Gratitude #72

As I write this, I am grateful for my snug house. It is blowing and raining something fierce, and has been nasty almost all day. We had freezing rain and then tiny snow pellets, then more freezing rain mixed with regular rain. The trees looked like something out of Frozen, encased in ice. The power has been flickering and a fire engine made its way down the lane behind us, lights flashing but no sirens. We think maybe a tree or a large branch fell on a power line. Again, I ask myself, why when they upgrade the power poles, which they have been doing over the past several years, do they not just use that money for the new poles, and bury the damn lines. It's not like it's hard digging here; it's sand. We used to be an ocean bed.

Yay for hardy, early spring flowers, like winter aconite that has been blooming for a week now. I am also grateful for the snowdrops I spied at the beginning of this week. They really give a person's spirits a lift.

 

I am grateful for the people online who freely give of their advice, tips, patterns, and activities. I love Project Quilting, and am so glad that my friend Pat @we10mom told me about it several years ago, even though I was too shy to join in at that time. This week I got to celebrate my deep love of the written word with my Standing Stones mini-mini.

You can read about it here.

I am grateful for being a creative person, and having the means to express that creativity. By this I mean having a dedicated sewing room, having a sewing machine (okay several), having plentiful fabric from when I was teaching full-time, as well as from years as an Island Batik ambassador and Benartex Fabrics designer, as well as for published quilts, but for tools as well, and all that goes with the craft. I keep thinking of those left homeless due to the horrific earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, those in Ukraine whose homes have been destroyed by bombs, those in Pakistan whose homes were destroyed in the devastating floods. And here I sit, now in utter and complete darkness, since the power has just gone out for good. It was flickering off and on all evening. I've just heard a very loud crrrr-ACK! nearby, and think it may be a tree or a branch come down. Not good. I am on my phone's hotspot, so I will pause for now and finish this tomorrow morning to save my phone's power.

Thursday morning February 23

Well we got quite the ice storm. The power is still out and estimates are for it not to be back on until sometime this afternoon. My yoga class I teach at 6:30 am was cancelled because the entire town is without power. Lots of trees and branches down and lines down as well all over the city of Windsor and Essex County. We can hear snapping and cracking when we are out with the dogs, very unnerving. I am grateful for a gas stove and for a well-insulated home. We’ve only dropped to 16C in here though it’s not very cold outside, only -1. We never did get snow outside of a few pellets. I am grateful for cell service that allows me to still get this post out. 

I really really liked a book I finished on Friday, The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. I’m now into one I learned of through Leanne at Devoted Quilter, The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah and really enjoying it so far. Another terrific little book that I plan to buy for my personal library is The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackery. Beautiful messages and drawings are in it. I first saw it on Instagram. Highly recommend for the ‘I Like’ peeps and well, for everyone who’s in need of a little lift of the spirits. 

As for TV I highly recommend Down to Earth on Netflix. We watched Season 1 over a year ago and are now halfway through Season 2. 

I am loving a new soup, made by a company in BC, Happy Planet. I got the Moroccan Chickpea, yum. 

I like the way this block is shaping up!

This is one that I saw on Yvonne’s, Sew Yummy blog a couple of years ago. I started making it as a leader/ender project all throughout last year. I finally have enough paws to start making the blocks. It will be a donation for H2H; I hope to finish it by June! I’m still doing it as a leader/ender. It’s 2” finished 4-patches with 3” two-at-time HSTs. One-inch finished sashing. 

I’ll close for now so I conserve my phone power. You can find other gratitude and general ‘I Like’ posts at LeeAnna’s blog, Not Afraid of Color.