Saturday 23 April 2022

Staying warm while winter lingers

 Monday was a vacation for my son, so it was a quiet day. I puttered around the house, finishing painting in C's bedroom in the basement and got a few chores done in the afternoon. It warmed up enough in the sunroom that I was able to get out and sit with my tea and read. This latest book was "the last time i saw Paris", by Lynn Sheene. "May 1940. Fleeing a glamorous Manhattan life built on lies, Claire Harris arrives in Paris with a romantic vision of starting anew." Of course, this was the start of German invasion on France and things don't go as she had hoped. The story tells the tale of survival despite the odds. I very much enjoyed it.

I was able to finish the cotton bag I started last week while watching curling. It's about the size of a beach bag. There is enough yarn left over to make a few dishcloths as well -3 are complete with one more on the hook.

Tuesday was a very busy day. I started with my grocery shopping, and once home with those put away, I gathered up my laptop and headed for my niece and nephew's home across the city. Both needed to file their income tax returns and I offered to assist. After some false starts we had the program loaded and the returns completed. Both did very well, entering the information into the program with a few hints and suggestions (even I learned a couple of things) and then our visit turned to travel.  My niece L is heading to Europe in May with several friends. One of her classmates lives in Prague - which will their first stop. Then it is onto Berlin, Rome, Paris, and finally London. They'll only be there for two weeks so it is going to be a full and busy trip.

Since I had my laptop with me, I was able to pull up the photos I took in Paris on our TransAtlantic cruise in the spring of 2014. We only had a few hours in Paris; our ship had docked at Le Havre, and the bus ride was three hours each way, so I didn't see much but shared with her some of the highlights. It certainly brought back a lot of happy memories. 

From there I headed over to the salon to get a haircut. I haven't been since June 2020 so was due! The hairdresser took off about 2 inches and cleaned up the bangs that I've been trimming myself. She didn't even give me a hard time about how uneven the bangs were...though I would not have blamed her if she had. 

It started snowing about 4 p.m., but it didn't last long and melted on the pavement pretty quickly. When I drove past the pond where the geese and ducks congregate, I noticed it was frozen over again. Those poor birds. Speaking of birds, I had some unusual visitors to the back yard in the last week or so.

I was surprised to see the crow at the feeder. It was certainly enjoying the suet.

The second visitor(s) were a pair of magpies (second one was on a higher branch). I've seen them in the park before but never this close to the house.



When I went out to feed the birds on Wednesday morning, I startled a pair of Prairie chickens on the deck. They crowded themselves into a corner before they turned and flew up to the roof of the house. When I came in, I happened out the front window and spotted them again. This one was heading for the back yard again. I always put a bit of feed on the ground for them and I suspect they were heading for breakfast.

Later that morning I headed out to get some bird seed that I'd forgotten the day before. Then I headed over to Value Village to look for a sheet for my son's bed. I noticed the bottom sheet he had was looking worse for wear when he moved upstairs. I found a flat sheet, not fitted, that would work for just $6. At home I washed and dried it and remade the bed for him. It was a pretty quiet afternoon; I caught up on some PVR'd television while knitting, but roused myself enough to make a batch of banana bread. 

We had more snow, interspersed with rain on Thursday and Friday. I stuck close to home, did some knitting and caught up on PVR'd television programs with a few household chores thrown in for good measure. A fellow from the local utility company showed up both days to do some marking in the back yard. He informed me that Sask Power will be doing some trenching in the neighbourhood for new lines sometime next week. I hope they do a better job of filling in than the other utility companies did two years ago. I know I still have some work to do in the backyard after removing the shed but I don't want to have to do more work because of theirs. 

I did run out on Friday morning to Michaels. On FB, I belong to a crocheting group and someone posted yarn was on sale. Eli has basically grown out of the last heavier weight sweater that I made him. He was just two when I knit this one, and it was a size four. The newest one will be a size eight and hopefully will fit for a few years. It's a hoodie with a zipper and I've never put a zipper in a sweater so this will be a learning opportunity (and challenge) for me. This time I'm using a solid green - the last sweater I ought to have done a better job of matching the pattern in the yard. I realized that when I got to the sleeves.

