fair winds for 2014!
Oh what a winter holidays it has been! For those friends of mine in other parts of the country or other countries entirely, we had a huge ice storm around here on the weekend of the Winter Solstice and the ice was so thick from the storm that it broke branches right off the trees with the weight of the ice built up on them and of course in many places those falling branches hit power lines and much of the GTA was without power for days. Some place still don't have their power back, in fact! It's a little scary because since the ice storm it's been super cold, especially the past three days or so where we had this huge mass of Arctic air over us and the windchill was like -36C so it was coooooold!
We were lucky in that we didn't lose power, though we did lose our internet and cable tv which appeared to drive my folks a bit batty ha ha! I admit, the lack of internet started to get to me after a while and I resorted to turning my phone into a wifi hotspot which seems to use up a ridiculous amount of data that way heh heh We were much more productive without tv or internet: we got all our Christmas baking done and one night I wrapped all my gifts out of boredom mostly *lol* It was odd to have power while just across the street they lost power until Christmas Eve morning! And we must have looked like jerks because we even had our outdoor Xmas lights on, but really that was because the extension cords were iced over so we couldn't unplug them and it was also really hard to move around the yard with ice one inch thick covering everything. I was lucky that I found a pair of ice cleats to put over my boots, otherwise I would have never been able to get to work the last day before I had my holidays!
I feel very bad for the trees though, our own huge silver maple in the front yard lost at least six big branches (diameters of the end were 3 inches in some cases) but luckily due to how the tree has grown leaning away from the house and don't have any powerlines nearby, none of these did any damage, thankfully. But everywhere I go I see trees with heavy damage, some of which split so badly they basically split all the way to the trunk and split in half. I think it will be many years before these trees start to lose the lopsided look and I think many will be dead by spring, which is truly a shame when it comes to some of the older trees. My neighborhood is an older one so we had some spectacular damage, on Christmas Eve day I went for a walk (wearing my trusty ice cleats to keep me from slipping) and took photos of all the deadly yet lovely ice everywhere, and the sun was out so it sparkled in such a pretty way.
If you'd like to check out my pics, I uploaded them as a set to flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/90297132@N00/sets/72157639416829886/
Actually, in that set are photos from the day after the storm when it was most overcast and also the morning of Christmas Eve as well, since I really loved how the warm morning light created a glowing mist and lit up the ice, such a gorgeous mood it made :) Ice can look so different with different kinds of light!
I hope those who asked for a holiday card have either received it or will get it soon, apologies for the delay but I had both printer issues (apparently I can't use the "Cardstock" setting when I print on cardstock, who knew? lol) and then the internet went down which is where everyone's address was stored (silly me hadn't updated my contacts text file ha ha) but I did get them out and I hope you enjoy them :)
I was inspired mirroreyesserval's lovely cards to create a paper card that could be cut out and turned into a hangable ornament, so if you would like your own paper ornament, feel free to download the PDF version of the card from zippyshare: http://www43.zippyshare.com/v/80940239/file.html
Instructions for making your ornament: basically you print the card out on your home printer (on cardstock preferably), cut out the gryphons along the green border, holepunch the holes above their heads, use tape or gluestick etc to attach them together and then put a string through the hole to hang your ornament :)
Thank you so much to songfire3, ciaranbochna, maiji, skwerly and tattooed_raven for the lovely cards, many of which were ~*sparkly*~ ooooo ahhhh :D
My Christmas with my family went great, we were a bit worried for my aunt and uncle and cousin having power, not just because they were hosting Christmas dinner but in general being without more than a generator to keep the pipes from freezing is no fun in winter, but thankfully they got their power back on Christmas Eve so we were able to have our turkey dinner. I was also happy I got to make a new appetizer/snack that I'd found on Pinterest that was dead-easy to make, check out this lovely "Christmas wreath":
It was a big hit and I plan to make it again in the future :D For Christmas I recieved a GORGEOUS Professional series Kitchenaid mixer (in Apple Green of course!) so I am hoping to also try my hand at making more tasty things :D
I hope all of you had a warm and lovely holidays and may your new year be bright and sparkly! I spent my new year's with some of my best friends and it was wonderful to be with the people I love best, and thanks to all of you out there for still following me and keeping in touch ^_^ *HUGS*
~Sunhawk
We were lucky in that we didn't lose power, though we did lose our internet and cable tv which appeared to drive my folks a bit batty ha ha! I admit, the lack of internet started to get to me after a while and I resorted to turning my phone into a wifi hotspot which seems to use up a ridiculous amount of data that way heh heh We were much more productive without tv or internet: we got all our Christmas baking done and one night I wrapped all my gifts out of boredom mostly *lol* It was odd to have power while just across the street they lost power until Christmas Eve morning! And we must have looked like jerks because we even had our outdoor Xmas lights on, but really that was because the extension cords were iced over so we couldn't unplug them and it was also really hard to move around the yard with ice one inch thick covering everything. I was lucky that I found a pair of ice cleats to put over my boots, otherwise I would have never been able to get to work the last day before I had my holidays!
