June 6/12

April showers have definitely brought May flowers this year in my little corner of the world. I love watching my yard burst into colour as each flower makes it appearance in the yard. When my friend Tracy designed my flower beds and then I subsequently expanded on her designs, I kept the idea in mind that I wanted a view no matter where I was in the yard. 

This iris is tucked under a burning bush tree that grows beneath my bedroom window and behind a weeping cedar. I came across it when I was mowing the lawn the other day and saw a little bit of colour between the two large shrubs.

The purple irises are a holdover from when my best friend owned this house. I could be wrong, but I believe they came from her grandmother's gardens. This photo does not do justice to the richness of the purple in the petals.

 The honeysuckle has burst into bloom, so much so that many of the branches droop to the ground. That shrub came to my house in a 4x4 pot and now 8 years later, reaches over the eavestrough of my one story house. The bees and the hummingbirds love the pollen and nectar of the blooms. On a beautiful sunny afternoon, the shrub loudly hums with all of the bees feeding off the blooms.

 

To add a little humour to this entry. I spied this little paw sticking out from under the blankets the other day. Penelope loves to sleep in the little cave that forms where the blankets pool on the floor and usually I find her by accidentally nudging her as I walk by the bed. Not sure if she is flipping me the bird or just quietly pointing out where I should avoid walking!

I have recently been doing some emotional housekeeping and decluttering. There are some things that I have decided are no longer important and have closed the door on those things. There are other things that I have decided I should make important again like blogging and journal writing. Yes, that actual putting of ink onto paper kind of journal writing. Now, if I could only get motivated to exercise more as well!

May 26/12

The writing of this post was delayed a few minutes as I had to chase out a neighbour's cat in between uploading my photos and beginning to type. The obvious solution to these regular intrusions would be to close my patio door but then my three darlings would have me running daily marathons to let them in and out and in and out and for good measure, out and in.

The other day I took my first trip of the year out to a piece of property I own in the country. I like to take a look around at the changes the winter has brought on the trees and property. One of the changes this year was the death of one of my apple trees. From the amount of etching on the trunk as seen here, I suspect that the tree had been badly damaged for a long time. I spent an hour or so, walking around and taking down the dead branches, all the while assessing what I would like to get done in the next few months.

In the yard at my house, the plants are bursting into green and blooms with all of the rain and warm weather we have been having. The lilacs are just starting to open up, much to my delight!

Somewhere in between working and wrangling the mess that is my neglected yard, I have been stitching as much as possible as the August deadline looms up more quickly that I would like. The cross stitching is almost done. One more evening should finish the bottom right hand corner and then I can begin the backstitching and filling in all the little spots I somehow missed. I also need to do the stitching with the gold filament. I love the finished product of stitching with the filament but really dislike doing the stitching itself.

May 4/12

 So, I have been home for a handful of weeks now and am still processing the trip to the Dominican Republic. Half baked ideas are floating around in my head about what is going to come next. For the moment, it means attending the District Rotary Conference in June to fire up more Rotarians from this region to get involved. After having been literally in the trenches and seeing the differences the water filters we are funding are making, I am a great advocate for continuing our support. How much of a difference you ask? Well, we dispensed all of our metronidazole antibiotics in the first batey. The people were being treated for both GI infections and vaginal infections and I don't remember the breakdown, but the key was that batey did not have water filters. At the second batey, we were an hour into the clinic when I realized that we had dispensed no metronidazole so I asked if they had water filters. The answer was yes.

 One of these kids had been seen at the clinic that day. His head is liberally painted with Selsun Blue to treat the fungal infection on his head.

One of the best parts of these trips are the people I meet along the way. This is me with Fernando, my hermano Dominicano. We met last year when I was there with Rotary to see what the water program we were sponsoring was about. He goes out into the bateys to teach people about clean water and sanitation and monitors the water filters that have been placed in people's homes. A few moments before this photo was taken, he was holding up an exhausted me and letting me soak in his strength for a few minutes before we continued on with our work.

