July 2023

 It's summer, the fastest season & it is flying by quickly!

This visit is going to be a long one so get comfortable & come on in for a visit!

We've been busy with more summer visiting friends & family. Our eldest son Donald & Jon, his childhood friend, drove out to see us for a week from Ontario.

They were a huge help for Bill to get work done that I could not help with. The final gargoyle was installed & what a job that was as it had to go over the little bridge. First, they thought with the three of them it could be carried & placed on its podium but no, it was solid concrete & could not be lifted!

So the ATV & the John Deere trailer were the answer & the bridge was very well constructed to take all the weight that was to cross it!

Cameraready, let the journey begin!

We had gravel delivered that week to so there was some tight navigating to get through.

Over the bridge to the podium on the left & it will be done!

The ATV had 4" on each side to clear the width of the bridge, just as was planned last year.

Slow & steady...

This was the tricky area with a large drop off the bridge's one-board ramp. 

Bill was worried that the tongue would rise up & let loose but it did not, thank heavens!

Everyone was nervous at this point...

And the trailer with the gargoyle is board and on dirt ground again!

Bill made the cement pad the week before so it would be solid for the weight to be placed upon it.

Now detach the trailer from the ATV and bring in the tractor to lift it in the air!

See the solar lamp lights that were installed & the side railings, the guys were busy that week!

Now to lift the gargoyle out of the trailer!

Bill let the guys know what he was going to do & what to watch for.

I asked Donald why he covered the face of the gargoyle, and he said it was to protect his face from any bumping. 

I was nervous & I'm sure the gargoyle was too!! So glad he wasn't watching! lol

Steady...

That was my job guiding the hanging gargoyle when we installed the other gargoyle on the laneway side & I was very nervous doing it!

It was in position, now to lower it safely!

And then Don & Jon spun it around to be in the position of being the bridge watcher to the woods.

He is watching the path in this position, not the bridge.

Bill made me nervous backing the tractor down the woods path with very little clearance & muck from the rain the night before.

And the gargoyle is now in the correct position looking grand! The whole height is tall & grand, Donald is 6'2" to put a scale to it!

How beautiful is the gargoyle in the woods with all the nature surrounding it?!! I am over the moon!

At night solar lights are illuminating it and the lanterns are an orangish flickering light. I find myself taking one final glimpse before going to bed, it makes my heart sing!

 

This is the other gargoyle looking from the woods to the laneway.

The two face opposite directions, keeping guard of those coming & going and enhancing the beauty of the nature around them.

The laneway gargoyle greets those who visit!

Last September at Lambe Concrete it was love at first sight when I saw the gargoyles & Nicole & Mitch came for the ride to PEI to pick them up with us. I was happy to have them for our property & now after sitting through a couple of seasons in the garage, they are where they belong.

Thank you, every one of you that made my vision a reality!! xXx

Now to look at the beauty of this summer season that does not last but is so beautiful while it is here!

The lamb's ear is everywhere & is the very best feeling to touch it! So so soft!

The peonies were so beautiful & full of ants at first opening them up & then the bees doing their pollinating!

I did bring in a few to enjoy in the house & the rest were left for nature's enjoyment.

Nick & Leslie's anniversary black hollyhocks are going to bloom soon!

They only bloom every other year, so this year is special to watch again!

Bill brought me another Costco basket for the old black urn. The summer colours are spectacular!

The battery in the smoke sector started to scream to let us know that it needed replacing. Our smoke detectors are hard-wired into the electrical as well as batteries. And it will only accept Duracell batteries no other kind! So Bill was on a quest for Duracell batteries, in the meantime, we in the house listened to the one-minute interval screams.

Bridget was terrified & climbed into a bookshelf under my sewing table! This was the first time to see her do that!!

She would not come out either, so I just left her & sewed until Bill returned with Baxter & the batteries.

Rexton the Manx cat often sleeps in my wool piles in the winter months when I'm sewing but never has Bridge taken refuge under my sewing table.

The pitch from the smoke detector has her terrified!

