Kate smudges in earth, paint and life

This summer, I found a tiny vine and decided to buy it. I thought it would be a blue version of the Black-Eyed Susan vine. I had never seen one before, so was curious about it. Throughout the summer, it twined and twisted without ever putting out a bloom.

Last week, as I was watering the vine, (it has resided indoors since late September) I saw some buds. Every day I have been checking to see if it is in bloom. Today it appeared.

As the picture shows, it isn’t much like its black-eyed Susan counterpart. I’ve discovered that this vine, called a Bengal Clock Vine is Thunbergia grandiflora while the Black-Eyed Susan Vine is Thunbergia alata. So I have learned something new.

I’m hoping that this vine can survive the winter indoors. So far it is doing well, but there are many months left until I can haul it back outside. With the temperatures hovering around -15c this morning, it is quite miraculous to have this lovely bloom brightening my life!

Today is the last day of National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo). I am glad I participated, even though it was definitely a much greater challenge to blog every day for one month than I anticipated.

Along the way I discovered it was often tough for me to come up with things to write about every day – or at least to write about things I wanted to share on my blog. I also found that I was doing less reading of other blogs and commenting as I was used to. Worse, I didn’t respond to the comments left on my blog posts – like every other blogger, I love receiving and reading the comments left on my blog. These comments truly gave me the energy to continue blogging each day. So thanks to everyone who read and commented on my posts. I figure I will get back to responding properly to comments now that I will be back to my usual blogging schedule.

It was fun meeting other NaBloPoMo bloggers – I might never have met them otherwise.

I am also planning to do more reading that I have put aside. I am planning to dive into a book that I put on reserve at the library several months ago and received today. I read a fascinating review of the book – The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan.

Both Second Nature and The Botany of Desire, two earlier books by Mr. Pollan, were great reads. The subtitle of this new book is ‘A Natural History of Four Meals’. In his introduction, Mr. Pollan opens by posing this question: What should we have for dinner? I will definitely let you know if I get some answers to that question. I suspect they will be fascinating.

I hope the sun continues to shine for everyone all weekend long just as it did here today. What a treat that was!

Tonight I attended the 30th anniversary celebration of the Regina Early Learning Centre. The Centre is an amazing place, having had such a positive impact on the lives of the 3,000 children who have passed through their doors.

Through a variety of several innovative programmes, the Centre works with under-privileged children from birth to kindergarten age to ensure their healthy development. Parents are actively involved in the Centre. The founder, Anne Luke (pictured here with ELC students), was inspiring tonight as she talked about the early beginnings of the Centre to the present time. It was also great to hear former students talk about their beloved teacher. Several friends work there so it was a fun night as well.

And tomorrow is the final day of November – the last day of National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo). I might have another scarf finished, or if the weather isn’t too cold, I’m hoping to get some pictures of Lytton, my big brown dog to show you. He was recently tagged for a meme by Yolanda Elizabet’s cat family at Bliss.

It was another frigid day on the prairies with winds blowing the snow every which way. I stayed inside all day long, bundled up and knitting another scarf.

Tomorrow I’ll venture out and brave another forecasted deep freeze of a day. If we didn’t some groceries, I probably would stay home again. I also have been invited to the annual dinner of Regina’s Early Learning Centre tomorrow evening. I am really looking forward to it. Several friends of mine work there.

While taking this picture of my back garden this morning, I thought of the words below, of Andrew Wyeth, an American painter:

… for knitting. With the wind blowing and the temperatures dropping , it is far too cold to be outside. I am happy to be wrapped up in my down comforter, knitting away. I have finished off three scarves this past while (pictured at right) and tonight put the fringes on them.

I find it hard taking good pictures of the scarves. The colours look much richer than they appear here. I’ve included a close-up picture which might give you a better idea of the different textures of the wool and of the stitch used (seed stitch).

Tomorrow I will try my hand at blocking each scarf. Willow, at Willow’s Cottage, sent me directions for accomplishing this, which essentially means that they will have a more finished look than they do at the moment.

