May's Warm Wet Arrival

It sure has been a very unsettling time for New Brunswickers that are on the spilling banks of the St John River. We've had a lot of rain too adding to the flooding problem.
My location is next to the salt water, which has not been a problem with the flooding. I'm loosing power for two hours, almost daily now. Today I think it is the strong winds creating the problems.
The backup generator has not worked since the ice storm & with the $283 labour bill from the Moncton company,  to say ' Don't know what the problem is but here's your labour bill.' Bill's going to fix it next time in a couple of weeks. Grrrr, I don't like it when you don't get what you paid for!
That is such a small problem to what people are experiencing now with all the melting snow, raining, & swelling river.
Remember all the snow that was here last week? Have a look now!!

 A hovercraft was breaking up the ice in the bay. The fishermen have not been able to drop their traps because of the unsafe frozen ice.

 They are going out on Monday. That is Bay du Vin Island that's in the Miramichi Bay, I'm taking the photo from the backyard.

 It is so windy today that there are white caps in the waves. That is a piece of the neighbour's steel roof, it was buried under the snow all winter, now it's a bridge over the ditch!

 The backyard has absorbed a lot of the puddles but we had more rain & the ground's unable to absorb it right now.

 Remember all that snow a couple of weeks ago?! It is just pools of water now & the wind today will help dry that up.

This photo was early this morning before the winds picked up to create those white caps in the water. Yesterday the water was like a still mirror for the hovercraft to hover over. The blue sky is reflected in the puddles. It is so beautiful here on a nice clear day & usually followed by a beautiful sunset!

Sandy surprised me with this tote, I'm going to add an 'S' to the dog. lol Such a cute surprise with my Bunnykins vintage pitcher that was gifted to me by one of her friends. I also got my own beach towel with Boston's on it but I'll share that another day. Thank you, Sandy!

These two did not like the cold wind & decided to play in their crates... by moving them all around the bedroom!

They have such an innocent look to them when I ask 'What are you doing?!' They even pull their blankets out & move their toy tug around!

I was busy sewing this pillow together & making an insert pillow for it. I found the best coastal panel online, right here in Canada.

I finished this pillow too this morning... to much time in my sewing room & that's why the Boston's had their fun! This design is from a charm pack & I just love the coastal theme on it.

Bill brought me back several quilting magazines from his last trip to Australia & this England quilt magazine, with this bargello wallhanging that I fell in love with. I ordered the jelly roll (2 1/2" strips) to make it. Yes, it will coordinate with the pillow & beach themed pillows. My new decorating for the sunporch this year. The sunporch is getting a floating floor & the walls finished & painted.

I hope to get this started right after the Garden Mystery 2018 is finished. Three more blocks & the last block was 40" across with embroidery & applique! It's going to be gorgeous!!

 These are some more designs from the coastal panel that I will make into pillows too.

 I quilted this pillow top this morning & will work on another pillow later.

The cat grass is growing well in the sunporch, this is oat grass & I can't grow it fast enough because all 5 pets just love it!

The very expensive catnip from West Coast Seeds is just starting to show some life.
At the last EBH Garden Club meeting someone told me that they saved toilet paper rolls, cut them in half & snipped the bottom to create a closer, another told me how they used a clamshell container for a mini hothouse. So I combined the two & came up with this for the seedlings.

This is how they started, how clever is this?!

Encouraging... these are going to be double bloom daffodils! I really want to see some spring before we leap into summer, the fastest season ever!

This little Bombay stool (that I painted) had brown/beige striped fabric on it. It too needed a boost of summer. This fabric is from a shower curtain so it's waterproof & the blue/white fabric that I needed!

                                                       Now it has a feel of summer to it!

You can see the outline quilting that I did on this pillow around the sails. I think of the Bluenose & our dime when I see this ship.

With the loss of our power again today, I filled & lit the firebox & everyone settled in.

Old Tom has taken to the black leather wingback these days, where the afternoon sun shines in on him.

He's doing much better now but his circulation is slowing down & his paws are always cold.
In less than 10 weeks he will be twenty years old!

I saw in a magazine once that someone grew potatoes in a flower box & they trailed over & looked lovely. So I thought I would give it a go as my potatoes had eyes that were quite long. Oh my, I think I have the wrong kind of potatoes, these ones are going straight up & have very strong stalks!
Maybe they were yams?

