Feeling More Settled

It was a quiet week without little Jackson around. But he wasn't out of mind. This week he turned 3 months old. And I know that with my own kids, that was a turning point. Sleeping through the night.
Almost laughing. Here are a couple of pretty sweet pics of him.

I finished a little cardigan for him and a "Monster" to go with it. Knitting for babies is such instant gratification. Cardigan is a Debbie Bliss pattern and Monster is from Rebecca Danger's "Knit a Monster Nursery".

I also got back to my hooking. I finished the last proddy border on my "Hook What You Love and You Will Love What You Hook" mat. One of those things that I put off and put off and it really was only a couple of hours to do the border and finish it.

But the project that got a bit of real momentum this week was the Tribal Kilim which I will forever call Dear Edith. This is the rug that I inherited from a rug hooker in Toronto who knew she would never finish. I vowed to do it for her, but have managed to not do too much in the 5 years since I bought it from her.

Since I didn't have a new project on my plate, I decided to spend some time with it. It's quite a different hooking experience when it is more about the mechanics than the creativity. Quite mindless and relaxing - I would lose a couple of hours listening to the sound of the loops. And it is good practice to hook in a smaller cut and pay attention to tension.  And you really do get coverage if you spend the time.

Day 1: A large motif finished

Day 2: Outlining and some saw tooth shapes above the medallion

Day 3: Filling in between the side and the large motif - aiming to do one section right across the width

Definitely seeing headway, but a very very long way to go still. And I am tracking my time, which should be very scary as I go along.

In the meantime, the sun is out. The snow is melting. Did our first snow shoe on the lake yesterday and it actually felt warm when we got moving. I know that spring is still a long way away but the warm sunny days make you hopeful.

Beach and Baby Bliss

Nearly 2 months since my last post and my time has been well spent. My 8 weeks in Barbados flew by faster than I could ever imagine. How could I have believed that it would be too long!! And watching the weather from paradise turned it into an excellent spectator sport.

People came from all around the world and everyone shared one common topic: the craziness that has been this winter!! The Brits had all the flooding. Portugal was unusually cold. Germany was in a deep freeze. And well, you all know what happened in our neck of the woods. Not happened - happening!!

Even Barbados had unusually wet weather this year. In fact, the umbrellas that had sat in our suitcases since our first trip there 4 years ago became an extension of our hands - we took them everywhere, including the beach.  If the showers looked like they "wouldn't amount to much", we just hid under our brellies till the sun came out again. This became a popular position.

There were lots of adventures during our stay, many repeats of what we have done in the past, but we did make it to our first polo match and a few new eating spots, the best of which turned out to be the "cheap and cheerful" options.  One of our new favourites is Bombas, a beach bar/restaurant with great food and an amazing view.  We had early dinner one evening to try to catch the "green flash" (a flash that happens at the exact second the sun goes down into the sea). We didn't see one because of the cloud cover. But if you click on this picture, you will see what else was blocking the view.

That's right - one of those climbing ice bergs got parked in the exact spot where the sun went down. Too funny really!

We flew back on March 12 and made excellent time till we got to Toronto. Then we sat on the tarmac for an hour waiting for a place to park. So many flights were grounded that day that there were no empty spots. We drove to Oakville and saw our car sitting under nearly 18 inches of snow. Yuck!!

The silver lining to our return was that our daughter Laura and grandson Jackson came for a 10-day stay. Yes, we were able to get new pics and videos and the occasional skype session plus imessage daily while we were in Holetown, (technology is wonderful!!) but it's amazing how incredible it is to catch up with this little bundle who was only 15 days old when we left.  Now he wiggles and giggles and kept us entertained throughout his visit.

The house will seem quiet without him this coming week. But reality will seep back in as will that "to do" list of things waiting for me to tackle, including income tax stuff. grrr.

Rug hooking is back on the radar screen this week, especially since my students are returning to my weekly classes - barring any blizzard conditions that get in the way. And before you know it, the OHCG Annual in Oshawa will be here at the end of May, followed closely by my class at Trent Rug Hooking School. The Annual is always a fun weekend of catching up and a great rug show. And the Trent Rug Hooking School is a total blast - summer camp for rug hookers. I understand there are still some spaces available there if you haven't already booked.

As to the next "beach time", according to the forecast here, it will be a very late spring, so no water activities for a long, long time. But baby bliss is just 2+ hours away and there will still be daily imessaging and occasional pictures and skype to fill the gaps.