Christmas Dinner

I don't know quite when it started... sometime while our kids were in the teens.  I made Eggs Benedict for a New Year's meal.  It was a raving success and called for each year.  Once our kidders were married it became the ultimate Christmas dinner request so.... this meant we had to have spiral ham somewhere prior in order to have the appropriate layers for Christmas dinner.  Spiral ham = slices that are to mm perfection creating an exact ratio proportion on top of a delicately toasted muffin, (still with crispy bits) christened by a poached egg, then sauce.  I understand that there are shortcut Eggs Benedict versions for large groups but once these cherished beings of mine received this freshly stacked creation there was no turning back.  Be careful what you start people!  So with my SwHt, who is the ideal cooking buddy and yes, it takes the two of us to pull this gastronomic extravaganza off.  Always to rave reviews which is our payoff! The closest we get to fowl on this holiday is the egg.  Although I do make a kick'n turkey and stuffing at Thanksgiving.

My girls are incredible bakers and Rachel (who is expecting a baby any day now) had a fun idea up her sleeve.  They taste as good as they look. She is going to make a fantastic mommy.  Next big news will either be a baby or how we are progressing toward our goal over here.  Stay tuned!

Christmas Lites

Monday night my SwHt and I went with our kids to Van Dusen Botanical gardens in Vancouver.  I have no objections when people go over the top in this Season. Some day, when I'm in heaven, there will be a light display like no other.  Just the thought of it changes the mood of my day right smack dab here on this planet!  I needed that!

This beautiful shot from here

We're stitch'n

Stitched up and ready to carry words of love.
Wish I could peek at what people are writing!

Orders have been coming in and are getting lined up to be sent out.  Can't believe it is happening from my little studio.  And... thanks to sweet friends who have been the trial testers, we can invoice and receive payment via credit card on-line and ship out pillows!  Just email us at you-me@telus.net.  It's that easy!  So many great people helping us reach our goal.   And if you do not know what these are?  Check out the LOVE LETTERS tab above.  You will be glad you did!

And for those of you who knew her, our 16 year-old chocolate lab Koala passed away suddenly yesterday morning.  I say suddenly because early yesterday she still went down the 15 stairs on her own, she had her morning walk like always and barked for her cookie like every other day.  We had no idea it would be THE DAY.  Tears flow pretty easily.  This morning SwHt and I woke up for the first time in 25 years to no one needing to be let out for a pee or to go for a walk.  It's going to be a huge adjustment.

Don't forget to check out how we are doing with our goal to raise $$ for a micro loan!  Take a peek here!

I've always loved pickles!

Being organized is key
to making a quilt with this many
diverse pieces

In 2009 my daughter Rachel at the age of twenty-seven was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.  She was told it was the laziest of cancers.  Seeing as some of the people I dearly love have left this earth due to the grip of the big C, my mother, my sister, and my father who is still very much alive at 91 has had three separate cancer challenges, that you can understand my quest to focus my mind on something positive. 


It was in this space that I purchased a kit to make Kaffe Fassett’s Pickle Dish Quilt which is on the cover of his book Kaffe Fassett’s Quilt Romance. 

Paper piecing people.
It works like a charm!

An extrodinary diversion and although I’ve had the quilt cover completed for two years now, it wasn’t until this 10-day vacation that I felt there was time enough to focus on quilting it together. 

The Sidney Pier Hotel and Spa
where the 3rd floor allows pets!

Not too shabby a location either.  Can you see my view past the fantastic concrete pillar? 

Happy stitches!

Originally unsure how to stitch it once the fabric slipped under the needle it came as naturally as singing. 
I knew exactly what to do.  Now it hangs in my hallway.  Happy thoughts.  And my daughter?  Is expecting their first baby.  <smile>

The last magnificent day



Koala is a star in Sidney, BC
They love dogs here and we can't go
anywhere without people stopping to ask
how old is she.

 We have been on vacation!!!  One of the reasons I've had time to update and remodel this blog!  Did you notice the new tabs at the top?  Take a look!  y+m=c is now officially selling LOVE LETTERS making them in the inbetween times.  We are hoping they bring joy and richness to anyone who purchases them but also we're using some of the funds to for a very worthy cause.  Love gifts with benefits.  {enough of the sappy}  Check it out!

And for those of you who know her, Koala is still with us... we are staying at the most fabulous place for vacationers with pets in Sidney on Vancouver Island here in Canada.  Our room has 8 foot ceilings with windows almost as high at The Sidney Pier Hotel and Spa and we are on the 3rd floor which is the puppy floor so Koala is getting the good treatment.  She will be 16 this January.  That's 100 years old for chocolate labs.