April 17/12

 An interview with the local newspaper led to this great article on my then upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic as part of a medical team. The team went to the sugar cane villages (bateys) and the La Romana prison to see patients. I was a little nervous and cleaned the house like mad before the photographer showed up.

 My friends were very generous in making donations to me. Two boxes of prescription medications were purchased and the remainder of the money was spent on all of these over the counter medications. US Customs almost seized the lot if the secondary screening agent had had his way. Fortunately for me, his supervisor was more kindly. The supervisor took one look at me and my boxes and said, "She is on a humanitarian mission; let her go". Whew!

And the end result was about 700 people were seen by the team during the week . Here one of our interpreters is explaining the medications in Creole to a family. Sometimes I felt like we were not doing much, but then I would see the smiles on the kids' faces as we handed out bandaids and the grateful thanks from their moms as they received vitamins and medications made me realize that we were making a difference.

Mar 25/12

Wow! We have had such beautiful weather this past week that I have already started some of my spring outdoor work like picking up all the garbage that has blown into the yard and inspecting my compost bins. Yes, that is plural. I have three compost bins beside my shed. My yard is chock full of flower beds and I use compost as fertilizer because of the creek that runs through the corner of property. Anyhow, the 25C of last Tuesday has been replaced by snow flurries this afternoon. As much as I am not a fan of winter, I much prefer more seasonal weather than days that are nicer than days in July.

More progress has been made on my brother's wedding gift. I would estimate that I am 1/4 of the way through the cross stitching part and I am a little anxious about whether I will get it completed in time. There have been several evenings where I have been exhausted mentally and physically after work so no stitching was done those evenings. Some times I just have maybe a half hour so I set a goal of stitching up a full length of floss (the floss is pre-cut). Sunday evenings are a good evening to stitch, especially one like tonight where it is grey and damp.

I did almost give the game away today though. As part of my mom's birthday celebrations today, my brother and I put together a roast beef dinner. My first thought was to take the piece along with me to work on it in between putting on the roast in the slow cooker and getting the vegetables ready but then I realized that my brother and his girlfriend would see what I was working on! I took a book along with me although I ended up taking a nap to recover from last night's debauchery. The meal was lovely in the end though!

Mar 13/12

The Canadian Women's and Men's curling championships have been on these past three weeks so I have been spending alot of time in front of the television. That in turn means lots of stitching! There is a faint hope that this will be completed in time for my brother's wedding in August, but the advent of warmer weather and a trip away to the Dominican Republic in a few weeks will take away from my potential stitching time.

Yes, I am off on another trip. This trip has me really excited. I will be returning to the Dominican Republic for the third time, this time on a health care mission. I will be working with a team of American and Dominican doctors to provide basic healthcare out in the sugar cane villages and in one of the prisons. My role will be, for those who don't know what I do for work, is to be the team pharmacist and to dispense the medications we are taking with us. The sugar cane cutters are Haitian so they have little or no access to the Dominican healthcare system. The doctor organizing the team has told me that these clinics are primarily a well-persons clinic as the sugar cane cutters have to be able bodied to be working in the fields and to be eligible to rent the shacks in the company villages. I have no idea what to expect in the prison, but it will be all part of the experience. One of these days I will take a real vacation like a trip to Italy or Ireland, but for now, I love what I am doing.

Feb 24/12

 Just because I had one bib left in my stash and because I love this heart pattern, I stitched it one more time using DMC 816 and adding a bit to the border to fill in the bib. One less thing in the stash and one more gift at the ready when someone else announces that they are pregnant. Decluttering has been a renewed theme in my house again so reduction of every and any pile of stuff is helpful.

My youngest brother is getting married in August. Here is the patttern/kit I decided upon for the gift for him and his fiancee. So, the wedding is August 11th, today is Feb 24th and I am wondering what the chances are that I will have this puppy stitched, framed and ready to present at the family gift opening at the rehearsal party? Methinks my fingers are going to fall off between now and then. Good thing that I adore my brother and my soon-to-be sister-in-law!

