And another special day....

Happy birthday Dave!!  And less important Happy New Year to all. 

Just puttering as well...

Although I am not producing gorgeous pieces of art such as you shared Pati on your Mouse Factory Blog.  My "studio" work yesterday consisted of basting five hexis - sounds sort of minimal but not when you think that the project actually made its way out of oblivion and into my room haha! That is progress!
It was a pleasant surprise to read that your latest improvisational quilt was graciously gifted to Gail. I think that was a very nice gesture since she was obviously in love with it. There are just some items or pieces of art that one does fall in love with, isn't there?
There have been severe weather warnings for last few days about a storm with winds and freezing rain to hit us last night and into today. So far this morning the outside is quiet except for a bit of cold wind blowing about, so I have my fingers crossed that things will not be as terrible as predicted.
I reorganized the open shelf on the kitchen wall to accommodate some new items I received for Christmas. Two new Tim Horton 2019 mugs, and a new DavidsTea mug, and a DavidsTea clear glass tea pot. It meant moving some of the Tim Hortons empty coffee tins to a box but that is OK for now.
Harry is almost finished printing and laminating his pictures from the old computer so I may be able to do a switch in the new year and then get our Server to connect us to the internet and then Geek Squad to troubleshoot issues. Apparently the Geek Squad are not able to touch anything with the Internet server (I had taken all the internet info into the store when I had them set up the new laptop before Christmas, but they could not do that for me - too bad!)
I am upset that I am on a dry spell with Lottery tickets as well. Pati you mentioned you scratched yours and got nothing for your trouble! I will sometimes get a free play or last number of the Encore ( Extra for you folks) but even those small wins are eluding me. I hope my luck will change as we are still booked to return to Casino Rama on Jan 30 with the reorganized seniors bus trip. When we drive past North Bay I spot the construction sight of the new Cascades Casino being built there - the structure is visible from the highway, and so far only the metal girders are erect but I can start to see the basic look of the place. They still say is should be open in July 2020.
So now to make a toasted bagel for breakfast and another coffee and I should then be 'good to go" for another day. Take care folks. Any special plans for New Years Eve?  I shall likely just go to bed like I always do....

a finish

Basically a quiet day on the home front.  I worked in the studio, and David watched a marathon of all the Indiana Jones movies.  His sister dropped in for tea, as she sometimes does.  A nice visit and, as usual, I did most of the talking, as we seldom have visitors, and I over-react.  I finished another weird quilt top.(See other blog) Now I will give the studio a good clean-up, before starting anything else.  Thinking of you both.  (I let Gail drink out of a Duchess mug today, as she is family, even if from the other side of the family)

Now that you mention it----

I do have a vague memory of eating Christmas dinner at our house, and even of seeing a picture, a few years back, of Uncle Mernie and Kenny, and some one else sitting around a table in what had been the front main floor bedroom of the house. I don't ever remember eating a meal in the dining room that Dad created out of the Living room/ bedroom next to the kitchen. But, I was probably out of the house by the time he built that, although I remember using it for the buffet we had at your wedding reception, Cathy. Before he had a dining room, the basement would really have been the only viable option in that tiny house.  I even remember people square dancing in the basement!

We have nothing huge planned for our anniversary.  Rather, we plan to go to see the movie "Cats", tonight.  It's at our local theatre.  I can't remember the last time we went to a movie that wasn't on "half price Tuesday".  Maybe, when the original Star Wars came out?  Or maybe a few years ago when Loren, Amber and the children went with us to a movie at the theatre in Grant Park Shopping Center to celebrate someone's birthday- probably for Amber's girls.

David bought me a couple of "quick pick" lottery tickets for Christmas.  We checked them yesterday and took away nothing.  Oh well, at least no wrapping paper to dispose of.

The next few days are almost like "the lull before the storm".  Nothing planned, no urgent errands.  Since we didn't win the lottery, I can't even head out to buy fabric.  Beth now has the Kidd novels to read, and I started the Monkeewrench novels, but not before reading the most recent one-"Ice Cold Heart".  A tease Beth-Roadrunner has met a lady, and it looks promising.  She, too, has a past.  Having started back at the beginning, I realize that the author(s) has been very clever in setting up everything for a lengthy series.  Of the 6 main characters, after 7 books, only three of them are set up for "happily ever after", although to be fair, two secondary characters who disappeared after 4-5 books, found happiness in each other.  This means that we have something to look forward to  in future books.

