Spring baseball

Life sure has a way of throwing curve balls. This week was no exception. It all started on Monday morning, when my kitchen faucets gave up the ghost. I had noticed some water on the floor when washing dishes the night prior, and after mopping it up had put a bucket under the sink. Everything seemed dry in the morning, but when I turned on the faucet I could hear and see dripping coming from the connection where the faucet is attached to the plumbing lines. I'd been putting up with a slow drip from the drinking water faucet and decided it was time to replace the entire set. The house was built back in 1987, and I'm pretty certain these are the originals.

I did some research on the websites of various hardware stores (including big box stores) nearby. It was astounding to me to find that the big box stores keep nothing in stock - at one there were only two faucets available, and both were ridiculously priced and far too large for my current set-up. The local hardware store is a little further away, but appeared to have multiple items in stock. Off I went, photos in hand, to see what I could find. I was in and out in about 20 minutes with the appropriate replacements. The service was great AND they gave me the contractors' pricing which saved me about 10% overall. They still weren't cheap. I contacted the plumber we used last year during the basement renovations and he was able to fit me in that day (after a cancellation), and by mid-afternoon I had a new set of faucets that function properly. One thing I notice is they are much lighter weight than the old ones so likely won't last 30 plus years but I won't be here then.

I did my grocery shopping that morning too, as the fridge was looking pretty bare. The pocketbook took a hit as a result, but I did get most everything on sale. I am starting to see prices drop with some products to a more reasonable level. An 18 pack of eggs was $4.99 and I got a head of lettuce for $1.99 at the Co-op store. Walmart was over $5 for the eggs and $3.97 for lettuce. I'm so fortunate that I live within a 10 minute drive of five grocery stores (includes Walmart). I check my grocery list against the Flipp (flyers) app, and can price-check between stores as well. 

Wednesday brought another problem. The darned water heater's pilot light had again gone out. This was the third time I've requested service in about 6-8 weeks. Of course, the only time they could give me was between 1-5 p.m., which meant I had to miss out on my Stitch and Chat. The tech showed up about 1:30 and left at 2:57 p.m. I know, because I checked the clock! When he arrived I told him this was the third call, and although he was able to re-light the pilot light easily, I asked him to explain why it was happening. He suggested some part needed to be replaced (don't ask me - coupler something or other I think he said). He told me it shouldn't take long to replace and he would have expected the last guy to do it. I said, there was no way he had, he'd only been here for about 10 minutes and took longer to do his paperwork than to do what he did with the water heater. Just to be certain the tech called the previous tech and confirmed that no, he hadn't changed out this piece.  The current tech's optimism at the length of time required to make the replacement was way off! This water heater was installed in Dec. 2006, and apparently they were made differently than they are now which made replacing the part tricky. At one point, it sounded as if he was rebuilding the darn thing.

It's a good thing I did my shopping early in the week and perhaps even missing the Stitch and Chat was a good thing as my son tested positive for Covid on Thursday morning. He had been feeling off for a couple of days, but had gone to work both Wednesday and Thursday. The positive result was almost immediate and the lines were bold. He's off work until next Tuesday, and I'll stay at home too. I tested last night, and so far I am negative. 

Our weather made a big upswing this week, with temperatures staying above the freezing mark, even over night a couple of nights. There was/is snow in the forecast for the weekend and it has cooled off a bit, but the snow has rapidly melted. I have a small pond in my back yard. There was a welcome visitor in the back yard this week too. 

I haven't seen any others, yet, but the wee nuthatch is back, and the sparrows, chickadees, and juncos continue to eat heartily at the feeder. 

We had snow overnight into Friday, but just a skiff or so on the ground. It was melting when I went out to feed the birds and my small pond was closer to a small lake. It's frozen over this morning but we're supposed to reach 7C (45F) this afternoon. I moved a bit of snow from the larger pile in the back yard with the hope that it will disappear faster.

Today is more Grand Slam curling - there are three draws today, tiebreakers, quarter-finals and semi-finals. The women's and men's finals will be held separately tomorrow. This is the second to last event for this year that will be televised. The final Grand Slam is being held here in the city at the beginning of May. I've bought tickets in the past, but this year I'm planning to watch from home.

I'm continuing to work on my flowers (just two more to complete before I start blocking). I got Eli's sweater blocked and picked up a zipper - I need to get a real tailor to put it in for me. In the meantime I made a toque to go with it. When I'm bored with the flowers I do a few stitches on the small cross stitch project. I've made a mistake early on, but I doubt anyone but I will ever know it so I'm soldiering on.

