Sunday 13 April 2008

Hello and see you soon

Good day everyone. This has been one busy week.
A little background - DH and I are Canadians who live in Ontario, Canada on Lake Ontario. Come late October when the rain starts to fall, the leaves start to drop and the wind starts to blow, we pack up our tent and move to Arizona for the winter. When the neighborhood starts to empty and the temperatures climb into the 100's, we head back home.
Many of our friends have folded their tents and headed back to their homes in B.C., Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Missouri and other places across Canada and the U.S. We have said goodbye every day for the past 9 days with either a "Happy Hour", supper out or a "Must Go"(everything left must go) party.It is hard on the diet to eat out so often. We ladies had to do our last minute shopping (every day for the past week) and do our last lunch out (more than once).

We are now getting ready to fold our tent and hit the road. We have 25 cardboard boxes, 3 large Rubbermaid totes and a myriad of other stuff to stash in between all this containers. Our van will be loaded to the roof as always. We are leaving here on Thursday and will be home in Ontario by the 24th. We are making a stop in Denver and again in Guthrie Center, Iowa to visit with some friends. We will travel approximately 2800 miles in seven days. My rear will be quite square by the time I finally get out of the van!!

On the stitching front, I did make some progress between packing boxes and all the other things that happened this past week.
I finished this large motif on page 6. I stayed up until midnight to get it done and rewarded myself by staying up even longer to do the small motif and the little elephant as my reward.
Here is my ornament for April - Partidge and Pear by Prairie Schooler from the Just Cross Stitch Ornament magazine 2005. I ended up doing two because a friend is a partridge collector and just had to have one. I will give it to her once I make it into an ornament.
I am amazed that I have managed to stick with an ornament a month to this date.
I am also working on my Swedish weaving afghan and will share a photo next time. My stitching bag will travel with me in the car and I hope to get some things done as we venture down the road.
I will probably not blog again until we get home. Internet on the road is always iffy.
I will leave you with a couple of photos that I took this week of the cactus in bloom. We don't often see blooms. You need an extra amount of rain for this to happen. I think this is the second time in 6 years we have seen so many in bloom.
See you back in Canada.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to meet while you were here but I'm sure we will next year. Even though you are so close, Yuma is still 4 hours away. I'm really glad that you have been having such a good week with all of your 'snowbirding' friends and enjoying the whole winter in a warmer climate. Your projects look marvelous, can't wait until you're blogging again and showing whatever you're working on. Hugs.

Aussie Stitcher said...

Safe travel Kathy.

Kim B said...

I'm sure you're anxious to get home to Canada, but your post about AZ makes me a bit homesick. I grew up in Arizona and only moved away 1 year, 1 month, and 4 days ago. I wonder if AZ will always feel like home or if 5 years from now I won't miss it so much. Have a good safe trip!!

staci said...

That is a LOOONG drive!!! Denver hmmm, you'll be really really close to my neck of the woods ;)

Have a safe trip!

Dani - tkdchick said...

I can't wait to see you on the 26th safe travels to you and Leo!

The desert blooms are stunning!

Rowyn said...

Have a safe trip Kathy.

PL is looking great, and the Partridges are super too!

I love those shots of the cacti - I have a small collection (indoors and out) of them. My Mum has over a 100!

Sue said...

Your stitching looks great. Have a safe trip back to Ontario ;)

Rob said...

Thanks for stopping by! You are too funny about PL. I was looking at it yesterday.....

Yours is looking great!

Petra said...

Safe trip!

Chiloe said...

Have a safe trip home !!! Take tons of pictures to share with us !!!

Ranae said...

Pl is looking good.
The Partridges make fabulous ornaments.
Congrats! on 100 post, I am almost there.
The desert blooms are gorgeous, thanks for sharing. And Thanks so much for thinking of Brianna.
I bet it will be nice to see your kiddies.
Congrats! on 100 post, I am almost there.
Have a safe trip home.
Take Care!
(((hugs)))

Carol said...

Have a safe and uneventful journey home!!

Carolien said...

Have a safe and good journey! Till later ...

Greetings and hugs, Carolien

Beatrice said...

Hey there, I'm so glad you are on your way home. I've missed you.
I haven't been on line because I was so sick. Much better today.
The desert looks lovely in Bloom.
See you sooooon!!
Drive safely.

Lynn said...

Safe trip home Kathy. Things are starting to warm up here now so it should be great by the time you get home.
You've done well with your ornament schedule. I'm afraid my intentions were good but I've fallen behind. The partridge is adorable.
Thanks for sharing your cactus pictures. They're lovely.

mainely stitching said...

Those blooming cacti are gorgeous - thanks for sharing the pictures!

I hope your trip home is uneventful!

Wendy said...

Have a safe trip home, Kathy! Those cactus pictures are gorgeous, I love cactus flowers!

Sonda said...

I'm wishing you a safe and stitch-filled trip!

Kim B said...

I love your partridges! I hope to stick to an ornament a month from here on out :)