Monthly Archives: November 2015

Share Your World 2015 – Week 45

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….thanks Cee for hosting this challenge

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “fun”?

Fun for me is painting or drawing, either by myself, with a group or a class of children. It’s like therapy for me.

What is your favorite time of day?

My favourite time of day is early in the morning when the sun is rising, especially in the summer or early autumn. My other favourite time of day is late at night when everyone has gone to bed. This is often the time when I’m most creative. The older I get, however, I find it more difficult to stay up too late.IMG_6259

Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want have an evening with?

I’d have to say I’d want an evening with my entire family and closest friends. If I had to choose one person it would be my husband and if it had to be someone outside of my family I’d love to have a conversation with Oprah Winfrey. I’m not sure why but we’re close in age and I think she’s led a very interesting life.

Complete this sentence: Something that anyone can do that will guarantee my smile is… 

…..smile at me first. Smiles are contagious.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for spending the day with my daughter in Hamilton and being able to help her around the house. Two days later we all got together at my oldest daughter’s house for her birthday and I was pleased that my very good friend AB was able to meet Miss Winnie for the first time.IMG_6779 IMG_6786 I’m also pleased that my colleague from school and I were able to pick the girls’ basketball team. Now we can work with the team and prepare for our tournament later this month.

This week I’m looking forward to getting some work done at school on our PD day. My office is quickly becoming an organizational nightmare. I’m also looking forward to going out for lunch with the staff on Friday and then again on Saturday with my husband. Hopefully I can find some Winnie time on the weekend. Did I mention that she’s already rolled over at four weeks. I thought it might have been a one off thing but apparently she’s doing it regularly.

Cheers!

Frankenstein’s Spooktacular Castle

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…..check out Igor in this video

My oldest daughter works at the University of Toronto School of Dentistry. She is a medical illustrator and specializes in computer animation. Every year her department at the school of dentistry participates in a friendly competition to see which department can come up with the best display for Hallowe’en. This year they turned the department into Frankensteins’ castle with props, lighting and sound effects. The staff all took on different roles and dressed up and applied make-up to look like their characters. My ‘quiet’ daughter is Igor. Check out those eyes.

Needless to say the department won the competition. It took about a day to put together.

If you’re interested in seeing some of my daughter’s work you can see it at the U of T School of Dentistry Chanel on YouTube. She created the video on Early Embryonic Facial Development

Starry Nights in Oil Pastel and Watercolour

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….children in grades one, two and three create their own version of Van Gogh’s Starry, Starry Night

Once again I was inspired by Carla Sonheim’s Free Kids Online Art Classes. In week two Diane Culhane introduced the kids to a crayon resist night sky.

The children loved how the watercolour brought up the crayon designs, especially the white marks. They also loved sprinkling salt over their creations. The concept of cutting out a black silhouette of a city or country skyline was a bit more challenging, especially for the grade ones. Here’s a collection of paintings created by my grade two class.

A Trip to Hamilton, Hot Sauce and Baby Time

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…spending the day with my daughter and baby Winnie

November has been a blessing as far as the weather goes. We’ve experienced Indian Summer in the last two weeks. Temperatures were in the double digits, well above normal. People were back in sandals and lightweight clothes. The trees are finally dropping their leaves, leaving beautiful carpets of colour all over the sidewalks. IMG_6741

My daughter still has hot peppers in her garden. Her husband has been busy making numerous batches of hot pepper sauce.

Miss Winnie is now over three weeks old. She basically eats, sleeps and poops. She is starting to lift her head and she is beginning to focus on objects in her surroundings. When I arrived she had just been fed and she was sound asleep. I held her for awhile and then we decided to take advantage of the good weather and go for a walk. We bundled her up and buckled her into the stroller. I’m not sure why she needs to be buckled. She’s not going anywhere.

With Lucy at our side we walked through the neighbourhood. It was fun seeing all the left over Hallowe’en decorations on people’s front lawns and the last few remaining flowers making a final showing before the frost sets in. We stopped at a local cafe and bought chai lattes to go and a little something to take home and eat. We would have stayed but we had the dog with us so G stayed outside while I went inside to order.

When we got home the baby finally woke up and of course she was hungry. She ate for a long time and then she became quite fussy, probably due to a little gas. I laid her over my lap and rubbed her back. It helped a little but after an hour the only thing that worked was more time with mommy. She finally fell asleep again. IMG_6748

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Three Day Quote Challenge – Day 3

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….thank you Elizabeth for encouraging me to participate in this challenge

Through my photography I have discovered beauty in every season.

“Many people find November dark and depressing as gardens are put to bed and plants  wither and begin to decay. I see interesting shapes and colours and the seeds that will bring new life in the spring.” – Carol Cormier 2015

“If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”
– Vincent Van Gogh

Elizabeth from Tea and Paper invited me to join in this challenge. I was hesitant to do so because I’m not into quotes but I’ve always enjoyed reading other people’s thoughts. I truly believe in the beauty of nature so Van Gogh’s quote was perfect for me and I’ve finally expressed how I feel about the decline of the plant kingdom in November in my own quote.

The rules are for this challenge are as follows:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you
• Publish 3 quotes on 3 consecutive days on your blog. It can be your own, or              from a book, movie or from anyone who inspires you.
• Nominate 3 more bloggers to carry on this endeavor

My third nomination for this challenge is Jill from Jill’s Art Journal. Jill is a creative and fun loving artist. She loves to share her art experiences and encourages others to draw and paint. I love her humour and positive outlook on life.