Graveyard Fieldtrip

Sigh...I've been a bad Blogger again :oS It's been quite nice out the last few days so I took advantage and went to the beach in search of sea glass. Plus I was completely overwhelmed by all the birthday wishes on my last post!!!! Thank you! I promised you pictures of my birthday gifts but I'm going to hold off because Canada Post has been on strike and there are still a few things to come ;o) Don't worry though, I will share! LOL!

Since it's another drab day out, I thought that I would show you some pictures that I took last month. I went to the oldest graveyard in Liverpool and marvelled at the artwork on some of the tombstones. Some of these might look familiar to you -

I didn't realize that these symbols were actually used because I had only ever seen them on cross stitch patterns. I'm very curious as to story behind them. Does anyone know?

Birthday Bash Sale!

First it was rain, rain, rain and we were chomping at the bit to get outside and do things. Now it's been sunny and warm and there's no time for Blogging! There's got to be a happy medium here somewhere :o) LOL!

I'm sure that some of you may have noticed that I will be turning the BIG 4-0 this coming weekend. Up until a few days ago, it wasn't bothering me. Now I'm not so sure ;o) At least I'm not having as tough a time as DH. I think he's going to go off the deep end! Hey, it's just a number right?

Since this is a milestone birthday, I thought that I would celebrate with you all :o) So...from Friday, June 10 until Sunday, June 12, you can save 40% STORE WIDE at my Etsy shop!!!! That's right...40%! This will be the only sale of its kind so I suggest you might want to start shopping for Christmas or maybe someone's birthday. Heck, for these prices, shop for yourself ;o)

When you check out just enter the coupon code JUNE40 and voila! The code won't be activated until tomorrow and will be deactivated at 12:01am, June 13.

If you're on Facebook and wouldn't mind, would you pass on this information? I'd greatly appreciate it :o)

Thanks everyone!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Lots of rain = lots of flowers. Unfortunately none of these are mine ;o) LOL!

The magnolias are my favourite and I thought I would miss them because of this weather :o( Luckily I got a small break in between the downpours and was able to snap a few pictures. Not enough for my liking though. We're 'supposed' to have sun tomorrow and Tuesday but we'll see. DH has already mowed the lawn once and I think its grown four inches in the past couple of days. LOL!

A Stitcher's Dream

We had another shop close down :o( This one carried a few cross stitch supplies but not enough to consider it a LNS. During the last week it was open; I went in and inquired about a few things. One thing was the Mill Hill bead racks :o) You guessed it, I came home with two! I was so excited and just look at these pretties -

Yes, those are all my Mill Hill beads and treasures. LOL!

So far I only have one rack in use. I'm not sure if I'll use the other one or not. I just wish we had the money to fix up my craft room with all the cabinets that I've been dreaming of ;o)

Spring is finally popping up -

It's still quite cool though and now we're having a week of rain :o( Come on warmer weather!

My Shop Is Now Open!

Yes, finally after a whole year of procrastination, I have officially opened my shop at Etsy :o) I'm still stocking the shelves so please bear with me. Not everything is in there yet. I didn't realize just how much work it was! LOL!

I hope you'll wander over, take a look around and maybe make me one of your favourites? :o) I've added my shop to the tabs at the top of my Blog for easy reference.

Don't venture too far because I have LOTS to show and share with you!

Animal Photography 101

Basically in a nutshell, animals are probably the hardest thing to photograph. You can't tell them what to do, where you want them to stand or how you want them to look. They've got a mind of their own and they're going to do whatever they want ;o)

I have two cameras that I use to take pictures. One is a Kodak digital and it's somewhat small and compact. I use this camera for my every day pictures and when I want to take photos in black and white. The other camera that I use is a Canon digital SLR 50D. I 'love' this camera! The only problem with this one is that it is heavy and bulkier.

Yesterday, DH and I, along with our friends T and K (and their DS) took a drive to Kejimkujik National Park. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to purchase our national park passes. On our way there, we came upon this fellow on the side of the road -

Eastern Wild Turkeys are not native to NS. I've seen them in Maine and I 'believe' there are a few in NB but not here so this guy/gal must have gone rogue. LOL! I love wild turkeys. They're a funny, inquisitive bird. This one was close enough for pictures but even after my incessant gobbling, it just wouldn't stand still! We debated about capturing it for a nice turkey dinner but it can count its blessings that we let him/her get away ;o)

I had my Kodak digital with me and the one drawback about this camera is the time it takes between taking the picture and allowing you to take another picture >:o( So there was DH in the front seat telling me to take a picture 'now' and I'm waiting for the bloody green light! In the meantime, any chance at a good picture has gone out the car door...

After a lovely hike through part of the park, we are driving out and lo and behold we 'finally' come across some deer. Deer are like pennies here and are used to humans. Unfortunately, with five deer, one problematic camera and a photographer trying not to climb through the rear window of the car, this is the best I could get -

The Bambies weren't very cooperative :oS

Thankfully there was ONE animal that allowed me to take all the pictures I wanted :o)

Yes, he is real and no, he's not dead. LOL! This is a Blanding's Turtle. They are considered a 'Species At Risk'. In the late spring, you'll find nesting houses along the sides of the road in the park. This is to protect the eggs that are buried in the sand. I guess this turtle wasn't smart enough to realize that giving birth on the side of a road wasn't a good thing ;o)

I Finished 34 Projects In One Day!

