And that's what you missed

It has been a while, my friends. So where have I been?

My mom passed away last November. We knew it was coming but it still happened very quickly. I went to Saskatchewan for the funeral. 

I brought back a bunch of her clothes, and made 7 memory quilts for family:

And then at winter camp, my Pathfinders made a quilt to donate. I then used up the remaining Pathfinder fabric and made a second quilt. 

My (Canadian) cousin and his (Australian) wife had a child, so I made a baby quilt of animals from both countries.
 

By then, it was summer. I couldn't take much time off this summer due to work, but managed to go camping for a few days at the beginning of July.

Our site was a swamp - we'd had a lot of rain - and a storm went by and broke our picnic shelter, but we spent most of our time at the dog beach and had a good time. (Except for the dog, who does not like water.)

I did a couple of Guess Where trips, which are always a good time. 

I bought a yearly provincial parks pass, and went to Rideau River and Sandbanks. (We also used it for our camping trip, where people were coming and going.)

And then, at the beginning of September, Wanda and I went back to Saskatchewan to help clean out mom's house. I found the travel harder than usual, and it took a while to recover.

When I got back, my Pathfinders/Rangers were working on their Duke of Edinburgh Adventurous Journey. They did their practice journey and found an injured mouse. I went to meet them to take it to wildlife rehab, but by the time I got there, it had died.  I got a dead mouse; they got ice cream.

I have informed them I would prefer to be in the ice cream group rather than the dead mouse group next time.

The next weekend was camp; they biked to and from camp. There were some frustrations, but overall it went well.

And then it was time for one last memory quilt. This one was harder because I was working with uneven sizes, but I am happy with how it turned out.

And that's what you missed.

Guess where?

 Back in July - before the cross-country trek - we did a Guess Where tour. It was a lot of fun!

Wanda ordered it on line a couple of weeks before, and it came with 5 envelopes. You open the first one before you start - it tells you what to expect (e.g. prepare for walking, bring bug spray). Then, when you're ready, you get in the car and open the second envelope.

This envelope tells you about your first stop - where to go and what to see there. Our first stop was Merrickville, so we read about the ruins as well as some notable shops to visit. 

When we were done there, we went to our second stop - a short hike in Limerick Forest.

After that, it was back in the car for envelope #4 - the Spencervill Mill.

The last envelope was Kemptville for an antique store and another walk, but we were all tired so we left it for another day.

Summer 2025

 We again hopped in the car and drove from Ottawa to Regina this year. The family rented a kid's camp, so we joined them there for a few days. Here are some picutres.

From the car

Tim Horton's stop

Terry Fox memorial

Rainbow Falls provincial park off-leash area

Old Woman Bay (Lake Superior)

Let's explore!

Sudbury

A quiet evening at the camp

Summer by the numbers

• 8889.2 kms (road trips)

• 9328 kms (flying)

• 42 nights away from home

• 13 first cousins (everyone on moms side, 2 on dads side)

• 3 Great Lakes: Huron, Superior, Ontario

• 9 hotel rooms: (Oceanview Rocky harbour, Hotel North St Anthony, Oceanview Rocky harbour, Sinbad’s Hotel and Suites Gander, The Capital St. John’s, Super 8 North Bay, Super 8 Thunder Bay, Motel 6 Sault Ste Marie)

• 7 Provinces: Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba

• 10 nights in a sleeping bag

• 4 aunts and uncles

• 5 door knobs replaced

• 209,304,989 trees seen (estimate)

• 2 National parks (Gros Morne, Terra Nova)

• 3 Provincial parks (Buffalo Pound, Blue Lake, Sandbanks)

• 7 flights

• 2 compensation claims under the Canadian passenger bill of rights (+ 2 appeals, one successful, and one report to the Canadian Transport Authority)

Newfoundland

 In June, my Girl Guide travel group made it to Newfoundland! We'd been planning - and fundraising - for two years, and we were very excited to go!

We flew into Deer Lake, and visited Rocky Harbour (Gros Morne), St. Anthony, Gander, and St. John's.  

We went to L'Anse Aux Meadows, the Newfoundland Insectarium, and the Arches.

We saw Come From Away in Gander, toured a search and rescue facility, and went cod jigging. 

We met up with local Pathfinders, painted a picture of a puffin, and went to The Rooms.

It was a good trip.

Totality

 I've had the eclipse in my calendar for years. I bought glasses months ago. 

But I wasn't sure I was going until Monday morning - was it worth it if it's cloudy? Who would go with me? 

So on Monday morning, I booked the afternoon off. At noon, my niece and I got in the car and drove an hour south. The traffic was slow leaving Ottawa, but picked up as we got farther away.

We found a park on the St. Lawrence and settled in to watch. Somehow, we were surprised at how cold it got, but we stuck it out. 

When we hit totality, the crowd cheered. (I guess they were team moon?)

We got stuck in a parking lot on the way back, and decided to hang out in a grocery store until the traffic died down, so we didn't get home until 7 or so.

It was worth it. 

Quilting again

 

This winter, I've been quilting again. I started with an All About Me quilt for Miss M, who turned 10 in February. 

As part of looking for ideas for that one, I found a pattern I loved. I had barely finished the first quilt before I was working on the second one, which I finished last weekend. 

I took 1.5" strips of black and white, sewed them together, then cut strips that were 3"x18". I sewed a 1" black strip to both sides, then started building the colours on each side. I had a design laid out on graph paper so I knew which colours went where - dark blue, light blue, yellow, orange, pink, red, purple, green. When I had colours on each side of the black and white strip, I cut the squares to 12.5" square. 

It took 49 squares to make the quilt. The back is black. 

I still love it.