Travel day - Toronto to Regina

Yes --- ME time is essential, and while I get some every day, I WANT ENTIRE days, not just a few hours here and there, so that is scheduled for later. Right now, I need to deal with what's on the schedule. 

But someone mentioned something that I've been contemplating for a long time. I use TWO computers, and there are times when it's a challenge to keep everything organized. I've often thought of moving to one computer, but I don't think I can! 

Why? I LOVE having a large screen for working at home. My desktop has a large screen with a touch monitor (although I never use it), but it's a very nice computer, despite its age -- no disk drives attached to it, no CPU as it's built into the monitor - it's just a monitor with a wireless keyboard and mouse. I use an external hard drive for that computer, although it does have a built-in hard incorporated into the monitor, which gets used occasionally. I never Zoom from that computer -- the background in the office and the lighting are atrocious. 

Then I use the laptop in Studio B, on the road, in the kitchen, or in the backyard. I'm never in the same place, so having a monitor for it wouldn't work - unless I thought long and hard about where I want to do my work. The issue is that when I Zoom - I use two different spots. One has a nice background that looks "more professional," and the second is beside my sewing machine for sewing days. 

So it sounds like I have a bit of soul-searching to figure out if I could go with a laptop 100% of the time or keep using two computers. I am NOT carrying a large laptop when I travel. 

I should move to a SMALL external hard disk (I already have one), allowing me to keep the files in one spot for both computers. It's easy enough to move, or I can keep (and I do) the critical stuff on One Drive, where I can access it from anywhere. 

Things to think about. I don't need to replace either device, but the day will come when one or both will need to be replaced and then I'll decide. If I didn't travel, I wouldn't worry, and I really need to figure out a better desk system at home for my big computer. That computer desk just doesn't cut it, but I must get the office in order before deciding. I could be dead by then!!! I know -- just figure it out and move on -- I should be enjoying a bigger space NOW!

Yesterday was a travel day, and I had run around like mad for a couple of days before and managed to get everything done, but I was up early for a few last-minute things, and then I was off. And I was exhausted! 

One of the day's highlights was the Uber ride to the airport. My first ride in a Tesla! So, of course, I asked questions. The driver was very chatty, so that worked out well. He wouldn't go back to a gas car! Did you know you can get a Tesla in about two to four weeks, unlike the 12 - 16 months (if you're lucky) for other cars? One theory --- they are intentionally making it hard to get a gas-engine car. Hmm - I wonder? 

Anyway -- the car has the same features as mine -- the lane safety thing, the cruise control, etc., but I sure don't have the same fancy way of being presented as the Tesla. And there are eight cameras on the car, and it's amazing how it can tell ALL the vehicles around you, not just the ones immediately to your sides or back and front. The cameras saw cars several cars away and identified it as a motorcycle, transport, or a car! How does it know that? You could see them on the screen! Anyway - it was a fun ride. Do I want one? I might have to consider it and see what it has for Android car play. Maybe I'll cancel my order! The price is coming down, and there's a government incentive! 

I slept most of the way to Saskatoon. I don't ever remember doing that on a plane in the morning, but I was tired. Then we waited a LONG, LONG time for our luggage. I almost thought we were back in Toronto! Everything was shut down as it was a holiday, so I decided to head out, but only after I had lunch. 

The drive was OK --- you have to love those long straight or almost straight stretches of road, and it's twinned for nearly the entire way. But let's not forget the idiot driver who was pulled over to the side and decided to start right when the road went to a single lane, and I was coming behind him. Needless to say, a few "bad" words were spoken. He was from Nova Scotia, but still, the road was well-marked. He didn't look behind him and picked the worst spot on the highway to pull out without looking. 

I saw a couple of people pulled over by the RCMP. These guys don't mess around. Instead of parking their truck with flashing lights on the side behind the stopped vehicle, they were parking across that rightmost lane, so traffic had NO choice but to move over. It protected the officer, so that's a good thing.  

It is very smokey here from the fires in Alberta. You can't smell the smoke - at least I couldn't, and once or twice, the sun almost broke through the smoke. But I miss seeing those beautiful clouds in the Saskatchewan skies. 

Smokey skies

I think I've only driven to Regina once before, with M a few years ago. We stopped at all the small "tourist" sites along the way. At that time, we were looking for big roadside attractions. There are quite a few of these Red River carts along the way. They were made from wood in the 1800s, but these examples are made from metal. Some communities just have the cart along the road. 

A Red River cart

Others have other attractions. I LOVE the teacup and teapot. That is in Davidson, Sask. 

The teacup and teapot in Davidson, Sask.

Some of them have these sculptures made of metal which are HUGE. This one is the fiddler. 

Metal sculptures along Highway 11

And if I thought I had big feet, I can stop worrying. The fiddler's feet were significantly larger than mine. 

My feet are dainty compared to the fiddler

The artist's name is Don Wilkins, and the story is quite interesting. One day, I'll have to find more of his sculptures. HEY -- I have an entire day to drive back, so I can take my time, and I will play tourist on the drive back to Saskatoon. 

