And The Other...

And the other would be that Mother turned 90 on Monday - the 29th. We went out to dinner to celebrate Scarlett's birthday, Helen's birthday, and Mother's birthday on Sunday at one of her favorite places (It is also one of our favorite spots for fine Italian food.)

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

That...

That would be my sister, Mary Ellen, visiting over Mother's Day! We had a nice time visiting and talking this trip. We didn't really go out much - just kind of hung around the house. Spent one day shopping for shoes for mother - which we did not find any - so, we will be doing the internet thing to try to find a size 4....

And that is what she looks like while trying to watch television at our house. Zac and Isis seem to think that they also should sit with her - just in case she were to get cold...which she complained of all the time...(Hey, she lives in Florida!)

For those of you who remember me talking about painting our living room these wild colours - well, there they are. I do love our wood floors....

This...

This would be the Mid-May Monthly Dishcloth Knit-Along. The design is a dress with a heart - and of course it is red...it helps to remind us that many women die from heart disease...it was a fun project and I enjoyed logging on each day to find a set number of rows to be knit.

Project Spectrum - May...

My creation
Originally uploaded by NHSara.

Green ... Green ... and more Green....

Green fabrics I recently bought...

Green Yarn...

The hedge and my yard - so beautiful this time of year

My hostas in front of the house and a little green bush we thought we lost last year.

Huge hosta in back yard - all of our hostas are huge.

Front yard with green grass.

House across the street from mine - I can see it from my window when I am sewing.

Flower beds at front of house ... stone one and other bed.

My new staircase runner...great green isn't it?

Summer Reading Challenge 2006

Amanda has started a Summer Reading Challenge for 2006...and I am joining. Why - because I used to read all the time...and I mean all the time...and now I rarely pick up a book and sit and read. She is suggesting one a week...but, I'm not brave enough to do that - so, I am going to read two books a month...starting with: The DaVinci Code - Special Illustrated Edition by Dan Brown.

After finishing that book, I will be reading books off of my bookcases - and I am not kidding when I say I have over 1,000 books in my home...so, surely, I can find something to read...so I will be picking some fiction, some biographies, and some non-fiction.

I can remember that my mother used to have to beg me to go outside and play because I was always reading...and when I did go outside I would head for the mulberry tree in our yard and sit in it - reading and eating wild mulberries. I always got in trouble because I would take a flashlight to bed with me so that I could read more. I am proud to say that I read all the Nancy Drew books, Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden and who knows what else during my childhood years...and in my adult years I read all the time...it is just recently in the last few years that I haven't read as much as I used to. So, this challenge will be fun....

Sister...Scarlett's Mother...Daughter...

My sister, Mary Ellen, was here for four days to celebrate Mother's Day with our mother. We had a nice time even though we didn't do too much - kind of sat around the house and chatted. Did manage to go out one day to try and find shoes for mother. We had a nice time and it was good to see her.

She departed yesterday on the same plane that brought Scarlett's mother, Helen, in for a couple of weeks.

Helen has not seen the house since we moved here - and I think she was in New Hampshire once before in her lifetime but doesn't remember any of it. I have been working on a gift for her - am knitting her a shawl. It looks like the one to the right - only in a light shade. I've almost finished two skeins of yarn - it takes 2-1/2 skeins for the length and the other half for the fringe.

Wonderful news from my daughter, Tara, today. She is moving into a house. She has wanted a house ever since she moved to Phoenix...and this month her dreams came true. She e-mailed me photos of the house today and it has a really nice floor plan...and the yard is awesome. Typical Arizona landscaping - but, there is something pretty about it...I've discovered every area has its own beauty.

Company...Fixing up the house...

My blog may not get much attention in the next week or so as we have company comin...

Of course, we would decide that this would be the week that we would get some little things that we can't do ourselves done around the house...and so, far it has been wonderful getting these things done.

