The Newest Additions

Yesterday was a most exciting day! Sofi and Benita have arrived as the newest four-legged members of our family. When my mom decided that she wanted to get a horse, we thought that an older horse would make it's way into the family, one that was low maintenance but still rideable.  Instead, we fell in love with Sofi. She is a nine month old Rocky Mountain filly who melted our hearts as soon as we met.

Research was quickly done to learn more about Rocky Mountain Horses and how much work it would be to train her. Everything we read talked about how these horses have an amazing temperament. This certainly seems true as Sofi is just as calm and friendly as can be, especially considering she is only nine months old.

Of course, my mom couldn’t just get Sofi and not get her a buddy to keep her company. And so Benita has also joined us.

Benita is a miniature donkey and is really quite small. We were a bit worried that she would be noisy. The roosters up the road already wake the neighbours up - what would they think if  the neighbours on the other side of them got a noisy donkey who brays all the time!?!? Luckily she has been very quiet and only heehawed once when she was first unloaded and a bit scared.

We have been pleasantly surprised by how good both Sofi and Benita have been with the dogs. Sofi was as cool as a cucumber when a neighbour’s dog barked right in her face and although donkeys do not apparently get along very well with dogs, Benita has taken quite a liking to my brother’s dog, Bailey, following her around like an old friend.

A big welcome to “the girls.” I’m sure we’ll have many stories to share…

Fun with Fonts

Despite my best intentions, I haven’t managed to get much done in terms of organizing or housework lately. On top of that, I haven’t done any knitting in the past two days, which is terrible since I have exciting projects that I want to finish.

I have, however, finally had a chance to do a little blurfing (e.g. blog surfing). Some of the blogs I came across were full of inspiration and you can find buttons that link to them on the right hand side down near the bottom. These lovely blogs led to others and somewhere along the way I saw a font that made me stop in my tracks and wonder why I have only ever stuck with what my laptop already had. I mean really, I have business cards and jewelry tags and now they seem so boring. I went on a search for the font I had seen and along the way I found all these other beauties. I thought I would post them in the spirit of sharing inspiration and here they are by name. (I had thought of including one for every letter of the alphabet, but then I would have to look for more and also leave some out, so never mind.) There were all free and most were from www.abstractfonts.com/ in case you also feel the need for a little something extra special for your graphic designing needs.

 

BURGOYNE INITIALS

Dead Hardy

ecolier

effloresce antique

first crush

gessele

herrcooleswriting

hyacinth

i-hearts

leaf1

Lewis F Day 191

lizzielongstocking

miss claude

nostalgic

  porcelain

sir talks a lot

spring

vassallo

worstveld sling extra

Long overdue…

I have neglected many things, including this little corner of cyberspace, over the past six months. Now that I have completed my B. Ed. and am awaiting my teaching certification I have time (and no excuse!) not to remedy the situation. So here is a little recap…

Let’s go back a ways… to my favourite season, because that is where I left off last time…

During the summer I spent my weekdays in university classrooms, and on the weekends I went to Cobble Hill and did my assignments in the studio so that we would be ready in the event that customers stopped by. Business was quiet, but we did have people wander in from time to time, and the studio was a good excuse to escape from the confines of our small city apartment and head for more peaceful surroundings.

Summer’s glory came in many forms…

including a most magnificent garden with flowers and organic veggies galore,

breakfasts on the patio while the dew evaporated under the sun’s warm rays,

and walks to the creek with the ducks and other friends.

With the passing months, we began to notice distinct differences among the ducks, in addition to those we had already become aware of, such as mama Bella’s protective nature, Lola’s friendly and clumsy ways, and Red’s daring try-anything-once attitude. We noticed curly tail feathers on two of the ducks and learned that these are what distinguish the drakes from the females… Lola is actually a Lolo!

Summer’s brilliance faded into fall as I began more classes and prepared for a practicum in a Grade 4 French Immersion class which turned out to be an amazing and enriching experience in so many ways.  Thank you Grade 4s!

As winter was setting in for good, I was busy with the last minute details of my program, and then with getting ready for Christmas. For the first time in years, I put up a Christmas tree and managed to make quite a few handmade gifts. I love being done school!

One of the things my mom and I did over the holidays was strain the blackberry vodka she started months ago with her own berries. It is delicious! I especially like it with with a bit of tonic water… so refreshing, it is a true taste of summer in the dead of winter. And so another batch has been left to sit and soak up the sweet berry flavours.

Between the blackberry vodka, the bumper crop of green beans in the freezer, and the squash, summer’s bounty is still being enjoyed.

Even on misty, mossy days like today.

More ducky business…

I know I originally said that this blog would be more about creative ideas and endeavours, but this paddling of ducks is a muse of sorts, and certainly amusing!  And yes, apparently a group of ducks is not a flock unless in flight, but can also be called a paddling, a skiff, a raft, a team and a brace, among other terms, and since ours don’t fly (mama’s wings are clipped and the youngsters aren’t quite there yet) I think a paddling sounds good, don’t you?