Now I get to look through my wool basket and pick another colour of wool to use for some more knitting.

I wonder if it’s possible to live in Saskatchewan and not know what is happening to the Saskatchewan Roughriders football team. Last night, the Riders won the Grey Cup – the ultimate prize in the Canadian Football League. Saskatchewan’s last Grey Cup win was in 1989, so we were long overdue for a victory. After the game, it seemed as if all of Regina was out celebrating on one of our main thoroughfares. Albert Street traffic came to a near standstill, while fans ran down the street high-fiving those of us in our cars. It was great fun.

I found it hard watching the game because it looked for a time that Saskatchewan might get beaten by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. I must have knitted about four feet of a scarf while the game progressed.

Other than the nail-biting excitement, Benoît, my son, and I had fun spending the late afternoon and evening at my parent’s house. We have followed this same routine for the past three Sundays as we progressed through the Western semi-finals, then finals and ultimately, the Grey Cup yesterday.

This afternoon, the Riders arrived home with the Grey Cup in tow. 8,000 people went to the football stadium to greet the team – we are a hardy bunch. The weather rarely interferes with our plans and certainly not with our celebrations.

With the wind chill factored in, the temperature registered -36C. Tomorrow, in weather much the same as today, there will be a parade down Albert Street. I think I’ll watch on television rather than brave the cold, but maybe that will change if my football-loving son convinces me otherwise. But first, he’ll have to convince me to pick him up at school over his lunch hour. No wonder he keeps offering me some of his Hallowe’en stash of mini Kit-kat chocolate bars!

Go Riders! (and back to non-football related posting tomorrow. I promise!)

While there are no flowers in my outside garden, I am continuing to recreate them out of silk ribbon. I just finished making this flower sampler – the photograph below didn’t turn out very well, but was the best of the bunch.

I drew different flowerpots and flowers on the Irish linen square (30cm or 12 inch square) and embroidered each smaller square using hand-dyed variegated silk ribbon. I love working with silk ribbon. The colours are vibrant and the silk feels lovely.

Here is a closeup of one of the pots and flowers. I am now starting a series of flowers in silk ribbon that I am looking to incorporate into beeswax collage.

I wrote a post in March here showing some silk ribbon works that I did quite a while ago. This piece hangs in my living room, although I had originally made it to hold watercolour supplies.

And soon, I will off watching the Grey Cup game between the Saskatchewan Riders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Go Riders!

A few days ago, I walked around with a big smile of gratitude after Kate in the Kitchen honoured me with a ‘You Make Me Smile Award’. I was delighted to receive this award, because it brings me much enjoyment to share my thoughts and my daily life here with everyone who reads my blog. Knowing that I’ve made someone smile is a good feeling!

I could just as easily turn around and give this award to Kate. She wrote some wonderful words about me that brought tears of happiness to my eyes. Kate’s blog is one of the first I ever read and I continue to read it regularly. I like to imagine making and serving her recipes and I love the way Kate is able to weave snippets from her life into her posts.

I can’t even begin to decide who I can give this award to because I would have to give it to most everyone whose blogsI read regularly. The blogging world is a wonderful, fascinating and inclusive place and I thank my lucky stars for having started reading blogs about a year ago. I have met many people virtually who I would love to meet in person some day. One can always dream!

So I’d like to pass on this award to all of you who brighten my day with your blog posts and your comments on my blog!

Another grey and cold day that I spent indoors. This flower cheered me. It is hard to believe these days that there were once vibrant flowers in the back garden.

Now frozen solid and covered in snow, I dream of the days when I can walk outside and feel the warmth of the sun.

Soon, soon, the shortest day of the year will be here and then we will have more daylight … I long for spring, but I’ll take some sunshine now please!

Maybe it’s the influence of the almost full moon, but I am feeling restless.

Thankfully, the weekend is upon us.

It is an incredibly cold and frosty night and I was reminded of snippets of the poem, Snowy Night, by Mary Oliver. Here is an excerpt: