WHAT A STORM!

Don't you just love the long lazy days of summer? Yessiree...we've been having those for the past week.

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Yesterday afternoon, while I was ripping out the nine patches to make other nine patches, I heard a flurry of activity at the humming bird feeder at the window....I looked up to see that the sky was darkening to the west!

Here is the storm coming on the first picture...I shouted to my sweetie to put his tools away as we had "a big one" on it's way.

I rushed to close all the windows in the sunroom, seven for sure right to the tops, the others were half way as the wind doesn't get to the north side much.

I had grabbed the camera so took this next on the deck

facing east as I was scrambling to cover the deck cushions.

The thunder was rolling in and we could hear it as it approached the island. The first clap shook the cottage. The dog, fearless little wonder, just rolled over and went back to sleep!

We were making sure that the windows were shut, praying that we wouldn't lose our hydro...(Canadian saying for power)

hoping that we had sufficently tied down the boats as the docks were really rocking by this point.

I couldn't get the large deck umbrella down, so my sweetie stepped out on the deck, the heavens opened up and he was drenched, but said afterwards that it's a good thing he got the umbrella down as it would have been ripped by the fierce wind!

So, he stepped into the cottage, dried himself off, and with the

lights flickering on and off, the thunder and lightning was so

loud...usually we get this kind of storm in the night...we were

looking out the windows watching the storm swirl around us

when we saw our neighbours deck chair floating by....then

another...

Of course I then went to the bedroom window, facing east and took this spectacular (don't ya think) photo of one of the chairs floating by.

Then, everything stopped....the sun came out, the lake calmed, the thunder could just faintly be heard over the Haliburton Highlands, and Algonquin Park which to the north and east of us!

My sweetie got into my boat, rescued the two floating chairs only to find that the other two chairs of the new neighbours had just ended up on their rocky shore line.

So into the water he had to go to rescue them and put everything in a safe spot.

Here's the two chairs on the rocks. No damage to any of the chairs, but I wasn't any help at all.....of course giving advice is what I do best anyway....so my sweetie put everything away and we both took ourselves back to our deck.

All of this storm took about 15 minutes....I can only imagine the time level people have for tornados. We had about 4 minutes to prepare from the time we saw the storm coming across the lake till it hit.

What amazed me was the lake! Our docks were rocking and rolling so much that we couldn't have gone on them to the

photo of the boat approaching the dock about 25 minutes after

it all passed!


The pic isn't the best as the sun was shining as we were coming back in.

Whew! what a day it was.

Today, we are in the low 70s F, to have a steady rain falling which has sent the heat wave on its way to whereever.

I'm working on my next series of nine patches to see how many I'll get done today.

Whew...another of my short blogs!

COTTAGE FLOWERS!

I started my annual nine patch quilt at the cottge today. Well actually a couple of days ago I made the strips, you know the shortcut method? Well guess what?

I didn't figure on enough white centres, so I've got a lot of blues left without centre whites or centre blues without whites on the side. I'm a great stitch picker, so this afternoon I'll be taking half of them apart.

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Helen isn't here of course to show me the easy way of doing things, math being my mind blanking as usual.

But when I did the mauve (we pronounce it mo here in
Canada,) I thought half and half and it worked out! Thank
you my sweetie who guided me regarding half and half
centres white or prints.




This is the view from my sewing area. The bee balm, aka monarda which is a perennial that hummingbirds love, is blooming! Spectacular blooms for the next couple of months. It's so long blooming that I don't know why it isn't more popular!

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The plant does love the sun though, so where it is on the septic bed is where there is the most sunlight. I also have lilies there to compliment the red, but lilies, as much as I love them don't last long. Exception is the wild orange ones that grow everywhere and I do have
those here as well. Daisies are always welcome anywhere, they are wild and I spread the seeds each year.




The bee balm also has scented leaves which can be dried to add to pot pourri.


I was reading one of the blogs yesterday where there was a brand new Bernina given as a gift from a wonderful husband to his lady!
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Well of course after sewing for 30 years on a second hand Bernina, the new model was a thrill to say the least.

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This morning while piecing, I was thinking of sewing machines and how much progress has been made to make our tasks so easy. I think that the automatic cutter is my favourite addition to the sewing machine. I have a Janome 6600 which I just love. Here in Canada we don't have Juki, or I'd have probably looked at that one too.

