There's that lovely sunshine

Yesterday late afternoon I looked thru to the living room, grabbed my camera and took this shot:Yup, it's the sun making an appearance for the last five minutes just before setting...typical!But then, this morning the sun is still here! So I grabbed my camera and went to have a look at the small magic in the front garden:Karen, you've got your wish! :DHope it's a lovely day for everyone.

Home on a rainy day

It's one of those rainy Tuesdays after a long weekend with a rather sombre Monday, when we both feel like Morgan.Still, time to get to work. I have a lot of painting to do and C has her first formal project management round table discussion in her business administration class. (We've been having a formal-casual fashion show all morning. C's more the skater girl than the business administration girl) Still, the outfit is getting pulled together.Time for tea.I bought this well loved and slightly rubbed down tea pot. Would you call it lusterware? I think so but am not sure. The only identifying mark are four gold numbers 1676 on the bottom. I also love the unexpected little raised orange spots along the top part of the decoration. Whatever it is, it was just sitting there, filthy with old tea and priced at about $5 so I had to rescue it and give it a new home.I love the way it looks so beautifully with my grandmother's old tea cups. She brought these cups from the former Czechoslovakia. On the bottom is one of those old Czech marks making them Josef Kuba cups. I wonder if Grandmother had them from her wedding or something. Oh the things I never asked her about.Each time I bring these cups down from the cupboard we remember babi (Czech for grandma).So, grey business dress decided on and time to wrap up in a warm shawl and have some tea.I've begun putting the autumn decorations away and setting up a more wintery feel. This whimsical still life has in it an angel graphite painting. I drew this when my grandmother died. My daughter Kerstie was the model. The angel's collar is copper leaf. I think that somewhere is a cross stitch pattern I made of this little angel. Maybe I should try to find it and stitch it.So we're both looking out there into the rain trying to will ourselves for getting out to school and up into the cold studio.The hot tea is helping. But we'd rather stay right here. :)Sharing tea with Terri and Martha and Sandi and Bernideen. :)

Sunday whirl brought to you by Starbucks.

Not that Chloe and I don't have enough Starbucks around here, we drove the seven minutes away to our old hood to hang out at the Sbux up there to have the very same Earl Gray tea I can make here at home for the price of a tea bag, which is much less than the $2 Sbux price. What's that all about? And then we watched the lovely people stop by to get their own drinks for 17 times the price of the home brewed.I was reading the Sunday whirl words and thinking that we've all got an addiction to coffee shops, to coffee, a psychosis, and so I let the whirl spiral right down into the dark roasted bitterness of it all.buckle, gain, miss, instant, navigate, gracevisions, humming, drill, dignity, years, strideCoffee is really a dominant force in her life right now. It has been for years. It’s a sad thing, but there it is. She takes it in her stride... it’s a city thing.She likes to stop for coffee on her way, pay her money and hand over a crisp, white Styrofoam cup. She likes the way it looks. The boy behind the coffee bar looks up and smiles; he knows the drill.Sometimes she has a latte, sometimes an Americano, she never misses a day. She thinks about that time, thousands of years from now, when she and this country will be known for the things left for future generations: Styrofoam cups, plastic bottles; things which may buckle with age but not decay. She is holding in her hand molecules which will outlive her body. Thousands of years of existence for an afternoon coffee finished in ten minutes...in an instant.No, it can never be instant. That was left behind a long time ago along with her memories of her mother, fat and nervous. How her hands shook as she pulled the wet linens out of the washing machine.She snapped the sheet open, folded it and put it in the laundry basket, wet, folded, but wet.Washer woman, lacking grace or dignity, navigating children and chickens, humming her way down the clothesline in the yard.She blinks away the frown. She smiles at the Styrofoam cups covering every square foot of her living room, each an organic reminder of the day before. She looks at the clean white order of her days.Someday urban archaeologists will excavate her home and find a large cache of these things, lovingly organised and ready for study. Oh what a gain for science, how glorious that will be.She picks up the magic marker and writes 09,10,2013 (thought of mom)She walks over to the window ledge positioning it carefully next to 09,09,2013 (bought new cups)

Friday photo challenge

This is for the challenge "Habit". My daily habit is to draw something on some piece of ephemera. I keep my pencil box and a book of note paper on the kitchen table so I can pick them up every time I have a few minutes. :)

Friday random. It's where my head's at these days.

