carnival comes to town

So OK. You probably know by now if you have been visiting here for the last 7 1/2 weeks, that I've been on a virtual adventure in an online class called Mermaid Circus which is available to join til the end of August, at which time the class will evaporate into the ether. There has been a lot of talk amongst this happy crowd about resurrecting it, or something like it or something altogether different but the same in energy. I have never witnessed or been a part of an online experience such as this. The cup has certainly runneth over.

So inspired are we classmates, that many of us have discovered or resurrected our own creative energy. I include myself as you may remember how at odds I've been with my muse. So, though the circus is still not my "thang" LOL, I ran away this morning to "join" it, or more correctly "enjoy" it as we discovered a carnival had come to town.

Of course, carnivals don't really come to life until evening, so I got to see this world from a different point of view

 



Going midmorning meant a more surreal perspective as I got to watch the "carnies"

 fine-tuning the rides.

 



Workers everywhere

This fellow thought he recognized me from last year, but how can that be?

I've always wanted to meet my doppelganger

Of course there's no better excuse for pumping up the saturation of colour

than the stands at a Midway

I've had a lifelong love affair with kitsch

 

Take kitsch and mix it up with reflection as this popstand window offers

and that makes me very happy

 

The Bowler Roller

How about an elephant ride?

 

The Carousel

 

Cool Kamikazi Light Bulb Shadows

 

The Ferris Wheel

 



The Zipper Backlit

I loved both these shots so you get 2 for the price of one:

The Zipper facing into the Sun

 

 Hamburgers Fries Poutine

Poutine (pronounced pooTEEN) is a Quebec delicacy that has swept Canada consisting of homefries (now French fried potatoes) layered with cheese curds (now shredded cheese) and gravy (now out of a package). Delicious either way, naughty either way.

 

And finally, WATER

 

The mermaids are going to get a good dose of this. One of the things our teacher have encouraged us to do is to use our own resources, even photocopying past favourite paintings of ours to incorporate into our collages. Why has this never occurred to me before?

 

As you can see the weather has been gorgeous, so it's been a hard day to sit indoors and colour correct pictures, but all worth while in the end for now I can refer to my own work, not forgetting that there are many many artists who have created for the circus/carnival. These rides and toys and booths didn't come out of nowhere!

 

Happy Day

pumpkins and stitching

And hello once again from my new home in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia.
It was another jolly weekend, making our way over to Wolfville to the farmers market.  We certainly didn't need much of anything but my passion for supporting the organic farmers had me buying the last of the local green beans and tomatoes we'd be seeing as the edge of the frost veers closer. (Today, though, is a balmy 20 degrees C.)

 

Outside the building, despite the damp cold, this young man played a spiritual riff on the didgeridoo.

 



 

A pumpkin decorating contest was being held by the vendors. These are turkeys!

 

A union jack teapot with a funny yellow zucchini for a spout and hollowed out gourds for teacups.

 

 

I still haven't figured out what kind of creature this is supposed to be, but delightful all the same.

 

 

a jeweller did up this small gem

 

 

and just for fun, I got into the act too.

 

 

After the market we went over to the designer food market, called Pete's, the only place I can find one of my favourite staples, grapeseed oil.

 

 

It is a remarkable store, with wonderful exotics like persimmon and Indian jujube. While most of it is quite pricey for our meager budget, there is always some extra treat we walk out with. This time it was lychees and raw cocoa nibs. Yum!

 

 

 

Tomorrow I will share more pictures of our wonderful weekend, but for now I leave you with this little handstitched piece I did up in my new recylcled paper sketchbook that I am so enjoying.

 







 

Wishing you joy.

 

 



 

the biggest beet in nova scotia

Hello again from our new home in Kentville.
It is the sweet time of the year when the fridge is brimming with vegetables.
Since we've arrived here, vegetables have played a bigger role in our diet as I've had to stay on top of the beautiful produce I've brought home from our twice weekly trips to the Farmers Markets.

On Saturdays we try to make it to the Wolfville Farmers Market which is housed in a long low building that is open at one end and has tables set up for eating at the other. It is always so festive there and I get a kick out of the crowds it attracts, delighted that so many people take this sort of thing seriously.

