This and That...

I don't know where the time goes...how can it be a whole week since I last posted? I guess being busy is a good thing! I have been spending a lot of time in the studio. I now have the 20 blocks done for the quilt I'm working on. Whew! Next I'll get busy on the pieced sashing and pieced sashing squares... I'm certainly going through a lot of thread...   :)
Our weather is slowly warming up, all fingers are crossed for an early spring. We have very little snow, most of the ground is bare... still frozen and brown but at least it doesn't have six or more feet of snow on it like it did at this time last year. The birds, mostly woodpeckers and chickadees, are enjoying my homemade suet cakes, and the squirrels are still trying to maneuver a heist.
I appreciate the comments made on my last post. All were in agreement that it's a shame we often don't appreciate our grandparents enough when we are young and they are alive, then when they're gone we wish we had known them better, and learned more about their lives. I have since done a little more research, and there is some discrepancy about my grandfather's work; I found something written by my mother that he was licensed as a first class mechanic, so mechanic or machinist? Not sure. Their wedding was during WWI when single men were being conscripted. My great grandfather suggested to my grandfather that "if he was thinking of marriage" he had better "get on with it" before he was conscripted as two of his brothers had been. And so they quickly were married. The photo was taken shortly thereafter. My grandfather was anxious to take his new bride to the Miramichi to meet all of his family and this was the "outfit" she wore- a teal satin  blouse, a long navy skirt and high buttoned boots, which were nearly

ruined as he trotted her all over the community meeting all the relatives, in the plentiful spring mud!!! I have thought of them often in the last few weeks, wondering what their early years of married life were like, one hundred years ago. I know times were hard and work was scarce. He spent a lot of time working away from home in Halifax/Dartmouth. He was working there during the famous Halifax Explosion on Dec. 6, 1917.

I watched a good movie on Netflix on the weekend, Testament of Youth, also set during WWI. (Thanks for the recommendation, Carole!) I thought of my grandparents a lot while watching the young couple in the movie. (This film stars Alicia Vikander, recent Oscar winner; I can hardly wait for her next movie- The Light Between Oceans, due out in 2017.)

I'm already dreaming of my summer garden, during these late winter days... I bought my first packs of seeds last week.   :)

Up next, another book review...

Peace,
Linda

"Over the years, I've learned that for the gardener, in addition to rest, winter is a time for wide-awake visions about things to come." ~ Judith Couchman