Sylvia's Simple Shots

Another terrific sunrise this week.

Dramatic, overcast with some sun.

We have had a lot of dreary overcast days since snow arrived which makes winter a little harder to take.

Sunny Alberta is missing so I just had to take a hint of sunshine when it arrived.

It was the first Sunday of Advent on Nov 30th.

The first candle of Advent is HOPE.  It symbolizes hope and the promises made by God especially the coming Messiah.

I need to read my Ann Voskamp book which provides information for preparing for Christmas during this Advent Season.

I had a chance to visit with a couple of my sisters, a brother in law and niece when my sister's grandson was playing in a minor hockey game in a town about an hour away.

I dressed up to sit in a cold arena and watched the last period of the game and his team won!

There were a couple of  options for lunch so we headed to the pub for lunch.

The food was very good and I shared Butter Chicken with a sister.

I was able to get home before the sun went down which I was very happy about.

We had a good visit - Christmas, trips planned, next Christmas which will be a large one, my niece's new job and much more.

I had a few gift cards to wrap this week so I checked out my sister's post and loosely based mine on hers. I did have to ask her about it.

It's a long piece of fabric where you fold in both ends of the fabric. Then press the ends even which folds the remaining fabric in half with a fold at the bottom.

Top stitch both sides closed and your are done. She put ribbon on hers I did not.

I did add some accent fabric on the front piece after I folded but before I sewed the side seams. Needs refinement I would say but I was able to fill mine and have them ready which was the goal.

We had a pot luck meal hosted in the social room of our building.

Everyone brought a dish and we shared a meal with our neighbors.

As always the food was very good and there was plenty. I had one helping leftover of my scalloped potatoes.  I brought home a piece of chicken and chocolate cheesecake.

It was a very good time.

Looking forward to next year when I am sure I will know more people.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 This week new life appeared at the little pond.

I am sure they have been there all along but now that the mornings are quieter a few muskrats were feeding on bulrushes.

The morning sun was perfect lighting for these little fellows and I am sure their position where the sun arrives was well intentioned.

It was great to have continued photography interest at the pond.

I have been living with a pencil sharpener with a suction cup taped to the file cabinet.  When one which I could screw to the wall appeared at the thrift store it landed in my shopping basket.  The price was terrific.

It is 20 years older than the one I had so it dated back to the 1950's all metal with a pencil size selector dial on the front.

It works really well.

A friend came over for tea this week. Her last visit was in early August and the change in my place was remarkable.

I had left over desert from the house warming on Saturday so that was wonderful.  I chose the Ikea navy dishes for our visit.

The glass table set pitcher was great for water.

I have had the tray for a while and it sits under the serger desk.

It would slide in too far and it was hard to get out so I gave it a handle this week.

I checked my supply of knobs and found this plastic one tha would do nicely.  The bolt expects to have a drawer front thickness so I just added a piece of stiff foam to fill in the gap.

It sits on the floor right next to my sewing desk stool.

I have acquired a few Stampin Up products at the thrift stores in the last little while.

I was needing a "Thinking of You" Stamp for the IWin cards.  I was happy to return the rest of the stamps and keep the one I wanted for $2.

I picked up a SU Scallop Oval Punch in hopes that it matched the smooth oval punch I had at home.  It did. Another option for layering greetings on cards.

I picked up a sealed SU Oh so Ombre designer paper pad in 6x6 with some of the older colors that I have in card stock.

I headed to St. Albert for the fall art show which my aunt had some of her pieces in.

It was a great show with smaller pieces this year probably aiming for the Christmas gift giving shopping which is just around the corner.

Later, she indicated that sales were pretty good but because the pieces were smaller the total dollar amount was down.

We had lunch at Cajun House.

I also picked up boxes which have been stored at her house since 2022.  Now I have to got through all of them.  I am grateful she had room to spare for my stuff.

On my way to St. Albert yesterday I saw a sign on the highway for a quilt show.  I checked it out when I got home.

My neighbour aunt and I headed there on Saturday.

It was great to spend some time in this medium.  I am not a follow the pattern quilter but it was nice to learn more about AccuQuilt.  Interesting mystery challenge quilts. There was a vendor that dyed her own fabric which was great.

Several quilts combined the sewing of a quilt with the hand stitching of applique.  Those were my favorite one. 

I guess in crochet doily blanket will be something like that. 

Caramel Popcorn

I got some Caramel Popcorn made thanks to my sister.

I spend a short visit with her on Dad's Birthday. 

We went to the grocery store and bought stuff. 

Thanks to Mom there were plastic bags to hold the goodies.

I really appreciated a day of normal away from the hotel. 

Treats for our family Christmas. 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

A robin having a bath and a lot of fun in a rain puddle morning.

There were several birds taking advantage of the puddles to splish and splash.

I found some more of the votive holders I bought a while ago for my Advent Wreath/ all year round candle display.  I had a mixture of cobalt and white before.  Now I can make it all white if I want.

