Allowing my wisdom to shine ...!

There are a lot of changes taking place in my life. It is true what they say, as you get older what was important in your youth seems to take a back seat. All of a sudden, your priorities change and your life heads in a new direction.

I've never been one to be on a straight life path ... I like an adventure .... I've taken quite a few "wrong" turns, so to speak, some conscious and some unconscious .... okay maybe that would be "consciously ignoring the signs!" lol  Still .... life is good!

A recent new change for me is that I have decided to no longer hide my wisdom. No more trips to the hair salon for hair colouring!

It is taking quite some time for my "wisdom" to flourish! lol So far, I seem to have the patience for the process to complete itself.

On the quilting front .... I am in a completion mode. I've been tackling UFOs and cleaning out stuff I am no longer passionate about.

I have FINALLY finished the mystery quilt I blogged about here. Penelope and I spent some quality time together on Monday! ;)

The binding is sewn on, now it's a question of finishing the hand stitching ... another of my favourite part of quilting. I will admit, there isn't much about the quilting process that I don't enjoy. How about you?

Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy your day! Cheers!

What's your passion?

I've pretty much caught up on the machine quilting and binding of all the projects I have written about. Hurry for me. What this also means is that I've been taking a break from quilting and ... catching up on my reading.

I don't know why, but I find it difficult to balance work with other activities that I enjoy, like reading and journaling. Seems I put a lot of pressure on myself to get samples done for the shoppe. Sigh!

Life is a balancing act and sometimes I'm not well balanced .... leaning way to much towards the work side. So this summer, I've taken upon myself to sit and read a book at least an hour a day. It's been a great summer .... much to nice to be sitting indoors with the a/c on, thus making it easy for me to keep to my goal.

A book I enjoyed tremendously was Big Magic - Creative living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat Pray Love, which I have not read)

I loved it!  Just what I needed!

In a nut shell, it is about creating for the sake of creating. Does everything you create have to have a purpose? Must make money for you? If you enjoy writing, write ... who cares if it gets published or not! What is important is that you are enjoying the process!  And if you want to publish your work, do so!

There is a quote that struck a cord with me. In finding your passion, the question is not, "what are you passionate about?" But more like "What are you passionate enough about that you are willing to endure the most disagreeable aspect of the work?" That's the part I'm stuck on!

One thing I know for sure is that I am passionate about my quilt shoppe Fibre Junction, however I am also passionate about life. I am curious by nature. I learned that I needed to not only set boundaries between creating for Fibre and creating for myself, but to maintain those boundaries.

I enjoy reading and journaling, something I had not done in a very long time. Happily, I've picked it back up and enjoying every minute of it.

What are you passionate about? Are you living a balanced life?

Thank you for stopping by my little corner in cyber space! Cheers!

Take the long way home ....!

What a busy weekend it was! We headed out on Saturday morning to Massachusetts via Albany to attend my mother in law's 80th birthday dinner!

My little Pumpkin works at a boy scout camp for the summer and we headed that way to pick her up. Although it is always fun to take a different route, it did extend our driving time by 2.5 hours. We left at 8:15 a.m. and arrived in MA at 4:15 p.m.

We went to a wonderful Asian restaurant for dinner. And yes, my MIL was totally surprised to see us. We are the only ones that live "far" away, she didn't expect us to make it.  Here we are gathered at the restaurant table:

Now, I'm a big fan of sushi and apparently so is the rest of my family! So my niece, Michelle, ordered the Love Boat! Now that's heaven on a boat!

Presentation is everything ..... this is the best I've seen so far! It was all so yummy!

A great time was had by all of us. We returned home, via the long way again, Sunday morning as Pumpkin needed to be at work by noon. Although I enjoyed seeing everyone, by the time I arrived home I was beat!

Would you believe that last week I logged 1,300 miles (2,092 km) on my car?  Of which 900 was done between Saturday and Sunday! I think I'll stay put for a while! lol

Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

Off on an adventure ... !

Sunday, I just had to get away and clear my mind. I get like that every now and again. So, I took off in my car with no specific destination except eastward.  As I drove through the Vermont country roads, a thought came to mind, "Hum ... maybe I'll head to Center Harbor", a mere 4.5 hour drive south east! As I drove in that direction, it suddenly became clear as to where I should have my adventure!

Have you ever been to the Vermont Country Store? I had heard a bit about it, even perused one of their catalogues. So nostalgic! They are known as purveyor of fine foods and nostalgia.

They have two (2) locations and the history is quite interesting. The original one is in Weston and a newer one in Rockingham, Vermont. I had time on my hands, why not visit both? They are just 25 minutes apart!

First stop was in Rockgham, Vermont.

It really does feel like a country store. I didn't think of taking pictures of the inside, I was to busy enjoying being nostalgic! So much to look at!

They have a covered bridge called the "Kissing Bridge". I guess you're suppose to kiss when you drive through. Since I was by myself, I just gave me a kiss! No sense not following traditions! lol

Afterwards, I took off for Weston, Vermont. It was approximately a 25 minute drive westward. I passed through the quaint town of Chester, VT. The drive was so scenic. Beats highway driving anytime! I so enjoy going through the winding roads, admiring the scenery! What a lovely way to be greeted!

The Vermont Country Store is quite large and takes up a couple of buildings.

They have a wide array of what is commonly known as "penny candy". But, let me tell you, they cost more than a penny now! lol I found my childhood favourite - Soucoupe Volante which translates into Flying Saucers!

I was a six (6) year old in heaven! What fun I had perusing the various products. I will definitely be going back!

Since, as of late, I've been on a cookbook acquisition mood, I bought their cookbook! Lots of wonderful recipes as well as history of the store. Such a lovely book to look at!

All and all, I logged over 400 miles on my car! What a great day I had!

How was your weekend? I hope you had a wonderful one!

Thanks for stopping by! Catch you later!

Independence day Celebration ...!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Enjoy time with families and friends! Cheers!