Virtual Vermut

Well, la-di-dah. It's Friday and I'm celebrating! It's champagne (OK, sparkling wine) all around!

I don't know why this kind of surprised me this week but my mother announced she is getting married. And with the groom at 81 and the bride at 76, I gently advised her to not have a long engagement. But seriously, what better reason to be drinking in the afternoon but to celebrate the growth of a family? This day is simply gorgeous and if you looked up, "gorgeous day" in the dictionary, it would say, "May 13, 2011" and have a picture of my city beside it. It's so nice out I almost forgot about it being a Friday the 13th until I read my horoscope and found out that it is an accident prone day for me and that I need to guard against theft or loss.

You know it's really spring when garbage can art returns to your neighbourhood. I do love a bin man with a sense of style.

If we were meeting for vermut, or champagne, today I would tell you about going for a walk with Riley early this morning and show you some of the things we found - all this before 8:30 a.m.

A robin's egg

a lobster

ducks to feed

the world's smallest caterpillar

cherry flavoured lip balm that has a definite colour to it.

And he could double for Edith Piaf in this one with the pseudo lipstick. La vie en rose...

My original "twinkle"

was returned to me at the same tree where I left today's message, one that has been challenging me plenty

magnolias gone crazy

improvised rabbit ears

and an absolute riot in my former neighbour's garden

If we were meeting for vermut today I would tell you that yesterday I allowed myself to do a bit of this

and that

with a magazine and it felt great. We would play a requiem for old pajamas

I think I've had these since before Riley was born and they are one waist-cinch away from falling to the floor around my ankles.

If we were meeting for vermut this afternoon I would tell you that I have spent considerable time cleaning up my art studio and now I can't find a damn thing. Not only have I cleaned it up but I have been KEEPING it clean and so I have been spending an inordinate amount of time looking for things I used to be able to put my hands on quickly but still, I'm loving the "space" created by the tidiness. I would tell you I started a class on colour palettes and have been painting many colour wheels.

And while we were on the subject of colour swatches, I would also share with you Yo-Yo, which is the colour I have pretty much settled on for the bathroom that will be painted next month.

Can't you see white fabric shower curtains with this?

If we were meeting for vermut this afternoon I would tell you this funny story that happened a few nights ago when Riley and I were walking the dog. It was the first time I had to put the birds and the bees into more specific words as a pair of red-winged blackbirds had a go at it right before our eyes. And I'm expecting more questions once my initial answers have been digested. Oddly enough, there are no photos to document this part of the story.

If we were meeting for vermut this afternoon I would limit myself to one, OK - two glasses because it's not even four o'clock then I would send you over to Kate at The Catalan Way and remind her that it's time for vermut!