PEACE ON EARTH TO MEN OF GOOD WILL

 Merry Christmas to all my blogger friends who visit my blog. May your day be filled with new hope for a better world,  love,  peace, joy, and contentment.

This morning, I placed baby Jesus in Mary's arms to complete the nativity scene.

This is what is left of our snow on this Christmas morning while other places are overcome by the amount of snow they have received in a short time, where travelers are stranded.

I especially remember in my prayers all those who are having some difficulty this Christmas, some are mourning the loss of their loved ones, some are sick, some are dyeing, some are homeless, some are without power after the storm, and some have nothing to eat, some are stranded and can't make it home, some are at war, some are keeping peace far away from home, some are unjustly imprisoned for what they believe in and for all those who suffer in silence because of injustice. Let us count our blessings with a grateful heart.

Today, my son Vaughan, George, and I will feast on our traditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings and I'll be setting up the traditional puzzle to relax and count my blessings. A very quiet Christmas but blessed Christmas.

Stay safe and well my friends and thank you for your comments.

Hugs,

Julia

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A LITTL OLD LADY...

That little old lady is me.  I'm still whining about not having enough time to post on my blog or clean the house or pull loops. A lot of my time is spent helping my husband do the things he can no longer do for himself and his eyesight is not good at all. There's nothing wrong with his long-term memory but his short-term memory is getting worst. I spent the whole day filing three years of his personal papers which he just piled in a drawer, lol.

 Two weeks ago, he lost his cell phone in the woods quite a long distance from here, while he went to tow my granddaughter's partner's truck that got stuck in the mud in the woods and he had their three kids with them,  while they went to get a Christmas tree. It started to rain heavily by the time he got home and realized that his phone was missing. He remembered using his smartphone to call my granddaughter while he was in the truck. He didn't realize he had lost it until he got home. The phone went dead so we couldn't pin the location from the towers.

He got himself a new smartphone but it's different than his first one and he's having difficulty remembering how to use it and constantly is asking me for help. I'm having difficulty with it too as it's way different than my iPhone. I'm slowly getting to know how it works.

Yesterday morning, he came to wake me up because he couldn't find his cell phone. Sleepy-eyed, I asked him, did you look in the holder on your belt. He said no. He looked and he had his phone on him. He's getting more and more dependent on me and it's getting me worried.

This morning he went to work at the farm and went to several places in the industrial park not far from here for parts, and when he got home, he realized that he didn't have his cell phone on him. I called his phone but it rang on our house phone. It's arranged that way so we don't miss calls for the business when he's too busy to answer his cell.

I took him to all three businesses he had been to and nobody had seen his phone. We backtracked all the places he had been on the farm and then we went home. I prayed to St Anthony of Padua, the patron of lost items,  and I went to check his lazy boy chair. I removed the thick blanket that is used to cover his chair and stuck my hand deep on the side and there it was, in airplane mode. I spent the whole morning searching and within 5 minutes after I prayed, there it was.

I've been working in the office a lot lately for the farm business, trying to tie up all the loose ends, I also have to be on top of my husband's personal papers as well as my own, and his financial investment papers are a bit more complex than mine.  A lot of business transactions are time sensitive and he used to be on top of everything, now I have to remind him of what needs to be done before a certain date every month. 

Little by little things are getting straightened out, like shifting utility bills in my name so I can get into the account and download the bills on my own computer and pay them online. Things are getting more and more complex. 

We had a new wireless modem and router put in and after the technician left, I lost my internet, and also the connection to the printer. Then it was printing and now it's not printing again. I need my printer to work to print bills that come in. Even the security alarm has been affected by this new wireless modem thing. I think I'm ready to go live in a little cabin, deep in the woods.

The day before yesterday, one very important government paper couldn't be found. After a search I found it and I decided to straighten out some of his papers.  I worked all day filing his personal papers and had to drive him to town to do some financial transactions at the bank. Then he needed help to fill 10 books of tickets for his fraternal organization. Needless to say, I didn't get any of the things I was planning to do for Christmas except get some turkeys, for my granddaughter and for ourselves while they were on sale on our way back home.

