The crazy quilter's day off!

With the beautiful weather, it would be hard to work indoors, so I asked the "boss" if I could take the afternoon off. She said YES, and I was gone! It was a 15 KM+ day walking, and I got to walk someplace different. 

Can you believe it was 10 ABOVE yesterday? No sun, but it was warm and really too nice to be in the house. 

Warm temperatures

I live in the 6th largest city in Canada, but it's a strange city. It's comprised of many small villages that were gobbled up as the main city grew. And we have the Credit River that flows right through it and down to Lake Ontario. There is a rich history of industry and harnessing the river for power. The result of all that amalgamation is a vast sprawling city with little pockets of history scattered throughout. 

I had some geocaching to do, and I went to a spot I'd never been to. Another quaint little village has basically disappeared into the vastness of this city. The village is called Meadowvale and SHOOT -- -I wish I had read that article BEFORE I went. 

I took a couple of pictures of the area, and if you look at the article, you can see that some of those houses are still there!!! 

This picture is in the same area as the second picture in the article. (Derry and Pond), except that I'm looking in the opposite direction. The millworker's houses are still there -- they look different, but they are still there. 

Houses for sale

And the streets have no curbs, no sidewalks -- it's very much like it was in the early 1900s, but the road is at least paved! There were MANY houses for sale in the area. What is the price? And I don't want to live here. If that river flooded, this would be underwater! 

A residential street in old Meadowvale

This is the stunning Graham -Pearson house (c 1870). As I admired the house, a gentleman stopped by and told me the house's history! You can read all about it here. It's number 3 in the document. 

Graham-Pearson house

Our heritage society has several walking tours you can take on your own. I may have to do those one day. I was only in this area because of a geocache! 

I also stumbled upon this miniature village in someone's backyard. Again -- it was because of geocaching that I found it. The cache happened to be under maintenance at that time, so I couldn't get to it. Here's a video of this miniature village. 

Mini village in old Meadowvale

WOW -- -the things you can learn by geocaching or the places you will stumble upon. That's the beauty of geocaching -- I've discovered so many places by looking for a cache. And the new feature of the Adventure Labs (essentially a walking tour of an area -- usually five different locations) is how I found most of this yesterday. Check it out -- those Adventure Labs are everywhere. Some people drive from location to location, but I walk. Well, most of them -- some of the spots are far away. When you get to a site, all that's required is to answer a question. Most are EASY unless you're attempting it in another language, which I did when I was in Paris this summer!

The second Adventure Lab took me to a conservation area just down the road. This is right on the river, and as a matter of fact, I had to cross the river. 

The Credit River

The river was flowing quite nicely with very little ice on it. The path was a wee bit muddy and slippery to start out, but it soon became quite a pleasant walk. 

The bridge over the Credit River

This is a monster home I spotted at the end of the trail. While it's a lovely home, it's close to the river and not much higher than the river. However, it is NOT my spot, but to be able to step out your front door and be on the trail by the river? That would be nice. 

A monster home by the river

Oh yes - even though I had completed the two Adventure Labs, I wanted to find at least one physical geocache, and as I mentioned, the one by the mini village was missing. So I decided to get to one in the conservation area. I arrived at the spot and realized that some TREE CLIMBING was in order. Yep --- the cache is 20 feet in the air up this tree. 

The cache is UP THERE

OH -- the last time I went tree climbing, I think I was eight. I fell out of the tree and ripped the coat that my grandmother had made for me. I must buy myself a cheap camouflage jacket to use for geocaching. That bright orange jacket of mine is too precious (it's my favorite) and too bright to be stealthy. I did NOT climb the tree; however, if someone had been there in the event I fell out, I might have considered it. 

So off to find another geocache. This one was also in a tree, but no climbing was involved. 

An easy-to-locate geocache

So I've accumulated 115 points of the necessary 500, and I have until the end of January to get them. 

Then it was time to get my errands done. I dropped off 13 quilts to Shirley, who is part of our local chapter of Quilts of Valour. They are out of my house! And I would like to thank some of you (I have a list somewhere) who donated money for the batting for these quilts. Out of your generous donation, I was able to quilt over TWENTY quilts. I still have one more roll of batting, and I'll tackle that in 2023. 

