Tuesday 23 September 2008

Hurricane Ike drops by

Guess who came to visit? We returned to our home after visiting with our son for the weekend, with grandson Hunter (2) in the car, to be greeted by this. We have very large poplar trees on our property. Sunday night, we had a tremendous windstorm courtesy of Hurricane Ike. A limb 8" around and 30' long landed on our back deck. It missed our house by inches but did damage the corner of the overhang on our upper deck. You can see in the next photo the damage to our gazebo. It also took out the canopy to my swing and the tabletop to our firepit set. The glass table that was under the gazebo was not damaged in the least.

And sitting quietly on the shelf, amidst the rubble was this ceramic frog light. Can you believe it? And now, we wait for the insurance company to sort out the damage and cost of repairs.

On to some stitching. I received news today that Mary Kathryn received the Fair and Square Halloween Squares I sent to her. She says the cat looks just like hers. This is from the 2007 Cross Stitch Pattern a Day Calendar. And of course, blogger has come by to turn this photo on it's ear or side LOL.
Annette also received her Fair and Square Round 9 squares. She said she was into Egyptian so I stitched these squares for her from an unknown magazine. It is part of a sampler. The name and place - Kathy and Canada are stitched in hieroglyphics. I found the alphabet online and then translated it into stitches.
As I mentioned earlier, we brought out little grandson home with us. My stitching progress was understandably small. It was stitch one - change a diaper, stitch two - find the missing Matchbox car, stitch three - Gramma I hungry - stitch one - Gramma train broken LOL. It was wonderful fun to have him here and to do some one on one bonding.

I did manage to get some stitches in Fairies in the Garden. Although the progress is small, there is some after so many frustrating starts. Tomorrow is my day to stitch on it so I am hoping to have some progress of note. And, of course, blogger did it's thing.
I stitched and finished a design for the MAW exchange so I cannot share it until it is received. It is going in the mail Thursday. I do have to show it off to my fellow Thursday stitchers before it flies off to it's new home.

I picked up Marjean's RR again and plan on making this my focus for the next few weeks until it is completed and returned to her. Can anyone guess which Mirabilia I am stitching?


To finish off my week and weekend in fine form, my children and I threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my husband Saturday night. His birthday is in March but we will be in Arizona and I wanted him to be able to share his birthday with his family and his friends from home. It was a total surprise to him and we had a blast. Here we are - one happy family. DH and I, our sons and their wives.
And a little walking story to share. This morning I was going for my morning walk down the road. I was not happy to be going and I was grumbling along. My knee hurts, my leg hurts, my hip hurts, why am I doing this, I don't want to be doing this. Suddenly, I had this vision of Vonna walking along beside me griping away too. I started to laugh so hard that I had to get to the side of the road so I wouldn't hurt myself. I am sure passing cars thought I had gone a little strange. That thought put the spark back in my step and I made it down the road and home again.

Take care everyone. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog and leave your comments. I am still struggling with my dialup but do read most everyone's blogs from my google reader. Three more weeks, and we will be on highspeed until the spring. YIPPEE!!!!!

Keep stitching and remember when you go walking, you could find Vonna or me grumbling right along beside you. LOL





17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry to see the damage the hurricane has done to your property, how heartbreaking that must be for you. I have been counting my blessings lately because we are all fine amidst the turmoil around us.

Your fair and squares are so cute, I have never seen either of those designs before.

I think you are stitching white christmas, I just added that one to my wish list. I am really into Mirabilia's right now. In fact, I am sitting here tonight working on Queen Mermaid and am so full of contentment as I stitch it.

I am also getting ready for the Sal in January. I will have 2 complete designs with all of the needs: Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and The Butterfly Fairy. I do hope I will be able to get together with you one day during the sal and stitch on them together.

Rowyn said...

Sorry to hear about the hurricane damage. You must have been gutted to come home and see that. Hope the insurance pay out quickly and you get things back to normal soon.

Love the squares you stitched for F&S. And that's such a pretty RR you're working on.

Wow, I bet your DH was extra surprised having a suprise birthday party in September when his birthday is in March. LOL. That's a lovely photo of you and your family. My OH is turning 40 in February and says "there'll be no party" (little does he know it's already on the boil!!).

mainely stitching said...

Oh, I love the story about your walk "with" Vonna! Next time my knee starts bugging me, I'll invite you ladies along! :D

So very, very sorry about the hurricane damage, and I hope the insurance will be quick with a payout for the damages. Yikes!

Enjoy your one on one time with your grandson. He's a lucky boy! My parents would LOVE to spend more time with my kids - too bad about that silly ocean in the way!

Marjean said...

