Sylvia's Simple Shots

My first trip to Patricia Lake in the Griesbach neighbourhood.

There were a number of waterfowl about.  The weather was crisp but lovely.

Here is a beautiful Red Wing Blackbird hanging in last years' bulrushes.  I expect the couple is working on nest building and he is being protective.

I took a browse through the St. Albert Painter's Guild's Spring Show.

So many pieces of beautiful art.

A lot of mediums represented.

I met my aunt who had pieces in the show for lunch at the seniors center before our walk through the art.

An Orphan's Wish by Molly Green was the book I finished this week. 

A beautiful wartime story set in England in 1943.  Lana has lost her fiance to the fight with Germany over the seas.  She accepts a temporary position to teach children from the local village as well as the orphanage nearby.

One of the children there is not an orphan but the son of a German operative cooperating with the British forces. Priscilla has lost her parents and is adrift emotionally dealing with her grief.

The German man comes to visit his son and Lana catches his attention.  She is quite aware of him as well but he is the enemy who took her love so she is reticent to get involved.

Wonderful story and great read.

I headed over very early on Monday morning to have my say in this country's election.  The polling station was held in a church and they served goodies on our way out.  That was nice.

With that done, I headed out for my regular walk around the neighbourhood camera in hand.

The car was headed for his test later today.

My first Uber experience since the car had stay overnight.

A friend and I headed out for a supper out.

I have not eaten at this restaurant much but it been twice in a few months.

The food again was delicious and leftovers made another meal.

The car passed his compression test and had its software updated to warn if the engine is showing signs of the breakdown of the sealing rings.

Another ride with Uber to go and pick up the car.

R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton completed this week.

Kinsey is hired by a father to is keep an eye out on a felon daughter released from prison.

Bad habits are hard to break and when temptation of thousands of dollars appears Reba could not resist.

Then the owner of the money is motivated to get his money back.  Force is not out of the question and someone loses his life because of his association with Reba.

Another great book.  

I will soon have read all the books in this series.

Books - Catch Up

The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie

I finished this book a bit ago.  I wanted to document my recent read before my from the blog for a bit.

I was surprised to find this book was first published in 1925.  Anthony Cade is doing a favor for a friend when he heads to the UK from France. A simple delivery.

Well, when he arrives at Chimney, the grand estate in the late evening he senses something amiss so decides to leave under the cover of dark and return in the morning.

There has been a murder! The story was very well done and Anthony uses his charm to get to the bottom of it and into a woman's heart.

It was a very good read.  I will keep an eye out for more of her books.

It's always good to reconnect with Kinsey Milhone in B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton.  This is the second book.

Beverly Danziger is looking for her sister Elaine Boldt and hires Kinsey to locate her. 

Elaine does go to Florida for a few months in the winter but her pattern of behavior changes just before she leaves. She takes off a few days prior to her plan, she leaves in the dead of night and where is her cat?

There has been a fire in the house next to Elaine's apartment building in Santa Teresa. Elaine knew Marty Grice her neighbour. 

Kinsey heads to Florida and finds Pat Usher living in Elaine's flat.  She is subletting she says.  No sign of Elaine.

There is a connection between the fire and Elaine's disappearance and as usual the final chapter things turn completely upside down.

Great read!

Another great book! The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley.

Verity Grey is asked to join an archaeology dig in Scotland to uncover an ancient Roman site. She leaves London and takes the bus to the town of Eyemouth, Berwickshire then makes her way to Rosehill estate a good walk from the town.

Peter Quinnell has searched his whole live for the Ninth Roman Legion. Verity is reacquainted with a past boyfriend and there is David Fortune an archaeologist who teaches at University of Edinburgh and is part of the crew on the dig.

The gatehouse at Rosehill estate houses a small family - Brian, Jeannie and Robbie McMorran. Brian is a fisherman and is away a lot, Jeannie is the cook at Rosehill and Robbie is a very special young boy.

There are romantic interests, the sound of galloping horses when none are about, and those who have the second sight.

After a couple days, I had just sit down and finish this book. The history recounted in this story is wonderful. 

I found several Sue Grafton books at the thrift store a while ago so I picked up about 5 of them.

K is for Killer by Sue Grafton is this one.  I missed Henry Pitts the landlord this story. 

