I have been gifted a loom...

It's true. An amazing, unexpected gift. For the fibre-savvy, it's a Louet Hollandia Counter-Marche 4-harness floor loom, about 51" across.

For me, I'm beside myself with joy. Please don't pinch me, I don't want to wake up.

It is waiting patiently for me, at Make 1 Yarn Studio http://www.make1yarns.com/ where the shop's (and loom's) past owners, the very generous Amy & Sandra, have instructed the lovely Bess, its new owner, to arrange for me to take it to my loving home.

Let's check the moon cycle - is it a blue moon? I had thought from the universe like this only come along that often. Never mind the monetary value (which is huge), this is something much more significant. I've been getting a lot of "it's time to start weaving" messages over the past two years in my fibre journey; there is a small 24" table loom waiting for me in Millarville that came my direction for a song about 18 months ago, waiting for my lack of space, soon to be rectified.

Did I mention I'm beside myself? Or at least beside the loom? I had to go visit it today at lunch.

It even comes with a boxful of gorgeous yarns previously set up for a project. And a few other "necessary" pieces, as Bess tells me.

I've been renovating, with one of the purposes to allow me to have some "studio" space in the basement (lower level, we'll call it now), for my (ahem) three spinning weels, many pounds of fibre (yarns, roving and fleeces) and perhaps, in my wildest dreams, one day, a floor loom. (Or to eventually have the place up to snuff enough to sell, for a place that has studio space.) Looks like the universe is telling me to dream wild!

Now, I just need to figure out how the darned thing works. Guess I'd better get serious about those weaving lessons!

Birthday Ice Cream

It is a sunny day in Calgary - a very typically May day for here. Cool wind underpinning but bright and sunny. And in my new job, these wonderful Recreation folks have a tradition to celebrate the month's birthday on one day. Although mine's May 8, they waited this year for me, till we returned from our Eastern jaunt, and we celebrated today.

In this work-group, the previous month's birthday people provide the next month's birthday people's treat - and it's not always cake. To my pleasure and surprise, we got Turtles Ice Cream...with sprinkles!

So we all trooped out, after lunch (or a lunchtime run for some) to meet in the tiny greenspace in our quasi-industrial office setting, and scooped up softened ice cream and sugar cones, and had them be-sprinkled. I was so excited at the sprinkles - little pieces of happy colour - and I felt like I was eight again.

And then, we realized we were all standing and figured we needed a picnic table. So, we enterprising Reccies (as apparently those working in the Recreation business unit are known) spied an unloved one half-hanging in the parking lot, and more-than-happily relocated it to its new home. We have already made plans to paint it and get it a tablecloth, and maybe a sibling, and to enjoy table-and-seating space in our makeshift park! Of course, following City protocol and ensuring all environmental, engagement, budgetary, safety and land-use policies are followed :)

Over for waffles

Jason's co-writer/director and his family do not have people over for dinner. Instead, being avant-garde and out-of-the-box people, they have people over on Saturday mornings for waffles. I have been lucky enough to partake in this ritual more than once; considering a year's 52 Saturdays and all the people they know, it is an honour to be invited.

And...Tania makes the amazing italian-style cappuccinos with the caffettiera http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_pot while Robert in his creative glory drags out the cookbook older than he is and liberally dusts it with flour scooped with the vintage diner-style coffee cup he uses to measure, and mixes the batter into his signature fluffy, fragrant, delicious waffles.

We eat one at a time, along the bar they use for a table, and decorate the waffley-goodness with fresh strawberries and some prunes Tania's cooked up in Madeira and other things to just taste heavenly. There is organic maple syrup and we had the forethought to bring a yummy Chaumes cheese with fabulous orange mold we brought back from Ottawa - all amazing together.

We got to play with Freja's dollhouse (complete with a garden housing parsnips, cabbage and beets) and coax her into talking after she showed us her party dress and ate the strawberries we chopped for her.

Saturday morning bliss. Thank you, Cuffleys.

Time travel

Stepping into Merrickville was a bit like stepping back in time. As I said yesterday, the buildings are built to last - and you can just feel the history exuding from the very streets. It's gentle, it's paced, and it embraces the old plus the new of things. Not just doing things because that's the way they've always been done, Merrickville also seems to embrace the newer generations, never mind the tourists.

If you're in the Ottawa area and want a wee getaway, it's a must-do. Plus, as the Chamber says, the parking's free! http://www.realmerrickville.ca/ (and you've got to love it when Holy Trinity church is in the Chamber!)

One of my favourite stores there was Mrs. McGarrigle's Fine Food Shop. They make their own fabulous brand of mustard, as I didn't find out till I was back on Bank Street in Ottawa (and found The Mustard Shop, full of...you guessed it) and saw it there. But they also had this great collection of clocks on the wall (available for purchase, too), and loved the place-times, including Amelia. I joked they should have a "Kathleen" clock, since my motto ought to be "on-time is when I get there".

They also had a great art-wall full of blocks down a staircase. I love it when for-purchase display is art in and of itself. The whole store was like this, a treat for all the senses. Including my tongue with an amazing dark chocolate sauce that snuck its way home in my suitcase...

Many reasons to return...

Too many choices

I can go for weeks without making a single image, sad as it sounds. And then I have times where I fill and re-fill my SD cards and then rarely have the time to spend editing or culling the images, to do exactly what with, I don't know. Now that I don't take my film in to get printed, I don't have a tangible to deal with, to put away, to put in a photo album, to put in a frame, on one of those clippy things that fall over anyway, to show off to everyone.

Anyway, this last few weeks have been full with a trip to the Ottawa area, and a fasting spiritual journey in the mountains on May long weekend. And so my SD cards are full of images. What to share today? Maybe I'd better catch up and do a mini-gallery.


Today: Merrickville. It's what people would call a quaint town, in the Ontario countryside near Ottawa. Full of antiques and folk art and beautiful brick-and-stone buildings made in a time when people built things to last. We had my birthday lunch there (it was all fresh and brilliant and the crème brulee was amazing and I hate to think of the bill but I didn't see it so that was perfect, too) and a wonderful walk-around. But it was too short, and my lovely local friend Cori and I went back on Mother's Day for more of a leisurely poke.

We found this gorgeous old house (top of post), on the way into town. I love its grandeur, and its slight shabbiness which makes it more beautiful.

And then there were the great phone booths on the street, just a smidge of old-world.

Miller's Antiques was a pure haven of folksy vintage plus antique, and the nicest people. I was served by Zach, home from Golden for the weekend, helping his mom in the very busy store. It was strange but very Canadian to be from Western Canada, being served by someone from farther West than me, in a location farther East than I'd originally come to travel.


I've got a couple more but I'll save them for tomorrow.

The Photo Challenge

So apparently there is a photo challenge going around, where you post a photo every day (or nearly so) and keep a sort of ongoing diary by doing so.

Sounds like a good concept - and simple. But I also know my ability to procrastinate and the fact that living my life often keeps me from actually documenting my life.

My sister Riel sez I have to help her with her photo challenge, and to keep her going, to do this with her. I'm already a month behind, but, with various travel and experiences behind me in the past month, I figure I should catch up before long...so here goes.

This is a snap of the angels at the top of the war memorial when I saw it a week ago, in Ottawa. It was a gorgeous day, with blue sky only, and bright sun, and it was the antithesis of depressing. I couldn't help but see the glint off the wingspan of the one angel guarding those soldiers - representatives of my sister, my brother, and many other souls braver than I am. I have seen this memorial so many times in print, and twice in person, and this image of the angels' wings just keeps it for me.