frozen

northern lake,

my daughter and our dog

5 kms of trail and a pair of skiis

splendid!

family

for this i am thankful

sneaking back in...

The last two weeks have crept by rather silently and slowly. While it was all sunshine a week ago, I was feeling quite grey.

I injured my ankle during "training" at our dojo. Consequently I had to stay off my feet as much as possible for a week and do nothing "active" this week. I spent an afternoon in our local hospital for blood tests and x-rays and found out, thankfully, that they came back with no problems. Seems my injuries just needed time to heal.

Everyone from my physiotherapist, to my coach, to my husband told me that I needed to rest. I was finding that hard to do.

Very hard to do, especially when you have to.

Especially when you want to be active or at least go for a walk in the sunshine. It's not so bad when you want to put your feet up, but hard when most of the day they are up. So after a few days of sulking, I decided I needed a quick project to cast on. After a little browsing I found the Heart on a String hat pattern. A lovely free pattern from Spud and Chloe.

I loved the result. It was knit up over two days (partly watching a swim meet) using Sandnes Garn Smart yarn. Lovely and fast.

winter? really!

the unexplainable, perhaps!

Yesterday, my husband and I were involved in a spring ritual that not many southern folk might understand.
See, we live in what might be considered the great white north!
No, we don't live in Alaska or the Northwest Terrorities, but we are pretty darn close!
Sometimes when we live here, we get a pretty strong hankering for spring.
We start craving green grass, warmer weather and flip flops!
So, in an attempt to help mother nature along, we intervene in ways, that some might think odd!
I guess this ritual could be called "un-shoveling"
All winter we shovel the snow off our driveway and walkways
and then in spring, or what is spring for most people, we shovel it off our lawn.
Yesterday, we took drastic measures and used our ice pick to break it up and our scoop shovel (ie. a man sized shovel, or a shovel on steroids!) and took great scoops and spread it on the street.
We do live on a cul-de-sac, so we are not really impeding traffic.
My friend stopped by during this ritual to encourage us along, and maybe give a jab or two!
Our oldest daughter thought it was great because Dad created a luge run in the front yard!
I would have taken pictures but my arms were just too tired from all the shovelling!
Great Canadian Traditions!

carnival

we have been busy this week

preparing and practising for the figure skating carnival

the theme this year was Wizard of Oz

our oldest daughter was in two numbers

the yellow brick road

(2 pictures below)

and over the rainbow

(remaining pictures)

she had a lot of fun

and after a season of freezing our butts off

it was good to see it all come together in the end

now we can hang up our skates for the winter

and dream of spring

or if that doesn't work, we can try and find it

next week is spring break and we leave on saturday to head south

well, not really south to alot of people (we are staying in Canada)

but south to us!

winter's end?

when?

when oh winter will you lose your fury?

i've been patient and haven't complained

but one starts to lose focus in the relentless snow

i hope for spring bulbs, fresh dirt, grass between my toes

but that seems ... so far away

now you see it, now you don't

this is my thrummed mitten that i have been working on

until recently it looked like this

and now it looks like this (below)

i was really frustrated with my progress, for a number of reasons,

and decided to pull it out and start over
a friend said i should just keep moving on

but i had completely lost my motivation for the project

probably the biggest reason was it was really hard to get on my hand (too small)

but i had also dropped a stitch, made my thrums way too big,

accidentally knit the cuff too long etc

so two nights ago, i took a deep breath and started to unravel

i feel much better now! feels like a clean slate

last night i began re-working my thrums

and this is what they are suppose to look like

wispy, ends tucked together and rolled a bit in the middle
mine are probably still a little bulky but not as bad as they were

so here is to my new start!

today when i couldn't find my children
i found one cuddled up here
and the other cuddled up here
guess when it is cold, there is not better place to be
then snuggled up under quilts and blankets!

cuddly & warm

here is the scarf that i finished last night

i was too tired to take a picture of it

and the intended receipent was fast asleep anyways

however, she readily donned her winter gear this morning

yes, the picture was taken this morning

the sun in our neck of the woods tends to sleep in longer than we do

the colours in the second picture better represent the finished product

the hat i made last year, i think it makes quite a nice set!

our day

today was a remarkable january day
with a beautiful blue sky and sun pouring down
we all needed to feel a little sunshine on our faces
so, the girls and i went on a little hike

bugsy, who is "our concerned one"
mentioned the possibility of running into a moose
and sure enough we did
they are very common where we live
they are spotted meandering streets and neighbourhoods
apparently, a neighbour saw a moose having a siesta on our front stoop two years ago!
so seeing a moose, is definately not a reason to stay home
this moose was a good 500m away, so there was no concern for safety either

everyone was happy after! so that was a successful outing!

winter glory

this afternoon i got some time away

while the big cheese took the kids for a ski

it was a beautiful afternoon and a friend and i went for a hike

it made us realize anew the benefits of where we live

even though it sometimes feels like the middle of no where

as we walked we found this red mitt on a stick

it made us smile, a bright beacon among the white

just a day

at least one of our children was having fun outside

all by herself, until her sisters joined her

what a clown!

camera play

i had just sat down at the kitchen table

with bugsy and a friend of hers

we were scrapbooking, LOL because i am not a good one

except maybe in my daughter's eye

however, she is so creative she doesn't take any suggestions anyways

she just likes playing with all the paper, ribbons, etc

and creating her thing...does that sound familar mom?

anyways, like i was saying, i sat down and looked out the front window

the frost was on the tree and the sky was this beautiful shade of blue

and i needed to catch it on picture

before i downloaded the pictures i thought i did a good job,

but realize now that i should have had a tripod

because you can tell i was moving a bit

i wanted to post the pictures though, just to show the contrast

the first picture i turned of the flash and slowed the shutter speed

the second one (below) i put on manual setting and let the camera do its own thing

same scene but remarkable difference in the end result

i have lots to learn in the world of aperture and exposure