Janice Kepler is a grieving mother who can't leave the death of her beautiful daughter Lorna alone.

 
Kinsey pieces together Lorna's young life: a dull day job a the local water treatment plant spiced by sidelines in prostitution and pornography. She tangles with Lorna's friends: a local late-night DJ, a sweet, funny teenaged hooker, Lorna's sloppy landlord and his exotic wife.

This story was full of suspense and twists and turns and really finishes with a bang on the last few pages.

 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

One of my aunts celebrated a birthday so a few of us got together for Chinese food which was delicious.  Then she invited us over to her house for blueberry cheesecake. 

It was a raffle prize at reunion and she froze it till her birthday. My sister had made it in a dish which went along with a casserole carrier.

It was delicious.

I started the week early in the morning by meeting road blocks in just about every way to get out of my neighborhood.   People were frustrated and going the wrong way down one ways. I managed to get myself out of the grid lock and headed into the river valley.  I missed the signage warning about the marathon route.

I am so glad I can start having folks over again, now that the floor project is done.

I prepared a bit of a snack for my visit with a friend of mine on Monday.

A few veggies and dip and some ginger cookies

Of course, some Chamomile tea and great conversation.

At one point I thought maybe she should head out before rush hour traffic but it was already an hour later than that.

I guess were having a good time.

N is for Noose by Sue Graton.  I finished this book in the last couple of days.

Another great time spent with Kinsey Millhone as she dug down to investigate the final couple months of a fellow's life.  His wife was concerned about his troubles and hired Kinsey to investigate.

It's early spring and the weather is not the best but she heads north to meet with Selma Newquist whose husband passed away a couple of months ago.  

She started asking questions about Tom and his life and the locals in Nota Lake were having none of it because he was a good guy.  Well there may be other reasons.

There was a big reveal in the last chapter as to who killed those 2 guys.

It's Concord Grape time!  

We always had these as a treat when we were kids. I buy a basket of them every year.

My sister and brother-in-law dropped by on Tuesday to see the place put back together, pick up a couple things headed to their house then we went for supper at the Bul-go-gi House a Korean restaurant which as been in business since 1973.

It was delicious as always and good company.

Headed to the St. Albert Botanic Park to photograph the dahlias.  It is that time of year again where the bed of these flowers are in full bloom.

I did walk the whole garden but here are 4 of the great dahlias in their full glory.

I found out on Sunday that there would be no BC peaches this year as there was a killing frost when the flowers in bloom.

I guess that means Ontario peaches if we can get any.

I stopped at Superstore and they had cases of 25 lbs for $35.00 which is $1.50 a pound. Yes, please.

I took one home.  They are pretty much ready to eat and process so that will be on the agenda right away.

I will share with family, friends and neighbors.

I had a neighbour over for a visit and a tour of the new floor and laundry closet.

We had a great catch up.

My sister dropped by Saturday afternoon for tea and a visit.

It's been a while since she's been here so it was nice to host for a change.  She has been generous with her invites.

I sent her home with several peaches.

It's been a busy week.  It was so nice to have people over.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I took this shot at the Sturgeon River a few days ago.  

Ice is forming along the edge of the river but we still do not have snow.

We have had some flurries which whitened the ground for a few days and then disappeared.  I have to say that it has made driving wonderful in November.  I am so thankful.

I took a trip to the south this week in search of C7 light bulbs for my Mom's Christmas Light Window Candelabra.  I wanted to make sure that I had replacements when one burned out.

I checked the website which indicated that they had several packages of just yellow bulbs but when I arrived and inquired I was told they don't have any - data error.  So I bought a large box to get the 5 yellow ones.

I have taken photos of these lights many times over the years that Mom had them.  She loved them and it was one of the decorations she took with for her year at the lodge. 

These were in the picture window at the house every year.  She loved them and I loved them.  I just love the halos.

It was the only thing I wanted to inherit of hers when she passed.  They bring me comfort.  It is a little thing but a big deal to me.

I will enjoy them the whole season.

This is a cobalt blue glass bottle made from recycled glass made in Spain.

I love the pattern on the bottom, the texture of the glass and the fact that it is a flat bottle so does not take a lot of space despite it's height.

It will serve as a flower vase when I want flowers on the table and I have the yellow table cloth.

