Eventide

This is my latest painting.... Eventide, 12 x 24x 1.5". Sailing across the dreamy sea..... as always, if you are interested in anything you see please drop me a line.

I've decided to start a little newsletter.Sign up if you want to be part of the "in" crowd hehe.I will probably be sporadic with it and  every now and then there might be a special update. News, events, some special sales ONLY for subscribers, the occasional recipe, general chat, and who knows what else you might find in it...this is a work in progress.  Click on this link and away we go:) (P.S. I won't share your address with anyone else)

Curried Lentil Use What You Have Soup

Well there's a blizzard blowing outside so why not make soup! I haven't posted a recipe here in a long time:) Heck, I haven't really posted ANYTHING here in a long time, so I hope you enjoy:)

This is a make it up as you go  soup. There is really no recipe, just use what you have in your house. Here's what I used today... 1 large chopped carrot, 1 large onion chopped (not in above pic) 4 cloves garlic minced, 3 Tablespoons curry powder, 1 bay leaf, 2 kaffir lime leaves ( I got a bag of them at a local Indian grocery store, they impart a lovely flavour but not necessary), 3 cardamon pods, 1/2 cup of red lentils, 1 cup of lentils rice and bean mix ( they were in a bag together), 1 Tablespoon grated ginger, 1 cup of frozen mixed veggies, 6 cups of veggie broth.

First I sauteed the onions in my new Christmas present cast iron pot, you can use oil but I don't...I just stir them and as they start to stick I add a bit of broth to unstick them. When they are golden, stop.

Next step is to just dump in the rest of the ingredients,  and add the rest of the broth

Throw in a handful of mixed frozen veggies. Of course you can add some fresh veggies, anything goes. I just didn't have anything on hand today.

Add some grated fresh ginger and simmer for about 40 minutes. If you are lucky enough to find some coconut milk in your cupboard you can add that too:)

Et voila!! So yummy !! I am slurping on it as I write this post. Enjoy.

January 12

Well it's been a crazy month and it is only January 12! We have had the most extraordinary weather, from -30 with howling winds and snow, to freezing rain ice storms with skating rink conditions to warm windy rainy nights...Quite invigorating really, I suppose I could say demoralising but we won't go there. Luckily I've got a membership to an indoor facility with an enormous track so the weather has not hampered my ability to get some exercise.

I've been working hard. 2 larger commissions and lots of ideas for new paintings. The problem is finding the time. Isn't it always! Running your own art business requires lots of mundane activities that eat up the hours....things like, purchasing supplies, ordering supplies, packaging, running to the post office, answering emails, printing, marketing, posting facebook updates, trying to stay on top of social media, research, fixing things when they don't work, accounting, banking, delivering art, .... etc. then finally once can get to the business of making art which also takes time. Priming, sketching, resketching, painting, cleaning up the spills, hunting for colours, fixing mistakes, starting over again haha, varnishing, creative brainstorming etc... So, always busy.

Loving the early morning sunrises from the Halifax Seaport Farmers Market. In January the sun has swung round to the southeast as far as it can go and is slowly moving North again. I'm only there on Saturdays this month and then back to Sundays in February. If you want to hear more

about my activities, I post much more frequently on my Facebook Page. Click & have a look:)

Dec 26

Another Christmas done and dusted. Next up, New Year. A time for getting plans in order, figuring out how to do "it" better and "get  it"....... that elusive "it" which will make our lives easier, happier, more organized, flow better, healthier and so on .... good times ha ha. As Confuscious says "Life is simple, we make it complicated"

December 25th

Merry Christmas.....
As I type this, the snow is falling softly outside.We are having a white one this year. I was thinking how lovely it would be to have a day world wide where EVERYONE stops their usual routine and gives gratitude for each other and this wonderful world we live in. A non secular holiday recognized and honored by all of us everywhere. A day to slow down, pause, and enjoy the miracle that is us and this planet. Peace on Earth.

