7 weeks!

I like.

This stay-cation thing rocks. I really like the no fuss, no rush of staying home for two whole weeks with no other kids running around, no work and a paycheck.

We've been walking, (See nice brand new pavement! The roads in our loop have been bad for a lot of years so we are all enjoying the new smooth ride/walk.)

Hanging out at the beach watching balloons float up to the sun,

Smelling the flowers,

and relaxing at home.

Sunday was our sixth anniversary and we celebrated by getting each other a family gift. His name will be Troy. The cats are not impressed yet. Sam came out fur up, growling, but wouldn't get close enough for a good sniff. Jezzie investigated his kennel, hid and is now refusing to come out. Apollo (Caught the name connection?) figures he's okay and may have to accept yet another boss of him. Sam being the main boss. Troy is a five year old Havanese. He came from Jomarans Kennels in Saskatchewan. So far, he's captured Girly's heart and has become my shadow. The Mr. is charmed by him too. Nothing like a man who is secure enough to love a little dog.

The Bearskin cargo person moved pretty darn quick to get him out of cargo as soon as the plane landed too. He's a real prince of a guy and has a Jack Russell so he was as gentle as could be and I could see him chatting Troy up while he was driving him in the baggage cart.

All of our pets now have a literary connection.

Sam Spade - Ace Detective

Jezebel - (the Mr. liked the name and had never heard the story)

Apollo - I choose to ignore that the Mr. was thinking of this man when he chose the name.

Troy - may he come to a better end after a long siege-free life.

Feel the love/luck.

So I never did get a scarf from my original pal in International Scarf Exchange 6 and got a very generous angel instead. My angel was someone I already "know" the lovely Kathleen and this is the amazing package I received from her. Along with a gorgeously soft scarf, she sent me two skeins of the yarn with which it was made. Perfect since I just got a copy of Vogue Knitting with the Green Autumn (Ravelry link) mittens featured on the cover. The yarn will be perfect for them. She also included some Altoids mints (one tin is chocolate covered, so good!) and a baby toddler sock pattern. There's a bookmark but, it isn't in the photo since I'm already using it to mark the mitten pattern in my magazine. It has the perfect saying on it; "The best part of waking up is knitting and a cup." with a picture of a teapot, teacup, and tin of Tetley Tea beside a lace project.

The pink yarn is Cascade Yarns merino/nylon sock yarn and it feels amazing! The beads are perfect since I signed up for Mystery Stole 4. The rainbow yarn made my Girly very happy too since she's been asking for a rainbow top and I haven't been able to find a yarn I like and want to use. Now I have some. Girly also loved the colouring book and crayons.

The scarf is the cream of the package though. Luxuriously soft and I love the colours! Thank you Kathleen! You are a beautifully thoughtful woman and I appreciate how much time and effort you put into this angel package for me.

Kathleen had sent me some sunflower seeds (Hope's grandbabies) earlier this year but the poor things drown in all the rain we got in June and July. Which is why there haven't been any pictures of lovelies in my weedpatch garden.

Now that our local Blueberry Festival is over, the local businesses have been drawn the winners for their prizes and I won the Bank of Montreal's prize. Pretty darn good one at that. Everything is blue and or blueberry even the BBQ sauce (really good). It came in a basket, but that got repurposed right away.

I also won 2nd in the Blueberry Muffin bake-off category. Girly is quite happy with the prizes especially since she did help with the mixing of the muffins. There was another thing with these but, it was opened and taken away to be used right away. So I had to go outside to get a picture of it.

Here it is. Gigantic sidewalk chalk. Girly had a ball decorating the sidewalk with them.

Going, Down?

The water, while still high is slowly beginning to go down. The beaches are reappearing and we are enjoying them as much as we can without getting too raisin-y.

The seeds are ripening and now and then a hint of fall can be felt in the air.

We are keeping Girly as occupied as possible for her last summer as a pre-schooler. Our annual Blueberry Festival is helping. Here she is being entertained by the local mascot, Blueberry Bert.

Here she is with a ton of excited children ready for the ride on the fire truck. My Girly doesn't much care for loud noises, but she loved this ride.

There was a sale on at a nearby greenhouse and someone took a shine to the little yellow flowers on the sides. So to keep Momma occupied, we designed a pretty for our house.

I have startitis so bad right now that I could show you a ton of knitting type stuff, but most of it is less than an inch or two. The one thing that is nearly finished I don't want to show off until it's done. Maybe I'll get a chance to do a bit more since I am taking a stay-cation for two weeks starting next week. I can't wait until Friday!