I love all the rocky outcrops along the hiking trails right near our cottage.
Skyward Sunday
I always love the sounds and sight of the stream that we cross over on our forest hikes.There are very few signs of snow or ice in the stream anymore.The woodpecker(s) has/have been busy! Can you see Luna lounging in the background?Luna was very happy (as usual) in the woods. She was smiling but I wasn’t able to properly catch it in the photo.
When I got back from my walk with Luna, Roland inquired how the weather was. So-so was how I responded. Because that’s exactly how it seems. Not great and not bad. A bit of blue sky at the beginning but that seemed to disappear by the end of our short walk. I’m glad I had already picked skyward as my theme for the day. It seems much more uplifting than so-so. And, it reminds me of a concept that I have learned about mindfulness: the idea of blue sky. There is actually always a blue sky up there above the clouds. I wrote that this morning and was going to add more but it is now 10:39 and I need to get this blog post done!
I did finish baking the cookies that I had scooped out yesterday and left in the fridge. The first time I baked them they were undercooked, so I baked them again. I also finished decorating the thank you containers for Heidi into which she’ll put 1/2 dozen cookies to share with her colleagues.
Roland got a bit of a start making a platform for Luna for the back of our kayaks. I don’t have any photos to share progress but I am definitely hopeful that it will work out so that Luna can come with us on kayak day trips. I don’t think we’ll bring her on any overnight trips.
Heidi die cut the thank you sentiments while I worked on cutting the paper for the tops and sides of the containers.
100DayProject Day 43
I had cut out the side from a container to use as a template to cut the papers with the appropriate curved edgesAll filled up with cookies (6 in each) to be delivered to Heidi’s helpful colleagues.
No more progress to report other than that I’ve watched a few more videos, printed off some of the Canva one page summary of the photos from the cards from classes that I’ll be using as my inspiration to make my own cards (once I get back into my card making groove), and put together a few dozen sets of blank cardbases, card fronts, card inserts and envelopes. I thought it would be worth having some sets of the 4 elements that I usually use to make each card already cut to size, scored and together in a set. Hopefully it will save me a bit of effort for each card I make.
On my walk with Luna this morning I was on the lookout for some signs of spring in the way of sprouting perennials. There aren’t any flowers yet, but there are definitely some new leaves popping up and some buds that may unfurl soon.
We left about 7:45 to pick up Karen and Peter for our 8:30 curling game, an unexpected win with a steal of 4 rocks in the last end after having given up 3 points despite having hammer in the first end.
We had to be back at the curling club for our 1:25 final game. I went to MultiCraft&Gifts which is going out of business to buy a few heat guns at 40% off as well as some white cardstock. I am going to stop transporting as many tools between home and the cottage and to the craft classes at Dementia Society and Canadian Mental Health Association which is why I wanted 2 more heat guns. We lost quite definitively in our 3rd game.
I started making some more cookies when we got back home before we went back to the curling club for our 5:00 dinner. Then we headed up to the cottage. Heidi has quite a long list of colleagues that she wants to thank for helping cover for her during the ringette tournament, so I suggested that I could make some more cookies and package them in decorated 500 ml plastic cottage cheese and sour cream containers. I got about 3 trays baked and scooped out the rest of the dough so it’s all ready to bake tomorrow. After dinner we went back home to grab a few things to bring to the cottage including Luna, of course. We had a great catchup call with Stefan. Luna wasn’t as interested in talking with Stefan as we were and napped on her bed.
100DayProject Day
I didn’t do any card making today, but I did make the template to wrap patterned paper around plastic cottage cheese containers and made a sample one with a die cut ‘thank you’ sentiment on the lid to show Heidi. I’ll have to make about 10 more of them tomorrow at home since I didn’t bother to bring supplies up to the cottage for that project. Hopefully I’ll remember to take a few photos tomorrow.
I did a quick review of a couple of the upcoming Altenew courses that I’ll be doing once I finish the ‘For the Guys’ course. I have found it to be helpful to download the images of the inspiration cards from each lesson, pull those photos into Canva and make a 1 page reference sheet with all the projects for each of the classes. So I downloaded the photos that for the Stencil Techniques course as well as the Seasonal Scene Building course on my phone on the way up to the cottage. Now that I’m working on my laptop I’ll pull them into Canva.
