I Am Thankful...

This weekend, Canadians are celebrating their Thanksgiving holiday.

I am thankful that I am a Canadian living in this generous, open-minded (for the most part) land.

I am thankful to live in a country...

The Peace Tower
Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario

With a parliamentary system of government that can be voted out of (or into) office earlier than (but no later than) every five years. With a system that votes for political parties rather than political personalities. Where there is (at least as long as I can remember) no longer 'gerrymandering' -- excluding voting rights for Canadians of colour or race. (Yes, Canada had 'gerrymandering' once upon a time. Look it up.)

Where we continue to try harder to be better citizens in the world. Where our armed forces are tough fighters against dictatorships, violent theocracies etc., but are also brought in as peace keepers.

That has laws that control the use of firearms by those not in the military or police service.

Where we welcome those seeking asylum, who are willing to put up with our winters because what's winter when you've faced persecution and death threats for your faith or your race?

Where we are trying to do better with relationships between the founding European nations and the pre-founding Aboriginal/First Nations peoples.

Where we are trying to encourage more equal representation of genders in government at all levels (and we hope one day for another (wiser) woman to become Prime Minister because...it will be 20..., right?).

Where a woman has the final say over her own reproductive system (whether or not her sisters and (br)others agree. (If you want to know -- and I can tell you are itching to ask! -- I don't support abortion as a matter of course; I believe in adoption as an alternative. And education -- LOTS of education!)

Where I am hopeful that victims of serious sexual assault (i.e. more than a tickle under the shorts or a hasty "goosing" as it once was called) are beginning to be believed and their assailants brought to trial -- and where, if an accused assailant was a nominee to our (appointed) Senate or Supreme Court -- that person would be denied the privilege.

Where people are people.  Or...to put a finer point on it, persons are persons.  

Next year, on October 18, 2019, Canada marks 90 years since the "Persons Case" -- wherein a handful of women from across Canada took their petition to Westminster in the UK and were HEARD -- and moreover, determined to be "PERSONS" under the law, such that they could vote and hold office and become active in the political life of this young country.  And where, in 2015, the Prime Minister selected a capable, well-qualified cabinet that was 50% male and 50% female -- because...

This means that try as some might, there can no longer be dividing lines in this country between who are considered "persons" and who are not. If women are persons equal with men, this means ALL women -- not just Caucasians, but Aboriginal/Indigenous women, refugee women...ALL women. All residents, equal in the eyes of the law and -- once confirmed citizens -- equal in voting and other political and socio-economic rights.

I am thankful that I was married to a man who recognized me as a person.

I am thankful that we tried our best to raise our daughter and our son to know the truth of their person-hood...and grieved that through our history, this has not been supported this as well as it might have.

I am thankful that I live in a country that hasn't (at least in my living memory) politicized religion, and that the faith expression I practice refrains from preaching politics along with its Gospel -- but that it expects followers to live out their professed faith - "...and when necessary, use words" (attributed to Francis of Assisi).

And...I am thankful to have had this forum within to showcase my work, to express my thoughts and to share with my readers ideas and information these almost 16 years.

Happy Thanksgiving to Canadian celebrants!  Fervent prayers for unity and so much more, for those readers in the United States...and blessings to Gentle Readers everywhere...

An art post is pending.  Soon.  I promise!

Thankful

For living in this land

Field on the edge of Mirror, AB

For being able to travel to this land

From the train - Glasgow to Edinburgh

For creatures great and small

Hebredian (L) and Cheviot (R) sheep

Don't forget the donkeys!

For friends, far and near

Artist Gillian Cooper & I
Hill House, Helensburgh, Scotland

Travelling buddy, Mary, and I
visiting Hill House

For new experiences

Tartan weaving - Locharron Mills, Scotland

For family history

Where my G-G-G-Grandfather's farm once stood
Kilsyth, Scotland

And family now

My kids!

My son and his Uncle L share a laugh.

Me and my sis!

And for all of you, Gentle Readers...

Happy Thanksgiving from Canada.

I wish you a blessed day, and as I link this up to Nina Marie's "Off the Wall Friday", I'll leave you with this poem from British poet, Malcolm Guite, who wrote it in 2010 following a visit to Canada...

