Blustery day!

I feel like we are in the Winnie the Pooh story about the blustery day.  It is quite windy.  We were out last night and came home after 11.  The wind coming home was pretty strong.  We only had a small amount of rain last night and so our basement is dry at the moment.  A few branches down on the roads and leaves everywhere.  But, no trees down that we saw and our neighbourhood seems to be intact. 

Just caught up on the hurricane status for the eastern seaboard: fires, flooding, power outages, looks pretty intense.  Queens is a blazing mass of houses on fire.  CNN is all over the story but not the objective reporting that they began their launch with years ago.  Right now they are focusing on the terror of folks trying to get out after a harrowing night. 







Stay safe, stay warm, stay out of the way of rescue workers. 

Lady of the Oak

Hurricanes, sore back, crafting ideas

Well the hurricane rain is here. how does that happen in southwestern Ontario? We are experiencing heavy rain and the temperature has dropped considerably since last week. Some areas are getting very high winds, and colossal amounts of rain. My back is still tweaky going to see my amazing chiro today and hopefully that will get it all back into the proper geographic locations. Then we are going to see "Argo". I have so many new crafting ideas I have been searching the net for different things to do with items that we have around the house and to upcraft. I saw a cool idea yesterday for using my toilet paper rolls. So, that is the next fun project to try once my back is back to normal. My workshop is so neat and tidy and I have wood for the stove and yet here I am trapped inside the house. Tuesday will be fun a friend will be here to lend a hand to help me get the pots into the garden shed, get my glass moved to the garage, rug moved and some Hallowe'en treats, and of course carve a Jack O' Lantern for the front porch.

 

 

 

I am so looking forward to getting back into the workshop.  I have glass projects to get started/finished for the holidays, some concrete that needs to be poured for the holidays and some decorations for gifts for the holidays.  I am also going to try my  hand at making some concrete planters for gifts.  My alchemy is getting dusted off and I will make some Christmas room sprays for gifts and then of course we get into the chocolate time of year.  I have nearly two dozen dishcloths made to date - pink ones for breast cancer are finished working on the blue ones at present.

Enjoy the day,

Lady of the Oak

Allergies oh yay!

Allergies have only been a part of my repertoire for a few years.  There are differing opinions on the why. Let's just suffice it to say that I do indeed have allergies.  This year more than any year I have suffered terribly from them.  Last night I finally took my second allergy pill in many years.  I took one last week as I just could no longer stand the insanity of it all.  I got up out of bed last night and found the package that the we keep for just such an occasion. 

I am confident my other half has allergies as well.  He has been suffering the symptoms and the sore throat, the sneezing, a little cough here and there.  I am not sure why this year is so symptomatic but it has been crazy!

So, here I am...I am a little bit sniffly, my throat feels like a piece of sand paper.  But all in all I can breathe which is more than last night before the medication. 

Other than the allergies I am doing pretty good today.  My back is just about 100%, another couple days and I think I will be back to my normal.  The plan is to make Hallowe'en treats on Monday/Tuesday for handing out on Wednesday.  I am thinking Rice Krispie Squares and a cocotion of graham wafers with chocolate swirl on top of them and maybe a bit of peanut butter. 

Enjoy the day,



My nieces in 2008 - first time in the pumpkin patch

Lady of the Oak

Lanscape Cloth for the veggie patch

Well since I was unable to garden this spring the garden was furrow and the growth is amazing!  Not the things you want to have growing in your 24x24 patch of earth but growing nonetheless.  So, this fall we are covering it in landscape cloth to keep the sun off the growth and slow it down.  I will be able to plant right over top of it and cut slits for the wild milkweed and herbs sections.  I will also save the hollyhocks. 

The process is long and fiddlly, but it will get done. 

Lady of the Oak

Friends

Life is funny at times.  Just not all that long ago I was planning what to do with the rest of my life.  Got as far as the university plan, and then it all just kind of fell into place or at least so I thought.  Now having been underemployed for seven yes, 7 years I am not so sure that the plan did fall into place as it was planned.  I went to university as a mature student and that was an experience I will treasure forever.  I made life long friends one of whom is just like a best friend.  I do not see him often but he is always there.  Others I went to school with are there too, just not with the same closeness.  One I lost track of for awhile has been found and we are in touch again which is nice.  I remember going to see "Circle of Friends" with her when we were both completing our undergrad degrees.  We went to see it with another friend and she left to go see the guy she was dating (who is also a friend of mine and they eventually married and had kids).  That left the two of us and we looked at one another and said 'wanna go see it again?"  and we turned and walked right back into the theatre.  I have never done that before or since that movie.  An experience her and I will always share.  Tis funny how the friends that you think are so much a part of your life just fade out and you do not really notice that they are not there.  But others have an impact on you that you just cannot live without.  I have another friend who stuck by me in some pretty trying times and never judged me.  We lost touch for a bit and we picked up like there had no time pass at all.  Another who lives on the east coast but she is not a tech chick in any way shape or form, so I know she will not see this - I have known her for more than two decades and her and I share experiences from what seems like a lifetime ago - yet we pick up the phone and it is as though we had shaved our legs in her kitchen sink just yesterday. 