Thankful

Here in Canada it is the Thanksgiving weekend. I am grateful for many things. One of which is the gift of communication. Thanks for being part of that. xo

Red House

This Is my latest painting....I quite like it. There is a lovely mysterious mood to it I think. It was sold to a person who said it reminded them of their summer house:)

Big Day Downtown 2013

So say the folk at  Ristorante aMano, one of the places I chose to celebrate my 2013 Big Day Downtown! BIG thanks to the Downtown Halifax Business Comission for allowing me to once again enjoy this wonderful city I get to call home!! This is the fourth year I have participated and this year the theme was experience. Thirty-one bloggers were given cards with experiences from which they had to randomly choose three and the ones I got were: authentic, cheerful and relaxing. Great huh? Sooooo, I decided to combine all three in each of the two experiences I chose. First up was  dinner at aMano with a good friend.

 aMano is an authentic Italian Trattoria tucked away in Bishop's Landing on the Halifax Waterfront. It is a place I have always wanted to try but somehow never have managed until now.

Inside, the decor is red and rustic with terracotta floors, warm colours and a giant brick pizza oven set right next to the bar. Old Italian films play on moniters scattered around the room. It's a friendly welcoming place.

When it came time to order, selection was difficult. Everything sounded delicious! Great choices.

We decided to share, and started with schiacciata for our appetizer, which was warm flatbread, and a garlic,sweet pepper, eggplant pesto.Yum! It's the only food I got a picture of. I got carried away with eating and the mains were half gone before I remembered I was supposed to be documenting it haha.

The delectable mains we chose were...... 

Agnolotti di Zucca, Handmade pumpkin filled half moon shaped pasta with brown sage butter sauce , Parmigiano dusting and toasted almonds
and...  
Pizza Vegitariana, San Marzano tomato sauce, Artichokes,roasted eggplant,sweet peppers, caramelized onions,basil pesto and fresh ricotta

Both were delicious!! my fave was the pumpkin pasta. Nicely scarfed down with a bottle of red wine mmmm.

I would definitely recommend aMano to anyone who loves good food:) We left feeling cheerful, relaxed and authentically stuffed with great italian food!(Somehow in editing this post,the font has changed and I don't know how to fix it, sorry)

My next adventure was solo. Well, sort of.....there was a person named Anna who made me feel like a princess:)

I decided to pamper myself at one of Halifax's most luxurious spas. Spirit Urban Spa on Granville Street. After a long tiring day standing on my feet at the Halifax Seaport Market, I thought a pedicure would be the way to go.

I drifted through the bright open appointment area into an hour and a half of authentic relaxation and cheerful bliss.

They have  a lovely lounge with couches, soft lighting and pillows that leads out onto a deck ovelooking the harbour with more comfy chairs pillows and seating. I was offered a choice of beverages and settled on a cappucino which arrived with a delightful lemon square to munch on while I waited.

Let's face it, the way my life is at the moment, I probably could have just sat here with my book for the full ninety minutes and been completely and utterly satisfied. Sigh.... Next time I will arrive early just to enjoy the wait.

But wait! There's more. A lovely young woman named Anna came out to collect me and ushered me into a room with more comfy chairs and gave me a soft neck warmer to drape around myself and plunked my tired tootsies into a warm bubble bath to soak. Ahhhhh. She then wrapped them in a warm towel and scrubbed, polished, massaged and lotioned my legs and feet until I was a puddle of contentment.

Heaven. A bracelet of polish colours  was handed to me to choose from and I chose from the new "San Franscisco" collection.

Here is the shy Anna hard at work. Look at her lashes!! She has been in the business for 13 years and loves what she does:)

Tadah! Done! Can you see the tiny splotches of blue paint on my flip flops? I wonder which painting was responsible. Haha. Spirit Spa has a full complement of services, hairstyling, waxing, facials, massage, makeup, the works! I would LOVE to spend a day here getting pampered. My feet haven't looked this good in too long to mention.

