A Yule to Remember!

So, our day started at a ghastly 5 am with a power outage. This meant Bruce loading up the wood stove for heat. Then he heated some (bottled) water to make some coffee. We must maintain some civilities at the very least! Then for Christmas breakfast... we had ham and pea soup warmed on the woodstove. Not what I had planned originally but it was good none the less. No water (pump needs power) no phone (not sure why not?), no heat except our woodstove. The silence was deafening especially given the volume of snow on and around the house. It's day 7 since we were last out. Never did get Christmas grocery run done due to snow and bad road conditions... but the power is back on and we're cooking a small turkey right now . Life is good. The sun came out too. We both grabbed our cameras. The trees are heavily ladened and the sun would warm and melt the snow....within half an hour from when these were taken, most trees had shrugged off the white coat and it was mostly green again. Now the ground is another story:

This is the carport and that's 2 1/2 feet of *compacted* snow on top. There is more to come tonight. The local wildlife are suffering as well. We have raccoons at the bird feeder all night and this fella by day:

Not sure if this is a 'she' or a 'he' but is this year's fawn from a doe that was hit and killed this last late summer. Somehow this little sweetie has survived alone and comes to eat the bird seed (and other things like apples we leave out) each morning. Since this picture was taken, another two feet of snow has fallen.

As this is Christmas Day, I thought I would take a moment to show you the five lovely woven card insert I received this year. So I'll start by saying that I had no light to turn on (power was off) and after I took the images, my battery in the camera died. So my apology for pictures slightly askew but I was under rather limiting circumstances!

Like my friend Lynnette , I also received this lovely card from our friend Joan in Kamloops, BC. Joan does beautiful weaving and I have spent an enjoyable time at her home for a lunch and afternoon in her studio where we looked over her looms, projects and Joan's other interests such as book binding.

This card is from my friend Louise of Lumby, BC. Louise is a weaving dynamo and is one of those people you *hate* to follow at a guild meeting's show and tell session. She brings in a haul of stuff and you wonder where she finds the time to do it all? Especially since she works and helps to run a cattle ranch. Yup, you gotta get your show and tell in before hers every time!

(Yup, it's crooked. See excuse #1 above) This card insert was woven by Lynnette of Coldstream, BC. You may have seen this and it's cousins at her blog prior to being mailed away. I'm one of the lucky recipients. What doesn't show here is the sparkly silver strand along with the white weft. I didn't have a decent light source (see excuse # 2 above). Lynnette does lovely work and I have several of her cards from past years.

This card is woven by a friend who I call my 'weaving mentor' and she happens to be a GCW master weaver. Margaret lives in Lake Country, BC. This picture really doesn't do justice to the trees and colours. I have been lucky enough to have several years of Margaret's cards and each one is a delight.

The last one I have to show you three times. The materials used bounced the flash and so I had to try and capture the overall effect and then a close up of the weft and warp and that didn't do justice to the overall weaving.

This gem was woven by Gudrun of Tappen, BC. Gudrun took her training in Germany and is a German master weaver. The overshot pattern above was woven using white sewing thread as her warp and a very fine copper wire as pattern weft. Copper taken from small resisters where she has stripped off the wire and wound it onto bobbins. Recycling in art! The flash over brightened the first and here I have slightly turned the card to show more of the pattern:

Much better definition....and then a close up to show the wefts. Please bear in mind that the opening in this card is 2 inches across.

Well, I must close for now and go and check our dinner. The house smells great, we're warm and snug here.....we have a lot to be thankful for. (I still want to get out and get groceries though.)

Happy Holidays to you all!

Susan, Bruce and Connor, the dog.