We arrived home safely at about 11 pm tonight. It was a terrific vacation all around, especially the past four days spent at the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat. Details of the trip have been posted at Speed River Journal:

1. A Day at Presqu'ile Provincial Park
2. Jardin botanique de Montréal
3. Men's Spring Knitting Retreat Joins Community in Nature
4. Diversity in ( Read more... )

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I mentioned Ranger Rick magazine on The Yarn a few days ago, and this morning Senior Editor Libby Schleichert commented there. Cool!

After 18 months the Writers' Circle has suddenly taken on a life. For a year it was just me and Sarah quietly working away on our stuff. Then four weeks ago Nicole showed up and added some spark to the mix. Last week ( Read more... )

Yesterday afternoon was the monthly meeting of Rainbow Knitters, the first one well-attended since last spring. We had seven knitters plus two patrons who stayed to hang out with us after regular library hours ended.

At 3:30 I had locked up and was walking to my car. It had just started to snow hard, and a heavy wave of depression hit.

Low-pressure ( Read more... )

Working for Judy and Brenda is a hoot. Framing and drywalling is a careful craft, but not as precise as building pipe organs. The girls have a common proverb for when a measurement turns out an eighth of an inch off: "We're not building a watch!" To tease me they have revised it: "We're not building an organ!"

Of course they were tickled when I ( Read more... )

A new artist venue, Studio 490, has sprung up half a block from my apartment. I hurried back from Toronto on Sunday afternoon in time to attend the grand opening. Anne Hunt is a fibre artist. Louisa Kratka is a dancer and bookbinder among other things (she has a Leclerc table loom just like the one Danny gave me last weekend, and it turns out she ( Read more... )

It would be difficult to describe my weekend at Easton Mountain and do it justice, but I must say something. The best part, of course, was the people I met. Most memorable was spending all of Saturday afternoon on a balcony overlooking the lake, knitting, and talking with Michael (author of Knitting With Balls), the other Van, and others who ( Read more... )

Thank you to everyone who has expressed concern and support in recent days. Yesterday morning I hit bottom, but Sylvie got off work at 11:30 and we spent the afternoon together, which we haven't done in ages. We are practically the same temperament, so nobody else gives good perspective as she does.

Several friends here suggested that I might need ( Read more... )

Religion seems to be the theme of the week. This morning the Rainbow Chorus performed at a service in Waterloo in which Parkminister United Church made its formal declaration as a new affirming congregation.

For those of you who live elsewhere, the United Church of Canada is our most liberal Christian denomination. It's structure is highly ( Read more... )

My absence from LiveJournal deepens, but life is good. I've organized a new knitting group and planned a writers circle at Out On The Shelf, and arranging a Rufus Wainwright song for the Rainbow Chorus to perform next spring. Music I've added to my iTunes library recently: Dido, Goldfrapp, Hootie and the Blowfish, Indigo Girls, a couple older k.d. ( Read more... )