The tail end of the yard sales...

I love yard sales when that special something jumps out at you. These crazy birds are great.

Here's another tin. I've had this a long time.

And here's a little bag that I finished off this morning, inspired by all the Japanese ones I've been seeing. My neighbor gave me this little lamb. I was admiring it on one of my visits. Wasn't that sweet? She's my little knitting mascot.

Trying to shake it off.

I've had some crap happen in my life recently, and suffice to say, I've been left feeling unmotivated and uninspired, so my sincere apologies to anyone coming to visit and finding no explanation for my absence. My blog felt unimportant in the big picture. This is the place I go when I want to share my inspiration, and I didn't have any.

I did get to go to Ontario for a week at the end of June, and be with four of my five brothers and sisters. That felt really good! It was a trip to visit my father, who's health is failing. That's a hard one. I love my Dad.

We grew up on a one hundred acre farm. What a rich childhood. This little swampy area, at the end of our driveway was still there. We sat here a little while and were drenched in birdsong.

There was a bit of the foundation of the barn left standing. Our barn was torn down long ago, but I recently found out that some Mennonite farmers had salvaged the wood. I felt good about that because, our barn... It was so huge, it was a big giant friend, it had presence and history.

The silo was the only structure still standing. The lay of the land had been changed so much, the pond ploughed over, hills moved, that if it weren't for the silo, it would have been difficult to judge where our house would have stood. It wasn't heartbreaking. The grassy fields had been replaced with dark green, undulating rows of corn. Hey, it easily could have been a suburb!

We were also able to visit my beautiful mother on Manitoulin Island. We took the Chi-cheeman ferry through the mist...

Hey! Don't be feeding those seagulls... even if they fake having one leg and make you feel completely sorry for them!

A few minutes from my Moms doorstep and you have this!

The visit to Ontario was too short. I loved my time there... my family, the country side, all the stories and memories and especially all the good laughs.