Good night, Renee....

Goodbye to my dear sister-in-law Renee. 

This picture was taken about the beginning on last August, 2010 - just, just six months ago.  Her and my brother-in-law had just brought up their new beautiful boat, we motored around Point Pelee from Leamington and moored in front of the cottage, jetski-taxi'd in and enjoyed an impromptu bbq before returning.  What a beautiful day, now not to be repeated, now a warm, precious memory.

She was so interested in our renovations... and noticing the limited closet spaces, she later sent me up special flat hangers that maximize hanging space.

That weekend, she sometimes complained about a persistently sore hip and so went to her doctor on her return to Pittsburgh a couple of days later... who referred her to a osteopath... who, after tests.... sent her to an oncologist.  Renee had an aggressive cancer.

She died Thursday morning at 4:30.  Cancers had tsunamied her body, leaving her vunerable to the pneumonia that claimed her life. 

Just six months to remove this vital, funny, sophisticated, generous, gutsy, loving woman.  Her grace under pain and the knowledge of her shortened future was a model that I know I couldn't achieve. 

Renee was a great wife, a fantastic mother, a fun sister-in-law, the favourite aunt.  She loved great red wines, pates, real cheeses, authentic travel adventures.  Renee was a voracious reader, she had a flat-out, truthful bawdy sense of humour, she absorbed life experiences like a sponge.  Her generosity was legend, her recall of everybody's interests and lives was just one of her special characteristics.

The triteness of "life isn't fair" just doesn't do anything to describe the devastation in our family.  Thanks, Renee & goodbye.... but you'll never be gone.

Our Own Personal Twilight Zoning....

... had to submit a sketch of where the parking spots would be, if we go all bed and breakfast on the cottage.

So, with my new Dell laptop and my new Dell everything plus wireless printer, I scanned this from our purchase documents, added in the yellow to-be parking spaces, blued-out the cottage shape, redlined the existing driveway, for submission.

I hope it's obvious to the zoning committee that there's sooo much room for just 3 parking spaces, there'll be no impact upon neighbouring homes......

It'll take until April 11th to find out.  Twenty days before that, close neighbours will get notice of our intention, a notice will be posted, and then we wait again.

I'm hoping no one will object.... to think that anyone would want to kybosh someone's else's dreams, negate all the hard work towards their goal, is very nervous-making... gonna be a long couple months.

Combien!

Never NEVAH have I seen such snow here in southern Ontario.

"Combien!" That's how the auctioneer started off his spiel today - a liquidation action in Leamington.  I went hoping for a oriental carpet for the living room.... and found one... plus one.

I bid - just once & won - an 8 x 12 "palace" sized oriental, brand new, lovely rust burgundy, creams, grey greens.  Brand new, high quality machine made, from Turkey.  Covers a good deal of the living room, but not too much, the beautiful wood still shows all around.

And the bonus was a small 3 x 5 handmade tribal carpet from Iran.  It's old, not sure how old, I'll be looking for the pattern on the internet.  It was almost as much as the 3 times bigger one.  It looks great in the middle of the kitchen, the glowing dark colours against the cream and putty of the stone-looking tiles.

On another thread.... I practiced more muffin types today - dark chocolate chip, lemon blueberry and pecan maple.  Chip & lemon/blueberry fantastic, pecan maple.... not offensive.... bland actually....  maybe sliced with maple butter would be the cure.

Found a fantastic new recipe for buttermilk pancakes - extremely fluffy and tasty.

D took some muffins back to Toronto (2 weeks left on his course) and I took a couple of each across the road to a neighbour who just broke both his legs in a snowmobiling accident - hit a snow-hidden cement thingee at a fair clip.

Sinus still on world-wide invasion kick.  I'm still on placebo antibiotics apparently. 

Today was "Family Day" national holiday.... back to school manana..... ciao

Sinus Blitherings..

Fifteen years ago, I thought I was skillfully hooding my shot around a tree, cleverly saving a stroke... turns out I was idiotically overestimating my ability, deadnuts hitting the tree, rebounding directly to my face, knocking me out, cracking my right sinus and making future yearly appointments with sinus infections for the rest of my life.  And that brings me to the last 3 weeks of my life.  I am so sick of this movie.

One the more interesting, less disgusting side... went to an auction with my sister yesterday and came home with several treasures.  Of course, all these treasures cost $40 - either singly or collectively - doesn't mattter... it's a standing joke that everything I buy for the cottage is $40.  Kee is very - I guess, resigned - to the fact that likely nothing costs $40 and it's best not to go to those dark places.

I got three paintings:  a largelarge, slightly kitschish merchant sailboat scene, a small, horizontal aspect garden watercolour and a large, squarish, good-amateur, white heron/marsh reeds oil.  Also:  a broken Boston fern table that I'll strip, Kee will fix and I'll restain.  Also:  a very old, dark wood, box cabinet - about 2.5' long, 1' high, with 2 doors.  The glass on the left door has a crack, but the cabinet is just entrancing.  It will go in the living room, over the desk-to-be-built, beside the library-shelves-too-be-built.  Also:  a fire extinguisher - how prosaic, eh? 

The ship scene had this going for it:  the colours:  it was a great match for the wall of the green bedroom and I like the dated look of it.... it could be thought to have been here for decades. 

The watercolour is actually a numbered print.  It's like a clip of an English garden, and the greens, pastel flowers and green matte complement the small bedroom perfectly.

The white heron comes with a signed certificate of authenticity, by artist James McGuigan.  There's a lot of talent in it, although I must say it's of the talented amateur level.  The real appeal is the subject matter, a large white heron, on the wing, with the reeds of a marsh behind. 

These three pictures really suit the cottage.  I lucked out.

A stitch back in time...

Have you ever heard of McKay's Corners?  If you (a) live around Chatham, Ontario; (b) sew; (c) aren't afraid of towering, mouldering, chittering bales of ancient fabric, then you might know about McKay's Corners.... an enormous pole barn bursting with material, out on a country road off Highway 401.  Thirty years ago, I shoveled through the stacks for flannel for receiving blankets and velvet for an elegant bring-home-baby-from-hospital blanket.  Twenty-five years ago, I unearthed spandex or my daughter's skating and dance outfits.  Pillowcases, sheer and rich materials for draperies... once even a woollen blend for an unfortunate pair or man's woolen pants, which I just couldn't make Kee wear.  Prices are great, measurements are generous and you just wash the material in hot water water a couple of times to get rid the dead mummy smell.

This time I went in search of vintage cotton prints, to make drapes for the two big bedrooms, slipcovers for the leather parson's chairs in the sunroom and maybe some aprons.

I've found some great old stuff, it washed up a treat, I've got the patterns.  Now the hard part - explaining to my sister who own a fabric store why I got this outsider fabric in my possession....