June and July – what a bust for our cross stitch meetings…

In June we decided rather than have a cross stitch meeting we would go see the movie “Bridesmaids”. 

It was discussed whether to head into London or Sarnia.  Bonnie works in Sarnia and it is closer for her and Tracey, but Anita and Jody were closer to London.  Because we had to switch our hostess schedule around a bit, it was decided to be Bonnie’s night to host; therefore Sarnia was the winner and Jody was to meet Anita at her place and together they would travel to meet Tracey and Bonnie at the theatre.  Then guess what – Bonnie had a business meeting off site that day.  Where you ask?  Why London of course.  It would make things far too difficult to rearrange now for London so Bonnie made Matt promise with his life that he would have her back to Sarnia by 6:30pm.  It was after all …Cross Stitch NIGHT!  Bonnie told Tracey she would call her when they left London so she and Paul could time themselves accordingly as Paul was driving Tracey from Forest to Sarnia to meet Bonnie, then he would go do his thing and we would go do ours.

Question was…. Did Bonnie remember to call Tracey before she left London?  No!  Of course not!  The arrangement was to meet Tracey at the bench outside the Running Room at the mall.  Just as Bonnie approached the doors and did not see Tracey on the bench was the moment she realized she forgot to call her.  Scrambling madly for quarters to use the pay phone because she Never remembers to charge her cell – she only succeeded in reaching Tracey’s voicemail.  This was a moment of relief thinking ‘Phew…they are on their way’.  Then Bonnie began to have second thoughts (this is a personal disease of hers by the way…) and then she began to think -- Crap, what if she just didn’t think I would be back from London on time since she hadn’t heard from me – changed her mind – sent Paul on his way and took the dog for a walk.  Crap!  OR what if she decided to just have Paul drop her off at the theatre and meet the others and Bonnie would just catch up.  Double Crap: do I stay at the mall or head on over to the theatre.  Then for some reason Bonnie started singing ‘should I stay or should I go now… should I stay or should I go now...’

Sitting and waiting for a short while, Tracey finally did show up & apologized for running late and Bonnie said, ‘No, I owe you the apology because I forgot to call you before I left London!’  To which Tracey replied, ‘Oh I forgot you were going to call.’  Bonnie felt her shoulders slouch.

 

‘Bad news though, Jody has a migraine and cancelled.’ 

‘oh no!’

‘So I told Anita to meet us in front of the theatre’

So we head right on over to the theatre, gathered our things from the car and promptly got in line for our tickets.  Bonnie grabbed her wooly shawl because it can get so cold in the theatre in the summer time with the air conditioning and Tracey grabbed her wooly blanket.  We got a few stares with the blanket, but we concluded we didn’t care because you can’t properly chew your popcorn with chattering teeth.

We were so excited to be going to a movie as that is one thing we have not done as a group, but we were sad that Jody could not make it, BUT we were also excited that Anita was bringing the leftover Cadbury mini-eggs from retreat to go with our popcorn.   We got our tickets and decided to get our popcorn while the line was low and we stood by the window to watch for Anita.  Each dark SUV type vehicle that approached – one of us would say – Is that her – no.  Maybe this is her – no. She’ll be along any minute. Well it was show time so we decided we better get in and get settled before it got completely dark in the theatre.  We sat where we thought Anita could pick us out of the crowd easily.  Bonnie almost put her neck out cranking it by watching for Anita while Tracey rearranged her blanket suitably. Finally, the show started and we both sighed and concluded that Anita must have changed her mind.  We slunk down in our seats to settle in and Tracey threw half her blanket over Bonnie and while we wondered what others must have thought of us, we really didn’t care.  We were happy to there, but sad that Jody, Anita and mini-eggs weren’t.

The show of course was hilarious.  If you haven’t seen it, you must. 

Following the show, it’s off to home we go, laughing all the way… HA HA HA  and Tracey said – ‘I bet Anita emailed to tell us, but I had already left .  I hope everything is ok.’

Sure enough when we arrive home there was an email from Anita explaining why she was unable to make it.  As long as everything was ok – we were ok!  Followed next day by Jody’s apology and by then she was feeling much better.

