It took 49 squares to make the quilt. The back is black.
I still love it.
Back in 2013, I bought a used Mazda 5. It was great. It had storage space or seating, and I took full advantage of both.
When my mom brought the 3 ten-to-twelve year olds to visit, it picked them up at the airport.
When I started building furniture, I hauled 8-foot-long boards home in it.
It was there through Halloween parties, road trips, injuries, renovations, storms, COVID, picking up the puppy, and everything else that has happened in the last 10 years.
It was hard to find a replacement! The Mazda 5 had a lot of storage, not to mention the flexibility of the 6 seats. But it was time, so on Friday I traded it in.
It was a good car.
This year, we did Halloween a little differently.
In addition to candy - of which we had a lot - we had pencils. We also added one potato to the bowl.
Kids were given the chance to choose two different things. The pencils were surprisingly popular. But if we mentioned the potato (i.e. "you can choose candy, a pencil, or a potato"), they took the potato. If we didn't mention it, they didn't take it.
It was an interesting experiment!
Back in 2020, my Pathfinders moved outside (like everyone did, since inside was far more risky). Over the past couple of years, most groups have moved inside.
We haven't. We still meet outside all year - and we have no intentions of ever moving back to indoor meetings.
We've built sand castles in the snow, built a quinzee, identified trees, used power tools, and found constellations in the sky. And we're more active - there are chairs available, but most of time we're standing or walking or playing.
In some ways it's harder - it does get cold in the winter, but the worst days are the cold, dark, rainy nights in March and November, when there is little snow on the ground.
And in three weeks, we start again.
This weekend was very productive.
Wanda and I painted the siding. It took all day Saturday and half of Sunday, and it looks great! I was so inspired I cleaned out the shed and cleaned up some of the general mess outside.
Last weekend the pup turned one. She enjoyed her birthday cookie.
Well, it's been quite a year.
Here's hoping 2023 brings health, happiness, and an end to the pandemic.
She's been with us for a month. She's a miniature schnauser/poodle cross. She likes treats, eating everything (edible or not), and people.
She does not like work days.
After 3 years - and 2 postponements - my Girl Guide travel group finally made it to Yellowknife. You can read about our trip here.
It was a great trip!
COVID made it a much tricker situation than we'd planned. We'd originally planned to go in March of 2021 and sleep in the Girl Guide cabin outside of town.
COVID cancelled that, and we rescheduled for March of 2022. We couldn't do that either, so we rescheduled for July. And, also due to COVID, the cabin was out, so we booked hotel rooms.
We had to do COVID tests the day before we went - all 3 leaders and 15 youth. I warned them in early July to be diligent about masking, because if they tested positive they couldn't go.
We had to figure out what we'd do if someone got sick while we were there (move two leaders into the same room, put the sick youth into their own room). We also had to figure out which leader would stay behind if someone couldn't fly back.
Everyone tested negative, and all 18 of us got on the plane. And all 18 of us got on the plane back.
Almost 2 weeks ago - on Saturday, May 21 - Ottawa was hit by a derecho (intense wind and thunderstorm).
The power went out as the storm hit, and we all hung out in the basement. It didn't last long, and we came back upstairs to find a tree had blown over:
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Today I decided to make a purse.
I cut 4 sets of 2 pieces of fabric. The outer one pieces were 13"x19"; the inner ones were 13"x20", since there was a direction to that fabric. I then cut the inner ones in half, switched one half upside down, and sewed them back together.
Today I made 18 luggage tags for my Girl Guide travel group.
I started by cutting out two pieces of fabric, 4.5 inches x 7 inches. I then ironed interfacing onto one piece - the one intended for the inside of the tag.
After that, I cut a piece of plastic 4.5 inches x 5 inches and folded it in half so that it was 4.5 inches x 2.5 inches. I then stitched along the fold.
After the pocket is attached, fold 12" of the strap in half and put the open end in the middle of the opposite side of the fabric. Add the fabric for the back of the tag, face down. Sew around 3 sides, leaving the side at the bottom of the pocket unsewn.
This past weekend, I woke up to the birds chattering outside my window. I never notice when they leave, but I always notice when they return.
My Pathfinders meet in the back yard, and I left a metal pail on the fire table. Last week, it was almost entirely covered in snow. This week, there's snow under it but none around it.
Spring is here.
Next week is March Break. I was supposed to take a group of Pathfinders and Rangers to Yellowknife, but we can't travel yet. Instead, I'm going to Quebec City for the weekend and then working as usual. It'll be my first trip since COVID (if you don't count last summer's cottage visit). It'll be different - we'll probably buy food and eat in our hotel rooms, and spend most of our time outdoors. I think it'll be fun, nonetheless.
Our Yellowknife trip is now scheduled for the summer, and we're starting to talk about another trip with a different group of kids in 2024.
All of the events that were supposed to happen in 2020 or 2021 seem to be landing this summer, so it will be a busy one.
And since the gazebo wasn't finished until November, I also have a lot of gardening/rearranging to do.
It'll be a busy year.
So I've been meaning to update since the beginning of the year. Maybe even the end of last year.
I had planned to go visit the family for Christmas, but omicron convinced me to cancel my trip, so it was a quiet holiday here. Lots of video games and relaxing. I'd been needing a vacation, and I really enjoyed that one. We did go to a drive-through light show here, which was enjoyable.
Once January hit, life got back to the new normal. We'd stopped our Saturday hikes at the end of November, and finally restarted them this past Saturday.
Last week, we got a lot of snow (48 cm, followed by another 5 or so a couple of days later). My Girl Guide travel group persists, although we don't know when - or even where - we will be able to travel. Our current travel date is in March, and that's looking pretty risky.
But 2022 has begun, and only time will tell what it brings.
We got the excavation dirt picked up the last Friday in October - which was also the absolute last day for it to be picked up. 10 1-metre-cubed bags on the driveway was not something I wanted to have around all winter! That weekend, the patio went in.
The following weekend, we got the cupboard doors on. On November 9, we got the siding, and it went on the following weekend. The final inspection was last Tuesday.
The left side of the shed is a typical shed. There's one shelf, and storage for a few other things. The double doors on the right cover three shelves, also for storage. Below that compartment is a section you can reach from the right side of the shed; it's made to fit the lawnmower.
I'm very glad it's done.
And this past Saturday, my Girl Guide travel group ran a day camp for other units. It was a really good experience, and I was really tired when it was done.
The new walkway is done. They sloped the walk so that we were able to get rid of the stairs near the driveway, and covered the steps in the same stone. There is also a small patio beside the stairs now.
The work in the back yard continues. It will hopefully be done by Thanksgiving.
And Pathfinders starts tomorrow. I guess summer is really over.
