In My World

Every month a Yahoo group called Monthly Dishcloths post two mystery knit alongs.  I enjoy participating in these although I'm much slower than I want to be.  Blame it on my busy life and my Dreaded To Do List . . . LOL . . . This one has a pattern of a bird on a limb.  Cute, eh? Many of you already know this but I don't believe I've ever shared this photo.  This is a vintage crochet pattern I found several years ago on the internet.  It is called Queen Anne's Lace .  I started it when I was working at Starwood.  For a while we were allowed to do crafts or crossword puzzles or whatever between calls.  I assume someone in another department complained because one day we were told not to bring our projects to work anymore.  Someone was a party-pooper.  I finished this tablecloth in September 2011.  It took over 2 hours to iron but I am so proud of how it turned out.

Gordon Miles "Gord"  Matthews was born December 12, 1934 in St. Thomas, Elgin County, Ontario, Canada to Henry Evans "Harry"  Matthews (1898-1981) and Pearl Daisy Charlton (1903-1947). Gordon Miles Matthews (age 22) and living   were married June 29, 1957 at Broderick Baptist Church in St. Thomas, Elgin County, Ontario, Canada. His residence from about 1960 to 1985 was 343 Wellington Street, St. Thomas, Elgin County, Ontario, Canada. They had 6 children: Baby Boy Matthews (abt 1959-abt 1959) living   (1960- ) living (1961- ) living (1963- ) living (1969- ) living (1970- ) Gordon Miles Matthews and living were divorced about 1985. Gordon Miles Matthews and Laura Kathleen "Kay"  Bagnall (1928-2005) were married about 1985.  Kay's first husband was Clarence Bruce ( -1982).  Kay's parents were Wilfred Earl Bagnall (1894-1981) and Mary Louisa Glenn ( -1967). His residence from 1995 to 2002 was 169 Chestnut Street, St...

I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus . . .  Pros: 1.  Had a great sleep. 2.  The fire alarm went off in the building.  I figured I better get dressed and put my coat and shoes by the patio door . . . just in case.  Turns out it was a test.  Made me wonder what I would have grabbed if it had been a real fire.  Decided it would be my purse (for ID) and my external hard drive so I wouldn't lose all my photos. 3.  Finished a pile of chores.  My Dreaded To Do List is up to September 7th. 4.  I'm starting to get online orders for my paper piecings.  That's pretty exciting. 5.  One of my books is now on Barnes & Noble.  It was accepted by iTunes a few weeks ago.  I hope my writing career takes off.  I love writing.  I would love it more if I made a living at it. 6.  Had a couple of lovely conversations with Hal who is out west somewhere right now.  He told me not to watch the Weather Network. ...

2 large eggs 1/4 cup maple syrup 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 cup salted butter, melted 1/2 cup applesauce 1 small apple, grated 1-1/4 cups milk 3 cups old-fashioned oats Butter a 2 quart baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk together all ingredients, except the oats. Fold in oats and combine well Transfer mixture into the buttered baking dish and spread evenly around.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic directly on top of the oat mixture.  Refrigerate overnight. In the morning, preheat oven to 375F.  Unwrap oatmeal and place in the oven.  Bake for about 30 minutes until oatmeal is set and browned on top. Serve hot with milk or cream. Deb, Taylor and I taste tested this recipe and feel it needs extra sweetness and perhaps a little more cinnamon so either add some brown sugar into the recipe or have it on the table to add with your milk . . . Hmmmmmmm . . . I wonder how it would taste with vanilla yogu...

When I hand off my camera to one of my grandsons I can never be sure what they will capture.  Taylor  (11) took these photos at the Elgin County Railway Museum in August.

My grandsons love hiking and letterboxing and hanging around and computers and arts and crafts and so much more . . . but I am thrilled that they share our love of museums and history and art galleries.  Neither Hal or I are art connoisseurs or experts on history but there is a level of excitement and curiosity in these institutions that give us so much enjoyment. Hal and Austin spent the day together (July 26) at the St. Thomas Art Centre.  I never was able to make it to this display so I'm glad they remembered to take a photo or two.

For the past couple of decades we have been drinking filtered water.  Hal can tell you all the reasons why.  I asked him to stop telling me because #1 it gets boring after 20 years and #2 there can be a lot of gross things in tap water.  The apartment we are in now has fairly good hot water but our cold water is muddy, probably a result of travelling through old galvanized water pipes.  So the use of filtered water is even more necessary now.  Besides filtered water makes tastier tea. Anyway, in our little apartment we didn't have room for our water cooler so we passed it on and purchased a counter top dispenser and we've been very happy about that except for the fact that I lose counter space in my very tiny kitchen. When Hal began his new career it left me vehicle-less most of the time.  That makes it rather hard to pick up water when needed.  Definitely a downside on the whole jugs of water in the dispenser scenario. Well that proble...

Handmade Paper Piecings For Sale I'll be at  Croptoberfest on Saturday 9-9 @ 109 Chestnut Street, St. Thomas

I belong to a Yahoo! group called Mystery Dishcloths.  They post a new mystery knit-along pattern twice a month.  I am always behind schedule.  But I have finished a few recently.

I keep lists for everything.  I learned long ago that without a list I will forget the milk or something equally important when I unpack my groceries.  Appointments get missed.  Life just gets so disorganized.  Instead of getting everything I want and need done each day, I can spend entire days working on a single project that appeals to me, leaving everything else undone, if I don't stick to my list. So I have come to rely upon the Dreaded To Do List to keep me on track.  I use it to keep track of all my goals and chores.  I made the goal to blog each day in 2011.  I like to sweep and dust once a week, wash floors every other week (one of the joys of no kids left at home and an absent hubby) and I change the bed linens every week (unlike the commercial . . . yuck).  I have accepted the challenge to scrapbook a layout each day and to spend at least 1/2 hour each day writing.  And on and on and on . . . I don't carry forward chores if they...

These photos were taken August 9th from the Dollarama parking lot.  These photos were taken August 17 from the BFM parking lot. This photo was taken August 21 from the centre of First Avenue looking north. These photos were taken August 29th These photos were taken from the BFM lot on September 27th.