We got dumped on with about 6 inches of heavy snow. It was very pretty but I never had the chance to play and make even a small snowman, lol.

My tree is finally up and also a few decorations at my entrance and in the living room.  It took me three days to set it up, lol...  The Nativity is always the first thing I put out at the beginning of Advent. I don't have any poinsettias this Christmas but I'm sure to get a few small ones from the church after Christmas. I have my fruitcake done but I need to make some cranberry cookies and some tourtiere meat pies. I won't be shopping in crowded malls again this year but will give money gifts instead.

I set up my little village on my roll-top desk. It was very somber when I took this photo.

My loyal welcoming committee waiting to greet you at the door.

That's all the decoration I put up so far except a wreath on the outside and inside the front door.

Two weeks ago I set up a puzzle that I bought at the church bazaar and thought it would be an easy one. It was more difficult than I had expected because the pieces were of different sizes and shapes and went in different directions, but I enjoyed working on it and finished it. I find it very de-stressing and therapeutic.

TURNING THE CALENDAR PAGE FOR THE LAST TIME THIS YEAR.

 Hello December, I'm a little late to greet you as I'm running behind. 

Yay! I started my Christmas decor. The Nativity is usually the first thing out, just in time for Advent. I see I need to replace the snow as it's getting worn out. My nativity is 22 years old and was given to me by Christine. I just love this nativity.

I was going to post to mark the end of  November but one thing lead to another and it didn't get done. 

Our church ladies organized a Christmas bazaar and raised over $2000. with this fundraising in three hours.  I did a baking marathon for the bake sale and donated some homemade heat bags that we call magic bags to sell before going away for the weekend in Bathurst, a three-hour drive. George wanted to stay home, and I got my son to check up on him from time to time.

I had a wonderful time in Bathurst and got there ahead of the big storm on Saturday. I was invited to a very popular Chinese restaurant by my brother Gerrad and we all ordered the buffet. We ate till there was no more room. The place was packed and the food was good. The next morning, on Sunday there was over a foot of snow on the ground. The snow didn't keep anybody home.

The family gathered at my brother's house and we all had a great time. A lot of chatter and laughter but a little more subdued than the previous year since we all missed our brother Leo.  Normally, everyone stays later but because of the heavy snowstorm, people started to leave home a little earlier than usual. There was so much food. My sister-in-law, Theresa is the hostess with the mostess. For those who live far away, we connected on the tablet through Messenger.

I came home on Monday. The snow was still drifting quite a bit and the roads were snow-packed and slippery. Once past Bathurst, the roads were slushy and the sun was low on the horizon.  A good thing I got a good pair of sunglasses that cut out the glare. Past Bathurst I got my car windshield cracked by a flying rock in heavy traffic. It needed to be replaced. From Miramichi to Fredericton, the grass was green.

I had a birthday in late November and George took me out to breakfast and again for supper at a seafood restaurant. We got our fill and had to take the rest home.  It's funny how the stomach can stretch when the food is so good. I said to George, I think I gained weight this week and he laughed at me and said, "Yeah, maybe half a pound, lol...

I help prepare another funeral reception on Friday with our church ladies. We did a lot of baking sweets and preparing sandwiches and so it seems there is never a dull moment but it's always fun to work with this group of ladies. We laugh a lot.

I attended the last hooking meeting of the season and we all had a wonderful time. There was a lot of chatter and we seem noisier than usual. We'll meet again for our Christmas Party. 

Stay safe and well, hugs.

Julia

NOVEMBER IPHONE PHOTOS TO SHARE

 Today November 17, already.  How can that be? Time is slipping so fast, it makes my head spin. November is my birthday month and I noticed that I'm not getting any younger but that's how it's supposed to be according to the natural law. I'm trying to live my life the best I can with what I've got and do as much good as I can while I still can and have some joy in the process. It's a choice I make while the world is turning the wrong way.

I looked in my iPhone library for recent photos of what I've been up to in November and I'm getting slack about taking photos. Here's what I found.

My slow progress on Madonna of the Street. I dyed some wool for the background and I'm trying to get it to look dark but not too dark. I started with a color around the outside of the halo and now I think I might have to change it as it not what I had envisioned. I'm satisfied with the rest of the mottled dark. I may leave the color in and change the direction of the loops. 

