The Benefits of Rising Early

….quiet and the sunrise

I’m normally a night owl and don’t tend to wake before 8:00 in the morning. Today, however, I had to drive my daughter to the airport so I was up at 6:00. It was still dark when we left the house shortly after 6:30 but on my return I could see an orange line along the horizon. It was bitter cold but I decided to venture out of the car when I reached the park at the end of our street and I started to take a few shots of the sky over the lake. In the first shot you can still see the moon in the sky.

The waves and the freezing temperatures created some beautiful natural ice sculptures along the shoreline.E7B43E5F-0B53-490E-83FD-E4AC6F110422496C5289-472A-4D03-A68B-6844B6AB3975_1_201_a7E2AFCC5-971C-4AD8-B7D9-092809E17755

Just when I thought it couldn’t get better the sun actually came up over the horizon line. It was spectacular.7B363C3D-5798-4FDA-B640-6EEA1DDF7C36_1_201_aCCB01B98-BBD6-4D39-B25F-AFF65AC88C47_1_201_aD2D94931-BC7E-4DBF-B8C5-025F53BC2249_1_201_a

An Icy Morning Light

….thanks to Becky B for hosting January Squares

I had to get up very early this morning to drive my daughter to the airport. The plus side of this favour was that I was up early enough to see the sunrise. I loved playing around with different angles and was fascinated how the morning sun reflected off the icicles along the shoreline.D341AC28-4E26-4DBF-AC3F-A49B86AF0464_1_201_a

A “Flow” of Creative Paintings

…thanks to Rainee for hosting the 30 Day Creativity Challenge

Although Rainee has completed her 30 days I’m only on day 9. Today my creative activity was taking in the creativity of others. I made a trip to the Women’s Art Association of Canada in Toronto and took in the new show called Flow. I was truly inspired by the work of these amazing artists.

Monday Windows – Exploring the Older Neighbourhood

…do you have any windows to share for Monday Windows

Today I wandered into some parts of my neighbourhood that I’ve never explored before. I’ve lived here for over 41 years but there are streets further east towards Mimico that have eluded me. Today the conditions were perfect for walking.

Many of the homes that I saw today are close to a hundred years old and are need of some TLC but the charm and original beauty came through the blistered paint and rusty eaves. Others were in great shape and some were replaced with new and more modern structures.

Some of the newer places were meant to look old but many were very modern with large windows and simple lines.

The Beauty and Power of Lake Ontario

….caught these images in a two hour window of sunshine today

Lake Ontario sits about 100 metres from my house. After a miserable day of rain yesterday and grey skies this morning the sun decided to come out. It was a glorious period of time, although short and I managed to get some photos of the lake as the waves crashed along the shoreline. I also managed to get in a two hour walk through the neighbourhood and explored some areas that I had never seen before (more about that in another post).

Penguin, Penguins Everywhere

…theme for this year’s One of a Kind exhibitor’s competition

Penguin Random House Canada hosted this year’s competition so the penguin was an obvious choice for a theme. There were just too many to show all of them here but I chose some of my favourites to share with you.

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