BREATHING A SIGH OF RELIEF TODAY

Yesterday started ordinary but before too long it wasn't an ordinary day. We got up early to milk the cows and I went to feed the calves. After breakfast I normally check my emails and my daughter Jackie, has sent me an email that there was a shooting in Ottawa on Parliament Hill.  One young soldier guarding the War Memorial Monument was shot and killed.

My mind went from tired to immediate alert. I wrote an email to my Daughter Christine in Ottawa and she replied that luckily, she was working from home as opposed to going into the office that day, the positive side of working with computers. Otherwise she would have been in a long line of stagnant traffic and her car would have been searched as the area was on lockdown.

My brother is an RCMP who works on Protecting the Parliament and embassies and I knew he would be there. It was a drama that I will not describe other than there was a lot of shooting inside the Parliament building and he was there protecting the country. He's married with a lovely wife and two kids.

Ironically, yesterday was his day off and he was called on emergency to work. He went with no breakfast in his tummy and the whole Parliament Hill went on lockdown all day until 8:00 pm last night. They were searching for one or two more suspects but in the end the police decided that there was only one shooter.

The killer was himself killed by the Sargent at Arm inside the Parliament building, three other people were wounded and taken to the hospital.

My brother was back at home today, safe and sound and is sleeping in. Everyone is relieved to have him back home with his family. His wife's voice was trembling last evening as she talked to me on the phone, saying how it had been for her waiting all day to know that he was safe and the constant speculations on TV was so confusing. It was difficult knowing what was true and what was speculations, not knowing when it would end.

Today the Parliament is again opened for business but closed to the public and one section in the area is still under blockade. Thanks to all our brave men and women who risk their lives to keep our citizens safe. I salute them all and I'm proud of my little brother.
My daughter Christine went to work as usual today.

I finally decided to put my grandfather's picture on a pattern for a rug. I used a photo of him and had to trace with black ink to see the outline better. It will not be a true drawing of him but a representation as I'm using a child projector to trace the outline and can only project one little part of the whole picture. If I move the projector on another section, everything is out of wack. This is the best I could do.

I need to work on the lips some more. The sketch outlined with a sharpie so the lines will be visible through the backing.  It's 24 x 24 inches.  My grandfather  was very handsome with his blue eyes, in his soldier uniform. I'm not sure what year that photo was taken and I would like to know.

The first rough sketch.

The  sketch is yet to be transferred to the backing  and I don't have all the proper dye to work with so it will be some time yet before I proceed to hooking. I have to order some more dye from Cushing Company in the states and then dye my wool. At least it's a beginning.

Stay safe warm and dry.
JB

YAY!!! UPDATE ON JOSEPHINE'S PACKAGE & MY BASEMENT CLEAN UP.

For those of you who have been following my blog, my package to Josephine was mailed on Oct 8, and missed the delivery truck since it was late afternoon but to my surprise and despite the Holiday long weekend, it reached Vicki in the States on October 14th and she sent me a very touching email to let me know that she had received it.
 I never expected that the package would arrive so fast since it wasn't going until the next day.

It's been a flurry of activity at my house  with dust and soot all over the floor and everywhere and it's been a flurry of activity at the farm too lately. The tarp barn has been finished  and filled with hay and I haven't had time to post photos yet.

 I finally got the major part of the basement pressure washed, the humidity caused my pressure washer to start and stop in spurts so I barely finished the main area but I got it done.... I was peeling a lot of the old paint from the cement floor so it took me two whole afternoons and some time in the evenings. I still have another room to pressure wash but that room shouldn't take very long as the floor doesn't have paint to peel. I'll have to find out if my pressure washer will operate again to finish my job. Hopefully it will have a chance to dry this weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

This old wood stove has been removed to be replaced with a more energy efficient stove and part of the old bricks that were on the floor also has been removed.  It still looked good when all clean but the bricks inside are all broken. It's been in use for a very long time and has served us well especially on cold blustery winter days.

 My husband will add some extra support  from the ceiling in the basement to make everything nice and sturdy. A plywood subfloor will be screwed in and porcelain tiles will be installed then the new stove will be installed along with a new chimney liner and because of some unforeseen needed extras, it will cost me an arm and a leg and maybe an eye, but I'll feel safer as we are getting a professional to do the job properly. They certify the job for insurance purposes and brings everything up to code.

I just learned that they won't be able to put the new stove in until November 27th as they are booked solid for stove installations.

Because the stove is in very close proximity to the wooden door, it will be replaced with a steel door and frame to comply with insurance requirements...  So I feel  good to get this finally started. Shhhh... we need a new roof too.$$$. I guess the economy will benefit.

Some more photos to follow when things get going.
Have a great weekend everyone and stay safe.
JB

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2014

I don't know why Canadian and Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on a different days but one thing I know, we should be thankful every day of the year for all we have and not only on a special day of food festivities at harvest time.
 My list of thanksgiving is long so I'll spare you... and shorten it  to this....

I'm thankful for all my very large family of brothers and sisters and my parents, ( may they rest in peace), who have instilled in me many values that have made me who I am today, my husband and my own family of 4 kids and their spouses, 7 grandkids and my great grandchild and not to forget my many close friends I have made over the years, way too numerous to mention here.

I can't forget my Rug Hooking Daily friends and also my blogger friends and secret followers. They also add spice to my busy life. I'm truly blessed...

When I was growing up, I would have never dreamt that one day I would have so many friends to share parts of my life with as I was raised in a very small country place.

I almost forgot I'm also thankful for computers, yeah. I truly am..... it makes me reach across the globe for dear friends.

To celebrate Thanksgiving here are some photos of the little grandkids my daughter Christine sent me last evening. Thanks Christine...

