…sunny, warm and quiet
After the Labour Day Weekend it gets pretty quiet at the cottage. Once the kids are back at school the rush to get to the cottage diminishes considerably. Lucky me!
Beach Action in Mid September
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January 2, 2026
…starting a new puzzle
Today I finished wrapping the last of my Christmas gifts. I can now organize and put away my gift wrapping, ribbons and gift bags for another year.
A good friend gave me a new jigsaw puzzle for Christmas so I thought I’d get a start on it today. I cleared half of my dining table and started sorting through the 550 pieces. I like to do the perimeter first. Once I got going I couldn’t stop. I find it very addictive.
I did eventually stop so that I could get out and do a bit of shopping. At the last minute, despite the bitter cold I decided to walk to the store. I’m glad I did. It was exhilarating and I logged 2500 more steps. When you dress properly the cold isn’t an issue.
Here is how much of the puzzle that I completed.
Happy New Year
…no New Year’s resolutions
Just making the best of every day. In the past I’ve tried making resolutions that were too ambitious. For example, I used to set a goal of making art every day. As soon as I missed two or three days in a row I felt like I had failed and instead of getting joy out of making art it became a chore. So this year I’m hoping to do one thing a day that brings me joy.
Yesterday I read my first book of the year. It’s a children’s book but I highly recommend it to anyone from 8 to 88.
Charlie Mackesy is both author and illustrator. The book is full of inspirational quotes and I know that I will be going back throughout the year to lift up my mood and stir my creative juices. I like Mackesy’s loose style of drawing so I picked up my fountain pen and opened my new journal. I wrote down my first quote and copied one of the illustrations.
Other things that bring me joy are walking, taking photos, baking, crafting, spending time with friends and family, travelling, going to the cottage and making art.
My one goal this year is to share my joy with you!
New Flower (December 30, 2025) – Hot Pink Cyclamen
Monochrome Monday – December 29, 2025
…my staircase series
There’s a photo show coming up in May 2026 and I was considering entering these photos for that show. Do you have a favourite?
Judy’s Numbers Challenge
…this week’s number is 227
This week’s number brings back memories of a visit to the High Park Zoo, an art exhibit at the ROM, a day at the opera with my good friend, LInda, several of my art projects from years ago, friends and family, photos from my retirement party and pictures from the cottage.
Silent Sunday – December 28, 2025
…taken on Christmas Eve by our neighbours across the street
Wishing You All Love, Hope and Good Health in the NewYear
…and time with family and friends
Kevin and I still have some family and friends to visit before this holiday season is officially over. Sadly it may not happen until January because this terrible flu that’s going around has affected these same people we had planned to visit.
Apart from that it’s been a busy and productive season. Christmas Eve was quiet and Kevin and I exchanged a few gifts, enjoyed some light snacks and watched some Christmas movies. The next day we had Andrea and Josie over for dinner. I prepared the turkey and the stuffing before they arrived. After opening a few more gifts everyone pitched in and helped prepared the side dishes. We sat down to an absolutely lovely meal of roast turkey, a rice stuffing, cranberry and orange relish, green beans with almonds, Brussels sprouts with bacon and mashed potatoes. For dessert we had ice-cream topped with our homemade Rumtopf.
The Cute and Christmasy Factor
…the reason why my husband’s cards outsold mine
Kevin is very talented and had a lot of fun creating our annual Christmas cards but he also made numerous other images that had a winter or Christmas theme. Here are some of the images that I had printed and made into greeting cards.
A Busy Time of Year
…from writing cards to making soup for the unhoused
This year I sent out over 75 Christmas cards. For the last three years my husband, Kevin designed our Cards and had them printed through a printing company. Last year we went through a postal strike so most of our cards didn’t arrive to their destinations till well after Christmas.
This season both Kevin and I donated our time, energy and money to support our communities and individuals who aren’t as fortunate as we are. A good friend of mine has given three Ukrainian families an opportunity to work in her home. It’s an arrangement that has been beneficial at both ends, especially after C suffered from a stroke last year. These amazing women helped her with cleaning the house, doing her cooking and preparing meals.
A couple of other friends have also used these women to clean their homes. They left Ukraine when the war broke out while their husbands stayed behind to fight. This Christmas, C and her husband put out the call for new items so that these women and their children could have a Christmas. I spent a day shopping for presents and two more days sorting and wrapping gifts.
Kevin has always wanted to make soup for the unhoused. Another friend, B has been working with the unhoused for a number of years now and told me about a project where people can come every Friday and pick up food and clothing. Right now tables are set up on the street and people line up to pick up a hot meal, some groceries and warm articles of clothing.
This past week Kevin made a huge pot of soup that made about 30 servings. I helped him take the soup to the drop off and I stayed to serve it up. Another woman had also made soup so there was plenty for everyone and there were lots of trays of other hot foods like tortellini and other pastas. It was bitter cold but I didn’t really feel it until the soup ran out.
Today, after shopping for ingredients, I finally got around to making bags of Party Mix and dozens of chocolate cookies for my Christmas plates that I hand out to my neighbours. I’m hoping to make more cookies tomorrow.
Why I’ve Been Absent
…since December 9th
The clutter on my work table in my studio will give you an idea of how hectic the last 10 days have been.
Apart from the normal craziness of getting ready for Christmas I decided at the last possible moment to take a table at the Holiday Market at the Inn. Initially I was just going to sell our art and photo cards and display some of my smaller pieces of art but then I got it in my head to make a few of my sock gnomes. A few turned into 28 and 9 gnome ornaments.
Sadly on the day of the market a snow storm descended on the city and the turnout was definitely affected. Many people chose to stay home and a few of the vendors were no shows as well.
Since that day I made a few more sales at my hair salon and through friends. Most of the gnomes are now gone and 25 more cards have sold.
On the home front we’ve been busy putting our Rumtopf into jars and labelling them to get them ready to give away. I made up 9 bags of gifts for the volunteers that I’ve worked with most closely this past year at Montgomery’s Inn.
Last Wednesday we had our last bake for the year and will be on a break for about 6 weeks. The staff at the Inn hosted a lovely luncheon for the volunteers as a thank you for all their hard work and dedication to making bread every week to sell at the Farmers’ Market.
So this part of the reason why I haven’t posted as regularly as I normally do. I’ll bring you up to date with what else we’ve been up to in my next post.
Cheers!
Mama Cormier 