Knitting News.....finally eh? First, the dark blue colour I have finally chosen for "Claude", the cardigan in the next picture.


The colour I originally chose for "Claude", but I want to make the cardigan a bit longer so I needed more than I have here.










So......I might make this t-shirt with - someday. 

Here is a picture I like. I twirled around at the edge of the garden - in front of the wild P.E.I. rosebush - when I took this photo.

And down the side.... the freshly painted clawfoot tub is my lettuce garden with a few impatients for colour and then hostas along the retaining wall. Miniature roses.

 

Around the back....can't seem to blog more than 4 pictures at a time. These hanging baskets are my herb gardens. This is the first time I've tried this and it is working. The begonia bag on the shed is very happy and the next picture is of the oblesik...you can't see it now! And then the purple clematis.


 

All around the front. Everything has filled in so much.


 

He's a very sick puppy. My old (13 years) yellow lab has been battling an ugly nose for awhile now. First the vet thought it might be a fungus infection, similar to the fungus infection he had up the butt. When the nose began to get even more gross, bleed and smell like a dead mouse...off we go to the vet again. This time they fear it is cancer and that it has spread to inside his nose. Oh my poor doggy and my poor doggy's boy, shown here. Dunny was Adam's dog from the get-go. Dunny has been on prednisone and antibiotics and an eye drop as well for a week now. He is improving but we know we are going to have to do "the deed". Soon. Sniff. Our sturdier friends are telling us to do it now! Tell me where it hurts Dunny and then I'll decide??? 

A new kitchen?

Not this year...nor next. Our a/c pooped out in the middle of the 2nd heatwave of the year. After 3 visits from the "pros" we learned a new a/c was needed. Our units are 16 years old and with the new technology this makes our (heating and a/c) units very expensive to operate. Basically it boiled down to $1,300 to fix the a/c or $2,300 for a new energy-efficient model. We decided to go for the new a/c AND furnace because you know how it goes.......attach a brand new a/c to an older furnace and there will be problems down the road. The furnace was cheaper than the a/c!!

So, another coat of paint will go on the kitchen cabinets - yet again. And the line of credit will take another beating. Supposedly we will save 50% in hydro spent operating the a/c and 40% in gas for the new furnace. I will also save on the monthly insurance plans I have with Direct Energy...these won't be needed because the units come with a 10 year guarantee!

I had Direct Energy in this morning to give me a quote on a new roof. The roof quoter was here at the same time as the Direct Energy a/c guy who informed us of the need for a new a/c. Poor roof quoter guy ---- he knew he lost a (roof) sale when the need for new heat and air required.

Ahhh my dog and my boys. Check out the pose. Ryan is ready, if need be, to slap Adam in the gut and Adam is prepared for a backward slap up the side of the head. Funny

This picture is here for a reason....I'm not vain....I don't want to show off and I am definitely not happy with the 25 lbs. post-cigarette-quitting a year ago, that I have packed on. The reason this picture is here is for an opinion from an knitting expert before I start one of her patterns. Anna (from England) I need your advice. Is "Claude" for me? I fear I might be too ample........my body shape resembles one of my favourite characters in "Rosemary & Thyme" and I don't mean the skinny lady!!! I think "Claude" could possibly, maybe, perhaps work under a flowy tunic and pants of a soft fabric such as raw silk???? Oh I don't know. What do you think?

Anne Marie & Peter Campbell 

My bachelor-brother-no-more! On Saturday, June 10th, Peter married his lady. I have a new sister-in-law. Anne-Marie Campbell. It was a beautiful ceremony in an old stone church and then a private little dinner reception for 18. Perfect. We all went back to the house after to look at the changes. Peter's house has a woman's touch now (they are in the decorating process) and it shows. The honeymoon??? This will be spent around the house planting, landscaping and having one uninterrupted week from their busy jobs to tend to the house. The various pictures in this collage are - me with Anne Marie and Anne (my first sister-in-law), a sharp picture of Peter, Peter & Anne, my folks and the bride, Anne with her mother & daughter, Anne and her mother & sister, sister and Peter & Anne having a good laugh, in the tree, and Anne Marie with her sister. 

Warning....this entry contains trivia...fashion trivia.

I had a dilemma, two weddings this summer and I'm not really the dress-up kind of person. I love Indian clothing, my favourite being the salwar and kameez with a long scarf/shawl. I have such a "suit" but the fabric makes it a house-frau thing to wear when I want to be really comfortable. Karen and I were at the India bazaar (Gerrard St. E., Toronto) a few weeks ago and we were successful in finding wedding clothes. A chose this salwar & kameez. A sales lady suggested we try on saris. We didn't, though it would have been fun.

My brother's wedding is this Saturday - my big brother, 57 and never been married, is marrying his lady. Anne-Marie (or Anne as she likes to be called - which gives me only 2 sisters-in-law from my side of the family and they are both Anne Campbell!) is 44 and never married as well. You know I think marrying later in life is the answer to any boredom, or 7-year itches that apparently happen. Get the fun over with first and then settle down into coupledom.

This beautiful wild rose from PEI scents the entire garden....although sometimes we do get the scent of au dog poopoo mixed in - yuck. I was given 2 bushes that came from PEI, rested in Kingston for awhile and then came to my garden where each bush has more than doubled. I now have 4 established bushes and some little ones beginning to grow.
Socks......Opal cotton socks. I am making all my socks 2" bigger in the length and the foot length now because I do like to wash the socks in the machine and sometimes they find their way into the dryer. Next month I will learn how to make socks on 2 circular needles...."Unwind", our new-ish local knitting store, will be having classes. I can't tell you how many times I have completely lost stitches from a needle. If caught in time I can slip them back on but the 4 needles makes a very portable project, not portable. 2 circular needles will be much safer. 

Some garden pictures from this morning. Check out the obelisk....it is almost completely covered with the clematis now....does anyone know a welder who could make me a really BIG obelisk - cheap? The poppies popped open this morning.

For the garden shed...ugly as it is, I came up with this idea instead of painting it....2 mirror (windows) and the begonia bag between. I chose this begonia over my favourite "bag flower" - impatients because there is so much green in a perennial garden; I like the look of the burgundy leaves and orange flowers.
A close up of a pink double peony bud and a picture of the Oriental poppies that opened this morning. Here today gone two days from now!