Textures in Art at MOCA

Phyllida Barlow’s Eleven Columns

At the end of our son’s trip to Toronto we decided to check out the new Fall show at MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art). The one exhibition featured the British artist, Phyllida Barlows who sadly passed away earlier this year. Her installations were created from inexpensive, low grade materials such as cardboard, fabric, plywood, styrofoam and cement. As a result her pieces are very textural and fun to look at.

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Our son hamming it up

Pull Up a Seat Challenge – Take a Load Off…..

after a long hot day at the CNE

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That smile in the back didn’t last long

Thanks to Xingfu Mama for hosting Pull Up a Seat https://xingfumama.blog/2023/09/15/pull-up-a-seat-photo-challenge-2023-week-37/

A Special Visit

….arriving from London, England

On Thursday of last week, our son and his family flew in from London, England for a two week visit. It was a rocky start because Kevin and I were in the Emergency department of the hospital when Brendan’s flight arrived and we weren’t able to pick them up.

Luckily Kevin is okay but we felt we had to have him checked out after he had a nasty fall at home. After six hours of tests and waiting we were relieved to find out that there were no broken bones or internal injuries, just a nasty bruise, swelling and considerable pain.

Brendan’s flight wasn’t without complications either. In Montreal they had to change planes and just before take-off a truck hit the plane so there was a delay to make sure that there was no damage to the plane.

On Friday, we spent most of the day at home so that the family could recover from jet lag and Kevin could get some much needed rest. Andrea and Josie came over later to visit with the family and we had a very relaxed dinner in the backyard. I took Sevin to the garden and had her help me with harvesting some of the tomatoes and a squash. She was delighted.

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On Saturday, another special visitor came to stay for a week from the east coast. More about that tomorrow.

The Rockies

road trip to Banff

The morning started off cool and rainy. My brother-in-law lent us his old pickup truck which he affectionately calls Lucille, and we drove through the foothills of Alberta towards the Rocky Mountains.

As we got closer to Banff we started to see some of the mountains through the clouds but it wasn’t until we returned later that evening that we realized how much of the scenery had been obscured by the clouds. We were in awe.

As we approached Banff:

Throughout the day the weather constantly changed but towards late afternoon the sun started to peak though the clouds.

Not wanting to drive back to Calgary in the dark we left Banff around 7:00. This is when we realized how much of the Rockies we didn’t see in the morning.

Away on Vacation

….Will try to post but can’t make any promises

Last Thursday Kevin and I boarded a plane for Calgary, Alberta. We’re here visiting family and friends. My baby sister and her husband moved here right after they were married almost 40 years ago and I’ve only been here once to visit them. They’ve been back home many times. It was time….

A Perfect Weekend to Lay a New Floor at the Cottage

it pretty much rained the entire weekend

For years I’ve wanted to put down a nice light coloured vinyl floor in the cottage. When the flooring went on sale I quickly snatched it up and started to put it down by myself a couple of weeks ago. I bought a very small amount to see how easily it would come together and decided that with a little bit of help it was a doable project. So, last week after coming back from the cottage I returned to the store and bought 10 more boxes.

After two solid days of work we managed to lay down all the flooring we had. It was hard work but very rewarding. I’m still recuperating two days later.

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Our daughter who lives out east calls these Storm Chips…perfect snack on a rainy day
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The other good thing that happened this weekend is that we purged a lot of items that were on an old handmade open cupboard that was meant to be temporary (kept it for over 30 years) and we cleaned out the old storage bins under the counters. We made room in the antique oak cupboard and filled it with some of the dishes from the old cupboard. The remaining items went into the new storage boxes for now. We took the old shelf outside. It looks so much better.

Monster Monday – Two for the Price of One

seeing as how I missed last week’s Monster Monday I’m going to show you last week’s and this week’s in one post

Even if I haven’t been posting my husband continues to draw and paint and I have two very different monsters to share with you. They are both done on Procreate on an iPad. I think both monsters are sick and tired of this smoky air from the wildfires up north.

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