Landlive & Stillscapces - the opening

This past Saturday was the opening reception of Landlives & Stillscapes. The weather outside was 34 degrees, but luckily the gallery was air conditioned. There was a great turn out, much lingering and visiting.



We set up still lives around the gallery to reflect our studio atmosphere.



There were also gifts of beautiful flowers.



Thanks to you all for coming out and contributing to the success of the show.

A thank-you to the Coole girls

See that cute little chalkboard garden label? Well, it's one of many given to me as a Christmas present from the sweet Coole girls.

Thanks so much. They a a wonderful addition to the garden.

Garden Update

Thought I'd do a quick post on how the garden's growing. This recent heat and all the rain has caused everything to shoot up and bloom. It looks fantastic!



The tarragon has now reached the six feet mark! What am I supposed to do with all of it? We were actually discussing growing it as a hedge around our fence, as it's a perennial, thick, and tall. To think that heaping mound started with a few seeds in a tidy row only about five years ago.



We've also been harvesting radishes and strawberries for the last couple of weeks. And this week my first snapdragon bloomed. Woo hoo. A bit different from the June post, hey?

Pie Therapy

Yesterday I was grouchy --- really grouchy.

I was feeling rushed, and tired, and too busy. I was finishing off things that had to get done, but somehow nothing was really working out and something I thought would be a quick job ended up taking several hours. You know when you have days like that?



Well, I finally just stopped. I was tired of myself (imagine how my wonderful helper felt). Instead I took some time to do something that I like to do. I ignored my email, didn't return calls, and stopped thinking about stuff I could put off until today --- and I made pies.

I made a wonderful Empanada Gallega (Galician Pork and Pepper Pie) from a recipe found online. It was dee-lish. I also made a true bumbleberry pie with Saskatoon berries collected earlier while taking the dog for a walk, and supplemented with strawberries and rhubarb from the garden.



Of course we enjoyed the left over pie this morning for breakfast!

Sneak Peek

Well, today was the day that we installed the Landlives and Stillscapes show. It sort of felt as though we'd never get there, and here we are. It went up pretty quickly and we all agreed that it looked good.



So if any of you are in Edmonton this July please stop by for a visit and tell us what you think.

New things, Old Things

There have been some interesting arrivals in our house lately.

Firstly, I finally used my Chapters gift card stock pile on a big book order. Check it out -



The John Singer Sargent - the Early Portraits book is one I have coveted for a long time and I am not disappointed. It has quite an interesting write up on each of the portraits, as well as his preparatory drawings and watercolour sketches (which I find very interesting as a way to understand his process).

Also in the mix is Bend-the-Rules Sewing by Amy Karol of crafty blog Angry Chicken. I mostly wanted to get this because I've been reading so much about it online. I ordered it sight unseen, which I rarely do. It's quite a beginner book, but still looks like it has stuff for more experienced sewers too.

Also, a re-release of To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. The re-release sports the original jacket design which is really, really beautiful.

Denyse Schmidt's Quilts book finally lives in my house - yippee! I look at this book every time I go to the book store, but never buy it knowing it's so much cheaper to order online, which somehow I hardly ever get around to doing.

Lastly, Michael Chabon's latest The Yiddish Policeman's Union. I love his novels, especially The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Also I heard a book review on CBC radio that had this new release on it's top 5 summer book list.




A recent trip to the Antique Mall brought home four fantastic Fritz Hansen Series 7 chairs. How great is that, especially when they were very under priced at $32 a piece! Gotta love when that happens!

Happy Canada Day

What a great way to spend the morning.



Visiting in beautiful gardens with perfect coffee, fresh strawberries, and peonies.



Great pancakes, triple cooked sausages, with champagne and orange juice.

Gorgeous weather, a great band, and wonderful friends.