In My Garden

When the weather finally cleared this afternoon Riley and I got out into the garden to do a little heavy lifting. We finally planted what I hope will be those heavenly blue morning glories and none too soon because they were starting to look a little peaked. We were chopping wood and carrying water and listening to a lot of cheep-cheep-cheeping. I was thinking that lately we had birds in the belfry or something then all of a sudden these little faces appeared out of the porthole of the birdhouse I put up in the spring:


Of course I grabbed the camera and the ladder and dealt with my fear of heights (even two rungs on a ladder can send me spinning), snapping away and watching those hungry little beaks crying out. I was going to ask Snap what they might be because really, all baby bird faces look the same to me but later in the day we saw a mother (or father) sparrow fluttering at the opening and feeding. So, so amazing. We were ridiculously excited.

The whole garden is full and I took probably a hundred or more shots of the flowers which I will selfishly save for Wordless Wednesdays and/or some other projects but here is a shot of my neighbor's incredibly fragrant bush - someone once called it spirea but I have a feeling it's something else, I would love to know for sure if anyone does know:

As Northerners, we get pretty excited about our flowers and gardens, every day is a photo-op at this time of year.

I am hoping for a better night tonight, for the last 24 hours my 14 year-old English Setter has had Extreme Diarrhea. She takes diarrhea to new heights, that dog. It happens every so often, and mostly at this time of year but I was up a lot during the night cleaning up the snarf-blatts. I had no idea she could hold so much. I do feel bad for her, even though she brings it on herself with her scavenging ways. All she has in her tonight is a bowl of boiled white rice but with her, you never know. Fingers crossed.

Another Give-Away!

My friend and fellow blogger, Snap down at Twisty Lane, has a blogoversary and birthday coming up and she is hosting a give-away. She has put together a bag that represents all that is near and dear to her heart (except for Mr. Dragon, who is not part of the give-away). She is particularly passionate about animals and invites you to have a look at the Proyecto Titi site that talks about the current dangers for cotton-top tamarins. But hurry because the drawing is on June 3rd. Here's what she is giving-away, the more full description is over on her blog.

Q20

*E*'s 20th question is, "What is your latest obsession?" I was a little stuck with this one, thinking I haven't really obsessed in a while but since I'm late with it, I had two long weeks to cogitate. I realized I have bought a ridiculous number of shoes, sandals and slippers lately. You know how sometimes you find something you're not even looking for? Well it's kind of been that way with me and the shoes, except for the slippers - I was on the look-out for slippers for a couple of months after Riley told me my old ones smelled. They were about four years old and the insides were all torn so they really didn't owe me anything but I wasn't ready to let them go. I finally found some new ones online at Planet Shoes dot com, the very same pair I had tried on four years ago but opted for the other (now-smelly) ones instead. Nah, I'm not much obsessed with shoes. Acrylic, collage, ink, graphite, markers.


I'm glad I was able to get in my studio for a little time this afternoon. This week has found me a little irritable and meeting up with equally irritable people. I've been trying to put a more positive spin on things but I'll turn around and be met by someone else in turmoil. Is my energy attracting like energy? The good news is that Mercury goes direct tomorrow (but not Return until around June 18). That should tweak things a bit.

Haiku Friday

The dandelions
A peanut-like obsession
You can't pull just one

Mail

I got mail this week, from Sara at Locuasia. She was one of my OWOH winners back in February and I made this little piece for her:



popped it in the mail, but it never arrived. That was two months ago and it drives me nuts that original art got lost in the mail. Anyway, to make a short story really long, I wanted to send her something else even though I could never reproduce the original. We corresponded back and forth a bit and although it seems small in comparison I sent her some ribbon for her ATCs and inchies and other projects she has on the go. She, in turn, sent me some things for my mixed media - such ordinary day-to-day things perhaps but they are from another country and I find them inspiring. Some lotto tickets, bus tickets, pages from an old book, calendar pages, a few little cards that remind me a bit of some tarot and even a toy for Riley. How great is that?! I will put it all to good use.


