{Virtual Coffee}

Hello April and hello Tuesday! If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you to leave your boots at the door because they are making puddles already. I don't mind a couple of rainy days because we just had the longest string of sunny (albeit) cold days and the rain will melt what is left of the snow. I also like the way it greens up everything at this time of year.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that spring must be here because The Eyesore came out and installed itself on our back deck again. Groan. I love to sit in it but I hate how it looks and how much of the actual deck this thing takes up. I had petitioned for it to go on the grass this year but, since I wasn't the one who assembled it, it ended up back on the deck.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would show you the first crocus I saw on Sunday

and tell you that I hung my first piece of laundry on the clothesline this year.

I would mention the mourning dove we saw in our feeder. I have seen these sitting on power lines and hear them often enough but I have never had one this close to me.

And while I was on the subject of birds, I wouldn't fail to mention the Mr. and Mrs. down by the water.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that I often read about other people finding heart shapes in things like rocks and leaves and even a calf's forehead, but it takes my kind of karma to find a heart shape in bird excrement. Is it a message from the Universe to find love everywhere I look?

If we were meeting for coffee today I would ask you why you think someone needs to put a padlock on a tree. Has there been a rash of tree thefts that I am unaware of?

I would end our little tete-a-tete with a big lemon for the principal at Riley's school who just cancelled his teacher's reading program which had parents in the class first thing EVERY morning to sit and read one-on-one with the students. My day used to be Tuesday and I would spend an hour to an hour and a half there. I got to see the class dynamic and the kids got the kind of attention that is rare in a classroom. I have seen their reading skills take leaps and bounds with this simple act. But you don't want to get me started so I'll give her a little Parsel-tongue and be done with it.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would say let's go over to Amy's Lucky Number 13 to eat the rest of Eric's oatmeal butterscotch cookies and leave crumbs on the carpet!

Friday Haiku

It's first of the month

were you an April fool? Or -

ha! fool someone else?

Carefully planned pranks.

Here we do "poisson d'avril",

French for "April Fish",

which, to me, doesn't

have the same impact although

it is much safer.

Pet Peeve of the Week

Blog: So, Thursday, tell about your pet peeve.

Me: This started off much, much earlier this week and I'm glad I've had some time to cool and calm down a little. I am torn between trying to feel somewhat flattered and thinking that every line that will ever be drawn has already been drawn, every brush stroke that will ever be made has already been made. We are inspired by other people's art all the time. At least I am. And I am sometimes inspired to incorporate a little of it here and there. Like a colour or a shape or a theme.

Recently, working with a group of other artists, I shared one of my paintings. It wasn't a great painting but it was a deeply personal one. It spoke of an event that has had a part in making me who I am right now. A few days after sharing this painting, a group member shared one of her own which, as I saw it, was pretty much a duplicate of mine. The composition, the colours, most of the details. It was missing two small details and she qualified it with her own story behind it (very different from my story). At first I couldn't believe my eyes. It looked like my painting, re-painted by someone else. With some time to digest it, I realized what I really felt was violated. That someone took my story, and turned it into her story. Of course all of this went on in my head and not in reality. And naturally this other artist is not benefitting monetarily from the image. Still, deep in my heart, it feels like a robbery. It's childish, and I'm trying to not beat myself up for not being a better person about it. I have been working hard on non-attachment, who knew I would be so challenged to work on non-attachment to what is inside me at the same time? So, is it "stolen art" as I earlier wrote, or "stolen me"?

Wordless Wednesday

{Virtual Coffee}

Hello Tuesday, hello fellow caffeine addicts. If we were meeting for coffee today I would say that I'm drinking some home brew this morning because I have been buying waaaaaaaaay too many Starbucks mochas lately. And I'm sure there is something addictive in them. If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you there is a war going on outside my window between this

and this

and despite the still frigid temperatures, I think the latter is winning. My plants are flipping winter the bird and coming up anyway. They are pushing through still frozen tundra, pushing aside piles of snow and saying, in their own very green and colorful ways, that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!! Gotta love nature when it gets its back up.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would show you my prince, who I neglected to put away before our first serious snowfall. He is a little battered and bruised and I may have to replace him - anyone out there have a line on where I can find another frog prince? Every girl should have a frog prince in her garden.

And while we were talking about bruised and battered, I would tell you about some of the craziest things we do for our kids.

Riley had been yammering at me for the longest time to get his bike out and he wore me down. I promised him that this past Sunday would be The Day. Sunday was sunny but minus 7 on the thermometer. Let's not talk about the wind or the fact that the temperature is about five degrees colder and it is always much, much windier down on the bike path that runs along the water, the same bike path we usually go on since it is a block from our house. I try to not break the promises I make to my boy so there I was, wrestling the bikes out of the garage, pumping up the tires, going inside every now and then to warm up my hands because it was hard to test the tires when I couldn't even feel my fingers. If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that even my never-give-up-boy gave up after about 10 minutes of riding (and that was with the wind at our backs) and after one mud wipe-out and one much more serious ice wipe-out. We headed off the water front and pedalled home into the wind but at least off the water. An astonishing 30 minutes later we made it back, feeling beaten down, bruised and muddied. But the forging ahead in our garden was inspirational and I figured if those tiny little bulbs and roots could do it, then so can I.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that these two puppies are growing at an alarming rate. Almost as fast as my snowdrops and crocuses

and then I would show you some art I was able to share on the weekend. I was asked to personalize some of my intention cookies for a small birthday celebration and I got to package them up and line them up in a row.