This summer I met two such ladies that not having them in my life now would seem terribly empty.  I have not known them for very long, I do not know them well.  But, somewhere inside it is like I have known them both before.  Some where along the way we have known each other before.  They are not my only close confidants or sisters but there is something there that I cannot quite put a finger on.  The only thing that explains it is we have crossed paths somewhere else during another time.  Our friendships have an ease to them, no uncomfortable silences, no pretenses just us as the women that we are comfortable being today, here and now. 

I dedicate this post to those friends -some will read this post as they follow my blog but some do not for whatever reasons. 

Lady of the Oak

Where...

Where do the leaves go after they fall?  Where do the birds go that fly south?  Where do we go when we need to get away?  The leaves if they are lucky get to stay on the ground where they fall.  Birds that fly south get to be warm during the cold winter months.  I like to get out into the fresh air and just be in the forest for the times I need to get away.  I no longer have a place that I go, I used to when I was in university - I used to go to a particular spot on along the river out near Fraserville.  But, now a days I just find that I can lose myself within and or with my hobbies - riding, catching up with friends, glass work, crocheting, needlepoint, gardening and crafting recyclables into something new and useful. 

Where have all the jobs gone?  Now that is a much bigger question.  It seems to me that most of my friends are either in jobs that they despise or underemployed.  What happened to the term golden years?  I googled it to see what comes up...here are the results...

Noun

1.

golden years - the time of life after retirement from active work time of life - a period of time during which a person is normally in a particular life state

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

 

I am not retired yet, but at the rate I am going in my chosen profession I will never be able to retire.  I am not alone.  I am not only disturbed by this, but concerned about my generation.  We are a generation of either have or have nots.  I know both camps and have been in both camps.  I am not even sure which one I fit in at present.  I am fortunate to have a partner who has an excellent job. But, that still does not change my predicament. 

 

So, I leave you with where?

 

Lady of the Oak

Democracy

We have seen a shift in our world with Canadian politics - changing the way collective agreements are created.  I am going to plead the fifth on this one....

But yesterday, the ICI removed all 7 Tour de France wins from elite athlete Lance Armstrong.  Here is the short version - teammates say he doped - they received immunity from the cycling federation.  Lance Armstrong has been adamant for decades he is clean - not ONE POSITIVE test in all those years.  The cycling body has the authority to demand at any time of day, night, off season, on season, vacation, or not - if they show up you MUST provide a urine sample.  In all those years not ONE positive urine sample for drugs, not one!  So, in summary b/c teammates said he doped - and were given immunity, he is guilty.  Lance has been stripped of his accomplishments b/c he has decided that after all these years enough is enough and he is not fighting anymore.  How is this democracy? How is this fair?  This sets a bad example a very bad example for our next generation.  If the bully gets enough backing he will be right, the bully will get their way, if they gather enough momentum and is vigilant in their quest to be right.  Well the government is a bully and they have bullied Lance Armstrong to the point of no return.  They took the word of possibly tainted teammates who have never and will never win the most prestigious race in history on a bicycle, and given them free rein to say whatever they wish and for that they receive immunity.  Throw Lance to the wolves and walk away scot free!  Democracy has died.  If you do not catch a thief with more than circumstantial evidence, you are not able to convict, but apparently that is not how cycling is governed. 

Lance you are a survivor and your true fans will stand with you, as I am and my husband is too.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion and this is just some of mine. 


Lady of the Oak

Chilly weather and baking bread

Yesterday was chilly well nearly cold - I baked bread and it did not rise properly because the room was too cold.  Hubby says that it is like artisan bread! Today we are trying again but I have turned the furnace on so that the house is at least 70'.  We will see if that helps.  I will turn the oven on too to increase the heat in the kitchen.  So, that is all for now. 

Lady of the Oak

Autumn

Well, since it has been months that I have attempted to post anything on my blog, I thought maybe it might be time...the spring was spent hobbling around as my roller skating did not go according to plan and I was laid up for far too many weeks to mention.  Then we did our bike course and I have done little else but ride - shiny side up. 

 

Now that the fall is here the weather is still beckoning me to ride and I have been on the bike as much as possible.  To work, meetings, visiting a friend who is laid up in the hospital from an accident, going to the local Tuesday market, dinner in Port Stanley at the Buccaneer - fabulous Greek salad.  Met a lady on the patio named Francis she lives in Port and her cousin was visiting from Manchester, UK.  The ride home was warm and balmy especially for October. 

Now we are home safe and sound and for some reason I had the urge to post on my blog for the first time since an early May day. 

Lady of the Oak