If I'm not watching curling, I've been watching baseball. The Blue Jays broke the Tampa Rays win streak last night in an exciting game. I checked on the game in between ends so missed some of the excitement but did catch enough to enjoy the win.

Have a wonderful week ahead everyone!

What's happening?

 First off, just a few words about my wordless Wednesday.  Last year Jackie, from In the land of the Living Skies II, shared that she had knit up several scarves for donation. (I think it was last year...or maybe the year before). In any event, she inspired me to get off my duff and use some of my extra stash of yarn to make up scarves that I donated to a warming center here in Regina. This year I started a little earlier, but still didn't make any more than I had last year. There are nine scarves and four headbands. The latter are made of double strands so they ought to be nice and warm. I typically don't follow a pattern, I just knit until I run out of yarn or until I reach a length I think is reasonable. It was a good way to use up some of the stash and as Patty said, to keep my hands busy.

I washed and dried them on Tuesday to get rid of as much cat hair as possible. After folding they were placed in a bag and the bag tied up. It was my plan to drop them off the same day, but with the slightly warmer weather we got, came snow! I did make a trip to the closest grocery store for a few items, but turned around and came directly home. I put things away, had a bite to eat and then I was back outside to shovel the snow that fallen. Two to three inches maybe? It took about 45 minutes to clear the driveway and sidewalks. 

We had more snow overnight into Wednesday, so I cleared the driveway again of the 1/2 inch or so that had accumulated. I had forgotten my grocery list the day prior, so headed out to Walmart to pick up the last few items. It was bitterly cold -28C (-18F) but I decided to make a fast trip to the Dollar store as well. I did pick up a couple of things, but nothing particularly exciting.

The excitement for the day though, was hearing from my brother R, that sister-in-law P tested positive for Covid. Later in the day, he let me know that their daughter L tested positive as well. L had a couple of friends out around New Years, had driven her friends home the next day, and the following day both friends tested positive. L had been testing every day since and had always had a negative test. It was only when P started showing symptoms that L's test came positive as well. R had been at work when he got the call so he immediately called his boss and headed home to isolate for a few days. P has planned to isolate at the lake house, but as R said, if he tests positive in the next day or so, she may as well come home. (Update: L tested negative this morning, has completed her quarantine of 5 days, and returned to work today. P is still isolating at the lake house...I think she's enjoying the quiet time.)

The stupid cold weather continued into Thursday - it was -36C (-33F). It had "warmed up" to -34C (-29F) by the time I went out to feed the birds around 9 a.m. We're expecting slightly warmer weather over the next four days. I will get those scarves to the warming center soon.

Since I had no plans to leave the house, I set up a batch of dough for buns. We have leftover chili from the night before so dinner was figured out early in the day. While the dough was rising, I caught up on blog reading and then turned to Ancestry. When I signed in for the first time after the new year, I found a couple of messages.

One was from a young woman seeking information about my maternal grandmother's family. Unfortunately I wasn't able to give her much assistance. My grandparents married in 1899, moved from Quebec to Saskatchewan in 1904. My Dad had mentioned that his mother went back east (Ontario) to visit family members - however, I was just 8 years old when she passed away so did not hear the stories first hand. This contact indicated both her mother and grandmother were adopted, and her grandmother was a niece of my grandmother's. 

The second was from a gentleman, someone my mother would call a shirt tail relative. To be honest I haven't quite worked out where he fits in on the family tree. But his family and my father's families are entwined through several marriages. He indicated that I had incorrect information for one of the daughter's of my great grandfather's brother's. I guess that makes her a niece of my great grandfather. To correct the error (I'd copied from other trees), I had to delete a large branch of the family, and then add in the correct information. This is what can happen when cousins have daughters who have the identical name and are born within months of one another. I've been working my way through that branch. I've been able to identify some additional information that Doug did not have so have shared that with him in an e-mail. It was kind of him to reach to me, it's the least I can do.

On Friday, the temperatures started to improve, though the wind was still freaking cold. -28C/-18F with windchill of -44C (-47F). You can bet I didn't stay outside for long when I fed the birds. It appears the hares have found a way under the new gate and are bunking down in the back yard, along with the Hungarian partridges. The latter are scraping at the snow and getting down to the frozen grass below. Too bad they won't do the same on the driveway. Especially since, with the warmer weather came another dump of snow. 