One of the amazing things about this medium is meeting people who are kind and generous and sharing. My week seems to be full of this and I'm grateful.

Wordless, in it's own way

Sherry Lee first made me stand up and take notice of this blog. And although it's wordless wednesday over here in Montreal, I had to share this post. I apologized to Mary for laughing so hard I peed my pants, all at her expense, but I dare you to read it and not weep. Go ahead.

Wordless Wednesday

Creature Comforts

Ah, well. That was a trip and a half. So much fun and so glad to be home. Friday night I got to spend time with not only my sister and her better half but also my niece and nephew and their better halfs (halves?). Saturday we got a lovely tour of Guelph, got fully aired out on a nature trail and fed my artistic side at a few galleries. Sunday was a visit to "the farm" - what will one day be my sister's new home in the woods, deep in the heart of blackfly country. Here is a shot of Riley in what will be her pond - I think it is more swimming pool size:


You can only see a fraction of it but you get an idea from how small Riley looks in what you do see.

Monday night we got to see the Leonard Cohen Unified Heart concert at the National Arts Centre, a real treat but it meant going to bed very, very late on a day after a long train ride. And as if that wasn't fantastic enough, I got to putter around a Michael's and Wallach's art supplies store in Ottawa, picking up a few goodies of course, including a handful of Caran d'Ache neocolor IIs - hand picked colors (ones I imagine you only find in the mega set). I have bought a few on the internet but nothing compares to being able to look with the naked eye at the colors, pick them up and feel them. Ah, pure pleasure. And now we're back, the dogs have been retrieved and we are scrambling (I should say I am scrambling) to prepare for work and school tomorrow. So happy to have my slippers on, preparing to slide under my own sheets. I call these my laughing slippers because to me, that's what they look like they are doing.


Lots of blog reading to do and catching up. I'm looking forward to it.

Ooomph

So much to report today, especially since tomorrow morning we are off on our train trip to Toronto for the weekend, then to Ottawa to meet up with iMan then home Tuesday night. I will be computer-less and most likely not checking email at all until then. An electronic hiatus. Today I received this delightful package in the mail (from Carolyn at Magpie-Pixie), I knew it was coming but was still an incredible surprise and made my heart open wide. Looky, looky (wrapped in gold tissue paper and with a beautiful laced tag):

I also whipped off another tag. Last week's question (Q19) was What Gives Me Hope? Here's mine, I didn't even include a question mark this time since it meant more to me to have it a statement. I found some time this week to fiddle around in Photoshop and I found some fun and interesting tools. I started by photographing a part of one of the new scrapbooking papers I bought over the weekend, adjusted the color, "sphered" it and then distorted it to make it fit the size of the tag. The question itself was inked in different colors but wasn't prominent enough so I re-inked with black distress ink over the color. I like the effect. For the back I chose a simple pure white rice paper (with texture) to emphasize the feeling behind my answer.




See you all next week.

Sticky Fingers

I was standing in line at the pharmacy today and, like I will do, took a moment to sense out the person in line in front of me. I am trying to not sound racist with this comment so here goes. The woman was middle aged, likely Muslim with head scarf and full dress to the floor. She was buying something small with a debit card. I had a flash in my mind, wondering if her pocket money was limited, how much she might have to account for what she was buying - I admit I thought that because of the way she was dressed. As she made her way to the door, two plain clothes men came swiftly to her side, asking her if she had put anything unpaid for in her pocket. She readily admitted to having a lipstick in her pocket and a small conversation followed as to whether it was new. She was taken in the back and I guess the police were called. I was torn between feeling frightened for the woman, having to face authorities and later her husband. But then I thought, not knowing the whole story, maybe she shoplifts for other reasons. Except for a little daring period when I was around 10 or 11, I am scrupulous about conscious theft, believing that money is an energy that can easily be abused. I like having money though, and work hard for what I earn. How honest are you?

