Squi'lil Small

I know we're not supposed to like squirrels, but I do.   When I was 10, I received the most wonderful birthday gift--a library membership to the Fraser Hickson Library in Montreal (sadly no longer there).  I had read everything in the little library in my elementary school and being allowed to go on my own to a grown-up library was sheer heaven.  I could sit or browse as I wished and a life long love of libraries was born.

But, back to squirrels.  In my wandering, I discovered the author Gerald Durrell, who had what I thought was the best job imaginable.  He went around the world collecting animals for zoos.  Now today, this is not politically correct, but then, it opened the world for me and I learned so much.  One of the many stories I remember vividly was about a little squirrel that he named Squi'lil Small, a wily rascal that was always escaping his cage.  Every time I look at the little red squirrels that visit my bird feeders, I'm reminded of the story.  I know they're pests, but they are endearing.  Their high flying feats of daring delight me, and the birds don't seem to care about them at all!

We seem to go from one extreme to the other with weather, so yesterday's lovely blue sky and -20 turned into today's blowing snow, high winds and white-outs.  I had to go out and rescue my garbage can on the porch where I keep the bird seed.  I tied it to the barbecue to keep it from heading off down the road!

I made a cozy for my daughter's IPad on the weekend.  I'm still working on stash busting and found everything I needed in my sewing room.  As an homage to Valentine's Day, I lined it with a fabric strewn with little hearts.  The outer fabric I found a while ago as an upholstery remnant, but have no idea where it's from.

I bought it because it liked the red medallion as a contrast to the cream and navy pattern.

I'm linking with The Needle and Thread Network today, a site that showcases some wonderful Canadian bloggers.

Puttering

I love the word puttering.  It makes me think of little old ladies and gents with misshapen cardigans wandering around lovely English gardens snipping a bloom here and picking up a leaf there.  Well, that's my fantasy anyway.  And here's a gratuitous picture of a flower because winter requires bright colours to chase the blah away.

I am learning to embrace puttering.  At some point every day I might practice my recorder (I decided to relearn it after not playing for 20 years)

 I might go to "sewing world" and play with some scraps for  virtual bees.  I can't find the name of this bee, but think it has the word Modern in it.  I know, right on top of things!

These two blocks are for the WeeBee Canadian.  Fun and fast to make.

Or I might make yet another zippy pouch to give to a friend when we're invited for supper.

I might take out sock yarn and think about casting on a new pair.

I might make a cozy for my Kobo.  It was a gift and was great for travelling last summer, but I still prefer my library books!

I might practice some of the duets I'm working on with a friend (singing)  This spring we're organizing a benefit concert based on the 100th anniversary of World War I.  The songs will all be from that era and some will have an audience singalong component.  Since there is an army base not far from here, we're hoping to get a military band or presence to help underscore what we are raising money for.  We will be supporting a group called Soldier On, that encourages wounded veterans to keep being active.  In this area we have a very good disabled skiing program, but would like to get other initiatives started.  No, I have no affiliation with the military, but I am angry at what the Conservative government is doing by withdrawing support to the young people who have volunteered to serve their country.

So, I feel much like a hummingbird, flitting from one thing to another, but what a joy to be able to do it.  Before I retired my life was full of organization, meetings, stress and remembering a thousand and one things.  Nowadays I'm happy to be a putterer, a gadabout, a flibbertigibbet.  Life is good!

2014

I might have been a little premature about electricity in my "Thankful" post.  It's only been since yesterday that the power has stayed on all day reliably.  Although it's not the end of the world if you get power for 2 hours and then not for 10, it makes it difficult to plan anything, like cooking in the oven, baking bread, sewing, laundry, etc.  But today it's on, and thank goodness as it's -25 outside.  Even with power it takes a lot of wood to keep the house warm.

We played a lot of cribbage and my luck doesn't get any better.  I'm not the person who should go and buy the group's lottery tickets!

Today we went snowshoeing to see how much damage there is in the woods.  Lots.  20-metre pines have the tops snapped out from the weight of the ice still on them.  Many of our trails are impassible due to trees bent right over and now frozen into the ground.  There will be a lot of work in the spring to clean up the mess.  On top of everything else, the tractor was broken for 10 days, so we had to shovel ourselves out by hand more than once.

At least now it's fixed and I've caught up on laundry!

I notice that so many people are publicly putting out their new year's resolutions, but that's not something I believe in.  I really think that we should all strive to better ourselves and be more content with who we are, but an arbitrary resolution doesn't do it for me.  I guess I'm lucky that I'm not overweight, I don't smoke, I don't drink to excess, I eat a healthy diet, and I'm fortunate in family and friends.  But I never take it for granted.  I know all too well how life can change in a moment and set us careening off in directions we can't imagine.  So my intentions for 2014 are to continue to do the things I love:  make more music, enjoy being creative, do physical activities, and spend time with those I love.  Very dull, but that's me!