O Canada!

Returned yesterday from a week in the north country. Had never sung the Canadian National Anthem before but I had two opportunities last week. The first time was at our family reunion which was held on Canada Day (July 1st) and the second time was at church on the Canada Day weekend. It is a moving song. I enjoyed it.
Spent part of last evening catching up on reading what all my blog friends have been up to.
During the entire week of vacation this is all that I saw of a quilty nature...

These two quilts were on display in an information center in the little town of Waterton in the National Park of the same name. It was hard to see exactly what pattern they were because they were all folded up and draped over a narrow rack. I wanted to get a better look and I also wanted to move them out of the sun, but it wasn't my shop. : )

My MIL was born and raised in a small town in southern Alberta, but has spent most of her adult life in the States. We were taking her with us to a family reunion and we planned our trip so that we could spend a couple of days before the reunion in Waterton National Park and a couple of days after the reunion we were in Banff National Park. I live in the Rocky Mountains and they are beautiful, but nothing I see here in the States compares with the majesty of the Canadian Rockies.

Probably my favorite memory of the entire trip was an hour spent canoeing on Moraine Lake in Banff. The water is an amazing turquoise color and it is surrounded by ten incredible peaks formed by the glaciers. Just take a look. Click to enlarge them.

Look at those peaks. This doesn't show all ten of them.

The clouds were shifting and one moment we would have sun,
the next minute it would be overcast.

That is truly the color of the water. Something about the way the minerals
in the water interact with rays of light creates this shade. Gorgeous!

See the waterfall coming down through the trees?
They were everywhere in the park!

I did have one other quilt related encounter--you can't expect many while spending most of your time in national parks. On reunion day I was in a little market getting an ice cream cone of my favorite flavor which you can only get in Canada (why is that?), Tiger Tiger--an orange ice cream (not sherbet) swirled with black licorice. As I stood licking my cone I spied a rack of used books and among them this caught my eye...

I have read on several quilt blogger's profiles that they enjoy these books, so I thought I would try one. For $2, why not? But I was already reading a book on that trip that my son loaned me on neuromarketing. Fascinating stuff about brain studies into why we buy what we buy. So I haven't started the Elm Creek Quilt book yet.

After that week of quilt drought I wanted to visit the LQS today, but I spent the night very sick to my stomach and didn't dare risk it this morning. By afternoon I wasn't at the top of my game, but felt like I could handle it. In honor of the 4th, one of the shops is giving 1/4 off your entire purchase this week. The other shop is having a sidewalk sale tomorrow with 20% off most stuff and bigger discounts on some things. The nice clerk gave me the 20% discount today. This is what came home with me ...

I've never done miniature quilts, but I love these Primitive
Gatherings patterns. It is the second one I have purchased.
 Now I need to make one of them.  : )

I'll leave you with these views of some of the wildlife beside Lake Minnewanka. If you haven't yet seen the Canadian Rockies, I highly recommend them!

 Until next time, from the little mountain valley where the mountains don't seem so large anymore,
Janet O.