Super happy to find these additional holders which gives me flexibility in my decor.

Some veggies from my sister's garden that my niece picked on her way to my place.

Fresh carrots are the best.

Some of the cucumbers are a bit on the large size but I love them too.

A few tomatoes we had for breakfast.

My niece and I had a great time at the ReUse Center and the thrift store. We came home and pulled out all our goodies before we headed out for supper at my sister's house.

Magazines, crafting stuff, each found a fountain pen amongst our tea and snack dishes.

We picked up take out and headed to my sister's house for supper.  Korean was the request of the birthday girl.

My sister had a friend visiting and her husband has been ill and was in hospital.

We talked crafting, life and much more.

It was really nice to spend time with family and friends.

I picked up this wax container at the Thrift store while my niece is visiting.

I thought I could use it when I wanted to wax my thread for stitching.

It is a high quality blend of paraffin wax.  I chose a mild scented one.  From my online research paraffin is the the best so I may try to find a beeswax candle that I can melt and fill this little container.

I was looking for a bin/tote that I could place under the phone table in the living room that would look pretty and disguise the contents.

I found the fabric tote at a thrift store for a couple of bucks, it works with the wood I have in my space.

The baskets were more expensive and now I see this is a better option for sliding on the new floor.  The wicker type basket would have scratched.

Excellent.

 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

It's been busy!  

I had my aunt and her husband over for tea on Sunday.

It's been a long while since she was over so we had a good visit.  I was able to ask a couple of guy questions - about the DeWalt drill I inherited from my Dad. One of the batteries won't charge so he recommended calling DeWalt.  On the ToDo List

I sent peaches from the case home with them.

The car went in for servicing at 7:30 am so I had to spend half a day in the area.  I read my book in a bit of a coffee shop till businesses opened at 9:00 am.  I stopped at Starbuck and did some craft ideas journaling while I drank my $4 chocolate milk! 

I then headed to VV.  I sure can spent a few hours there. Forgot my coupons at home.

I bought myself a light backpack because I did not take my big one from college days because it weighs too much. It has a slot inside to keep the water bottle upright and a waist strap. Yes we will take that.

I had several stops on my list.

I stopped in at Dollarama that day as well.  I was looking for tape but came out with these metallic watercolors for $2.

They are great.  Very impressed.

Easily moistened, sit in full sized pans and provide good coverage.  I will have to find a container/box to keep them in.

I have been using them a lot.

The Call of the Wrens by Jenni L. Walsh was the book a read this week.  A wonderful book with strong female main characters.  We meet Marion Horton in WWI and Evelyn Fairchild in the WWII which served in the WRENs. WREN stands for Women's Royal Naval Service in the United Kingdom.  

Marion Horton is an orphan and at eighteen she ages out of the support system and has to find her way in the world.  The war is on so she joins the WRENs and finds family.  Her boyfriend Eddie Smith,  a fellow orphan lies about his age to join the war effort as well.  They do their basic training and motorcycle dispatch training and are posted close enough to see each other.

Evelyn Fairchild is a teenager and loves to drive fast. She is found at Brooklands regularly.  She has a clubfoot for which she has had many surgeries to correct. It has not kept her down and she has pursued her goals. Her mother is very protective of Evelyn. Evelyn thinks it is too much and she does not want to just get married.

There is a wonderful twist at the end of the book was made a great conclusion to the story.

With needing to embellish my linen coasters I decided that maybe some Sashiko work might be useful.

I looked up where I might find such things where I live.

I discovered a new to me quilt shop - Trapunto ( which means quilt in Italian). 

The ladies were very helpful and I came home with the cheaper needles and some thread as well.  I have heard of this type of stitching through Kathryn and my slow stitching challenge.

We shall see.

I have decided to trade in my great Contigo plastic water bottle for metal ones.  keeping water in plastic contributes to micro plastic in my body so I made the switch.  Of course, metal Contigo bottles on the second hand market are non existant.  Will other brands be water spill proof?

I did buy a few before I found a couple I was happy with. I have the blue one for the car and the white one fits in the new backpack.  MTF had a 50% sale on the whole store. Good to go!

It feels like back to school. 

I have bought myself a couple of jean type pants in the last couple of weeks.  This pair of stretchy jeans are a bit short waisted so they needed a belt.

I bought the belt a couple of days later after I had worn the jeans a couple of times.  I still have to shorten them.  The price was $10 but with the 50% sale I was happy with the final cost.

The belt was $2 at VV later in the week.

Keeping with the feel of back to school I bought a pair of new to me runners as well.  

They fit well,the color was good at teal and black and they were in good condition.  They needed a good cleaning.

The cost was more than I am used to but that is with everything these days.  At $16 but after I looked them up on line I was happy.  The regular price runs between $130 to $150.

I gave them a good wash and let them dry in the sun on the balcony for a couple of days.

Good as new!

I dropped off art at the Spruce Grove Gallery for the Open Art Competition

Then did some shopping at VV.  The Goodwill store has closed. Bummer! 