Feb 19/12

 My absolute favourite picture from my trip to Burkina Faso in January has to be this one of the elephants in the Nazinga game reserve. The morning after this photo was taken at their watering hole by the main camp, my little cousin and I were woken up to see an elephant grazing outside our window. There were many other photos and experiences, but yeah, this one is my favourite.

So in stitching news, I stitched up this bib for a Croatian friend of mine who lives in Dusseldorf, Germany. She is expecting her first baby to arrive any day now. The pattern came from a book that I have on traditional Scandinavian redwork and I used DMC 347.

After much thinking and flipping through patterns, I finally decided to stitch one of the Dimensions Wreath series for my brother and fiancee who are getting married in August. I had one of the kits in my to-do list and when I came across it the other day, there was a sense of feeling the right fit for the recipients. The threads have been separated and some stitching has begun. A fair bit should get done this week as I am parked in front of the television as much as possible to watch the Scott Tournament of Hearts, the Canadian Women's national curling championship!

Jan 13/12

 

Once I finished the Christmas ornament mania, I took a look at a project that was kitted up by the sister of a friend and then given to me by that friend. Her sister was going through a family crisis last and was needing to downsize her belongings so I was the lucky recipient! The parcel I received included the pattern, the fabric and the floss so all I have to do is stitch it. This design is called "Billede" from Oehlenshlager Design. The finished design is 39 x 63cm. 

I was going to post the picture from the front of the design package, but decided to leave you all in suspense and post as I stitch. This little snippet already reveals the subject. The picture on the pattern reminds me of a book I absolutely adored as a child, "Misty of Chincoteague".

No stitching will get done here for the next few weeks as I am heading to Africa for a few weeks. I am keen to check out Burkinabe textiles and to soak up the culture. Perhaps a small project might get tucked into my bag at the last minute to stitch on the flights.

Dec 21/11

 These little stockings were also found in the January 2012 Cross Stitch and Needlework. I added little poinsettia buttons that I found at Fabricville the other day, displayed nicely by the fabric cutting table for the impulse shopper. The buttons are not easy to see in this photo but they are helping to secure the hanging ribbons.

My fascination with Lizzie Kate continues. My corners are not the cleanest and I was reminded once again that I can not see the holes on black fabric as I tried to do the finishing on this ornament which resulted in the not so square corners.

I doubt that I will get any more finishes in between now and Christmas. My NY resolution will be to get back into the swing of stitching and blogging again. This past year or so has been a challenging year for me on so many levels, but there are signs that things are turning around. Now to concentrate on delivering gifts and holiday wishes!!

Dec 19/11

The great ornament giveaway of 2011 has begun at work. Here they are on my dining room table without a cat looking them over. Cooper, my youngest darling cat, has claimed the table as hers recently so she has been seen jumping up on the table and sailing across because she landed on some felt or an ornament that acted as a skate.

Someday I will figure out how to better manipulate photos on here. You get the general idea though.

For the bird ornaments, I found a starched felt at Joann's in Bangor that I just love for the backing because there is no fuss or muss. Just cut to size, glue, hold in place with clothespins and trim. My kind of easy finish!

Dec 12/11

And here we have the finished version of some of my ornaments. My eye was immediately drawn to the backing fabric when I was wandering through Fabricville the other day looking for backing fabric for my ornaments. They were having an pre-inventory sale so I got the fabric for 30% off of $14.99/m. Two of the ornaments pictured here have been given to two of my co-workers at the the two work Christmas parties I went to this weekend. There is a big pile of stitching, backing fabric, stuffing, ribbons and cardboard all piled around my couch as my fingers fly through the last minute assembly mania that I go through every year. Some year I will learn. 2011 was not it.