I went out to the garbage bin mid-afternoon and spent another hour clearing the driveway and sidewalks of the snow. I don't think that much fell, but the blowing snow blew in nearly 6 inches at my garage door. It always seems to pile up there. 

I've been puttering in the craft room in between chores and playing on the computer. I repaired a couple of items that got damaged over Christmas and finished a set of coasters. I had picked up the cork pieces on my day trip in November in one of the small towns we've visited. I've never seen them in the craft stores here in the city. I used scrap book paper and modge podge to finish them off. I think I'll tie them in a ribbon and they'll make a nice small gift for some one. (I made the crocheted peppermint candies for myself). I'm currently working on a new wreath for summer - it's made of clothespins and will be painted to look (somewhat) like a sunflower. I'll share a photo when it is finished...assuming it looks decent. :)

Today, I needed to run out to do an errand for D, and pick up bird seed. With this cold weather they're going to eat me out of house and home. I shovelled the path to the back yard (I didn't get that far yesterday), as well as cleared the driveway of the snow that had blown in overnight. The pile on the east side of the driveway is a good four feet tall now! Again, with the wind it was freaking cold out there. 

The snow plows were out on the main roads nearby when I went out. They're moving the snow into the center of the road, so that what is normally a two lane street is now a 1 1/2 lane street. The piles are almost up to the roof of my car so it makes for some fun driving as one nears corners especially. They will eventually have the snow removed by trucks and taken to a snow dump. Meanwhile the wind is doing a lovely job of polishing the remaining snow on the road into ice. Have I mentioned recently how much I hate winter?

When D called this morning, she told me she'd had an e-mail from the school that there was a confirmed case of Covid in the pre-K class. She had kept Eli home this week because of the rising number of cases, and intends to keep him home this week as well. He has a couple of appointments that she doesn't want him to miss. He is missing his friends so she is arranging a Zoom playdate with a friend K for later this week. Her family is currently in quarantine as most of the family members have Covid, thankfully most with relatively mild cases.

On a happier note, I'm home with no plans to leave the house until Tuesday when the weather improves. There are several curling games on today, with the women's provincial tournaments being run in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. I've got the first of a pair of mittens on the needles, a cup of tea beside me, and dinner is prepped and in the fridge.

Have a great week ahead, stay warm, stay safe, and be well.

Winter weather, a shot in the arm, and a special visitor

The week started with fog and decent temperatures near freezing. My son took the opportunity to go out and visit D and Eli. He's off work for the next three weeks and he choose the perfect time to take the time off as it's going to be quite cold, at least for the two weeks or more. Daytime temps around -18C (0F) and nighttime temps a few degrees lower. These aren't unusual temperatures for this time of year, we've just had warmer than normal temps up until now and it takes a bit to get accustomed to it again.

I had an appointment on Tuesday at the car dealership to check out the skid plate(s) on the car. If you recall, in September I took it in to my local garage to have it checked out when I had a loud rattle coming from under the car. They added a couple of screws to hold it in place, at least temporarily. When I called the dealership to check out the price of a replacement, I learned there are actually three plates and since they didn't know which one might be the problem, this appointment was to check out the condition. How happy was I to hear that none of the plates needed replacement? Very, and they simply replaced the screws with the appropriate clips. Even better, there was no charge to me! 

So I did what I do best, and took myself to Value Village and Salvation Army to see if I could find some deals. I picked up some items for crafting, as well as a Paw Patrol snack bag for Eli, a pair of OshKosh pants for Eli, and a cardigan and pretty t-shirt for me. Just about $20 for all of these items. The sweater would regularly have been $50, on sale perhaps $30, so I was very pleased with my purchases.

The sweater will be a lovely addition to my cruise wear. Evenings can feel cool, even on a warm Caribbean cruise. And yes, I do intend to cruise again in the future. How soon? That is yet to be determined. 

In the craft items, I found a couple of packages of small Christmas ornaments for 99 cents each. I used one of the packages, along with a small wood plank and some tower blocks to make a tree. 

I have several different trees now, some I've purchased and some I've made. They are displayed on top of my china cabinet. Add in some snowmen and I think I'll keep most of them up all winter...maybe even this one as I love the colors. It's a mini forest. :)

There was light snow on Wednesday morning. Not much accumulation but it blew around. I didn't need to shovel. Then the temperature started falling. 