I have some blue linen that I want to make a table runner - the project is on the back burner.

I have been working on Christmas stuff a lot.

V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton.  This is my thirteenth novel in this series.

This one was a bit slow in my reading of it.  I could be my mood.

Kinsey Millhone witnesses a shoplifting incident at a shopping mall. What are the chances.  She so rarely visits department stores so to get embroiled in a conspiracy was a surprise.  Turns out Audrey Vance, the lady Kinsey saw take lingerie from the department store turns up dead a few days later.

This story involves a highly sophisticated fencing operation of stolen goods.  It is well organized where cells don't know all the players, works like a well oiled machine until Audrey is found dead.  She had her cog in the wheel and now there is no one to prepared the stolen goods and the stuff backs in the system. Kinsey is hired by her fiance to investigate and find out why Audrey died.

The mastermind of the operation is a crime boss, financier, "private banker" Lorenzo Dante.  He inherited the family business from his father who got into from his father. They all live on a large compound that Lorenzo supports for the aging members of his family.  He also supports a brother who has not inherited the gift for the business and has been in and out prison.  The should have cut those ties but it's family.  The brother makes a decision that will cost Dante all of it.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

Wildlife in the river valley has been scarce this year.  I don't know if the wildfires north would affect the number of animals here.

There have been fewer sighting of chipmunks and song birds.  It's is possible that my going out later than I usually do has affected what I see.

It's been a tough summer and I have to admit getting up bright and perky before 7 am has not happened much this year.

It's been more like 9am which means the animals have just moved on with their day and are no longer where I expected them.

We had some heavy rain this week.

This is the lamp post in the back alley and you can see the rain dripping off the fixture and driving sideways.

A set of house shoes which I hope will keep my feet warm and not create too much static.

I bought these back in April when the weather was cooler.  I have not worn them much as the temperatures warmed outside.  I expect as the temps are cooler I will be inclined to wear them.

I managed to remove the few splatters of white paint.  The price was great!

I found this small teapot at the thrift store this week.

It is 3 inches tall and a bit wider than that.  It is made by Fitz and Floyd.

Fitz and Floyd Special Teas Collection Mini Deck of Cards Spade TeaPot.

I love teapots of all sorts and I really like this one. The price was under $5 and it has no chips or cracks.

I will add it to my displays shelf.

L is for Lawless by Sue Graton.  It is always a pleasure to reacquaint myself with Kinsey Millhone.

She decides to do her landlord Henry Pitts a favor.  Johnny Lee who lives in the garage apartment next to white stucco house with very tall grass in the front yard. His grandson Bucky and his wife Babe live in the house.  Johnny has passed away and Bucky would like to give his grandfather the military funeral he is entitled to but there seems to be a problem with Veteran Affairs records. Could Kinsey make a few inquiries.

Things are not as they seem, there is a break in at Johnny's apartment.  Chester, Johnny's son has a conspiracy theory. Who know?

Meantime, William who is Henry's brother is set to marry Rosie who runs the local bar and eatery where they often hang out. 

Kinsey's involvement takes her on a wild trip, encountering a very dangerous character.  Does she make it back for the wedding.  Another great story!

This is art by a tradesman.  I found these markings on a cement wall at a parkade in the area.  I will presume that he/she was cleaning off their brush after applying tar on the surface of the structure.  I thought the shapes were very intriguing.  I have converted my shots to black and white and added a bit of contrast but they are pretty cool!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I finally found American White Pelicans at Beaumaris Lake.  There were at least a dozen in a couple of groups. 

They were getting along with the Canada Geese which there were somewhere around 50 of them on the water.  Thanks goodness it is a big pond.

I enjoyed an evening walk instead of my usual early morning walk. I walked from 8 to 9 pm.  It was a very nice temperature so there were loads of people on the path.

This shot was great because the reflection of the main pelican is good and you can see the reflection of the one next to him and the orange tip of its bill. The light is really good.  

The field blueberries were on sale this week.  My sister and I have been on the look out. She had often found them in her neck of the woods but with a call the regular supplier no they did not get any this year.

She called to say that one of the large supermarkets had them on sale.  I had my supper and headed out in hopes that there was supply on the shelf.  There was!

I bought enough to put 5 regular bags in the freezer and eat some fresh for a few days.

Thanks sister!

