The year is coming to an end...whoot.
It has been a good year
Full of...laughter.love.heartache.bliss.friendship.garden.joy.some sadness,bigbaddoggiebreath kisses from my Lola
A Divine year

Changes coming
Some silly little changes like
painting a room
Sewing curtains
Some bigger changes like
.................... keeping those a secret for now

Paint...the winter is a wonderful time to paint

Before Christmas

I will make

lemon squares 

 buttertarts

and shortbreads

Gifts from my Kitchen

this year

lovely

Outside

the decorations are simple

but they sparkle

My parents

 Christmas with us

a nearby hotel

Christmas 

Big Breath

I am taking a big breath before jumping into Christmas plans.  Shopping, baking, and decorating will begin soon.  But, until then, this is what I am really looking forward to.......my 60th birthday will be celebrated in Jamaica; the real Jamaica, with my best friend, my bff, where we will also celebrate 50 years of best friendship. 

 Dare to do something different!

if you would like to read the details, just click on the poster

a very peaceful view

 

here we are...about the time we met

...and now...

how sweet life is

 It has been awhile since I posted.  Our new addition...Ms. Lola the bulldog.  We love her.  Adopted her from a loving home (asthma within the family) determined she could not stay there any longer.  We have embraced this beautiful 4-ish year old bulldog named Lola.

She is a good girl..such a lady with impecible manners..I can't remember life without Lola....fun to see my boys paying so much attention to her. She makes me smile and laugh and she doesn't even know it.  Life is good...really..isn't it?

Bryan & Ellen's Halloween Wedding

the new family

yummy cupcakes

wicked witch

Lola...our new dog...a sweet little 4-year old

Toronto Island

Toronto Island.....it had been many years...35 years probably...since I had been to the island.  How sweet it is...a lovely community of more mature folks...always someone close by...small dogs and cats...and streets only a bit wider than sidewalks..no cars!   Enjoy the view...just a short ferry ride from downtown Toronto.

Computer brain...can I ask you something?

Sometimes I will ask 'the computer brain' a question and then see how close the answer is to my answer, or how different the response is.

What does happy feel like?

Happy is when you look at the one you love and feel like the world has stopped spinning and your smile will never go away.  Ok..I have not felt 'happy' in this way.

Happy is when you stand in the crowd to watch your son or daughter get an award and your heart feels so big and warm and you get a tear in your eye.  Now that I have felt. 

 

Spring says please
Autumn says thank you

And soon it will be time to hibernate

A cold
A flu
I ache
I am tired but I cannot sleep
My throat hurts..no it tickles...then it hurts

Now

The Time is

Now
The Time is now..for what?
I haven't any idea

Don't just do something......stand there

Abundance

I must remember this word...Abundance...A bun dance...AbunDANCE...shake your booty...dance like nobody is watching
I love the colours of fall...enjoy the season and don't look ahead to what come's after.

two pictures nipped from Superhero's sitewww.superherodesigns.com

Standing on the edge of something much too deep

That is how I have been feeling and all sorts of thoughts are swirling in my head about what I should do with this feeling.  Painting has brought me peace.  A week away with my best friend filled my cup. Assurance from an old friend that we will continue in September brought me light. Well, perhaps not 'assurance' but a 'mention' that I am somewhere on the list for September...brought a spec of light.

I have a plan. A plan to once again take up yoga.  I will visit the three studios in town and decide which one is for me.  I think I may like this place http://www.functionstudiosinc.com/yoga.html  They offer various 'styles' of yoga as well as some fitness in the form of spin classes and Pilate's as well as a weekly drop-in meditation class. I will need to find a way to fit the monthly cost into my limited budget but I am positive this is do-able...I can and I will find $20/week for me

September has always been a time of new beginnings for me; the start of a new year; that feels more like a renewal than does the new year the calendar brings. TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) is soon, very soon and that has always been a time that ignites my renewal quest and journey. Maybe I can find a way to fit some watercolour lessons into my budget as well.

I also have a secret little dream of indulging in myself for more than a few hours.  An "Eat Pray Love" adventure on my own limited scale. What I would like is a weekend away by myself, absolutely alone with myself.  I have searched and I may have found just the escape to fit me.  A weekend at a B & B on Toronto Island in the fall.  I have been alone in my own home but never completely alone away from my surroundings.

Painting

Yoga

Meditation

Love and Light

......I do like this

feeling odd lately
like I'm on the edge of something
something good
a discovery about me perhaps

on the edge of letting go too
my thoughts are not luminous
I need connection

I can't find you 'out there'
you can't be here
I can't be there

feeling odd lately
like I'm on the ledge
and I will fly
this time

love and light

It rained today....my rain barrels will be filled and the garden and grasses say 'thank you'.  I painted...my inspiration photos and my paintings.

Signal Hill, St. John's NL
and
A Crooked House - somewhere near Owen Sound ON

I love how this house is just caving in on itself.

Lady's Slippers... hiding in the forest...a small dark abstract-type watercolour...trying new techniques

I haven't painted for a while and today was the day to wet my brushes again. For this watercolour, my inspiration was from page 19 of "The Art of Living, a guide to contentment, joy and fulfillment", by The Dalai Lama....a beautiful booked filled with breathtaking photos.

This isn't my hand, but my mehndi design is similar....a hot day yesterday...a "run" to Harbour Front with my girlfriend and we decided to have some fun and get some temporary art work done..love it.

http://moroccanmaryam.typepad.com/my_marrakesh/

I love them...my new slippers that have come all the way from Marrakesh, via Maryland...wonderful Maryam at  www.moroccanmaryam.typepad.com/my_marrakesh/ surprised and pleased us all in general and me in particular, and took orders for this delicious sensual colour....very beautifuly made too.

A view I would like to paint

Vanessa Bell

an abstract by Vanessa Bell

"Black Iris" by Georgia O'Keeffe... I do like her flower paintngs

Another picture done...
much happier with this effort....it is time to try something different next...something fun...thinking of Georgia O'Keeffe's style, or Vanessa Bell
I may take a course in the fall and start at the beginning for once! With only having had a folk art brush in my hand, I jumped into watercolour painting with a workshop of experienced painters!
Humbling but inspiring as well

Play Day .... this Sunday

my first inspiration, "Quiet Morning" by Trisha Romance, particularly for perspective..I find perspectives difficult to get right most times..

The drawing is done

Inspiration all around me...I have a whimsical idea in mind for this painting

The sky is done..

a little inspiration from Marlene Bulas