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!

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.

The first of November isn't too late for a fall update I hope.  The above shot was taken this week so you can see that the leaves are mostly gone from the trees. With a huge wind occurring when they were at their peak, the leaves came and were gone very quickly this year. Before the wind the weather was just perfect for getting out with my camera on several occasions. I did not get to spend my usual amount of time in the woods however. My orthopedic surgeon says I just have to call and say uncle and I am put on the urgent list for a hip replacement. I am not in a huge hurry yet but my hiking has been strictly curtailed. Here are a few shots from one outing.

 I had visitors for a couple of weeks and I really enjoyed that. An old friend and roommate came from Ontario for a week.  We had several outings to the beach but one in particular was on a windy cold day. Couldn't help but make you think of what was ahead. Her trip overlapped for about twenty minutes with my daughter and her two children.  It was great because my friend had never met the children. That next week was very busy and I was exhausted at the end of it but what a great week I had! The children are ages just over one and three in January and are just as they should be - perfect to a grandma.

The kittens are almost six months old now and were spayed this week.  Ruby, pictured below, aspirated a bit during her surgery so I have to keep listening to her breathing.  I hope she doesn't get pneumonia and she has had prophylactic antibiotics in that aim. 

 
I am enjoying the kittens very much but at the same time experiencing the end of my time with Bella.  In the summer she was not long for this world but seemed to rebound after the kittens came along.  She is still doing ok but you can tell she is not well.  She has the same symptoms that Kenz did.  She was on medication for a long time and it did not change her symptoms or length of life.  I suggested my kids say goodbye to Bella over a month ago but she is still here. I know that soon I will have to say my final goodbye.   

To me, cats of fifteen years are not as healthy as they used to be on a commercial food diet. Mama Kitty who is buried here was twenty three when she died and still looked good; better than Kenz and Bella. I don't think the cat foods are very healthy any more and may start feeding more of my own food to the cats. 

I have the usual changes; families keep growing and moving around.  I had a great niece born today,  and my son and his family are moving to the Seattle area. I am going to be babysitting my almost three year old granddaughter and who knows, maybe take a little trip before that. Busy, busy, busy.  

Art and work go on and on.  I love my work and my cre8ive time.  I am painting a desk for my younger grandchildren.  They can't read blogs yet so it is safe to write it here. I am trying to finish it before the kids arrive here to be babysat as their parents were to be returning with an empty vehicle so I have highjacked it for the desk.  I had no idea how I was going to get it to them so am now on a deadline after my great realization.  I am nearly finished the long side which has their names on it in crossword  form. Lots and lots to do yet. I love my work too so am having a happy time.  What can be better than kittens, grandchildren, feeling super cre8ive, and work that makes you happy to go to? I came up with a perfect answer immediately.  The answer is more work.  I need additional hours of paid work for life to be better. Other than that, I am privileged to be here and healthy.  Here's to feeling satisfied....!!!

Hope all is well with all who are reading.  Drop a comment and let me know.

Mid Summer Update

I have an excuse this time for my lack of posts.  I've been on vacation, had company for a week, and had an increase in hours at work. The summer has been flying by in other words and here it is 09 August.  It is a special day itself in that these two new kittens are three months old today. 

Here are Purrl and Ruby, sisters of Simon and Josie and daughters of Eekie. They are adorable and are getting along very well with Bella. Bella turned 15 last week and seems to have revived a bit.  I think she enjoys having the kittens around.  From the back, Ruby looks like a miniature Bella but their faces are a very different colour.  Bella's face is light grey tabby and look at Ruby's dark face.

The first stop on my vacation was to Nova Scotia to sit with my grandchildren while all three of my children competed in the Mud Hero event at Martock Ski Hill. My daughter is second from right in the women's contingent while the boys were in the shower, having finished beforehand.  I didn't get a 'full of mud' group shot of the team of ten, only ones when they were all dressed. Everyone did an amazing job as the course was tough, one leg being a run halfway up the ski hill then back down.  The temperature was 30 degrees and the mud obstacles were welcome everyone said, to mercifully cool them down.

Next I flew to Toronto with my son to spend a week at his home in the Kitchener/Waterloo area.  He had taken the week off and he, my daughter-in-law, and grandchildren, who are seven and nine, went adventuring but had to be home for the kid's soccer on four of the seven nights.  One of my best friends and my son's godmother drove up from Windsor for a few days vacation and we had a really great visit. We went to the Toronto Zoo during her visit and got to see the famed pandas that out government is renting from the Chinese government. One was sleeping indoors and one was sleeping outdoors and that is pretty much what everyone sees they say.

