Walking the Beaches of Inverness

Our B&B was close to the beach in Inverness

We made sure we found time to walk the beach

at least twice a day

and what a treat that was.

The waves roared in across the Gulf of Saint Laurence

and some days the wind was quite something

but there is nothing like sea air to clear the cobwebs of the mind!

On one windy cloudless morning a juvenile eagle

flew right over us

and was already down the beach by the time I focussed the camera!

I found several pieces of sea glass

and some beautiful driftwood which I agreed to leave behind!

A boardwalk runs between the beach and the golf course

which Handy Hubby would have loved to play

.....perhaps another time.

Moody clouds scuttled over the beach one day.

I think we all love a beach

and the rhythm of waves and tides

Every evening

the sunsets were amazing.

Inverness County Centre for the Arts

Handy Hubby and I drove my work

all the way up to Cape Breton

We started with my Daily Scratchings

which now need a wall at least 21 feet long.

Don't you love the shadows dripping down from each loop.

We filled the walls

according to our plan which we previously worked

out on our basement walls.

Must say that trying to work out a hanging plan before we got there

really helped.

We had worked out all the kinks before getting to the gallery.

Working things out ahead was of course Handy Hubby's idea.

He often has such great ideas!

As we worked away hanging in our gallery

the artist and printmaker Maria Doering

was climbing scaffolding in another gallery

 as she worked on her installation "Inside Me".

SAQA Atlantic Canada show "Structures"

covers the walls around Maria's piece.

Outside the gallery knitted windsocks danced on the sea breezes.

So many thanks to Handy Hubby for all his help in all I do.

September Has Been Magnificent

September has been magnificent on the Basin

The Rusty Pups and I 

wanted to check out an old haunt

The Queen Ann Dyke which we avoid in tic season!

As you can see the grass has been cut

and gathered in bales....

....some neatly piled on farmers' trailers.

We know it's fall

'cos the osprey have left

and the geese are practising

Some flights are still a tiny bit chaotic

but they will practice up and down the Basin

honking away

until they get it just right.

Bringing it all Together

Behind the Woodland Scratchings

are stitches and knots

unchained by self consciousness

Around the measured edges edges of older works

bindings keep them on the straight and narrow

Daily Scratchings

neatly joined and folded

but no neat edging here.

Birthdays Come Around Every Year

Happy Birthday Steven

Miss you

Scratching The Surface - A Show

Letting you know

I am still stitching away for this

and slowly getting my mind around

all the administrative stuff....

....as well the six hours it is going to take us

to drive up there!

Will also have to steel myself

for a big opening

since the SAQA show

Structures will also

be there.

It is so natural to stitch away in my studio

openings are not so much!

But galleries full of textiles

is always a good thing.

Scratching Lately

What with organizing workshops

and my show

Not much time

Have to admit I am now using old samples

from early years and City & Guilds

to add to my daily scratchings.

I am happy to give them a home

where I will see them more often

than where they were filed away in boxes.

This thingy was stitched in the seventies!

Weeks joining weeks.

Weeks fading away in time

as memory fades in old age.

Though Handy Hubby remembers everything!

How does he do that?

A Special Gathering of Kindred Spirits

After a year of planning and organizing
Diane and I were able to welcome
A creative group of people
to ARCAC

for a week with Dorothy Cadwell
making Human Marks

What a great week we had.
Even the Carol Mahtab show
in the gallery downstairs
fit our workshop perfectly.

The weather was perfect
Diane created lunches for us to munch on outside

We made marks of every kind

some we hung in the garden to dry

then made them into books.

Dorothy was able to give each student a lot of individual attention

We were kept busy for five glorious days
and most evenings too.

Wish my battery hadn't run flat
I could have shown you photos of our last
evening with Dorothy
digging up earth at Red Head
and grinding it to a dust.
Then the perfect finish of Harold's fresh cooked
scallops and haddock.

With many thanks to
Diane who cooked and played house mother for the week
both at the art centre and my home;
Andi and Jocelyn who made us some lunches;
Handy Hubby who helped me host; 
and Rusty Pups who behaved quite well!

What a privilege it has been.
Now I am pooped!