When the movie is released I’ll buy it and on my host night – that’s what we’ll do before we stitch.

Now on to July:

July 1^st was not only Canada Day, but for Bonnie it was a surprise retirement party for Paige’s God-father.  Next day Bonnie and Paige were off to Burlington to spend the weekend with her other daughters, then home to start the work week. The plan was (and note the word was…) This week was going to be a good week to get caught up at work, cross stitch Wed night and then off to Toronto Friday night for Chantelle and Martin’s wedding reception. Bonnie was really looking forward to the week.

Jody was hosting cross stitch for July and she let everyone know that she happened to be off that day and for anyone who could - to come early!  Tracey said to Bonnie, ‘If you don’t mind driving alone, I thought I’d like to leave about noon to get to Jody’s and then meet you after 5’.  The more Bonnie thought about it, she thought hmmmmm… I wonder …..if I could get all my major deadlines done by Wed noon, perhaps she too could leave early on the Wed.  She told Tracey she would do her best, but may not be able to let her know until that day. Something to look forward to. Yippee, 12 hours to cross stitch. 

However, the headaches Bonnie started getting before Canada Day were only the beginning.  And Bonnie put it off as just being tired. But by July 3 while in Burlington, the chills began to set in.  Bonnie was not sure how she was going to drive the QEW, 403,401,402 for the next 3 hours. Paige excitedly exclaimed, “I’ll drive home!” 

The thought of this made Bonnie shivered more under her blanket and she thought ‘oh god, I can hardly stand driving on these highways, how is such an inexperienced young driver going to do it?’ – ‘yes the only way for her to get experience is to actually do it, but why meeeee? Why nowwwwww?’  Bonnie finally concluded that it was safer to let Paige drive than it was for her to attempt it. Bonnie tried to keep her mouth shut as much as her eyes were, but she had to check every once in a while to make sure Paige wasn’t ‘white-knuckling’ the steering wheel. They arrived home safe and sound by Sunday night at 9pm and Bonnie couldn’t wait to get to bed.  All she wanted to do was get some rest and get up and go to work and get on with the week.  

Woody Allen is credited with saying, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”  Bonnie likes to make people laugh, so apparently God is listening to her because she had plans and Boy - did HE laugh! 

The plan was to get up and go to work next day.  But in actual fact Bonnie could not even move; and she couldn’t even get out of bed until 4:30 on the Monday. Ok, fine.  I hear you God.  I’ll go to work on Tuesday – you know… Jody is looking forward to us showing up early and I do want to get my work done.  Apparently, this made God laugh even louder and Bonnie missed Tuesday at work as well.  So much for an early cross stitch night for Bonnie – and -  two missed days of work.

It was finally concluded that even if Bonnie did get to work on Wed, she should not go to cross stitch that night at all, she should just stay home and rest.  :-(   So Tracey went at about noon to join Jody and then Anita showed up around 4:30. The next day Tracey sent Bonnie the following email: 

How are you feeling today?  I hope A LOT better!!

We sure missed you at x-s last night!!  (Oh, and while I think of it next month (Aug.) will be at my house and Anita is having Sept. at the cabin.)

Since you weren't there to take "minutes", we thought we would pass on our version for you to add to the book:

·      Missed Bonnie!!!

·      ate

·      listened to Tracey talk about the wedding (and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk...)

·      ate

·      stitched (a tiny little bit)

·      laughed 

That was July 6^th.  Today is July 11^th and Bonnie is still sick.  It’s been 9 days of flat on her back sick and a million reruns of ‘quiet’ movies, because there was not one ounce of strength to cross stitch!    After almost calling the ambulance to take her to the hospital on Sat night, Bonnie finally found someone to take her in and was able to acquire some kickass antibiotics.   It’s Monday morning and Bonnie has more strength today than yesterday, the meds are kicking in, but guess what?  Bonnie is NOT telling ANYONE her plans!