I spent a few days in Barrie, staying with an aunt and visiting with some very dear, long time friends.  I then moved on to Wasaga Beach to another aunt's house. Her husband was celebrating his 80th birthday and I was there to help get a celebration together.  It was a wonderful get-together and as always, at the perfect place, Wasaga Beach. Excuse the shot of Wasaga in winter but all my other shots are on another computer.  Summer or winter, Wasaga Beach, Ontario has a wonderful beach and always a beautiful sunset.

What a great vacation, eh? 

I'll leave it there as you do not want to hear about the gardening I've had to catch up on since I've returned or the lack of sleep I've had with a pair of new kittens in the house.  I am reveling in the rest of summer as it comes along, eating fresh vegetables and keeping my camera busy with the beautiful landscape of this island.

 

Blossoms in May

 My daughter and her family visited over the May long weekend and what a wonderful and completely delightful weekend I had!  My favorite age for babies is 9 months and that happens to be the age of my grandson right now; and who doesn't love a girl who is almost two and a half.

We took a trip to the pick-your-own tulip field on Monday and we really enjoyed that. It was evident from the amount of cars in the parking lot and people in the fields that we had a chosen a popular outing for the holiday.

The prices were ten tulips for six dollars or as many as you could put in their standard bucket for twenty dollars.  I chose the twenty dollar option and we picked the most beautiful bucket of happiness that money could buy.

 It was hard to watch people having to choose their ten tulips. There are thousands of gorgeous blossoms in front of you and each one seemingly more beautiful than the next. Choosing only ten would be too difficult a job for me. 

 My granddaughter enjoyed herself immensely but never did get the idea of pulling the whole tulip out.  That is not a job made for tiny hands.  Hers flowers tended to be very short with only a two or three inch stem.

I had a wonderful time in the early evening arranging vases with the the gorgeous tulips we had picked in the afternoon.  On Sunday, the day before,  I had picked tulips and daffodils from my garden and had made five arrangements. You can imagine that every surface of my house is filled with blossoms.

It's funny you don't ever want your kids to grow up but once they do, and bring you home grandchildren, you are glad they did and that they turned out to be such great parents.  This post is for my wonderful, special blossom, my Petunia, my only daughter.  She has always been the sweetest blossom in my bouquet.

Glorious Day of Greening

It has been a spectacular but chilly day on PEI.  The sun has been shining all day and doing it's job but the cold north wind has kept the temperature down.  My hometown, on the mainland, three and a half hours away by car, was to have a high of 20 degrees.  We were expecting 6 - 8 here on the Island. 

We woke to a bit of green in our lawns after days of cool rain and cloudiness.  Now at the end of one day we have perfectly green carpets of grass, spun from pure sunlight, cool as the temperature was.  There was not a cloud in the sky. I can only think of a complete transformation of the lawns in a few hours one other time but that was witnessing rain after a drought. Everyone is surely thinking of their lawnmowers or golf games by the end of today.

My son and his girlfriend dropped by to help me with a stone wall that had to be rebuilt.  We got it done in minutes as I had everything laid out.  I needed help lifting the stones but knew just how they were going to fit. In a while I went to his house to bring him a tool I had been using that he needed. When I got to his house a beautiful, very friendly, grey kitty was waiting at the door and meowing loudly to be let in, rushing repeatedly to the door. Thing is, this was not my son's cat. Though this kitty was making it seem like it belonged here, it did not.

My son and I met in the back yard, kitty followed and acted like a long lost friend with my son too. We talked and interacted for about ten minutes then my son let his cat outside.  The cats immediately ran to each other and went into cat sniffing, nose to nose, mode. They seemed to like each other fine. He was going to check with all the neighbours to find where this cat belonged, so there are no worries.

I did heavy gardening work all day and am bone tired but not brain tired, if you know what I mean.  I probably should have had a bath for my overused muscles but needed to blog instead to sing out about this really great day that turned eastern PEI a glorious green; at last, spring.

April Already

I have time for an update at long last.  I had dental surgery today and am supposed to take it easy. That is not easy for me but I will, at least for the afternoon. The lovely Bella is helping with the post.  I was away for the weekend and she was not at all pleased.  She has been sitting with me ever since.

Last update, I promised pictures of the grandchildren and am delivering fresh ones.  I visited them out of province for the  Easter holiday weekend.