Today I'm continuing the pattern of watching PVR'd television and knitting. It's a dreary day, overcast, cool, with light rain falling. It should hopefully melt the snow, at least until the snow starts falling again tonight. :( The forecast suggests warmer weather isn't in the forecast for another week.  I had planned to spend my days in the sunroom with Saku while the construction crew is here but I suspect we'll in my bedroom for the mornings. I haven't heard from Jason so assume they'll be here Monday morning. If there is enough sun in the morning, we should be able to move out to the sunroom later in the day.  

Have a good week ahead everyone! Stay warm and dry. 



18 comments:

  1. What a busy week you have had. I love seeing all the bird pictures.
    We are having a wonderful day - 80* and sunny. Went to a 1st birthday party earlier today. Nice to see family.

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    1. I enjoy taking photos of the birds, so I'm happy you like them.

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  2. We submitted our income tax this past week and our daughter will finish hers here on Monday. I dislike that whole business immensely!

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    1. I'm a former accountant so I actually don't mind doing taxes. I wouldn't want to do them for a living though.

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  3. I was very pleasantly surprised when I checked our bank account at the beginning of the week. Our income tax refund was already there. It was only about a week or a little over since we efiled.

    We didn't get as much snow as they were forecasting, though for awhile it certainly looked like we would. A few power outages occurred and the SJHL second game of the final series was halted at the end of the first period (at least that is what Harvey told me last night).

    I don't think we got as much snow, but there are some terrible icy ruts because of the rain that came first.

    I love your bag. The bird pictures are awesom.

    God bless

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    1. I was so happy to hear you didn't get as much snow as was predicted. My brother sent me a photo of Winnipeg - they got more rain and some flooding. Hopefully this is the end of snow until next December!

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  4. I always think that most women who knit for children must be pretty swift knitters to produce something before the child outgrows it! By the way, is the picture of Eli reversed, or were the buttons on the opposite side usually given to boys' clothes?

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    1. I just make things big and let him grow into it. :) You are correct, I did put the buttons on the wrong side. Good eye for details!

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  5. Envy your trip to get your hair cut. I've been hacking at mine for 2 years and could really use some professional help.
    Love those prairie chickens. Wish we had them here.

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    1. It feels soooo much better with even just a couple of inches cut off. My hair hasn't been this long since I was in high school....what's that 45 years ago. Yikes!

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  6. It's an interesting coincidence that the cosy mystery I'm reading mentions "The Last Time I Saw Paris." I've never read it; maybe I should!

    I like your cotton bag, it turned out really well!

    As always, I love your bird pics, especially of the ones I don't see in this region. I hope winter goes away for good. The temps are up and down here, and the long range forecast for the latter part of this week was indicating mixed precipitation. I hope that changes to just rain, I'm tired of wearing warm jackets and gloves.

    Good luck with the new sweater for Eli; have a great week!

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    1. I quite enjoyed the story. It's light on gory details and has an interesting story line.

      Let's hope winter is finally behind us.

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  7. I have to get our income tax returns in to our accountant as well this week. We used to do our own but since i was having Momss done we thought he might give us a refresher course, so to speak. 😉
    What a busy lady you are!!

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    1. It's funny because I don't really think of myself as busy. I putter and things get done. :)

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  8. The weather has been so crazy. After lots of snow last Wednesday and Friday it was 20C today. Hope all your renovations go smoothly.

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  9. Thanks Janice, I'm sitting here waiting for the crew to show up. Haven't heard anything either way, but I've done what I can to be ready for them.

    Definitely that winter is finally behind us.

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  10. I loved the whole thing~ Eli looks adorable (of course...he always does). And that bag you knitted up there! I LOVE that thing. Eli's sweater is beautiful! I hope he loved it. He looks so handsome in it. LIke that practicality about your son's sheet! Great minds, yours and mine, can think alike sometimes!

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    1. Thanks! I'm happy that Eli got a couple of years of wearing that sweater - he's five now and I made when he was just 2 or maybe 3. This next one probably won't last nearly as long the way the kid keeps growing. :)

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