Sylvia's Simple Shots

It's been snowing and this day the snow was gently falling as I walked around my neighbourhood.

I found this crow in a tree just chilling.

I love how I captured the falling snow and it's large beak.  Unfortunately, the eye is not as sharp as I would have liked.

Nice dreamy shot.

These are the improvements I made to my Tumi Bag while I was at my sisters last week.

The bag is quite floppy and needed some structure.

It has enough pockets for the essentials that I carry.  

In my last purse I had a collection of things like my lip balm, my allergy eye drops, cough drops, and other things that just fell to the bottom of the center pocket.

With wanting to add structure to the bag we headed to the dollar store to see what we could find for organizers. We found these pencil cases. We built a case for them from mat board and duck tape. We added jump rings to the top so I can pull the pocket out easily. 

Now the contents are organized and the bag a solid core.

A sister and her husband came to visit this week.  They are the one who helped with carpet removal in the summer.  They wanted to see the new floor and have a visit.  Their kids were coming back from a ski trip.

I served roast chicken from the grocery store, salad, and fruit and muffins for dessert.

It's been great to have company.

I was gifted these beautiful Jianzhan tea tasting cups from China.  My nephew brought them back for me after I admired one he gave his Mom and Dad at Christmas.

Tea is my thing. Blue and yellow are my colors.  I look forward to using them when I settle in my new place as for now they are packed safely in a box for moving.

A watercolor card I made for my nephew and his wife who gave me the beautiful tea cups.

I chose watercolor paper and painted an abstract with bright yellow at the top running into ultramarine blue at the bottom.  

Once dry and pressed flat I trimmed the piece to leave a medium border and adhered it to the front of a SU Brilliant Blue card base.

I stamped the greeting with dark blue ink.

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn one of my favorite authors.

Another WWII story about a woman, Mila Pavlichenko, who transforms herself from a bookish Mom of one to a sharp shooter. Based on a true story of a mother who became a soldier, found her place in the world and changed history.

When she reaches her 300th kill she is pulled from the Eastern front and is invited to the United States on a goodwill tour. She is hosted by Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. 

Danger lurks in every corner both on the battlefield and away from the fight. 

Another wonderful book.

Recent Photos

This is the flowers that Dad bought for Mom`s 85th birthday this weekend.  It is an Anthurium and the way to water it is to place 6 ice cubes on the soil once a week.  Place it in bright indirect light. She will have a reminder of this milestone for a while.













We had a terrific day of celebration with family, friends and neighbors. 





My sister picked some Hairy False Goldenaster on the weekend for me. 

I placed them in this great Robert Held Blue Poppy art glass vase.  I diffused the background by hanging sheer drapes on the second rod in the living room window.  I was always setting up something temporary. Now, they will stay up all the time.

This book was recommended by a friend in the Welcome to my Kitchen group.  Kate Quinn is an who writes historical fiction.

This book was a great one.  Covering time during the Second World War and the early 1950s.  The name character is a strong woman who flew airplanes for Russia. A war correspondent who was connected in another way was the other main character. It was a nice change in point of view as I have read many with England as the background.  The end has a interesting twist and excellent ending.  Would highly recommend this book.

Made of Wood was the theme for Flickr Macro Monday.  This a section of wood magnet from Hawaii brought back by a friend a couple years ago.

You can visit my Flickr photo stream to see which photo I submitted.

You can check out the submissions for the theme here.

I am finding the cloves especially beautiful this year.

Top left is white clover.
Top right is a Great Crested Grebe

Bottom left is Perennial Sow Thistle.
Bottom right is a Cinnamon Teal.

I really enjoyed seeing the sides of the highways covered by Yellow Sow Thistles.  It looked like a garden planted along the way.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday #38

Recent Photos

I tried Sour Cream biscuits this week.   I add dill and garlic powder to these which makes them yummy!

They turned out okay but they don't seem to brown the way the ones posted on the internet do.  I buttered the tops  and then put them under the broil for a bit to get this nice color. 

The stone in the background is a new addition to my kitchen.  It is 16 inches in diameter which is very large. But it held a full batch of biscuits which was the objective. 


I added a few pieces to my blue and white collection.  A nice Home Sweet Home watering can, a deep blue glass which I have but a tea light into and a very tall cut glass vase.


I have also collected a few lamps to my help light objects of my photography better.  These are great because they can hang or clamp.  They use a smaller light bulb so that gives me another level of lighting.  They are IKEA so good quality.

I also acquired these smaller still lights which have clamps.  They use chandelier bulbs which is again another step lower in power which will provide less light but will fill in shadows when needed. 

You will see that they are clamped to a stand.  Again, it was at the Thrift Store the other day and I thought that will work for providing lighting at different heights.  I believe it is a speaker stand.  It telescopes so I can clamp any of these smaller lights to it and move them up or down several feet.  Yes!  The base is heavy and will be very stable.

In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption. 

I finished this book this week which a friend lent me. I totally enjoyed this read about the network of female spies during wartime.  They flew under the radar most of the time because men did not think they were smart enough to be spies.   Eve Gardiner and Charlotte St. Clair are brought together through an interesting connection.  Much of the story is based on true accounts of the women and men who worked in this system of information gathering and sharing in France during the war. I would recommend this book.

Sharing at Share Your Cup #280 hosted by Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson.