What I didn't do on my summer vacation.

As you can see from the picture of the raccoon on the "Max" rug, I didn’t get nearly as much hooking one as I hoped I would. In fact, all I accomplished on this mat was un-hooking the raccoon’s head (which was far too stripe-y before) and re-hooking it along with most of his body. I think I am much happier with it, although a little disappointed in the slow progress.

However….



I did finish these two Kilim pillows (I’m sure Anne is smiling as she sees them) which I started at Trent in ‘04. Since they were meant for the leather sofa and loveseat which are still in our house Toronto, there was no sense of urgency to getting them finished. But, our bed here at the cottage definitely needed a touch of colour and these two pillows are perfect with the Oriental carpet that is at the foot of the bed.

Also, we had my wonderful ma-in-law with us for most of the first week, which meant two things: too much driving (the trip to Peterborough from Parry Sound is 3 hours in good traffic, so when you go to and from in the same day, which we did on our first Sunday, that’s basically an entire day spent in the car.) When we took her back home on Thursday, we went from Peterborough to Toronto since we had to come back to the city for a wedding. Going that route cuts off an hour and a bit, so Thursday was only 5 hours of driving.

The other thing was that while she was here, I didn't think it was fair to retreat to the basement to hook, so I did things that were more portable.

Like this little Amigurumi giraffe – Georgia. She is a gift for a co-worker’s new little guy. I didn’t get this done in time for his early arrival, but he is now starting to hold things, so this is the perfect time for giraffe-giving, I think.



Another thing I did was a big intervention on my daughter’s rug – my one and only Oriental (so far) that I gave her for her 25th birthday. It needed some major TLC to undo some "Jasper the new kitten" damage. Under the 1/4 inch of cat hair (she had no idea how to clean it, so didn’t) were several pulls (my first personal experience of pet/rug damage). Once I had removed the hair and saw what there was to be re-hooked, it wasn’t quite as bad as I first thought – although it did consume one entire rainy afternoon.

Oh yes, there is also a completed “February Lady" sweater and one and a half socks, so at least all that car time was not wasted. Plus three books read, all of which I would heartily recommend. “Julie and Julia” was much funnier than I expected and I can’t wait to see the movie. The two Jodi Picoult novels were also great cottage books – I really enjoyed “My Sister’s Keeper” (so much more than the movie) that I was pretty sure I would like her other writing. I devoured “The Plain Truth” and “Vanishing Acts” in three days each.

And I have lots of freckles and a slightly red nose to show for the good weather that arrived in our second week. (The only good weather of the summer, so far.)

So, at the end of the two weeks, I guess I was pretty productive. And I know it was a wonderful holiday – because neither Rick nor myself want to go back – at all.

Oh well, may well be our last summer vacation, since we’re hoping to be here full time by the next one.