This little guy is 7 months old already.  He has no teeth yet but refuses to eat blended food.  He wants carrot pieces instead of carrots his mommy blends for him. It seems that the mashed potatoes with Easter dinner were enjoyed though, as evidenced in the photo.

His sister is two now and still so much fun to be around.  The other day she was sitting in the swing.  Her dad was burning brush.  He walked by us carrying a load of branches and gave a tired sigh on his way past.  She asked him a couple of times what was wrong? He didn't answer so I said, "Daddy is a bit tired after carrying all the branches".  She looked up so concerned and said, "Do you think a banana would cheer up Daddy"?  My weekend was really great!

Skype is the most amazing invention for grandparents. I Skype with these children two or three times a week. I am not a stranger to them like my grandmother who lived away was to me when I was a kid.  I Skype with my other grandchildren a couple of times a month and it is so great to see them as they grow. When my grandmother came to visit every couple of years, we would be completely different sized children each time.

 Soon we will be out hunting for Mayflowers

I always like to share some cre8ive ideas and here are a couple. I found this sweet music video on Wimp.com, which I list on the side. I do not know the singer, Diane Birch, but absolutely love the video for her song Valentino. This product I found is so cool.  I plan to order some to fix several pairs of eyeglasses.  I am very hard on glassed.  I got a pair of prescription glasses last Thursday and lost them somewhere at my daughter's on the weekend.  She hasn't found them yet.  Please notice too that there is a new link on the side called A View from Eastern Kings to replace a link of a popular blog that ended and I had linked here.

Happy spring everyone.  Enjoy this lovely time of year.  Each day is a gift.

End of Year Ramble

 I've been working on a New Years Eve post for a week and have erased two day's drafts.  They contained photos of my grandchildren and gloom about losing my 97 year old friend and neighbour of 29 years among other losses.  I added then subtracted; deleted, started again, revised, added, subtracted, deleted again. Then I found this old draft that had never been published. I had been on the verge of leaving for a trip it seems four or five years ago. I had left to upload music to the server and link it to the blog but something obviously distracted me from that.  Here's to a look back on New Years Eve in a non-traditional way.  

Things are still the same.  I am working on a CD as I write this.

"This is my last post for awhile unless I can sneak in an early one tomorrow. I'm off on a three week trip to see three sets of relatives. I've been packing all day and have only last minute things for tomorrow.

I keep packing lists. I have one filed for craft shows, one for traveling out of the country and adventuring on your own, one for camping, one for teaching stained glass courses, and one for general packing. I file them away and use them but always add specific items for each trip. The current list has teddy bears, paint brushes, and catnip pillows; three items not on the general list but necessary for this trip.

My son is picking me up at the airport and his little children will be asleep when we arrive at his house. I will have to be strongly encouraged not to wake these sweet little humans. Actually after this weekend of missing precious sleep, I know I will not wake them. I am going to preschool the next morning. I will probably be presented at show and tell as a fossil. This is with the granddaughter who said to her brother when they visited this summer, " Show K your funny face, Grandma."

I'm making my last CD, number eight. I did not leave quite enough time for so many so they may not be perfect which is my aim with eighty minute playlists. I still have till tomorrow to finish this last one so there is hope. A CD has to have the right flow and feel for the theme. When I come up with two songs for the blog I sometimes have trouble. You can imagine it is much harder to come with eighteen or so.......that work perfectly together. Also each one is for a particular person. For instance, my son likes male vocalists more than female. It's something you take into consideration. I always ask people what they did not like rather than what they did like.

Today's songs are able to have a wide range as the person to be gifted with this CD likes a wide range of music. Jazz, blues, folk, country, pop, alternative, singer/songwriter, dance and trance; this person likes it all. It's also important to take into consideration where the music is listened to. Is the person sitting in their car, their house or the beach.

Anyway, here are two cuts off this last CD that are not placed side by side: No One Knows by Asa and"


Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. - Alfred, Lord Tennyson


Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. - Mark Twain

   

I wish you all an excellent 2013

May your New Year be filled

with health and happiness.

May your cup be never empty

and your troubles only few.

I owe you some grandchildren photos.

Trans forming

 Peek a boo

We are deep into autumn and winter is soon upon us. It is Remembrance Day and thankfully we had good weather.  Churches changed the times of their services to accommodate those gathering at the cenotaph  for Remembrance Day services at 11am.  There was a huge turn-out, larger than ever before.  We missed the usual bad weather associated with today by one day, as yesterday the whole of the Maritimes endured a terrible storm. I certainly had things blown around my place, ferry service was stopped early in the day throughout the region, and it was truly awful. My compost bin got blown down a hill and in such weather it was hard for me to get it back up and home.

