Art Show Success

A few weeks ago I had posted an invite for an Art Show that my sister Rosella was participating in well they had a great showing of people and there were several paintings sold which was fantastic.  Lots of munchies and the wine was flowing.  I dragged along one of my sisters and sister-in-law plus my very dear friend Betty came along.  Of course my sister was the best there "from my point of view" :).



 

Birthday Girl

Wow, I have so much catch up to do as it has been so busy over the past few weeks but first is Adelyn's 2nd birthday which was on July 1st so all of Canada was celebrating with her.  It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day and Adelyn was graced again this year with the attendance of two of her three great-grandmothers, cousins, friends and family.  She had a great time even though she was a little bit of a roughneck with her play friends who attended.  LOL She was very possesive of her toys and family but that will change over time.  Her Mommy made cupcakes instead of a cake and I decorated them with an idea I had seen of Pinterest where you take mini marshmallows and cut them in half and shake them in colored sugar cystals and arrange them on top of the cupcakes to look like flowers.  They turned out really pretty and seemed to be a hit with everyone.  Adelyn's Nana and Grandad were over the day before her birthday helping as well, it was a family effort to make her day as special as she is, see I am not the only one who is a slave to her.  LOL we all are swooning at her little toes and she knows it!  But how can you love a child too much I ask, you can't, so we will continue along our merry way, swooning at every smile, kiss or hug she bestows upon us.

Another Weekend with Addy

Another wonderful 4 days with my wee grandbaby.  Love it, love it, love her!  The weather certainly did not cooperate but we managed regardless.  Addy got to meet a live Eastern Shore lobster, hand to claw which she seemed to find quite fascinating until it started flipping it's tail around that is.

Then it was time for Addy and Molly to kick back and relax while watching "Cat in the Hat".

Addy had a special treat one night when her Uncle Dave read her some bedtime stories.  Mind you he did tend to stray from the story in the books and made up his own stories which seemed to confuse ponies with bunnies but she didn't mind.  :)  She loves her Uncle Dave.

On Sunday we had a great time making her Daddy a belated Father's Day gift as she was sick the week before Father's Day and didn't get to make her Daddy something at daycare.  She loved helping to make this and giggled away while I put paint on her hands.  She helped sponge on some paint as well and of course she kept wanting to paint more and so armed with a "dry" paintbrush went around the house painting everything she could reach.  :)  The sun finally came out on Monday but Addy decided to have a 4 hour nap and then it was time to take her home.  :(  Ah well, she is coming for 4 days again in July so hopefully the weather will be better and we can hit the beach.  By the way, her Daddy loved his gift.

The following picture is of the beautiful NS Ladyslipper which I love and someone I know picked quite by accident not realising they are rare.  This is a plant, like the even rarer trillium, that IS NOT TO BE PICKED as it will not, without allowing its blossom to cycle through, regenerate itself.  Consider yourself fortunate when you spot this beauty in the woods. The pink Lady slippers prefer to be in acid soil, and, thus, are the most common Lady slippers to be found throughout Nova Scotia; more frequently, to be found west of the Halifax/Truro line. The pink Lady slipper is one of the earlier wildflowers and blossom only for a couple of short weeks. Look for this pink beauty around the beginning of June.

There are three other Lady sippers which can also be spotted in Nova Scotia, though more difficult to come by: the Yellow Lady Slipper, the Ramshead Lady Slipper and the Showy Lady Slipper.

This is a picture of a Dogwood tree that is in my Mom's yard and is her pride and joy and the flowers can be picked :).  It is quite spectacular when in full bloom and people are always knocking on her door to ask what kind of tree it is.

The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.  ~ Henry Van Dyke



ART SHOW JUNE 27th

Weekend with Addy

What can I say but we had an absolutely wonderful weekend and I think my wee grandbaby was a bit tuckered out by the time she went home with her Momma on Monday.  We had lots of visitors which she of course charmed as everyone fell under her spell.  She loved her new outdoor toys and took great delight in startling my dog Molly with opening her car door as you can see below she was chortling away.  She loved the sand and water table, mind you the sand part became mud as she moved all the water over and gleefully splashed the mud all over herself.  The washing machine was running at full steam.  The weather was beautiful so she was able to play outdoors a lot.  I can't wait until June when she comes for another weekend visit.

Strawberry creams and wonderful dreams,
Ladylike airs and teddy bears,
Fairy tales and wedding veils,
Thats what granddaughters are made of.

Felted scarves

The ladies had a great day making felted over lace scarves and turned out some beautiful scarves.  It is interesting to see how everyone has a different vision in their head and watch it come to life.  Every scarf turned out totally different.  The blue one reminded me of a painted peacock feather, the white one of the ocean with the surf pounding and the pink one a very old and delicate Victorian dress.  They were all beautiful and original.  After lunch I demonstrated how to make wet felted flowers which is one of my favorite things to make, it's like gardening without getting your hands dirty.  :)  I think the next course we do will be pictures frames of some sort which is always a fun and creative project.