I love sharing my art but if we were meeting for coffee today I would also say that I don't like it being stolen, which is a subject for later this week. You might get all kinds of curious and I would distract you and say let's go over to Amy's Lucky Number 13 because she's been playing with the Boss' iPhone and will probably want to take our pictures.

What I've Learned, Week 22

I started this card a while ago, then I got distracted with some other work. The front was pretty clear to me when I envisioned it and it came out pretty much how I wanted it to. The back I did over a few times before I was really happy "enough" with it. Time to let it go! Front is collage, paint, distress inks, pencil, marker, stamps (phew!) the back is an image transfer (Lis inspired me when her own came out so well here), with more delicious distress inks and marker.

Pet Peeve of the Week

I've got a good one this week. I wasn't sure I was going to, but it kind of got under my skin yesterday. I'm addressing this to The Splashers out there, you know who you are. I understand your reasons for not sitting down on the seat, and why you choose to perch precariously while holding your clothes out of the line of fire. But my goodness what a mess you leave behind! Would you please, please swipe a bit of paper for the ones who come after you? Because frankly, it's disgusting. Don't get me started on the non-hand washers.

Now that I've got that off my chest I can tell you about the crow-fest we have every morning around 6:30. How many make a murder?

I don't know but I do know that these porkers can sit on a twig and not even bend it. That amazes me, it seems to defy physics. With so darned many in my yard, I had to see what Ted Andrews has to say about the crow's presence in my life. "Unexpected help with problems and obstacles is at hand to bring relief. Your magic is calling and it will be answered". That makes me liken them to Ganesha but somehow I can't see an elephant sitting on a tree top with the same finesse.

Wordless Wednesday

{Virtual Coffee}

If we were meeting for coffee today I would say, "pull up a chair" 'cause I have lots of visuals for you today.

I would first cry a little about the obscene snow fall last night around dinner time.

My lonely trash bins on the curb since last Friday when the city neglected to pick them up.

And the doily-like evergreen I see from my bedroom window.

It certainly didn't stop the Mister

and Mrs.

from stopping by for dinner. She's got some great hair going on... But really. Enough is enough for the 21st of March, n'est pas?

If we were meeting for coffee today I would bring out the green. Oh the green we saw on Sunday when Riley and I marched in our St. Patrick's Day parade! We were there with the scouts and it was the first time I got such a look at my city. It almost made me fall in love with it for the first time. Almost. Notice all the people in parkas? Not much green to see here unless you own a green coat.

Riley got to carry one of the flags which, let me tell you, was no small feat.

This was my favorite shirt, even though it wasn't even close to any shade of green I know.

But there was plenty of green everywhere else. Like the horse with a dandy necktie, eating its oats which would go quickly through his system, leaving little things to dodge as we walked the green stripe down the road. Maybe they should have put another bucket on his other end.

And the walking shamrock

How about the world's Largest Leprechaun?

There was green hair

and green hats

some jammin' bagpipes

and even a green greyhound

right down to its toenails. Oh the lengths some people go to!

If we were meeting for coffee today I would ask you if I am the only one who thinks that putting a mini-bus for a local funeral parlour in the parade is a little, um...morbid?

If we were meeting for coffee today you would want to finish your cuppa and muffin before I tell you that last week, on one of the days Riley was off school with The Pox, we dropped in on a home school seminar. And in case you would tsk tsk me about exposing other kids to The Pox, I would say these guys were gagging for it, so anxious are the parents to have their kiddies get The Pox while they are young. Now you have finished your muffin, I would tell you that Riley got to hold a cow's brain after a presentation on how the brain works by a couple of University students. Can I say, "cowabunga dude"?!

If we were meeting for coffee I would let you tell me about your week since I've pretty much monopolized the conversation so far and then we would head over to Amy's because we are just in that kind of a mood today.

Artists for Japan

If you have the inkling that you want to do a little something, then I would encourage you to have a look. Here's the link.

Deviation

I am deviating from my regular Friday Haiku because I really didn't think I could sculpt one out of this segment. I am reading about how many of my blogging friends are in full spring mode. Today (being a pedagogical day, like any self-respecting Friday is with our school board), Riley and I paid a visit to our local ice cream parlour - Wild Willy's. Oh, Wild Willy's has now opened for another season and we were one of the first customers!

Since they didn't yet have their lemon granita, Riley settled for plasticine-play doh

while I had my traditional Moocaccino.

We have that je ne sais quoi, eating ice cream in our winter outerwear.

We left a rock behind, something we hadn't done in quite some time.

On the way home I stopped to take some photos of what are considered to be "optional" stop signs. I can't tell you how many near-misses I've had on these corners, how many times I've been yelled at, cussed, flipped the bird and so on. Today I wanted to take photos just to be sure the stop signs are actually there, in my mind, if they turned up in the photo, they are concrete. Riley kept reassuring me that he saw them too but I'm still having my doubts even though I can see them here (lurking behind a big pile of ice)

and here (yup, it's trash day)

and here.

To everyone else they are invisible.