We got a new light in the kitchen installed and the office had two windows but neither one of them had been framed in - Bill, the fellow who is working here, framed them in beautifully. They match all the other windows in the house. I didn't expect that he would do that...I just thought he would do something really simple...

A closet door would not go back into the track - so, he fixed that...and he is making two screens for two of our windows that don't have any and the front door jam needed replacing. There is still a shelf to put in and a small window in the basement that needs framed in...

But, the best - was we had the carpeting on the stairs replaced. The one that was on there was dark, dark green Victorian design and I hated it...so, we got new - it is a really pretty light green and I could not believe how much it brighten up the room.

I promise to post some photos of the house soon...

Our Holiday...Quebec City

Awesome! That is the one word I can think of to describe the city. The huge castle looking building with the green roof is the Chateau Frontenac which can be seen no matter where you are in the city. It is gorgeous...and a hotel. No, we didn't stay there...but we did go in and see it and visited a few of the shops that were in there including the State Liquor Store that sells very rare wines at that particular location. We did buy two bottles of Framboise (Raspberry liqueur) which when mixed with Champagne and a few fresh raspberries in the bottom of the glass tastes wonderful.
This is where we stayed Relais Charles Alexandre. This little hotel was the cutest and nicest place we could have found. It was on Grand Allee which is the main road to the walled part of the city. They only have 23 rooms and they are clean, large, comfortable, and very tastefully decorated. Each morning was started with breakfast which was included. Breakfast was a feast - starting with a plate of fresh fruit, then juice, choice of cereal, toast, muffins, or homemade croissant which came with ham, cheese, and pate.


Breakfast was served in this darling dining room and we sat at the table in front of the window. There are two other tables along the left side that you can't see.

Quebec City is just such a mixed bag - very old historic buidlings and then you'll see a skyscraper. We went up to the Observatory and took photos one morning.

The one thing the people of Quebec City know how to do is take care of themselves...there were a lot of spas there - and we took advantage of that. We went to a great spa called ZoneSpa. Now this is a spa! It is a Nordic Spa and for those of you who don't know what that is - I'll explain in a bit. We had signed up for their First Anniversary Special so upon our arrival we filled out the usual health questionaire and our services began. 10:00 am - an hour facial for relaxation; then we toured the rest of the spa and Norman explained to us the "way of the Nordic Spa".

One starts out by relaxing in either a hot whirlpool, sauna, or steam room for about 10 minutes, from there one goes to a frigid (and I'm talking perky boobs - them little suckers just stood right up - frigid!) pool of water, or one can choose a cold shower, or my personal favorite - the wall of water that plunges down on you. From there one goes and relaxes in either the solarium or this amazing waterfall shower. The idea is to do this three times...as it will improve circulation and make you feel wonderful.

We did it - not once but all three times! And, it was wonderful...at 12:45 we went in for a body exfoiliation which lasted one hour. It was wonderful...and afterwards my skin felt like silk. This was immediately followed by a one-hour massage. By the time I came out of there I was pretty much toast.

Lunch was then served - Scarlett had a chicken salad made with penne while I chose a ham and cheese pannini. Both came with salad and fresh fruit. The portions were huge and tasted fabulous. After lunch we did the Nordic Spa thing one more time...and then showered and dressed. When we came out of the dressing room our dessert was waiting - cheesecake with mixed berries on top and coffee. It was a wonderful day...

There is coffee everywhere - and I mean strong coffee...and little outdoor places to sit and drink (coffee or whatever)...the food is wonderful. You know there are some people who eat to live - well, we live to eat! The flavors were wonderful...every restaurant we went to was good but I have to say my favorite was SushiTaxi...

SushiTaxi - a whole in the wall - literally. There were a total of two tables in the place - I was pretty skeptical when I walked in ... it had been recommended by our hotel clerk ... the waiter (also chef, cook, and bottle washer - I am sure!) suggested the business lunch...and I agreed to it. I thought they would just slop some sushi together and throw it on a plate...Whoa...was I wrong! It was the most beautiful presented sushi I have ever eaten and probably the freshest I have ever put in my mouth. When I go back to Quebec City - I'll eat there every day! It was the best meal I had there and it was also the least expensive.