Cathy, you've always been the one in the family who truly loves and collects books.  Do you have a favourite series to recommend? I believe you've been through a few genres; -which are you favouring right now?  Have you read the "Red Sister", "Grey Sister", and "Holy Sister" series?  I thought of you while reading it. I heard about it from Loren, who often reads similar books to what you read.

In the studio, there is a piece in progress, that I expect to post, on the other blog, sometime this weekend.  This is another modern, improv piece that has been inspiring and challenging  enough to put me in a bit of a creative frenzy.  Something to keep me busy over the next few days.

And now the build up to 2020

But before that comes Happy Anniversary to Pati and Dave. Do you have anything special planned?  Christmas was quiet here. All the fuss and worry and supper is done before you know it. Jean brought triffle for dessert so it really was a Christmas dinner. I remember alternating Christmas with auntie Lorrain. I have a very vague memory of eating upstairs but I remember lots of meals downstairs after they put in the rec room and Kenny’s bedroom. Our turn was always in the basement and I would get so excited when daddy lit the pudding on fire. And Kenny and I always got raw carrots as a treat and didn’t have to eat the cooked ones. How my tastes have changed. We had Brussels sprouts and we ate them all. (Of course frying them with mushrooms, onions and bacon helped).  Jean is selling her Jeep in Brandon today so Jim is meeting her there to bring her home. I offered to go and keep him company but he knew I really wanted to stay home. Since he is letting me I guess I should do something while is is gone. My new oven needs cleaning and I am almost afraid to do it, but it is set. It would only let me do 5 hours. I wanted to try something shorter. Oh well. I’ll see what happens

Floating Trees....

There are green Christmas trees floating around the outside of the front room window - beautiful display. You guessed it...Mike gave us an outdoor laser light to set up and create a colourful display of green trees and red speckles across out front window. He bought one for himself and had it set up when we visited Wed - I loved it. That would make him happy as there was another wrapped up for us to open there. I set it up yesterday and have enjoyed the colour ever since. We did not have any colour outside this year so this makes up for it. Mind you it is close to 40 degrees F and the snow is melting and creating puddles all over and the need to shovel at the front, and icy underfoot. Calling for freezing rain and ice pellets over next few days..... Not nice!
The Kidd books were a request from me - Mike knows I like books and always gets me something different from sources he reads, But also asks prior if there are any that I would like. Out of the blue I wondered if he could get the Kidd series so asked him,. Obviously he did a lot of research as the series is four books, but he tells me they are ordered from all different places because they did not come as a "set" anywhere. His hard work, but my fortune I guess..
The freezer is now full of little soup dishes and I have two more in the fridge for eating now. I had to do some fancy switching in the freezer to get all the dishes in which resulted in having to take out some things ..one of which is a store bought chocolate cake that I had hidden in there. I wonder if I now have to eat it??????
So on to today..still lots of work to do inside but I also have to keep my eye on the outdoors and the accumulated water and ice all around. Hope all is well with you folks...thinking about you both Take care.

The Kidd Series

Oh, what a treat!  It's quite dated now, as it was written in the late 1990's, and involves computer "hacking", but easily read , regardless.  Had you asked for it, or did he come up with the idea on his own?  And where on earth did he find it?  Probably on Amazon.  You can find absolutely anything on Amazon.  And remember, this is the "Kidd" that is a minor character in John Sandford's Lucas Davenport  series.  

We had dinner at the local Aalto's restaurant.  This isn't a big restaurant, so I had made reservations early.  What a surprise when we got there and the hostess took us in, then made a right hand turn where we had never seen a right hand turn before.  A section of the wall had been opened into an adjacent banquet room, which was set up full of dinner tables.  We were taken in to a far corner, right beside the washrooms. But, lots of room, and a quiet corner.  We had to walk all the way back and into the main section for the buffet.  Moving into that main section made us realize just how busy and noisy it was.  We all agreed that there were advantages to sitting in the "boonies".  At least we could converse and all could hear what was said.

Then it was home to play Joker Rummy.  David and I often play it together, and we both discovered what a different game it can be with more than 2 players.  Loren had had to cook dinner at home as both his kids were under the weather.  But they phoned and had a chat with both David and I.  The party finally broke up when David fell asleep at the table.

Today we're back to reality with laundry, and the need to plan meals.  But--no left overs.  To bad one can't order in a bunch of left over Turkey dinners.