Guess?, March Mad Weather, Slow Stitching Projects

I can tell by the window's light when it's time to get up in the mornings. By 6:30 there is a certain brightness creeping in that tells me it's time to start the day. How wonderful to be able to start my days by the light rather than alarm clocks. I am always thankful to be retired.

I got to a thrift store recently and had quite a good poke about. One of the things in my header photo was a real find. I'd commented before that sometimes I think things in those stores are waiting for just me to come along. Can you guess which item it was this time???

I checked the men's shirts for a black 100% cotton...no luck. I'm going to need more black fabric for the moon parts on m ]y Quarter Dresden blocks so I'll check another thrift store soon.  Speaking of which here are a few in the RSC Colour, red, and I'm also still enjoying the hand stitching on this project very much which is good as it has far to go.

I've been cross stitching every day for a few minutes. I usually aim for 30 minutes which is enough to stitch one of the motifs or extend the border a bit. I'm still really enjoying this design. Here is where I am now.

 It's been dreary weather with rain, thunderstorms, freezing rain...the usual gamut of March weather. There was an ice storm Wednesday into overnight; school buses didn't run and we were warned we might lose the power. So glad we didn't. Underfoot it is an icy mess and the driveway even more so. I crept up and down it with a bucket of ashes mixed with salt, mainly pouring on the curves. Just enough so we won't slide off. 

 Before doing that, I had to launch one of my all too frequent house wide search parties looking for my boots with the cleats on them. Turns out I'd left them on a floor vent at the back door in the basement to dry out. I've just read that a Chickadee can remember where it hid the approximately 100,000 seeds it hides each season. Remarkable contrast!

Here are a few photos from the ice storm. You could tell where it had gone through; some areas of the forest were loaded with ice and others completely untouched. 

On Saturday night we went to Robbie's hockey game in a nearby town. We enjoyed the outing so much but then had a nightmare of a drive home. Low fog lay in heavy patches all the way along the winding country road completely shrouding the view in the dark. We put on our flashers and crept along, luckily able to keep sight now and then of either the yellow center line or the white outside line. Then Brad and family turned up...they'd taken a different route home, realized what we would be driving through so turned around, caught up to us and the bright red back lights on their truck led us home. What relief! We were so thankful to pull into our garage safe and sound.

 The worst fog I've ever driven in has been here in Ottawa, which says a lot since I spent five years before that in St. John's which is considered very foggy. Both those times were in the summer and I read it had to do with all the rivers here in the valley and the clash with summer's intense daytime heat. 

But here's what the Weather Channel has to say about fog here...  

"The main fog season in the Ottawa Valley occurs during the

autumn and winter months, particularly from late October through February. The region is highly prone to dense, stubborn fog due to its geography, which allows cold, dense air to settle into the valley, often resulting in prolonged periods of low visibility."

Fortunately we are seldom out after dark and can pick and choose when to go for the most part, another plus of being old and retired.

On a more fun topic, LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's question this week is if we could bring back any fashion trend what would it be. I had to give that a think. I lived through the padded shoulders look for women and thought it okay but now looking at old photos, it looks ridiculous. But I only ever wore the light pads not those exaggerated ones and I was able to easily remove them from my work clothes when the trend died out. But that was just one of the trends that made women's clothes stand out. Women's clothes used to be very distinctive from men's especially in colour. Now I notice clothes are more unisex and people definitely opting for comfort overall, also more a requirement than it ever used to be.

 Sorry for the long post and so much of it about the weather! I hope the weather is great wherever you are, you are staying safe and sane, remembering where you've put things, and keeping busy doing all the things you love. 

Happy to join these parties...Alycia Quilts.