Sunday, April 27, 2014

Spring It Is!


 Even though I maintain other blogs, I admit to not updating here very often.  This was my first blog but due to personal security issues I stopped posting here so often.  I am still cre8ive1 and do some kind of art every day and work at a job I love.


It is finally spring after a very long winter in Atlantic Canada.  The frogs started chirping in my pond yesterday and that is a first sign of spring for many people. I know on the CBC radio program, Weekend Mornings with Stan Carew, frog sounds are recounted and recorded.  For some it is when the first robin is sighted. I have fruit trees so I get skinny winter robins all winter.  Fat robins that have been feeding on rich southern fare have returned to their old nests too. For me, when the first heron returns to the pond I rejoice and write it's arrival on my calendar.  I also have a garden calendar that is 30 years old.  I plan in writing in it soon after having readied some soil yesterday. I have been doing these rituals and more for thirty year, at this pond I call my home.



The herons returned on the 11th of April this year, about average for the winter I'd say with all of North America getting such an old fashioned winter. I even had a visit from a few geese for a time. Lambs have been coming for more than a month at the farm next door and I got this little one trying to hide behind it's mother the other day when I went to visit.


I haven't seen my grandchildren except through Skype all winter and I am itching for some real hugs and kisses, not just Skype ones.  I was telling someone recently that when I was a kid, the furthest I could dream when thinking of the future was of  the day when we could see each other while talking on the phone.  That was so far-fetched at the time.  I thought it was the ultimate!  It has turned out to be as neat as I thought it would be too. I am so thrilled to see my grandchildren growing up in front of my eyes.  We sing together, dance together and make funny faces.  I had a grandmother who lived far away when I was a child.  She came every couple of summers and that was the only time I saw her.  My two sets of grandchildren will never have that almost fear of this mythical being.  I truly love Skype.

I plan to see my daughter and her family in May and my son's far away-family in June. They live in Seattle now, even further away. In September everyone will be together again for a very special occasion, my daughter's wedding. This will be a wonderful event. She has been greaming about it her whole life I think.

 My son and his wife had a wedding of just the two of them and witnesses they picked up at their villa - in Greece. It was well planned.  My DIL's mother made her dress and everything was organized in advance. In an honour to them, the mayor attended as it was the first wedding ever on the beach in this particular town.  They had a party three months later in Ontario where they lived.  It was an awesome event and we were all there.  Enough reminiscing. I started this yesterday and had to change all my today's to yesterdays so I'd better get out of here.

One last thing though. Purrl and Ruby will be a year old on the 9th of May.  They have been a delightful pair of kittens to get to know.  I changed my study/studio around and now the computer shares a big old library table with a lovely soft, folded blanket to it's right that is usually holding a cat or two . We've had a sweet, cozy winter.

One more last thing.  I now have a blog on Tumblr and it is linked at top right on this page and here it is the easy way so you don't even have to move your Eyes. Part Two Partout Par 2

Happy Spring Everyone! Enjoy every dandelion!


Wednesday, January 29, 2014

January Travels

 I am adding a couple of links to my sidebar that might interest a few people. The first is of a geography game that I have been hooked on for a while.  I notice today there is 'Try the New Version Beta' in a button so this link is good for now. GeoGuessr is fabulous! If you like geography you will love it.  If you don't like geography, you probably will not. You get to drive along (or walk, as my daughter says) all over the world and try to guess where you are. There are five locations per game. To play the game is like doing a bit of armchair traveling in the most absolute way there can be without being there.



We have had an unusual winter on PEI so far. December was snowier than usual with snowstorms every week in the month. The new year brought more and more snow then a lovely 'January thaw', which Islanders welcomed like a desert's oasis.  Our thaw coincided with the time many North American friends and relatives were suffering through ice storms. We got light coatings of ice like you see below while New Brunswick next door was without electricity after many hours of freezing rain.


 Winter is not over yet.  There will certainly be more snow, and more ice and rain.  It is beneficial for our area as long as the precipitation needle does not get stuck. Our winter landscapes can certainly be beautiful though and they are wonderful to take sport in. Nothing is better than skating on a frozen pond, snowshoeing among the fox and rabbits or even walking or driving down a country road when tree branches are laden with sparkling snow.



The second link I am adding to my sidebar is The Smithsonian Institute Magazine.  I go to two different pages in it regularly so thought I would link them into one and share it here.  I am using my winter as a time for both rest and cre8ivity.  When outside chores are not the main thing on your list for the day there is time for more inner stuff. I have changed my two room studio around, storing all the beads and taking out all the glass tools. I am not rushing anything but in the painting/computer/office room which got changed around too, I had to check out the new light so have begun to do some painting. I like the new set up!

The kittens, who will soon be nine months old are enjoying winter very much. They love the snow but are not crazy about windy days.  That is usual with most cats I think. Anyway, we're all good here, tucked into winter and enjoying it so far.  Hope it is going well for any of you who happen by. Happy 2014.