Mostly, I just had to add this picture which my mom sent to me in an email last night with the caption, “and Lola came home with her friends.”

Apparently, they wandered into the kitchen and made themselves right at home. I think it must be Lola in the front because she looks like she is about to topple over and you can see that the one on the left has a slimy beak from chowing on slugs in the garden. The best of both worlds, wouldn’t you say?

I’m not sure how my mom will feel to see her oh-so-up-to-date kitchen posted to the worldwide web, but it is one of the many rooms that will have to wait for an overhaul, and really, what does it matter when there is a window above the sink that looks out at the ocean just beyond a rolling hill…

The Story of Lola the Pigeon-toed Duck

One Saturday, about a month and a half ago, I accompanied my mom to a “poultry swap” and we came home with a mama call duck, Bella, and her three sweet ducklings.

At that time, we had no idea what kind of adventures we were in for and we busily went about building a pen under the willow tree and converting an old dog house into a duck house so they could be safely locked up at night.

A short while later, when I was at my “other” home in Victoria, I talked to my mom on the phone and heard about Lola (although she could very well be a Lolo – we don’t really know yet). We had noticed that one of the ducklings was smaller than the others. Now my mom informed me that the little one, whom she had affectionately named Lola, seemed to be ill with pneumonia. Things were looking grim and so she had brought her into the house for some emergency medicine, i.e. extra food and warmth. By the time I visited the following weekend, Lola was on the road to recovery and completely tame. She had imprinted on my mom and refused to be left alone, peeping plaintively at the top of her little lungs if left in the other room or area of the garden. In order to keep her safe and happy, the pocket of a old work shirt came in handy to tote her around and my mom was glad to have me there to help out as a second surrogate.

The bathroom sink became a swimming pool, the laundry basket became a playpen and a spot to sleep at night, and our lives were filled with digging for worms, apparently duck candy, and the sweet little peeps that showed her appreciation. Indeed, in no time we learned the difference between her happy cuddly peeps, her “thank you for the food” peeps and her “where are you” peeps. We really couldn’t leave her alone, and not because of the dog or the cat, they seemed to have gotten used to her presence although they were most definitely jealous of the attention she was getting, but because she was always falling down and on some some occasions she got stuck on her back and wasn’t strong enough to right herself. If we weren’t there to help her up she would have peeped herself hoarse and exhausted herself of the little life force she had. We noticed that our stumble-duck was pigeon-toed and was tripping over her own webbed feet!

So she spent time in the garden…

but was often in the house as well.

She was content to cuddle up in a bowl while I worked on jewelry…

and have a little snooze. Notice how she tucked her beak behind her non-existent wing. Nonetheless, she always kept an eye out to make sure we were close at wing-tip.

She loved her bath time and was starting to prefer being inside the house rather than out…

when it seemed like she was strong enough to be reintroduced to her real family.

Mama Duck accepted her right away, which we were worried wouldn’t happen, but her siblings, and the one we call Jethro in particular, seemed to pick on her whenever she got too close. This resulted in a gradual reintroduction which included continuing the bath and bed routine in the house. Here you can see that she is getting her “big girl” feathers, but that she still has a lot of duckling fluff as well.

Now she has been completely accepted by the others and although she is still a tad smaller, she is almost indistinguishable from them.

 

Luckily, little Lola hasn’t completely forgotten us. She is still the tamest and succumbs to a snuggle from time to time… if you can catch her!

Open for Business

The last few months have flown by and we have finished the studio and been open for business the last few weekends. The studio looks lovely with its window-boxes and I often set up a table in the garden so that I can work on jewelry and watch for customers at the same time – luckily the weather has been just sublime for that sort of thing.

Inside there is just enough room for my display case, a second-hand bargain turned shabby chic showstopper which also houses our friend Kerry’s needle-felted critters, my mom’s beautiful lamps, and a futon that creates a cozy spare bedroom in a pinch.

Coming in from the gate, it is impossible not to stop and smell the peonies…

or find something else of interest, like this fella.

The studio takes shape

As artists, my mom and I have always dreamed of having our own special space in which to showcase our work. When she moved to the country last summer, we really started to think seriously about making that a reality. We eyed an old potting shed towards the back of her three + acres and thought about moving it near her gate. When we found out how much moving it would cost, a new plan was hatched and family and friends were hired to help us start from scratch.

The first day that Jordan started working on it in early March, it actually snowed. Before long, the foundation had taken shape.

Then came the walls, the roof, tarpaper and trim…

Mom hurried to paint the windows, salvaged from an old house, in her crowded basement.

The weather finally got nicer…

And in the end of March we started to put the weathered cedar shingles on. They came from an old roof that had been replaced – more recycling!

A big thank you to Dee and Chris and Wes for all their help!

The sun was setting but we kept at it…

Now it’s mid-April and this is where we are at.

 

The shingles are done. A large beach-weathered plank that was once the transom of a boat makes a lovely, rustic front step. A little more work and it will look like it has always been there.

Now, for the inside…