"The line between a decorative object and a work of art is a matter of critical judgement."  Marlene Fitzgerald-Moore

Rain, rain, come again!

Who says that a rainy day can't be lovely.  It's sometimes nice to just sit and ready a juicy book with a nice pot of tea on a rainy day without feeling guilty that your not out in the yard or garden pulling muscles that haven't been used all winter or at least in my case that would be true.  :)  I know all the plants I have been moving around and the flowers in the urns are loving it and there is nothing quite so captivating as seeing raindrops on the flower petals.

This weekend I am giving a class on felted over lace scarves which should be fun and then I pick up my grandaughter to bring her out to the country for a couple of days.  I have my deck all setup for her and outdoor toys ready to rock provided the weather cooperates.  Either way we will have fun and lots of snuggles and giggles.



The fishing boats are coming and going constantly with lobster season in full force.  You can always tell when a boat is coming in with a full catch by the greeting party. 

"Life's a beach, enjoy the waves."

Happy Mother's Day Mom

What a beautiful sunny day, Mother Nature's way of paying tribute to all the mothers out there who give so much of themselves to their families.  A mother is one who loves her family and works hard to make her children feel loved, safe and secure and making sure the family needs are all looked after. 
It's funny how certain smells can trigger a memory that is simply "Mom".  One of my memories as a young child is the smell of floor wax, crazy I know but when I was a child I remember coming in the house during winter and smelling the floor wax and the windows are all steamed up from Mom cooking and it is a comforting memory that all is right within my world at that time.  When you think about it, back then the floor polish had to be applied to the hardwood floors on hands and knees and allowed to dry before the buffer was brought out.  I know all eight of us kids would run for the socks when we realized mom was polishing the floors as that meant hours of fun running and sliding on the floors.  I am sure mom didn't mind as one, it kept us busy and out of her hair for a good hour or more and two it added an extra sparkle to those floors. I laugh when I think about it and quite honestly I don't know how my Mom did it with eight kids to look after and my dad worked away from home for a lot of the time when we were young. 
I do know that as a mother and grandmother it brings tears to my eyes to think about how overwhelming it must have been at times for my mom to look after eight children and run a household basically on her own with no car and living in rural areas.  I do know that I always felt safe and happy and never questioned that there would be food on the table at mealtimes and a hug if I needed it.

So I take off my apron to you Mom as you were and are an incredibly strong woman to have raised eight children when I am sure at times you wanted to run screaming from the house.

Thank you.

Love your "Middle Child" or brat some of my siblings may say.  :)

 

Spring is arriving

I love this time of year, every day I go outside and walk around the gardens to see what is poking up through the ground other than weeds :).  Digging in the soil and planting is such a satisying feeling.  I have planted the urns for the deck and have fingers crossed that we don't get a heavy frost or else my house will be a little crowded some nights with all the pots dragged inside.  This year I kept it simple and just used pansies and the most happy little daisies and in some pansies and new guinea begonias.  I am moving all my hostas around and my sister gave me a box of irises so I have to get those in the ground as well.  They are calling for a nice day on Friday so that may be an outdoor day for Molly and I.  Can't wait.

I was looking after Adelyn last week and we were exploring her yard and her Mommy's flowers.  Mind you she did a wonderful job picking all the dandelions from the lawn.  Her daddy would be proud.

The true sign of spring is all the fishing boats in the harbour setting the lobster traps and bringing home their catch.  Yumm, I have already had a couple of lobster feeds since the season opened.  My son is working 16 hour days right now as they collect the lobster from the fisherman to be exported.  Nothing like NS lobster and a dish of butter sitting on your plate.



With Mother's Day coming this weekend it will be busy but time spent with family is always fun.  A bunch of us are taking my Mom to lunch on Saturday which will be a noisy and laugh filled event.  On Sunday my son-in-law is making lunch for my daughter, his mom and me.  He is an amazing cook and I can't wait to see what he has come up with to serve us this year.  All I know is that he needs 1lb of lobster which I will have my son pick up.

I am busy getting my yard geared up for the weekends when Adelyn comes to stay.  I picked up the neatest sandbox/water table for her, it even has an umbrella so she isn't in the direct sun.  I have ordered a rocker to have on the deck as well so old nanny bones can sit and have her cup of tea while keeping an eye on my sugar baby.

The weekend of May 26th I am doing a felted over lace scarf workshop with about 4 or 5 ladies which should be fun.  After the workshop I am heading over to Halifax to pick up Adelyn as she is coming out until Monday.  Can't wait to see what antics she will get up to.  :)

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!


"Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.  ~Elizabeth Stone"

Rose's Art Show

My sister Rose has an art show coming up on Wednesday June 27th 6:30 - 9:30pm at 1313 Hollis St., Halifax and some of the paintings she will be displaying are below.   There will be 15 artists participating.