When I arrived in Regina, it was time to find a hotel. I know -- who doesn't pre-book a hotel? I haven't for years, and I've always had a room. I was going to stay at the Holiday Inn, but the streets were under construction, and the parking looked like I would have to pay. Plus, when there's more traffic today, it wasn't going to be pretty to get around. So I Googled to find another hotel very nearby, but on the "other" side of the tracks (there's a railroad right through the center of town), plenty of free parking, and I'm about 2 KM closer to Peachtree Quilting. That is perfect. 

Then I went for a walk after I had a nap. Good grief -- I slept a lot yesterday! 

Who knew how much they liked metal sculptures here in Saskatchewan. I found these bike racks at the public library. More on the metal sculptures another day. 

Bike racks

Lots of painted murals on buildings in the downtown area. 

Painted murals

And many painted benches. 

Painted benches

It's quite a contrast as there are homeless people around as well, and I am NOT trying to raise any political issues here, but I overheard one woman's comment that made me think back to all the years I lived here in Saskatchewan. Some asked her when she was going home, and she replied, "The 25th - that's CHEQUE day." Sigh -- and that's all I'm going to say.

I spotted this in a store window -- a table topper made from felt balls? I think there is an arts festival on. I also spotted a store that sells Birkenstocks. I may go back! 

A table topper from felt balls

I had some work to do, which I completed part of it after dinner, but I was so tired I fell into bed. This hotel was much quieter than Kingston, but there is zero insulation in these walls, so if there is noise - you hear everything! 

Well, that's it for me. I have some work to finish before I start the day. 

Have a super day!

Ciao!

Magazine quilts

So you know that I'm participating in several of these virtual challenges. Most of them I'm doing solo, including walking across Canada from west to east. This year, four of us signed up to do a virtual walk across Canada from east to west. That means that at some point, our paths would cross. I knew the point was coming up soon but didn't mention it. I've been watching the maps closely for a couple of days. 

Now here's the thing when you're in a group. I log my miles every day as the miles in this challenge have to be logged manually, whereas my solo challenges are logged through my FitBit. The others log their miles every couple of weeks, and one person hadn't logged in a while. Well, guess what? They messed up the great picture that I had planned to "wave" to myself as we passed on the highway. 

The positions on the map are close, but their eagerness to update everything YESTERDAY messed that up. So here are the pictures of the positions on the map. 

The first one is the group map. See - we are just north of Wawa and are now over 50% of the way to the west coast. Upon arrival, we'll be able to open the medals that we received a while back. 

Our position on the Big Canada Run for 2020

And here's my position on the solo walk. Just south of Wawa and slightly less than 50%. The routes mapped are slightly different, so the center point is not the same for the two distances. Since I don't have a closer picture than that, I'm going to say that we waved to each other when we passed the big goose in Wawa!  It's a big roadside attraction and I love watching out for them. 

My position on the map for my solo walk across Canada

Thank goodness, little details like that don't bother me, but it's hilarious that at the very moment where it was possible that I would be in the same spot on both virtual walks, is the day that someone decided to update their mileage when they hadn't done it in two months!! But close is good enough!

In case you wonder what the terrain looks like - it's just trees and rocks and more trees and rocks. 

The terrain in Northern Ontario

 

I found some other pictures sitting in a folder, so I'm sharing those with you this morning. I'm trying to clean up computer files, pictures, etc., before the end of the year. 

OH -- I found a picture of the palette! At one point, and when I really started to notice the palette is when there was a bunch of clothes strewn around and that green lid was open. It's some mechanical thing necessary to the neighborhood. And from time to time, there are clothes on the ground. It's a bizarre thing but keeps me entertained when Murphy lets me down on the walk for entertainment (never!). I swear that dog had a one-track mind - to chase anything that moves. 

The palette from a few weeks ago

I wondered where this next picture went, and then I found it. Obviously, it was taken a bit earlier when there was no snow. But one morning, I saw this pink bike chained to a tree. A bit of a weird place to chain a bike to a tree when there are several schools around - you would think it was someone on their way to school. 

A pink bike chained to the tree

Well, a couple of days later, I discovered why the bike was chained there. It was a teenage boy who was riding this bike. Probably belonged to his sister, or maybe that's all he had and probably didn't want to be seen at school with a pink bike!! So he scooted through the forest, chained it up at the entrance, and walked the rest of the way to school! I know - silly little details to keep my mind occupied!

Well, both of these magazines are probably off the newsstands at this point, but I do have a quilt in both of these. This is Quiltmaker - November/December 2020. 

Quiltmaker - November/December 2020

And there's my version of a log cabin quilt. I love the fabrics in this quilt, which is from Northcott called Stag and Thistle. 

My version of a log cabin quilt

Ooops - missed this one by a little bit as it's a Halloween quilt. It's in Love of Quilting - September/October. 

