happy spring equinox

Ho Ho Ho

Merry First Day of Spring!

About 3 inches of snow fell last night.

Fortunately the freezing rain forecast hasn't come.

The boys were quite intrigued by it all.

"Oh NO! Garbage Bags!"

(It's garbage pickup day)

Muji gives me a "Do you know what's out there?" look

I know it's been a while since I posted. Sometimes life gets in the way.

This time it was the death of a beloved friend.

I cling to the beauty around me for affirmation.

These beautiful creatures came out to graze in the field behind our house about a week and a half ago.

Keeping a watchful eye/ear on the road beyond

then moving on

so lucky to have them nearby

A weekend drive through Kingston to our favourite health food store in Greenwood took us by that same 1940's style bungalow that I've shown you each time we've gone.

We pass over the Annapolis River where I barely get a shot over the guard rail

a mansard roofed cutie on our way

Back at home Wally advised me to go see what the cats were up to.

a Muji Babu yin yang circle

another day with Muji in the zone

We have been trying to amp up the energy around here. March has been so changeable between rain and wind and snow and sweet bright springlike days.

I can relate to this little mouse on Google's first day of spring GIF

 who drags a bit of spring home only to go back to sleep.

In our desire to distract ourselves from some of our realities, we wandered one evening into one of our local secondhand stores where Wally found this sweet old typewriter "made in Holland".  He brought it home and cleaned it up, getting it in fairly good working order. The @/¢ on the far right hits the metal casing, the same problem someone online has, and the ? is just a period missing its top squiggle. Not so bad for $10.

Made in 1957, it was meant as a portable. It practically matches Wally's metal utility table that he found several years back in Muskoka making a happy mid-century modern pair.

I have been working in my Jane Davenport mixed media journal with some of her product, most especially her dye ink Mermaid Markers that create an intense, though not lightfast and certainly not water-stable, colour.

On the right hand side I subdued the brilliant background I showed you last time with a coat of gesso which allowed me to work with water over the highly resoluble inks. I built up this imagined portrait with hobby quality acrylic paint, more dye inks, some pencil crayon and a little bit of Jane's new watercolour line which I savoured opening, taking off the individual wrappings like a box of fine chocolate.

The page on the left didn't survive my too heavy handed application of gesso so I began laying tissue again with matte acrylic medium which makes a fine glue as well as a ground to work over. We'll see what comes of that.

So this is the mixed media portrait thus far with both of Jane Davenport's watercolour palettes above and a box of Faber Castell watercolour pencils which I didn't use, but that's how messy my desk gets. What I did use that I forgot to mention above was a white Sharpie paint pen for the highlights.

It's so easy to overwork these mixed media things. One is dazzled by the choices.  I find the biggest lesson to learn with all creative works is to let go of what was and embrace what ultimately is.

come to think of it

that's the greatest lesson of all

Granville Ferry and Peggy's Cove

It's been a busy time here as I prepared for company.. I missed a lot of great shots, distracted with my job as tour guide on the first day. But the second day in Annapolis Royal, I had my trusty camera at hand. Here are a few favourites.

The town of Granville Ferry across the Annapolis River from the historic town of Annapolis Royal.

a Granville Ferry Victorian

The garden of a little house I fantasized about buying when it was for sale 2 years ago.

I love the white garden of irises and a rose tree

Outside of Annapolis Royal we stopped for the view of the Annapolis River from the Annapolis Royal Generating Station dam where it harnesses the action of the tides to create electricity.

A view of the turbulent water directly below

The endless display of eddies, swirls and gushes 

One gets the impression that it is we who are moving.

This idyllic vignette lays right beside the gushing torrent.

A few days later we were back at Peggy's Cove, 2 months to the day we were there with my sister. 

My photographs are more personal this time. I was fascinated by the wrack, a type of seaweed that grows in the harbour

It is oddly mesmerizing in its underwater mystery

And here I fell for another tourist shot. A few old boats lay rotting about the cove for this very purpose.

And so ends this batch of holiday pictures. The extended spring continues here. I am most grateful for the reprieve from the intense summer heat that comes to the Annapolis Valley where we live. 

It is a kindness. I am on the lookout for such kindnesses.