I connected with my aunt and dropped by for a visit and a game of scrabble.

It has been a very busy week!

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 decided to have flowers on my balcony this year.

I bought some frilly blue pansies and some larger regular yellow ones.

I have added some dill, basil and parsley as well.

I dropped by my sister's house with a box a paper we had rescued at Trash to Treasure.

Her and her daughter were working on a barn for the back of the float she was placing in the local summer parade.

It is going to be very cool!

I had a nice visit with a friend who recently lost her husband.

They had sold the house and rented an apartment they hoped he could return to following a lengthly stay in hospital. He was advised that would not happen and he was going into long term care. He quickly declined and passed away.

She invited me to her new home and we had tea and a wonderful catch up visit.

We headed out to Joey's for supper that evening.

My aunt and I visited the exhibits at the Harcourt House gallery this week.

Caitlin Thompson is a fiber artist that recycles natural fibers from thrifted shawls, scarfs, etc into works of art.

She dyes the fabric, does fabric collage and embroidery in her art pieces.

Lovely show.

We had Vietnamese food for lunch in a nearby restaurant - Saigon Taste.

I had a quick trip to Calgary this weekend.  I picked up my sister on the way. 

We dropped plants to both of her children. Had a nice visit with her son's family and checked out the garden and caught up on things.

We brought lunch to my niece who has been working hard to support her family and the extended family and needed a few hugs.

We went for walk to the local mall for a few groceries for supper and then headed north.  

It was just the girls and we had a great visit.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I visited the Heritage Hills Wetlands this week on a day where the weather was considerably cooler than a few days ago.  

Also, there was not waterfowl to be found.  No Red Winged Blackbirds so I expect they had headed south.  I have not seen any V formations of Canada Geese headed south but I may have missed them.

Considering that it is almost Halloween we have been blessed with a wonderful fall.

I did find this sparrow.

Most of my siblings headed to the Big Mall for a get together, our first since both Mom and Dad have passed. 

My sister organized a night out to a dinner theater.  We made time before supper to visit but a pub was not the best venue though it was close by. Dealing with the crowds at the mall were stressful.

The dinner theatre - music was excellent, food was very good, company was great, but I have to say it was a late night for me.

We need to make the effort to continue to get together so I am grateful for the sister who planned and those that attended.

I did manage to get an appointment to get my flu shot and my COVID vaccine this week.   They were just made available this week.

I got the shots in my left arm on Thursday and I did take a pain killer to sleep that night. I did take pain meds another couple of times.  

I guess it was at least 3 to 4 days with a sore arm but no other side effects.

I did get my appointment at my regular pharmacy so that was very convenient.

I did get a big grocery shopping trip done before the snow came.

I found these dishes on sale at the grocery store and decided that I would get a set of 2 cups and plates since they were under $1 each. The color is marked as wheat.

I added a nice glazed gourd and a small shiny glazed bowl. I believe this color was sunflower or something like that. That would have been the preferred color but there were no cups left in that line of dishes.

Just another option for hosting a friend for tea.

I decided to try my hand with a dip pen.  It has been on my mind for a while and Inktober came across my feed on Flickr I decided to try it. Inktober is a yearly event where drawing is encouraged.

I did have to unpack my liquid inks to give this a try.  I cleaned some nibs and got started. 

I really have no idea what I am doing.  I just created marks on a piece of card stock.  

I have view a few videos since this attempt and found better nibs in my stash. 

It's just a relaxing time.

Pretty Things, Delicious Food and Family

My sister was out to visit for a couple of days.

She brought gifts she had picked up for me recently.  This is a nice classic shape flower pot.  My plant shelf had taken a spill recently due to my lack of attention so a new pot was in order.  I love it.

Next to it is a 15 minute timer which I purchased for my photography because the sand was yellow which will be a nice addition to my cobalt glass photos.  She also encouraged me that I could scrape off the black letters on the outside of it.  Indeed I was able to so now they will not be in the way during my photography!  Thanks.

The other flower pot was in the shape of a watering can!  Really lovely and it's yellow!  How perfect.

I switched out the plants until it all worked.

The plants are doing so much better closer to the window.

I am very happy and I remember to water them regularly.  I expect they soon will need a feed of plant food to keep then healthy.

She also brought a wicker hat which did not work for her purposes.

I hung this in the bathroom where I have had a winter snowman hanging year in year out.  It was time for an update.  I had recently made that decision and then the wicker hat arrived!

I will have to decorate it with some flowers I expect but have not decided yet what they will be.

Sunflowers are my first thought but not really fitting with the bathroom so I will think on it some more.

We had a good walk in the afternoon to a high end second hand store but came home empty handed.

Spent some time on photography door prizes for the barbecue on Monday.  More about that later.





We cooked a wonderful supper for ourselves.  Steak, mushrooms and onions, coleslaw, and asparagus.  It was delicious.

We headed over to my other sister's to visit, pick up some art from my niece and look over some sewing machines.

It was a wonderful couple of days.