While waiting for the Avon Lady

I hit the 'New Post' button with not a clue as to what I will write about!!!!  I seem devoid of inspiration!

I have been weaving this morning while I wait for the Avon Lady to visit with my order - the Avon Lady is a good friend - Callie is especially fond of her and loves the special attention she gives the furry creature greeting her at the door.

 Callie is also curious about the time we spend weaving, and often sits beside me, watching the shuttle being thrown back and forth, and the treadles moving up and down, up and down!  I am two thirds through the first blue towel, and am looking forward to changing the colour of the weft and the pattern - a great venture for someone with a short attention span!  And I speak of myself, not Callie.

She is a sweet cat, - demanding, but very affectionate, - at one time she used to lie on Charles' tummy as he watched TV in the recliner, - now she lays her head upon my breast and reaches her paws up to my neck, and is positively "suckey" - I think that's what the grandchildren say of her loving ways.

Both she and I are happy with the way February is opening itself to spring, - we have both been house-bound for too long, and when I closed the garden gate to make it secure for her, and opened the little cat door on the porch, she was quite ecstatic and was off into familiar corners of the garden where she watches the villagers who walk the lane, and probably all sorts of bugs and strange creatures that inhabit the garden.

The Daphne is in bloom, - so early.  And the Hellebore in the front garden, - although that in the back, which doesn't get as much sun, is reluctant to open its stubby green buds.  The weatherman says three sunny days starting Sunday, and I look forward to raking up the leaves that an early winter snow covered in November, and if I put them into windrows my son-in-law will come with his mower and chop them into little bits to nourish the lawn.

The other day, while the clerk who looks after the flower display in the local grocery store was putting out this week's plants and flowers, I treated myself to a pretty bowl of double white narcissis, and a small pot of purple crocus - the narcissis is so fragrant, - I have changed the place where I sit at the table so I can be closer to it and inhale the lovely smell of spring!

Soon the bulbs in the garden (which are shooting wonderful green swords all along the side bed) will be swelling with lovely pregnant buds.  The teasels on the nut tree grow rounder and fatter and more golden each day,  and I am on the watch for the scarlet stubs of rhubarb.

And here is the Avon Lady, and I have not put up any pictures of catkins or cats or flowers, but I will post this anyway, and save photos for another day.....

Frogs

ABC Wednesday
February 18th, 2015

The letter is F and as you have probably already guessed, F stands for Frogs, and here is Red Skelton to entertain you with a poem about those little green creatures.

Enjoy, - and for more great Fs fandangle over to ABC Wednesday, here, and say thanks to Denise, Roger and all frivolous helpers who keep ABC Wednesday on the map, so to speak.

This, that and the other.....

I woke this morning to a bright blue sky - oh heavenly, heavenly...

Soon there was a rosy cloud hugging the mountain tops to the east,

 and the day was beginning to look quite promising.

Well, it was quite promising.

I had a date to go for lunch with Margaret and her daughter Susan, 

who each Sunday drives down from Kelowna to take her mother out and about 

and to a new place for lunch each week.... 

 A splendid daughter!

Margaret is one of my dearest friends from newly married days,

 and farming days, and raising a family at the same time days, 

so we have many memories to share.

Today I was included in their Sunday adventure

 and we set off to Osoyoos, and lunch at Spirit Ridge, 

the wonderful venture that the Osoyoos Indian Band has achieved under the direction

 of their exemplary Chief, Clarence Louie

We set off down through the Lower Similkameen Valley, with the sun shining on snowy peaks, and the meadows suggestive of the colours of spring.

Up over the Pass that skirts the US border

Soon we were overlooking the lake and the vineyards and orchards as we descended into and through the lovely touristy town of Osoyoos.

and up the hill to Spirit Ridge and  the NK'MIP vineyard and resort

Lunch was delicious.  We sat by the window and chatted and admired the view.

we took the back road to Oliver, awash in vineyards,

The sun on the mountains shadowed the contours of the hills and vales

and revealed the small rills and valleys, hidden so gloomily by the last months' 

mists and pewter sky.

 We went past  Macintyre Bluff, whose geological past is

absolutely fascinating -

and I was thrilled to see the shadows cast by eager limbs, the grass turning green

 and the sap rising

spring-time yellow in the willow trees

Around Vaseaux Lake and the Bird Sanctuary, we came at last

to the turn around spot and went westward again towards the Similkameen

and home.

Well, that's the this and that.....

As for 'the other' I have been dressing the loom in left-over cotton,

and now I am weaving!!!!

Very prosaic tea towels, but it gives

me much pleasure and relaxation to have the shuttle moving

from hand to hand, through perfectly lovely sheds,

and the pattern growing

under my hands.

Weaving and Sunshine - what more could one ask !!!!!!