Wind damage prevented by remedial actions.

 Earlier this month Julian came over to help with preventative measures to prevent our sun canopy from blowing away and being damaged. Galvanized strapping was fastened to the four legs of the canopy with hose clamps and then tightly secured to the deck with deck screws.

Prior to this, the legs of the canopy were secured with cup hooks to the deck, some of which had not survived beyond one season. Other tethers did not hold the legs solidly to the deck. In high winds the canopy thumped and banged incessantly.

Today, Ottawa experienced a severe wind storm that brought trees and hydro wires down, blew signs down and did all kinds of damage. But the canopy survived unscathed!

The delights of the spring garden

 Spring is finally here with thunder storms and high winds. New spring flowers seem to pop up every day. The hyacinths are just beginning to bloom.

 The white flowers here look lovely but we do not know what they are called. Suggestions please!

 The daffodils are out today and are blowing in the wind.

And I was able to make a start on digging in the compost I spread over my vegetable gardens last fall. Every year, says Anne, I say the same thing at this wonderful time of year. "The soil is beautiful and easy to work." Its good, friable, enriched with humus, and well drained. I even find shells in the soil, evidence this area was a shore line in years gone by.

I have more sections of the vegetable gardens to dig over. One section is already planted with peas and onion sets. Others will be planted with potatoes, carrots, beans, tomatoes and cucumber in three or four weeks time when frost danger is over.

Preparing grapevine branches as hoops for rib baskets.

 Last fall I took the first steps in preparing grapevine branches to serve as hoops for my rib baskets. Two hoops of grapevine branches, with one inserted inside the other at right angles, serve as the frame for rib baskets. In the photo above, one of my grapevines was cut down last October and the branches saved ready to prepare them as hoops.

 Last fall I did not have the energy to complete the preparation, and so some of my vines were left uncut as shown here.

 While those I had cut lay all winter long without any attention being spent on them.

 However, today, a warm spring day, was the day to begin preparing them for use. One of the fall's branches is here ready for final processing.

 Grapevine has a loose outer bark that has to be removed before it can be used as a frame. To remove the bark, I bend the vine until the outer bark springs free of the branch. It is then relatively easy to remove it.

 My first hoop made from a grapevine branch with its bark removed.

Three hours after I began, here are about twenty hoops of varying sizes. These will be sufficient for ten rib baskets. All I need now is to wait a few more days or weeks for the willow to flush out with its first leaves of spring, then I can strip it of its bark and reveal the white flesh beneath. I prefer ribs of this white willow for the rib baskets.

(One thing I learned today is that the grapevine branches I cut in the fall had bark that was troublesome to remove. However, the newly cut grapevines had bark that was very easy to strip. Next year, I will do my hoop preparation in the spring!)

Picnic in Perth, Ontario

 Today we picked Adrian up and then drove an hour out of town to Perth, Ontario for a desert picnic. Perth has many fine, old buildings such as the ones shown here.

 Perth's river is called The Tay (of course). Spring run-off was in full spate.

 However, the picnic table was in a relatively dry spot. We emjoyed a cup of tea, Easter eggs, and home-made brownies.

Perth is also the home of Ian Miller and Big Ben, championship rider and horse.

Designer vase-shaped baskets

 I added a smaller version of the designer vase-shaped basket to my etsy store today. The irises go very well with it.

 This photo shows how the beads, the dyed cane and the wool share the same tonal range of colours and work well together.

 The designer vase, in its torso shape, can also be used to exhibit necklaces (as shown here) or scarves.

Another necklace is displayed here.

The Angel of Burslem: ready to be made into a framed picture

Yesterday we went to Gordon Glaze's store in Merrickville to pick up the tiles he had prepared, made from the photograph of "The Angel of Burslem." The results are very attractive. Spread over a three by six array of tiles, the angel looks spectacular. His business is called "Commeleon Inc" and more examples of his work can be found at http://www.commeleon.com

On our way home from Merrickville we stopped at "Walker Works" in Stittsville. There we left the tiles with Jim Walker. He will adhere the tiles to a board, add framing and then come to our home to hang the framed picture. We look forward to hanging the framed picture in our bathroom.

The Autists Gala, Toronto, May 17th

On May 17th, The Autists Gala will be held at Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 279 Bloor Street, Toronto, beginning at 5 30 pm. This is the Annual Gala and Art Auction of the Geneva Centre for Autism. It is held in celebration and support of children and youth at the Geneva Centre.

Tickets for the Gala cost $195.00 Canadian each and give you access to the Gala, a gourmet champagne reception, art viewing and the silent auction. Works by nationally and internationally renowned artists will also be displayed and then auctioned off in a live auction.

The Geneva Centre for Autism helped our son, Adrian, when he was a child. I contribute 10% of my sales revenue through etsy annually to The Geneva Centre. I also donated three of my baskets to The Autists Gal for the silent auction.

The designer vase exhibited.

 I posted the designer vase in my etsy shop today with these images. This shows a close-up of the wool weaving and the beads.

 The image above shows the woven base that started with four canes inserted through four others.

 One of Anne's favourite necklaces was used to illustrate how the vase could be used to display fine jewellery.

 It could also be used to display dried flowers.

Or, with a carafe placed inside, to display cut flowers.

Creating a designer vase basket.

 The inspiration for this basket came from the basket created by Debra Hammond as shown on pages 18 - 20 0f Lyn Syler's "A Basketmaker's Odyssey: Over Under, around and through", published by Word Weavers Ink, of Matthews, North Carolina. The photo above shows the inspirational basket.

 My base was woven with a four through four base, For the upsett, I wove several rows of three rod waling using two undyed (ivory white) weavers) and one purple weaver. I then changed to more three rod waling with two weavers of purple and one of ivory white. I finished this stage of the weaving with additional rows of three rod wale with three weavers of purple. All these rows were flared outwards, and show spirals on the outside of the work.