One of our favorite things to do on vacation is check out the grocery stores - I came home with some many new ideas for fixing dinner that I can hardly wait to try them...things like sausage stuffed flank steak, chicken kabobs, and breads and cookies to bake.

Since this is getting a tad bit long...I will tell you about the sights tomorrow...especially since I covered the most important stuff first - food and spa..

Favorite Colors...

My friend Dave asked me about my favorite colors...and in the past I could have very easily answered that question...but, as I have gotten older, I've also gotten bolder with my colors.

I tend to like Brights as they would say in the quilting world. If one were discussing clothing or cosmetics - I would tend to stray toward the cool colors over the warm colors...when I was younger I used to wear a lot of black and white...still love black and white - and intend to make a black and white quilt one day.

I love Purple (obviously - since most of my posts are in purple)...it shows up a lot in my wardrobe...and in my quilting stash...and I especially like light gray and purple. Made myself a dress many years ago that was light gray with purple raglan sleeves. It was my favorite dress.

Red would be right up there too...love bright red...my favorite suit was a bright red one that I wore all the time...it made me feel powerful and attractive. It was a "hey, notice me" color!

I like blue - from light baby blue to dark navy...any blue...my office is painted in an bright white and bold turquoise. I love it...over the years I have moved more toward the colors of the ocean in the blues that I like.

Not big on browns...they tend to make me feel dismal...

I am getting much better about oranges and yellows - especially the bright bold colors that are out now.

We painted our living room when we moved here (it was green...well, it was white with some green sponging on it!) . We chose a bold bronze for the walls and the trim is a dark reddish maroon...turn out beautiful and very Tuscan looking. Scarlett likes that since she has a family connection and history with Italy.

The library, a wonderful room in my house that houses more bookcases (seven at last count), is where I work on my quilting and where the computer is that I use most of the time has one lavender wall...as does the dining room. Needless to say, the library will not be painted anytime soon...:) The dining room will change when we paint the kitchen as those rooms run together. We will be painting the kitchen a great white with sage green trim on all the cabinets. Right now the kitchen is black and white.

I never used to buy varigated yarns - but, now I am all over those - love the hand dyed yarns and all the different kinds of yarns that have these awesome colors running through them. And, there any color seems to be fine...it is a very interesting concept to me...and my friend, Dave has some of the most awesome looking yarns I've ever seen...and he dyes them himself. Beside that, he is an excellent teacher - explaining things on his blog so precisely.

So that's about how I color my world...how about you?

Project Spectrum...May

Project Spectrum's color for May is GREEN...so this will be most interesting as green is not one of my favorite colors...not to say that I don't appreciate green...I love it in nature...especially since we have moved to New England. When spring arrives it is the most luscious green ... the grass is vibrant - and the leaves on the trees and plants stand out. So, I do have an appreciation for it...

We have thought about painting our kitchen an off white with Sage Green trim around the cabinets...so, it has been a color that has been considered by me as having potential in and around where I live...but, I can't wear it...even when I was in the Army - the green dress uniform did nothing for me...:)

So, we are off to a very Green month of May!

Home...and catching up...

I can't actually believe I took a week away from the computer...sometimes I consider it my lifeline to the outside world...especially during weeks when I don't leave the house...but, it was fun to be computerless...and taking a holiday.

We went several places during the week Scarlett had off from work...but, I will tell you more about that later...in another post...

My Project Spectrum card arrived at Jennifer's so now I can post a photo for all of you to see...


I found the daisy fabric and thought it would be okay to add beads to the centers - which are orange underneath the bead...but first I combined the daisy fabric and the orange fabric. On the orange fabric I did a little machine embroidery to which I added French knots at the tips for flowers. I think it turned out nice and she liked it...