I feel very bad for the trees though, our own huge silver maple in the front yard lost at least six big branches (diameters of the end were 3 inches in some cases) but luckily due to how the tree has grown leaning away from the house and don't have any powerlines nearby, none of these did any damage, thankfully. But everywhere I go I see trees with heavy damage, some of which split so badly they basically split all the way to the trunk and split in half. I think it will be many years before these trees start to lose the lopsided look and I think many will be dead by spring, which is truly a shame when it comes to some of the older trees. My neighborhood is an older one so we had some spectacular damage, on Christmas Eve day I went for a walk (wearing my trusty ice cleats to keep me from slipping) and took photos of all the deadly yet lovely ice everywhere, and the sun was out so it sparkled in such a pretty way.
If you'd like to check out my pics, I uploaded them as a set to flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/90297132@N00/sets/72157639416829886/
Actually, in that set are photos from the day after the storm when it was most overcast and also the morning of Christmas Eve as well, since I really loved how the warm morning light created a glowing mist and lit up the ice, such a gorgeous mood it made :) Ice can look so different with different kinds of light!
I hope those who asked for a holiday card have either received it or will get it soon, apologies for the delay but I had both printer issues (apparently I can't use the "Cardstock" setting when I print on cardstock, who knew? lol) and then the internet went down which is where everyone's address was stored (silly me hadn't updated my contacts text file ha ha) but I did get them out and I hope you enjoy them :)
I was inspired mirroreyesserval's lovely cards to create a paper card that could be cut out and turned into a hangable ornament, so if you would like your own paper ornament, feel free to download the PDF version of the card from zippyshare: http://www43.zippyshare.com/v/80940239/file.html
Instructions for making your ornament: basically you print the card out on your home printer (on cardstock preferably), cut out the gryphons along the green border, holepunch the holes above their heads, use tape or gluestick etc to attach them together and then put a string through the hole to hang your ornament :)
Thank you so much to songfire3, ciaranbochna, maiji, skwerly and tattooed_raven for the lovely cards, many of which were ~*sparkly*~ ooooo ahhhh :D
My Christmas with my family went great, we were a bit worried for my aunt and uncle and cousin having power, not just because they were hosting Christmas dinner but in general being without more than a generator to keep the pipes from freezing is no fun in winter, but thankfully they got their power back on Christmas Eve so we were able to have our turkey dinner. I was also happy I got to make a new appetizer/snack that I'd found on Pinterest that was dead-easy to make, check out this lovely "Christmas wreath":
It was a big hit and I plan to make it again in the future :D For Christmas I recieved a GORGEOUS Professional series Kitchenaid mixer (in Apple Green of course!) so I am hoping to also try my hand at making more tasty things :D
I hope all of you had a warm and lovely holidays and may your new year be bright and sparkly! I spent my new year's with some of my best friends and it was wonderful to be with the people I love best, and thanks to all of you out there for still following me and keeping in touch ^_^ *HUGS*
~Sunhawk