Wordless Wednesday

Surprised

I am sometimes surprised at the level of anger that surges out of me and the quickness with which it rises. Those days it seems that I have been holding, quelling, dissipating, reasoning away this emotion for so long and then the fuse just burns out. I am immediately able to check myself, rein it all in but it's always a shock to realize that all "that" was just under the surface, invisible to my soul's eye. Scary stuff.

Vanity and Lurking

Yesterday while I was semi-comatose I sat in front of the computer and fiddled. I went to my "stats counter" homepage and looked at the graphs and other details, something I had never done or even thought of doing before. Originally I had put the stats counter up just out of curiosity, to see if anyone else in the world wanted to hear what I had to say. I thought it would give me a giggle or two. But the tracking by the stats counter company is interesting, to say the least. I can see that I've had visitors from Thailand, Pakistan, Belgium, Norway and Japan, just to name some of the more obscure countries. Visitors who came, saw and left without a comment. Recently Sherry Lee gave them the moniker of lurkers. I try to leave a comment when I drop in at other blogs, even if it's just a "howdy". But when we blog, it's out there for all to see. And obviously there are a lot of visitors who feel like they can't or don't want to leave a comment. It's sad, in a way, I would love to have heard from some of those lurkers.

Times Like These

It's times like these, when I'm feeling not so up to par that it's easy to be grateful. I'm grateful we're not seriously ill, just your run of the mill colds that will likely find us up and running again by next weekend. Grateful that we had this virus manifest this weekend and not next when we have a lot of traveling and visiting to do. It's strange - the last few days when I worsened Riley improved and vise-versa. He actually slept for 2 hours on the couch yesterday - unheard of - then begged to go to bed by 6:30. He had a low grade fever which had him moaning and whimpering every hour or so. We're moving today, feeling around 60%. And I'm grateful the weather has been kind of crappy because I haven't felt like we've really missed out on any fun and I don't feel guilty for not working the garden. See, it's easy to be grateful, times like these.

Toast Soldiers

We've been up and down, again. *sigh* It's the middle of May and we're still getting viruses. And at the risk of sounding adolescent, it sucks. I've always felt that being sick is such a waste of time. But here we are, sick again. In all the wallowing and self-pity, this made me laugh. Riley hates the crusts of bread and when I made him a piece of toast, cut into fingers, he ate it all but the crusts. To help me out (as I lay moaning on the couch) he brought his plate into the kitchen when he was finished, and this is what I saw. I may feel like rat dung but he can still make me laugh. Yeah, I'm definitely going to keep him.

Sharing the Love, If Not the Bed

When Riley is sick, either a little bit or a lot, I like to put him in with me at night so I can keep an eye and a close ear on him. Last night, even though he was quite a bit better than the night before and the morning, I tucked him in my bed then went to have my own bath (with newly chosen book from my pile). This is what I saw when I came out and was ready to hit the sheets:


How does one small-for-his-age six year-old manage to occupy a queen size bed? Easily, it seems. But I love him.

Down, But Not Out

It was a weird day, jam-packed too. I brought Riley into school late this morning, chose to not set the alarm and get up when we were ready. I waited to see if he could keep a piece of toast down. Then we set off. He seemed a little wonky but wasn't feverish or vomiting, and he was running around the house with energy to burn so off to the salt mines he went. Then it was the garden centre for a few flats and pots of flowers, top soil etc., last stop the vet. The studio was calling but I took myself by the hand outside and started weeding. I can't believe how fast everything is going, it's crazy. I worked fast for about two hours and made some headway and I must admit it looks a darned site better than when I started. At the garden centre I bought a couple of my favorite morning glories - the heavenly blues - which are an incredible shade of blue, one you rarely see in flowers. Actually, they were marked heavenly blue but the photo on the tag is more purplish and not at all like the heavenly blues I know, love and covet. So I'm feeling a little sceptical and suspicious because in past years I've bought other morning glories that the seller swore up and down the flag pole were heavenly blue but they weren't.

