Slowly But Surely

….the temperatures go up and then they go down but surely Spring is in the air

On the weekend we attended a soccer (football) game. The tickets were gifted to us by our daughter and daughter-in-law who had other plans and couldn’t use them. The forecast wasn’t very promising but we decided to bundle up and bring along a stadium blanket to keep us warm.

The seats are very high up in the stadium but the view is spectacular.IMG-2128
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I wish I could say that the game was exciting and that we were victorious but TFC was off its game and we were quite disappointed in how they played. In the second half my husband wasn’t feeling well and just couldn’t get warm. We left when the game was tied 1-1 and made our way to warm restaurant for a meal. There were TV screens all through the place and by the time we got there the game was over and Toronto lost 2-1.

On Sunday, the temperatures were up slightly but the best part was the sun and no wind. I took a walk through Col. Sam Smith Park and took a lot of wonderful shots of the lake, the beach and the trees and plants that are getting ready to erupt with colours of green, pink and yellow. You know when the weather is good because everybody and their dogs are out walking.IMG-2153
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Loose Intuitive Painting

….day 4 of Sketchbook Revival

This lesson was brought to us by Angela Fehr. Her approach to painting is to let the paint take you to the next step. It’s a very zen like experience after you lay down the first color and then let your intuition guide your next step. I used watercolour on watercolour paper. The only thing I would do differently next time is  do it on a larger piece of paper.IMG-2148

Finding Art in Sidewalk Cracks

….part of the Sketchbook Revival

On day one of Sketchbook Revival one of the two visiting artists was Carla Sonheim. You’ve heard me mention her many times on my blog because I’m constantly taking on-line classes with her. For this particular session, Carla had us look for animals or objects in a photo of sidewalk cracks that she provided. I’ve done this exercise many times with my students when I was teaching. It’s a lot of fun and it’s amazing how many different things people can find. Here are 3 animals and one person that I found in the same photo.fullsizeoutput-7781
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Easter With the Cormiers

….celebrating a day early makes for a nice restful Easter Sunday

On Saturday I got up early to put the turkey in the oven. I made the stuffing the night before so that saved me some time and I hid a few eggs before I retired for the evening. Despite all the advanced prep work I still found myself working right up till the moment the first of my kids arrived but I must admit that it was considerably less stressful than other years. I did manage to get the table set and hide all the Easter eggs.P1070664
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My daughter and daughter-in-law took over the egg decorating job and my husband started up the BBQ where he cooked all the vegetables.P1070665
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Our granddaughter and her parents and other grandmother were the last to arrive and little Winnie didn’t waste any time looking for the treats that the Easter Bunny hid around the house.IMG-2081
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After dinner most of us decided we needed to get some fresh air and walk off some of the calories that we had consumed. Our son-in-law made us some wonderful cocktails to start the meal, Gaelan prepared a delicious cheesy cauliflower bake and Andrea and Josie made a decadent chocolate panna cotta for dessert. On top of the turkey and the rice stuffing I also made gluten free spring pasta salad. Luckily the rain had stopped so we headed to the park and continued to the playground a few blocks over.P1070669
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I hope all of you had as wonderful day as I did. Happy Easter everyone!