I'm sorry I've been hiding these past few of days.But here I am, back in the light.So is Morgan. She loves to sit on the dining room window sill and grin menacingly at the squirrels until they feel flustered and have to go away.This cat's so weird...in a fantastic feline way.She likes to bring things to the back door. Right now it's leaves. The bigger the better. These are off the grape vine in the side garden. Then she lines the leaves up for display. What's that all about?We have a lovely visiting student with us. Mei from Japan. She's only here for a one week tour and she's made us supper yesterday. (she said she was practising for it...so sweet)She's used these ingredients (only two of which I recognised as soy and rice vinegar) and made a wonderful potato, carrot, onion, beef dish with rice balls. She also brought a Japanese cook book for me as a prezzy. I wonder if I'll find this recipe in there, it was yummy. But honestly, I was thinking that I might just wing it.Chloe is 10 weeks into her 13 week semester and sometimes the pressure is a bit much. She's not doing mornings too well these days.So I bought her a now coat! She really loves the Anthro-Bohemian look and I like to be inventive, so this coat fits the bill. It also fit my bill because it was thrifted for about $5! Honestly, the way C falls in love with clothes and then, just as quickly out of love with them, this is the most sensible way.C and Bryson just found out that their friend is expecting a baby! Yikes! They're excited and scared for her at the same time. Not sure what I think. Looking at C she seems so very young, but then, by the time I was her age I already had one plus one on the way. The choices we make are staggering sometimes, aren't they?Sharing with Nancy for random five. :)

Monday struggles = Etsy 101

How's this for braveheart Monday. I've dedicated most of today to learning how to...and concurrently starting that long talked about Etsy shop. (because what's the point of actually reading the directions if you don't follow them at the same time...lol) Gosh, but it's confusing.All of you who have Etsy shops out there, how did you ever do it!??!In preparation for all of this I bought Jeanne Oliver's ecourse: Building a Creatively Made Business. I bought it ages ago and so I figure I better use the info before I run out of time. :) I must say it's a brilliant little course and I'm learning a lot from her. Also in preparation for this I cleaned up the house...as you do...picked some last garden dahlias and bought some chrysanthemums. (because one must always start difficult projects with beautiful flowers, don't you think so?)Also, as rain is coming overnight, this was waiting for me this morning. No, not the cats, they wait for no one...lol. Look beyond them to that carpet of leaves. Still, not as bad as poor Robert who has to deal with the seven 100 ft maples all on his own. But then, there's a riding mower at West Cottage and only girl power here.So I worked and learned and learned and worked and ran off to the bank, the gym, and home again for lunch and to work and learn some more. I looked up examples and read thru millions of websites for hints and idea, and raked up the leaves and drank plenty of tea and I think I'm pretty close now. Of course I've lost the light now, so the things which are left are: photographing everything, editing, posting, and getting thru all the financial stuff.I tried to tell Morgan how impressed with myself I am, but, if there isn't people food in it, she's not interested. :)Hope I'm ready for this. (Hope you're ready for this :) )Linking with Mary for Mosaic Monday. :)Boy there's a lot of smiley faces on this post!

A soft Sunday morning

How's this for a perfect Sunday morning:The sun is shining! :DI know, it doesn't take a lot to make me happy, but last time I checked, the forecast was unrelenting rain for days. So, while we know that the weathermen lie like a rug round here, this unexpected little reprieve just made our day. But actually there's so much more to love on this Sunday. That extra daylight hour is so welcome and it means that Robert and I don't have to scramble to accommodate each other's schedule any more because our countries are back in sync. (British clocks went back a week ago)So most lovely Sunday morning, and, I suspect I'm not the only one enjoying my morning. Check out Diane and Julie's lovely mornings. :) Love these gals.I've fed the cats and Milo wanted out again. Can't blame him. Morgan ran to the living room window to sit in the sunshine...or so you may think.Do you see those smudges on the window? Well, they're at Milo nose height. Yup, nose prints...and you should see the dirty fur smudges on the sill.Morgan loves to lay in wait for Mo and does her best to scare him away. Never works but she tries it on every time.When I lower the blinds and that sun comes into my bedroom it's just so magical. I'm ever so grateful for my selfish Sunday habit of hanging out in bed with my tea and book, newspaper or lap top. Usually, after they've got their yahoos out running around the house, one of the cats will come for a cuddle too.Chloe came in when she woke up and the first thing she said was, "It's sunny!" and then cuddled on the bed for a few more minutes. We chatted and had a lovely time, and then I finished my first cup of tea and it was time for a second cup and C was ready for some tea too.So we got up and made some more. How was your Sunday morning? Do you have lovely Sunday mornings? I hope you do. Do you look forward to them as much as I do?

Retail therapy and Christmas, here we come!

