Hunkering Down for Tropical Storm Lee

Over the summer I've been creating my own cyclone in the studio.

So with the arrival of Tropical Storm Lee 

I took it as a hint to tidy up.

Of course that didn't last long.

Funny how picking up a piece of cloth

brings to a halt any clean-up.

So off I went creating very small 5" squares.

Tough going that small for me

and I have to make 9 of them.

So on Sunday at the tail end of the storm

The studio was still a mess

BUT

I have 9 pieces nearly done.

Still liable to change

of course.

Rusty Pups snuggled and snoozed to pass the storm away.

And even as the evening lights came on

They still slept.

Despite Lee making land quite close to us

and the eye of the storm even closer....

We were lucky 

No power cuts

No downed trees

Not too much flooding.

Grateful

Bending in the Wind

 Nearly there

And so happy to have taken the trouble to remove the messy wind of before!

When you look straight on you hardly notice the wind at all now.

But....

....moving around and looking at angles

the wind can be seen a shimmering there.

 A few leaves are dancing

all that's left.

The winds have been strong here these last few days

We lost a couple

Snapped off half way down

Contemplating whether to enter the woods

where trees are blown over

on windy days just like this

but

out in the meadow

 lean into the wind

or be blown to and fro

like rag dolls I fear.

 Back at the car it's sheltered thank goodness

And back home there's a couch for

pooped Rusty Pups 

to collapse on!

Shaped Through the Ages

A sone that fits neatly in my hand

a speckled lozenge

A tiny smooth apostrophe

Love the colour of this one

but I must have marked it with stitch at night

because only now I have noticed the brown speckles.

I had stitched in my outline of brown dots just to add a bit of interest.

I find the lighting changes in every room of the house

and the marks or shapes I see change in every type of light.

 A beautifully simple nearly perfect circle.

A slice of pie

Pumpkin pie perhaps

As I stitched my marks I realized

this shape was house shaped

Though I see the actual stone has a flatter roof

How the heck did I trace around that one?!

Must have changed the angle of the pencil

as I drew around it

or perhaps moved the stone in the process.

It is often hard to keep the stone still

because many are lumpy bumpy!

A melting snowball shape.

Funny what comes to mind.

My heart goes out to those in the Caribbean and Florida

who have been devastated by Hurricane Irma.

What a monster of a storm.

A Gathering of Stones

Grey is a favourite colour of mine these days.

Sometimes as I go through my scraps

one jumps out

asking to be used.

The markings on this scrap shouted out loud that they wanted to be used

despite it being the wrong colour!

This one makes me smile

Reminds me of my mother's old fashioned loaves of bread.

Hundreds of tiny French knots made with one strand of floss.

Really weird!

A moonless night pebble.

I nearly missed noticing this is heart shaped.

Perhaps my favourite this week.

This week I have to say my thoughts are with

all of those affected by Hurricane Harvey

rather than with insignificant gathering of pebbles.

May their recovery go quickly and smoothly.

Scratching Under Water

November ended with a flood

but first I had to go back and add stitches.

Last week's moon just looked naked

lost in a sea of flat muslin

In my humble opinion

you can never have too many stitches.

The cloth comes to life

valleys and hills 

shadow and light

send the eye on an exploratory journey

around the image.

Then there are the regular 

neat

lines of samples from years gone by.

You don't see blue in my work very often

but

the rains came

the most rain we have ever seen.

One stream broke it's banks

If you look carefully you can see

it swooshing through the woods

and flowing into the vegetable garden.

Trouble is it didn't stop there.

It worked it's way into the basement

which, by the way, is fine again

but was very wet for a couple of days.

We thought our little bridge would get swept away

but it stood strong.

I wonder how the beavers did further down stream.

A Red Sultry Morn

Sometimes

there is not a breath of air stirring

A Winter's morn

as still as this

is to be appreciated

for there won't be many!

Hand Hubby's Birthday

A windy blustery day

with windswept waves on the basin....

....so windswept they reached the dike.

There is usually quite a large area of salt marsh between the water

and the dike.

But on to the significance of this day.

Happy Birthday Richard!

He's been my honeybunch since 1964
I love him to pieces!

Living in a Country of Lakes

Wherever I have lived in Canada

there have been lakes

reflecting bold and beautiful skies

Tannin colours the waters here in Nova Scotia

drifts of pine needles line up along waters edge

and huge rocks sunbathe in family groupings.  

Islands crammed with trees inhabit lakes

and leaves sink beneath the waters looking like copper pennies in a city fountain.

Still Clinging on

Apples still cling to leafless apple trees

Grasses still stand tall beneath skeleton trees

no sun to be seen

I'm leaning against strong winds

and tiptoeing through iced puddles

Brrrrr

Grasses on a Stormy Day

Layers of colours and textures

 A wave of rusty grasses

A pair of rusty pups who turned five on Halloween

There is something beautiful about straw coloured grasses,

red autumn leaves, 

purple mountains and dark grey clouds.

I hope all in Sandy`s path are safe

For us up here we are grateful

to be only on the edge of it.