I am working on a bit of an update on the living room.

Now that I have another chair added to the mix I thought the rocking chair at minimum needed a wash and the buttons replaced.

I purchased the chair second hand back in 2016.  I had washed the covers then and as you can see it is white.

I gave it the covers a good scrub and a bit of bleach on the stains and it turned out really well.

I search my stash for buttons and choose these shell button which have a grey undertone.

It is nice to have that project done.

I am working of new cushions for the living room.  Trying to work in the ivory, deep moss green and the yellow chair colors along with the navy on the dining room table which sits in front of the balcony window.

A solution appeared!

I dropped the car at the dealership for its regular maintenance and I headed out to Fabricland to get thread and zippers for cushions I had planned.  I had purchased several different fabrics that I thought would work for the new green chair. Well, check out this upholstery fabric I found at the fabric store. It includes all the colors I would have wanted - grey, mustard, ivory, navy, warm green, and yellow in a heavier synthetic fabric. It will match all the chairs, include the navy, will last longer than cotton, and it was on sale for $5 a meter.  

I said YES!

 

I dropped off a bag of blankets to the rep for  Project Linus.  The blankets were made my 2 of my sisters.  I have not gotten back to making quilts as most of my fabric is still in storage and I believe will remain there for another while.

It was great to connect with this lady that I have been meeting for the last 5 years at least.

Project Linus provides blankets to people in emergency situations.  They are handed out by paramedics, police officers and fire fighters.  Those who need them get to keep them.

The book this week was T is for Trepass by Sue Grafton.  It was nice to have a visit with Kinsey Milhone again.  This story deals with a vulnerable senior who needs help after a fall.  There is no close family and a couple of the neighbours care but are not family. 

Someone is hired to provide care for Gus who lives next door to Kinsey and Henry Pitt.  He is known to be testy with the neighborhood kids and all around grumpy old man.  Solana Rojas was hired and Kinsey was asked as a private investigator to check out her references for the family.  Just the basics was requested.

Solana is a career criminal and has stolen an identity to get this work.  She is treating Gus very badly and has started liquidating his assets. She is restricting the neighbour's access to visit.  Kinsey is getting suspicious and eventually takes action to rescue Gus from his caregiver and saves his life.

I have to say having had ailing parents this story hit too close to home at the beginning of the story.  Generally, Kinsey deals with murders which is much removed from my world and is easier to accept in a fictional text.

My aunt invited me over to watch te movie, Avatar - The Way of Water.  We had stir fry for supper with blueberries and raspberries with yogurt for dessert. Yummy! A walk through her garden before we settled down for the movie. Only then did we discover it was over 3 hours long. It going to be a late drive home.

I watched the first movie (2009) - Avatar as soon as it came to theaters in my area. On a big screen with friends it was really great.

In this movie I found the war outweighed the family dynamics and values of the movie.  It is set up to have a third movie and I am not sure that I would watch the next one because it will be all out war.

It was a beautiful movie to watch!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

The critters are starting to stir if they were here all winter.  Others are arriving backs from the southern climes.

The White Squill is a perennial flower that is one of the first spring flowers.

 
Got some news on Sunday that the leader of our quilting group is moving away.  I have volunteered with her on women's ministries for many years. 

They were able to sell their house and will be moving to be near their daughter.

She has liquidated most of her fabric stash.  She brought odds and ends that needed a new home so I was grateful to receive zippers, serger thread, a bit of bias tape and a small box of buttons.

I found the smallest red heart buttons in this box.  They certainly will come in handy for Macro Monday challenges.

Thanks so much for sharing.

We will have lunch with before she goes.

I am so glad to have my tax return done for another year.

Now that I am retired it is so much easier but I seem to forget that and procrastinate.

It took only a few hours and it was done.

I had time to have a walk around Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park with my friend which I had not seen in a couple of months.

The red wing black birds had not returned yet.  I missed their distinctive calls.

The Canada Geese were jockeying for the best nesting places.

The water is very low so I hope all the birds find places to raise their young.

I attended the show where my aunt was displaying here old car watercolors.  They turned out really well. There was over 50 artists on display.

I met my other aunt and her husband at the venue.  We went for a walk along the Sturgeon River while we waited for the reception to start.

I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton is book I finished this week.

