Walking on Stoney Ground Again

Yes, working with stones again

Stones sitting on stoney ground

We walk gravelly paths every day

the Rusty Pups and I

Young pups just fly over any rocky impediments

I, on the other hand, at my silver-haired age

have to carefully navigate my way over such obstructions!

Working with needle and thread is a commitment in time

It is like bringing up and loving a child

It all takes time but not only time

It takes love and patience

Loving the back as well as the front

Loving the mistakes as well as the perfection!

And so it flows

The colours of nature are sheer perfection

At this time of year here we get final burst of colour

Winter will bring whites and greys and soft blues

and happily Spring will bring us young greens and bright daffodil yellows.

 The Rusty Pups don't care what colour anything is

They just want to smell it....

 and eat it if we let them!

Sleeping Circles

Curling up into circles after a long walk

is a good thing to do

 Fixing a puppy bed circle

They take great delight in ripping out the stuffing

Fixing it was an hour I'll never get back!

Duct tape next time?

I reckon puppies would win over mighty duct tape!

Sometimes we prefer a semi-circle

I've found snippets of time to work on my beaver dam spiral

Working out how to best express the feeling of

water flowing through it.

Before I decide there will be some unpicking I expect

Always part of my process

Blending into autumn's woodland

Sniffing early morning smells

Not a circle

Nor a semi-circle

Just a bend in the road

The Solomon's Seal looking very yellow on a misty misty morning

 Leading the way back home

along an avenue of brambles.

Happy Thanksgiving to too of us in Canada.

We have so much to be grateful for

One generous person unknown to me

has been mowing the top of the dyke all summer long

Thank you for that.

It has made walking so much easier!

The Circle of Life

I have been stitching round and round in circles

Inspired by a couple ....

....of pages in my sketchbook.

Rhythmic meditative stitching

and your mind changes the initial idea

of a tree's life rings

to my own life circles

where the rhythm of each year is always interrupted

by events

both joyful and sad

The ebb and flow of life.

Scratching into Winter

The first snow came on Sunday

Winter arrived 

with brittle frosty mornings

so I played with warmer threads for a couple of days

frosted grasses

followed by a day of strange stitchings.

Haven't a clue why I stitched what I did!

Saturday was a fun day visiting the first craft show of the season

and coming home with a Christmassy wreath.

Sunday tried to snow and sleet all day long.

Seven Days Scratched

Another week recorded

moving from blue to red

a sign that Christmas is coming

A flight of geese looking like hieroglyphs 

I like that

Remembering the 'murder' of crows

with murder on their minds!

They really don't like eagles anywhere nearby.

Rain

at least it's not snow like other parts of Canada

Quilt guild

I begged a strip of cloth from Betsy

and stitched it down whilst catching up with everyone's news

Some sad and difficult to hear

and some happy.

Three strange looking days!

But great days nonetheless

Busy days with friends 

Some of them creative play-writes and actors

and others gifted artists with whom I'll be having a show next year.

Better Late Than Never

A new cotton for a special day

On Guy Fawkes the RP's and I met

a young eagle sitting large in a tree

Grey days

Son, Brett, missed his first flight

due to gridlock in Toronto

and despite jumping out the taxi

and running from Bay to the airport ferry

A very large candle for Handy Hubby's birthday!

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month

Remembrance day lest we forget

It Must Be Monday Again

The weeks might be going by faster

but they sure are taking up more fabric mileage!

The clouds rolled in on Monday

We were lucky to be on the edge of Sandy

luckily relatives in New Jersey are fine

without power, but fine

On Halloween the Rusty Pups turned five

five pumpkins and five bones

On Thursday Diane and I made marks in sketchbooks

For Friday I was thinking that Sandy's dense clouds nearly touched the treetops

Over the weekend I needed some colour

Solid clouds still overhead

When will the sun come back?

I said my weeks were using up much more fabric

The scratched scroll from July until now is much larger

than the first half of the year

and

I still have two months to go.

And it's November fifth 

a day never forgotten by us Brits!

Remember, remember

The fifth of November,

The Gunpowder treason and plot;

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!

Guy Fawkes and his companions

Did the scheme contrive,

To blow the King and Parliament

All up Alive.

Threescore barrels, laid below,

To prove old England's overthrow.

But by God's providence, him they catch,

With a dark lantern, lighting a match!

Scratching Life

Week number 42 I think

The cardinals are back at the bird feeder

Exploring stitch

and

an autumn day trip in the car

On Thursday Diane and I

played in our sketchbooks

and watched an eagle overhead

On Friday

the RP's and I walked

through an all embracing fog

One of the pleasures of daily scratching this year

has been just exploring stitch.

And so this brings us to October 28th.

Halloween is nearly here

and we wait to see what super storm Sandy will bring this week.