THE DINNER PARTY

When we invited friends over for New Year's Eve, there were six of us for a small dinner party.  Cream of Leek soup, small salad, prime rib of beef, potatoes, carrots, onions and my "famous" yorkshire puddings which are always...remember that operative word always....so puffy and high that there are ooooooohs and aaaaaaaws, always. 

Everything went well till I looked at the yorkies just as my sweetie was carving the beef....They looked like hockey pucks in size !   What the devil could have gone wrong?   Oh well, we were amongst friends, so I served them on the platter anyway....Actually tasted good, although not as light as usual.  No one complained, because you know the best part of going to a dinner party anytime is not the food....it's the not having to clean up!  

We finished the night with delicious Monte Cristo coffees which my sweetie made at 11:30 so that we would be finished by midnight to bring in the new year!


Now, as we all get older and you know who I am talking to here....it actually gets harder and harder to stay
up past midnight on any given day, let alone New Years...We did manage to all be "cheery" till about 12:20 and then, it was four people out the door saying thanks so much for the fun!   We were all yawning as goodnights and thank yous were gushed!

I looked at the mess on the counter and thought " what was I thinking when I invited my friends to dinner?   Look at the mess!  Never mind that I had a good time, that there was laughing and great conversations......OMG, what a mess!

I decided to leave it till the morning, when my brain and body wasn't so tired...I actually slept in!  I couldn't believe that it was 8:45 when I awoke!    Happy New Year!   I felt actually good.   I don't drink very much at all so it is usually just being off schedule that bums me out for the next day...you know lack of sleep....

Coffee was made, the mess ignored....yes actually ignored and the bed beckoned me....I finished my little book, Playing for Pizza by Grisham (which by the way is quite good, different from the usual murder stuff) had another coffee and faced the kitchen.

The dishwasher was made for this occasion!  In about 10 okay 15 minutes, this is what the kitchen looked like.


Can you believe it?  Really it was done in that amount of time.  My sweetie cleared the dining room table, put the rest of our entertainment paraphanalia away and we were done!

Ok, it wasn't so bad afterall!  

Now it's the new year, I am not taking the tree down as I usually do on New Year's day, but will leave it till the 6th in honour of my Ukranian friends...I think I have some.    I'm not ready to get rid of it yet.   My family will be pleased as I usually clear out all the Christmas stuff as soon as I can.


Did you have fun? 

A FEW THINGS I HAVE LEARNED...SORT OF

I learned this year that my Janome isn't indistructable...
it has siezed twice in a year.


I learned that with help from my "private" teacher, I really improved in my pattern choices.


I learned that I really have gotten better at quilting at the cottage...


I also learned that it's not a race about finishing a quilt
so quickly...I don't know how some machine quilters do it.



I learned that the hand quilters who follow my blog are truly artisans....in my opinion.



I learned that the little threader that Helen gave me is probably one of the best little tool around.



I learned to get really really good at stitch picking.
Yeah really...



By the way the photo on the right is of the Virgin Islands, with 22 ft waves coming ashore. Oh to be a surfer.
I just loved the photo that was posted......I didn't learn anything from that...

.

I learned that sometimes 6:30 am with a cup of coffee in hand is sometimes the best time to quilt or get inspired.....my hands are quite steady then, so I can cut straighter than after 4 pm.




Best of all, so far, I learned that I am so thankful for the small joys in life that are shared by so many of the bloggers on the web....what did we ever do before the blogs were invented?



Happy New Year!

JUST BEING LAZY

Here is the photo of my mother and I on Christmas

morning. She still looks pretty good for 90 years old!


We were all at our daughter's home for the feast of brunch.


My mother lasted about 2 hours and then all the excitement of the day was too much for her. I'm sure that many of us with mothers who have a bit of dementia or other age related frailties can identify with my problem on holidays.


It has been decided that we will not take her out for huge family outings as it's just too hard on her, no matter how good our intentions!


But she was there for the photo op and I think that
counts for a lot.

I gave my daughter Kelly this quilt from the Moda, Swanky Chez Moi fabrics I made in the summer. It fits here bed well. She has a queen size bed, but we put the quilt sideways and with her duvet being white, the quilt looks made for the bed! She loves it!

Fabricland has still it's sale on, and so of course I had to see what was there. I did buy some black, white and black and white fabric for an idea that I have in mind.

I'm going to my quilt shop today, to see if they have my sewing machine fixed and also to see what's on sale there. The fabrics at the quilt shops here in Canada are always so expensive......$15.00 per metre is a lot I think...anyway 50% off is my regular price for shopping American online shops and they always have sales! Anyway, I am going to have a look-see.

We played Apples to Apples on Christmas day and with 4 teens, 4 adults, the game was a hoot. One of the cards said "a loan shark" and when one of the teens asked what that was, another replied..."You know Jaws, the movie? Well it's that shark all alone hunting for people to eat!" The adults just howled....not too bad a description of a loan shark after all I think.

Very very cold today, 2 degrees F. that's cold by any standard...

SO WE SURVIVED CHRISTMAS & KING TUT!

As is the norm, we are all so tired after the celebration

of Christmas day.

This year, my second son gave me a day out to see the

King Tut exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

There wasn't much of line when we arrived at 10 am, but an hour later, what a difference!

The set up was a bit distracting and I found it very "hollywood" in displays, what with the voice of Harrison Ford booming in doom like voice making the whole of it a bit too much.

The works of art are truly something to behold, so it was worth the walking to each room to view the statues, the icons, and the gold mask of King Tut. Amazing details when one considers the tools the Egyptions had to use.

There were some necklaces that must have had 2000

precious and semi precious stones, then others with

flowers embedded in the gold pendants about 1/2"

tall.

No photos were allowed of course and although many of the items were behind glass, others were touchable which made it all worthwhile.

Just to see the details of the works right down to the toes of statues that only stand about 6" high and others that were two to three times that size, but all so identical in detail must have taken those artisans many long and arduos days.

The highlight of the day at the Gallery was the display of about 100 model ships of all sizes and ages. There were tall ships and small passenger carriers, some models from as far as Japan and Turkey, aged from 300 year models to post WW2. Quite amazing displays of workmanship, some of which were done by POWs in the camps of WW2. And that was free to anyone to see!

On Christmas morning we picked up my mother at the nursing home to take her to our daughter's home for the Brunch of the year....So much food and so well presented. Sausage strata, blueberry french toast, cinnamon french toast, fruit trays, coffees, and too many juices to name. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Then our friends, Bob and Mary (cottage ) had our gang for Christmas dinner. Mary outdid herself this year and Jeremy was so happy that she made her famous squash and apple bake. All in all, even though we all say the same thing every year that we won't eat too much.....we always do.

Yesterday, we were vegetables, just laying around and watching movies and trying to not eat too much of the leftover goodies, that somehow always taste so much better the day after. Don't you think?

I've been reading those that posted, and it seems we all survived!