I baked these Jam jam cookies but instead of rolling the dough flat and putting raspberry jam in between the layers, I did it  the lazy way and make them as thumprint cookies. My husband love molasses cookies. The raspberry jam came from  Eric, a friend who has a raspberry patch. 

Some of my blogger friends share beautiful sunrise and sunsets on their blogs but I never take time to do that until now.  Darkness comes so early and I captures this just before the sun dissapeared for the night.

I had two Halloween pumpkins which wasn't even carved and I didn't want to waste them so I saved the seeds and stems and made pumpkin preserves with the rest. I don't usually make pumpkin preserves. If someone want to use these stems, just let me know.

While washing the seeds I couldn't help but see the pattern and movement in the seeds. It reminded me of hooking a background on a rug.

I made two batches with a Bernadin recipe I found on line. It has pineapple and golden raisins and lemon juice. My husband loves it. 

By the time I cut the second pumpkin, I ran out of white sugar and decided to do make due with what I had and used light brown sugar. I made my own recipe and used less sugar. It was pretty good and not as sweet. I put the bottles through a boiling bath in the canner for 25 minutes to finish off. I can't believe I'm still canning in November.

Some people have started decorating for Christmas so I put my Christmas wreath on the door but no picture. Our snow is almost all gone but is still hanging on. 

Stay warm, safe and happy. Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends.

Hugs,

Julia

ST ANDREWS N.B. HERE I COME WITH MY HOOK

What a fun day I had in St Andrews even though I only knew a few people from our hooking group, I got to meet most of the rug hookers from all over the province and beyond, by going around the tables and asking them if I could take their pictures with name tags so I could remember them for when we meet again. They were all so cooperative and nice about it. I also asked if I could post their pictures on my blog and they all said it was ok.

The three and three-quarter hour drive to St Andrews by the Sea was very pleasant and I saw a total of three deer on my round trip but thankfully, no moose. The weather could not have been any better. It was warm and sunny.

I took a lot of photos of people and Kimm took some photos of the amazing baskets of prizes which I hope she will share on her blog. There were a lot of great prizes but as per usual, I didn't win anything. lol...

Rosie was the little blonde rug hooker Mascot and made her mom proud by being so well-behaved.

Not to be undone, mascot Ebony also made her mom proud by being well-behaved as well but she was a little camera shy. (I hope I got her name right...)

I didn't get the name of this lady as she didn't have a name tag but her hooking was exquisite

 and she is with the HRHG rug hooking group in Fredericton, N.B.

Again this lady is from the HRHG group and I forgot to ask her to show me the name tag 

so if Kimm read my post, maybe you can give me her name. Her rug is going to look great.

Sharon Cahill from the HRHG group was working on her mug rug. 

I hope I'll see her again soon. Having pictures will us to remember.

 

This lovely lady is Bev F.  She's a member of the Tea Room Rug Hookers group from Sussex N.B.  

When I asked her if I could take her picture, she recognized me from my blog and said yes and then told me that she has been reading my blog for a long time and she knew all about what I share on my blog.

I was so delightedly surprised that she read my poor neglected blog. 

This alone made my trip to St Andrews worthwhile. I hope I'll see her again soon.

Pat Neill was on her lunch break so her rug is not in the picture. 

Pat is a member of the Carnegie  Hookers, from St John N.B.

Lynn K. is also on her lunch break and is a member of the Carnegie Hookers.

I could not make out her last name as the name tag came on blurry in my photo.

This is Jean McBride, a member of the Carnegie  Hooking group of St John N.B. Again, 

I've missed seeing the rug she was working on since she was on her lunch break.

Gwen Henry,  a member of the Carnegie Hookers, St John N.B. graciously allowed me to interrupt her lunch to take her picture.

This is Della Ackles of Della's Rug Hooking and she came all the way from Amhurst, Nova Scotia to be with us. She was hooking on a metal mesh basket with strips of wool.  I was very impressed. Della owns a rug hooking studio where she sells and dye wool.  www.dellasrughooking.com

Della was the winner of a huge basket full of goodies. She even got a nice bottle of wine.

