Maura was in the passenger seat and captured this discard for me.

Maura was in the passenger seat and captured this discard for me.
Taken from the window by Sue Reinfeld as she was landing in Seattle. You’ve read my friend Sue’s comments on the blog. Recently we were photographing goats together along the Monongahela. Thanks for the beautiful view, Sue.
Mt. Rainier and the Cascades
Last year I received a photo of Mt Rainier above the clouds from 8 year old Ellie and she was guest blogger in July.
My grandson Jack (15) took this photo while he was rewarding Henry the Airedale with a dog biscuit.
Thanks for being guest blogger today, Erika.
Laura texted me the pic she took of Oscar, the Labradoodle.
From my friend Bill
This guest blog is from my friend Joanne’s sister, Mary, in Ottawa, Canada.
“They are little goldfinches in their winter colorings and fluffed up against the minus 18 (Celsius = minus 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit) temperatures….In the spring they start turning yellow and then are really pretty. We get a lot of both gold and purple finches …. and chickadees, redpolls, cardinals of course, big and small woodpeckers, blue jays, and many others. Wild turkeys occasionally, the dreaded grackles and crows. Right now with the deep snow the birds spend more time hiding in the woods somewhere so today was a nice surprise.“
Colleen’s Kawandi (definition below) she is working on now, lots of hand stitching, nearing completion.
Also Photos below of two quilts Colleen completed in Fall 2021
Colleen writes from Nova Scotia –
The bright colours help when things can get a bit grey and dreary – a nice escape.
The Kawandi are all hand sewn from bits and pieces so it’s relaxing. I took a Zoom class Sujata Shah to learn how they’re made. Margaret Fabrizio is the kawandi maker who inspired me most. She is in her early 90s now and does amazing work. She used to be a world class harpsichord player (played Carnegie Hall) and I believe a professor in California among other things. She is on YouTube and has very colourful stories to tell including one about her friendship with MFK Fisher.” Colleen
Kawandi is a style of quilt created by the Siddi people of India, traditionally sewn by hand with scraps and are improvisational and frequently made of saris snd used clothing.”
If you’ve been following the blog, Colleen made me a quilted mug rug in 2011 and here’s the blog post
In response to yesterday’s post about January 25th being Robert Burns’ birthday
In my inbox was an email from my friend and blog follower Gayle. Gayle lives in Brisbane, Australia. I’d “met” her through the Woolswap exchange program she created and runs.
Would you believe there’s a Robert Burns statue in a park Centenary Place, directly across the street from where she lives in Brisbane? Here’s a photo of the statue. I’d a link in my original post of a list of sixty Burns statues around the globe.
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And here’s a comment from my friend Joanne with what her sister wrote after viewing the blog post. Joanne’s sister Mary wrote of the annual dinner that she and her friends celebrated in Canada, on the poet’s birthday –
JB says
Ruth – here’s a comment from my sister Mary up in Canada:
“Our friend Esther always had a special dinner for the occasion ……
We all decked out in whatever tartan we had (I made Nova Scotia tartan vests for Bernie and me) . We were allowed to bring Scottish themed appetizers (I took little oat cakes with a whiskey flavored cheese ball) (or is it whisky – actual scotch whiskey is spelled differently from the others).
Anyway Esther served the entire traditional meal – a modified Haggis (liver flavored meatoaf) served with a wee dram of Drambuie, cock-a-leekie soup, roast beef with taters and neeps (mashed potatoes and turnips), and a trifle for dessert. Dave spouted from memory the actual Toast to the Haggis as he sliced and served it, with much brandishing of a large carving knife and using his best Scottish accent. And we all came prepared with Burns poetry that we took turns reciting while toasting Burns. It was great fun. And it was there that a number of us tried Scotch for the first time and decided we liked it.”
It’s always fun to receive responses to a blog post.