Feeling Overwhelmed

….not sure why but it has affected my blog

I’ve been writing and posting on this blog for over 10 years. I rarely miss a day and as of late I’ve been missing a day or two a week. Sometimes the issue has been with internet connections not working because of severe weather or just being crazy busy with life. This last week however I had not posted in a week and I left my emails go unanswered. Yesterday I finally responded to over 50 comments that were left on my site. I feel that I’m letting my followers down.

Yesterday I told my husband that I’m feeling overwhelmed. I’ve been cat sitting for a sick neighbour since Mother’s Day and we were dog sitting for 10 days while our daughter and daughter-in-law were on holiday on the East Coast. This holiday weekend I stayed home from the cottage to attend the Lawn Bowling Canada Day BBQ and be around when Andrea returned to pick up Olive. The cat and dog situation did not go well because they just didn’t get along so Tober spent more time in his house and didn’t come over at all. Today he is back.

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Tober before the arrival of Olive
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Kevin with Olive…Tober is back in his house

Summer has barely started and I feel like it is almost over. Two days a week I’m baking at the Montgomery’s Inn, I belong to a book club and our meetings keep getting changed because of conflicts with people’s schedules. When a date was finally agreed upon I was the one with a conflict because our evening meeting was changed to the afternoon and I had already made a date with a friend. I told the group to go ahead without me. Lawn bowling is taking up some of my days as well. I’m part of the Golden Girls and five times this summer I’m scheduled to play in a tournament. Earlier this week when we played we got caught in a sudden storm and I was drenched. We had our Canada Day BBQ on the weekend and that was fun and much drier. I also play bridge with my neighbours and Mary wanted to host a garden bridge party. Unfortunately all the dates selected didn’t work for me and I had to decline.

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I could go on about the BBQs I’ve attended , planning a trip to go to Calgary in two weeks, trying to maintain my garden, going to the dentist, and trying to keep the house somewhat clean but I don’t want to bore you. What I’m not doing is making art and I think that is part of my problem. I love all the things that I do but the most creative activity has taken a back seat. Kevin is painting up a storm but I haven’t been able to pick up a brush or pencil. I have to learn to say no and I have been doing that more often but I’m still busy. This weekend I’m making time to go to the cottage and I’ll bring a book and some art supplies.

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Some of Kevin’s abstract landscapes inspired by his trip to Ireland last fall

So I’m sorry that I haven’t been getting to my emails but I’ll try to do better. I’ll try to post at least one story a day. It might just be a photo of a flower or my husbands weekly art challenges but I need to get my groove back.

Monster Monday is Temporarily on Hold Due to the Cat

for the last four weeks we’ve been cat sitting

When my neighbour went into the hospital I volunteered to look after the cat in her home. My husband is allergic to cats or so we thought so for the first two weeks I went into my neighbour’s house twice a day to give the cat clean water and food and spend some time with him. When the weather got nicer I started letting him out for a few minutes every day. One day he came over to our porch where Kevin was sitting and they immediately bonded. Now the cat comes over every day and visits anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. We always feed him from his home and at night he sleeps there as well.

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Remarkably, Kevin’s allergies are pretty mild when the cat is around. Some days when he’s with us he’s very demanding of our attention and it interferes with Kevin’s ability to draw on his iPad. One day last week, he posted this drawing.

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This week Kevin’s time has been so devoted to the cat that instead of a monster he came up with this drawing instead. We apologize to the fans of Monster Monday but they will return in the near future.

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Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Nostalgia

thanks to Sue W and GC for hosting weekly prompts https://weeklyprompts.com/2023/06/14/weekly-prompts-wednesday-challenge-nostalgia-2/

As I get older I become more and more nostalgic. All kinds of things remind me of my past. Baking bread at the inn reminds me of our first trip to San Francisco where I first tasted sourdough white bread and my box of buttons reminds me of my mom and her button box. I even created a series of paintings called Needle and Thread that brought back memories of my childhood.

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Thursday Trios – June 15, 2023

….trios of art tools, rocks for weaving and hand-made bookmarks

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If you have any trios to share I’d love to see them. Just copy my link and paste it into your post and I’ll leave a comment when I get back from the cottage (no internet).

What if Yayoi Kusama did Wacky Bird Wednesday

another one of Kevin’s What if (insert artist’s name) Painted Wacky Birds

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation, and is also active in painting, performance, and video art.

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Opening Reception for Our Group Art Show

Saturday was the official opening reception for Artist’s Choice at WAAC

Last week I helped install this wonderful show. There were close to 90 pieces of art that needed to be hung. The installation team worked really well together and after about five hours all the pieces found a new home in the Dignam Gallery at WAAC.

On Saturday I went to the gallery to gallery sit from 11:00 to 1:00 and then the reception took place from 1:00 to 4:00. The turnout was amazing and I spoke to many visitors who asked about my art. Here are some of the highlights of the day.

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Here are some of the artists and their guests.

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