What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Happy May to all! Though it feels a little like one step forward and two steps back, spring is getting here. Fresh snow out west; here no snow but cold overnight and early mornings have a chilly wind. But it doesn't stop the two who venture out every morning for a good walk. Of course, one of us is wearing a fur coat so he's going to be toasty no matter what. 

As another Ned said...

"What is the good of your stars and the trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our ...

A frozen mystery meat is thawing on the counter. It must be meat as it's really heavy. Time will reveal what it is and what I can make for supper with it. Any frozen mystery gems at your house?

Oh dear, over half way through April already! Time, slow down! 

After days of rain, yesterday was a glorious sunny day and I spent time down by the pond watching the ducks float about. As usual they alarm very easily so this was taken from far away. I wonder if they could be the same ones we see there every year. I identified (with help from some of you) American Black Ducks for the first time visiting us last year. 

 Mother Nature had a surprise in store for us. A winter snowstorm began last night and is continuing this morning. Woke up to this...

Hopefully winter 2024's very last blast. I'm not at all upset as I've been worried about the lack of ground water the very early spring might cause. Perhaps this will help. And we have not lost the power, which they were warning us about, so fingers and toes crossed...

Deanna at Dreamworthy Quilts chose #9 for our Chookshed Stitchers Challenge this month. I was so happy to get out my #9 which is ...

 I have been busy. In particular helping drive older grandson to his work which takes a chunk of time out of the day. However, I've paired that chore with visits to the library, grocery store and shops too which works out well. That has also been an excuse to not keep up a few things around here. I've slacked off the cooking for instance and relied on some ready made meals from the grocery store; one a meatball pasta dish that was quite tasty. Today I walked the trails with my bungee poles for the first time in ...

We did get snow on Thursday into Friday, about 7 inches or so. Here is a glimpse of Tony and Ned nearing the end of their snowy walk at the back of the house. Taken from our bedroom.

 Thank you all for the well wishes leading up to our storm that yes indeed, we did get. There was snow and blowing snow, then rain which was really weird, then back to a blizzard like I'd never seen here in Ontario. 

And it kept up for over three days! 

We were fortunate to not have a power outage though lots of folks did. We did have a little drama when our propane tank ran dry...a computer glitch about refills at the company office, and they sent a chap out here at 10:30 at night to fill ...

We both got our bivalent vaccine booster shots on Monday and both had a sore arm but, thankfully, no other effects. At this point where there seems to be a smorgasborg of viruses circulating, I don't know if it will be a help or not. Lots of talk of a bad flu happening here though too. 

Leeanna's Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week was to share our favourite pumpkin recipe. I shared this dump cake recipe in this post back in 2019 because it was just so good and the perfect cake for autumn. As you ...

I've started my decorating for Halloween. LOL Need to add deep dusting to my chore list! Though I am peculiar in that I do abide the odd spider here and there in this house.

 Even in what I think is the fulsome of summer, a little nagging thing has happened. Hubby pointed out that the light is fading a tiny tab bit earlier each day. As much as the continual heat waves and humidity are unwanted, the thought of the summer fading is not a good one.  

So just have to enjoy the growth while we can. Below is a neglected part of the garden behind the house. With so much in the front areas to maintain, this bit gets left out often.  The blue flowering bush hides the ac unit and I'm ...

A bouquet from the farm garden

 Summer is moving right along. I've gotten a good swim in most days so far and it is doing my body good. A lot of the achiness has left me and I'm sleeping better at night. I think that being in the water is therapeutic in many ways.  I swim with more energy when I listen to music. Since I don't have a fancy phone, I have my music downloaded on a device called a Synyn MP3 player that I wear attached to a small floppy hat. I got all the ...

I got the fridge cleaned out and one of the large corner bottom cabinets tidied too. Oh I hate those cupboards. Things get put in them and completely forgotten about. I have to get down on my knees to reach things at the back which is far from convenient. Anyway, I did decide to move some of the small appliances I use more often down there rather than having them way down the hall in a spare room. Big grocery shop is done and it feels good to have tinned goods restocked, things like broth, tuna, beans, etc. Also pickles ...

The weather is unsettled and moody...humidity, slivers of sun, lots of cloud, rain, thunder, lightening- that's all in one day! We've had two thunder and lightening storms since the big one. I admit I felt a little uneasy each time and was glad to be home and not driving somewhere when they occurred. And relieved when they faded away.

But the Bridal Wreath Spirea is thriving. This is summer #2 for this bush. I'm so pleased. It's also Painted Turtle heaven down at the pond. Photo from last year but ditto for now.  I've ...

 I made a large pot of -I don't know what to call it- ground beef, onions, tinned tomatoes, cabbage, corn and carrots all cooked together with a little broth. Sort of a stew I guess. It was tasty and I added a couple of the wild garlic that has just ripened. Being me, I made enough for the whole street, so the first night I cooked rice to go with it and the second night, mashed potatoes. I'm ridiculously happy when I make enough of something to cover two meals. 

I got my hair cut and it really wasn't that bad. The salon was just fancy enough if you know what I mean. I love how so many buildings in the closest town downtown are updated versions of the old fashioned original buildings. 

 I love the look of ivy trailing along a wooden shelf. The dining room back at the farm had almost floor to ceiling windows so lots of bright though indirect light. Above was my English Ivy also called Common Ivy -there are actually two plants there...the plant I have now is remnants of one of these.

My audio book this week is The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani.

 My research of one site showed this was a Thanksgiving cactus. Because it bloomed at Easter, I thought it might be one programmed for spring, but no. I couldn't remember the colour of the original plant, but turns out this is pink. The Geranium there is also budding.