It's been bucketing it down with rain like only Vancouver rain can manage. (Nope, I'm sorry but Oxfordshire rain pales in comparison.) So on this dreary, cold day, mom came over to my side of town and we decided to have a little lunch, run a few errands and check out some of the stores.It's November 2nd, and this means it's fair game for Christmas decorations in the Vancouver stores.Fair enough. I only really have a problem if the Santas and sparkles and lights come out before Halloween, but then that's probably just me.But bring on November and bring on the Claus...it's all good. So, what follows are a few of the best of the best that I found:I wanted to show you these critter pillows. I LOVE THEM...OMG! Immediately I'm thinking of how I can make my own version for my bed. I could paint them, have some photos printed on canvas, or embroider them. Painting will probably win out. It's easy to paint on fabric. I have a dress. It was made for my mother, and my aunt painted the bottom of it for a Halloween party in the 70's. The dress and painted design of white spiderwebs and thistles is still fine despite being folded in the Halloween box and worn to parties by me or my daughters for years. Also loving that fake fur pillow.How cute is this little deer next to the tree trunk vase. I loved these little deer and they are made from bits of bark. How hard can that be to make around a piece of Styrofoam roughly carved into a deer shape? Not too hard I think. Bet there could be 13 deer on the fireplace mantle in no time. :)I also loved these place mats and, actually, the modern dishes looked great on them too. I'm beginning to see a theme of clean, white, natural, wildlife for my Christmas this year. :)I found these two wreaths I liked very much. I liked the natural, snowy look of the pinecone wreath, (which I could make in no time), but I also loved the look of this silver twinkly wreath. I was thinking twigs sprayed white and glittered with silver glitter might look nice.My last photo is from one on my favourite stores called Lulu Lemon. You might know it, and yes I know, the company is very good at putting their foot in their mouth now and again...no I'm not talking about yoga either...but I'm a fan of those clothes and the company would have to do a lot more than just come up with a stupid comment every once in a while to make me fall out of love, (because as every one knows, true love lasts for ever). Anyway, I'm coveting one of these gorgeous big gym bags. Wouldn't that be the ideal thing to fly to England with? I think so. And also am coveting a couple of the hoodies and a new pair of yoga pants. (sigh) Maybe if I'm a really good girl...Hey, my 31 days Nester challenge for October went well and I think I produced 31 posts in 31 days...please don't go back and count and tell me I didn't, let me live with my delusions of grandeur...lol...and so I've joined BlogHer and my friend Rarasaur for Nano Poblano, :)  Rara's name for the November daily post challenge. So I think I'll just keep going. :)   But then, we all know how good I am at keeping schedules and following rules.

Random round here

Remember the little plate I got at the car boot sale this summer? I hung in the cat's feeding area. I love making every bit of my space beautiful to look at. (That little tray is there because Morgan is the messiest water drinker and splashes out more than she actually drinks)Speaking of Morgan, what's this about? That scrubby little cat is so skinny when she's wet or when you pet her but can be such a little dumpling other times. (She is very healthy and slim though, so don't worry.)For anyone who's ever felt badly, here's proof that even if you're 115 lbs soaking wet and have the cutest body with the longest legs, you'll still be critical of your bum in a new pair of slacks!I love getting the boxes of costumes and vintage clothes down from the loft storage. We're now up to four large boxes plus a dressing rack, where the best vintage dresses hang, three hat boxes full of vintage hats, and one box full of shoes, purses and other little bits.This ginko is in a little street corner park just two blocks away from me. It's such beautiful golden tree right now I really wanted to show you. :)Linking with Nancy for more Friday randomness. :)

Painting cookies for Halloween

On top of my kitchen cupboards are two old baskets at either end of my duck decoy collection. These ducks count the amount of times I've been in Quebec, because I buy one each time I visit, and the baskets hold my collection of vintage and antique cookie cutters, presses and other cookie tools.Every time I get these baskets down and open them, they remind me of lovely, special times in my life.Ah, here's the one I'm looking for. It's a ceramic mold made by The Brown Bag Cookie Company. I've had some of these molds for millions of years, but they are still available.The recipe is a simple sugar cookie recipe, sugar, butter, egg, flour, a dash of vanilla, and these cookies are rather huge, so only about five from 1/2 cup of butter and 2 cups of flour. (but five is all we need this year for a handful of special friends)Painting cookies is really easy, but you need specific food colouring. The kind you need is the kind that colours icing. It comes in little pots and is creamy thick so it doesn't dilute the icing. You should use a toothpick to put some on a plate because the stuff will stain your fingers like nothing else...lol. I bought a selection of four in a kit. They are green, blue, rose and orange, and, with them, I can easily mix browns, purples and a black, so I find that's all I need.I asked C to join in and we sat down and started painting.There have been times when we've had several children painting their own cookie and times when we've made over 20 for us and our neighbours and taken them to the cabin for a party, but big batch or small batch, everyone has the best time painting cookies. It's really satisfying.Ok, had to show you this photo: C trying to organise her Halloween party shedule, (I think "Scaryoke" is winning out over a private party", but this is party planing 2.0...have cell phone, will paint cookies... :)And here they are, all painted and waiting for our special trick-or-treaters to show up.Linking with Kathy, Kim and Katherine