A donation of quilts for Quilts of Valour

I also dropped some stuff off at the hazardous waste depot and then went on a shopping adventure. 

WAIT --- as I was finding some of those links above, I came across a note about a Canada Post scam. This is so weird because this happened to me yesterday. I got a text indicating there was a problem with a package, and could I please open the link to verify. Well, I have something coming in the mail, but I didn't think this sounded legit, but it really sounded legit. I mean -- I gave it some serious thought! 

That article mentioned that someone else got this text AFTER they visited a Canada Post facility. Here's the weird part: I also visited a Canada Post facility the day before and only asked a question at the counter. I did not do any transactions, so how did they know I was there? This means that "someone" is tracking our whereabouts and knew I was at Canada Post. Now that is creepy when we start to get scams for where we were, not what we were doing. 

Have you been to Staples lately? I had to drop off a package with a label already attached. HOLY -- that place has remade itself! Which is good as stores need to do that to survive. 

And then I ended up at Chapters. Where I spotted this game! It's by Ravensburger, and I thought they only did puzzles. I did NOT buy the game. 

The Great British Baking Show GAME

But there's a Wordle game, in case you are into that. For some reason, I have not gotten on that game. I'm surprised, but I don't have time, or I would never think of it! 

Wordle - The party game

Then I pulled into my driveway and decided I needed to pair my phone with the car. Oh boy -- am I going to remember how to do this? 

Pairing the phone with the car

Well, it was pretty simple, but not before I deleted all the previous phones on the menu. There were five phones --- seriously? I've not had five phones since I had this car at the beginning of 2019. Anyway --- there is only one phone now, and that's my new one. 

Only one phone in the system

But all my contacts are gone, so I need to add those at some point. Not that I use my phone much in the car, and Heck -- I barely use that car. There are 38,000 KM on it, and I bought it at the beginning of 2019. So yes --- the Bluetooth system works amazing, but the navigation system - not so much. And if it only had Android Car play -- I'd be happy. I need to check if they can do a software upgrade. 

Need to add contacts

Then I headed downstairs and got to work at the sewing machine. And those bindings. 

Binding number one

Binding number two

Binding number three

Binding number four

That leaves THREE Quilts to bind. Well, two quilts and a placemat. 

Three items left to attach the binding

I'm also working on another project for one of my classes, and I got SIX blocks together. The ones in the middle of this photo. I know they don't look like much, but I've grabbed my Tim Holtz fabric, and I'm determined to use it all up in that class. There's enough for three quilts and possibly a fourth, and that's just silly. I'm of the mindset now that if you bought a fabric because you liked it, then USE it!! 

Blocks made with Tim Holtz fabric

And while I watched another episode of The Great Canadian Baking Show, I removed more stabilizer bits from the back of this project. I don't know which is worse -- removing the paper from paper piecing or the stabilizer from machine embroidery. But it's a good thing to do when watching a show. 

Removing stabilizer

So I'm down to 20.7 KM and two days to make that happen. Barring any significant physical calamities, that is going to happen. I may go out again this afternoon for another little tour of my area, and then I can write on the weekend. I LOVE having a very flexible schedule. 

I still have 3½ hours to read in The Shadow Sister. OK -- so more history of the family, and we're getting close to finding the connection, but still not there yet! I don't know if I'll finish it today, but hopefully, I will by tomorrow. If you read this book, you will be MAD at the injustice placed on women and the inheritance of property. Do NOT take for granted the rights that women have gained in the last 70 - 100 years. The rights we now have compared to a relatively short time frame ago when women could NOT inherit their husband's property if he passed! Think about it -- -if you died today, and your house was passed onto your eldest son, and you had to move? Yep --- this book will make you mad!

Believe it or not, the temperature is PLUS 9, and I'll be taking the girls out for their walk soon. This is the end of December, and we are still in Canada? Well, we have decent weather here -- I'm not going to complain, but it would be nice to see the sun a wee bit more!

I apologize (OK -- no, I don't) if I make you tired when you read the blog. I'm just a busy person, and I hate sitting still. It's not that I can't, but my brain just won't let me. It says --- get moving -- do something. It all has to do with my upbringing and living on a farm! 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!