Thanksgiving*

Thanksgiving starts with thanks for mere survival,

Just to have made it through another year

With everyone still breathing. But we share

So much beyond the outer roads we travel;

Our interweavings on a deeper level,

The modes of life embodied souls can share,

The unguessed blessings of our being here,

The warp and weft that no one can unravel.

So I give thanks for our deep coinherence

Inwoven in the web of God’s own grace,

Pulling us through the grave and gate of death.

I thank him for the truth behind appearance,

I thank him for his light in every face,

I thank him for you all, with every breath.

*To listen to Mr. Guite read this aloud, click HERE.  Note that, as do many Brits, he refers to us  "American"...meaning North American.  

Closed for the Season

The Outdoor Studio, that is.

Friday morning I put away all my outdoor furniture, because by Friday afternoon, it looked like this:

We had more snow Saturday and Sunday.  Today the skies remain overcast, and there's the odd flake in the air.

To escape the grey, and the flakes (in the weather and elsewhere...), I moved into my sewdio to create a piece I've been thinking about.  I may make a larger one, but for now I experimented with the approach (abstract) in a size that's just right for the 2017 SAQA Trunk Show.

I call it "Autumn Colours", and it's based on these photos of my back yard, taken two days before the snowfall...

View of the East side of my house,
with the empty lot next door in the foreground.
Trees with coloured leaves are on my property.

View from the East side of my garage,
looking North.

The changing colours of
a Mountain Ash (Rowan)

I dug out a piece of hand-dyed "sky" fabric; sure enough, it was just the right size.  Then I went through my fabrics -- mainly batiks -- and set to work cutting strips and auditioning them on the background:

When I had the arrangement I liked, I fused the strips, sandwiched the piece and stitched it all with invisible thread.  I've always used that stuff with caution because my Husqvarna Lily 555 is Miss Fuss-pot when it comes to anything she deems is a 'fancy' thread.  This time out, though, because I was doing straight-line sewing with my walking foot, Miss F.P. cooperated beautifully.

Here's the finished piece...

Autumn Colours (C) 2016
approx. 7" W x 10" long
Hand-dyed & commercial fabrics,
fused applique, machine quilting

The paperwork's been submitted to SAQA online; all I need to do now is tack down that facing, apply a label and ship it off -- to arrive at Trunk Show HQ by mid-January.

Up next?  More embroidery on the Christmas stocking, more knitting for gifts of all kinds, and construction of the Annual Christmas Boxer Shorts...

Some of which I can do while catching up with everyone over on Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she's returned to sewing with renewed energy -- and she too is working on a colourful abstract.  That's definitely the way to ward off the flakes!  ;-)

See you "off the wall"!  (And Happy Thanksgiving to any Canucks reading this.  May you have a blessed holiday!)

Travelling with Pie

This weekend marks Thanksgiving in Canada, and I'm going up to Edmonton to spend it with my kids, my soon-to-be daughter-in-law and her family.  She and her mom are doing the turkey etc.; I'm bringing pie.

Therein lies the rub: logistics.  I was hoping to assemble two pies in my DD's kitchen, but she's in the midst of a Serious Kitchen Make-over and has no counters!

So.  I made one pie here -- Saskatoon (think 'wild blueberries' if you're not on the Canadian Prairies, Alaska, or the Western/North Central U.S.) -- and froze it.  All well and good.
BUT...the second pie has to be pumpkin (grin) because it's Thanksgiving!  Well.  I've never had experience freezing a pumpkin pie.  Indeed, it's not recommended.

So.  This morning I made the pastry.  I'll freeze it too, and thaw in time to make the pie on Sunday after church.  Bless C's mom, she has a turkey roaster, so The Bird will have its own personal roasting space and I can use the oven for the pie.

In preparation, I've assembled this Travelling Pie Kit:

Ingredients:
Trusty Old Cookbook
Packet of sugar and spices
Can of evaporated milk
Can of unseasoned pumpkin
Bottle of faux vanilla extract
Ball of (frozen) pastry

Tomorrow I'll pack up the Kit and the frozen Saskatoon pie in a box lined with paper and nestled with ice packs...and head out! (I don't own a cooler.  Tried to buy one at the hardware in town yesterday -- they don't make 'em wide enough front-to-back to accommodate a pie plate.)

