My Eastern Adventure

Earlier this month, I headed off to New Brunswick to visit my elder son. I had a couple of things that I wanted to do while I was there, this time.

The sky as I boarded the plane had a promise of nice weather.

The first item on my agenda was to eat a lobster roll on the beach.

The lobster roll was so large I didn't eat another thing that day, and I didn't finish my fries. However, it was really good.

This is the beach at Aboiteau,

The picture doesn't show it, but in the distance you can see Prince Edward Island.

It was a gorgeous day, and I enjoyed my ocean visit.

The other thing I wanted to see was the monument to the RCMP officers killed in the line of duty in 2014.

They will now stand on guard forever.

The bases of the statues tell you a bit about the officers.

Around the base are maple leaves with signatures of all the other first responders who were involved in keeping Moncton safe, that awful day.

It is a very moving monument.

Much of the rest of my time was spent visiting, and enjoying family time with my far away kid and his fur babies.

Surgery

I am still recovering from my wild weekend in the East, and haven't done much sewing. However, I do have this accomplishment.

Cardinals are regular visitors to our yard, year round. Because they are big and red, it didn't take very long for the grandson to notice them coming to the feeder.

I bought this silly little bird for my grandson, about a year ago. It has a sound maker inside that sounds like a Cardinal. If you haven't heard a cardinal, they sound like this. Sorry, the video has an ad on the front of it.

On Thursday, it stopped singing. So, today I took my stitch ripper to the seam on the bird, and found the noise maker. Grandad fixed the broken wire, on the inside.

I tucked the box back in and was going to look for some red thread, when I realized that my little guy will be thrilled that his cardinal sings again, and not care about the stitching.

My stitching, now complete.The bird sings again, and the stitching looks pretty good.

Road Trip Preparations

A good sign that I don't go away very often, is how much preparation I put into getting ready for a weekend away.

I spent the morning trying to figure out why I couldn't manage to update the data on my geocaching GPS. Obviously it has been awhile since I went geocaching. I have it figured out now, and I WROTE IT DOWN for next time! I put the instructions in the bag with the GPS. Hopefully that will work.

I also made myself a new purse for the trip. I tried to take pictures, yesterday but it was kind of dull so they came out like this.

So, I tried again, this morning, while the sun was out.

Okay, much better.

A zipper pull that says "Handmade" from Emmaline Bags.

The strap is pieced, to avoid being boring black. I made it long enough to be a cross body strap.

The pattern is Clematis, from Blue Calla, with some serious alterations. I made it 120% larger, then added 2" to the height. I added two zipper pockets, one outside and one inside.

The hot pink lining really suits the bag.

A slip pocket, featuring dogs doing yoga, and a carabiner for my keys.

I also have some travel knitting ready.

Socks for someone, recipient will be determined later.

My garden has mixed opinions about the rain and heat.

The basil is loving it. Tomatoes, not so much.

Morning Glories, to match my bag, are climbing up everything they can reach.

Meanwhile, my little foster is thriving in the sunroom. He found a sunbeam this morning. It is warming his healing hip.