Lazy, busy summer

Almost a month since I wrote last. I didn't have much to write about anything crafty, now that my blouse is done. I actually wore it for the first time yesterday, because we've had heatwaves that prevented me from wearing anything with sleeves before that. I'm still amazed that it fits so well, although I noticed it is a bit big on me...I don't think I lost any weight, I think the fabric stretches easily. oh well.

I've been busy in the past few weeks enjoying summer and going places.

Early July, I went to a family reunion, where I saw a few of my many, many cousins. My mother was the youngest of 10 kids, and they all had several kids themselves. My mum being over 70, it means that at 40, I'm one of the youngest of my cousins, and it also means that many of them are already grand-parents. There was a lot of people, at least 4 generations, if not more, at that family gathering. AND it was only a small portion of the entire family.

To be honest, I didn't recognize half of the people, but it was nice to meet them all once again! Some I had not seen in many, many years. And thanks to Facebook, I hope we will stay in touch this time.

We've also been enjoying summer by going out a lot.

Day at the farm with a lot of babies

Local concerts and festivals

And I've been enjoying rediscovering Montreal with some friends...

Montreal ice cream. I had lime-mint and Earl Grey ice creams. OMG. 

Montreal, cool city

 

All kinds of dips at Rumi's, Montreal

I've also had a little bit of time for sewing.

You may recall that I had started this skirt a few years ago:(http://genyin3r.blogspot.ca/2011/06/sewing.html) I had bought fabric and the pattern thinking I could figure it out. I cut the pieces (without measuring anything nor thinking that maybe, the sizes on patterns have nothing to do with the clothes sold in stores). Resulted a major panic and an almost depression, and everything went back in a bag and was almost forgotten until it was moved into the new house. I decided to take a look at it, wondering if my sewing courses could help save this catastrophe. Well...I had re-cut the belt, and had to buy extra fabric for the lining, but I think that it will be wearable once the hem is done. I will not show it to my sewing teacher, because I did not do things very well, but again, it will be wearable, which is a lot more than what I expected when I took it out of the bag a few weeks ago.

I also knitted a bit, although it doesn't show much. I actually frogged (rip-it, rip-it) what I had done for the front, and started it again, because there was a very visible mistake right at the beginning. It looks much better now, so I'm happy I did that. I'll be flying across America next week, so I'm hoping I can maybe finish it by the time I come back!

I am not able to weave right now, because I ran out of blue yarn, and that's where I'm at in the baby blanket. I ordered some more, but the place I buy it from is closed for a few weeks for vacations. Hopefully it means that I will have received it when I come back from my own vacations. That will leave me 5 days to finish it if I want to give it to Emöke, the baby it is intended for, on her baptism. I don't think that would be too difficult, except that I have to learn to cut it off from my warp, and learn to crochet to make a border. I really want to be positive, but I'm having doubts...the only thing that can save me is that the baptism is about 4 hours away from 3R, so if I get to learn on time, I'll have an extra few hours in the car for the borders. The smart thing to do would be to learn to crochet while I wait for the yarn to be delivered...hum, that could work...Since I'm not 100% sure of the final size of the blanket once it is going to be washed, I can't actually crochet the lase and hope to sew it later. But I still can learn. Pinterest, save me!!!

And despite the heavy rains, and crazy heatwave, we have a little bit of a garden:

Next week, I'm leaving for Santa Fe. I'll be there for a week. There is a big Indian market, and I'm going to meet my friend from Lillooet who I haven't seen in over a year. That's going to be fun! I don't have any plans, except for resting and shopping, so I should not be disappointed!

We also started to plan our big trip to Malaysia. It looks like we will stop for 3 days in Shanghai on our way there, and we will also probably spend much of our time in Borneo. It's starting to be really, really exciting!

Have a good week, I'll take a lot of pictures in Santa Fe! And hopefully, there will be lot of weaving happening!

Back to reality

Ouf! So here I am, back in my little 3R, after a week at dance camp and 2 days of work.