It's time...

I'm ready... to take on what has been glowing and growing through tough stuff.  Consider it joy when you go through [read endure] various trials because they have the ability to produce perseverance.  Can't go over it, can't go under it, can't abridge it... gotta go through it.  ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.


Getting ready to launch an unbelievable wonder.  Something new for me.  So glad to have gotten to this side.

Who Will Comfort Me?

Asking the question...



Who Will Comfort Me?
Melody Gardot

My soul is a weary and beaten down from all of my misery

Oh Lord who will comfort me

My soul is a weary and beaten down from all my misery

Oh Lord who will comfort me

Got a hold on my heart that keeps me bound

When the whole wide world is free

Oh Lord who will comfort me

Got a hold on my heart that keeps me bound

When the whole wide world is free

Oh Lord who will comfort me

My home is a wreckage

A family drowned in flight and poverty

Oh Lord who will comfort me

My home is a wreckage

A family drowned in flight and poverty

Oh Lord who will comfort me

God of All Comfort

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
 2 Corinthians 1:3-5  English Standard Version (ESV) 

reminders are good

I love the way Oswald Chambers says it...

“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed.

It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. 

My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R

The Best of all Meanings

His resurrection means

that He has the power to convey His life to me

The Easter effect means...

It's possible to be brave 

Sometimes even though it is painful, change will take you to a new community outside the one that has unknowingly let you go. 

Easter = Hope...

Hope + Faith = Anticipation

You + Me = Company
 I choose to hope in the power of the Easter Effect.

Painting with rain and sunshine

This morning I woke up with the Spirit singing into me.  It happens quite often actually.  I noticed God painting yellow intermittent in showers.  Yellow beaming through tears.  Couldn't help but join in...

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

George Matheson

You + Me = Company

What's usually on your mind when you wake up?

Blue is a colour

Blue is a colour.  Today I am blue.  As grown-up as I am, couldn't shake it.  

My mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer Boxing Day 2010.  She said she was going to be brave to the end.  I watched and learned the hue of Brave.  How rare and valuable it is.  She passed away on her birthday leaving me a gift -- The 101 on Bravery.  I'm praying God will allow me a clairty of mind & willingness of heart to help me grow into the brave suit.  In the meantime... blue and red = purple; blue and yellow = green.  I'm going to see if I can turn my blue into Lapis Lazuli.

You + Me = Company
What colour are you today?

'Bout Time!



Yesterday involved a day trip across the line to take a friend of ours to the Bellingham Airport.   

  



If you have to sit in traffic at the border, pick a beautiful option...

Since we were there we stopped in at Fred Meyer's.  
SwH said, "You pick up the smokie buns while I hit the washroom." I got thro the checkout - he got a little side-tracked.

Cooking Class

The chef always has his food set out  - a feast for the eyes to start!

I have been part of a cooking class the last two winters.  My nephew on my SWH's side is the chef.  It is a fantastic dinner idea where the guests are invited to a home to watch and participate as the chef cooks their evening dinner.  It usually runs about 4 hours long but time flies by.  Tonight was the last class of this series and chef Jordan prepared and served Indian cuisine.

I'm not particularly a 'food' person but I like the interaction this style of event affords.  Takes the work out of small talk.  Lots of note taking and opportunities to roll up your sleeves for a hands-on lesson. Never a dull moment.


See that bag in the middle?  Chick Pea flour.  Who knew?

 You + Me = Company
What kind of interactive party have you been to?

Springing







Camellia Tree

 

It really is Spring!  I have this sweet little Camellia tree at my front door that I adore.  Always first to bloom except this year.  I pruned it too late in the Fall.  But when I do get it right it's all Alice in Wonderland -- perfectly round with flowers galore.  Trust me, I rarely let this happen!  And the bed it stands in?  Cleaned up as of this afternoon.  Yes, I am on the upandup.

You + Me = Company
Are you up or are you down? 



Our Camellia tree greets all our guests first



You Gotta Make A Change

Today is the day.  Time for a change.  They say if you want to change you've got to make a change.  Change of routine, change of attitude, change of surroundings.

Step one.  Stop using the TV as a friend.  Learn to be alone with myself.  My kids don't need TV to fill their empty spaces.  I admire this.  Not sure where they found their sense of contentment.  Although, I will add a disclaimer to this change.  My SwH and I meet at the end of each day [9pm or so] and settle in to watch an hour of a series that he has downloaded.  Right now we are at the beginning of 'The Good Wife'.  It's a good thing to end the day together.  So in my effort to change, I'm throwing out the bathwater not the baby.

You + Me = Company
What do you want to change?