Starry Nights in Oil Pastel and Watercolour

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….children in grades one, two and three create their own version of Van Gogh’s Starry, Starry Night

Once again I was inspired by Carla Sonheim’s Free Kids Online Art Classes. In week two Diane Culhane introduced the kids to a crayon resist night sky.

The children loved how the watercolour brought up the crayon designs, especially the white marks. They also loved sprinkling salt over their creations. The concept of cutting out a black silhouette of a city or country skyline was a bit more challenging, especially for the grade ones. Here’s a collection of paintings created by my grade two class.

A Trip to Hamilton, Hot Sauce and Baby Time

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…spending the day with my daughter and baby Winnie

November has been a blessing as far as the weather goes. We’ve experienced Indian Summer in the last two weeks. Temperatures were in the double digits, well above normal. People were back in sandals and lightweight clothes. The trees are finally dropping their leaves, leaving beautiful carpets of colour all over the sidewalks. IMG_6741

My daughter still has hot peppers in her garden. Her husband has been busy making numerous batches of hot pepper sauce.

Miss Winnie is now over three weeks old. She basically eats, sleeps and poops. She is starting to lift her head and she is beginning to focus on objects in her surroundings. When I arrived she had just been fed and she was sound asleep. I held her for awhile and then we decided to take advantage of the good weather and go for a walk. We bundled her up and buckled her into the stroller. I’m not sure why she needs to be buckled. She’s not going anywhere.

With Lucy at our side we walked through the neighbourhood. It was fun seeing all the left over Hallowe’en decorations on people’s front lawns and the last few remaining flowers making a final showing before the frost sets in. We stopped at a local cafe and bought chai lattes to go and a little something to take home and eat. We would have stayed but we had the dog with us so G stayed outside while I went inside to order.

When we got home the baby finally woke up and of course she was hungry. She ate for a long time and then she became quite fussy, probably due to a little gas. I laid her over my lap and rubbed her back. It helped a little but after an hour the only thing that worked was more time with mommy. She finally fell asleep again. IMG_6748

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Three Day Quote Challenge – Day 3

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….thank you Elizabeth for encouraging me to participate in this challenge

Through my photography I have discovered beauty in every season.

“Many people find November dark and depressing as gardens are put to bed and plants  wither and begin to decay. I see interesting shapes and colours and the seeds that will bring new life in the spring.” – Carol Cormier 2015

“If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”
– Vincent Van Gogh

Elizabeth from Tea and Paper invited me to join in this challenge. I was hesitant to do so because I’m not into quotes but I’ve always enjoyed reading other people’s thoughts. I truly believe in the beauty of nature so Van Gogh’s quote was perfect for me and I’ve finally expressed how I feel about the decline of the plant kingdom in November in my own quote.

The rules are for this challenge are as follows:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you
• Publish 3 quotes on 3 consecutive days on your blog. It can be your own, or              from a book, movie or from anyone who inspires you.
• Nominate 3 more bloggers to carry on this endeavor

My third nomination for this challenge is Jill from Jill’s Art Journal. Jill is a creative and fun loving artist. She loves to share her art experiences and encourages others to draw and paint. I love her humour and positive outlook on life.

Three Day Quote Challenge – Day 2

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….thanks to Elizabeth from Tea and Paper for nominating me

For day two of this challenge I had to share a photo of my new grandchild.

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If your baby is “beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time,” you’re the grandma.”
— Theresa Bloomingdale

The Rules for the Three Day Challenge are as follows:

Thank the blogger who nominated you.
Publish 3 quotes on 3 consecutive days on your blog. It can be your own, or from a book, movie or from anyone who inspires you.
Nominate 3 more bloggers to carry on this endeavour.

The second person I’d like to nominate is Jodi at Life in Between. I love her wonderful outlook on life, her delicious recipes, amazing photos and her beautiful handmade cards. She is a very gifted, creative and talented person. Check out her blog

Three Day Quote Challenge – Day 1

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I was invited by the talented photographer, Elizabeth, from Tea and Paper to participate in a “3 day quote challenge”. I was hesitant at first because I’m not one to recite quotes from memory but I did find that the internet has an abundance of quotes on practically any topic. Thank you for challenging me, Elizabeth!

The rules are:

Thank the blogger who nominated you.
Publish 3 quotes on 3 consecutive days on your blog. It can be your own, or from a book, movie or from anyone who inspires you.
Nominate 3 more bloggers to carry on this endeavour.

“Food is better in November than any other time of the year.”
― Cynthia Rylant, In November

My husband made this delicious roasted vegetable tart. He got the recipe from Ottolenghi’s cookbook, called Plenty. He’s made this recipe several times and even though there is a fair bit of prep work to roast the vegetables and caramelize the onions, it’s well worth the effort.

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My first nomination for this challenge is Melissa over at Aran the Artisan. She is a young woman who originated from the U.S. and moved to Ireland where she married her sweetheart. Melissa and her husband live on the Aran Islands, raising their five beautiful children all the while learning how to use traditional and modern methods to live and forage off the land and the sea. Her blog is a must see.