Happy 70th Birthday to my dad

I feel very fortunate that I grew up in a small town in outport Newfoundland. We had so much freedom and the best 'playgrounds'. Of course I'm talking about the many beaches, coves, wharves, gulches, ponds, woods etc that our parents allowed us to explore and play. THE BEST!!

I also had the best parents ( still do, luckily). Mom was hands on. I often tell people that we had the best Haloween costumes, the best decorated Valentines boxes, and the best painted Easter eggs. Our mom even made furnature for our Barbie dolls. 

Dad took us camping - every summer.  Those are some of my best memories. My brother and sister and I along with mom and dad travelling from park to park all over the island. Sometimes if we were lucky our cousins would be camping nearby. Sometimes it would be my parents' friends with kids our age. But often, it was just us and always we were encouraged to go out and make friends. Looking back on those years it amazes me at how open we were and how easy it was to make friends. If there was a kid our age camping in the same park, chances are that kid was our friend within a day of arriving. 

Our parents taught us by example to be respectful of others, of the environment and of ourselves.  They taught us that family is everything and that laughter is indeed the best medicine. 

They also taught us the importance of service and giving back to the community.  Mom was in Brownies with us. This is where I learned to knit. I'm not sure to this day if it was her or my aunt Marie who taught me. Likely, it was a combination of the two. My dad was in the Navy League (which was like junior sea cadets) with us. 

When I look back on growing up in outport Newfoundland there are so many positive, fun memories.  When I went back home to celebrate dad's birthday we were reminiscing about something that happened on a camping trip years ago when we were small children. Dad was surprised that I'd remembered.  Those are the things that stick with you - forever

Now I have new memories. We took mom and dad to St Mary's bay. Dad had never been there. We wanted to see the bird sanctuary that everyone talks about. In typical Newfoundland fashion the fog was as thick as pea soup and we couldn't see a hand in front of our faces. While we couldn't see the birds we sure could hear them. 

Only the gannets were left. By this time of year the other sea birds go out to sea. Murrs and kittywakes that normally nest on the cliffs in the spring are gone by the fall. 

It was kind of fitting that gannets were left. Mom always compared us to gannets.  Like them we always seemed be hungry. And we were always loud. 

Here I am with my mom and dad. We had just finished a 5km walk around the Salmoneer Line nature park. My dad is 70 and my mom will be 70 very soon. We are so lucky that they are well enough to do these things. 

This is a photo of my dad and some of his siblings. Sadly Aunt Elsie is in a long term care facility so she couldn't make the birthday party. Aunt Diane was there but didn't get in on this photo - there are others that she did sit in on. Being one of the youngest of 13, I guess it stands to reason that many of my aunts and uncles have passed already. But it's still sad. I look back on pictures of dad's 40th birthday and they were all there. They had such a fun time that night. And we had a fun time this night too. 

My sister and I. She is an amazing cook. She did all of the cooking for dad's party. She is awesome! Here we are making fun  (of course that's what sisters do best) of her daughter Jenna) We were actually missing Jenna who couldn't get to the party because she had to work. Jenna takes lots of 'selfies' so we are trying to mimic her. 

My handsome and talented nephew Jordan. I'm always grateful for any time I get to spend with him. He was actually home from university as part of his education course - job shadowing at Discovery Collegiate. My nephew is going to be a teacher. And I think he will be an excellent teacher. 

This photo is of my mom and my youngest nephew Riley. You can't tell from this photo how tall he is. This kid is after growing so much since I've seen him last. He has the most gorgeous curly red hair. And he is SO. FRIGGING. SMART!! He is amazing. 

He is amazing and he is totally knit worthy. So guess what? He got these. As soon as they came off the needles he put them right on his feet. And he loved them and appreciated them.

So of course I had to start a pair for his brother because he is knit worthy too. And I can't have him being jealous of his brother. 

Summer Time!

Summer time around here means birthdays! Starting on June 10th with Kev's. Next up was Nat's on the 17th. And today is Cooper's birthday. One year old already. Isn't he awesome!!! It is kind of surreal how fast this past year went. I cannot tell you what a joy this little boy is. I've been around a lot of babies in my time, but I don't know if I've even seen a happier more content little boy. And he even started walking on Kevin's birthday.


It was so nice, we were out in the back yard with the kids. We put Cooper on the ground (He's been standing on his own for quite some time now) and he just walks over to a soccer ball and tries to KICK IT!!!





Here is a photo of the cake that I made for Kevin. Simple enough, but it looks impressive. There are about 10 kit kat bars on the exterior of that cake and 5 packages of smarties in the center. I probably could have done with more smarties on the center, but it was sweet enough as it was. Blair asked for a cake like this for his birthday too. Which isn't too far away - but before Blair's birthday is Morgan's and after Blair's birthday is Aimee's. See.....the endless parade of birthdays.











And speaking of Blair - I wanted to pummel him just a little when he asked the day before Nat's birthday if I would make her a cake. It was too hot in the house to do any baking, so I went and bought a pre-made angel food cake and came up with this!!! It turned out really well - not too much effort at all.























And lest you all think that I've retired my needles for the summer, fear not. I've been knitting. Lots of shawls again.











The first shawl is handspun from one of my Loop batts. I made this for Charlotte - one of the technicians at the store who just recently moved away. Charlotte has always appreciated my work and always oohs and ahhs appropriately over the handspun, so she was deemed worthy of receiving such a gift.











And the final photo is proof that I've jumped on the band wagon that is the Color Affection shawl. I think the appealing part of this shawl is the picking of the three colours. It is so fun to combine all the different colours to see what the shawl will look like. This one is made of madtosh sock. Its my first time knitting with this yarn and I must say that I'm not disappointed. I love the tight twist on this yarn and colours are gorgeous. Not surprising - the yarn would make great socks!

Rocking the Rice Crispies

This is not a knitting post. Strange isn't it? I totally stole this idea from someone on craftster. Nat and Blair had their engagement party last week and I wanted to make something fun. It was a big hit. No one wanted to cut it - they all thought it was too cute. Either that, or people's tastes were too refined to enjoy the rice crispie treats. Someone asked if the ribbon was fondant. Can you imagine? Um...no. Not fondant, but a fruit roll up. Even better she says.


And in keeping with the rice crispie theme...I made this fake pizza for Morgan's first birthday party tomorrow.
















I made this same sort of 'pizza' for Max's first birthday too. Its only fitting then, that I made one for Morgan. Oh, I also made these babies. I'm on a roll.















I wonder why it is that I enjoy making deserts and treats that look like something else entirely? I once made 'mock sushi' out of rice crispies, gummy worms, and fruit roll ups. The cone cupcakes are pretty tame I guess.