Lynne was eating something that looked very yummy. Lynne is a member of the

Newport Loopers of Nova Scotia. I'm so glad you could join us on this beautiful day.

The name is partly hidden by the hair but I think her name was Shelly Myers of Amherst.  If I'm wrong, I apologize.  I did not have the name of her group.  Maybe Kimm, can help me with this. 

On the right is Kimm of Evening Matters,  Fredericton N.B. Kimm is the contact person for our group. 

She is the one who invited me to join her group of rug hookers this year. I met Kimm through a friend's blog. She keeps our group informed on rug-related events and is doing an amazing job. Thanks, Kimm.

On the left is Lita Lewelyn member of the HRHG,  and also a member of Evening Matters of Fredericton N.B. Lita is the mom to the little four-legged blonde rug-hooking mascot you saw above.

This is a member of the Quoddy Loopers of St Andrews, who hosted this hook-in. 

Since she didn't have a name tag, I'm at a loss to remember her name. Kimm, maybe you can help me with the name. 

She lost her sister Sandra to cancer and was giving everyone all of Sandra's wool worms (and there was a huge, huge amount), also lots and lots of patterns, and rug hooking magazines so we could all have a part of her sister spread over New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. This was so generous of her. I took home lots of wool worms and magazines. Thank you for sharing so generously.

This is Mary Jones, the contact person for the Quoddy Loopers of St Andrews.  It's so nice putting a face to the lady I contacted to register for the hook-in. Such a lovely lady. I'm sure to return at the next invitation.

Again, I don't have a name for this member of the Quoddy Loopers of St Andrews, N.B. since she didn't have a name tag. I hope to get to better know her next time.

This beautiful smile belongs to Susan Waddy of the Quoddy Loopers of St Andrews N.B. and I'm loving her sunflower rug. 

This is our well-known and beloved  Doris Norman, accredited teacher of the Pearl McGowan and  The  Rug hooking Guild of Nova Scotia and an incredible artist. She is also the mom of the little four-legged black rug hooking mascot you saw earlier.  Doris is a member of the HRHG group and also of Evening Matters. 

This pretty lady is Audrey Norman and a member of the Quoddy Loopers of St Andrews N.B. with a fistful of wool worms.

Check out the dog bowls on the floor. 

Another happy rug hooker, showing us her beautiful rug in progress. Cindy Needler of the Quoddy Loopers, St Andrews, N.B.

Lynn Kozak of the Quoddy Loopers, St Andrews N.B. showing her little work of art. I should have asked her what the red thing was.

I don't know who this lovely lady is or from which group she belongs to,  but I'm in love with her partridge in a pear tree rug. 

This is Theresa Bogle of the Carnegie  Hookers of St John N.B. I'm sorry, I cut the top of her head off but I was focusing on her name tag so I could remember her name.

The only gentleman among a sea of rug-hooking women. Alen Tibbetts member of the Carnegie Hookers of St John N.B. I wish I could show you what he was working on. 

Another member of the Carnegie  Hookers of St John N.B., Lori Landry as her name tag clearly shows. Lori is a friend of Theresa Bogle. Somehow the picture came out of order. 

Ann Christenson of SussexN.B. I assume she is with the Tea Room Rug Hookers.  She is working on a Christmas punch needle piece. 

This is Dorothy McDonald and I have no idea to which group she belongs but she was definitely enjoying her proddy project. Look at those wide strips.

Krista of Evening Matters, Fredericton N.B. was our only seller and was doing a brisk business with the help of her husband in the background. She kept him busy measuring and cutting and folding.  Krista is also a rug hooking teacher and was announcing the upcoming rug beginner course.  I came home with a lighter wallet. Sorry, I didn't take pictures of her gorgeous wool and supplies.  Ironically, Krista lives near my home but I had to go to St Andrews to buy her supplies. 

Finally, a selfie of me to finish this post. I'll show you the little progress I did on my Madonna and Child in my next post. I promise a much shorter post and I apologize for the length of this post but I wanted to keep all the photos together to get familiar with all the happy rug hookers.

Happy Hooking everyone and thank you for allowing me to take your photos and be part of this project. I'm very grateful.

