Sunday sundries

There's been actual knitting going on around here , imagine that ! These are the new socks on the needles , Eleanor , originally a Socktopia / Monkey Toes free pattern , but still available as a ravelry free download.

My final socks for the Summer of Socks 2008 are the Spring Forward socks from Knitty summer 2008 . I'd hoped to knit up more pairs this year but I've knit only 2 pairs . Life has away of getting in the way of all my best laid plans . I actually gifted these before getting any pics and had to retrieve them for the photo shoot .

It's been such a hectic month of August that I'm not sorry to see the last of it . The only thing being that summer is drawing to a close . You'd never know it by the weather here though , decidedly summer like these days. I threw a surprise birthday/ BBQ party for my BF Shirley yesterday . Great friend, great party , great weather , what more can you ask ?

A happy day !

We had a wonderful time at the baby shower on Saturday . The weather was perfect, the food was great and boy , oh boy was that baby showered with gifts . Unusually it was a mixed shower so Casey got to be part of the the fun . He was overwhelmed with how many people came to celebrate this happy event with them . The two framed photos on the table are baby pics of the parents to be . Then there's the to grandma's to be feeling the baby kick . Lili on the left , Chantal ,

and yours truly on the right. I'm not fond of having my picture taken , so this is something . Chantal loved the baby blanket and all the knitted gifts. At the end of the evening there was a special gift for Casey to put in the baby's room - an artist's conceptualization of three of Canada's great hockey players as children in front of a hockey net . In case you're wondering they're Eric Lindros, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux . I thought that was a nice touch ...

The reason ...

... for the deafening silence on the blog is that Marie is back in hospital after reaching another crisis point health wise . Her health is on the downward slope , but she's still wanting to go home . I'm not sure that would be the wisest thing as every little thing she does just drains her and leaves her gasping for breath . The doctors have indicated that the intervals between hospital stays will be getting shorter as her lungs are reaching their endpoint and really there isn't much more that can be done . I don't know exactly what to say or do at this point . One day at a time , I suppose , but I hate seeing her suffer so much. I'm feeling just a bit overwhelmed , thank God for DH Mike and my BF Shirley , who always seem to find the right thing to say to help get over the rough spots.



On a happier note , Lili , Chantal's mom is throwing a baby shower for Chantal this Saturday . It'll be a family event with a big BBQ . Keeping fingers crossed that the weather is better for this than it was for Max and Stef's engagement party . It's been so hit or miss this summer , actually more miss .Chantal is looking just beautiful and feels good . Apparently the baby is kicking up a storm . Can't wait to meet the little soccer player ....



I'm too tired to do much knitting these days, but I'm almost done with the baby blanket . It's a mindless knit , no concentration required , just what I need .

Back to normal ...

sort of . The renovations are almost done , just the clean-up and still a bit of painting (baseboards and window trim ) left to be done . The new floor looks beautiful ; you can't imagine how happy I am to get rid of the carpeting . The stairs and railings still need to be stripped and then re-stained to match the floor , but that shouldn't be too big a job . At least my furniture is back to where it should be . Last week my living room was in my kitchen , we could barely move in there never mind cook or have meals . I absolutely love the new tile and expanded entrance , so much more practical and easier to keep clean . Here's a couple of pics to show the new floor and entrance. Bingo is in his usual spot keeping keeping watch to make sure no cats come onto the property , just his own .

The weather has been just miserable , rain and more rain every single day . It's perfect for what we've been doing , but certainly not very summer-like . I've hardly managed to get into the pool at all this year . Mike has one more week left of vacation , or renocation in our case ,we'd hoped to get away camping for a couple of days this week but due to a few delays with the renovations and this weeks weather forecast we decided to just take it easy around the house . I don't feel like camping in the rain . Whatever we have left to finish off will get done on a more relaxed schedule. We're both just a wee bit weary .