Scribble Picnic - One of a Kind

Welcome to Scribble Picnic! The theme is 'One of a Kind'. I decided to do some snowflakes because each one is indeed 'one of a kind', with no two being alike. My piece is done in my sketchbook (9" x 12") in permanent marker. It was a bit like doing geometry trying to get the hexagonal symmetry right but I did learn something about fascinating snowflakes.

Quinoa Sticks

I found these skinny quinoa sticks clearing at the grocery store and decided to give them a try. They are delicious, if I see them again I will buy more!

Chocolate Cake Craving

I had a craving for  chocolate cake so we made one of my recent favourites, a quick cake mix with half a packet of pudding mix added to it.  A bit of yogurt ice cream went well with it!

Nice Coffee

Whenever daughter L is up north in Muskoka visiting friends, I will ask her to bring us some coffee from the Muskoka Roastery Coffee Company. We like the 'lumberjack' and 'howling wolf' flavours, although they have a lot of other nice blends.

Come From Away

We are going to see the stage play 'Come From Away' in April with some friends. They gave us this book of short stories called
'The Day the World Came to Town 9/11' to prepare for when we see the play.

'Come From Away is based on the true story of when the isolated community of Gander, Newfoundland played host to the world. What started as an average day in a small town turned in to an international sleep-over when 38 planes, carrying thousands of people from across the globe, were diverted to Gander’s air strip on September 11, 2001. Undaunted by culture clashes and language barriers, the people of Gander cheered the stranded travelers with music, an open bar and the recognition that we’re all part of a global family.'

Paint Party Friday - Winter Scene

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! I have a winter scene for you today done on cardstock
 (4 1/2" x 6 1/2") in acrylic. It came about while I was using up some leftover paint.  Good things can happen when one is in a painting mood don't you think?

Gnocchi from Scratch

Daughter L made some gnocchi from scratch. She says it's really easy (well for her maybe). I'll just say they are made from potatoes, eggs, and flour. The rich cream sauce is made with cream, cheese and garlic.  She also added some chicken pieces to her dish.

It was restaurant quality and hard to stop at one bite.  There was enough unboiled gnocchi leftover to freeze for use at another time.

Scribble Picnic - Fill in the Blank

It's time for Scribble Picnic's 'Fill in the Blank' theme! Michael decided on a rectangle shape, so I went looking around the house for inspiration and saw this step wooden stepstool. Here it is as an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") in permanent marker on canvas, outlined with a PITT finepoint marker.

Arugula Update

Many of you will remember we got these arugula seeds in an envelope with simple planting instructions. After many weeks of gentle nurturing I feel obligated to tell you that the seeds never sprouted for whatever reason.  When the weather improves I will dump the soil into the garden.

Autoshow 2018

Son K and I were downtown at the Autoshow yesterday. I took this photo of the CN Tower from the bus terminal.

Koenigsegg

Bugatti

It is the Family Day statutory holiday today in our province of Ontario, as it is in many parts of Canada.

I came across an interesting article of how 'a student took a photo of a single atom'.

According to the curious Ph. D quantum computing research candidate,  "The idea of being able to see a single atom with the naked eye had struck me as a wonderfully direct and visceral bridge between the miniscule quantum world and our macroscopic reality".  You can click on the link above to see the photo of his atom.

Here is the atom:

Here is the larger photo from the article:

Winter Arrangement

I got this flower arrangement as a Christmas gift. When the red and white flowers died, I removed them and have been keeping the oasis in the container wet to keep the greens alive so I can still enjoy the arrangement as pictured above.  It retains a wintry feel.

And it was just over a week ago that I hurt my back while shovelling some light snow.  It is feeling much better, in fact I am back to normal 9 days later.

Sugar Free Banana Cake

This sugar free banana cake recipe  that I found was very succesful. Sugar free in that it has no added sugar beyond 3 mashed very ripe bananas and the half cup of dried cranberries I added to the mix. It is a dense cake, if you like fruit cakes you will like this one.

My late mom would've turned 80 today.  RIP mom.

Paint Party Friday - In the Mountains

Welcome to Kristin and Eva's Paint Party Friday. This piece is an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") permanent marker on canvas. I love mountain scenes and here is one for you today. I mistakenly posted two pieces last Friday, my pear still life and this mountain scene, so I am reposting this mountain scene for those of you who missed it.

2 ingredient cinnamon sugar bagels

Laurie spoke of these 2 ingredient bagels on her blog and I decided to try it. They taste like a sourdough bread due to the use of low fat yogurt. I used the recipe which included a cinnamon sugar topping.  They are weight watcher friendly bagels so you may want to add some jam to yours if you make them, as I did.  I've never made my own bagels before so this was definitely worth a try and came together very quickly.

Scribble Picnic - Mushy

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day everyone, don't eat too much chocolate!

Scribble Picnic's theme this week is 'Mushy'. There is nothing 'mushier' than mashed green peas in my mind, so here is my ACEO piece, permanent marker on canvas (2 1/2" x 3 1/2'").

