Dad

Just over five weeks ago my father passed away.

F.A.W. Bertens
 September 20th, 1929 - July 26th, 2013

Dad was a good man, well-loved and respected by everyone who knew him. He had lots of joy in his life, but he endured a great deal of sadness too. He mostly lived his life with quiet grace. We miss him.

It's been a difficult time for our family, but also a time of great love and kindness from extended family, friends and neighbours. We have felt their love, care and concern, much of which they made visible with home baking and cooking, flowers, notes, cards, calls and kind words. We feel so blessed. It's a strange time too, when you lose someone this close, the days of grief, and trying to gather together your thoughts and memories for the eulogy, making all the visitation and funeral arrangements, hugging and being hugged, going through all the intensity of the rituals of death. Then, a week, maybe ten days later, ready or not, life starts up again. You try to move forward, jump right in, still feeling enveloped with love and sympathy, until another small kindness undoes you, and the reality of the loss washes over you again. And again. I guess that is to be expected. Really, how could it be otherwise? Love, loss, joy and grief are all part of life. And so is gratitude, which we feel deeply for Dad's life and Mom's strength and so many wonderful people around us. 

Enjoy this day,

Judy Ann

One little dress

I love sewing. I especially love sewing gifts. About six weeks ago I cut out seven little dresses in various sizes from a sweet pattern, the Geranium dress, created by Made By Rae . As usual, I was determined to get them made lickety-split, but also as usual, and as you can see, I still have a long way to go!

I'm very happy to say that I managed to get the littlest one stitched, wrapped up and sent off, yay!

I will work away on the others over the next couple of weeks. My goal will now be to get them made before the snow flies, or the little girls grow up!

Enjoy your day,

Judy Ann

Ladybug, ladybug

       Here I am again, long overdue with this post, but happy to snatch a few moments to get caught up. I try hard to be creative daily (I love Deanne Fitzpatrick's  motto, "Create Beauty Everyday") but I don't always succeed. I recently cut out seven little dresses that I had hoped to have finished by now, but I'll blog about those another time, hopefully soon. In the meantime, it's a darn good thing I have to come up with a weekly craft at the little Glanworth library so that I have an opportunity for a little creativity now and then. Here are instructions for making a ladybug with movable wings.

Start with a shape as shown, then poke or punch in a small hole.

Cut out a circle

 then cut it in half and poke in a hole at the top of each half.

Decorate the wings with stickers or foam cut-outs,

then fasten the wings to the body with a brad. Glue on googly eyes and draw on a smile. Poke in holes above the eyes,

then make pipe-cleaner antennae.

Being crafty is fun at any age!

The finished bugs are fun to show off.

 Happy crafting and happy summer!

Judy Ann

My father-in-law, the artist

   For quite some time now I have been wanting to post photos of some amazing carvings by my father-in-law, Don Sadler. Twice over the past few months he has gathered up and displayed most of his work for others to enjoy at a couple of local events. He is shy and extremely modest about what he has accomplished, and uncomfortable being the centre of attention, so were were tickled that he was willing to go along with the show. It's quite remarkable to see so many different and varied carvings and turnings that he has made over the years. When he was quite young, he did his first carvings in bars of Ivory soap. When he was a teenager, he experimented with soft wood and made this wee bunny.

He graduated to this more detailed carving of a motorcyclist.

                    

Then he created bowls, vases, animals, and all kinds of interesting and beautiful works of art.

 He loves working with interesting wood grains as well as combining different types of wood.

It's quite a collection!

 Once when I looked in awe at some of his amazing artwork, he said, 

"You might think that working with wood is difficult, but at least wood holds still. Fabric is thin and wiggly and moves all over the place. Now that's difficult!" 

See what I mean about him being so modest?

All the best,

Judy Ann

Where there's a will...

...there's a way! If you can't quite get the button on the pipe cleaner, just ask Daddy to help.

If you can't reach all that colourful paper to grab and crinkle, just get Mommy to lift you up!

And if you can't reach the book you want to look at, climb up on the stool and get it.

I hope you can find a way to to enjoy this beautiful day,

Judy Ann

Spring in Glanworth

As I walked up to the entrance of the little Glanworth library last night, I was stopped in my tracks by the beauty of the bulbs in bloom. Just three days ago there were only two or three tulips, so it was a lovely surprise to see so many. Have a look!

 Most of the visitors to the library last night also commented on how pretty the flower beds looked. Spring has certainly sprung!

Enjoy the day,

Judy Ann

Warm welcomes!

I love seeing the first wild flowers that welcome Spring so perfectly! They are lovely little gifts along a hiking trail.

At the lovely little Glanworth library we decided to welcome Spring by taking down our snowflakes and hanging up the Spring flowers we made during Saturday morning craft time.

The flowers add a cheerful warm welcome to the library, as does a brightly-coloured rainbow.

And speaking of warm welcomes, librarian Joanna Kerr made me feel very special last week with her cheerful bulletin board and warm smile. What a treat!

This warm welcome set the stage for a fun couple of days of presentations and crafts with enthusiastic and creative students and staff.

Enjoy the day,

Judy Ann