Not dead--yet!

I suppose I've lost everyone who ever followed (?) this blog and have been checking in vain to see if I've posted anything in 2010. I'm still getting my stamping/library/computer room fixed up and put in order, and my stamping stuff is mostly unreachable. That's my excuse, and I stand by it.
For my older granddaughter's February birthday, I valiantly dug out enough CS, a Cuttlebug folder, embossing powder, and made a card. Here it is.

21 September 2009--Last (official) Day of Summer

                         Brief Glory

Doomed leaves blaze

With desperate color

As an icy wind nips

Their frangible stems.

Already, some are slipping silently

Down the sharp-edged air,

Tracing slow, irregular circles,

Settling with a sigh

On the yellowing grass.

Tomorrow is the official beginning of autumn. I hate to see summer go, especially since she only arrived here around the second week of August, and seems to want to linger. Autumn, however, is my next-favorite season, so I do welcome her, only regretting that she foretells the inevitable onslaught of winter, my least-favorite season. Actually, the only thing I really hate about our harsh Québec winters is the darkness of the compacted days. The leaves and acorns on the right were found around my apartment building today. The leaves on the left are stamped and embossed. The arrowhead was found years ago by one of my sons in our then-backyard. 

The layout is not as good as I wanted it to be, but that's the fault of Rascal and Fripon. They not only love  to chase leaves but to eat them. When I started arranging the leaves, they were at my elbow,  sniffing and trying to claw one out of the arrangement. While I was aiming the camera, one  would run  away with a leaf in his mouth as if it were prey. As I chased him, the other took advantage of my distraction to nab one for himself. The leaf at top right bears a jagged edge as evidence of capture. Finally, I managed to make a hasty arrangement and photograph it.  

Soon, I’ll hear geese overhead calling me to follow them south for the winter.

                                              

                                                            Summer’s End

     

Geese v-lining south

Noisely trumpet triumph;

Feathered thieves are

Stealing summer.

 

 The rocks and driftwood in the picture on the right were found in Nova Scotia and Québec years ago. Note the split-open rock with the orange center. There's also a piece of petrified tree. The Champagne cork? Hmmm! Perhaps a romantically-inclined couple toasted their love on a rocky beach somewhere.

All rights reserved for the two poems. 

                                                          

11 September 2009 Chip...or Dale?

As I sat knitting in the sun on my balcony yesterday, I caught a movement at the corner of my eye. Turning, I saw a chipmunk on the wall, just beyond the balcony railing. We eyed each other for a moment then he continued his jerky He took cover among some empty flower pots way downand a folded chaise longue. I slowly stood up. He huddled there, keeping an eye on me. My camera was just inside the door; should I go for it and risk scaring him away? I did. He stayed. I decided to for a handout. He was still there when I came back,   but would he run away if I approached to put down a cracker? the wall, and onto my balcony.
I suspect that this was not the first time that he’d enticed someone into giving him a treat, because he was immovable as I broke off bits of cracker and placed them as close to him as I dared. As he munched his way around a tad of tasty saltine, I caught him in still and in video mode, happily eating his treat. Now the treat’s for you!
I can't but take a moment to offer a prayer for all those who died, were injured or lost someone on this day in the 2001 terrorist attacks on the US. By the grace of God, Never Again!

9 September 2009--Violet Sunsets and Butterscotch Socks

From the vantage point of my 3^rd floor balcony, I’ve been privileged to watch and share with you all some colourful sunsets. They have all displayed magnificent shades of red and orange. Then, a few days ago, the sun decided to set in shades of violet.

The sight brought vividly back to mind a sunset I witnessed during a trip to Spain with my husband in 1982. As we ate our evening meal in front of a panoramic hotel window, we watched as the sun disappeared, blazing first vivid red, shading to orange, then through degrees of pink down to pale and darker shades of violet, until nothing was left but the black velvet of night. I don’t remember what we ate that evening. I feasted too heavily on the sunset.

 

The half-finished sock is my first ever. The yarn is from Three Irish Girls (click their logo on the right side of this page to go there). The colorway is Grady, and the yarn is TIG’s Lindon Merino. The pattern is as basic as it gets, and comes from the book peeking out from under the sock, “Getting Started Knitting Socks”, by Ann Budd. The book contains instructions for five different weights of yarn in about as many sizes. I love it because I actually understand the instructions with the first reading. There are detailed pictures, too. In case you’re wondering, I’m not on the payroll of Three Irish Girls nor of Interweave Press, source of the book mentioned above.

Now, back to enjoying the weather we should’ve had here in July!

26 August Bared Room Re-dux

Marc, my very own Personal Space Designer, says he's coming this weekend, so I might have some new pics to put up next week. He's always so helpful, because he won't let me get away with excuses such as, "But I might use it someday", or "It seemed like a good buy at the time".
He's also trying to psych me into selling unused stuff on E-Bay. He sings a siren song that goes, "It'll be fun, you'll make money, and then you can buy other stuff, or save up for a trip, a new dress..."
We also have conversations that go;
Marc: "Mom, do you really, really, reeeally need this?"
Me: "Need is relative."
Marc: "But mom, you need more space. If you have no space, you can't get new things."
Me: "I'll figure something out."
Marc: "Mom, you have to have a rule; one thing in, one thing out."
Me: "Why?"
Is it beginning to sound as if we're at that stage of life where he's parenting me? Good grief! Adolescence Revisited! Wait'll he finds out I have a few doubles because I forgot I already had one.

25 August 2009--Baring my...room

It’s not quite that dramatic, but since I couldn’t post these photos on the Inkstainers site, here they are for God and everyone who happens by to see. The pictures are views of my Reading/Computer/Stamping room, which used to have so many piles of books, stamp sets and Only-God-Knows-What-Else, that there was access to the computer at the back of the room by a narrow path through the mess.

Enter Marc, my DS2, who cleared half of the room for me by getting all the books on shelves, and shoving the rest to the other (stamping) side of the room. He’s currently working on designing me a crafting cornor, with room for all my stamps and accessories.

The first picture, you probably have guessed, is the cleared side of the room.

The others are the Cluttered Truth photos of the soon-to-be Stamping Nook. Soon-to-be sounds so much more positive then “present look”.

There, I hope I’ve made a lot of people feel virtuous and better about themselves. :)

11 August 2009--More Sonshine!

Today is a day of celebration! I’m celebrating the birth of my younger son, 43 today. Here he is at one, with an uncle of mine who was more brother and father than uncle to me. The contrast between this little one’s serious face and the smiling one of his brother in the previous post is indicative of their greatly different but amazing personalities.

Second Sonshine is an architect. In fact, he lives, breathes and, no doubt, dreams architecture. He’s also had a solo exhibit of his paintings, and another of his collage art (If you read this, son, it’s a mother’s prerogative to boast, so don’t groan). He’s decided to put all that expertise into drawing up plans for a crafting centre in my spare bedroom. I can’t wait to see the plans put into reality.

That serious look belies the kooky sense of humour we share. We love the cartoons in which Bugs Bunny meets a vampire, the one in which he meets up with a witch, and the one in which he does a “squarry dance” to thwart a couple of hillbillies determined to shorten his lifespan. We can recite the dialogue of each cartoon by heart.

I give thanks today for being blessed not once, but twice with exceptional sons, and also for the daughter-in-law and granddaughters, which Firstborn has brought into my life. My only concern is not being able to express how much I love them. If my hero-husband were alive, I know he’d agree with me.

Happy Birthday, Sonshine!