I did a short walk with Luna checking out how the neighbourhood spring perennials were progressing. A few new tips were popping up. I really need to get back on track with getting to bed early. Enough of staying up late to work on blog posts. I was quite tired when my alarm went off at seven so I didn’t leap out of bed and I managed to (very easily) talk myself out of heading to the pool for a swim. I even briefly crawled back into bed after getting dressed with a vague notion of getting some more sleep. I expect I will end up having a nap on our way to Heidi’s team’s 10:30 ringette game.
Rather than starting to make a card, I decided that I need to focus some of my 100DayProject efforts on getting my craft room disaster back into order. I have a reasonably good system for organizing my supplies, I just have a very poor record with putting things back where they should go and establishing a ‘home’ for my new things. So, I spend way too much time when I am working on a project trying to find things, moving stashes around to find a good spot to work, etc. So I set my timer for 5 minutes to put some things away. Then I started to work on cataloguing and filing a few new products for 5 more minutes. It took me a few minutes to figure out what the weird light pattering sound was. It turns out that water was dripping from my overhead light fixture in my craft room onto my very crowded work surface. I am really glad I was down there working at my table when the water started to come in. I was able to grab a plastic painting drop cloth to cover it up and we added a few plastic containers to catch the drips. It seems to be coming from the washing machine which is above it since the water is soapy. And, so Roland is trying to figure out what’s wrong with the washing machine during the spin cycles. We’ll wait for it to finish before pulling off the light fixture. Fun and Games! So much for my new found resolve to get and keep things in better order in my craft room.
In addition to watching Heidi’s ringette game we’ll also be playing a game of curling. I wrote a few cards before heading out to her game. It was a very good and exciting game with her team tying the score with 6 seconds left but unfortunately losing after 2 -1/2 minutes into the first overtime period. Heidi spent the afternoon and evening with her teammates, having lunch then watching the two semi-final games together. Roland and I dashed from her game to a brief practice ice session we had at our curling club since we hadn’t been on the ice at all yet this week. I baked some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies then it was time to pick up Karen and Peter to head to the Navy curling club. We won our first game and really enjoyed our après game drinks, snacks and conversation with our opponents. Then we went to Pub Italia in Little Italy for dinner.
100DayProject Day 41
I didn’t do any cardmaking today but I did watch the next few lessons in my Altenew For the Guys course. I look forward to getting on with making an Interactive card for Lesson 4, a Pop Art style card for Lesson 5 and a Gaming card for Lesson 6. I did do some google image searching for a few inspirational pop art images to help me with the design of my card for Lesson 5.
I did take off the plastic that’s covering the worksurface in my craft room just now before heading to bed so that if I have a bit of time between our 2 curling games tomorrow I will have a spot to work on those cards. I think that the reason my overhead light stopped working a few days ago is likely because water had been gradually accumulating in the light fixture for a while until it overflowed today. There were some wet spots on the table which has a wood surface so it is a good thing I took the plastic sheet off the check things out tonight rather than later in the day tomorrow.
I got this recipe from my friend, Jennifer. They are similar to Mrs. Field’s cookies. She always brings some of these delicious cookies with her when she and her husband, Doug (a childhood friend of Roland’s) come to our cottage. Today is the first day I’m actually going to try making them. I have been craving the perfect oatmeal-based food for quite some time now. Hopefully this satisfies my craving and I can stop searching for the right taste and texture.
Card 28 | Altenew For the Guys Lesson 2 Artistic Techniques
I started this card a few days ago. There were a few vector images of the Ottawa Skyline that I really loved. This is one of them. I was inspired by the curve when I created the stenciled skyline on the envelope, back of card and inside of the card. https://stock.adobe.com/ca/images/vector-ottawa-city-skyline-design/117472716
I used a Spellbinders die cut for my sentiment. I had been looking for a ‘welcome’ die cut sentiment because I thought I could give this card to a university friend who lives in Texas now who is coming to visit us in the summer, but I came across this ‘from me to you’ banner sentiment which I think is perfect for this card. I will definitely make some more of these in the future, with this particular sentiment this card will be perfect to send to friends and family who live outside of Ottawa. I also do want to try to make it with that curved lower edge and reflecting upon water with fireworks stamped in the sky and reflecting in the water. But that’s way more ambitious that I currently have the energy, creativity or time for right now. I’m only on Card 28 on Day 40. I’m hovering at about 70% on keeping up. So, I’m off now to watch lesson 3, Cards for Boys, of the Altenew For the Guys course.