James and Daniel  with an other kid in the wagon at the pumpkin patch.

I think Daniel is examining a corn kernel up close.

Daniel posing in front of the pumpkins, so many to choose from.... don't you just love that little smile?

Daniel first ride on Oreo the Pony. Daddy is making sure Daniel is staying on. It's still a big pony for a little boy...

I think Daniel love this green wagon.

James is enjoying being here with mama and is ready to play in the corn box.

Playing in the hay is really fun. You should try it sometimes.

Playing in the corn box is even more fun than playing in a sand box, don't you think. It's more colorful for one thing...

James dosen't know which pumpkin he wants to choose. I'm sure he's picked several for dad to carve for Halloween. Dad is a master pumpkin carver.

James is big enough to really enjoy a ride on Oreo the pony. I can tell by his satisfied smile.

Daniel knows how to drive this huge tractor but his legs are too short to reach the pedals.

James has mastered the art of peeling apples for mama's famous apple pies.

He's watching with keen interest how mama rolls the dough...

A perfect circle. My daughter puts me to shame, such a perfectionist...

Christine told me that James helped dad deliver an apple pie to the neighbour and James told them that their dog could also have a piece. How thoughtful...

Happy Thanksgiving blogger friends in Canada even across borders and oceans...
Thanks for your visit and for leaving comments. I really am thankful for you all.
JB

I'M MAKING SOME PROGRESS

I've made a lot of progress since I blogged last. I've gotten plenty of exercise running up and down the stairs from the basement to the garage hauling heavy ceramic molds and I'm happy to report that I've hauled the last one up yesterday. Not a single mold left in the basement. My butt muscles are thanking me, lol...

I would be happier if I had no more molds left in the garage but a few more pick up truck loads and they will be all gone for good. There is no more ceramics glaze or paint in the basement either. Only equipments and I'll deal with those later.

 Now the floor cleaning can begin but I still have some stuff to move out of the way first. I'll take my time but it will get done sooner or later.

I almost forgot.....Several of my bloggers wanted to know what I did with ceramic molds. I'll give a quick explanation....

I used to run a ceramic greenware manufacturing business and was serving ceramic studios from  all over the province until I decided to close up shop to do something else.

Ceramic molds are made of absorbent plaster of paris in which a earthenware  liquid clay called slip is poured in. The water in the slip is absorbed in the plaster mold and when the wall of the casting is thick enough, the excess clay is poured out and the clay coating left in the mold is left to get leather hard before it can be safely removed from the mold. The mold is opened by removing the elastic bands that holds it together.  The shape is left to harden after removal. The clay shape is called greenware because it's just a piece of fragile clay and need to have the seams smoothed out and then fired so it can become hard . It can be painted or glazed like a cup for example. I'm sure you can google How to pour ceramic molds on Youtube to see how it's done.

 I used  a pouring table with a motorized pump like a gas nozzle to fill big molds and I could pour a multitude of molds in minutes when I was in business years ago.

REPORT ON MY PROJECT School supplies for Josephine's underpriveledged children in Uganda...

On Monday I started to tape the package to send to Vicki of 2 Bags Full but my packing  tape gun ran out of tape. It was my last roll. I didn't had time to pick some on Monday so I picked some yesterday. I got the parcel all ready for mailing, addressed and although it was raining cats and dog, I had the time to go mail it. I placed it in a white  plastic kitchen garbage  bag to keep it dry and off I went with my windshield wipers going at full speed. I had thought of bringing a printed photo of the content and decided that I would write Gift of School Supplies  for underprivileged children on the label at the post office.

We have several post office in the city but I kind of like the one across town on the other side of the river. They are about the most friendly and helpful people. It's about a 15 minute drive one way so it takes about half an hour both ways depending on the traffic and time of day.

At the post office, the yard was full of cars but luckily one pulled out as I drove in.
Inside there was a slow moving  line up waiting with assorted parcels and packages to mail to the US for some odd reason. The staff were trying to help the customers processing their packages. It was taking longer than usual. The girl explained it was because of the new regulations for international security.

While waiting for my turn, I notice a sign on the wall about the new requirements for mailing a parcel to the US or internationally in accordance with international security and trade regulations. I picked up a the information and read as I waited.

It suggested to prepare the information on line before proceeding to the post office to speed things up by getting a bar code on line after filling up the form and itemizing every objects in the parcel and their individual value.
I was afraid of forgetting something and compromising the delivery of my package so I returned home and printed the same photo of the content that was on one of my blog post entitled "REFLECTIONS FOR CHRISTIANS " and tried to fill the proper info but there wasn't enough lines to list everything.

Undaunted, I put my package back in the plastic bag and hop back in the car and away we went with the wipers still doing the swishing back and forth dance. To my delight, there were plenty of parking spaces this time but the rain was coming down in buckets.

There were no costumers ahead of me this time and I explained my problem with filling the online form. I showed the staff the photo of the content and they said, no trouble. Just give us a few minutes and they will figure it out. That lady and the gentleman were so helpful and filled up the information on the form and  into the computer and gave me the tracking number  and mailed my package to Vicki.  So hopefully Vicki will get the parcel as soon as possible so Josephine's children can have some school and craft supplies sometimes in December.

So now my parcel is on it's way to the USA. So I'm happy even though it took me an hour's drive to go mail my gift to Josephine and her children. Oh, it had stopped raining when I came out of the post office. The traffic wasn't heavy either.

Another thing that's making me happy is that our potatoes were harvested before the heavy rain started.

My husband only planted a short row this year. He harvested two trays. That's plenty for us.
Thanks for visiting. I always love your comments.
Until next time, have a nice weekend.
JB