I was able to book my booster for Friday afternoon at the local Shopper's Drug mart. I had heard/read somewhere that the Sask Health Authority wasn't offering a clinic and appointments had to be booked at pharmacies. Imagine my surprise when I learned on Friday morning that wasn't the case and I could have gone to the drop in clinic nearby. Sheesh, I could have gotten it done earlier when the weather wasn't as cold. In any event, I've had my booster. Only side affect thus far is a sore arm. I know it's important to keep the arm moving, so I'll bake buns today. The kneading will work it out and some of the buns will be frozen for Christmas.

Friday wasn't very nice weather wise, but Friday night was ugggggly. We fell to a low of -27C (-16F) with a wind chill of -37C by morning. That's pretty much the same in Farenheit or Celsius. When I went out to feed the birds this morning, there were a dozen or so waiting in the neighbour's tree for me to fill the feeder. I don't think I'd even gotten into the sunroom before they had swooped in for a feed.

Speaking of which, I had a new visitor to the feeder this week. Typically I see chickadees for the most part, and of course one or more of the Hoovers (squirrels). I was excited to see this female Downy woodpecker. She was feeding on the suet and didn't immediately fly away when I came to the window with my camera.

All the photographers out there will laugh at me. I use the auto focus on my camera because...well, I'm lazy and it is normally easier to let the camera do the work. When I went to take the photo of the woodpecker, this is the original take.

The auto focus would not focus on the bird, just on the screen window. So, for the first time in a long time, I switched to manual focus. It took me several shots to get the one above. It's still a little blurry but much better than the other attempts. Thank goodness the Downy was patient and stuck around!

I'm currently watching the final curling game of the European Olympic qualifiers, Denmark vs. Czech. Later I think I may catch some of an event that's being live streamed from Banff, Alberta. My latest scarf is about half done, and then I plan to get the finished ones washed up and delivered to a warming shelter later this week. They will be needed.

Have a wonderful week ahead everyone. Take care and stay well.

Much ado, hopefully about nothing

 Another week is nearly in the books.  AND I actually finished reading another book this week. 

My reading has really decreased in the last year and when I do pick one up, I remember how much I enjoy reading. Of course, then I finish one and don't immediately start another. 

This was a James Patterson book I picked up at the thrift store, titled "Mistress".  I'm not certain I've read many of his books before, but I do know that his books are quite popular.

I must admit, I almost didn't read it because it started out rather oddly.  The description of the protagonist, Ben "isn't like most people. Unable to control his racing thoughts" was an understatement.  It took me a couple of chapters to get into the story because his thoughts take him down some strange paths.  After a bit of reading, that quirk didn't seem quite so strange.  My daughter often talks about her thoughts spinning out in different directions, and I suspect I was given some insight into how her brain works too.

The story of a death of a woman Ben loves/loved in the heart of Washington, D.C. takes the reader on a race with him to identify the killer(s) before he suffers the same fate. As you might imagine, by the title, there is far more to this book than a simple murder.  There are scenes in the book that seem almost improbable, but also possible, based on what we see playing out on television.  I won't give away more of the plot, but will say I did enjoy the book and would definitely read another novel by this author again.

Back to my daughter, she called today (as she does every morning) to let me know she and Eli will be tested for Covid today.  He woke up ill yesterday, she isn't feeling well herself today, so she called the Healthline this morning first thing.  Both are coughing, Eli is a bit lethargic, but neither have a temperature so I have my fingers crossed the tests will be negative.  I haven't had any symptoms but will stay home until their results come in.  Our province is backed up due to the significant number of tests being performed so I suspect that won't be for three to five days.  Our province is second only to Alberta in the cases per 100,000 people, our hospitalization rates are higher than ever before and we've lost sixty two people to Covid in the month of September alone. That's almost 10% of the total deaths to Covid since this all started and the month isn't over yet. (Since I've posted, she hasn't yet heard back so is expecting they may have to wait until Monday to get their tests.)

Back at home, and I truly mean that - I'm not venturing far these days - I had a quiet week.  I stocked up on groceries on Thursday and shouldn't need anything until late this upcoming week or hopefully into the next.  The weather has been up and down all week, hot one day, cool the next, and in fact we had frost on Friday morning, though everything is still looking fine today.  I went out to water since we're not expecting any really cool weather until next week sometime now.  I must admit I'm a bit tired of it, and was thinking I'd pull the plants this weekend but everything is looking so good I hate to do it.  At least, I'm only having to water every three days or so as they're not quite as thirsty as they once were. 