And that is how I spent my Big Day Downtown! Now it's YOUR turn. The Downtown Halifax  Business Comission is holding a contest starting September 4th  where you can win your own pre-paid Visa card to have some fun downtown! You can find more info on their Facebook and Twitter

Quotes for thought...

 

I am a great believer in the power of quotes. Short pithy statements that cut to the chase and give you something to think about. Here are 50 good ones compiled by Marc and Angel.A wonderful site for inspiration! 

 You are only destined to become one person – the person you decide to be. 

Do good and feel good.  Do bad and feel bad.  It’s that simple. 

You are what you do today, not what you say you’ll do tomorrow. 

We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us. 

Ultimately, it’s not what you do every once in a while; it’s what you dedicate yourself to on a regular basis that makes the difference. 

Stay true to yourself.  Never be ashamed of doing what feels right.  Decide what you think is right and stick to it. 

If you don’t stand for anything, you will remain forever on your knees. 

No amount of money will make you happy if you aren’t happy with yourself. 

You know you’ve made the right decision when there is peace in your heart. 

Don’t worry if your goals seem crazy to other people; oftentimes the crazy ideas are the ones that have the greatest impact.
If you’re thinking like everyone else, then you aren’t thinking. 

Control your own destiny or someone else will try for you. 

Sometimes standing up to your friends can be just as difficult as standing up to your enemies. 

The unhappiest people in this world are the people who care the most about what everyone else thinks. 

When people undermine your dreams, predict your doom, or criticize you, remember, they’re telling you their story, not yours 

There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally. 

No one in the world was ever you before, with your particular gifts and abilities and possibilities. 

Your greatest task isn’t to find love, but to discover and destroy all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. 

A loving, happy person lives in a loving, happy world.  A hateful, miserable person lives in a hateful, miserable world.  The world around you reflects YOU. 

Worry gives small things a big shadow. 

Focus your conscious mind on things you desire not things you fear.  Doing so brings dreams to life. 

It’s not the mistakes and failures you have to worry about, it’s the opportunities you miss when you don’t even try that hurt the most. 

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one over and over again. 

To get something you’ve never had, you must do something you’ve never done. 

The harder thing to do and the right thing to do are usually the same thing. 

Our problems are really our blessings if we use them to grow stronger.  

Anyone can run away; it’s super easy.  Facing problems and working through them, that’s what makes you strong. 

When you have two good options, always go with the one that scares you the most, because that’s the one that’s going to help you grow. Courage is being scared to death, and then taking the next step anyway.

 Sometimes our greatest insight comes from our failure, not from our accomplishments. You need to screw up to learn.  You need to experience it all to create greatness.

 Just because you don’t understand something now doesn’t mean the explanation doesn’t exist. Not knowing everything about your future is a good thing. Don’t worry about what you can’t control and you may liberate yourself. 

People of average ability often achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit.  

Most people succeed simply because they are determined to. 

Temporary happiness isn’t worth long-term pain. 

Patience can be bitter, but the seeds you plant now will bear sweet fruit. 

The less you expect, the more pleasant life gets. 

The more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract things to be grateful for. 

The things you take for granted, someone else is praying for.

 It usually isn’t what you have or where you are or what you’re doing that makes you happy.  It’s how you think about it all. 

Do not dwell so much on creating your perfect life that you forget to live. 

You are not in competition with anybody except yourself; plan to outdo your past not other people. 

To admit that you were wrong is to declare that you are wiser now than you were before. 

Humans see what they want to see. If you spend too much time judging yourself, you won’t have any time to love yourself or anyone else.  

At the end of the day, you can either focus on what’s tearing you apart or what’s holding you together. 

Look through the front windshield and not the rearview mirror. 

You don’t get to choose how you are going to die, or when.  But you can choose how you are going to live, right now. 

Be done with regrets; they are an excuse for people who have failed.  You still have a chance.

Whaaaaat?

Hahah, I came across this pic of my cat Monty today and had to share. Ridiculous whaaaat? The roof of his mouth is spotted. Now he is much heavier and way more laid back....just like us all haha.