Probably got too much sun today...

I really do adore having a 100yr old house that creaks and groans. I’ve been out all day and just now the sun-warmed house is cooling down and popping and snapping its old bones and I have to tell it it’s loved just the perfectly imperfect way it is.I stole gathered some hellebores from my mother’s garden and put them in a vase with some other little garden snippets and the evening sun lit them up so beautifully that I spent a happy few minutes photographing them. (I would have taken more time but I lost the light.)Then I put my cheery little arrangement in the living room and the house creaked its appreciation rather loudly.I’m looking at some of the photos and loosing myself in the beauty of the blossoms. These hellebores absolutely have to be painted immediately...well, maybe tomorrow. It’s evening and Morgan has missed me. She’s terrifically determined to replace the lap top on my lap. I’m stroking her soft fur and wondering how I might be able to spend the rest of my life happily photographing and drawing flowers.

Chasing the sucker hole

The weather men in the Pacific Northwest have a term for patches of blue sky: sucker hole; as in Mother Nature shows you a bit of sapphire blue, grants you a few minutes of sunshine and then storms up again just as you want to believe the weather has turned.Chloe and I have been saying, “we really should get out for more walks, more hikes.” And so, while the mountains were shrouded in a wet, white veil, we headed out to chase a large sucker hole we hoped would last for an hour or so.The best place for a walk seemed to be Deer Lake Park and we were there in ten minutes. The park has good gravel paths and board walks thru the swampy bits. We took the trail around the lake.Over head...oh my...the sky was so blue. We haven’t seen a blue like this for months.There was a strong wind driving the clouds into the mountains and our sucker hole lasted and lasted.Spring was everywhere at Deer Lake. Paired off ducks and geese, bird song, soft pussy willows, aspens in full catkins, wild bleeding hearts and lilies greening all over the forest floor and swarms of gnats dancing in the middle of the pathways.We had a lovely long walk and then back to the rain.

Postcard party...oh the choices!

There is a lovely lady named Vee who hosts a once/month postcard party and has kindly invited me to join in the fun.To play one must find four images already on one’s blog and present them as possible postcards.I’m doing this Wednesday morning and so have chosen morning images.Maybe I should have some printed thru Moo Cards. Maybe we all should! Post crossings with people we know would be so much more fun than with people we don’t know, don’t you think?

Tea cup Tuesday, we only have time for breakfast. Some days are like that.

We’ve come to really love tea cup Tuesdays but Chloe’s on campus all day today so the only chance to have tea with my sweet child was at breakfast.It started off as a lovely sunny morning and, since both our bedrooms face east, we decided to have breakfast in my bedroom and catch the morning sun.I draped an old cashmere shawl on the little table as a table cloth and that gave us an orange and burgundy theme.I have a few pieces of this orange transfer ware? (not sure) china. The mark is a bunch of numbers and letters and one word, “mattese”,and one spectacularly orange Aynsley cup.I made our breakfast favorite, Earl Gray tea, soft boiled eggs, toast and a large bowl of fresh fruit.Morgan, figuring she’s one of the girls, decided to get in on breakfast.I think that, especially living in Vancouver for part of the year, it’s a good idea to chase the sun around the house and take advantage of every little ray.This was such a good idea.One last sip of tea......and off we go. Do you think Morgan will do the dishes? Yeah, me neither.Happily linking up with Terri of Artful Affirmations to admire her birthday tea cup prezzy, and to Martha, and sending Martha lots of love and strength. I’m still thinking about you and I care. And Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage.

