Knitting Yarns

I have been very busy and there are lots of exciting developments in the pipeline, but I am not quite ready to share them with you all. This blogging break hasn't really been restful, but rather stuffed with activity and more than a little stress. Anyway, I want to reassure my readers that normal service will resume as soon as possible.

In between all this frantic activity, I did snatch a few moments to read Death By Cashmere, a seaside knitting mystery by Sally Goldenbaum. This is the perfect summer read ~ not too demanding, but full of interesting characters. The action takes place in Sea Harbor, Massachusetts and I can almost smell the sea as I turn the pages.

I am coming to the end of this knitting yarn, but will be eagerly looking out for the next book in the Seaside Knitters' Mystery series. In the meantime, however you are spending your summer, I wish you rest, relaxation and an escape from the daily routine. Enjoy your weekend.

Escape

This weekend, we escaped the hustle and bustle of the city in search of tranquility and open spaces. We visited friends who live about two hours north of Toronto on Georgian Bay.

Georgian Bay is separated from the main part of Lake Huron by the Bruce Peninsula. It has more than 30,000 islands and over 2,000 kilometres of shoreline. In the summer months, it attracts tourists from far and wide, who come to enjoy nature and the fabulous beaches.

As you can probably tell from the photographs, it was quiet during our visit, due to the unseasonably cold temperatures. The wind was whipping up the waves and we didn't spend any longer than necessary outdoors.

On Sunday, we visited Blue Mountain, which is a ski resort during the winter months. It is a long time since our last visit, when the resort was in the early stages of development. I think that it has a certain charm, which is so often lacking in modern developments.

Sadly, it was such a cold day, that we only had a quick walk through the resort before looking for shelter from the bitter winds.

This photograph shows one of the ski runs in the background.

And the building with the canopy is a chocolate shop, which we felt obliged to visit! After all, what could be nicer than sharing chocolate with friends?

There was a fire in the grate in the centre of the square, but it was too cold to even stand around it and enjoy the warmth!

We stayed an extra night and came home yesterday feeling refreshed for a change in routine.

Speaking of changes in routine, I have decided to take a blogging break. I have a lot going on in my life at the moment and I don't have time to dedicate to writing and visiting you all. I am not sure how long I will be gone, but I will be back.

Baby Friendly

I know that I haven't blogged much recently, but I have been attending a Lactation Management Course this week. It has been such an interesting course and I am so glad that I decided to attend. Sometimes the effort involved in getting organized and actually going to these things seems too great and I often start thinking about all the other ways that I could be spending my time.

The goals of the course were to implement the Baby Friendly Initiative which some of you may have heard of. This global initiative was launched by the UNICEF and the World Health Organization in 1991: to this day; there are still many hospitals that have yet to implement it.

Globally, attitudes towards breastfeeding can have a huge impact on the health and wellbeing of babies and long-term implications for their future health. The risks of not breastfeeding are not widely publicized because of the political influence of the formula companies and their corporate sponsorship of conferences and other events aimed at health professionals.

In 2005 UNICEF stated that 'lack of breastfeeding is an immunological and nutritional deficiency syndrome directly connected with death, illness, and poor cognitive development' and they weren't just talking about its impact on third world countries.

Did you know that at birth, the brain is only 25% developed? It develops to 50% by 6 months and 81% by three years. Nutrients which are vital for brain growth and development can only be obtained from breastmilk and there are no artificial supplements.

I would encourage you to spread the word about the importance of breastfeeding to your family and friends who may be pregnant and to support breastfeeding as the baby friendly choice. For further information about the International Breastfeeding Symbol and issues relating to breastfeeding visit this blog.

The Mercury Is Rising

It happens almost every year, but the arrival of the hot weather still takes me by surprise. Yesterday, the mercury reached 28 C and today it is heading up to 30 degrees. It is hard to believe that mere days ago we were freezing and had wind and rain!

Today would be the perfect day to escape to the lakefront, where it is generally cooler, but I had to make do with a dip in the local pool. The photo shown here was taken at the end of May last year.

Closure

I have always avoided mentioning my small business on this blog because it was never intended to be a blog about work or my attempts at creating and marketing a product of which I am justifiably proud.

It has been a long and at times, difficult journey on this adventure and I learned the hard way that although I created a beautiful handmade natural rose cream which I adore; convincing the public that it is worth trying has never been easy. As they say in business, customers are won over one at a time.

After many difficult months of declining sales and a disasterous Christmas season, things were not looking good. Filing my annual tax return recently certainly convinced me of what I knew in my heart already: there is no future for my business venture.

It is with a heavy heart that I announce my decision to close my business. I would have announced it on my business blog, but I closed this some months ago because it was becoming increasingly difficult to think of anything positive to write about.

I am having a going out of business sale and I do hope that some of you will consider trying my products. There is up to 70% off the regular price of skin care products and 50% off organic essential oils.

Note to my UK readers: shipping charges are very reasonable (about £4.50 to ship 2 products) and products arrive in about a week ~ so don't hesitate to take advantage of these incredible prices!

Protect Your Work

I had not planned a posting for today, but a blog comment piqued my curiosity and in an effort to discover how this person had found me; I logged into SiteMeter. I didn't find the person I was looking for, but I did find a link to Google Images.

Imagine my surprise to discover that my blog banner image is out there on the internet for anyone to use without my permission. I don't know why I am surprised really because it is not the first time that I have found that my work has been widely distributed over the internet and used without my permission ~ this still leaves me feeling violated though, especially as on the previous occasion; my work was stolen and credited to other authors. I may be a little niave, but having requested that my images are not used without my permission, I would like to think that this would be respected.

The message for today is to protect your work and watermark your photographs. I've replaced the image this morning ~ interestingly, it was one of the few photographs that appeared on my blog without watermarks. I'm seriously thinking about restricting the viewing of my blog to members only.

Victoria Day Weekend

This is a long weekend here in Canada: a celebration of Queen Victoria's birthday. The official date is 24th May, but it falls earlier this year. The date has been recognized since 1834, although it was not until 1901 with the death of Queen Victoria, that it was declared throughout the Commonwealth as Empire Day.

Many Canadians are surprised to learn that this day is not marked in the U.K. especially when one considers the reason for the holiday.

These days, it is mostly an excuse for a long weekend which marks the unofficial start of summer: a chance to fire up the barbecue and get out and enjoy the last of the spring flowers. Having said that, the weekend is not looking too promising for outdoor activities at the moment.