The Tenuous Shoehorn Blog Party

It's the day for the blog party, Summer version. Check out Jo's blog to find all the participants.

Summer means flowers

and a smile.

Summer is holidays where you see beautiful scenery

(just outside Jasper, Alberta)

(New Brunswick's famous Reversing Falls)

and unusual sights.

Giant cows,

the world's largest axe and

the world's largest lobster.

Celebrate summer!

Summer Postcard Blog Hop!

Interested in finding new stitching blogs and stitchers? Want to know how they feel about pets? Check out the summer postcard blog hop at Jo's blog.

My postcard came from Julie at Julie's Stitching Journal.

She has stitched this beautiful picture

and here's what she has to say about her pets:

I think it was around 2005 that I stitched this 'Mystery Stitch project' by Pam Kellogg of Kitty and Me.  You got the name of the project, size of the fabric and the thread list, but no idea what the design would be, it was great fun.  When she said that her next one would be 'Smokey Joe' there was lots of speculation as to it being a cat design.  I just had to give it go and signed up.  Each week the parts came out and finally we ended up with this wonderful chap, he looks so lifelike and now hangs on my wall. 
 
It's strange as when I met my DH almost 30 years ago I had never been a cat lover.  A friend of his had a farm cat that had recently had kittens and one was looking for a new home.  A gorgeous black and white fluffy ball of fun came home with us and from that moment on I became a cat lover too.  Over the years we've had many little kittys, tabbys, black and white but never a ginger or a plain black one.  We had 4 together at one time.  Now we only have 1, a little chap that used to live over the back to us but when his family moved he decided that he wanted to stay with us.  We have never actively gone out to get a pet cat, they have all come to us in one way or another.  I can't imagine my life now without a cat that snuggles up on my lap and stops me from stitching!