Time off

I love Long Beach...not Long Beach, California but Long Beach Vancouver Island. We were there for four days. The weather on the first day was raining by the buckets but it was still so beautiful. The next couple of days were sunny and gorgeous. It was windy there but no one cared.

This was the view from the balcony in our cabin.


This little cove was just below our cabin. As soon as the tide was out, we were down there, poking into the tidal pools.


I love the colours and textures best. Spent a lot of time staring at the little sea anenomes. They looked like little buttons.



I don't know very much about starfish but always thought they only had eight legs. This one has eighteen.



The mandatory sunset picture...


Thankful for:
1. The agility and mobility to enjoy a walk on the beach.
2. Being able to take time off at work during a crazy time.
3. The baked goods at this lodge were really good and being able to limit myself to one pastry a day.

Saturday

The first rose of the season!

We're having one of our rare Vancouver sunny day today. I love this time of the year. It's warm and sunny with a nice cool breeze. Every year, I try to take a picture of the poppies. The deep purple in the centre of these poppies are my favourite shade of purple. It's amazing how brilliant this colour is. I was fooling around with the settings on the camera, trying to capture that same brillance. I am not good at this. The resulting photos look so orange-y. It's ok...I have the whole summer to experiment. :)



Right now, I'm sitting out on my deck, picking through a bag of silk noil. It's one of those mindless tasks that you can do anywhere and anytime.

Friday!

Today was not your normal Friday. It was one of the Friday-from-hell type of Fridays. The kind that is usually reserved for when you really REALLY want the day to end so you can go home on time. The only good thing about today is that it's the start of almost a week off for me. Almost a week off because I'm off next week but have to work next Saturday. We've hired a crap-load of staff and were told that we have to be there for the new staff orientation. Bah! Everyone was really busy trying to get things done for next weekend plus we have a show happening as well as all the construction going on. I feel slightly guilty that I won't be there and will show up just for Saturday. Just slightly guilty.


While everyone at work will be running around like crazy, I'm heading to Long Beach on Vancouver Island.

Thankful for:
1. Finally figured out how to convert movies for my ipod.
2. A week off.
3. Dog managed to get outside before throwing up today.

Woohoo! New fibre accessory!

Picked up a new knitting accessory on Friday. It's wonderful! I can use it to keep track of my knitting needles, carry patterns & charts on the go, and all sorts of fun stuff. Found an application that would even keep track of all your knitting projects on the go and acts as a stitch/row counter as well. It's been only 3 days and I can't believe how I ever survived without it!

Oh yeah, it plays music and videos as well. :)



I was all set to get a new phone. Wasn't even thinking of the iphone but the Samsung Omnia. Why? becauase it has a much better camera (5.0 megapixel) than the iphone (2.0 megapixel). Then my sister showed me her ipod touch. That was it...game over. I don't really need the camera and I didn't need a new phone either. I just wanted a new one. The camera on my current phone is still pretty decent. Besides, I have my camera. And I like the idea of not paying huge amounts of money for a data package that I don't really need. The ipod touch will connect to any open network. Lots of areas like that downtown. Free internet means more money that could be better spent on fibre.

And on Ravelry, there is an ipod forum too! Knitters are truly everywhere.

Thankful for:
1. A brother who emails you back late at night with answers to your ipod questions.
2. A sister who is every bit an enabler as my fibre friends.
3. Long weekend Monday.

Part of the knitting green initiative.

It's not like I don't have anything else to use. I have bags and baskets that I use for knitting but I always go back to the good old margarine tub. Everything fits. It keeps my yarn from rolling all over the floor. I could say it's part of my green initiative. yeah.

Things to be thankful for:
1. Sunshine today.
2. Getting my stuff done ahead of time at work so I have time to deal with the changes tomorrow.
3. Long weekend this weekend and that means we get to leave early on Friday.

Nothing much to say today.

Not much to say today...came home, ate dinner, watch tv, knit, pretended to crochet, played WoW. I'm starting to find it odd that I meet nice people when I play lower level characters than my high level ones. I don't know if it says something about the mentality of people who play games. People can be pretty serious in the top levels making sure their toons are decked out in the latest and greatest. I guess a lot of people play the lower alts are for fun and can afford to be more laid back.

Things to be thankful for:
1. Lunch and a much needed chocolate break.
2. Sunny weather in between the rain.
3. My office was not flooded out.

All in all, it was a fairly quiet weekend. Hubby was still feeling sore from his back surgery so we didn't do the usual Mother's Day stuff. We did go to the Joel Plaskett concert Saturday night, however. I was a bit worry how his back would be, sitting in those tiny cramped seats. We bought the tickets ages ago before he got his surgery date. Concert was great!

Here's a tiny horrible picture of Joel Plaskett, taken from my cell phone camera. Not the best picture. I completely forgot to do the settings properly and didn't want to fiddle with it in the dark.



Things that makes me happy:
1. Stopped by Black Sheep Yarns for the yarn sale on the way to the concert.
2. Just so happened to have a ball of yarn and needles in my bag (see #1) so I was able to knit while waiting for the concert to start.
3. Good music.
4. Concert finished (even with all the encores) right before the hockey game ended so we avoided the traffic going home.
5. Next weekend is a long weekend!!

A thought or two...

Sweetgeorgia's post the other day about women artists and how they struggle between a balance of family and art is very interesting. I can honestly say those same thoughts have crossed my mind many times. As much as I would love to spend as much time as possible being creative, I wouldn't give up what I have with my family. I think that's the point of that movie...why should women have to make a choice? It's a question that I've heard many women ask themselves all the time. I don't think there is one right answer. I think it's a balance that we each have to find and come to terms with.

Thankful for:
1. Ugly job to pay the bills so I can afford to play once in while.
2. People like Sweetgeorgia for her honesty and willingness to share herself.
3. Although I call it the Ugly job, it has good moments too. I can't really say it's a dull job.

A spinning mishap

Found a bobbin of merino/silk that I had spun ages ago. Wound it into a ball & plyed it. It was looking pretty good. I have a bad habit of pulling the end a little ways into the yarn so it wouldn't unravel...which I did here. Usually I make the end long enough so I can see where it is to pull out. Didn't do that this time. I took the bobbin off the wheel to wind onto the niddy noddy and the end had disappeared. The worse thing you could do is panic (which I also did) and really messed up the bobbin looking for the end. What am I going to do now? Can this be saved?



I was hoping that leaving it for a day or two would make the end miraculously reappear. No such luck. I thought maybe the bright sunlight would help...nope. Shouldn't have panicked.