Summer Solstice and a Wedding

I can hardly believe that it's been 2 weeks since our daughter's wedding day and that it has taken me this long to get around to posting about it.  (I'll warn everyone right now... this post is full of pictures!)

If you recall from a previous post,  Chantelle and her now husband Martin chose June 21st, 2011 as their wedding day... a.k.a. the Summer Solstice.  The joyous occasion took place in British Columbia, and unfortunately the rain had been coming down every day for a while... from the time they arrived the week before until the day before their nuptials.  With the wedding being an outdoor ceremony, we were all thrilled when we woke to sunshine and increasingly warmer temperatures on the 21st.

Chantelle had decided that she wanted us to put together her bouquet for the special day and was hoping to use as many wildflowers as possible.  To our amazement, it just so happened that lupines were growing wild everywhere there this time of year!  There were so many beautiful shades of purples and pinks... the perfect colours to compliment her dress. 

 

Throw in some fragrant wild roses, some ferns, and an iris that was just beginning to unfurl and we had all we needed.  To complete the look, we added a hankie with the initial "C" on it that once belonged to my Nana, and we attached it to the bouquet with an Eiffel Tower pin to represent where the happy couple got engaged.

Five o'clock was quickly approaching, so after my Mom and I finished getting ready it was time to help the bride with her dress.  It was the first time that either my Mom or I had laced up a corset.  Perhaps we should have had a trial run first... or a bedpost for Chantelle to hold onto  :^) ...

Some shots of the beautiful bride before heading out to meet her groom.

When I saw Chantelle's dress for the first time, something seemed so familiar about it.  (She had only described it to me beforehand; the wedding day was the first time I had seen it.) 

 Then it hit me... it reminded me of this cross stitch pattern by Nora Corbett!

  

3 Generations

Let's check in with Martin; who along with my husband Paul and our son Mitchell were waiting for the big event to begin.

Here comes the bride... to meet up with her Dad so they can walk to the ceremony together.

Chantelle and Martin wrote their own vows to each other.  I think the look on Martin's face here is just priceless- so in LOVE!

Chantelle went first...

Now Martin's turn

The Kiss

Introducing the New "Mr. & Mrs."

Don't you just love the cool Topsy Turvey wedding cake? A special thanks to Martin's Auntie Cindy for making this original creation.  A combo of carrot and double chocolate chip... YUMMY!!!

 What a perfect day!  We wish Chantelle and Martin many wonderful years together and hope that they will always be as happy as they were on this day.  We love you both so very much!!

Tracey

TUSAL- Post #7

I'm sad to say that not many threads have been added to my TUSAL this time around :^(  Between making dishcloths for my daughter's wedding and traveling out to BC for the wedding, not much stitching took place this past month.  Now that the celebration is over (more about the wedding in my next post!), my poor neglected gardens need to get looked after.   Hopefully after that I will get to fit in some stitching time.  

Until the next new moon...

Tracey

Libby's First Haircut

Libby, my grandpuppy, came for a visit last weekend.  While she was here, Niki and Shawn decided she should have a haircut; she was getting to look a little scraggly with her puppy hair.  Because she's part poodle, she doesn't shed like most dogs do and it was time for her to have a summer clip.

Niki took her to the local groomer and when she picked her up, Libby got a little doggy treat bag and she had a pink bandana around her neck.   While she seemed much cooler and quite content with the her new hairstyle, she didn't seem to appreciate the bandana very much. 

So we decided to see if Sushi liked it. 

 Nuff said; so we opted for the party hat instead.

Clearly, this pleased her more. 
After all, whose not in for a good party??

Oops!  Too much partying.

Sushi, we said party hat, not Party BAT !! 

Bonnie

Peace and Love

While recently shopping at my local Walmart store, I took a peek down the yarn aisle and saw that Bernat had added some new colours to their line of  Handicrafter Cotton yarns appropriately  called Peace and Love.  I just fell in love with these cool colours that instantly transported me back to my childhood in the 70's. 

                Aquarius                                 Batik                               

When you look at the Bernat site, there are 8 fun colours available... unfortunately they only had 2 to choose from at this store.  Needless to say, it didn't take me long for me to toss them into my cart!

