Monthly Archives: January 2016

Share Your World 2016 – Week 2

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….thanks Cee for this week’s questions but I can’t help but think that I’ve answered one or two of these before

Do you believe in extraterrestrials or life on other planets?

Absolutely. I think it would be pretty arrogant to think that we are the only race of beings to inhabit the universe.

How many places have you lived? You can share the number of physical residences and/or the number of cities.

I haven’t lived in too many different places. I was born in Frankfurt, Germany and when I was one we moved to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria. Soon after that we boarded an ocean liner and moved to Canada where I have lived most of my life in Toronto. For a period of four years, when I was 6 to 10 we lived in Oakville (a bedroom community close to Toronto) and when I went to university I lived in the town of Guelph.

If you given $22 million tax free dollars (any currency), what is the first thing you would do?

I would pay off all my credit cards and then give each of my children $1 million dollars, so they could pay off their debts and own a home. After that I would probably put aside enough money to live on comfortably and afford a couple of vacations a year for the rest of my life. Then I would share the rest with my sisters and friends and donate to different charities every year. Spread the wealth!

The Never List: What are things you’ve never done? Or things you know you never will do?

I will never and have never done the following:

  1. Jump from 10m tower into water
  2. Go bungee jumping
  3. Go skydiving
  4. Do drugs
  5. Climb Mt. Everest
  6. Smoke

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

I am grateful that my son has started to heal from his surgery and that he returned safely to London, England on Monday night. Before he left we spent some quality family time with his siblings and our granddaughter. Last Saturday, B, A, J and I drove to the Aga Khan Museum and spent a couple of hours perusing the artifacts from the middle east. It was fun watching my children take in the displays and actually taking the time to read the text that explained the history of the different ceramics, books and articles of clothing.

 

After our experience at the museum we drove to Hamilton and met up with my husband and younger daughter and her family. There was a whirlwind of activity in the kitchen as homemade meatballs were being prepared by the two of them while the rest of us took turns holding the baby and entertaining her. She is so curious now that she doesn’t want to sleep. The dinner was fabulous.

IMG_7315On Sunday I drove my son to the AGO to meet up with one of his good friends and to see the Turner show. I enjoyed our time together but I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of Turner’s work. I liked his small watercolour studies but his large pieces were too dark and gloomy for me. I am, however, very curious to see the movie on his life. I think he was one very strange man.

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Later this week I’m hoping to figure out how to transfer photos from my new camera to my iPhone and computer using WiFi. So far transferring my photos onto the computer and onto my phone has been a challenge to say the least.

Hopefully I can sort out my photography problems so that I can continue to participate in photo challenges.

Cheers!

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Yellow or Orange Flowers

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…..one of my favourite things to photograph are flowers

Do you have any photos of yellow orange flowers? If so, you should consider joining Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge.

 

Going Back to the Basics

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….I haven’t posted any art in awhile

My life has been in a bit of a turmoil lately and I find it difficult to find time to work on my bigger art projects. Not having my space to work in doesn’t help either but I have managed to do some small daily drawing assignments in the last six days.

Lisa Congden is the artist who is challenging her followers to draw simple objects every day for 31 days. Lisa Congden from Creative Bug is a graphic and textile designer who hosts numerous on-line classes at this site. For a very small monthly fee you can access numerous how to videos for lots of DIY projects.

Here are some of the drawings from the first six days. I need to work on my sneaker skills.

 

Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge #78

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….this week Ronovan’s prompts are Vast and Clear(Clarity)

Angel Cards

The vast pile of cards

called out my path for the year:

seeking clarity

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Photo courtesy of: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pLhK1Bdg8bo/TyRVQ12Ym8I/AAAAAAAAAKo/IYyhEqfPNbA/s1600/angel+cards.JPG

Share Your World 2016 – Week 1

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….a new year and four new questions from Cee

As a child, who was your favorite relative?

Most of my relatives lived in Germany and I rarely saw them. My grandmother visited us about every two years but I remember being a bit afraid of her. My mother’s sister I saw even less but when I did I loved being around her. She was glamorous and spoiled me. When her husband died she moved to Canada with her two teenage children. It was a difficult transition for my cousins but they adapted.IMG_3284

Strangely, over the years I didn’t see much of my aunt even though she lived in the same city. In her last two years, when she became ill I saw a lot more of my aunt. Her son had moved to Florida and only saw his Mom about once a year. Her daughter came as often as she could and always helped her with her shopping. Since I lived the closest to her, my husband and I started driving her to her appointments and took her out for lunch once in  awhile.

Near the end, when she had to be hospitalized we went to see her, every day as first, and then three to four times a week.

The other relative that I liked wasn’t really a blood relative. It was my god father. In fact I loved the entire family. They had four boys and they were more like cousins to me. I loved going to their house and the first cottage they owned. Maybe because I didn’t have brothers of my own, I found them fascinating beings. So different from having sisters.

If you could be a tree or plant, what would you be?

I would definitely be a tree. They live a long time and provide shade in the summer, life giving oxygen and a home for so many creatures.

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What would be your preference, awake before dawn or awake before noon?

I usually wake up at dawn. Sleeping till noon seems like such a waste of the day.

Would you like to sleep in a human size nest in a tree or be snuggled in a burrowed spot underground?

I would definitely prefer to sleep in a human size nest in a tree. Staying in a tree house resort fascinates me. I like the idea of begin up high enough to be protected from wild animals and having a great view of the world below. An underground burrow would be too claustrophobic for me.

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 that last week is over. Spending five days at the hospital, (emergency ward, then 3 days waiting, and finally the day of surgery recovery) is not my idea of a great time. I am, however, grateful for the wonderful care given by the nurses and that my son came through the surgery without any complications.

When my son finally came home we were able to properly celebrate his and his twin sister’s birthday. I’m glad we were able to all get together and our oldest daughter announced her wedding plans. She and her partner of 10 years are getting married on Feb. 10 of this year.

This week I’m looking forward to my son recovering from his surgery and hopefully we can stay calm and support each other. He had to cancel his trip back to London because of his injury and he’s rebooked to go back next week. I’m also looking forward to seeing my granddaughter again. She changes so much every week. She’s already pushing herself up and we think her first tooth is starting to emerge.

Cheers!