Finally, a chance to get out in the garden

I just realised that I’ve been working in the garden for a couple of hours this afternoon and I’m actually showing you photos of my “Potting Bench”.Oh well, I did work in the garden for a couple of hours but there’s not a lot to show for it. The garden really swallows up the work...don't you think so?So here is the the west wall of my garage. In it is a large and lovely window. I love the selection of windows at https://www.ezwindowsolutions.com/canton/. Perfect for starting seeds. On the wall hangs my late aunt’s oil of irises; a flower that I love to pieces. (Before anyone starts yelling about beautiful oil paintings hanging in the garage, remember that there are so many artists in this family that...yes...big oils are hanging in the garage, and it gives me my beautiful space that I crave.)(Related: Visit https://www.shuttercraft.co.uk/guides/what-are-plantation-shutters/ if you need information regarding windows and shutters for your house)Beside it is a green chalk board rescued years ago when Shaughnessy Hospital was rebuilt. On it is a chalk map of last year’s garden.I love the old letterpress drawer for sorting seeds. It used to hang in C’s room and held tiny fairytale glass things but then she grew up. :(This zinc tub was a thrift store find, (probably $5 or less...I’m a cheap date), and I just empty the seed starter mix into it, and a wire basket holds new tubers and bulbs.Right, time to get working. The cold frame is in place and the soil warmed, the sweet peas were started yesterday, (St. Patrick’s Day ritual), and now to plant the peas, beans, greens and the Nigella seeds I stole rescued from the gardener's compost pile at Kew last year.

I think I jinxed the weather!

It’s such a beautiful Sunday that I put off all my work plus put off writing the Sunday whirl and C and I decided on a little Sunday Sbux experience.We chose an Sbux in Horseshoe Bay, West Van, got our treats and went to sit down at the shore and watch the ferries.It didn’t take long before we, (actually our very berry coffee cake slice), was noticed by a crow.We threw him a crumb and suddenly there was an attempted murder.Then, someone couldn’t keep his mouth shut and a big seagull landed in front of us and looked longingly at the cake with his beady eye.The crows, not to be outdone by the glorious snowy whiteness of the gull, showed off their cleverness by forming a five of spades thereby earning more cake.At this point the seagull decided to shout all sorts of colourful bird expletives at the crows, (I think he may have given them the middle wing feather too), and so we left.We drove around the corner from Horseshoe Bay to Whytecliff Park and had a good beach comb.We did the only sensible thing on a lovely Sunday like today.We took lots of photos and enjoyed the sunshine to the max.

Oh, what was that bright light in the sky?

Morgan had to jump on the window sill to have a better look.I think it might be the sun!So good for our damp little hearts.Better run outside and plant the rest of the flowers in the garden before the rain comes again.Clover? There’s no moving C right now. She just got an early birthday prezzy from her grandmother. (C’s birthday is April 9th but her old pc was misbehaving)I once read a Ray Bradbury short story set on Venus where it rained all the time. (I’m sure the he lived in Vancouver when he wrote it) Once every several yrs the sun came out for a brief time. One school girl boasted about seeing the sun and how wonderful it was but the other school children didn’t believe her and locked her in a closet. Then ran outside for recess. That was the day the sun came out and all the children laughed and played in the sunshine until one felt a drop of rain and the clouds moved in and it began to pour. They then thought of the little girl locked in the closet who missed that glorious time, they walked to the closet and silently let her out.C is being the girl in a self-imposed closet right now. But it’s alright.And in the time it took me to photograph this and write this post...maybe 30 minutes...it's clouded over and now it's raining.

On headaches and owls and violets

Don’t remind me that I sometimes say that I find the rain in Vancouver romantic in that Blade Runner sort of way. I’m so not feeling that right now.I can’t remember when I last saw the sun. (I think there may have been a day last week.)Walking and the weather have been gloomy and I’ve spent most of my time working inside.The good thing about rainy weather is I feel like getting some art work done and that’s very good for me. Also days like this have a drop in barometric pressure and that sometimes means a headache settles in and last a few days and actually I find it impossible to concentrate on anything but art.The other day I brought home some salmonberry branches and found some violets in the garden. I sketched them on some music paper.I get into moods of wanting to sketch or paint and then I start to look for some creative ways to express the art work. Lately I’ve been completely in love with some old music sheets. Some of the paper is very old and has been held together with scotch tape which has long ago lost its grip and has left beautiful golden marks on the paper.For any purists out there who want to preach acid free and archival quality at me, I know. I’m not so interested in having a sketch or painting last the centuries as I am in saving or at least extending the life of ephemeral objects, like this music paper; of breathing new life and new beauty into it and of composing a symphony of sorts using the tools which I know how to use.Over the last couple of weeks I’ve sketched a dozen small flowers in watercolour, pencil, ink and chalk on different sized sheets of the music paper and mostly sent them out to friends. Today I was looking thru my photographs from West Cottage at Christmas and I remembered the barn owl who lives there.Today I sketched him swooping down from his barn in chalk, charcoal, ink and silver. I think I’ll carry on.

