Here and Gone

The girls (Auntie Denise and Auntie Grumpy) arrived safely.  We had very busy four days and now they have arrived safely back in Canada!  Poppa and I had a good time - we hope they did too!  I haven't downloaded any pictures from my camera yet - but here is a shot from Auntie Denise's camera.....

This was taken while we waited for the shuttle in the parking lot at Epcot.  We went there on Saturday.  I'll show you more of their visit when I get my own photos downloaded.

Have you ever been so desparate to find something to read...that you read a dictionary or an encyclopedia?  I have.  Remember how I told you that Munchie loved his books?  Well, one day after Mommee had tidied up all his toys and stuffed all his books into the toybox, he decided that he just wanted to read something, so he grabbed one of the books that he often sees Mommee and Daddee reading.  Since they both read it, then it follows it should be interesting - right?

Meanwhile - back in Canada - there are small signs that spring will be sprung by the time we get home.  I got this little beauty from Auntie Colleen yesterday.

Hurrying now to watch the View!  More later.

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday was by far, the nicest day we have had all winter.  It was about 80F and the pool felt wonderful.  It was so hot, that Poppa decided to take it easy in the afternoon and go golfing later.  But, he couldn't keep himself away from his clubs and went out to practise a bit....

He didn't use golf balls, just ticked some tees...apparently that is a good thing to do....and he did quite well!  Mind you, he did manage to break a couple..and then spent quite a few minutes searching in the grass for the little broken-off piece.  You can see that inviting pool in the background and it didn't take long for him to decide to go swimming instead of practicing.

Meanwhile, Taffy worked away at Mommee's silly socks and finished the first one....

While I finished off Auntie Colleen's second piece of lace....

...which ended up at about 27" long...enough for some crafty creations by Auntie Colleen.

Today Poppa spent quite a while getting the villa spotless because two of his sisters are coming to stay for a few days - Auntie Denise and Auntie Grumpy (Pauline).  The place is spotless now and we will head to the airport later to pick them up.  The weather is supposed to be fairly decent after tomorrow when they are calling for rain and storms.  So, probably tomorrow we will spend the day shopping, and the next day head over to Disney or the beach or whatever the sisters would like to do.  Once Poppa got the cleaning and vacuuming all finished he sat down with Squeegie and played some computer games.  He's getting really good at that and he does that when I am watching the View, since he's not that crazy about Barbara, Whoopi and the gang.

I started another piece of lace in the ecru colour.  I started a pattern that I had here and didn't like the way it looked at all.......but I liked elements of it.  So I took the little flower element and put my own trim on the bottom and it looks like this....

It doesn't actually show up too well in this photo, but I'll get a better one when I get it finished (which will be soon - I have about another two inches to go and it will be about 24" long).  But, this gives you the general idea of the size and colour.

So, if there are no new posts for a few days, it's because I'm busy getting pictures of the sisters and all the fun things we are doing while they are here!

Socks and Lace

As I was getting small parcels ready to mail out on Monday, I realized that I hadn't posted a picture of Auntie Colleen's last pair of socks.  Remember Taffy was working on them before she started Mommee's silly socks?  So, here is the picture of Taffy's handiwork all finished.

She's hoping now that Auntie Colleen will like them.  Meanwhile, I am still making lace.  This piece is considerably longer now than when I took this picture, but it looks just like this - only longer.

It is about 24" long now, and I'm almost at the end of that spool of thread, so I'm just going to keep knitting until I run out.  I really didn't intend to make it quite that long, but it's quite an easy repeat and I got carried away while I was watching CSI Miami last night.  Now I'm waiting for advice from Auntie Colleen to let me know which one of these colours she would like me to try next.

Remember the kinda funky socks I made for Mommee?  I suggested to her that it would be nice to see them on feet........and this is what I got..........

I'm quite sure they are too large for this little fellow, but he looks quite pleased with them!  I understand that the weather has been nice and mild up in Canada....the snow is starting to melt away!  Hurray!  Since we have less than a month left of our time in Florida, we are starting to pay more attention to the weather up north.  Uncle Shaun got this picture of a country lane which does seem to indicate less snow than the last few pictures.  I can see the road - but I can also see snowbanks along the sides and between the trees.

However I feel about the snow, it is a captivating photo!

Knitted Lace - Chapter Two

While Taffy worked on Mommee's silly socks,

I finished off the first piece of knitted Hilton lace from KnitWiki,

And started a new piece of Diamond Edging Lace - also from KnitWiki,

and then after breakfast at Bob Evans this morning, we stopped at the JoAnn store to check out their crochet thread and I bought this wonderful book called Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush - absolutely beautiful stuff in there including some wonderful lace edging that I am going to try!

Speaking of trying - here is Munchie trying to eat yogurt off a spoon - all by himself!

And here is another picture of snow in Canada.  This is a special one for Uncle Shaun, since this is the barn on the property where he grew up.  This is what Auntie Colleen said about it...."This is the grand old barn on Shaun's childhood home. As Shaun says, it is 117 years old now. I always knew it full of cattle, goats, pigs, cats, pigeons and a horse as well as hay; it was well used and a busy place. Shaun spent countless hours working and playing in this barn. Now it sits empty and forlorn. "

Hey!

Remember those houses they were working on a while back - over on the newest section of our development?  They are really making headway on them.....they already look like houses.

We walked near there today, but they had the gates to that area closed so we couldn't get in.  We could see them in the distance as we wandered over to check out the big pool at the clubhouse.