One is a lonely number and Bridget was so enjoying the afternoon sun in the foyer.

Then Baxter enters the scene & she surrenders to enjoy that warm sun on her black body.

I talked to him & asked him to 'Be nice.'

                                               He was, he just wanted to sunbathe too!

                           And they're down for the afternoon, all warm & cosy in the sun.

 Baxter does a big stretch to get more sun on his body. He was outside today in the wind & the sun just doesn't feel the same.

 The funny discovery this week. I looked into the woods where I feed the birds & at first, I thought I saw a chicken. It was a very large bird with a red head. I ran for my camera & the bird was then in the tree.

It turns out to be a pileated woodpecker, a rare find in our woods. It has been seen several more times by me. It loves our dead vertical standing trees. So many birds are now back & the morning air is filled with them singing. The frogs are being their mating songs at night too! Spring has finally arrived in northern New Brunswick.

The fast thaw didn't help with the St John River & terrible flooding that's happening.
Scary news when watching CTV Atlantic news & all the coverage of the flooding.

When I lived in London ON, I attended the SOHO meetings that were taking place for the growth of several very high apartment buildings, 2 at 27 storey's tall. Well, the promenade that was to be constructed was done by the company that did the Halifax Warf, which had to be 4 meters higher than planned due to the high waters rising with the global change. The Thames River was in front of the apartment builds & it too had to be planned to be made tall & strong due to rising water.
I had a great interest in what was happening as I lived on the other side of the Thames River in a century home that would look at all these modern highrises.
Stephanie & Donny, our eldest son, are now stewards of that home & it will be them watching the waters rise with the apartment building going tall too. Lucky for them they're high on a hill & have the bike path located on the floodplain when the banks overflow & in past years I've seen them spill right into the park.
The times are changing & we must change & adapt with them to survive.

My thoughts & prayers go out to those that are displaced right now & I hope a safe summer for all.

Thank you for stopping by for a visit. I am safe where I live in New Brunswick, I am one of the lucky ones for now. I hope you are safe & dry wherever you are. I know there is flooding going on in several provinces right now. This too will pass...sooner than later I'm hoping.

The Furkids & I

This is a long post, go get a cuppa whilst you have a visit.
The furkids & I are doing well & have survived the pups first real winter.
Yes, with the warmer temps & some April showers, the snow should start melting quicker, & the last couple of days have been great for just that! The snow is nearly away from my potting shed which will allow me to open the door for the first time this year!

Mornings are not for the Boston's they like to sleep in, staying all warm & cosy in their beds.

A popular trait with the Bostons is that they sleep under their covers, this is a black blanket!

Once out front under that warm cosy spot, the stretching begins. Limb by limb till the wee tail begins to wag & they're ready to greet the day...

Or each other, they sleep in their own individual crates & have their own blankets. I have done this from the day they arrived. Baxter gets upset with Bridget always taking his crate over & the whining begins with him to let me know, 'She's doing it again!'.

Rexton the Manx is enjoying the windows & the activity of bird watching in the laundry room.

Nice poise in the photo Rexton! Scary cat... not! LOL

Mr Boots is just being himself, a Boston terrorizer to Bridget & Baxter, that cat rules those two!

He waits for them & then doesn't allow them to pass into the kitchen until he says so!

I don't know what or why he dislikes those two but makes it his mission to control them. He looks scary in this photo with his eyes lit up!

Baxter wants to play & Bridget is always after Baxter to stop, she is truly scared by that the cat!

Now get! And don't come back till I let you! lol  He's a mean one, Mr Boots!!

Jocelyne gave me her leftover cutoffs from her new bathroom curtain sheers & I remade the leftovers into an upper curtain in Bill's bathroom. The fabric design really complimented the stained glass window I made back in the 1990's. In the century home, it hung vertically with a roman shade as the upper valance.

The window has a finished look to it now & a big thank you, Jocelyne, for thinking of me & my creative needs!

                                                     The summer dress is now finished!

And I'm glad I did not make a top with it. It's hard to find an inexpensive dress these days & I've had this fabric for a long time. I think it was going to be a midi-skirt back in the day it was purchased.
With the nice weather coming it will make a nice going into town or Sunday dress, now don't I sound rural!