Long day. Do you ever have the feeling that it’s so nice to be home?

Is it just me or does it seem like there’s nothing daylight savings about daylight savings time?Where is the daylight then?These Vancouver winters really hit me in my wet little heart right about mid-March with incessant rain and gloom and rain and make me long for Mexico or Spain or anywhere warm and dry for 24 hours together.Today I’ve been all over town, all day, in the rain. Finally got home exhausted, with two feet of frizzy hair and wet shoes and turned the heat on.I stood at the kitchen sink and waited for the large pot to fill up with water and looked at the English ivy. I noticed some water under the sink. I guess I will need to contact Marines Plumbing to get some help. You can navigate here if you need contact info of this plumbing contractor as I call them every time something goes wrong with plumbing system.I swear it’s trying to take over the world. There must be something about the humidity or the warmth or the big kitchen window that this ivy just loves, or maybe it’s some spring fever ivy thing, because it’s growing like crazy, almost right before my eyes.There’s something about ivy in the house that I love, and it’s one of those “plants that will not die” which tend to be planted in the garden after they’ve outlived their interior usefulness or outgrown their pot. (Others just get composted, I know, I’m ruthless. It’s a make it or get composted kind of world.)This ivy wants to grow into the sink. I suppose it has a good look at the surroundings and thinks, “hey, a big farm sink, loads of room to spread out there!” But it keeps getting its little tendrils singed.Tomorrow there is still a forecast for heavy rain, but tomorrow will be an easier day because I’ll be working from home. From my snug little studio.Oh, and just realised there’s still half of the yummy Irish soda bread (with currents) left for breakfast. I’m starting to warm up already.Hope your day was warmer and drier than mine, my little wet hearts. :)

Tea and books for two, for tea cup Tuesday

Living on the side of the mountain I can be very sure of two things in my neighbourhood: one= a good amount of rain and two= the best little used book store in the Lower Mainland.The store is Booklovers and as a matter of fact, yes, we are! My friend Dalyce, the owner, always puts aside beautiful books for me.This afternoon Chloe and I had tea in my bright yellow cups because apparently it is the closest we are going to get to sunshine for the rest of the week.I know we were only two for tea but I have three sunshine cups and couldn’t resist taking all three out for tea. They are clockwise from bottom left: Aynsley (don't you love the roses in the bowl?), Royal Grafton, and Royal Albert.A repurposed 1930's enameled and glass ashtray will hold the tea strainer.The books I bought today included this exquisite 1898 copy of Stoddard’s lectures of Florence, Naples and Rome with the most beautiful marbled paper and leather cover and Yeats Autobiographies: Reveries Over Childhood and Youth and the Trembling of the Veil, 1926.The tea I made is a blossom tea simply called “Nice Flower & Shining Moon” and was a gift from a friend. I put the little, round marble of tea into my glass tea pot and watched it magically transform into this lovely blossom.It tasted fragrant and green, fresh and mild. C chose the Aynsley cup.I served some handmade Italian nougat to go with our tea and C picked up The Rambler Nature Book, 1911.My cup was the Grafton one and I started reading my 1915 edition of Kipling’s Jungle book.We had a lovely hour or so having our tea in the dining room listening to the rain and drizzle outside, and then we got back to work.Happily linking up with Terri of Artful Affirmations to whom I'm wishing a happy, happy, Happiest birthday, and later to Martha, and sending Martha lots of love and strength. Hope you're managing to keep your Dunkirk spirit in the face of difficult times. I'm thinking about you and I care. And Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage. Sandi, I hope you set yourself the loveliest St. Patrick's day table this year too. :)