Besides housework, I've been spending a lot of time watching curling. There have been at four draws a day, starting early in the morning, though I've missed most of those draws.  The number of teams eligible for entry to the curling trials for determining our Canadian representative for the Olympics is quite large this year with over 60 teams (both men and women) in contention.  Normally they would have earned their way into the trials by winning points at various events over the past year and a few did so winning the Brier and the Scotties.  But since many of the qualifying events were not held because of the pandemic, Curling Canada are now holding several pre-trial events.  This week the are two events being held at the the same time, the Pre-Trial Direct Entry and the Direct Entry.  I believe the Direct Entry winners will go onto the trials (that seems to make most sense to me), the losers of the Direct Entry event and the winners of the Pre-trial Direct Entry will participate in October for the last of the spots available - I think there will be two men's and two women's out of that spiel.  In total nine men's and nine women's team will vie for the Olympic berth.  The Roar (the curling trials) are being held in Saskatoon at the end of November.  I'd love to attend because this event brings the best teams to the event, but I suspect I'll be parked on my couch watching every draw. In the meantime the Curling Zone has been live streaming the events on You-tube.  So I can keep track of the baseball and football on television, while watching the curling on my laptop.  Can you tell I'm a happy girl?    

In between draws I've been getting my housework done, and playing in my craft room.  I haven't any finishes just yet...lots of things are nearing completion so I'll share them next week.  While I'm sitting I'm continuing to work on the crocheted flower hexagons and have started knitting another market bag.  I ran out of one the colors of yarn I need for the flowers, and when I stopped at Michaels this week, they are out of that particular color but expecting a new order this week or next.  I'll keep an eye out on-line and will order for pick-up.  I am using up a lot of leftover skeins of yarn so a couple more will ensure those bits and bobs get used up.

Today, my friend S is on my mind.  Her mother passed away a week ago in a for-profit long term care home in Alberta. The funeral will be held today in her hometown in Saskatchewan.  S lives about 90 minutes from her mom's care home, and she would often call as she was making the drive and we would chat for part of her drive.  I'll miss those calls, though I'm sure we'll find other times and reasons to chat.  I won't get into the details of her mom's death, but S and I have come to the conclusion we wouldn't want to live out our days in a for-profit LTC...suffice to say that the lack of care was evident.  

Well, I hate to end this post on such a negative point.  So, I'll share a silly story from earlier this week.  I wash the supper dishes in the evening, and as mom would have said, I let God dry them overnight.  While I chat with D, I put them away in the cupboard and clean the sinks.  One morning, as I was cleaning the drain I noticed a dead spider in the sink.  First off, I hate spiders worse than any other bug.  They totally scare the daylights out of me, dead or alive.  So after a minor melt down I gathered up the spider in a paper towel and put in the garbage.  Then, because I didn't know whether it had touched anything in the sink I re-washed everything I'd washed the night before.  Serves me right for not using the drain board, but there weren't that many items since I'd done them earlier in the day.  I do have a dishwasher, but it would take a couple of weekdays to fill it, so only use it about once every two weeks to keep the seals from drying out and to eliminate any smell from the drain. I may have to re-think that decision should any more critters come crawling into the sink.  Ewwwww!

It's an absolutely beautiful fall day here, the sun is shining, with a light breeze.  I have an hour or so before the next draw, so I think I'll head outdoors and read on the patio.  Enjoy your weekend everyone!

What's next?

I saw a comment on another blog today that struck me, will 2020 eventually become a curse word?  For example, what the 2020! Sounds about right.

As many of you will know, I'm a bit of a news junkie.  The news this week just sucked big time - I won't go through a litany of the bad news because it's just too depressing. Here at home there has been another fentanyl overdose, this time a young man my daughter worked with. Not only has our city seen an increase in deaths this year, our police service has reported far too many reports where nalaxone had to be used to revive people.  Covid has raised it's ugly head too, with a family friend reporting that her SIL, BIL, and their two small children have Covid, and the person who they believe spread it to them is in the hospital on a ventilator.

To add insult to injury, my grandson's father J's flight on Tuesday morning was cancelled but he didn't realize it until he arrived at the airport so I had the pleasure of his company (as well as D and Eli) for 24 hours.  There was an e-mail advising a change in schedule but he didn't bother to call to find out what that change might have been.  They've learned that booking through a third party is not the best choice as the e-mail doesn't provide the details and a phone call has to be made to get it.  And the knucklehead (one of my nicer names for the guy) wasn't smart enough to realize it.