On Snow Shovelling

Last Friday I decided to quickly shovel the driveway, a bit of light snow was falling. Somehow I turned the wrong way and ended up putting my back out.  Indeed it continued to snow for the rest of the evening. My friend S recommended Robaxacet, a muscle relaxant.  It really helped her when she did something to her back while vacuuming not long ago.  So husband M picked some up on Sunday. It helps to relieve the pain in the way that taking tylenol helps. Hopefully I will be back to normal soon.  I am still able to get around and do my errands and chores, but not as quickly.

I was talking to the pharmacist yesterday and he told me his chiropractor recommended that he get a snowblower.  It would save on the number of times he ends up in his office complaining of a sore back from shovelling.  So he got one.

Pineapple Preserve

I had a slice of whole wheat toast with some pineapple with ginger and sake preserve the other morning.  It was sweet and sugary just the way I  like it!

Potluck Dinner

A long time friend invited us to her recent 60th birthday party. It was a potluck dinner and I volunteered to bring a fruit tray as pictured above. I ended up bringing most of it back home because there was so much other food.

 One of the guests who had his 60th birthday party late last year told us he had lost his sense of smell earlier that year. He was having tests and scans done but it didn't sound hopeful for him. They recalled close to that time, having burned some plastic wrap in the microwave and wondered if some chemicals had been released to kill the sensitive nerves. That may not even be the case.  Maybe it is age related, in the way that some people become hard of hearing in their senior years.  

Greek Yogurt Chip Dip

I often eat zero fat greek yogurt for breakfast. But we found that if you just add some onion powder to it,  it becomes a healthy chip dip. Wavy potato chips of course make the best chips for dipping.

Paint Party Friday - Pear Still Life

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! I have a still life piece for you today, literally inspired by a pear sitting on a dish in my kitchen. It's an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") permanent maker on canvas, outlined with a PITT artist pen.

I'm trying

I decided to go to the bank one the morning to get some transactions done.  I was surprised at the growing line to see the tellers.  But I patiently waited my turn and before long I was in front of a nice teller.  While processing my transactions she mentioned that it was really busy because it was the first of the month.  I said 'darn, I never learn'.  I could easily have gone on another day.  She said it would only get worse as the day went on.  I said 'well, I hope they have their best people on today!'  She smiled and said 'I'm trying!'

Scribble Picnic - Let's Dance

It's time for Scribble Picnic's 'Let's Dance' theme! My piece is an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") permanent marker on canvas, complete with musical notes.  Can't wait to see what everyone else came up with!

A Good Children's Book

Kay has been reading with her ten year old granddaughter KC and this book called 'The Great Trouble' piqued my interest and I was able to borrow it from the library. It was an enjoyable, informative children's book, very well written and researched so I thought I would share with you. It is a story based on the 1854 cholera epidemic in London. They discovered the disease was being spread through drinking water and not through the air as was suspected.

The author Deborah Hopkinson attached a very informative reader's guide at the end of the book. She discusses where she gets her writing inspiration (from books she reads). She talks about the characters in her book, both fictional and historical, about the setting of the story and even includes an interesting discussion on cholera in general. It occurred to me that I would be a better writer if I had read more books like these as a child, especially if they included these helpful reader's guides.

Winterlicious 2018

The restaurants in the city of Toronto run a prix fixe Winterlicious restaurant program to encourage business in the slow months. We went to Tabule restaurant with some friends recently. Pictured above is my delicious falafal salad which I chose to have with my chicken entree.  It came with a tahini dip for the falafels.

On Ticket Insurance

Husband M went online to buy me a couple of tickets to the Hall and Oates and Train concert coming to Toronto in June.  A girlfriend has agreed to accompany me.  We were happy with the tickets he purchased.  However, shortly afterwards we received a second email to acknowledge our purchase of ticket insurance in the amount of an extra $17.  M realized he must have clicked that button in error.  He said you have a certain amount of time to complete your purchase and he was skipping through all the options in a bit of a hurry.  Fortunately, he was able to call the insurance company and quickly cancel the transaction.  No doubt ticket insurance is important these days, but the 2 tickets were not a horrendous amount of money.  Hopefully we will be ok.

I am still not comfortable with some online purchases for fear I might miss something, but it is unavoidable these days.

All the rage nowadays - a feminine product

Warning, some of you may want to skip this post as it contains information pertaining to a feminine product.




Daughter L and I were walking through the drug store when we came across this item called 'The Diva Cup' (pictured below). She told me it was all the rage these days, it is worn internally, similar to feminine tampons and it is all you need for that week and can be reused for years and years. This was new to me, but might be especially useful to a certain demographic for travel purposes.  The blue cup is for women who have previously born children, so it must be a wider size.    Here is information on how it works.

Paint Party Friday - At the Beach

Welcome to Kristin and Eva's Paint Party Friday! My piece is entitled 'At the Beach', an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") acrylic on canvas, outlined with a black PITT artist pen.

My daughter was doing some painting and had some leftover paint she wanted to use up.  I came over with my ACEO canvases and blended some white with brown and came up with a flesh coloured background.  L said it looked like sand on a beach, and this piece was born!

Snacking Candy

Welcome to February!

I have been snacking on this candy.  When you look at the package it is deceiving, you see dark chocolate and you get the idea that there are blueberries inside.  It gives the impression of being healthy but it is candy after all.  I try to keep it to a handful at a time.