Card 29 | Altenew For the Guys Course Lesson 3 Cards for Boys
Between game and when I got home from the curling club, I was able to make Card 29. I was definitely not feeling very creative when I made this one, but it is kind of cute. While I think it is totally suitable as a card for a boy, I actually made it with Heidi in mind. Teal and purple are the City of Ottawa Ringette Association (CORA) colours. While she’s currently playing for the Gatineau NRL team, CORA is where she spent most of her many, many years playing (and coaching) ringette. So, I think this cute fellow giving hugs seems appropriate to make for her since she’s approaching the end of an era.
End of an Era
Nancy dropped me off at Brewer after we walked Luna (of course I forgot to take my usual photo in the morning since I was so busy talking with Nancy while we were out with Luna). I had about 1/2 hour swim and was ready at the pool entrance at 9:00 for Roland to pick me up to head to Ray Friel for Heidi’s team’s quarterfinal game against Montreal. It was a good and fairly close game, but unfortunately they lost 7-5. That was a team they had played several times during the season, most of them being very close and with one win against them. So her team moved into the consolation division and will have another quarter final game in that division against their most frequent opponent, Nepean.
Her team’s loss against Montreal really brought home to Heidi that the very long, very important chapter of her life in which she’s a competitive ringette player is really quickly drawing to a close.
It would have been nice had they been able to win another game or two in the championship side of the tournament playoffs and we certainly believe and hope that her team has the talent, ability and hopefully remaining energy to win the consolation side of the tournament. Regardless, we will definitely enjoy watching these upcoming games. It was a very close game in the evening against Nepean which Heidi’s team won in overtime, 9-8.
Roland and I stopped at Loblaws to buy some Canadian made dog food since Costco, where we usually buy her food, only carries brands that are made in the States. As an individual I mostly feel powerless and that I can’t do very much to help the current and upcoming tariff situation, but working to shift our purchasing habits to try to buy more Canadian products is at least a small thing that we can do. And so we’re trying. Then we went to the curling club to join our fellow Learn to Curl classmates after they came off the ice. I guess that would be referred to as après-curl. We were able to book 1/2 hour of ice for tomorrow afternoon to practice a bit since we missed being on the ice tonight and we have the first game of the Navy Curling Club Bonspiel Friday night.
Friday: Oma and Babu left Toronto about 10:30 and, unfortunately, ran into lots of traffic. The Carrancos joined us for dinner (BBQ shrimp and baked salmon; very tasty). We took advantage of being together to celebrate Heidi’s and Babu’s birthdays early. Babu loved the framed photo from Mexico of the children with he and Oma. Heidi was absolutely thrilled with her early birthday gift: a laptop. She’s been using the computer a fair bit for school work and the old laptop was either slow or its screen wouldn’t work. After dinner we watched the excellent video that Kurt had made of our Mexico trip; what a great vacation it was. Stefan commented on how the travel video is better (than others Babu has made) since he’s in it (meaning that he’s actually been there too).
How this compares to today: Sadly it has been a bit more than a year since Kurt passed away, so there will be no more shared birthday celebrations for Heidi (whose birthday is in May) and Babu (whose birthday is in April). We still have the Carranco’s as great neighbours although we tend to not see them quite as often as when the children were growing up. That trip to Mexico is still the only family trip that we’ve taken south. And family trips are far less frequent than they used to be. I do want to try to get both children to commit to coordinating a family trip every couple of years. While we do have time together on weekends in Ottawa, Toronto, at our cottage and at Castle Oma, it’s not the same as all being away together on vacation. It’s been a while since we’ve watched any of the videos Babu made. In addition to scanning in old negatives, Roland is gradually uploading old videos to YouTube which is great because it will make watching them so much easier. It’s kind of crazy how lazy we have become and would prefer to simply stream rather than load in a DVD.
And a photo from the ones that Roland has been scanning from his parents’ old negatives. I am pretty sure that given the yellow forsythia’s and a cake on the table that they are celebrating Kurt’s birthday. How fun that the photo from April 3, 2010 was also a photo of Kurt celebrating his birthday.
Thankful Thursday
Since it’s also Thankful Thursday I made sure that I wrote a Thank You card and have it all ready to pop in the mailbox tomorrow morning. I also got an Easter card ready to mail to my brother. I am so lucky to have a huge number of cards designed by Vicki in my stash. She generously makes so many card kits for the classes that I give for the Dementia Society. Usually she makes the kits by herself, sometimes we work on the kits together, often we work on the assembly instructions together and always I really enjoy putting my copy of the card together in class. And the best part is actually getting around to sending the finished cards to someone.
Creative Treats 