Rain in Vancouver

Raining

It has been raining all night and into this morning..however, it is all cosy and warm here inside Jeremy and Julie's home. Today will be a baby shopping day..
Jeremy will be BBQing a salmon for dinner tonight with fresh veggies. It is a good day already.
The rain has drenched the mock orange in their back yard..but still, it is much needed to fill up the reservoirs












Marcel Germain photo

Breakfast on the Deck

Breakfast on the deck just a few weeks ago...Summer ended so suddenly this year. September is usually the most beautiful month here.We almost always have sunny days and warm evenings. However...it still is beautiful with the clouds and when the sun bursts thru them.
I am off for a small adventure to see my Jeremy and Julie in Vancouver. I am leaving this morning and Jim is flying back from Calgary to find all the furniture re-arranged. Won't he just be surprised? Pleased, I am sure.
The house has had it's fall cleaning...well, maybe the windows didn't all get washed..too bad..was crafting!

LeRoy and the Boys

This lovely and touching email from my darling sister, Caroline..

Hi Girlfriends,
I just wanted to send this along to all dog lover's. My friend Ann Jones is donating 50.00 to the Cranbrook SPCA for every print sold,it is her way of giving back to the community!!!The more people that we can get on board for this the better !!!!Thanks
I own this print and love it.
Caroline

Leroy and the Boys can be found here Fisher Peak Art Gallery
250-489-4702

Colors

These are just some of the colors that I wear or have around the house that make me Happy!






















These are Cindy's paintbox colors.....sorry Cindy!

Passport Wallet

It rained 2 days ago and that gave me a good excuse to sew...as if I needed an excuse to craft. Here is my Passport Wallet made with the scraps I have been collecting. I love how colorful it is and all the compartments it has..for sure it won't get lost in my bag on our holiday. I made up the pattern as I went along, using the measurements of another passport wallet that was leather. My Christa, Caroline and Cindy think it might be a tad bland for me and could use a few pearls and more bling! Stay tuned for an update!
Front


Inside


Back

Treats for my birthday.

Birthday update: starting my
on-line crafting class today..."Crafting My Best Life"....and Jim is taking me out to "Local" in Summerland..my favorite place.

I love celebrating birthday as the alternative is does not please me at all......so thanks for all the love, the phone calls, the gifts and the friendships that I am blessed with.
Jim is taking me out for lunch which I know I am going to enjoy.



Cindy brought all kinds of wonderful treats for my birthday when she came on Tues. Here are is what was left of my pumpkin spice cake...


These lovely jams look like jewels in the sunshine. They will be coming with us to Arizona when we leave in 3 weeks. Such friends as Cindy are a true find. Thank you my dear friend for making my birthday week so special.

Dominos

I have my mom's set of dominos and whenever Cindy come here we have a good time playing and having fun. She usually beats the pants off of me, but this visit she let me win! I found these rock dominos on Martha Stewart and I will be making some of these. What a fun project when you have a young grandchild or some friends over to play.

Why not have some fun and make some of these?

Banners

These are some of my favorite Banners from this year. It is a great way to dress you my blog and keep it fresh. It seems like summer has ended early in the OK. as it is cool, overcast and raining.

Does this mean that summer is over, I sure hope that it isn't!

Good Memories

Today would of been our mother's 86 birthday. We had such good parents that gave us a really interesting childhood. Our Mom passed away this September 30, 2000... 10 years ago and yet most times it feels like yesterday.

You are missed by all of us everyday








These are my hands with her original wedding band that I wear all time time.
When I look at my hands, I see my Mom and I feel so happy that we had her for as long as we did. Your are missed by your 7 kids, and your 9 grandchildren.

My Mom's Hands

Junk Queen.....

These are some of the new pieces that I have been working on. I really like using buttons and different colored metals in the same necklace..it gives it a slightly hippy-ish feel which makes it much more interesting to make as well as wear.




This piece is from the industrial chic line at Michaels


I bought this flatten out spoon
at the Farm Chicks Show in Spokane this year.
Cindy gave me this button which I wired up to add on.
I love this look of jewelry. The name says it all.

Day 2

Yesterday Cindy and I spent the day at the Farmers Market as well as checking out the thrift stores. Cindy found some lovely new things to take home to Nelson as well. Her Rav was filled to the brim with fresh fruit and treasures. It is such a great time of the year to live in this beautiful Okanagan Valley.


Breakfast at the Framers Market.

Cindy's visit..

We have been counting down the days until Cindy arrived here today. We treated each other for lunch at "Local Lounge and Grill" in Summerland. We drove to all the thrift stores and found some treasures that we could not live with out. Home for a glass of wine then dinner of BBQ steaks and grilled potatoes and veggies. Cindy brought 2 desserts, a butter tart square as well as my birthday cake. It was a heavenly tasting pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese icing....all without a calorie!






New pearls along with a gift basket filled with thoughtful and charming gifts...and it isn't even my birthday until next Monday. What a sweet friend she is.

