Soft Snow and Art

"What a difference a day makes" and "Be careful what you wish for" sometimes sound sort of trite but in this case well-- just look at this snow that has fallen in the past 6 hours. It's supposed to stop in a few more hours so I guess we'll have about 5 inches when it's done, and there's no more in the forecast for the next 7 days so this is fine. You can stop now weather god.

The View From My Desk

I spent the afternoon tucked under a soft, warm blanket on my bed and watched the DVD that I had checked out of our library since it needs to be returned tomorrow. It was called Rothko's Rooms (2000) and was really well done with interviews with his contemporaries, friends, and his children. Do you like Mark Rothko? He's always fascinated me and the one time that I actually stood in front of one of his paintings I was moved to tears. I'm not sure why but it was a very spiritual experience. Have you ever cried in front of a great work of art? One other time I stood crying was in front of The Pieta at the Vatican about 5 years ago. I was alone and it overwhelmed me so much that I had to go sit in a pew and recover my composure. I have been fortunate in my life to have seen a lot of art in many places and I hope I never take that for granted. 

We were hoping to go out for chicken wings tonight but with this snow we'll postpone that until tomorrow when the roads have been cleared.

Watching the Video with my Rocky

Baby Goats

 

Collage of the Day

Catching Up

We have two lonely snowballs remaining on our front lawn.... so sad...

I couldn't decide on which pearls to wear yesterday for the inauguration but I asked my friend in Georgia and she gave me good advice 😃

Here are a few of the collages I worked on over the past few days:

 

Tuesday Tidbits...

 Just a couple of quick updates here in my little corner of the world...

When we first moved in to our little house my 6'2" husband Mr P hit his head on the dining room light and knocked one of the glass lightbulb covers off and it fell to the ground where it broke into a thousand tiny pieces and the stem that it had been on broke and ended up sort of wobbly. Well we left it that way, often going to the light departments of various home shops and looking for something we both liked but never making a decision. Last week we were at IKEA (mainly for a good long walk) and I saw a light fixture that I really liked and so did Mr P! Hallelujah! It's not an expensive fixture but it suits our dining room space and is sort of dramatic which I like. Our handy son came over on Saturday and helped us to install it and it looks great! Now you get a view of the wall opposite to the Sri Lankan Ladies painting. On this wall I have another souvenir from the beautiful Sri Lanka- a fabulous batik! This was another great buy because you can fold it up nice and small in your suitcase for flying home. However once we sent it to the framers and got it on the stretchers it was a challenge getting it in the car and back home, but we did it and it's held a special place in our home no matter where we lived.

Ona cold Canadian day, this combination brings me joy: Ramen noodles and 1/2 tsp of Sriracha!

Here's our little Rocky sunning himself in our bay window at the front of our house. That's his way of keeping warm when it's about minus 2 c.

And this just arrived today! I can't wait to get started putting it all together! Just what I need - another creative hobby!

A Whole Lot of Busy-ness

One of the local favourite foods here in Nova Scotia is the Donair. Do you know what it is? Donair shops are as ubiquitous as pizza shops here in the Halifax area- you'll find them on almost every corner and they are truly a delicious snack or meal. Apparently it all started with a man who immigrated from Greece and adapted his gyros to suit the local taste. We ate quite a few of them when we first moved here but have slowed down now and have them every few months or so. They start with a soft pita which is filled with a huge mound of thinly sliced beef (slow roasted on a large spit), filled with chopped tomatoes and onions, and then finished off with an unusual garlicy sweet spicy white sauce. The shops wrap them up in foil with a twist and extra sauce comes in a cup. We can also get Donair pizza kits in the supermarket so we can make our own! Anyhow, we had a Donair on Thursday for dinner and it was delicious! We just get one medium size and we divide it on two plates and it's always just enough.

On Friday we had our little grandson for the day since we had his sisters here all last week. The first thing he said as he walked in the door was "Oma, can I paint?" So paint we did! What a little artist he is (he's almost 4) and he did everything with very little help from me. He chose his colours and then just did his thing. He was so proud of the result and couldn't wait to show his mom when she came to pick him up. We also went to the library and to our neighbourhood playground. The weather is amazing for mid-January (2 degrees celsius!), however that's about to change tonight apparently. 

Since we have so little Covid at the moment (2 new cases today in the entire province!), our restaurants and shops are open. There are acrylic dividers between all booths/tables, everyone wears masks, and contact tracing details are taken at the door. So we took my 84 yr old dad out for his favourite spaghetti dinner last night and it was lovely. 

We had a glorious sunrise today which such an amazing brilliant red and purple sky! But you know what they say about red sky in morning- sailors take warning. Now later in the afternoon the wind is picking up and the storm is about to roll in. We're all prepared. We have storm chips! Never heard of them?? I'll have to tell you about it one day.

Oh What a Lovely Day!

A close up of the painting I posted yesterday

 It doesn't take much to make me happy... simple things really... a candle, a new mug, a lovely bowl of soup. Admittedly I've had a few very indulgent years in my life where I had all the things a dreamt of having as a little girl; a housekeeper, a cook, a driver, and plenty of time to do lunch with my girlfriends. See for about 20 years I was the wife of an executive and we lived abroad in several countries where those things were affordable and available. When the contract ended we decided to return home... and to reality. And boy did it hit me hard! We jumped into B&B ownership and suddenly I became the housekeeper, the cook, the driver and more. Not really a big deal since I hadn't forgot how to do all those things but it definitely was a tiring 8 years of my life. Imagine the work of maintaining a 7 bathroom Victorian home! Two years ago we decided we'd had enough and were fortunate to sell the Monster at a good time and price and now here we are in Nova Scotia living in a 1,000 sq foot bungalow and I am blissful. I can basically do all my housework in an hour or two each week. It is glorious!

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

Here where we live we have virtually no Covid cases at the moment and our restaurants and shops are open, so we took the opportunity to have a delicious bowl of coconut soup at our favourite Thai restaurant and it was delicious!

My New Candle and Magazine

A new candle and an Art Journaling magazine and I am in heaven for the afternoon with my feet up and a nice cup of tea beside me. All in all a lovely day.

Tiny Tulips

I bought myself a new mug yesterday and it made me smile all the way home from the shop. Mr P always makes jokes when he sees a sign that says "Free WiFi" and pronounces it as "Wifey". We made a vow at our marriage that this union would be for life and after 42 years there's little doubt that it will continue.

I stopped to smell the flowers on display at the grocery store and I probably was kinda sorta looking wistfully at the pretty bunches of roses, tulips, and mixed flowers but being the frugal wifey that I think I am, I was just looking because they are expensive at this time of year in Canada. Rather sweetly Mr P asked which ones I liked the best and then I was a bit more careful in my choice. I liked the tulips though they were short stemmed. Did you know that tulips are the only flower that continues to grow even AFTER they are cut?? You have to remember this if you want to mix them with other flowers in a vase or else you'll end up with a pretty silly looking bouquet, with the tulips sticking their heads out way above all the other flowers!

In the background you can see the lovely painting I bought on a trip to Sri Lanka years ago. We were walking down a street in Columbo where there was a yearly market of student art being held. This was one of the paintings I bought and I had the young girl take it off the frame and carefully roll it up for me. It's quite large but somehow I fit it in my suitcase. Every time I walk past it I am reminded of that beautiful tropical vacation a long time ago, and I smile.