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...a glimpse into life on Vancouver Island, needle felting, photography, food, gardening, etcetera...etcetera
"Happiness always looks small when you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and at once you learn how big and precious it is."
Maxim Gorky

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Just too busy!

I've just realized that it's been a week since my last post!
Having my nieces here, going hither and yon, cooking,
working and plain having fun, I really wonder how women do it?
How did I do it years ago AND work full time?!
So I'm taking a minute to take another breath and post a few
photos from our trip to the Butterfly Gardens...
Hats and hearts alike.
Camo...
Delicate, deadly, Datura...
 One curious and gentle parrot.
Alien larva.
Leopard pitcher plants.
Floating art.
Flaming floral art.
 Asleep in pink pajamas.
Blue loving the bananas.
 Slowing down the teenagers.
...and so the adventure continues. 






Friday, July 19, 2013

Song for Friday...go!

A few weeks back I posted a song by Danny Michel.
We had the amazing opportunity to see him on Tuesday night at a
small intimate club on a warm summer night.
I think his was one of the best shows I've ever seen!
His 9 piece band from Belize, complete with
turtle shell and shark jaw bone percussion, were in
the real sense of the word, AWESOME!
We danced all night and chatted with the band and
had such a great night.
If you ever get the chance to see him...GO.
You will not be disappointed.
I leave you with another of his songs.
Have a fantastic weekend all!
 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Revisiting...

I've been living out one of my childhood fantasies.
A few days ago while I was thrift store hunting with my nieces we
found a beautiful, wood dollhouse for $30!
Since Stephanie's birthday is coming up I told her I would get
it for her and if you could bottle the joy in her eyes
and sell it, I'd be a millionaire today!
It came with all kinds of wood furniture so we have been busy
fixing the place up.
Making tiny cushions for the living room...
 Tiny mattresses, quilts and pillows for the bed and tiny
wool rugs from an old scarf for the floors...
We've been inspired by a book a friend lent me about
Tasha Tudors dollhouse (see what you've done Liz?!)
Sewing tiny curtains...
...complete with tiny curtain rods...
 You can really get carried away with this whole business!
 Now when we go to the thrift stores and dollar stores we
keep our eyes out for something special.
We found these tiny jars for the kitchen and filled them with dry goods
 These tiny frames from the thrift store make great tiny masterpieces
with cut out pictures from magazines...
 Pretty tiny laundry baskets...
 And in between Griff gets a little love...
 That's one happy girl!


Sunday, July 14, 2013

Where does it go?!

Time, time time...never enough of it!
Between getting ready for the Sooke Fine Arst show, the garden, my neices visiting,
and work, it's hard to find little snippets to sit and write.
One of the fun things these days is that I have a new camera!
I've been wanting to get one for a while now and just couldn't pass
up the half price sale at London Drugs...oh the dangers of compulsive shopping!!
Anyway it's going to take me a while to figure out all of the bells and whistles
but so far I'm pretty happy. It's an Olympus EP3 which has interchangeble lenses
and it's quite compact for this type of camera.
There's a lot of different art filters built in so
I'll leave you with some of my experiments and bid you adieu
until next time!
 soft focus
 grainy film
 diorama
 playing with aperature
 pin hole
 cross process
 soft focus
 pinhole
 portrait
pinhole
pinhole
(gee, do ya think pinhole is my favorite?!)


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Shhh...

Out beyond the village,
Something rustles in the grass...
In the dry heat he rests...
 Nothing so pure as the heart of a lion...
 Top of the hill...
 King of the castle...
 Worthy of his namesake...
 Say hello to Nelson...be brave...be quiet though.
(off to purr at the Fine Arts Show July 26th to August 1st Sooke, B.C)


Sunday, July 7, 2013

Inside a wee world...

Last year I stuck this little blue birdhouse up on the pole by my studio...
It was just to get it out of the way until I decided where to put it permanently.
Then one day I heard the familiar buzz calls of a pair of Bewicks wrens as
I sat on the porch having tea.
I noticed them hopping around on and around the pole by the box...
They checked out the swallows nest box, which was preoccupied with tenants...
Then they started to move into the little blue box...
 ...bit...
 by
bit.
They kept very busy here for a good half and hour...
Naturally I assumed they were making a little home in there but for some reason
they decided on the box in my garden.
After a windy night, I was once again on the porch having tea one morning when I looked
and noticed the box was gone.
After further investigation I found it on the ground under the pole.
Me being me, I had to see if there was anything inside...
 No life or eggs in there ...
So I took the top off and peered into this other world of birds...
This wasn't the most tidy nest...
String from hay bales, bits of plastic and thread and grass.
Maybe this hornets start on a nest scared the wrens away...
Tiny bits of down feathers maybe from the year before...
And in amongst it all were bits of Griffin's fur...
We're always combing him out so there's ample nest material all over the place.
How sweet to see these recycled bits of our life around here.
I'll secure the box better this time and clean it out
and maybe next year they'll move in more permanently.