Caroline's New Art....

Happy birthday to my niece Kari who Caroline' beautiful daughter. You are such a wonderful young woman.

Look at this beautiful new art Caroline is painting. A friend of theirs gave her these slices of semi precious rocks and she has been painting her heart out..amazing what she sees in the rocks and how she paints the right object that reflects the beauty of the rock. Well done, Caroline!
Head over to her website and check out her art. http://logcabinstudio.blogspot.com

Dog Rescue Update.... Honey

This morning there was a knock on the door and there was Jamie with Honey. She had brought this lovely bouquet of flowers and the sweetest card. Honey checked out the house again, hopped right on the couch beside Jamie and settled in. I was so pleased to see them again. Jamie is expecting twin girls in December. That will be a busy household.

Talking on Skype

We talk to Laurie, Shane and Alexander a couple of times a week in Sri Lanka. Today I got this idea to take a photo of them while they were talking and I am pleased to see how well it turned out it is and how clear it is.
A new technique of getting more photos! He even waved goodbye to his grandpa before we signed off.



Hi Grandpa, how are you?








Newest photo this week..they are wonderful about keeping him in our everyday lives.

Sable

Sable was our first dog that we got as a married couple. We had the pick of the litter from a breeder in Columbia Falls Montana. We went there several times to bond with her before we brought her home at 10 weeks. She was a typical sheltie, she liked to bark and herd everything in sight. She kept our beach in Nelson totally empty from any geese. You just had to mention the word "goose" in a conversation and she was down at the fence by the beach patrolling to make sure nothing landed there. She was a great companion.
{Aug.8-1990 - April 26-2001}

The Nursery....

Julie and Jeremy have almost finished putting the nursery together. They have a few more additions like paintings to put up but it sure is a lovely room for their new baby. I am heading down to see them in a couple of weeks. I think that as the baby's "Oma" I will sit in that chair and imagine myself holding my grandchild. It will be a heartfelt moment.

Dog Rescue

Saw this sweet dog,"honey" running in the front of our home about 3:00 yesterday afternoon. I called out to her but she was too afraid to be caught. At 3:00 this morning she came back and I heard her whimpering downstairs, I got her in, fed her some tuna, put a mat down and she just woke up. She had a phone number on a coke collar with her name "Honey" and when we called her owner was thrilled. Some one had broken into their car and she ran away.. She hasn't made a sound and is sleeping on the couch beside Jim right now waiting for her human Mom to come get her.

I just love when dog story turns out so well.

Update: Jamie, her human mother came and picked her up. Honey nearly turned herself inside out trying to jump all over her owner. She was definately smiling! What a sweet dog and what a happy girl to get her dog back. Happy to report that Honey is all safe, sound and settling back into her routine.

Taken with my cell phone so the quality isn't the greatest but didn't want the moment to slip away.

Potted Gifts

Wouldn't one of these be lovely to receive or to give as a gift? A clay pot with some imagination. It is a good thing.

Beach Weather

Weather can change so quickly up here in Kelowna. One week ago it was so blazing hot then yesterday when I emerged from my craft room, I noticed that it had poured rain so hard that the sand traps on the golf course where filled with water. I must say it is a welcome change if you live here but if you were camping in a tent..it was as wet day. To assure myself that we are still in for some beach weather, here is one of the photos I took to show you what is on my table beside my chair at the beach.
Hopefully, the really fine summer weather will still be with us in September.

Happy September 1st.

I found this on Martha Stewart's website.www.marthastewart.com.
I am planning on making a few now that we have a new grand baby arriving, I will have lots of reasons to show off the babies.













It takes just minutes -- and a little creative thinking -- to inject new, gift-worthy energy into this old tradition. An easy-to-stash brag book speaks louder than boasts. A photo flip book puts videotaped memories magically in motion. A tin full of favorite handwritten recipes perpetuates family traditions. And party favors crafted from snapshots along with laugh-out-loud recollections set the mood for what's sure to be a memorable celebration.

Brag Book
Use double-sided plastic binder sheets made to hold sports cards. For a larger book, you can instead use 3 sheets made to hold 4-by-6-inch photos, trimming just the punched edges.

To create a 12-photo book, trim 3 sets of side-by-side pockets from a double-sided sports-card sheet; each resulting sheet will hold 4 photos, 2 on each side. To make the cover, cut a rectangle from oilcloth, heavy fabric, or leather, making it 1/8 inch larger on all sides than photo sleeves. (If using oilcloth or fabric, cut 2 rectangles and glue wrong sides together. Let dry.) Center and stack sleeves inside cover. Sew along the middle seam that divides the 2 sides of the photo pockets, attaching sleeves to cover. Attach an eyelet to front cover; slip a loop of elastic cord, about the same length as the book's perimeter, through eyelet, knotting the loop on the inside of the cover to make a band closure. Slip snapshots in sleeves.

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