Tuesday, June 16, 2015

In fact it is so good to be home that I couldn’t bear to leave it today, even for the Tuesday bee! We had a great time in Victoria; it’s nice to be in the big city once in awhile, but I don’t miss it on a day-to-day basis.

The shopping was great, although I only spent as much time at the mall as it took to get the essentials on my list. I even came away from a trip to the bookstore empty handed; although there were lots of books there I could have brought home I am trying very (sometimes very, very) hard not to purchase anything new. The two quilt shops were all the shopping experience I needed.

I managed to get a big bottle of Best Press (it was on my list) as well as some zippers for some project bags I want to make. The charms are for a project I’ve had for quite some time and maybe, just maybe, it will get done this year!

Just when I don’t think I need any fabric I find some I just have to have! You may wonder at that bag of scraps (yes, I bought scraps); it was that large piece of muslin that caught my eye.

Did I say I resisted buying books? Quilting books and patterns don’t really count, do they?

We had a chance to take in a concert and a movie while we were there. I can’t remember the last time I was in a big movie theatre; when we sat down Pat had to remind me I could put my water in the drink holder since we don’t have those in our 100-year-old theatre.  Qristina and Quinn Bachand were holding a CD release party on Saturday night. They were part of the Home Routes House Concert series in about year two. Qristina is off to Limerick to earn her masters degree in traditional Irish music and Quinn is studying music in Boston. Quinn was just 16 when they were here and he has grown up but is still the happy face I remember; he’s taking more of a speaking role in their concerts now.

We had a chance for some walking in some of Victoria’s urban parks. I have fond memories of a park I walked through on our early Victoria Blossom Walks, but I couldn’t remember the name of it. We passed a sign to the Colquitz River Park and when we looked at photos online I knew it was the one. We walked through it on Sunday but, sadly, time hasn’t done it any favours. The original spots I enjoyed were still there, but the river wasn’t running very high and the trees and vegetation had really filled in. The place we stayed was very near The Gorge Waterway Park and we also spent some time along its banks. On the way home on Monday we had time for a quick walk around Goldstream Park; we go by it on our way in and out of Victoria but this was the first time we had stopped.

Today I’m unpacking, running a few errands, and (trying) to tidy things up in my studio. There are, after all, all those lovely purchases to put away!