This is what they should look like if they are the real thing (taken last year in my garden):


And a shot of one lone tulip - I don't know how it got there, probably courtesy of a squirrel but I might look for more in the fall to plant because they are quite pretty and an unusual shape:


After school we headed down to the lake with some friends and burned up a little more energy on our bikes. Heart of my heart:


And he isn't the only one who was pensive today. I had a mini-revelation, something to build my Friday haiku around. After my weeding marathon and before I met the school bus I had just enough time to sit and admire my handiwork and look over the suggested reading at the back of "Life is a Verb". I started another soul-help book, one that I have mentioned here briefly, but have had such trouble getting into it, finding it very clinical and hard to relate to. I found myself avoiding reading because once I start a book I try very hard to finish it. But I've been struggling. Looking at Patti Digh's suggested reading and how passionate she is about some of the books made me realize that life is too short to be forcing myself to get through something I just can't relate to. So I've put it aside, and feel such relief. There are so many books I do want to read and I'm not going to "stick it out" if it's just not speaking to me at all. So I've filled out the book request forms for the Used Book Circle (an internet service linked with certain second hand shops in various Canadian cities) for a few of Digh's suggestions, hoping that I might find one or two there first. And since we will be finding ourselves in both Toronto and Ottawa over the next ten days, I filled out the request forms for those cities too. What fun, new books! Or, new-to-me books! Love books!

Haiku Friday

I gave it a go
Realized it wasn't for me
Right now anyway

What is on Your To-Do List?

*e*'s question for last week was "What is on your to-do list this week?" I ended up doing this tag twice. Late this afternoon I realized I needed to re-do it as the first version had a great concept but the way I had spaced things out was horrible and un-fixable so I did it quickly the second time around. I rather like it and it is very different than any other tag I've done. Last week and this week I've had h-u-g-e- to-do lists full of appointments to make. All that annual stuff and the kind of stuff you don't rush to the phone to do because it's frustrating, time-consuming and ultimately half of it will have to be re-done which leaves me with a feeling of futility.

I did manage to get a hold of my lawn guy today and he has promised to come and mow tomorrow. It's a jungle out there! Everything is about a month ahead of itself. The tulips are almost finished, the peonies, lilies, columbines, irises, geraniums - everything has exploded. This coming weekend is our traditional planting of annuals and I have been feeling pretty overwhelmed with the amount of yard and garden work to do. I haven't even pulled my hose out yet for heaven's sake. When I had the time a couple of weeks ago I was hesitant because we still can have frosts at night.

Riley came home from school today not feeling well at all. I was told he had thrown up twice at lunch time. What I don't understand is why the school didn't call me at lunch because I would have brought him home. Tomorrow, which was to be my last day to myself until June 1, is now likely going to be an at-home day for Riley so I'll have to work around that. I'm also toying with the idea of going up to our cottage. We closed it up early October and I really should pay a visit to see if any wildlife moved in over the winter and that before the black flies make their appearance and make the whole next month unlivable there. Last year it was squirrels, the year before was mice and termites. I just don't know if I can face it though. There is just so darn much to do here in the city. And we have a five-day trip coming up at the end of next week which always calls for more preparation. Did I mention that this coming Tuesday is also a ped day? Juggle, juggle, juggle - can you see all my balls in the air?!

And speaking of *e*, this week she has listed the seven rules of the toddler and although Riley is well past that stage it made me laugh out loud. So true, so funny, I invite you to go and have a look

Blessed

The Universe is raining buckets of gold down on me lately. It appears that yesterday I won Carolyn's giveaway and that this lovely is on it's way to me:

Thank you, Carolyn. I am looking forward to it. I'm speechless.