Another block from the Garden Mystery Quilt, my goal is to have it finished by the time the snow is finished with us!

I had some evening handwork with this Classic Potholder Kit that was purchased at a Cracker Barrel in the USA. I love that chain store & restaurant & would have Bill stop in for a meal or purchase. Well back a few, maybe quite a few, years ago I purchased this kit for one of the kids & no one enjoyed working with it. I saw it & thought to finish the loops, which are cutoffs of sock toes. One, then two, th7en three, then four. I had so much fun choosing the colours that I thought I would purchase the refill loops. The original bag shown in the picture was $3.99 & today the same bag is $27.89. Wow, I didn't see that coming! I will be weaving the threads through or purchasing socks at the Giant Tiger for the next project.  Time certainly is money!

I made this pillow top from the Amherst NS trip to see Kaffe Fassett several years ago & trying to tie up some UFO's is challenging for me. I'm going to have to live to be over 100 years old now, an incentive isn't it! lol

I prewashed this trim, hindsight from the dining room chair covers I made in blue/white toile years back, after the first washing the trim was shrunk around the fabric. I'm going to use that trim on several of the summer pillows that I will soon be making. I like learning hindsight from other people, not first hand! lol

I made a chickadee from felt, the free pattern was used for Christmas tree decorations, I thought it would look nice in a grapevine wreath on the potting shed door.

                                               Great in front of the TV project at night.

Another UFO finished! These are 1" & smaller, finished strips. I had just enough black trim from my dress tunic front, to use as accents to this Oriental fabric placemat. The fabric collection was from strips of a quilt I made Bill when he got his Brampton apartment a decade or more ago.

Love houndstooth fabric, such a timeless classic!

I was changing the bedding this week & Mr Boots was on the mattress. I thought he would move with the kingsize sheets being thrown high into the air to reach the other side of the bed. No, he just slowly moved onto the fitted sheet as it was fitted. Then I thought I would lose him with the flat sheet, no. The duvet comforter, no, he just slowly would move to where it was finished, the top quilt, no just stayed put.

This 24-pound cat is so easy going with me, now the Boston's, he has his own plans with them!

Baxter is modelling a denim borg lined coat that I had made for Boris. It fits him perfectly!

Bridget & Baxter are 16 months old now.

They are very food driven & pay close attention when they know that treats are involved! lol

They fill my days with so much joy, I couldn't imagine not having this pair.

                                                      Doesn't this look like a hug?

                                  Wrestling is still a daily event with them, jackets on or off!

                                 Their personalities are so different & together they are so good.

Old Tom moves to the sunlight these days.

It's wonderful seeing him in with us in the great room, whenever the afternoon sun graces us you can find Tom bathing away.

**+

I walked int the stained glass studio today to find this gorgeous flaming red beauty! In just one week it burst open. I brought it downstairs to place next to the large table decor to give you an idea how big it is!

                                                         This gorgeous amaryllis is 30" tall!

 Pussy willows, we have pussy willows all through our lane! Bill & I were out walking the lane this weekend & what a delightful find! I placed them in my maple syrup pail & dollar store hydrangeas.
I found the vintage milk bottles at Open Door Antiques in Chatham NB, always a find to be found there! I love stepping back in time, seeing things that are familiar to me, I grew up in the city & we had milk & cottage cheese delivered right to our door.

 The parking area & lane are now without snow & we saw the red buds of the maples against the bright blue sky this weekend. Soon...

 When I started blogging this morning snow & ice were still holding the door closed. It's suppertime now looks like a huge puddle in front of the door now!

                                                         The west still is snow covered.

 The north which is our backyard has the drifts of the snow storms still 4 feet in areas.

 The top of the breaker wall is visible now & grass is showing to the robin's delight.

The snow waves of winter, the last remnants of the horrid noreaster's that pounded us this winter.

As everything, this too will pass & be a memory of the 60th winter that I have survived in Canada!
I know that I need the changing seasons & I'm looking forward to seeing spring literally spring from the ground as the bulbs come to life! Such a wonderful rejuvenating feeling it makes people smile & the heart sing!

Have a great week, wherever you are.

Thank you for visiting the northeast rural coast!
Cynthia