Nov 29/11

 The Christmas wreath hit the front door on Sunday after it was purchased at a local craft sale that afternoon. The mixed green wreaths are so much more beautiful than the ones decorated with ribbons, bows and ornaments in my opinion. Then again, I am not really a Christmas decorating kind of  person and with this wreath, my decorating is about 50% done. Only the removing the Charlie Brown tree from its box remains and that is not done until a gift actually arrives because the feline contingent get all bent out of shape when I co-opt their end table that conveniently sits in front of the window that they like to sit in on sunny days.

On a stitching note, I have stitched up these two stockings from the Crosstitch and Needlework Jan 2012 edition as well. I used up some more of the threads that were left over from the bird ornaments I stitched both this year and last year and the fabric is a white 14 count Aida.

I am not sure in what way these will be finished and gifted in the upcoming flurry of gift giving during the month of December.

At the same time as I am getting ready for Christmas, I am also getting ready for a trip to Burkina Faso in January. Where is that you ask? Well, it is here in green:
The country was known as Upper Volta when I first studied geography in school. Why am I going? My cousin moved there two years ago for several convoluted reasons so I want to see where she is living and why. Plus, I will get to add a stamp from an African country to my passport! A handful of my French-speaking customers are helping me get ready for the trip by speaking to me in French when they are in the store, one of them being from the Congo so I am learning a bit about the French African accent which sounds rather different than the French Canadian accent I hear here.

So yeah, things are busy here but good for the most part. Well, beyond the usual family and work BS, but heck, life is not perfect!

Nov 23/11

Oh my heavens, there has actually been some stitching going on in this house! The January 2012 edition of Cross Stitch and Needlework had this adorable pattern so I just had to stitch it up immediately. I am a little behind in my Christmas stitch and mail schedule so a quick and easy pattern like this was perfect for my time line of already having missed the international mail deadlines. The first variation was done with threads from my mystery box and the colours are fairly true to those used in the model version in the magazine. The pattern is stitched on 28 count fabric (I forget the brand) that has a sparkly thread woven into it.

 For this version, I decided to use some of my Light Effects threads to add a little more sparkle. I think that if I use them again, I will combine them with regular floss because this version looks a little flat to me.

 This last piece was stitched up for a friend of mine who lives in the US. I love lighthouses and I wanted something to represent the region where I live so finding this pattern when I was cleaning up my craft room was a perfect find. The card was purchased from Michaels. The pattern was stitched on a piece of scrap 14 count Aida and the threads are, you guessed it, from the mystery box!

Oct 30/11

I finished this Dimensions kit the other day and framed it up very quickly to give to a friend of mine yesterday in celebration of her 40th birthday. The party was a complete surprise planned by her mother and it was a thrill to be part of it. Afterwards, my friend and I went out to dinner for the mother of all gab fests.
Yay for good friends!

Sept 19/11

 For the first time since I bought the property, I have managed to get out to my country property to actually see most of the apples on the trees. I even managed to pick a small bagful of them to bring home with the intention of making an apple crisp. The trees have not been tended to for many (30? 40?) years so most of the apples are up too high for me to safely pick and many apples are scabby and/or wormy. The deer do not seem as fussy as this human because there is much evidence on the ground of their gnawing at the apples.

So, this colander of apples has been partially turned into

 this apple crisp whose recipe can be found here at Betty Crocker.

I took this pan to my mom's house for Sunday Dinner and it was pretty much licked clean when I left. I was a little worried about how the apples would turn out because I have never eaten or cooked with them before, but my family assured me as they wolfed down their share that it was delicious.

My stitching has been slowed a bit because I have strained part of my hand at the base of my middle finger on my right hand. To help with the discomfort, I tape my two middle fingers together if I am going to stitch for a few hours or if I have been at work for a few days (opening vials aggravates the hand as well).

The 10th anniversary of Sept 11

With the upcoming tenth anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks, I find myself thinking back to that time. I was in Sweden visiting with friends while on a 2 week vacation. I had arrived on Sept 7th, a Friday, and was a little jetlagged as well as having some side effects from a recent yellow fever vaccine. Nevertheless, I set out for the pub with my friend Therese's cousin (I was staying with T. but she had a work function so poor Hakan was asked to take me out) and got a little drunk. Well, alot maybe because I forgot how to speak English, but that is not the point of this little story.