It looks really lovely, but there is a sign on the gate that says "Pool Closed".  The last two years while we were here, there was no water in that big pool, so it is nice to see it up and running.

While I've been working on lace for Auntie Colleen, Taffy wanted to work on more socks - so her and I sat down and went through all our odds and ends of yarn - made all the larger balls into two equal balls - sorted the colours into groups that we thought would work well together - and then chose the group that we thought Mommee would like.  I think tomorrow Taffy is going to start a pair from this group.

There is one sock in each bowl - we'll post pictures as they progress.  Taffy likes to work on socks when there is a good program on TV, since she can make socks without really looking at what she is doing.  Lace requires way more concentration to make sure the holes are in the correct places - but oh what fun it is - maybe when she gets older she'll graduate to lace!

Back home - here is Munchie displaying that amazing ability to get his feet up onto his high chair table - still!  While he is still swimming, he is also considering gymnastics for the next olympics.  Daddee would much prefer hockey though. (Yay - Canada!)

And.... due to Uncle Shaun's propensity to take amazing photos....we can see that there is still lots of snow on the lake and folks are still ice fishing - along with their children.  Isn't this cute?

Knitted Lace

So, as I said, while Taffy finishes off those socks for Auntie Colleen, I am going to start some knitted lace.  I am using little tiny 2mm size needles and white crochet cotton with a little sparkle added for pizzazz.

Whenever I write a new post on this blog, I ask Poppa and Squeegie to proof-read it for me, because it is quite embarassing to find a typo two days later, after everyone has already read it - oops!  So, of course, par for the course, last night they dutifully sat down in front of the computer (well sort of in front for Squeegie) and read that post.

Now, they have gone golfing, leaving Taffy and I here to do some dusting and typing.

Back home, Uncle Shaun has discovered that even in winter it is still possible to discover new specimens for the Abandoned Series.  We are all wondering if this one was actually abandoned last fall - before the snow fell.  But at least it appears that the snow had melted off the bench - so hopefully it will be off the ground by the time we arrive back in Canada.

And, also back home - little Munchie was trying to read one of his favourite books, and Mommee and Daddee kept interrupting him - to the point where it got annoying and he decided he needed a place to hide and read in peace.  I am familiar with this feeling - it used to be my Mom and Dad, then it became my wonderful daughters, nowadays it seems to be Poppa.  So I can totally empathise with Munchie on this one.

As usual I watched the View this morning - that is such a treat since I don't have the opportunity when I'm at home and going to work....but anyway....this is how the lace project looked by the time the View was over.

Finally....

Yep - finally - here I am again!  Not much happening in the Sunshine state except for the decided lack of sunshine and a definite lack of the hot weather we are used to experiencing while here.  It has been cool and some days definitely chilly, and often windy too.

I'm not sure how Poppa discovered that one of the sprinklers in the in-ground system had been accidentally severed - we assume by the yard workers.  He waited a few days to see whether anyone would be around to fix it, but nobody showed up.  So off we went to Lowe's to pick up a few necessities and when we got back.......

..... out he went with his toolbox.  I have absolutely no idea what he did out there, but it looked like this.....

Apparently, when he noticed, the water was coming out of the pipe like a fountain and the sprinkler part had been cut off.  So he bought some pieces of pipe, along with some plumbing cement/glue stuff,  and put it all back together. 

 Then he patted the bark back into place and planned to check the next morning to make sure it was working all right.  Of course, I had no doubt, and I was right.........it was working just fine and the grass was getting watered, with enough left over for the big palm tree at the front of the villa.

Another sign of spring coming to Florida is the appearance of the pretty pink flowers in the landscaped area at the entrance to our community.  Auntie Colleen commented that she didn't know the identity of the tropical flowers on our infamous palm/nope its a flower in the last post.  Maybe she'll know what these pretty bushes are?

It is a gated community and those gates you see are on the exit side, we are walking through the entrance side.  Our villa is just a couple of house away behind that brick wall.

We went out for dinner last night - just for a treat - it was Squeegie's idea.  We didn't eat at this place, but we assume they do deliveries and this would be the vehicle that they use for that....

I thought it was worthy of a photo.  Beetles are aften used as theme cars down here.  We saw one that looked like a mouse, but unfortunately we were in traffic and I couldn't get a picture of it.  Another day while passing near Sea World, we saw one done up like a dolphin......cute, but again in traffic - no chance for a shot.

Oh yes, Taffy finished the socks for Auntie Muffy.  She was quite pleased with the outcome and thought she had done a good job using the Premier Yarns Serenity Sock Yarn.

 While Taffy was working on these socks, I was busy using Austermann Step Yarn to make Auntie Muffy's second pair with a colourway called Blue Jean (she should like that!).  The striping effect is very subtle but effective.

So, that parcel was ready and they went off in the mail heading to Canada on Monday.  Now Taffy has started the very last pair of socks from the yarn grab.  They are destined to Auntie Colleen's house.  While Taffy is working on them, I am going to try my hand at some fine knitted lace for Auntie Colleen to use in some of her artistic endeavours.  I've knitted lots of lace over the years, but none using fine crochet thread for "real" lace, so I'm really looking forward to it!  But, back to Taffy...

And, back at home, Murfee is patiently (we think) waiting for spring to arrive in Canada.

And our little Munchie is having his first taste of weiners and at the same time learning to dip them in ketchup to make them taste even better!