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The second thing I do love is the table that I got with the sewing machine. Everything is level and I never get back aches any longer because the table is perfection for piecing.
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Also noted on the new Bernina was the independent bobbin winder. I have that too, loving it as much as the lady does the one on her new machine.
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I'm getting my Spring Quilt back this weekend, will save about $70.00 to have it basted. I don't know why the quilt shop in Oshawa wanted so much, but no matter, Helen will take it to her lady in Orillia.
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Everyone has left the island this week. It's very very hot, so, my job has been to keep plants watered for the new neighbours and Helen's precious sun impatients. The weather is supposed to change overnight so the natural rain should help all of us. I do this little job as I know that if I left for a bit, one of them would look after my gardens for me.

Enjoy the season, it doesn't last long...all the veggies are at the roadside stands...can't wait till the weekend guests (Bob and Mary) arrive with the goodies!

BOTSWANA DREAMS!

I have a blogger friend "Giraffe Dreams" which I started to follow
one day when I noted the blog name....it's different.

I asked, why the name and she said that she loved the gentle
giants and had decided to call her blog after them.

This morning, I noted this lovely little wall quilt she has just made and it reminded me of Botswana! I didn't even know much about how she came to make the quilt, just the photo said it all to me. So, I've named it Botswana Dreams for her.

I just love the little houses, the whole colour compositions, the simplicity of it all, and most special.....the giraffe!


My cousin and her husband are in Botswana this summer and my cousin has posted this photo that she took of the giraffe that was so close to her she could have touched it!


What an adventure for this young woman and her family, the husband is a doctor who studies tropical infectious diseases or
something like that, but whatever it is the family is in Botswana!

We often watch "The Number One Ladies Detective Agency"
on HBO and the quilt reminded me of it right away as
the art work at the intro of the show is similar in colour





The photo of the giraffe and my cousin (next photo) reminds me of how different we all are on this planet.

My cousin has taught school in Malawi, she loves Africa and finds its diversity compelling.

So when we look at blogs, we see something in a name that catches our eye....have a look see, and we find what makes us all so different in this blogging world which is mostly quilters in our spheres.



The children are studying physics in this class. I noted how simple the classroom is and of course the uniforms that all children wear in most countries, except Canada and the United States.


I remember our visits to Caribbean islands and each village would have different characteristics to their uniforms so as to denote their village.



I awoke this morning around 6 am. yeah, I'm an early riser due to the dog thing...I stepped out on the deck
to find a huge orange ball in the sky, and one on the
lake also. It was hard to photograph as I was facing due east right into the sun.

I took about a half dozen shots trying to make it happen, so the best I could do was show this one.

It is HOT. I think when we reach the 30 celcius, or high 90s in degrees, what when we add the humidity, well it is up there for sure.

I'm not complaining, I'm just saying.

I don't know how everyone tackles the sewing on days like this. Mind you we don't have air conditioning at the cottage and everything is so sticky right now because of the humidity. Thank goodness for the fans.

Gosh, this blog was longer than I expected. That's what happens when I don't post very often.

I got a note from Amanda Jean....she has 16 projects on the go....16! I bogg down at one...but we agree we both love what white does....wait and see!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOTHER...91 YEARS OLD

My mother is ninety one years old today! She has lived a
long and varied life by any standard that we put out
there.

During her life, she has travelled, had adventures that we only dream of.

At the age of 52 yrs old, she packed up her belongings and moved to the British Virgin Islands.

There with very little money, she opened a beach bar, known simply as "Jill's Beach Bar". The beach bar consisted of a long bar, with a grill at one end and the liquor area at the other. She served killer lobster sandwiches which she more or less became famous because they were so good, and served the best Pina Coladas to go with it!

The photo on the right there is one of my favourite photos as it epitomizes the classy way my mother always dressed. She has loved clothes all of her life and was very very particular about dressing. Even now, in a nursing home, I must be careful that everything that she has must match and be easy
to mix with everything else. It's a task, as I'm not at all
like my mother in dress style.

But oh, I love this outfit she has on, look at the shoes
and the turbin with matching purse...does it not remind

you of the old black and white movies where everyone
had such style?

So the very tropical scene on the right is the view my mother had from her beach bar for almost 20 years of her life.

She met many famous people, many people that just loved going to her beach bar, and even Jimmy Buffet used to bring his guitar and play for free on Sunday afternoons while his boat the first "Savannah Jane" was at anchor!

There is a story that Hamburger in Paradise comes from this little beach he loved so much!

Nowadays, no one could possibly go, with about $2,000.00 life savings in their pocket and do what she did. For many years my mother and I have travelled to this island, sat on this beach and remissed about her life in the simpler times, before the huge cruise ships, when only sailors would arrive, before the internet, when the roads were hardly passable to come over the mountain to her paradise!

I view myself, along with my daughter Kelly, as the keeper of her memories!

Happy Birthday to a grand old lady.