First of all, I must tell you that we had a wonderful time away but, as is true of all trips, we are glad to be home. Time spent with our #2 son, daughter-in-love and three grandies was precious and went by far too fast. The flight to BC was relatively uneventful but we had listened to the news reports of massive lineups and arrived at the airport four hours before we needed to. Luckily we made it through the check in/security areas in good time and had lots of time to people watch. Coming home, due to circumstances beyond our control, we arrived at the airport just 2 hours before our flight was due and we barely made it through the check points in time...they were calling boarding for our flight just leaving barely enough time for a quick piddle break and run for the plane. That's cutting it a little too fine! Word to the wise - if you're flying anywhere make sure you allow at least two hours more than what the recommendation is. And make sure you have some food in your carry on because you're going to need it.
We enjoyed family time with our kids and got to see where their school/daycare is. 5 year old goes to kindergarten and the 2 year old goes to daycare so when they were there we had lots of time to indulge ourselves with baby cuddles. There might, or might not, have been several ice cream cones and there certainly were lots of stories to be read. Grandpa baked cookies (twice), muffins and made our favourite oatmeal with two eager little helpers, and his scalloped potatoes were such a success that there were two 'makings' of those. Grandma was happy to celebrate Mother's Day with family, something that hasn't happened in recent years.
One day we traveled to a wonderful orchid growers and this is just one of the beautiful flowers we saw there. Must say that the plants they had for sale were a whole lot cheaper than what we have to pay here. Wish we could have packed a few into our suitcases!
It's taken a few days (particularly with all the excitement of the big storm in the middle) to get back into the groove of things here. I finally busted out the crochet hook, tackled a commission, and made these...
Pattern is the Snowman Gnome
by Jen Hayes Creations
and can be found HERE
This photo shows just some of the damage from the storm. This tree is just a few feet north of our building...
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- Some of you may enjoy scrolling through THIS blog.
- And have a look at the amazing creations from THIS artist!
- And THIS one too! Or how about THIS one?
- THIS takes you to a PDF showing a different take on a knitted log cabin design that would be great for using up stash.
Today's quote is from Brene Brown...."Many of us will spend our entire lives trying to slog through the shame swampland to get to a place where we can give ourselves permission to both be imperfect and to believe we are enough"
The snowmen gnomes are adorable.
ReplyDeleteGreat links. The fiber floral wall art is interesting. I can see a jacket sweater on a smaller scale in that style
I hope my friend is happy with the gnomes - her daughter collects them. I can see a jacket in that idea too - would be wonderful.
DeleteYour time away with your family sounds wonderful, Mary Anne. I am that gal who always has to be at the airport well before I should. It is the cause of much humour from my family. The links you shared are amazing. The tulle hoops with both dried and yarn embroidered flowers are gorgeous and the log cabin knitted blanket is fabulous. Love the crochet gnomes; so very cute. Goodness, the storm was a beauty. A long time to be without electricity. Do you have an electric or a gas stove?
DeleteI think people thought I was a bit nuts when I wanted to be at the airport that early but we definitely found out that being there at the time the airport web site suggests is cutting it way too fine. Might be okay normally but not during covid times.
DeleteCan't say that storm was a beauty in the true sense of the word - it was downright terrifying. We have an electric stove but cold canned beans and breakfast cereal (dry) was good enough.
Alas......an Australian idiom meaning one helluva of a storm. =)
DeleteHere too - only sometimes it's shortened to simply being a 'beaut'
DeleteThose snowman gnomes are just so cute!!!
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you had a great visit, and the orchid picture is beautiful.
God bless.
The gnomes were a fun project but took a lot more time than I thought they would.
DeleteYour visit to the kids and grans sounds fun! There is nothing better than cuddles (and cookies!) Wow, what a scary storm you had. So glad you’re all safe and no worse for the wear. xo
ReplyDeleteOh yes, cuddles and cookies are simply the best! Very glad that if the storm had to happen that it came when we were here so we could take care of the fridge and freezer.
DeleteGlad you got away to see all the loved ones, and glad you returned safely. I have often thought could I drive faster than the drive to the airport, and the 4 hour wait? I had not heard about the storms. Again, glad you are safe. I enjoyed the card stitching site. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWe drove out to BC nearly 6 years ago but the gas and accommodation prices now are way beyond our budget so we have to fly, much as we dislike the whole process. As for the wait at the airport I would far rather have to sit and people watch for a couple of hours than having the mad panic of trying to get through the lineups the way we did coming home. That was cutting it just too fine for comfort.
DeleteFirst of all, what a wonderful trip you two had and how marvelous to be with the grandchildren again. Precious time and memories made. I'm still not quite myself after the effects of the storm here. I do wish we'd had a warning as, like you, I would have run a bathtub of water. We did have one case of bottled water left over from the farm days when we lost power often. I'm so sad that people lost their lives; how terrifying! Just watching the trees here was scary enough. Anyway, the weather still feels unsettled to me...windy and cloudy. You two take care now.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't doubt that there will be more of those types of storms and I guess we had better learn to be prepared. Hopefully it will never happen again but better to be safe than sorry. I must say we will view thunderstorms with a whole lot more trepidation than ever before.
DeleteI am so glad that you had a wonderful time with your family and that the journey to and from went relatively smoothly. The storm has certainly done plenty of damage and I hope that all around soon have their power back on! Hugs Christine xx
ReplyDeleteBeing with family is a wonderful thing, and especially so when there's three little grandies to love on.
DeleteThis is Vicki, I don't' know why the website isn't allowing me to comment with my Google account today. Anyway, I'm goad that your trip was wonderful! The traveling part is a nightmare these days. We live in a area where no power also means no water. I've got no problem filling the bathtub and water pitchers before storms! We got a generator last year so I feel a little better prepared now.
ReplyDeleteMy husband watched me open-mouthed when I ran around filling everything I could find the first big thunderstorm after we were married. He, of course, grew up in town where power wasn't an issue with water....at least not for quite some time until the reserves ran out. Now he thinks I might be smarter than he thought (not that it took him nearly 43 years to figure that out!!)
DeleteSo sorry, thought I had commented a few days ago. Wanted to say how glad to know you had a great trip and got to see the grands. Cherish those memories. Love those gnomes - they are so very cute. We have a well for our water and I know what it is to be without running water all too well (no pun intended). After Superstorm Sandy in 2012 we were without power for 13 days and had to rely on visiting friends to take showers. Bottled water was okay for drinking but we were thankful that we had our above ground pool to get buckets of water from for, ahem, toilet flushing. We're finally, 10 years later, getting a generator for the house so we don't have to go through this ever again.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately generators aren't allowed in apartment buildings so we are pretty much stuck if the power goes out. We can get running water as long as the main water facility in town is working but I suspect it would only work for so long before the reserves would run out.
DeleteI'm so glad you had a great time with family, it's priceless!
ReplyDeleteThose gnomes are adorable, if only I could crochet.
Glad you only lost power and nothing else. We do the bathwater too, we're on a well.
I think, with the powerful storms we seem to be getting now, that I'll be going back to filling the bathtub, just in case.
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