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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, February 19, 2015

rewind...

...a little look back at some windows and doorways of Paris and southern parts of France...
 Paris
 Burgundy
 Dijon
 Burgundy
 Marseille
 Marseille
Montmarte, Paris
 Champs Élysées, Paris
 Paris
 Aix-en- Provence
 Cezanne's house, Aix-en- Provence
 Chateauneuf de Pape
 Aix-en- Provence
 Aix-en- Provence
 Dijon
 Marseille
 Dijon
 Paris
 Notre Dame
 Paris
 Paris
 Cezanne's house, Aix-en- Provence
 Basillica, Marseille
 Marseille
 Paris
Paris

29 more reasons why I love France.

Monday, February 16, 2015

New beginnings...

Well hello there!
Lets see...last time I was here I was heading off to Paris...
...yes, there I was in all my touristy glory, loving the sights, the sounds, the aromas of Paris!
 I'll share more of my adventures in the days ahead...
But for now I will fill you in on a few things going on in my life since last summer...
First things first is that I've been working hard at creating as always and in particular my needle 
felting.  Which brings me to my next point in that I have also been working
hard designing my own website in order to take things to the 'next level' as they say.
Her's a little taste of some of the sculptures I've already listed...
'Christopher Robin'
'Frans'
'Darla'
'Josie'
'Hans'...the back of his head anyway
'Jack'
'Edith' the long legged hen.

So it's one of the challenges I've set myself to.
To get myself out there...work on the 'business' side of art.
Sitting and working on my Mac for long amounts of time
is something I need to discipline myself to do but
to be honest it's been an insightful and rewarding experience.
I have also learned to appreciate those who do website design for a living.
I now know why they get paid 'the big bucks' for such effort and expertise!
And hopefully work on my blog a wee bit more.
Maybe not as much as I used to but try to keep in the loop.
So hello once again...I look forward to visiting you all on your travels as well.

Here's the link to my new site
...and a little sneak peek....


Sunday, June 8, 2014

Eat your heart out Monet...

I've stepped away from blog land a bit but really I'm not far away.
In fact, I'm just down the road...
I felt a need to share some of these photos with you on such a glorious summer day...
...this little slice of land with the obviously, long ago pruned fir trees,
was once home to several men.
The first being a man named Erik Sellers St Claire who owned this property since 1948
and called his paradise 'La Beaumelle'.
His wish was that after his partner William Simmons and long time friend and resident
Bren died, the land be donated as parkland.
It has been named after his long time companion William Simmons as
Erik wanted it to be.
The houses and pool, long since gone now, but we are so graciously left with
one of Erik's legacies...pink water lilies!
Years ago there was a dock for swimming but it has rotted away leaving
weathered wood, slowly sinking into the lake...
...this was my perilous bridge for picture taking!
To think that one person has left so much beauty in this world gives me faith in humanity...
 ...slowly naturalizing with white and yellow lilies on the other side of the old dock..
 ...a breathless moment everywhere you look...
 Thank you Erik, William and Bren for committing this random act of conservation...