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\ My first visit to the Chao Phraya River in Thailand was thirty-two years ago and was amazing. My second visit was thirty years later and was a different experience. The photos in this collage were taken on my first visit to Thailand. We passed this river many times as we were taken around to visit many of the popular sites. It runs through Bangkok. The city itself is fascinating and I observed the Thai people to be very hard-working and very good cooks. I loved Thai cooking from that visit even when it wasn’t a popular cuisine in the Western world as it has become now. We visited Wat Arun and the Grand Palace which are architecturally very beautiful. As with most conducted tours, we stayed in fine hotels and were shown everything that was fine of the Thai way of life. ...

\ Life is full of surprises! I had an unexpected call last Tuesday night and was told that a surprise was in store for me on the Wednesday evening - a Mother’s Day surprise. Needless to say, I was delighted. The surprise was an evening at the ballet to see “Swan Lake” performed by the world-famous Bolshoi Ballet. The giver of this wonderful surprise was my son who shared this magical evening with me. This is what inspired me to do this collage. ...

\ The picture “Friends the Mitra” caught my attention at an Art Exhibition that I attended two weeks ago. I love the picture and also the name because my youngest brother’s name is Mitra. The artist is Shital Christy whose country of origin is India. I asked to take this photo and for an explanation of the reason for the name. She said that when the idea for the painting came to her, she was thinking of friends and their life-long bonding. The village ladies are fetching water from the well but they share their thoughts, problems, happiness, and their daily routines with each other as they fetch water. This daily routine creates a bond between them. She also told me that the name Mitra in Sanskrit means “friend.” ...

This collage is for Mother’s Day. We all come into this world via the womb of our mothers. Whether we love them or hate them, they remain our mothers. The most well-known image of any Mother and Child is the one of Mary holding the baby Jesus. You don’t have to be Christian to have seen this one. The image of Mary and Jesus in this collage was done as part of a bigger mosaic for my son’s birthday. The pieces here are stained glass. I used pearls around Mary’s face and there is another piece of my jewelry by her neck. I don’t know why I undertook such a big project, other than to say, I did it out of love. The hands and feet of the little people in the other images are friends of mine. We all want to make sure that our babies have five fingers and five toes when they are born. ...

\ Legend has it that I was a great tea drinker since I was a little girl. An older cousin told me that my grandfather had a little cup and saucer for me and whenever I went to visit, he would make tea for me. To this day, I love tea. My friends recently came back from China after a visit to show off their new Canadian born baby to parents and grandparents. I received a call on Tuesday asking if they could drop by as they brought something from China for me. In this pretty gift bag was a beautiful red and gold container with tea. They told me that this was one of the finest teas and it was a red variety. ...

\ It’s cherry pink and apple blossom time in Toronto. Last Sunday, I went to an Art Exhibition at which my watermelon carver friend was an exhibitor. She exhibited her photography. As I went towards the building that housed the Exhibition, I was enthralled by the garden there. I had seen the cherry blossoms in High Park two weeks ago They were magnificent. However, I was captivated by the colour of the bough hanging before me laden with bright fuschia coloured blossoms. After enjoying its beauty with the naked eye, I took this photo. ...

\ The unexpected happens - that’s just the way life is. This is true even for photo collaging. Chaotic sequences take place. In the process of making a collage, it is usual to have some sort of idea or theme initially for the photos you select and want to present. You then play around with these until you achieve the desired effect that you want. Through some error on my part in the initial process of photo selection for this collage, when I selected what I thought was one image and brought it into window, all the images from the folder came in and this is the result. That is why it is called “Chaos.” Almost at the same time, a thought came to me about something I had read on Chaos Theory. Although many books have passed through my hands during my working years, I can’t pretend to have read them all but some things come to mind from time to time. ...

“I, who cannot see, find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough shaggy bark of a pine.” ~ Helen Keller Hands of Time\ Thumbs up for “old hands” literally and figuratively. The hands in this collage are the hands of women in their sixties, seventies, and eighties. As time goes by, I’m fascinated with my own hands and how they have served me over the years. My own hands are in this collage as well as the hands of some wonderful other women I know. ...

Busyness\ “You are not too old and it is not too late to dive into your depths where life calmly gives out its own secret” ~Rilke The photos in this collage were images that I liked when I took them and had no idea that I would use them this way. While I was actually putting them together in a way that would be aesthetically pleasing to me, I reflected on the question of time. Time was always something that I never seemed to have enough of. It always flew. Busyness was my whole life, day in and day out.. I wondered often when there might be some time for other pursuits. Many other women I know have felt the same way. ...

Everyone irregardless of age loves surprises. Last Sunday night I received the most wonderful surprise - a carved watermelon. This lovely lady had done some beautiful fruit carvings for my 60th Birthday. She acquired this special skill in Thailand where she attended a month-long course.\ We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder As you can see from the “Watermelon Surprise” collage, this was a beautiful gift. I was overjoyed. I love eating watermelon during the Summer time and although it’s still Spring, a signal went off in my brain that Summer had indeed arrived. I was struck by this work of art before me and rushed to capture its beauty. I photographed it by itself and with other fruit and in all the different ways that I could think of. You can also see from the collage that it was cut, served, eaten, and enjoyed. There is a history behind this art and since my friend learned this art in Thailand, I wanted to know the background behind it. ...