A Little Swap Fun

Much earlier this year I was contacted by Gaia of Artistic Endeavours of a Restless Soul. Gaia does amazing embroidery and crochet work. I just love the kantha embroidery work that she shares on her blog! It's just so intricate and you can tell at just a glance that this type of embroidery takes a long time. I encourage you to visit her blog and see for yourself. We decided to do a little swap together, and Gaia sent me this beautiful embroidered piece ...

... together with a lovely set of crocheted bunting ...

I was so amazed when I opened the package at the details in this work! The embroidery has so many cute details with the animals, birds and flowers. I just love it! The crocheted work is made with a very fine yarn, and the little bead detail at the bottom of each piece is perfect. I've been quite negligent in sharing this swap on my blog, but summer has been a little strained this year and I haven't had the same blogging opportunities. Thank you again, Gaia, for contacting me and exchanging the gifts.

I sent this little mug rug and felt flower pin to Gaia ..,

I really enjoy doing swaps with fellow bloggers, although I don't join up in many of them. I have a larger Christmas swap to work on now, and it's been quite enjoyable getting back into a bit of sewing for that. I spent some time on my holidays happily stitching away, and may even get some time today to work on that again!

I hope my fellow Canadian bloggers are enjoying their holiday Labour Day Monday ... it sure is hot here!! A perfect day to say goodbye to summer (although I don't think it's leaving us just yet). I'm heading into the backyard now to sit in the shade and relax ;)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wendy

Linking up with Judith at Lavender Cottage for

Mosaic Monday

Why I Love Camping in Algonquin Park

This was supposed to be a Five on Friday post with Amy of Love Made My Home, but either Blogger or my computer is messing around with me yesterday and today, and I've been having a heck of a time loading photos!!!!! So aggravating!!! So I won't be linking up, as the deadline for that is past, but here's the post anyway, if anyone is interested ... at this point I'm ready to throw this *@# computer under the bus.

As many of you know, I've been camping with my family for many years. It started with my own parents taking us camping for our holidays, back in the '60s and '70s. We would camp throughout Ontario, but we also took one trip out to the east coast, and then another trip all across Canada to Vancouver ... all the while pulling a little tent trailer for the six of us. I still remember seeing the totems in Stanley Park, Vancouver when I was only 5 years old. I loved camping as a child ... playing in the woods, swimming at the beach and sitting around the campfire.

Of course you can click on any of these photos to see them larger.

My sister and I (I'm in back) being towed in our collapsible kayak
(late 1960s)

At the beach with my siblings ... I'm second from right

My husband and I have been taking our kids camping for almost 20 years now. For my "five" this week are the biggest reasons why I love camping in Algonquin Park:

1. The lush forests ... everything is so green, so alive!  Even the deadfall is doing its part in sprouting new life into the forests. I love the tender moss, and the swaying ferns, and the way the sunlight through the trees dapples everything so perfectly. Some forests are bright and cheery ...

... while others are very dark and mysterious like this boggy forest of black spruce ...

2. The waterways through the woods, and the beautiful lakes. The hikes that we go on often pass by rocky streams, many of which were dammed and used by loggers in the very early days.

3. Canoeing with my son and husband. Now that we have a much lighter canoe, we are able to portage a little further and experience new areas of the parks.

My son having a little fun paddling over a beaver dam ... 

we weren't so lucky with the canoe, and had to get out
on top of the rather unstable dam and drag the canoe over

Cody tolerates canoe rides, but he'd really rather be walking.
He takes every opportunity to try to hop out of the canoe when we get close to solid ground,
which gets annoying really fast ;)

4. Our little trailer! This is our second trailer ... a hard-sided trailer with a pop-out bed on one end and bunk beds on the other, kitchen in the middle. It's not huge compared to some, but at 21 feet long it's big enough for us, and a lot more manageable to back it in between the trees at our campsites. It's nice to be in a trailer when it rains too ... and yes, we have a TV with DVD player to watch movies during inclement weather. We were quite cozy and snug in here for a few days of camping this summer, and you can see that I even bought a little candle to cozy it up even more!

one end with pop-out bed and our kitchen table

opposite end with bunk beds behind the curtain, bathroom (we never hook up with water)
behind the door, and our kitchen in the middle

Bathroom is behind that door, you can see the stove/oven and the sink. 