Next thing was to decide what to use this new yarn for??  Silly question... well a dishcloth of course!!  Since crocheting so many lately of the same pattern for Brentwood and for my daughter's upcoming wedding (in 12 days!), I thought it was time to try out a new pattern.  

The one I chose came from Leisure Arts Wash & Wipe booklet that has 14 different crochet dishcloth patterns to choose from.  Have to say, it sure was a fun one to do!

Groovy...

Tracey

London After the War, by Patricia Wicks

Allow me to introduce you to Trish.  We met Trish last year at the Brentwood retreat when the Stitching Sisters (from Brantford and area) kindly invited us to join them.  If you are an early-bird at Brentwood, you are treated to Trish's homemade biscuits and jam. YUM!  I sat with Trish and wrote down her recipe, but I confess my biscuits don't taste quite the same as hers.  On Sunday morning, Anita and I were up and ready before the others and I said, "Well I'm going downstairs to make some tea."  Anita said, "No you aren't, you're heading down for a biscuit!"  Busted!!!! So Anita and I made tea, grabbed a biscuit and jam and sat on the patio looking out at the lake.  It doesn't get much better than that does it? 

Ok, so back to Trish. Trish is a wealth of information and eager to teach you everything she knows.  Stitching Sister Janet told us a story about how she had called Trish once to buy some of her jam, but Trish was out.  Janet of course was disappointed, but then Trish said, "OK, welllll....what are you doing right now, come on over then".  So Janet excitedly went to Trish's hoping to get some of her 'secret stash'.  Janet arrives, leaves her car running and pops on into the house only to discover that Trish had all the ingredients out and ready to teach Janet how to make the jam herself!  So then she had to go back out to turn off the car.  We got a chuckle out of that story and it just affirmed to us how eager Trish is to share her time and knowledge with you. 

So this year when we were stitching we overheard Trish telling a story about when she was a young lady.  I asked her to repeat it to us because I thought it was very interesting.  As Trish was telling the story, she recited a poem she had written and even surprised herself that she remembered it so well.

 

Trish’s parents lived in London England and Trish went away to Boarding School.  After the war was over and before she came to Canada– Trish and her mom went on a tour around the area of St. Paul’s Cathedral.  When she saw the devastation from all the bombing, Trish thought this was the end of London. Everything around them was in total ruins except for the Cathedral.  At the time,  Trish was studying poetry in school and the teacher assigned them to write in the form of a sonnet about something she new about  Trish wrote the following poem when she was only 14 years old.

London After the War

Broken ruined houses now do lie

Just fading memories.  They speak of homes

Of better days, and still the owners roam

To find another place to live and die

St. Paul's Cathedral lifting to the sky

Unbroken still its tall majestic dome

Looks down upon the beggars there who comb

The ruins of the buildings once so high

And this they say is London once so great

That people came from far and wide to see

The beautiful historic town of old

But now a few decaying mounds will wait

The memories of life that used to be

Here in this place once called the “Town of Gold”

Composed in 1948 by Patricia Wicks (Trish Yates)

Trish got an A+ and the poem was framed and place in the main school hall in Thornton College in Bletchley Buckinghamshire, England.  Trish was telling us that a house 2 miles near the school was used as a ‘code-breaking’ center for the military, but no one ever knew that is what the house was used for.  Trish’s also told us that her mom was a translator for a Jewish gentlemen and as well, she could translate English to French very rapidly.

Trish is now 77 years old and one of her goals at Brentwood is to sleep on the hammock on the beach all night, all by herself.  She said, “I’m 77 and nothing has happened to me yet, what’s going to happen in a hammock on the beach?”

Now that’s and attitude we can all aspire too. Thanks Trish for sharing your story with us. 
Bonnie

TUSAL-Post #6

Happy to say that I have added more to my TUSAL for this new moon. (Also happy to see the abundance of green in the background from all the rain we've had!)

I have the 4 days at our retreat to thank for the addition of these colourful threads... plus a little snippet of yarn added to the mix from the dishcloth I made that weekend.

Tracey