My first comment to D when they arrived at the house (about 5:45 a.m.), was "what the heck are we going to do with him all day", meaning J.  As far as I can tell, his only interests are playing video games, smoking, and gambling.  He was tired as he hadn't slept that night, so after we returned from a long walk, he went to sleep for about 3 hours.  Later in the afternoon, he and I took Eli outdoors and after I'd watered the containers, I put the sprinkler on the lawn so the two of them could run through it.  Eli was a little nervous and wouldn't run until G'ma did, then he had a blast yelling at his Dad to catch him.  Later, back in doors, Eil fell asleep on my lap; it's such a treat to cuddle him as it won't be long before he's too big...or least think he is.

The three of them went to bed early that evening (thankfully), so I had a couple hours to myself.  We were all up by 5 the next morning; D dropped J off at the airport and then headed off home.  She hadn't planned to stay the night, so she and Eli were both in the same clothing, and she was more than tired of J.  While he had assured her he would take care of Eli during his stay, the reality was he did not much more than entertain the child every so often so she could nap.  Not once did he help Eli brush his teeth, give him a bath, tidy up the toys, or help with dishes or laundry. He left a bunch of stuff behind, which he now wants her to mail to him. I think she has finally gotten to the point where she realizes he's pretty darn useless. Sadly, there is another little boy in his life now too, though from the sounds of it Prescott's mom takes no guff from J.  

I was exhausted myself when they left Wednesday, so didn't get a whole lot done until later in the day after a two and half hour nap.  I did get out in the morning to get a few groceries as there was a good price for coffee that ended on Wednesday.  Oh, and I made sure to check a flight radar site to ensure J's flights arrived in his final destination.  He had, hence the call to D to ask her for the items he'd left behind.  Priorities, right?

Thursday was a lovely day, as I met my friend K for lunch.  We met outside the restaurant and spent a few minutes on the patio before her partner J arrived.  He'd been golfing and decided to join us.  It was nice to see them both. After masking up, we went inside to order at the counter, get our drinks, then back outside.  They brought our meals out to us and we relaxed in the shade of an umbrella at our table.  The sun was warm, not hot, and there was a nice breeze.  Our conversation varied - while there isn't much new, we still can find lots to discuss.

That evening, I went out to bring in a towel that had been left on the deck and found two dead birds, a mama robin and a baby.  It appeared there had been quite a battle with bits of gore on the lower deck, while the two birds were on the upper deck.  I cleaned up the mess with tears in my eyes. I suspect it was crows as we've had several in the neighbourhood this week, with six in my front evergreen earlier.  I know it's the way of nature but it doesn't make it any easier to see.  When I came back from disposing of the birds, the male was in the tree but flew away when he saw me.  I'd heard him, but not seen him as I was cleaning up, so I wonder if he stayed there until they were gone.  Or maybe I'm projecting my feelings.

After several days of heat, we're trending down. Friday morning was down right chilly, 9C (48F)!  I'd left the door open to the sunroom overnight but closed for a couple of hours as there was quite the breeze blowing through. When I went for a walk later, I actually had to wear a hoodie...first time in months.

The signs of autumn continue to be more evident.  This spruce is covered in cones, I'm glad it isn't in my yard!

My favorite photo from the walk - I took it because of the wake behind the duck, and my camera saw more than I did.  I love the colors in the water!

The pond was pretty quiet, with most of the ducks resting in the sun beside the pond, the cormorant on it's regular perch, and a few geese.  I had the walking path mostly to myself too.

I made a run out to Costco to pick up another Christmas gift for Eli, and found a couple more for him and my son.  I've been updating my list and I'm more than way through the purchases.  The goal is to have everything bought and paid for well in advance of Christmas. It shouldn't be a problem at this rate.  

I didn't get a lot of crocheting this week, but will get back to it this weekend as the live sports will be aired.  I didn't mind the delay; I am thankful that the leagues are showing support to the BLM cause.  This is not solely an issue for the USA, as people of color including our indigenous people face discrimination and racial profiling here in Canada too.  Our world is changing and the pandemic has certainly brought to light the darkness that lurks in our world.  

In any event, I'm working on finishing the last of the baby blankets.  They will need to be washed and blocked, and then I'll get started on another Christmas gift, this one for my niece. It's called a poncho dress, and is made with a heavier weight yarn.  I've purchased a variegated blue yarn, similar to this pattern. 

It's been an up and down sort of week, certainly mostly down at the beginning but trending upward since then.  Fingers crossed that trend continues!  On that note, I'm off to watch hockey and crochet.

Take care everyone and stay well!