone we don't know. Anyway, we will no doubt share a room unless I decide to commute, and if we can add a third party we save a few bucks. There are so many younger dedicated members who have been working their tails off for more than a year setting this affair up and I'm afraid I haven't been one of them. I did my bit for many years though. If I can get a sit down job I'll pitch in one day. If I'm on my feet, especially on a hard surface like concrete slab things start hurting in fairly short order.

Gotta get moving here. The pups haven't had a walk this week and we, all three of us, are in serious need of same.

PS to the rosearin, who are you? I could almost smell those lovely roses. They look like the old fashioned kind that smell soooo good.

Jane

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

N.C. quilt thingy in June

Jane-I looked at all the list of teachers-wow there are so many. How on earth to make a decision?
I'm not at all sure I can go to it, but in the "what if" stages.
DH and I have 2 airline tickets that we have to use before June 25th or we will lose the $$, so may be doing something on the bucket list.
Are you taking any classes?
Sara in Fla.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Just for fun



Amidst the much appreciated greenery, which is a balm to my eye at this time of year, I searched through my files and came upon a photo that the Nunavut Tourism people allowed me to download for my talk on the Inuit and Nunavut. Never having seen an iceberg close up, I've always liked the colours and the image in this photo.


Talk about tires reminds me that we have to pay for our air, do you believe that? No complimentary tire fill-ups anymore.

Rosey

Green scenery















Here is my own contribution to the green scene. My rose bushes this past May..... It's so helpful to see green right now. Our winter has been rather mild, as forecast by the color markings of the wooly worms we saw this past autumn, but we have our grey, wet, dreary days, nonetheless. This is a "landscape" rose called Carefree Wonder. Very hardy, own root, lovely scent.

Sarah in FL - My current car has a "check tires" type alert on the dashboard, as well. How on earth these cars know the air is low, is beyond me. Mine once told me a tire was low on air. I drove immediately to my local mechanic and took care of it. Sometimes the technology is beyond my imagination.


I have the most generous DH. (not!) Last week he had a terrible cold, and gave it to me. Why am I not grateful? It has hit me harder than it hit him. Ack.


Grace in ONT - How wonderful that you're walking in less pain these days, after your surgery!















back home from retreat in Toccoa, GA

It was a long drive home.
The Fri,Sat and 1/2 day Sunday quilt retreat for the Quilts of Valor was much fun, and I met some great women from Ga, NC, TN, and 2 from south Fla. Never seen so many variations of red, white and blue. Gosh! Two women had their long arm machines there and set up, and they quilted like mad getting some quilts done. I'll find out later in the week how many quilts were finished, but I'm thinking about 30. I finished the top of mine and turned it in. They need 85 for this month for a returning heros ceremony, and 5 for flight nurses in Afganistan. I think these numbers will be met. Hope to see some pictures and be able to post them here soon.
It was 27 on Fri. morning--burr.. This Florida chick isn't used to that cold, and with wind.
I drove to the nearest McDonalds for coffee that morning and the "check tires" light came on in the dashboard. After putting air in all 4 tires it was still on. When we were about 30 miles west of Savannah, GA. the light went out. We are thinking that the air pressure & cold weather don't like each other. Even the tires on the SUV are liking warmer weather.
DH and the 2 dogs lived without me for a few days. They did miss me, which is a good thing.
I'm signed up for a Scrap Therapy class at my local quilt shop on Fri. maybe I can use up some of the red, white and blue scraps.
Funny of the weekend-- on Sat. night about 6 women in their PJ's and bathrobes were watching the only TV there to see the Denver Bronco vs. N.E. Patriots game. Several people there were rooting for Tim Tebow and the Denver team and one woman from Boston for the Patriots. About the 2nd quarter 15 or so men came to join us. They were in shock to see women doing quilt binding rooting for football. Unfortunately the Denver team lost badly, but we all had a fun time.
Sara in warmer Fla.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Is this green enough for you Rosey ?

This was taken in the Spring before the trees were in full leaf. Since we acquired the new computer, I haven't been able to download any recent photos...I'll keep trying !

We've had some lovely summer days lately, DD and family are camping so I hope they are getting the same weather pattern..... Yesterday we went to an outdoor, free, musical event in the beautiful Botanic gardens in Christchurch. These are held every Sunday afternoon throughout the summer and are very popular. The music was good and "people watching" was fun too ! All ages there, toodlers dancing to the music, young ones flirting, the elderly sitting in the shade under the lovely trees.. some with picnics others with drinks, all very relaxed and enjoyable. The council seem to have read the peoples mood perfectly. Cantabrians want to be out and about but are scared of large buildings and crowds. Sitting there in the park was the perfect answer to that....

Another nice day today by the looks of things. We are still enjoying a relaxed,"holiday mood" month and have more friends coming around for a meal tonight. We are ignoring (as best we can) the nasty shakes which are continuing .www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz will give you some idea of what's going on down here.!

Have a good day.
Marion.

From the Frozen 'north'



It's about this time of year that I'm pestering my more southerly friends for pictures of GREEN. Or, I can go into my collection and pull something up from last summer. This was taken by one of our B&B guests last year. It's of our front porch. They sent the photo back to us after they'd returned home to Ohio. Our winter has been one big icicle, literally. Not much snow and what there is, is covered in layers of ice. I'm longing for one good old fashioned snowfall. It's a good time of year to hunker down with a quilt project.


Annie, the pup, is one year old this coming week. She's a hooligan. I've never had a pup who was so into everything she shouldn't be nor one who sauced me back (barking) when I discipline her. I think she's in her horrible teen years. Hard to get mad at her; she's irrepressible.


Rosey