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?

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.

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!

Jeepers Creepers.....

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

What a cute girl car!

Storm Warning

This silly pigeon got trapped in my basement window well overnight. He didn't seem keen to leave so I managed to get him standing on a shovel and lifted him out. He promptly went to hide behind my bushes. Apparently he spent yesterday on my neighbours porch and actually went into someone's house the day before. A very friendly pigeon.

But there was a thunderstorm approaching fast so I quickly went inside. The lightning flashed and the thunder rumbled, and suddenly the heavens opened and there was a torrential downpour, not only rain but hailstones too. There's my garbage can happily sailing down the street in the company of another garbage can from somewhere further up.

I braved the storm to scoop up some hailstones. Some were perfectly round and pure white. Others were irregular shaped chunks of ice. The largest were just over an inch in diameter. Good thing I parked my car in the garage just before the storm hit.

 And then I looked for the pigeon.... not in the window well and no longer behind the bushes. I hope he's OK. Being hit on the head by one of those chunks of ice wouldn't be much fun.

Just a Humble Cottage....

This humble unassuming little place started to go up a couple of years ago on a hillside with a fantastic view over the city of Toronto. On a fine day, you might be able to see the spray from Niagara Falls. But it would have to be a VERY fine day.

Who was it built for? Rumours were flying at top speed.

It was rumoured that it was to be a country home for Sir Elton John and David Furnish, just for use when they need to visit Toronto. But Sir Elton hasn't shown up yet. And he already owns at least five other homes around the world so why would he need another one?
Then there was a story that it belonged to a kingpin in the Russian Mafia. Nope. Nyet.
Then it was being built for an Italian millionaire. Who knows?

I just hope that if they have an Open House, I get invited.

Tulip Time

Spring flowers are so beautiful and they don't last long enough. As there are no tulips planted in my garden (will have to remedy that for next spring!), I bought myself a bunch and thought that I could make them last a little longer by painting their portrait.

Step 1..... outlining how I want to fill up the canvas, and it isn't always obvious to me what I really want to do. 

I tend to let things happen and splash paint around without a goal in mind.... not really the best way to plan a masterpiece. 

Step 2.... decide on a colour scheme and start mixing the paints. I never know whether to start on the background first or the subject matter. 

I think I did a bit of both in this picture.

But it needs more work, but what? 

So I hung it on the wall and looked at it for 3 weeks until I was fed up with it.

Step 3..... finally decided to have another go and added more detail and bolder colours.
I'm still not happy with it, but I'm not sure what it needs.
I think I need to simplify more... it's too busy.

It might look better in a frame.

Watch this space, there may be changes.

To all the artists out there.....any suggestions?