Do you know that International Friendship Day is August 6th? This is a wonderful time to reflect on the important role that friendship plays in our lives. We need our friends just as much as they need us. When I thank one of my dear friends for anything, and I voice how special her friendship is to me, she always says: “It’s a mutual fan club.” We both appreciate each other. ...
[caption id=“attachment_3699” align=“aligncenter” width=“584”] Water supports all our endeavors, from the simple task of making paint flow, to sustaining life. It is the common denominator that all humanity shares. (Sharon Crosbie)[/caption] July is World Watercolor Month. I read this in a magazine at Indigo sometime in June and it inspired me to buy some watercolours. At the very end of this post, I will give the History of World Watercolour Month as I found it on the internet. There was a secondary motivation coming into play to get down to this project of trying to watercolour. My friend and former neighbour of many years, who is an accomplished artist, invited me to go to Tuscany for a week in September to paint. She went last year with a group and is herself one of the organizers this year. While this was very appealing, it occured to me that I could have Tuscany right here in Toronto. Why wait for a week in Tuscany to paint? ...
Canada’s 150 Birthday is on July 1st which is this Saturday. In this Sesquicentennial year for Canada, I find myself thinking back to the time in 1968 when I first arrived here. That was forty-nine years ago. I will be having a semicentennial year in 2018. Fifty years have flown - some years more swiftly and more pleasantly than others. Over the years, I have seen and experienced many changes in this great country and there have been changes taking place deep within me as well. I’m excited to be here to join in the celebrations for Canada’s 150th Birthday. Bring on the cake, champagne, and, of course, the fireworks. Let’s celebrate! ...
“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.” (Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free) Resilience is one of those words that I don’t quite understand, especially in relation to myself. When I’ve seen it in other people or heard other people describe resilience, it’s always been in the face of some terrible situation or happening that has taken place or is presently happening in a person’s life. The person speaking usually says of the person experiencing this event or situation that: “he/she is resilient and can get through this” or some similar cliche. Two phone calls I had this past week have given me reason to think about how resilient we are all called to be in this life. ...
[caption id=“attachment_3607” align=“aligncenter” width=“584”] “The lilac branches are bowed under the weight of the flowers: blooming is hard, and the most important thing is - to bloom. (“A Story About The Most Important Thing”)” ― Yevgeny Zamyatin[/caption] Spring is that glorious time of year when every leaf, flower, shrub, and grass is a welcome sight. I like to think of it as the magic of spring. It doesn’t matter how beautiful and glorious last year’s spring and summer were, we relish the present year’s spring with abandon. “Every spring is the only spring — a perpetual astonishment.” - Ellis Peters. ...
A day just for mothers! The person who thought up this day did so the year her mother died. (1905) She campaigned for three years for this recognition of Mother’s Day and in 1908 it came into being in the United States. It’s usually celebrated the second Sunday in May. Here are the Wiki facts: “The modern holiday of Mother’s Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. … Her campaign to make “Mother’s Day” a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died. Having this holiday helps families to bond and so I think it’s a great idea despite all the commercialism that surrounds the day. ...
This post about Quilling is in response to a question I had on Facebook “What’s involved?” You need strips of paper in different colours, a quilling tool (with purple handle in photo below) and glue. A pair of scissors would be handy - although you could easily tear off the paper. My own experience with quilling is very new. In the condo where I live, we had a Sunday afternoon craft workshop recently and all of us in attendance were introduced to the art of paper quilling. Paper quilling has been around for a long time. “The art of quilling dates as far back as the 16th and 17th centuries when the French and Italian nuns and monks would decorate reliquaries, holy pictures, and frames with quilled pieces.” (Paper Quilling for the first Time) It’s very easy to do and fun. After that introduction to quilling, it was something that I wanted to explore. I found myself online looking for quilling supplies and ordered a beginner’s quilling supply kit. Since then I’ve been having lots of fun. ...
Another International Women’s Day is upon us and I see signs all around me that women are becoming bolder these days about what they are willing to put up with - e.g. the big January 21st Women’s March in Washington and cities around the world to protest Donald Trump’s presidency. As The Globe and Mail’s Ian Brown writes, “the battle of the hats between red ‘Make America Great Again’ ball-caps, worn by Trump’s supporters, and the knitted pink so-called ‘pussyhats’ worn by protesters at women’s marches, is one of the most telling and unexpected sideshows to have emerged in the bitter political contest between Trump and women all over the world.” Don’t be fooled by those pink “pussyhats.” ...
Who doesn’t remember the love songs of their youth? Those lyrics that reached right into the adolescent heart where the first flames of “forever” love and “happily ever after” love burned. Those songs were sung over and over again, played on the radio every day, danced to at every party - and it’s hard to forget them or that time in my life. Some of you may also have fond remembrances of these songs and the romantic feelings that they engendered in youth. I should add that Valentine’s Day is very different for me at this stage of life. I feel the universality of being loving and being loved as fundamental to life and am glad that this day makes me think of others this way. “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” ― Dalai Lama XIV, The Art of Happiness ...
It’s exciting that another Lunar New Year is upon us. Toronto’s Dragon City Mall in Chinatown was very busy yesterday as people were buying their last minute decorations, food, and gifts. The holiday is being celebrated on January 28th and 29th. I took a few pictures which I will share with you throughout this post. According to the Chinese Zodiac, this is the Year of the Rooster. Red is the predominant colour for Chinese New Year as it is such an auspicious colour. ...