I had a great event happen recently.  I babysat my almost 22 month old granddaughter while her parents were attending a destination wedding.  I had the time of my life.  We have the same bed time and I woke at 5:30, her about 6:45. We got along just wonderfully and had a great time outside.  I got tons of chores done in between running through and being buried by leaves, climbing mountains, riding a horse, (some of these things are imaginary) walking with a stroller, and laughing my head off.  I truly had one of the best times of my life.  I broke no mummy rules and fed her like the horse she ate like.  Her mother was the same way.  She always ate more than the two boys.

I took her out for her 1st Halloween, got photos of her with her 2 month old brother down the road at Poppy and Nanny's, and to five other places, three of them relatives, two friends.  It had been quite a few years since I had taken a child out for Halloween. It was really fun and I got to eat all the junk because she wanted only the apple and orange.

In this shot she is holding her pig and getting off her horse. Each time she got into position on the horse, she yelled, at the top pf her lungs, "Hold on!!!" Then she would jump off, run down the hill both of us laughing, then up the hill and do it all over again.

Most of all we sang and danced.  She can carry a tune and I had taught her to hum three months ago so it was easy to get her singing along and dancing to music that wasn't the normal kid's music.  I taught her choruses and we danced till my arms got tired which was often.  She is heavy!

We are lucky in the Maritimes to have had a decent fall.  We got the rain we sorely needed but no major storms (or hurricanes) and none of the cold or snow that the west has received. It could all change very quickly so tomorrow is the day I will finish my fall chores. I will not have the pleasure of rolling down hills and riding horses during tomorrow's work but will hold my most recent time deep in my memory and heart.

I am posting on An Island Walk again, one photo a couple of times a week rather than three every day. I do post every day on my Shutterchance blog.  I am passing on a special link to you today. You'll thank me later. Bflat is going to have you havin' some fun! I could go on and on about this and the source and my love for this concept. Cre8ivity at it's best! I watched the sponge my granddaughter was and lead her on make believe and pretend adventures with our music, toys, and imagination.  She is a new muse and how exciting is that! I'm still cre8ing every day, keeping active in many, many ways.

After a hot, dry and beautiful summer, the beginnings of autumn are upon us. From my back door I watched first one tree turn red, then a blush creep into a couple more. Suddenly there are orange trees and some of such a brilliant gold that it takes my breath away when the sun shines through them. My sunflowers are still providing beautiful bouquets and all of my pumpkins are ripe.

One thing I am reminded of in the early days of September is giving birth for the first time - thirty-five years ago. Yes, my oldest child has just turned thirty five. Since I was not young when giving birth to him, I have, with my superior math skills, deduced that I am in fact old. I feel good but there is no denying the calendar. I don't know why I have always been most reminded of my age through my son's birthdays rather than mine. His 16th was more traumatic to me than my 40th.

This son and his wife gave me my first grandchild just in time for my 50th birthday and in less than two years gave me my second. They have the perfect boy and girl family. They live half way across Canada so I don't often see them often in person but we phone and Skype frequently.

Five or so years later my daughter and her partner started their family with a beautiful little girl. They live only three hours away and spend quite a lot of time here. This family has just given us a new and perfect little boy. My granddaughter looks just like her dad and has since birth. The new little fellow looks just like my daughter. I think that is pretty neat. I've spent quite a bit of time with him since in his three short weeks of life; he has been to the island twice and I went over to the mainland when he was first born. I am in love with the little bean.

His big sister likes him just fine too. She has given his bottle a try, his soother a suck and shared a lot of her toys with him till she realized he didn't play with them. I think she'd like him better if he would share his food with her - like she shares her food with the dog.


It is a busy household but both kids are healthy and content and eat and sleep really well. A twenty month old is a constantly going concern and luckily my daughter has abundant energy. She is an amazing mother and getting along great with the task. Here she is making a funny smile and the blurry toddler shows what I mean about being on the go.


Even though I have aging children, four grandchildren and am old, I don't feel old. I am very healthy and live a life full of colour and cre8ivity, loving the beauty of the land and nature close up.  I am most at home in the woods and after a day spent deep in the woods this week, I feel like I'd been on a week long vacation. I would be going today too but rain is forecast.  It's off to the paint brushes then.