Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Curiosities

….thanks to Sue W. and GC for hosting Weekly Prompts https://weeklyprompts.com/2022/12/21/weekly-prompts-wednesday-challenge-curiosities/

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Ice formations at the edge of the lake
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A warty pumpkin
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An unusual chair at the V&A, London
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The infamous Capybara that escaped in the spring of 2016 – they were on the lam for more than a month before being found
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The largest rodent in the world at High Park Zoo – twice the size of the beaver
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A curious steer trying to eat my phone
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A natural structure at Hopewell Rocks, NB
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A colourful terrarium in the foyer of a fashion warehouse

College Royal is Back

….not as big as in years past but open non the less

In the past College Royal has attracted up to 30 000 visitors but in the last two years it was mostly virtual and this year it was limited to staff, students and family members. It was much smaller in size but we enjoyed our two days of exploring the campus, speaking to the exhibitors, learning new things, watching the dog show and walking through the barns.

If you had any doubts as to the what the University of Guelph is all about, College Royal highlighted the agricultural, veterinary and animal and food sciences. As a graduate of U of G I can tell you that there is much more to this university, i.e., Family and Child Studies, The Arts, Biomedical studies, Business and Economics, Athletics, Human Kinetics, etc.. Hopefully in future years College Royal will be back to hosting more clubs, more of the arts, fashion shows and will have more hands on activities and bring back the milkshakes.

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Three Generations of Guelph students, past and present

I Immediately Saw a Pig

….after laying down random splashes of watercolour

Once I saw the pig I couldn’t get him out of my mind so I knew that I had to include him in my next intuitive art piece. After I drew the pig I started to see other animals and of course more flowers appeared.

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Lens Artists Challenge – #86 – Treasure Hunt

….thanks to Travels and Trifles  for this week’s theme

This week’s theme is very long and detailed so I’m cutting and pasting the instructions here:

This week we’re going on a Treasure Hunt! The challenge is to search for specific items – either from your archives or newly captured – from the list below. Extra credit items are a bit more challenging. Focus on quality over quantity and hit us with your best shot(s)!  

  • Challenge Items: Sunrise and/or sunset, Something cold and/or hot, a bird, a dog, a funny sign, a bicycle, a seascape and/or mountain landscape, a rainbow, a church, a musical instrument, a boat, a plane, a waterfall
  • Extra Credit Items:  An expressive portrait of one or more people, a very unusual place, knitting or sewing, a fish, an animal you don’t normally see, a bucket, a hammer, a street performer, a double rainbow, multiple challenge items in a single image. My opening image, for example, includes a sunrise, a seascape and birds in a single shot. See how easy it is?! 😀

My favourite portrait of my granddaughter.

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Sunset at the cottage
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Strange fish
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Rhino at the Toronto Zoo
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Street Performer in Hamilton
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Sunrise in the Neighbourhood
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Water fowl in the Park
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Two more recent sunsets in the park
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In Search of the Perfect Tree

….an outing with the family

Last weekend my husband and I drove to Hamilton to our daughter’s house where I picked up her family and we drove about 15 minutes north of the city to a Christmas tree farm. It was most definitely a farm with ducks, goats, cows, rabbits and a donkey.

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We came fully prepared to cut down our own tree but as we explored the grounds we couldn’t find anything small enough to fit into our homes. My son-on-law always gets the biggest tree because their home has high ceilings but I was instructed to come back with a very small tree that would fit on a table. All the trees were over 10 feet tall and we could see that people had been cutting trees from the top. The only tree that we all liked had signs around it telling people NOT to cut it down.j-Q4sh-Emo-QKuw-G-4r-Ui-CLfg
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We enjoyed the walk through the property so not all was lost but we were disappointed in the selection. We got back in our cars and headed up north for a few more kilometres, back to the tree farm we went to last year. We weren’t sure that it would still be open because the owners are into their eighties and told us last year that that would be their last year selling trees. Luckily for us they decided to open for at least one more year. The pickings were great and we all found our perfect tree.Bqpduj-KEQ-gsj-Tb-D-q-Nv-A
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We drove back to Hamilton with our treasures inside and on top of the cars. Back at Gaelan’s house we were treated to a wonderful lunch and afterwards Winnie and I decorated Christmas cookies.YSrl-Nsw-FQa-C2h-Qe-Ec-MU7a-Q
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Finding Art in Sidewalk Cracks

….part of the Sketchbook Revival

On day one of Sketchbook Revival one of the two visiting artists was Carla Sonheim. You’ve heard me mention her many times on my blog because I’m constantly taking on-line classes with her. For this particular session, Carla had us look for animals or objects in a photo of sidewalk cracks that she provided. I’ve done this exercise many times with my students when I was teaching. It’s a lot of fun and it’s amazing how many different things people can find. Here are 3 animals and one person that I found in the same photo.fullsizeoutput-7781
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Lens-Artist Photo Challenge – Close-up

….thanks to Lens-Artist Photo Challenge for this week’s theme

Yesterday I went to the Toronto Zoo and took my Panasonic Lumix camera with the wide angle lens. I had a little bit of difficulty with the settings but I did manage to get some interesting close-ups of some of the animals.P1070440
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