It`s always nice to reaquaint myself with Kinsey Malone the private investigator.  She has new work digs and is taking on work on her own.

Lonnie Kingman has hired her to continue work which Morley Shine was doing for him but he died suddenly.  Kinsey thinks it will be just a bit of final work and all the information will be ready for the civil suit.

David Barney was acquitted of the murder of his rich wife - Isabelle.  He is now spending her money - thank you very much.  Finding Morley`s files a but unorganized she needs to retrace some of those steps and redo interviews.

David`s story seems to be corroborated by evidence that he is innocent. 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

With my machine in a desk and not really portable I choose to take other tasks for my time with the ladies at quilting. 

I  took cutting to quilting on Monday since I just need my cutting mat, my rotary cutter, measuring tape, my long quilting ruler and some scissors.   I cut 16 UnPaperTowels - 6 sets of 2 in the grey flannel and 2 sets of 2 in the red flannel.

You can see that I have trimmed the corners on the top 2 sets making them ready for the serger.

I have quite a bit of flannel to cut and serge.  I think I will just put all of them in a pile then assemble sets of 10 somewhere along the line so I can put together nice looking colors.

When I picked up the serger I realized that I would need 2 cones of serger thread for the needle threads as they had been cut off.

I checked Michaels - they carry Coats and Clark but only in black and white on the 3000m spools.  Price is pretty good with a coupon.

I checked Fabricland which carries the Tailor brand and the price was pretty good.  I checked on the fuzziness of the thread and it was not as smooth as a sample I had from home so I moved on. They carry high end brand at a very high price.

I headed to Walmart where the price was about the same as Fabricland with the same manufacturer as Michaels and there was some grey.  Upon checking, the thread was smooth and very comparable to the the one I had with  me.

At quilting, Linda had brought fabric from one of our prolific quilter's stash.  This lady has experience health issues and has given up her hobby.

We were told all the pieces had to go.  There was a nice collection of fat quarters in beautiful colors and 100% cotton.

I took a stack of these fat quarters for my sister who is making different kind of sewing projects for the Grandma Africa chapter in Red Deer.

She has made casserole carriers, pot holders, aprons, and bunch more.  

She is working on getting rid of her stash but this will help a bit in offering different colors for her projects.

You know what they say - be careful what you wish for.  I had been wondering how to find flannel for my UnPaperTowels at a reasonable price since they will be donated or given as gifts.

Well, there were some pieces in the stash that Linda brought on Monday.

Here's the pieces I found.  There are a few darker pieces for the Make Up Remover pads projects.

I washed all the fabric and ironed them all so that they lie nice and flat and I can see what I have.

I will cut UnPaperTowels first then use the leftovers for the pads as they need pieces about 4 inches square.

Thanks so much for the donation of fabric.

I had a friend over for tea on Thursday.  I had not seen her since early December.  Of course, my life has been turned upside down since then.

We had a great visit. 

I used my Signature Turquoise and Yellow tea set which was a nice springy color.

I was invited to my aunt's new place for lunch on Saturday.  They sold their house and bought a condo much closer to me.  I am very happy to have her and her husband closer.

I decided to make Saskatoon and Rhubarb crisp in small pie size.  I used honey for a bit of sweetener in the fruit and brown sugar in the crumble topping.

I made 4 - 2 for my aunt, another for my other aunt who was invited to lunch as we were dropping off our art in the Juried Member show that morning.  One for me.

I ate mine for supper on Saturday.

Another book this week - J is for Judgement by Sue Grafton.

The story is about Wendell Jaffe who was recently declared dead after being missing for the last 5 years.  His widow Dana has collected the insurance money and has spent a lot of it clearing debts incurred while raising her 2 sons alone.

Kinsey Millhone has been hired to investigate a reported sighting of Wendell in Mexico.  Off she goes to spend a few days south of the border.  Based on her sighting it does seem that Wendell is alive. 

He has a new partner Renata and they just packed up in the middle of night.  Where are they headed. Kinsey heads back to California and starts tracking leads. One of his sons has been arrested so the speculation Wendell is headed north.

Life is always exciting with Kinsey.  We find a bit more about her personal life this week.  Some of her extended family reach out and she as always thought she had no family because the aunt who raised her never mentioned others.  There was a reason and it was hard to accept by Kinsey.