A Wonderful Surprise Came Today

Quiltchat love quilt delivered to me today and photographed on the piano at the Swift Current Library

For a number of years, I have been part of a wonderful chatroom online, the QuiltChat room. I can't even remember how many years I've been chatting with folks there. They are a wonderful support, no matter what you are going thru, or what you need advice on. Your turn to give support or advice comes along as well. Today while cooking at work, I was asked to come to the restaurant doors... this is always done with a bit of trepidation as you never know if it is a happy or disgruntled customer. Imagine my surprise when Biff Potter, Dale Anne's husband handed me a parcel. I had to wait to open it as I had several orders on the go. The name on the parcel was a slight giveaway as I only know one Irene in Surrey..... Jemo (as she is known on Quiltchat.) I thought perhaps she was sending me a blanket to keep warm as she's been worrying about me since I left Gull Lake. Once I saw it was a quilt, I knew that tears would be involved, so I waited until my orders were all caught up before going to the staff room and opening the card and quilt. One of the other staff was in there and asked if I was ok when they saw my tears........I said yes. I was the lucky recipient of a love quilt from my wonderful roomies on Quilt Chat. I showed her the names of the folks who'd sent blocks and told her where they were from. Through the day, most of the staff who were working managed to sneak a peak at the quilt. They all thought it was wonderful that I had so many friends who would do this for me to honour my parents' passing. I will certainly treasure this wonderful gift.........Thanks roomies,you sure brightened up my day!

Stanza, determined to go for a LONG walk!

After work, Stanza (my 14 yr old Maine Coon Cat mix) and I went for a walk over along the creek, near the library and our new neighborhood. She is leash trained and has started actually wanting to go for walks like a dog in the past several weeks....... this is new behaviour. Today, she was determined to have quite a walk, I had to walk quickly to keep up with her. I kept wanting to stop and take pictures and she kept wanting to walk.

view along the creek, a skim of ice has formed in spots, giving a shimmer to the reflections
We ended up walking about a total of 10 or 12 blocks....... she was ready for more, but I wasn't, having just finished standing while working for the past 8 hours. I took a number of texture type photos during our walk, one old tree captured my interest due to the depth of the fissures in its bark.

The character in this tree bark just spoke to me today