Saturday 29 June 2013

Back Yard Barbershop

Big Boy Haircut
Little Boy Haircut























Next in line for the beauty treatment..... Tessa the Golden Doodle. Just kidding!

Monday 24 June 2013

North Challacombe Farm

I've been taking a couple of acrylic painting courses, and sadly they have now finished for the summer. I've really enjoyed meeting up twice a week with all the other participants and exchanging ideas with them. Everyone had a different style of painting, and our teacher was so encouraging. I'm sure even if you produced the worst painting he had ever seen, he would always find something good to say about it!

This is a farm scene near where I grew up in England. I found an old photo of the farm that had been posted on the internet. I should think this farm has stood at the base of the moors for close to 200 years.

First I blocked in all the basic shapes, and then started to add more colours and more details. It had numerous changes over a few weeks. The farmhouse changed colour about five times. It's called artistic licence!  In fact the greenish house you see in the framed version is now a lighter grey, giving more of a focal point.

The green detail in the foreground is pages torn from the 2013 Niagara Falls Tourist Guide.... the colours were just right!

Thursday 20 June 2013

Pipe Dream

YoungerSon has recently been building furniture using black iron pipe and plumbing fittings and recycled wood.

So far he has built a curtain rail, a coffee table and a bench, and they really look good... sort of "Industrial Domestic".

I saw this bedside lamp at a street fair in a nearby town. All made of plumbing fittings. It had been made by a local welder for his teenage son's bedroom. He was also building a bed and some bedroom furniture along the same lines.

I really liked the lamp so I'll show YoungerSon and perhaps he might like to try his hand at building his version of the same design.

Would you have a lamp like this in your house?

Sunday 9 June 2013

Four!

Isaac celebrated three fourth birthdays this year. Yes.... THREE!


The first 4th birthday was celebrated at his Montessori Pre-school classroom a week early. He was the V.I.P. for the morning and got to sit on the Birthday Chair while all the other children sat on the floor and sang to him and were allowed to ask him questions such as "What is your favourite animal?" (giraffe) "What is your favourite car?" (taxi).

And the fancy birthday cake is cardboard.... it gets recycled for every birthday!

Unfortunately the teachers lighter had run out of fuel and he had to pretend to blow the candles out. But he didn't mind!







The second 4th birthday was celebrated at the weekend with a family BBQ in the back yard. This time the cake was real, and so were the candles.

There's nothing better than a chocolate cake covered with multicoloured Smarties.

It was a nice sunny day and the paddling pool and the garden hose got a lot of use.



The third 4th birthday was on his actual birthday, when they finished up the remnants of the birthday cake and Isey and I went to watch his mummy play baseball. All excitement is over for another year. Happy Birthday Isaac.

Thursday 6 June 2013

Flower Fantasy

Now that Spring is here and the long cold winter is over (until next time), most people start planning some colour in the garden, and I'm no exception, even though I only have a tiny front flower bed and some plant pots out on my deck. So I went to my favourite Garden Centre to spend some money. This place is a little further away than many of the nurseries near me, but it's well worth a visit.

One of these lovely purple hanging baskets followed me home, but unfortunately the plant was damaged in a recent hailstorm, But I have my fingers crossed that it will recover with a bit of TLC..

Just look at those colours. Makes me wish I had a large garden! And a handsome gardener to look after it all, of course.

Peach begonias.... gorgeous.
I also bought a rhubarb root, and dug up a corner at the back of my house and planted it in good soil next to a sheltered wall where it will get lots of sunshine. It's currently sending 3 shoots about 5cm above the ground..... so I don't think I'll be enjoying rhubarb pie this year.... but I'm looking forward to next year!

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Jeepers Creepers.....

.... where'd you get those peepers....

What a cute girl car!