The Calm Before the Storm - Shediac, New Brunswick

Whenever snow, storms, blizzards are coming our way, the media is all over it. Conversations are dominated by the topic of what is expected. Comparisons are made to storms of the past and predictions are made for the one coming.

Right now the first blizzard of 2015 is brewing outside my windows. At 8 am, the air was still, no snow fell. Within a half hour the view out my living room window had changed considerably. The snow had begun and the wind had picked up. 

We have electric heat, so the most that can be done to prepare is to run off some extra water and bring in the camp stove. I don't react well to a loss of power, but a cup of hot tea or coffee can go along way to a better attitude. After all these years together, my husband knows this well. 

Our antidote to an impending storm is to head to the beach. Saturday was spent exploring the sands and wharf of the Shediac - Pointe du Chene area. As always, I took my camera and my husband exhibited extreme patience as I stopped and clicked and oohed and oohed more. He carried driftwood and feathers after my pockets were full and helped me push huge chucks of ice into the current and we watched as they floated and crashed and broke up into smaller pieces.

Shediac Beach

Looking toward Pointe du Chene

We met some other like minded folk walking and biking and even had a gentleman in an ultra lite fly just over our heads and wave! My photos don’t convey it well, so you will have to believe me that by times the sun was glorious. 

It was an incredibly restful and fun day.

off the Pointe du Chene wharf

Pointe du Chene Wharf

Shediac Beach

Another swim - September 10th, 2014

Glimpses of a Maritime summer

Looking toward Charlottetown, PEi across the Charlottetown Harbour

A typical incredible roadside view, Cumberland, PEI

A couple of happy bikers on the south shore of PEI

Our favorite honey stand which works on the honor system for payment, a standard for road side stands in the Maritimes

The absolute best..Blueberry Honey although the Blueberry Cream is equally as delicious

The view from under my rainbow umbrella

The skies over my favorite NB beach

Throwing a few lines off a wharf in Petit Cap, NB

So many seaside treasures, this an abandoned crab shell picked clean by the gulls and washed by the ocean

A little more about Road to California 2014

This morning when we got up, the temperature was -2! It only reached a wet, windy high of 8 degrees and someone remarked to me that if it really were the fall (which it feels) we would at least dress for the weather. No one wants to pull out their toques and mitts, but really? Well, if we were sensible, we would. But, sensible does not abound in these parts apparently. Today I saw more shorts and bare feet and bare arms than I have for days. Meanwhile I am wrapped in three layers, a scarf around my neck, shoulders up to my ears and anxious to get home so I can stuff a heated magic bag in my sweater! I am still sporting wool socks and flannel pj’s to bed and any tan I might have gotten last month while in Cozumel has long ago faded to pasty white. Sigh. 

Well, I am trying to keep warm thoughts and that brings me back to California. While there I had the pleasure of taking classes with numerous instructors. Lisa Sipes and Pam Clarke were both longarmers I had become familiar with and classes with both provided me with lots of tips, techniques and possibilities. Lisa is a relaxed, casual teacher and displays obvious skill on the longarm.

Pam is very, very organized and has developed a method of marking and quilting that is pretty much fool proof. As she says, when you have quilted as many quilts as she has, you need to be organized and use a method that you know will deliver.

I also had the pleasure of speaking with the very gracious, Alex Anderson of The Quilt Show fame. She was there representing the show and took the time to speak and pose with everyone and anyone. She was chatty and gave me a friendly jab of her elbow when I teased her about the trials of being a superstar! lol

Road to California attracts a large number of Canadians, mostly snowbirds who winter in Palm Springs, and mainly from the western provinces. On the day we were to take a class from Angela Walters who unfortunately got the flu and had to cancel, we posed with a couple of fellow Canadian classmates. We seemed to meet up with Colleen (second from the left) quite a bit and always enjoyed some laughs with her.

For a group that is missing out on a class with Angela, we look fairly happy. I know we were all very disappointed, but I think unexpectedly having a free day to spend shopping here...

helped keep our spirits up.

I normally don’t pose for photos since I am usually the photographer, but I am glad I did during that trip. It is proof positive that I did attend and that I did meet those great instructors and all those wonderful quilters! Looking at each photo takes me back to the moment and that particular experience and I remember something more about it each time.

I really think meeting so many friendly, generous quilters was one of the best things about going to Road. Every teacher relayed the attitude that if they could do it, you could do it. Every person shared information, offered assistance, moved over if you needed a seat. There were smiles, lots of laughs, oodles of positive vibes, and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

Family Time in Cozumel

This has been my view for the last 9 days...

Our little family had a wonderfully relaxed vacation in Cozumel, Mexico and we spent so much time in the water! We snorkelled and snorkelled some more. We swam in the big waves off the west coast.

We snorkelled off a dock, off a boat, along a shore, and over coral reefs. We snorkelled in shallow water and in water 50 to 60 feet deep. We swam in the fresh water pool.

After diving for 25 years along the Atlantic Canadian shores, my husband did his first tropical water dives and I think he kind of liked it.

Cozumel is a scuba diving and snorkelling destination, and really suited us, a family of water babes.

We saw sea turtles, a live conch, schools of tangs of all colors, clown fish, schools of triggerfish, stingrays, lobster, and so many barracudas. The waters there are so warm and so clear, it was simply wonderful.

So wonderful.

More Quilts from Road to California 2014

I have more eye candy to share..the more I look at these photos, the more I see..