Progress :-D....YAY!!!

This will be short because I am in a rush but wanted to post today. More in a bit but here's a start! I am feeling better. It is not gone but at least I feel human again :-)

As a result, I did some work this AM but was so dizzy, I had to quit for a bit. We have some errands to do and I will post further when we get home, but in the meantime....

I have actually made some small progress and feel good about it! I wanted to post this to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com before the deadline passes this week. Drop by there and pop back here a bit later for more scintillating news from our neck of the woods! Enjoy!!!

OK, I am back having done the errands and had a nap and dinner. Time soon for a walk ( if I can stay awake) . This bug is slow to go and has left me VERY tired and dizzy. I am just listening to my body and sleeping when that seems all I CAN do! Getting old is DEFINITELY NOT for sissies!

I have done very little- in fact NO quilting this week except today. I had to take it easy though as looking down then up, turning from my cutting table and light box to the ironing board and back was making me feel REALLY dizzy! I do not now, nor have I ever drunk beer or alcohol of any sort but I IMAGINE this is how it feels to be drunk. Why do you do it, folks??? This is madness. We are NOT amused. I would NEVER willingly do this to myself. CRA- ZEE- NESS!!!! Make it go away.

I have managed to practise with the camera though. I have become good friends with my new macro lens. As we have had a fair bit of wind this week I have done some indoor work....

One of the skeletonized magnolia leaves I collected last fall

Such lovely Wabi Sabi to add to my collection

This one almost looks gilded

I shot the dandelion blooms last week but just got a few pictures of the seed heads this week. NOT easy and I may continue to try through the summer. These ones are VERY densely populated with seed!!!

Such exquisite marketing and how about the efficiency of the distribution system !!!

I did do some outdoor work too . I always say I am useless without my tripod- cannot hand hold worth a darn.

...WELL, almost always!

OK, I have mustered the oomph to go for a short walk round the block. Keep observing and enjoying and creating. 

Dragging bottom, BUT.....

I have not done much on the hosta this week. Both DH and I are now sick with this galloping pestilence-coughing, temperature, no appetite- just generally YUKKK! Poor us. I understand there is a LOT of this about so, to any other fellow sufferers- Oh, Poor You! Let us all try to get better PDQ! I am an impatient patient. I just want to sleep.

However, some small progress has been made-

You see! The emphasis is on the SMALL progress. However, at least I went forward :-)

I have been down in the woods today ( well, yesterday, actually!) taking photos of the spring wildflowers as they come into bloom. I keep watching the Mayapple. So far, in our wood, none is in bloom yet.

Trout Lily - scarce this year but lovely

The last Marsh Marigold still intact in its little stream

Dandelions can ALWAYS be counted on for beauty

I LOVE dandelions- watching now for some good seed heads

One small Jack in the Pulpit

and an even smaller purple violet

Now, for the BUT.....

Back in the late winter, I submitted two pieces of work to the Grand National Quilt Show, being held this year in Joseph Schneider Haus in Kitchener, ON. Both of my pieces were accepted for the show- a big one this year with 62 artists from across Canada! DH and I had planned to go to the Official Opening last Sunday, 10 May but we had to bow out because we are so contagious!

Clockworks

Poppies Aglow II

Well, having two pieces accepted was very nice but imagine my surprise when I got an email from Kathleen Bissett yesterday to say she'd be unable to reach me on the phone but wanted to let me know that my Clockworks piece has been given an Award of Merit for Interpretation of the Theme! The theme this year is Connections. The show runs through to 27 September so if you get a chance to see it, DO! Check out the website-grandnationalquiltshow.ca

On that cheery note, I shall prepare to post this to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com when the site is open this week. Meanwhile, I am off to wheeze and blow and to be grateful for some nice news. Enjoy your week.

Still slogging along

It has been a busy week made busier by DH's having a very nasty cold on top of everything else. The end result is slow progress on the hosta but GREAT progress outside in the garden. I have cleaned all of the beds now but the one big island bed under our bedroom window. Hope to finish it this afternoon after I get pretty feet :-) ( I have an appointment with the Chiropodist after lunch!) DH FINALLY succumbed and had a man in to mow our wretched front lawn. He edged it and collected the clippings and took it all away . Who's a Happy Camper then??? Since then , I have edged the front beds with the edger just to make it nice and clean and deep and it looks MUCH tidier now. The magnolia has been gorgeous this year. Just starting to drop :-(

The complex centre of this ancient flowering tree.

One small branchful of glorious blossom

If you look closely, you may see the little spider hiding in the bloom. I only saw him during editing!

All this garden work but I DID manage to get THIS far with the hosta. I am making good but slow progress.

Moving right along as you can see. I will do that little empty bit at the top go the big highlight and then work on the large space in the lower left. That will make a big difference. 

And, last but not least, the Bloodroot has gone to seed and the TRILLIUMS are blooming happily in the lower garden- unless the deer have scoffed them all!!!

For those non Canadians in the readership, the Trillium is the Provincial flower of Ontario where I live . As a result, it is a common image and made more common by photos like this one! Sad because it truly IS a beautiful flower. As a result, I tried my level best to NOT take "Government of Ontario" shots :-) This is the only one. 

Part of a huge colony of Trillium in our lower garden

And some of my attempts at NON Governmental shots!

Enjoy and DO plan to visit an Ontario woodland in May some day if you never have. The floor of the woods are often carpeted with Trillium .

Well,with that little mini travelogue, I will close and post this to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com and hope you will enjoy this post and the others you will find there.  AND NEVER PICK A TRILLIUM!  It is against Provincial law and can kill the plant or at least slow its growth seriously. If you want to know why, just ask!