The next stage was to bend the cane inwards. To do that I used needle-nosed pliers to crush the cane spokes at the level of the last row of weavers. I then placed a suitable sized can inside the basket and tied of the spokes around the can so I could weave at an appropriate angle. For this section I continued with three rod waling with two purple weavers and one of 100% knobbly rayon wool.

 The next step was to form the neck. I added four  randomly chosen beads of similar hues to each spoke and then began to weave in three-rod weaving, reversing the pattern I used on the lower side of the base.

The finished designer vase. Anne suggests I make two others similar in shape but progressively smaller to make a set. I will see what I can do.

Cross-training

 This week was the week I began regular cross-training with two objectives: to lose weight and to become fitter. After a long winter of on and off efforts at exercise, I at last began to feel well enough to make a serious effort to get back on track. Through the winter we did manage to go to the local pool twice weekly most weeks, but regular walking and jogging just did not happen enough. As a result the regular weight loss I had achieved before June's heart attack stalled. My weight plateaued.

In the photographs I am wearing the brightly coloured running jacket that was part of the deal for entering a New Yea's Eve 10 km run. As was typical of the winter training, I was not able to put in enough longer runs to actually compete in that run.I hope to change that situation now somewhat warmer weather is here.

So, this week I started by running 6 km with the Running Room strategy of running for ten minutes, walking for one and repeating (tens and ones). On Tuesday we swam lengths (28 for me) and then bicycled to Stittsville, a 10 km return journey. Wednesday saw a repeat of a 6k tens and ones run with a better time. Thursday was 18 holes of golf, which even with a cart was exercise. Friday was a rest day. Today I completed the week's exercise with a shorter run of 4 km, again with tens and ones. (Sunday is another rest day with a walk to and from church, and the afternoon spent with Adrian.) Add in several hours spent raking and working in the garden and I have a good cross-training week completed.

If I am able to continue a regular cross-training program, I should be able to lose one or two pounds a week and shed the extra 25 I do not need. I did lose 25 in a similar period last year, and have kept almost all of that off despite the lack of exercise.

Our roof is re-shingled today

 At 7 00 am Firon Roofing pulled up to start removing the shingles from our roof, and to install new shingles. A crew of five got to work right away.

 A few minutes later this truck pulled up with the new shingles and the new vents.

 Meanwhile, the stripping of the old shingles continued apace.

 The crane operator set up his equipment.

 The shingles were then lifted to the roof, a much better way of doing things than carrying each bundle up on shoulders via a ladder.

 The satellite TV dish was removed and lowered to the ground.

 The waste material was collected in the trailer parked in our driveway.

By 1 00 pm the job was completed, the satellite dish restored, and TV reception was back. The roof looks so much better and the new vents look smart. And all this was done while I was golfing in strong winds and a high of perhaps 5C.

Coincidences

Last night we took part in a "progressive dinner" with around two dozen members of our church. We met at one home for starters, then moved on to our home for soup and salad, on to a third home for the main courses, and then to the fourth and last for deserts. All pre-arranged, but all pot luck as to what kind of food would be found at each home.

We fell upon two sets of coincidences during the evening. When we first moved to Ottawa in 2001, we met another family, the Wrights, who have twins with autism. We knew these boys were about Adrian's age but what we discovered last night was that Adrian and the twins attended the same behavioural camps near Haliburton in the early 1980s. At that time we lived in Red lake while the Wrights lived in Ottawa some 2000 kms away. When the boys attended the week long camps, we, the parents, never met each other. It was only 25 years or so later that we met as we attend the same church.

For the second coincidence, one person turned out to be the daughter of  immigrant parents from our home town, Burslem, who emmigrated to Canada the same year as we did. We had long conversations about "pot banks", "seconds", the Trent and Mersey Canal, Shelton Bar (The steel mill where her father worked), and Royal Doulton. Our pen-and-ink drawings of scenes from The Potteries were fascinating to her.

It is a small world.

Getting ready for outdoor dining

 Julian came over today to set up the sun canopy on the deck. We hope for one more season out of it at least.

Tonight we drank our first wine and spirits of the season under the sun canopy. Tomorrow we plan to eat lunch outside too. Spring is really here.

The opening of my golfing season.

 Today was my first day of golfing this season. Here I am ready to tee off with my friend George Graham. It was a balmy 2C with a strong wind.

 Drifts of snow were still found near some greens. The water hazards were ice filled. But we had fun.

At times there was ice pellets or snow pellets falling. This is the view through the golf cart's wind shield. There appeared to only be our foursome on the course. Surprise!.


On the positive side, I gained at least a dozen balls.

Spring flowers at last

People have posted pictures of crocuses in flower in Ottawa on their facebook pages. There are no signs of such flowers in my garden yet. However, in a section where I broadcast a package of Canadian wildflower seeds last year, these flowers appeared on April 1st. No fooling. To me they look like a version of the common English flower I know as "Colts foot." Any suggestions as to what the name is are welcome.

Dyeing for my art.

 This is all that was left of the cane I had dyed over the last few months. Today, with a temperature of 8 C, it was a good day to add more dyed cane to my inventory. I located my dyes, fired up the BBQ and set to work.

 An hour or so later, I had twelve 1 lb skeins dyed and ready to be hung to complete their drying process.

Here, the newly dyed cane is getting enough air circulation in my storage area to dry properly.

For this particular dyeing exercise, I used nine different dye colours: tan, wine red, scarlet, dark brown, olive green, desert dust, elephant grey, yellow and purple. Over the next few months, I will be creatively at work using the dyed material as I double my inventory. I look forward to this.