I have a pit-stop on the way to my DD's home, where I'll be staying.  The stop: a 4-hour class in using InkTense (R) pencils, offered by Central Sewing (South store).  I've muddled along long enough with these -- and with my watercolour pencils -- to know I need some hands-on instruction, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Today?  The forecast is for a high of 20+ C, so it's the perfect day to do the Fall Cleaning of the Car Interior; to check the vents on my roof and 'goop' them if needed; and to maybe do a wee bit of fabric painting -- some skies for my new minis.  

As the 14-day trend is for reasonable temps and mainly sunshine, I'll leave clearing the garden for now.  I hate to put away the Outdoor Studio...especially when I can still stitch there in the sunshine, or use it for photos of finished objects, like this one, which went off in the mail Wednesday...

M's Comfort Shawl
Pattern: "Zilver" by Lisa Mutch
Yarn: Peruvian Pure Alpaca from elann.com (discontinued)

M's Comfort Shawl - close-up

Now...I'm linking this up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and will join you there in a break in the action later today!

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers; I'm thankful to have you all (both Canadians and those who want to be) in my life!

Thankful

Mountain Ash (Rowan), prairie sky - Oct. 10, 2014

This weekend we celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada (L'action de grace in the French-speaking parts of the country).

As statutory holidays go, Thanksgiving is relatively new in Canada -- having been proclaimed in Parliament as recently as January 31, 1957 -- when I was a few months past four years old.  It's not even a universally statutory holiday here -- it's "optional" in the Maritimes (but I hope they observe it in most places there too).

That said, the history of Thanksgiving in our country dates back to the early explorers -- Martin Frobisher in the Arctic and Samuel de Champlain in what is now Quebec.

Religiously, it corresponds to the English and European traditions of Harvest Festival, and today's service in the Parish of St. Cyprian (Anglican) in Lacombe was no exception, with bowers of flowers and baskets of locally-grown fruit, veggies and preserves decorating the sanctuary.  Special prayers were taken from the "Harvest Sunday" section of the prayer book, and special hymns were selected.  Coffee hour included the leftovers from our Annual Fall Dinner (October 9) and a cake celebrating 40 years of marriage for one of the couples in the congregation -- lest anyone go home hungry.  ;-)

Afterward, I drove out to Sylvan Lake for an early dinner with my sister.  Tomorrow I welcome my daughter.  We'll indulge in ham, yam fries, salad, wine and Saskatoon pie, likely followed by a long walk!

I have much to be thankful for this year -- not the least of which is for good health!  I contracted a nasty cold in Vancouver this past week and am blessed that by this morning, it had all but disappeared!  It means that very shortly I'll be able to fill you in on my MAIWA adventure in needle felting.

Happy Thanksgiving -- and "see" you soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

For the beauty of the earth,

For the glory of the skies;

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies;

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful song of praise.

- Folliott S. Pierpoint, 1864

The Last of the Sweet Peas

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians celebrating this weekend.

I am thankful for all who follow this blog, and take the time to comment.

I am thankful for my wonderful children, and all my family and friends.

I am thankful for good health, a cozy home, feline company, and the work of my hands.

Most of all I am thankful for the freedom to worship the LORD I love, and for His many blessings.

Thankful...

This is the weekend we celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada.  Officially, it's the Second Sunday in October, followed by the Second Monday. Some of us feast on the one; some, on the other.  It is a quieter celebration than that of our Neighbours to the South (i.e., the USA)...because, in large part, it is born of a different tradition: thanks for the harvest, but not thanks for liberation from the rule of the British Crown! :-)

So...we gather as families and indulge -- as do our American friends -- but being that much farther north, our harvest is earlier.  Being a Christian in the Anglican Tradition, I will be celebrating at St. Cyprian's, Lacombe, on Sunday morning.

As well, the Thanksgiving Weekend marks, for most Canadian gardeners, the END of the growing season, when everything is cleared out, put away, harvested and tidied up...in anticipation of...well...you know....

Most of my garden these days is perennial; however,  have carved out a modest veggie patch to the east of my garage.  This year my bumper crop was tomatoes -- as you can see from the Rubber  Maid tub-ful I've collected.   (Note: this doesn't count the dozen or more that I've already given away!)