During the course of the evening, I was introduced to several of Hakan's friends at the pub. He is in the Swedish navy so I met several guys from both the military navy and the merchant navy who were based in Karlskrona. One guy in particular was not so intimidated by having to speak English with me so we ended up hanging out together. At one point, Jana looked at me and said, "You are so beautiful". That brought me up short. I did not know how to respond beyond a stunned, "Um, thank you?".

At that time in my life, I was in the grips of a depressive episode that had been finally recognized and diagnosed five years before but had been going on for years before that. Looking back now, there is no doubt in my mind that it had been going on for at least 15 years at that point. I spent many years just taking one day at a time because there were so many things going on around me that I had no control over and I was so overwhelmed that it was all I could do to see life through to the next midterm, the next class, the next court date of my parents' divorce. To compensate, I wore a brave face and carried an armour of bravado that hid (or at least I thought it did) alot of stuff. My cousin once told me that she was amazed at my ability to just ignore an issue if there was nothing I could do about it. In university, I was one of those girls who could walk through a bar and take it for granted that several heads would turn, that drinks would be bought for me and that I was not sitting to one side hoping that a guy would ask me to dance.

After university, I dove into my career as a pharmacist and volunteer activities. I was busy, busy, busy. What people did not know was that if I was not at work or wherever, I was curled up in bed with the blankets over my head. It was not until I happened to be reading a professional development article on depression and I checked "yes" on every line of a screening tool that I realized something was REALLY wrong. I was numb to feeling, I was numb to life and everything was grey to me.

So, there I was in Sweden, unsure how to react when a guy said to me that I was beautiful. I was sad that I was so numb and sad that I had lost my joie de vivre/bravado. A few days later, I sat in stunned silence like the rest of the world as the images of planes crashing into the World Trade Centre looped constantly on CNN. I participated in moments of silence in Sweden in between spending hours watching the coverage while Therese was at work. Flights to North America were not flying so my return home on Sept 21th was up in the air. Therese's family made it clear that I was welcome to stay with them as long as necessary. I loved them for their generousity but I really wanted to get home as soon as possible. Yes, I am sure that I could have found work there as a pharmacist, learned the language and settled in quite nicely as I love Sweden, but I wanted to be home with my family.

In the meantime, Jana and I hung out a few more times, including my last night in Sweden. He asked me to stay and/or return to Sweden because he had never met another woman like me and wanted to marry me. By then I had realized that I still had a lot of healing to do and told him that he needed to forget about me because I was so miserable with myself that I would make him miserable. In retrospect, I still believe that, but I am thankful to him for that emotional kick in the pants. It still took several years to fully free myself from that depressive cycle, but he made me see how numb I had become.

Sept 11 was a wake up call that no country is immune to terrorism and violence and is the "Where were you when?" of this era as well as my own personal wake up call. There have been a couple of other depressive episodes in between and I am just coming out of another one now. So many of you have very kindly complimented me on my new thumbnail. That photo is a true reflection of how I feel these days. I am standing strong, face to the sun, hopeful and full of life. The loss and violence of the events that day are not far from my mind as we near that anniversary and so are the thoughts of a Swedish man who unknowingly changed my life in a moment.

This entry was originally posted in a social networking blog that I also belong to. Here is the photo I am referring to as my thumbnail:

 

Aug 14/11

And again, long time no posting. I have been stitching but not as much as usual. Being away so much has had a lot to do with that. There was the trip to the Dominican Republic in January, a trip to Guatemala in May and a two week stint as a chaperone for a Rotary Exchange student program in June/July. Then there was an unexpected trip this past week to southeastern British Columbia to attend the funeral for my Uncle Dave.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some photos to sum up the past six months or so. I can't seem to get them to load in order and given my current technical difficulties all around (over 2 weeks without internet access at home, I am giving up trying!). Guatemala, Canada, and me!