On Wednesdays we try to get to the Kentville Farmers Market as well. It is so important to me to support the young farmers who sell their beautiful organic veggies.  This lumpy beige thing in the foreground is a beet, winner of the largest beet grown in Nova Scotia, grown by Amanda from whom we've been happily buying the most lovely purple tomatoes, white beets with purple stripes and our latest discovery, Arctic Kiwi.  What fun to try these exotic varieties knowing they're so good for us too! 

 

Creative work still awaits me.  Today marks the 7th week since our arrival. It surprises me how early it gets dark, 7:30 already too late for a sunset walk. This weekend will afford us some time to start the renovation.  We've finally committed to a new toilet so that's another part of our thanksgiving.

 

I heard somewhere that if gratitude was the only prayer we made it would be enough. Like forgiveness, it is the gift you give yourself. Happy Thanksgiving.

 

 



Sunday at the Fair

 

 

It is the Autumn Solstice today and what a heavenly entry into this time of year,  with nature so ripe with bounty and beauty.  We have been SO lucky with the balmy days we've been having. 

I am still reeling from our trip to North Bay yesterday to pick up a deal on an Italian Necchi sewing machine   (More about that later)   We picnicked afterwards in the evening sunlight by a marina on the shore of Lake Nippising and watched people walk their dogs.  Afterwards we strolled along the boardwalk ourselves,  and then down the long pier where people were fishing.   I love the fresh lake air and the "sweet light" of the fading day,  seagulls reeling overhead.

Now one last installment of the Bracebridge Fall Fair

Yet another friend brought me for a morning visit to see the chickens... but don't they move and jerk so that barely any of my shots are salvageable!

so I only have a few birds to show you like this handsome rooster

 

this wonderful goose who bobbed a lot too

and was very honky.

 

These 2 little ducks made the most of their time,  visiting with each other.

 

This pigeon, however,  stayed very still... as if he was stuck?

Do you like cows?  I love them.  I don't know why they fascinate me so.  Could it be their size contrasted with their gentleness.  I am alway touched by the innate gentleness of animals that are given lots of love.

This girl was very mooey while I was there.

 

It made you wonder who or what was she missing.

Other cows were being led off for their baths because, of course,

they were going to be put on show.

This lovely girl is in the middle of hers,

 

doleful, but satiny clean.

 

This shy baby has just had its bath with his brother who

took great pleasure warming himself in the warm morning sun.

 

Like this little girl, I am thrilled by these gentle beasts

though sometimes I, too, have my misgivings for they are so BIG!

 

Back to my friend's house

Thought you might enjoy these vignettes of her lovely country kitchen

 

I send you my wishes for abundance and joy in your life.

Friday night at the fall fair

It is Friday night, 10 days since my last post.   Taking a vacation from my etsy store still seems odd after spending such an intensive time promoting it.  But I am grateful for the break as I reconsider the point of my creating things.  I keep remembering a line from the 60's animated movie "The Point" : "It ain't necessary to possess a point to have yourself a point."   That will sound odd to those of you who have never seen it, but it was about a boy, Oblio, who had a round head in a village where everyone had a pointed head.  He set forth to seek his point (his purpose) in much the same way that I seek mine.

Blown away by the biggest pumpkin with a fellow admirer

Autumn is definitely settling in with our first frost last night.  It is  such a precious and fleeting time of year and for me there is no better way to celebrate it than with a trip to the Bracebridge Fall Fair.  It is also a great place to seek out that which resonates.   I am such a dilettante when it comes to gardening, but I do admire a well-turned vegetable.

carrots!

 

a handsome kohlrabi

a jaunty quartet of beets

 

We walked up and down the aisles admiring the charming displays of flowers, vegetables, quilts, story writing, knitting, painting, photography, memorabilia of days gone by and so on.  I get very emotional looking at a lovely cleaned but not washed potato or somebody's oddly shaped carrot.  There is so much care and pride in submissions and their display.

First prize for a lovely medley

 

Second prize for a creative composition

The step dancing and championship fiddle music made you want to run in circles

which this little girl did while we shared a heaping order of poutine - a French Candadian invention of homecut French Fries smothered in gravy and cheese curds - yum!

Meanwhile, outside... the Midway!

 

What a joyous noisy festive evening.  There are more pictures to come.

Welcome to new follower Hedera who does such beautiful and meticulous botanical drawings.