Huh? "How the heck did she do that?" you ask? Well, I came up with the most ingenious idea ;o)

One of our local drug stores was giving out free soft cover photo books so I quickly put one together with some of my stitched pieces -

And you thought I had a dozen elves helping me out ;o) LOL!

I LOVE photo books (and anything free) so I thought this would be the perfect way to display and show off my cross stitch.

On the norm, I do like the hard cover photo books much better but since this was free, I wasn't going to complain ;o) LOL!

Monday's Photographic Memories

This past Friday, DH and I took a drive down to Lunenburg to do an errand. Believe it or not but the camera jumped in the car this time ;o)

Remember my post about Stephen King's new show called Haven? Well if you don't, you might want to go back there and read it so you'll know what I'm talking about. For those of you who do, I thought that while I was there, I would take some pictures of the town to show you where some of the scenes where taken :o)

This is the overall view of the town -

Of course the scenes they have on the show are much more beautiful than what my camera can capture!

If you move your gaze to the left of the picture above, you'll see the Marine Museum (red building) -

W-a-y up on the hill in behind you catch a glimpse of the school -

I'm not sure if this is in the show or not because I've only seen 3 episodes so far. Just in case it is, you'll know that it's really a school :o)

In the first episode, there are quite a few scenes that take place in an antique store. This is that storefront -

It really used to be an antique store but now it's a photography studio.

When they show pictures of the town, sometimes you'll catch a glimpse of some brightly coloured buildings :o) This is the street that they are on -

One is a kitchen store and it's one of DH's favourite places to go. Another is an Italian restaurant that we have yet to try but we do plan on it at some point.

They used Town Hall for police headquarters -

I have caught glimpses of these signs in the show -

They have them all through the town. Each shows a different fish or crustaceans that can be found in our waters :o)

Finally, the church -

I saw just a glimpse of it in the opening credits but it was just too beautiful not to take pictures of it.

During each show I keep my eyes peeled to see if I recognise any of the locations :o) If I find some more, I'll do another post for you. I hope you have enjoyed 'my' tour of Haven! LOL!

Monday's Photographic Memories...On Tuesday!

LOL! Sorry I missed yesterday but for one, it was a holiday and two, I had to drive to the 'big city' to pick up DH :o) After being away at sea for eleven days, we figured we deserved some time together.

Yes, so yesterday morning (bright AND early) I drove to Halifax to pick him up. I got to see just how hard the city got hit by Earl. There was a lot of tree damage and power crews were still going around trying to get power to those that still didn't have it.

DH and I were very happy to finally see each other :o) We've only been able to email during the time he was gone. This was his offshore training and therefore, doesn't have to do it again. Poor guy was still wobbling when he got out of the car. He wasn't sick but he said that the last few nights were rough. Apparently he didn't know all the tricks of the trade on how to stay in bed during rough seas ;o)

If you haven't figured it out, DH was out to sea while Hurricane/Tropical Storm Earl came through. I was not happy about the situation as I was told he would come in if conditions were not good :o( They went W-A-Y out to sea though and got on the other side of Earl. DH sent the GPS coordinates and I was able to locate him on the map :o)

I'm quite jealous over his trip because he got to see a lot of things. I can't post a lot of pictures because of different reasons but I chose a few to share with you :o)

I guess they boarded quite a few tuna boats and DH was able to see them bring one in. He says this one is about 300 pounds and is considered small to some of the others ones he's seen! These are Blue Fin Tuna and they are caught with rod and reel. That's a lot of work!

Yes, that is a shhhhhh-a-r-k! I told DH that if I was in that boat, I would have headed for the highest point, even if that meant I had to crawl on top of someone ;o)

These are Blue Sharks but a shark is a shark is a shark. They were coming around to eat the guts thrown overboard by the fishermen. Yuck! It's a shame you can't get an idea of how big these sharks are. DH said they were about 10 feet long and there was more than one swimming around! Gulp :o(

Monday's Photographic Memories

I was hoping that I would have some great pictures for you today but the last few times I've been out, the camera has been home. Yup! It just didn't feel like going for a drive I guess...

It also doesn't help that it's SO HOT and HUMID here this week :o( WHY? Yes I know, summer is not over yet but WHY?

So in order to get through today and the rest of the week, I'm going to share the most wonderful picture I could find in my files. What I wouldn't give for this right now -

GOTCHA! ;o)

Monday's Photographic Memories

DH and I were talking yesterday and I explained to him that August has to be one of my least favourite months of the year. Why? Well, because most flowers are disappearing and everything becomes crispy. I just don't find anything attractive about this month.

So in order to brighten things up...you guessed it...more flowers! LOL! These are some of the stragglers of a hot and humid summer, plus a little surprise. I hope you enjoy :o)

Chicory


Hedge Bindweed


Pink Fragrant Water Lily


White Fragrant Water Lilies


Lily


Stone Fairy