The camp was wonderful. A little quieter than the previous times I had been there perhaps (I went to bed in average at 3:30am instead of 5:00 because I taught the morning after), but it was quality time spent with good friends. This camps feels like a bunch of us (over 100 people!) rent a big cottage for a week. It's a family camp, with tons of kids playing and learning to play violin, with several of us meeting under the trees in the afternoon for a little bit of knitting, and with everybody wanting to participate and help in order to keep the camp going as long as possible. I love it.

 This year, tragedy struck one of us. A close friend lost her sister in the middle of the camps, and we all lost a friend at the same time. I can't really write more about it, not because it is secret, but because so much has been said between us already, I don't have any word left. We cried and drank a lot. But just as her parents were able to find a meaning to her passing away at the funerals (that she will no longer suffer), I  want to mention that for me, the non-Hungarian who spent the last 20 years hanging out with these people, it was a truly soothing and comforting experience to see how much the community came together to support the family and each other. It's not something that I am expecting to see in my life outside of the community, and I have added that to my list of things to be grateful about every day.

***

I came home Monday afternoon, and I feel that in the past 4 days, as much has happened than in the past 2 months...

First, the windows arrived.
Then, we were told they would be installed on Friday (today). Today, at 5:00pm, all construction workers of the province go on vacations for 2 weeks. How lucky are we? I've never enjoyed the noise of tools and construction as much as I do right now.

Then, the plane tickets for Hungary that were $1,100 before I left on vacations are now $350 cheaper. Hurray!!!

Then, my man decided that he was fed up to work on the floors, so he worked hard all week, and finished the office. That means that we can move in our furniture tonight, and I can spend the weekend unpacking. It also means that we will be able to start using the living room, which will be emptied of the extra desks and shelves. It's starting to feel like home!


Another good news is that finally own a bike. I had been looking for a bicycle for the past month or 2. In Montreal, I used the public bike system, but here I need my own bike.  But one thing I realised is that everybody here is a bicycle expert. Seriously, as much as in Montreal, having or using a bicycle is a useful, urban, mean of transportation, here it has become an art. Everybody bikes. But not in the streets, and not to go to the convenience store to get a litre of milk. No, there are those who have road bicycles, hybrid bicycles,  city bicycles etc, etc. I was planning on getting a cheap one at the local store, but everybody convinced me I should invest in a good one. I notice there are more bikes stores here than in Montreal, for a much smaller population. Anyway, after talking to a lot of different people about style, material, size, adjustment and use, visiting stores and getting used to the idea that I should pay more than I was expecting to for a bike that I would keep forever (someone told me that I my age, that would probably the last bicycle I would buy...), I met one of my man's colleague who told me that she had a good bike that I could use in the streets that she didn't use anymore in her garage. Since we are about the same height, it fits me. And ta-dam, this is how I avoid making decision. I now own a good quality bike, that was chosen for me. And if anyone asks me why I chose this one, I'll just say it chose me. I have to admit that an aluminum bike is much lighter and fun to ride than a bixi...

The last good news of the week is that despite the fact that we've had no time at all to take care of our urban garden this year, it looks like we are going to get some tomatoes.

Actually, the whole backyard looks good

Very noisy Northern Flickers!

Growing chocolate mint

Beautiful echinacea

The roses won't stop

Some raspberry plants made it through the heat...hopeful for some fruits next year!

pretty and orange

And what about the knitting, the weaving and all those other fun things?

Well, I managed to knit several inches of the 2nd sleeve of my peasy in the buses and planes I took, but I didn't not have as much free time as anticipated at the camp, so it is not as advanced as I had wished for. I think that now that I'll be able to unpack most of the boxes that were left, I will start to take time again to knit more seriously.

I must say that I find it brilliant that the sleeves of this pattern are attached, and have to be knitted before I can do anything else, because I don't like knitting sleeves at all, and this is a very good way to make me go ahead.

That was a long post! 
I'll come back soon for shorter ones!
Have a great weekend!