Sunday, March 29, 2009

Back again

I keep adding pictures, but I'm unable to put them on this blog. I'm thinking about re-doing the whole website. But anyway I'm back from my trip to Perth. I left Tuesday with beautiful weather and it was an easy trip. For the second part I just put the car in cruise control and told it to stay in between the lines, well almost that easy. 420km later I was there. The trunkshow went well and I had a very enjoyable 2 day workshop. We started with the orchids. That brought the topic to orchids. And as usal you find out all kinds of things. I knew that there are white lady slippers in the wild up in Bruce County. Last year I found out, when I was on Manitoulin Island, that they have yellow lady slippers there. This time I found out, that in the 1930th somebody planted Showy lady slippers ( white with a pink lip) in a swampy area near Perth. This is now a conservation area and in the spring you can find up to 16.000 orchids in bloom. What a sight that would be!!! The trip home had a few detours. That just meant, that I saw some more of the country side. And I had to stop at the That Bead Lady store in Newmarket. I did come out with a few more things for my crazy quilting workshop. Then on Saturday it was our yearly trip to Jeanette's with the truck. We also had to bring the chainsaw, since a few small trees had to be removed. Once all that work was done, the guys went to the landfill site and the 2 of us went to the Cloud Orchid Greenhouses. They are only open one week-end each month and since this was the week-end I could not let it pass. I did buy a good size lady slipper and a few smaller plants, 2 close to blooming. But this will have to be the end. Even with my big windows I cannot handle more. We have had some nice days and I have been potting up some calla's, dahlia's and canna's.There are lots of shrubs and greenery, but not many flowering plants around here. Tomorrow I will have to get ready for my next trip to the Cock-A-Doodle store in Toronto. I will be teaching there on Wednesday and Thursday. Crazy quilting and small landscape.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Spring is in the air

It has been too long and I cannot even blame the Internet. It has been working well, almost as fast as it was on the farm. But I have had a nasty case of the stomach flue and have been sick for over a week. This is the first day I'm feeling like doing anything again. I did loose some wheight, but there must be easier ways. I have lots of pictures to show, but Picasa will not let me upload them to Blogger. I must have tried 20 times. It is clear I need some more help. While I was sick the cabinets in the quilt room were installed .I could not get interested till this week. They look very good and will hold a lot of "stuff" Next on the list was the installation of the lights. A call to our electrician brought same day service. So now I have lights, a design wall (minus the grey flannel as of yet) and storage! It will take me some time to go through all my boxes before I move them. This is a good time to see what deserves a move or what I can do without. Tomorrow is guild meeting and again it will be a long day. The blocks for the Relief Sale quilt are due, so I need to go to both meetings. I also want to look for the grey flannel and something suitable for the sashing for this quilt. Then Thursday I have to get cracking and get my things organized for next week. On Tuesday I will be driving to Perth (at least 6 hours from here) for a trunkshow and a 2 day workshop. Im looking forward to it now, but still I am glad I have another week to recuperate. The last few days have been spring like. There are 2 things I miss at our new place. There are no birds at the bird feeders. We have one bird, a resident hawk....enough said. And there are no spring flowers here. On the farm I have planted all kinds of spring bulbs over the years and I will be doing that here in the fall. But my orchids make up for it. My cattleya has 5 huge flowers and other plants are showing flower stalks. I will keep on trying to get this picture thing workinbg

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Not there yet

It seems that at times you cannot win. That is the case with our Internet. On Friday the technician came out again, climbed on the roof in cold and windy conditions. Our "barbeque" grill was broken. Once that was replaced it seemed to work. At least on my laptop. The other computer still was of most of the time. We were told that we are at the end range of 3 different towers, but they are working on upgrades! Yesterday we had local computer fellow come out. He made it work in the house on both computers, but the only thing not working right now is Blogger. I cannot get pictures loaded from Picassa 3 to Blogger. Must have tried it half a dozen times. So this is again without pictures, but that too will come. I just need some more help. Should be packing for my trunkshow tonight for the Halton Guild in Burlington. Then a second day of my Lady Slipper workshop on Saturday at Greenwood in Guelph. And we heard this morning, that the cupboards for my quilt room will be installed next Thursday. Then the electrician and I can move everything in its place. Will show some pictures as soon as I can figure things out.