Laundry Basket Quilts BOW Spring Mystery is done!

On the left are the pieced blocks & the right is the applique added.

This project was the first for me with all the applique!

And I enjoyed the outcome with the colour & movement!

Here it is complete! I am going to use it as a summer table topper.

This pattern was called Pennsylvania, I gave it a Dutch twist with the red, white, & blue. 

For years I have had this beautiful needlework that I purchased at Value Village in London. On the back, a first-place ribbon had been pinned from Petrolia Ontario. It is a beautifully crafted piece & I have made it into a pillow & have pinned the red ribbon inside!

This beautiful English thatched cottage scenery now is an admired pillow on the couch!

I found my piece of rug canvas & have made a grid to fill in with black Kona fabric. I'm not sure of the pattern so I will wait until I know what I will do. Thank you Karen Cole for teaching me this new crafty art! I will start something when the weather turns cool.

The BOW Dresden Plate Picnic quilt is coming together nicely too! I used the Moda, Kathy Schmitz Black Bird fabric from twenty years ago that was in my stash.

And the Connecting Threads Americana for the background, adding freshness to the muted colours & making them pop. We are now on week 9 with not many to go now. I have already signed up for the next free QAL called Grandma's Scrap Basket, it is nine patches with an appliqued border & will use up scraps from my stash again!

Billy Baldwin said it best! 'Be faithful to your own taste because nothing you really like is ever out of style.'  And playing in my fabric stash shows just that!!

Bill surprised me on this anniversary with a dish collection that I have admired for many years. It is called the Charles Dickens Curiosity Shop dishes.

It is a ten-setting set! This set is from the 1950s and I have never seen such a full collection of it!!

I have watched the black/white story on YouTube and it is one of sadness & truth of addiction.

The outward design & the green colour makes the scenes pop out!

The only pieces I don't have are the salt/pepper shakers & the teapot if they even were made.

I was delighted with each & every piece of the Curiosity Shop dishes!

I did find this nappy dish a few years back at a thrift store, it had a chip & I made it the cat's dry food dish. Never did I ever think that the whole collection would be mine!

This 36th anniversary will be one that truly surprised me! Thank you Bill for making it a reality! xXx

I have finally regained my health again & without health, life is not so good.

You know how they say it happens in threes...

First I got a cold from Bill returning from Holland, then I was putting my joggers on & lifting my leg to go into the pant leg, threw my back out!! 

After several days of coughing & back pain then travelling down my right leg to be sciatica, I was cutting with the rotary blade (those that know me know I don't sit/stay well) & it jumped & cut my finger!!

It took off my nail too! I had sewn my finger too the month before. I really need to slow down & live in the moment & it's times like these that bring it to the forefront!

With Bill to the rescue, he fixed me up & within one week my hand was healed, then in two weeks today it is like nothing happened! I'm so glad I heal quickly!

The cough is gone, the back is better & I will go in for my chiro maintenance spine adjustment for scoliosis that I have neglected since April.

All in all, life is good & I'm back on track.

The new news is that our eldest son Donald will be moving in with us as he has taken a job with Kone Elevator & will be starting work August 1st. He will also be bringing his mini English Bulldog Gordo with him. He says he's mini but he weighs in at 72lbs!! That is more than Briget, Baxter, & Rexton combined!! I look forward to meeting the new grandpuppy of Hardwicke.

Gordo is going from a Condo City dog to a rural dog. Gordo has his own stroller for going for walks, I will need a ramp to put him in his stroller as I know I cannot lift a 72lb grandpuppy!

He will fit in nicely with the 'no tail' look that all three have here. lol

Thank you for stopping by the northeast Atlantic coastline for a visit. I hope you were not scared to see the gargoyles on your visit. They were used by religious churches centuries ago to ward off evil spirits & greet those of kind & kindred spirits.

 Welcome to all those that enter Beaver Moon by the laneway or enter into the woods.

Stay healthy & happy & stay in the moment that you are taking in! xXx

 Cynthia