I can't believe you got hurricane damage! I am so over hurricanes. I don't want another one any time soon.
My RR is looking sooooo good. Thank you for stitching on it.

Marion said...

Ouch! So very sorry for the damage!! We get wind storms here alot since hurricane Wuan a few years ago. I hate them!!

Great stitching!!!

LOL at the walk story! I think my neighbours would think I had gone mad!!
haha

Take care
Marion

Jenny said...

So sorry to hear about the Ike damage Kathy! ((hugs)) to you. Your stitching looks wonderful though.

Carolien said...

Hello Kathy! How good there are ladies like Vonna! I will think of you when I climb our hill by bike (Grumpy look on my face), I think it will help :)

How awful, all this damage because of Ike. I hope it can be restored soon and that you will get your insurance part!!!

I will have a look at the Anton Pieck stitchwork soon. I was too busy for the last two weeks, but I won't forget it!

Hugs, Carolien

Annemarie said...

Well, that's one way of stitchers to get together: you just conjure them up when you need to share and you're not online. Good for you, Kathy, and thank you Vonna :o)
Sorry about the damage Ike did to your house. Over here of course it's 'just' another story, but when I read blogs and find so many of my stitching friends are affected, it really saddens me. I hope all will be dealt with speedily!

Michele said...

wow, sorry about the damage, but glad it wasn't worse for you!

I just loved your walking story!! great inspiration both of you!

Enjoy your time with your grandson :)

Jinger said...

So sorry about the damage you received from the hurricane. It's amazing the gazebo and such are damaged, but the glass table and the frog light aren't.

That Mirabilia RR piece is gorgeous!!!!!!!!!

Your Fair & Square pieces are great! What a neat idea about the hieroglyphics. Very cool!

samplerlover said...

Hi Kathy,

You and Vonna, sound like me. It's either the knees, hips or spine. My husband always jokes that "It's never my jaw". Isn't he awful LOL.
What a thing to come home to, but as you said it was lucky that there wasn't much damage to your house. Just imagine being there when Ike struck.
Your Fair & Square pieces are lovely. What a good idea with the Egyptian piece. I wouldn't have thought of doing that.
I really love your Mirabila RR piece. It is beautiful. I keep telling my friends to go and check it out. - Sandra.

Crazee4books said...

Hi Kathy,

Holy Smokes!! What a mess! We
had wind and rain that day too
but not to the extent that you
did I think. Hope the insurance
folks are prompt and generous
in their assessment payment so
you can make the necessary
repairs.

Your squares look great..no
matter what the angle we're
looking at them. The cat is a
hoot with the witches hat and
the Egyptian design is wonderful!
I love that you stitched the
initials in hieroglyphics. Very
clever. Annette will be delighted
with this one.

And that RR for Marjean is just
spectacular!! All those lovely
ladies in all their colourful
and sparkly finery. Is it the
Winter Queen that you're stitching?

Sounds like you've had a grand
time with your grandson. It was
cool to see the picture of you
and your DH and your sons and
daughters in law.

You and Vonna are to be admired
for your fortitude in getting
out there and walking. And
keeping your sense of humour
while you're doing it. Do you
go out as early as Vonna does???

Cheers!!

Anonymous said...

Ike, the storm that just keeps on giving. (((Kathy)))

And I'll agree with everyone else, White Christmas.

Lynn said...

Aww Kathy, what a mess to have to contend with! I'm so sorry this happened to you. Let's hope the insurance co. comes through pronto.
Your squares turned out great! I love that Halloween one.
I chuckled at your walking story. Can I invite you ladies to the gym with me? I just returned there this week and can hardly move today!
Great family pic! Was your DH surprised?

Judy S. said...

Gosh, that hurricane Ike did a lot of damage in many places! We saw some of it in PA recently. Enjoyed reading your blog, Kathy. Your Thomas quilt is very cute. My DGS loves Thomas also, so I used some of the same fabric you did but made him a pillowcase. Your project was much more lasting!

stitcherw said...

Your exchange squares are wonderful, my favorite was the little Halloween black cat, to cute. What an awful sight to come home to with the big limb having come down. What a mess, but I'm so glad it missed the house and didn't do more damage. Hopefully it all gets cleaned up quickly and the insurance company is helpful and quick to settle.
Sue

Dani - tkdchick said...

Well Kathy I'm glad you weren't home to live through the wind storm that made so much dammage! Better yet, that you weren't home alone, I know those trees coming down is one of your biggest fears!

You made great progress on a whole bunch of different projects.

That is too cute, you imagining Vonna on your walks with you. You can also imagine me on my treamill grumbling away wanting so desperately to get off! Keep up the good work.

Great picture of you and your family. I laughed when I saw the beer in one of your boy's hands! LOL, I wasn't surprised!