Chilly morn..

Well we've had some pretty chilly mornings here in Sooke and although its a bit shocking when I step outside for the morning walk, it is such a blessed relief from all that rain. The moon has been full too, which makes everything that much crisp and clear...I can walk out to the henhouse at 6 a.m without the need for a flashlight and see all the shadows from the moonshine, still high in the sky...

I am crazy for frost...the way it puts a sugar coating on things is magical and it seems can transform the ugly duckling into the swan...

The van windows become works of art after a cold night...

We haven't had snow yet this season, but hopefully we will get a little for a short time...here on the coast it is a bit of a novelty when it snows...I grew up in Toronto, so snow and winter just go together although I don't enjoy driving in it, I love to crunch through the woods when the first snow comes...part of the magic of these cold, dark days...

simple things

This is a tiny little bowl made in Scotland. It measures about 5 cm across. It holds a few little acorn caps and sits on my windowsill. It is old and smooth and I love it for these few reasons...there is a beauty in such things...

When I first started this blog, I thought it would be used as a journal and to publish the many pictures I take...after all, why let them sit in a dusty corner of my folders on my pc. It wasn't intended to make me famous or to sell my artwork or even for others to read but just as notes to myself to record the simple things in life that make it all beautiful. I walk my dog every morning, rain, snow or shine and this is the time of day in which I can reflect on things around me...The first soft light on the tops of the trees...frost sparkling on the edges of leaves...blackbird songs in early spring...I am not solving world peace or inventing the next miracle cure but the tiny things in my life are great to me and I feel they deserve to be obsevered.
Maybe someday a great grandchild will wonder what I was like and will find these notes as an insght to what interested me, what provoked my  thoughts and how I saw this world....Now that I have been blogging and peaking into others blogs, I find it is the simple ones about daily life which I enjoy and how people live and learn...how they observe the bits and pieces which gather their lives together...what touches their hearts and minds. For when we all know a little about one another the world becomes a smaller, more intimate place.

out and about..

Out in the garden for a look on a rare sunny day...it's been raining for something like 23 days in a row so when that big yellow orb appeared, I thought I would see whats up in the dying days of late fall...

 

Then up to the barnyard and time to let the chickens out...

Ready...Set....

GO!

The chicks have, it seems, all of a sudden gone from this...

...and this...

...to grown chickens out and about on their own....brave new world...

bath season!

Here on our little patch of the earth our water comes from a well. This means that during the dry months, usually end of June through to October, we have to be careful with our water consumption...sometimes it can be a bit trying but it also makes you much more aware of the  precious value of water. It can really make you think when, on a hot, dry August day and you go into town (where water is easily obtained) and there's some guy power washing his asphalt driveway! I want to scream or run out with a bucket to gather up all that's being washed away and use it for my carrot patch...I think of places of drought where people walk for miles to get a load of water for the day, EVERY DAY and I am once again in awe of the struggles others face while we are"water rich" , even in my neck of the woods. BUT....come winter with the deluge of rain it is once again BATH SEASON! I always have something to read in there and Tom bought me a lovely book caddy for the tub one birthday...speaking of books...I just finished this one...

Such a great story set on the east coast of Canada in the early 1900's

And I just started this one of a womans search for the truth behind the mutiny on the "Bounty". So the bath is full and I am happy and have written my ...     

'Ode to a tub'

A long day

A hard day

A cold, wet day.

A dark day

Of chopping wood

Or cleaning out the barn.

The candles are lit

The taps are open

The bubbles rise and foam

A good book

A glass of wine

Soft music down the hall.

It is only a large container

But a vessel if you will;

Which holds my aching body

And soothes a busy mind.

It brings me peace and solitude

And sails away the time.

Oh my tub, my lovely tub

You keep me sane and warm

I'll take the wrinkled fingertips

And praise your white walled love

While the moon peaks through the window pane

In the winter sky above.

Travellin' felter...

I was in the Sally Ann the other day and found this sweet little, vintage sewing box.

I looked at it a few times and then I thought...that would be perfect for portable needle felting!..

I do use a big vintage suitcase for most of my roving....

...but this one would be great for overnighters and long road trips. It is about 8 X 8 square and fits just enough stuff to keep me going on a project. Tom and I went to Vancouver for a few days to see a concert and I had this idea for my next sculpture running around in my head and REALLY wanted to get going on it...With ferry lineups and the hour and a half trip across, I had time to work on Mr Finn O'Malley...

Oh look! There he is!

Rain and Light...

Its raining, its pouring....seems to be the theme all over the place at the moment...I watch in awe as I see what havoc water can play...but in some ways I love this weather, cozied up in the studio and filled with ideas, finishing projects which sat in my head all summer...

I finally finished up a long anticipated sculpture of the Bremen town musicians and was able to have a few minutes of dry weather to take some photos for my etsy shop...It was great fun to watch the characters come to life and to revisit the Brothers Grimm fable...sometimes things pop into my head from long ago and give me that surprised, giggly feeling to bring it back to the present...
So today it became very dark in the midst of day and I took my camera for a brief walk around the house to capture a bit of light...

It is no wonder that we celebrate with candles and lights at this time of year for it's when we most need it...keep your fingers and minds busy...create, reflect, keep warm and dry...

Remembrance...

I wrote this last year  and thought I would re post it since I still find the words to hold true.
Remember, on this day, those who made the sacrifices for our freedom.

I have never known war in my life.
I have only been witness to it through the news and stories told in books and movies.
Some of my relatives fought in wars, but I never knew them and only saw pictures of them as young soldiers in uniforms.
I am in great turmoil to hear that the most popular game gift this season is a bloody, violent interactive video complete with assaults on innocent civilians.
I am disturbed to know that people play the game of paintball as a recreational activity.

When I think of November 11th I am filled with thoughts like these:

I am not the young lad who watched his comrade fall and join the ranks of lifeless bodies on the muddy field.

I am not the naked, young girl running down the road, burned by a bomb.

I am not the face in the black and white photo in the museum for the Killing Fields.

Nor am I the veiled housewife who is killed by a roadside bomb after buying oranges in the market mid day.

I was not shot trying to jump over a wall that divided a nation.

My race did not land me in a box car headed to Auschwitz.

Alcohol and heroin, I don't need, to exercise my demons in the middle of the night.

I do not walk with a cane or artificial limbs and neither is a wheelchair my only transport.

My religion did not create a Peace Line in my neighborhood.

I was not the one who marched in the rain and slept in the filth for weeks on end.

Or looked into the eyes of my neighbor as I fired the rifle on the battlefields of North Carolina.

I was never treated like an animal because of the tone of my skin.
I am not the old man, standing with the last of his comrades, remembering friends lost.

I am a Canadian. I am 47 and have only known peace and freedom.

I have choices.

I honor those who died or suffered trying to make changes in their world and mine.

I have never known war and hope I never will.