Back Home Re-energized and Inspired

Back after a lovely weekend with so many friends.

Before leaving spent the day with a group if fibre artists

we call ourselves Loose Threads

and so had to do a day's scratching with loose threads

think I've invented a new stitch!

The next day is my drive across the province to Oak Island

and subsequent days represent gatherings around tables

and mingling and interweaving of ideas.

Driving home my car automatically stopped at the usual

spots where we usually give the dogs a break if they're with us.

The Mersey river!

Wonder how many of them there are in the world!

Sorry Barb didn't take photos of the South Shore this time

Next trip.

In these parts

when a tree dies

we usually leave them in place

and carve them into bears

or suchlike.

Notice the 'Caution Cat Play Area'?

Kept that in for so many of you are companions to cats!

When You Need to

take things slowly

Observe a tiny little spiral among spent flowers

Hang with like-minded spirits

Relax with soft and gentle colours around you.

Roses Galore

 We walked our visitors around the Historic Gardens....

The roses blew me away!

 I couldn't stop myself....

 pointing the camera....

 and pressing that button!

'Twas a lovely day for a 43rd wedding anniversary.

Handy Hubby and I have been married 42 years.

Holy cow!

Happy Birthday Kaite!

Where the Herbalist Worked at Habitation

There is something about this photo that warms my heart.

It was taken in the herbalist's room at Habitation (Port royal).

I can just picture someone carefully crushing herbs with that pestle and mortar on the table....

Leaning back on a chair made from the trees outside and a skin from a hunting trip.

If that someone was me they would have discarded the clogs for a few minutes of foot freedom.

Apparently they wore clogs.

I didn't know the French (for it was them who landed at Habitation) used clogs.

Clogs clutter the floor in every room just waiting for visitors to try them out.

There might be a stitching in these three photos some time in the future.

Fooling Around with an Iris

A Bearded Iris is such a showy flower.

Having a bit of fun with the Iris and sandbar stitching.

Fuchsia in Bloom

 The sun came out!

And my magnolia simply had to burst into bloom in spontaneous celebration.

 Simply wondrous.

And a hummingbird whipped past me as I walked the garden.

So their feeder is now up, ready and waiting for them.

A fuchsia meeting point perhaps....

or a fuchsia explosion. 

Rusty brown and fuchsia look good together.

Could be bird migration routes across a fuchsia landscape.

Winter's Landscape

The lake has frozen over.
Wonder if we could walk to that top knot of an island.
Not me!  The rusty pups would if I let them.

The snow and ice simplify the landscape.
Living here outside the hustle and bustle of a winter's city, they simplify our lives too.
A season for reflection.

The skies can sometimes still look like a summery day.

As soon as you are out of the sun's rays your body temperature drops.
Time to get the rusty pups home.

Surfaces

A favourite of mine...not composed I promise...just as it was.
Here's a description of Miksang that I found on the web.  So much better than my feeble attempt at describing it.


Miksang, at its most basic level, is concerned with uncovering the truth of pure perception. We see something vivid and penetrating, and in that moment we can express our perception without making anything up—nothing added, nothing missing. Totally honest about what we see—straight shooting. 

Doors carved in Thailand....so much more than the doors in my home.

A wall with hundreds of repair scars and obviously in need of more.

Rust glow.

Markings.

Thinking that's enough man made things for now...back to stitching and nature!

Shapely Rounds

Balancing act...

Carvings in wood and clay...

Erosion on the pier...

Well rounded.
Just a few more photos from about town...
Now I'm back to preparing my scraps for Jude's boro class that starts tomorrow.

Ode to Rust

When I took a Miksang photography course, 
the last thing I expected was to be told "no nature photographs".
We were sent into town and had to find inspiration among the bricks and mortar of civilization.
Started off wondering if I would learn anything in an environment I wasn't interested in.

What I learned was not to be so close minded and just look.
Walk down main street and simply look for one design element such as line or texture.
When focussing on one element, it starts jumping out at you from every nook and cranny.

The process was to walk, look, and observe my reactions to what I was seeing....
Stop when something caught my eye....
and consider what exactly I had reacted to.

Then click away without trying to create a composition.....
....That was difficult.
Being a rustaholic I photographed all the rust in town.
But I did find other bits and pieces ....... more to come.

A Snow Day

Thick flakes of snow drifting down upon us...

Thick sticky snow that clings to everything...

Birds won't come to the feeder in a snowstorm.....
They need to eat .... they loose a huge percentage of their body weight during cold winter nights.
If you look carefully you can see that not one of my cranberries has been eaten...
But they do love my peanut butter and fat balls....

It might look like not a critter is stirring....
We know for sure the mice at least are busy creating a network of highways under the snow...
We will see the evidence when spring melts the snow.

Red

Remember the bright red cardinal?

This is the female's more subtle colouring.

And talking of red....

We only have the smaller red squirels in these parts...

Well, they are usually smaller.

This little one is getting fat stealing from the bird feeders!