Cody has his own spot, and my mom's
woven mats make a colourful addition

5. The critters we see ... both big ...

This black bear is letting us know moose and deer are not the only big animals to
watch out for along the highway!

... and small

we always see weird and wonderful bugs!

(squeeeeeeze....) 6. All the little bits in between!

After a sudden rainstorm alongside Costello Creek/Lake Opeongo

Thanks for stopping by!

Wendy

(sorry Amy!!)

Making time for tea ;)

Into September

I figured I should do a post this first week of September since "September" is part of my blog's name.

Here in southern Ontario it's heated up to make it feel like the middle of summer again. But the tell-tale signs of autumn won't be reversed, and there are tinges of reds and oranges on some of the older trees and even some of my bushes. The burning bush has a definite haze of red about it now, and it won't be long before the whole bush sets on fire!

My little sensitive plant popped out a couple more blooms ... so delicate! These are tiny, only about 1 cm across, but quite cute.

One flower I'm not quite sure what it wants is the portulaca. I love this bright little flower, and have it in a very hot, dry sunny spot, but I think there is an issue with the soil in this garden (could be when I poured Borax in the garden many years ago), or else there's something making plants sicken from the roots up. A few of the portulacas are showing signs of distress. There are still quite a few blooming, though, and they are such pretty little things that I pick up just a few each year.

Yesterday I had to rescue a poor little chipmunk. It had run across the netting covering the pond (the netting protects the one and only fish in the pond from herons). I just happened to be right there filling up a bird feeder when I noticed him. He was really thrashing around and had got the netting wrapped tightly around his tummy, under his front legs, and his tiny claws were catching in it every time he moved.  I didn't want him to bite me, so I ran inside and grabbed the big leather gloves my son used in his welding class. I got hold of the chipmunk as gently as I could and started snipping away the netting. I think he realized soon enough I was helping him as he stopped struggling and wriggling around so much. I'm pretty sure I got all the netting off his body, but there may have been a tiny bit caught on his paws when he suddenly did a magnificent wriggle and leap and got away from me. Even so, I think he would be able to chew the netting off his paws himself. I sure hope he learned his lesson!

I've not been reading so much lately, although it used to be I would never be without a book on the go! Last summer we visited the McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinburg, Ontario. While there I picked up a couple of books written by the Canadian artist Emily Carr. I really enjoyed the books, and then discovered she had written quite a few. We saw an exhibit of her paintings at the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) earlier this year, and I was able to find two more of her books. I saved them to read while I was camping ... I always like to have a good book that relates to the wilderness when we camp ;) 

Now I have read these three books, "The Book of Small", "The House of All Sorts" and "Klee Wyck". Of the three, I liked "Klee Wyck" the best.  I then moved on to "Hundreds and Thousands", which is actually her private journals. It was interesting to read about the paintings she was discussing in her journals, and then looking up the painting in a book I have of her artwork (which I purchased when visiting the Emily Carr museum in Victoria).

I absolutely love these books! Her writing is just so relaxed and to the point. She writes about her struggles with her painting styles, her many trips into the giant forests of Vancouver Island and mainland BC, about meeting with the many aboriginals, with the artists in the Group of Seven, and her life in general. I'm not a terribly fast reader, and still have a bit more to go before I finish this last book (although there are still more of her books I will have to look for). If you're interested in Emily Carr's art and life, I would recommend these books, but in particular "Klee Wyck" and "Hundreds and Thousands".

Well I won't be able to do much reading today, and I see the thermometer has been climbing steadily for the past hour ... we're in for another hot one! My daughter will be heading back to university town on Saturday, so she and I have been picking up a few things this week to get her settled for her final year. My son is also in his final year of high school. We're still discussing with him what he could study ... he's finding it hard to choose one thing to move onto though. But we'll get there (hopefully) by January when the applications need to be filed.

I hope you're all enjoying this final week of summer (well, here in Ontario it's the last week of summer as most schools start next Tuesday). 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wendy

my own 'hundreds and thousands' ;)