Love of Quilting - September/October

It's a fun Halloween quilt made with a fabric collection from Riley Blake Designs. I don't' see the link to this collection on their website - it's probably gone from their warehouse.  But if you search Hocus Pocus by Riley Blake Designs, you can find it on some websites. It's adorable and has some glow in the dark fabrics in the collection. 

Halloween quilt using Hocus Pocus by Riley Blake Designs

I'm updating my phone this morning. I hope that isn't going to cause any problems. For whatever reason, I'm doing it twice, so let's hope that all is good. I hate when things get updated, and they are so vague about what is actually in the upgrade. Then you go to your interface, and everything is different. I barely get used to the "new," and then things change! I'm old-school. While I love change, no one makes it easy! 

That's it for today. Short and sweet. I'm getting stuff done - just not stuff that I can share with you. Oh, yes - another deadline for a quilt, and I'll make it. Now the question will be - can the courier deliver it on time?

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!

Travel Day

There's a different feel in the air this morning. Yesterday morning, I woke up to a fresh 4 degrees Celcius. This morning, I wake up to a muggy 21! But I'm glad to be home! The girls were definitely glad that I was home and are anxiously waiting for Mom to take them for a walk. But the blog comes first.

I normally book a flight for the morning or early afternoon, but this time, I booked for late in the day to squeeze in one more day of visiting. We had one last breakfast with my brother and SIL. Then it was on to my parents where we had one last visit with them and at last, we were on the road by 11 AM.

We had to fill up the car with gas before we headed out on the highway. Of course, we stopped at the full-service gas station, but this time, once the tank was filled, I popped in to pay the bill. And our windshield was cleaned of all the bugs. There are a LOT of bugs that get squished on the windshield. That's almost unheard of here.

Price of gas 

One thing to notice about gas - when we arrived, the price was $112.9. When we left it was $112.9. Every time we filled up - it was $112.9.  The price doesn't fluctuate like it does here. It fluctuates a lot here. Most days, there's a price fluctuation between morning and evening of upwards of 6 - 8 cents a liter with the morning being the most expensive.

Lots of cousins and a couple of aunts and one uncle that we didn't get a chance to see. Next time, we'll have to host a party where they can all come to visit. Just not enough time!

We had a list of things that we wanted to accomplish before we headed off to the airport. I'll tell you about a couple of them over the next couple of days. The back seat of the car looked like a cyclone had gone through. For some reason, we weren't completely packed - not sure why that happened, but I'm usually pretty organized. I wanted to blame M for the mess in the back, but when she took her stuff out, there was still a lot of stuff that belonged to me!

This is one of the things I wanted to show her. There are several sculptures in Saskatoon that are pretty cool and made from scrap metals. The Sewing Machine Store, where I taught, is one block from these metal sculptures, but I had first seen them the previous year when my brother dropped off some scrap metal.

As you can see from the picture, they are HUGE. I notice that they take them in every night. I don't blame them - there's a load of work involved in them and would be easy for someone to pop by with a forklift and carry them off. Sad but true. If ever you're in Saskatoon, check out BN Metals on Quebec.

The transformers and me!

At last, it was time to head to the airport. I dropped M off at the door while I went to park the car. She had managed to cram her stuff into her suitcase while I was filling the car just before returning it. When I dropped her off, I then got to see how much of the unpacked stuff in the backseat belonged to me!

So there I was in the rental car parking lot, shoving stuff into my suitcase. I made it into the airport to hear that M's plane was delayed. Her flight was to leave at 5:20 and my departure time was 6:35. Oh well - we have more time to visit. So we got ourselves settled at the gates - I'm at Gate 5 and she's at Gate 4 which were side by side so we hung out at her gate.

Her flight time kept getting pushed back until we were leaving at practically the same time. Then my plane arrived and hers was nowhere to be seen. We said goodbye (miss you already kiddo!!) and then I got on my flight. She boarded minutes later and we got in a few texts sitting in planes that were side by side at the gates. That was pretty funny and the first time that's ever happened. I got a decent-sized plane that was half-filled and she was on a much smaller plane that was full!

The flight itself was pretty uneventful except that we did come through some thunderstorm clouds on the descent, but not bad. I HATE talkers on the plane. The ones that don't know their seatmate and proceed to chat the ENTIRE way home. There was a lady in the seat behind me and on the other side of the plane and all I could hear on the way home was her voice. ACK!!!!!! And then there was the woman beside me who drank two bottles of wine and two Bailey's on the way home and had her iPad and her phone out the ENTIRE time even during the landing (at least she had earbuds). I was planning on listening to my audiobook while waiting at the gate and then on the plane and I didn't listen to any because of the circumstances. I need one of those big pair of noise-canceling headphones!

Got home just after midnight!

Before I get myself organized for the day which is going to be insane, here's a picture of the two moose that we saw when we were out at the farm. It was pretty cool and I love the framing on this picture and the color. The Saskatchewan skies are the best EVER. Awesome photo M!!!

Moose on the prairie

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!