Thanks for reading my blog and leaving a comment. 

COUNTING MY BLESSINGS, HOLY MOLY, IT'S ALREADY PAST MID OCTOBER.

 Thanksgiving came and went and I'm very thankful for all my blessings. On Sunday I cooked a small turkey and mashed potatoes, squash, broccoli, and gravy, pickles of course, and made two lemon pies. I usually prepare everything early in advance but somehow, I didn't this time. I had to split the turkey in half and all the food in two to be shared with my grandaughter's family of 5 and I delivered it to them. Unbeknown to me, my granddaughter wasn't feeling well enough to prepare her turkey dinner and she was pleased to receive the dinner already cooked. I didn't make the dressing but gave her a box of StoveTop as I had forgotten to buy celery to make the dressing. My son Vaughan joined George and me and we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner without the dressing, (my favorite part)lol... Of course, I got too busy enjoying dinner to take any pictures.

We've had lovely weather and I took advantage to clean a large overgrown weedy daylily flower bed. It took me over three afternoons to get it cleaned. The sun was low so the photo is of poor quality.

On October 3rd.  We had our first frost. You can see where the sun hit, it melted the frost. 

 Luckily, I cut a large bouquet from my two Hydrangea bushes that grow on the front lawn before the frost hit. Now,  I can enjoy them all winter when the snow flies. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the bouquet but it's huge and I put it in front of the fireplace.

On Tuesday the 4th, I went apple picking with a friend at Everett Apple Orchard in Islandview,  the same place I went last fall, and picked 40 pounds of apples to be divided between my granddaughter, my son, and us. Two days later, I got a call from my friend to tell me that she had tested positive for Covid. It will be two weeks on Tuesday since I was exposed to her but I'm still symptom-free and tested negative. Hopefully, I'll stay symptom-free.  

My daughter Jackie teaches weaving in the textile department at the New Brunswick College of Crafts and Designs, and since we had an abundance of squash, she took a trunkful of squash to share with students. Here is the student's thank you card. Getting a thank you card was extra special.

A few of my followers were interested in seeing the bottles of jam, pickles, vegetables, and meat that I preserved. This is what I have left after selling 5 cases of pickles and one case plus 3 bottles of jam at the Farmer's Market and giving some to family members and friends and we ate some of course. I don't know exactly how many bottles I made in all but it was around, or over 300 bottles. 

Carrots and pork and some jam.

Carrots and pork ( same as previous picture)

Here I have Lady Ashburnham, beans, preserved beets, beet pickles, green beans.

Lots of large jars of Dill pickles, bread and Butter pickles

Corn kernels from my garden and Million Dollar relish. I would have preserved more corn but the electric fence switch was left open during the night and the raccoons devastated my second harvest. Hopefully, it will not happen next year. 

This is a poor picture from the end of one shelf. It wasn't easy to take good pictures of all the bottles on the shelves but at least, you get an idea as the shelf is full on both sides.   I also filled a brand new 7-square-foot freezer full to the brim with veggies the rest in my other freezers. There is an overabundance of potatoes, squash, and twice the amount of sweet potatoes that I harvested last year. No pictures.

Then I bought more bottles while they were on special for next year as they are very expensive.  They will come in handy if we are still alive next summer. I still have a lot of small and large jars not shown.

This is my Sundrop and red daylily bed after I removed the tall debris. I still need to sweep the brick border. The small green plants are next year's Sundrops.  I'm still in the process of putting my gardens to bed for the winter. I'm slow at getting them cleaned as I have so many of them all over the yard and only work when it's warm in the afternoon. 

I cleaned this bed yesterday and weeded around one of my Hydrangea between raindrops... I now have 8  and 1/2 flowerbeds cleaned with more to do and also my vegetable garden. I'll spare you any more garden pictures.

George and my son Vaughan put a new metal roof over my sunroom so no more leaks in my ceiling. Yay!  Now if I can get my ceiling fixed.

I'm booked for a Rug hook-in in St Andrews New Brunswick in November. There is only room for 35 rug hookers. I'm looking forward to it. It should be fun.

Thanks for visiting my blog. It always feels good when you leave a kind comment.