…thanks to XingFu Mama for hosting the Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge https://xingfumama.blog/2022/01/30/whatsoever-is-lovely-challenge-2022-week-4/
I cleaned off my art table and I am now ready to start painting again. Yay!
After waiting five months we finally had our new couch delivered.
After closing down because of COVID restrictions the Centennial Park Conservatory reopened yesterday. What a wonderful time just browsing and taking photos of these beautiful flowers.
….no Monday Blues here
….we still need a name for this drippy fellow
….and Kevin’s mice helpers came by to help celebrate Sevin’s second birthday
….sorry that I’m a day late
It’s no secret that my husband is not a fan of squirrels but he isn’t completely heartless. Back in October of last year he heard this strange noise coming from the outside of the house. It was heart wrenching to hear because it was clearly an animal in distress. He quickly ascertained that the noise was coming from the downspout. Somehow a squirrel had managed to get stuck.
Kevin quickly removed the bend in the spout and lo and behold a tail popped out. There was no doubt that it was a squirrel but even after removing the extra bit of downspout the little fellow was still stuck. I suggested that he get some gloves on and gently pull on the tail. Unfortunately in doing so the tip of the tail came off. We knew that we couldn’t leave him like that so Kevin grabbed the tail higher up and pulled again. This time he was able to free the squirrel. You never saw a squirrel move so fast.
Over the next few months we’ve kept our eyes out for Stubby (Kevin even named this squirrel) and we knew he was okay when we saw him around the bird feeder. I’m glad to report that the tip of the tail is growing back.
In honour of Squirrel Appreciation Day, Kevin has painted a picture of Stubby.
…on January 19th Chester is celebrating Edgar Allan Poe’s Birthday
….and his favourite book is The Raven.
….turns out they would rather play in the snow
Yesterday and then again today Kevin spent a considerable amount of time shovelling snow. His little mice friends came to help but they ended up making snow people instead.
….and just in time for the big snow storm
What could be better than a Yeti for today’s Monster Monday?
….first massive snowfall in over two decades
When I say first, I mean the first snowfall with 40 to 60 cm accumulation. Snow days in this city are rare and I remember as a kid and even when I was teaching we would dream of snow days. Buses were often cancelled but schools were open and teachers were expected to go to work. Many teachers who lived north of the city frequently couldn’t make it because the snow conditions were usually worse.
The irony, of course, is that today was the first day kids were supposed to go back to in-school learning.
As pretty as it was, the snow continued into the afternoon and major highways around the city were closed due to high winds, drifting snow and accidents. The message from city hall stresses staying home and staying off the roads. The high winds that are expected in the next hour or so will make the problems worse. I’m happy to stay home and glad that I don’t need to go anywhere. Even if I did I wouldn’t be able to get out of my driveway and when the snow ploughs do finally arrive they will probably push more snow in front of the driveway. No point in stressing. Enjoy the snow for the day.
…just discovered this challenge ….thanks to XingFu Mama for hosting https://xingfumama.blog/2022/01/16/whatsoever-is-lovely-challenge-2022-week-2/
Seeing I missed the first week of this challenge I’m going to post photos from the last two weeks. I met my youngest granddaughter for the first time over the Christmas holidays. On January 8th our son, daughter-in-law and Sevin returned to London, England after spending two weeks with us. The first two photos show Sevin just before she left for the airport and sleeping on the plane.
…using watercolour
Over the holidays our granddaughter from England came for a visit with her parents. When Winnie, our first granddaughter was very young I used to frequently see how much direction she would take when we did art together and I was always surprised at how much she would remember from one visit to the next. As she got older she wanted to be the one giving directions and we had to follow her lead when we did art together.
On this recent trip, Sevin’s parents asked me if I would do watercolour with her. It was a medium that up to this point they hadn’t tried with her. I wasn’t sure if she was old enough but I thought nothing ventured, nothing gained so after spending a week with us and becoming more and more comfortable with us we set up a painting station on the dining room table. Mama and Papa went out for a walk and Sevin and I started the painting process. We taped down the paper and I tried to teach her how to wet the brush and dip it into the paint. She loved making puddles on the paper and seeing how the colours reacted with each other. I talked about how red and blue make purple (two colours she gravitated to the most) and how we should clean the brushes between colours. It didn’t always work but when one painting was done I quickly removed it from the board and taped down a new piece of paper. We did this as least five times.
While we painted, her grandfather came along and joined us. It was a real family affair. After some of the paintings dried I showed Sevin how to add more marks to the painting, using crayons. She has a nice swirl technique that she added to one of the paintings and it ended up being the painting we matted and will probably frame. When her parents returned from their walk they were most impressed with what Sevin had accomplished and I think they may try this when they get back to London.
Mama Cormier 