Notes from the Lake

Well, it only rained three times yesterday which was a huge bonus - I actually managed to mow 20 of the 100 sites! Since it didn't rain at all today and the sun shone, I was able to finish all the mowing and am caught right up on that job.

The beavers are still determined to destroy what few trees that have managed to grow here on the bald prairie. Sooo frustrating. There are two of their big dams in the canal now so they must be multiplying. More beavers - fewer trees!

Carrying on with my summer reading, I have three Michael Slade books here in my pile.
Kamikaze: Michael Slade is actually a pen name for a father and daughter writing team from Vancouver, BC - more books by Canadians! I enjoyed this because I am familiar with Vancouver and can picture the streets and landmarks they refer to. For murder/mystery fans, Michael Slade is another author you can add to your list. Bit of a warning though - the violence can be quite graphic and gory in these novels. If you can get past that though, or if it doesn't bother you, they are pretty good mysteries jam packed with a lot of authentic information on the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and, in this case, quite a bit of historical facts relating to the World War II as it related to the Pacific region. I have always been disgusted by the use of atomic bombs on Japan and I picked up more information here that reinforced that - gained a better understanding of the political motivations behind it. What a shameful day in history!
Crucified, also by Michael Slade, is a similar mystery/thriller. This one didn't have the Canadian content to catch my interest but was an entertaining read nevertheless. The story was somewhat similar to The Da Vinci Code, and the timeline switched back and forth between WWII in Europe and present day, with additional scenes involving Rommel. Not a bad read
The third in the pile was Bed of Nails. After the second page I knew I had read this one before so didn't bother getting any further into it. If memory serves me correctly, it centered on a mental patient who believed he was Jack the Ripper.

For DVDs, I finally managed to see Slumdog Millionaire. I didn't see it when it was in the theatres and then when dd saw it she told me she couldn't see what all the hype was about. I bought the DVD and it sat there for another year before I finally watched it yesterday. Great movie! I can understand why it won awards.

Comments

Giveaway Day! (CLOSED)

I am very happy to be joining in the Giveaway Day through Sew, Momma, Sew . I have chosen to share one of my finds from a shopping trip, or treasure hunts as I think of them. This is an antique sewing box - I could not resist it when I saw it for sale! Were you able to guess the item from the sneak peek earlier in the week? The box itself is fairly small, 8 inchs X 6 inchs and 4 inches high (20 cm X 15 cm and 10 cm high). From my research it is of Asian origin. Inside the sewing box is lined with hand-painted silk. The inside of the lid features a neat little needlebook. In the bottom of the sewing box there are more beautiful hand-painted blossoms and an attached pincushion. I hope you are as charmed by this little box as I was when I found it and that you will enter my giveaway. I will be pleased to mail internationally so everyone is invited to enter. To enter, visit my Etsy shop and then come back and leave me a...

BAS - Week 81 - Sequin Flower with Tutorial

This Build a Seam (BAS) Challenge is a little different - not exactly a stitch per se. It is a technique for making sequin flowers which can be a wonderful addition to a seam treatment or motif. You will need cupped sequins for this - flat ones will not work properly - and some seed beads. Mark your fabric with a center dot and five evenly spaced dots around the outside. Bring your needle up through one of the dots on the outside and string on one sequin (cup upwards), a bead, another sequin and two more beads. Take your needle down through the middle dot. Carry on making another leg in the same way on each of the other four outside dots, always going down into the center dot which will be the middle of your flower. This is what you end up with after you have done all five legs - a nice little sequin flower! You can add a bead or two more in the center of the flower if you wish. You can also vary the number of legs depending on the size of t...

Giveaway! (Closed Midnight Monday!)

While packing my stash for the move to the lake I found duplicates of a couple books. What can I say? It must be really appealing to buy it twice! So, I have two books to giveaway. The first one is "45 Fine & Fanciful Hats to Knit". My knitting skills aren't up to this, I'm afraid - I wish they were because it is a gorgeous book! The second book for giveaway is "Tatting Doilies & Edgings", edited by Ruth Weiss. This is a good one because it has lots of edgings that can be tatted and used for crazy quilting. Of course, you could tat the doilies and edgings for anything you like! lol So, to enter the giveaway simply leave a comment with your email address and indicating which book you would like to go in the draw for. I'll draw names sometime on Monday. Thanks!

kerrykatiecakes

Search This Blog