Then there are family gatherings to consider.  In Canada, this holiday, quite frankly, takes a back seat to Christmas.  My son will be working and unable to join us.


This year, my daughter and I will be gathering tomorrow -- a day early -- at my sister's cottage to help her clear away her garden -- tomatoes, carrots, beets...maybe even some onions, zucchini and even more tomatoes...

The contents of the tub are covered with newspaper; other, riper examples have been transferred to a basket in my kitchen to be made into salads, like this one, or to be used in sandwiiches (my Bread of the Week is Dark Rye).  (Note: I am pondering an art quilt from this photo...it's just too irresistible!)


In our current culture, Canada's Thanksgiving Holiday coincides as much with the World Series as it does with the beginning of the  NHL (Hockey) season and the football (CFL) play-offs.  Regardless of the sport, the TV Powers have managed to devise ways to entertain our men-folk so that they will fall asleep en mass in front of the nearest television not long after a many-course Thanksgiving meal.  :-)

Being three women together this year, we won't notice this much, but that doesn't mean we won't be getting somewhat soporific after a wonderful repast...

Counting our blessings: the happy juxtaposition of our relationships, the ability to appreciate generational differences, to delight in generational similarities, and to know that, above all, we love each other and are loved by the Greatest Love of all.

"'Tis a gift to be simple,'tis a gift to be free;

'Tis a gift to come down where you ought to be.

And when you find yourself in the place just right,

'Twill be in the Valley of Love and Delight!"

-- Traditional Shaker Hymn

Happy Thanksgiving!

Taking a page from my daughter's blog, I am answering her question: What are you thankful for?

In no particular order, I am thankful for:

• the peace and quiet of my home;
• classical music;
• jazz;
• my senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell, intuition;
• my kids, without whom there'd be a great hole in my life;
• roses;
• peonies;
• long-lasting friendships;
• new friendships;
• an enduring marriage;
• freedom;
• intelligence;
• life -- in general as well as in particular;
• the use of a computer;
• creativity;
• birds at my feeders;
• my cuddly cat;
• my sis;
• coffee;
• that I can make my own bread;
• fresh tomatoes;
• health;
• the generosity of others;
• books!
• being able to drive;
• my sewing studio and all that's in it;
• knitting;
• craft communities;
• my skill at handwork;
• hugs;
• chocolate;
• Emmanuel (God With Us);
• learning from my mistakes;
• long, warm summer evenings;
• that I have a safe, beautiful countryside in which to walk;
• sheep!
• energy;
• the company of women;
• cozy mystery stories;
• art and those who make it;
• fresh tomatoes with cheese;
• the feel of velvet, silk, and merino and alpaca yarn;
• that I can spin;
• mystic, sweet communion with the Spirit of God;
• trees;
• memory and memories;
• musical theatre;
• poetry;
• that I can laugh till I cry;
• the healing power of tears;
• family gatherings;
• fibre artist friends;
• inspiration;
• my late, great "Fan Club";
• that I can swim;
• the immense beauty of nature;
• affordable medical care;
• that I have weight to lose;
• being able to see the stars;
• apples;
• perseverance;
• being remembered;
• imagination;
• that I can read and write;
• perennials;
• being surprised by joy;
• the smell of pot roast or turkey and all the trimmings;
• fresh-baked bread;
• peanut butter;
• red wine;
• the ability and the courage to love;
• ice water with lemon;
• that I can live without fear;
• ice cream;
• the kindness of strangers;
• that I have 'stuff' I can give away;
• finding old friends on Facebook;
• parents with integrity;
• the constancy of God;
• having learned the waltz;
• "six degrees of separation";
• good news;
• libraries;
• the gifts to be found in hindsight;
• "U-Picks" and farmers' markets;
• delight in simple pleasures;
• gentleness;
• sunrises and sunsets;
• being able to sing;
• public radio and television;
• faith;
• ladybugs and ants;
• smiles;
• random acts of kindness;
• learning from experience so I can help others in similar circumstances;
• naps;
• freshly-fallen snow;
• spring rain;
• the unconditional love of animals;
• the ability to learn new things;
• serendipity;
• the timeless wisdom of others;
• clean air;
• the uniqueness that is being Canadian;
• romance;
• colour;
• history;
• stimulating conversation;
• God's mercy, new every morning.