Exchange Cards - Purple Flowers

My cards for my exchange group are ready.

This month I chose purple/blue flowers for the cards.

The first card is a photo of a blue iris.

I trimmed the photo to make it skinnier and  mounted it onto a piece of Lovely Lilac textured card stock. 

I added a length of yellow striped SU designer Washi Tape below the photo.

This layer was adhered to the front of a SU Handsome Hunter A2 card base in the portrait orientation.

A white quarter sheet insert was added to the inside of the card.

The second card features a photo of Jacob's Ladder taken at the Botanic Park.

The 4x4 photo was trimmed at the top to fit the Lovely Lilac layer.  The lilac layer is textured card stock from Stampin Up and was embossed with a border folder.

I chose a yellow SU Washi Tape with a plaid pattern to place below the flower.  I had to trim it in half so it would not interfere with the flower.

White quarter sheet insert.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I finally found White Pelicans at Beaumaris Lake this week.  I had not seen them last time I was there and was hoping they would return.  No Cormorants so far.

The walk around the lake was beautiful.  Not too hot, sometimes a bit too much wind, and lots of other birds.  

I was there later than usual so the amount of people was higher which makes things a little tricky.  The rehabilitation certainly has added extra wide places and look outs so that helps a lot.  It is so beautiful

The walk is 1.6 miles which is really nice.  With the camera I really forget how long it takes to get around.  It is at least an hour I think.

I finished The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman this week.  

I really enjoyed this book.  It has some basis on historical events. Masada is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. 

Herod the Great built two palaces for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE.

According to Josephus, the siege of Masada by Roman troops from 73 to 74 CE, at the end of the First Jewish–Roman War, ended in the mass suicide of the 960 Sicarii rebels who were hiding there. However, the archaeological evidence relevant to a mass suicide event is ambiguous at best and rejected entirely by some scholars.

This book takes place during this event where displaced people made their way to the mountain top for safety. Four women are the main characters of the story - Yael, Revka, Aziza, and Shirah. The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets—about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.

Again, I have to say I am attracted to strong female main characters.  I have included above the book cover from the novel on the left and the one from the book I read which is from the CBS mini series.  I recognized the actress in the blue shawl - Cote de Pablo.  I will have to check out whether it was ever put out of DVD.  It would be interesting to see it.  I would recommend this book.

My allergies have been really bad this year.  I think the dry spring did not bring rains to clear out the dust and pollens.

I generally only have my eyes affected and my optometrist has recommended switching to eye drops instead of using a systemic antihistamine.  While visiting with family for Dad's funeral in May we went for a couple long walks in farm fields which really made my allergies really flare up.  My sister shared the drops she uses and so when I got back to the city and invested in a bottle.  They worked pretty well here in the city.

We have had rain which improved things for me quite a bit.   I can finally say this week by Thursday I no longer needed meds to manage them. That should be it till next May.

The are not predicting the temperatures we had last summer but the fan has been running in the nights for about 10 days already.

I have started setting up the fan this way.  It is perpendicular to the floor so I don't have it hitting me directly but it moves the air around the room.  This is quite effective.

It is quieter for sleeping as well.

I tried this new pizza from Dr. Oetker this week.  I had seen the ads on TV and it was on sale so I decided to try it.

Dr. Oetker is my go to brand for pizza.  I normally buy the Ristorante ones - normally the Funghi but have tried several flavors.

This new was good!  As you can see from my photo it looks as good as the box suggests.  This one was full of veggies which was great. 

Every once in a while we have to stretch ourselves outside our comfort zones and try new things.  It may just be a good thing and expand our world a little.  I need it after being so isolated.

I really enjoyed it and would recommend it.

I had my first visit to the St. Albert Botanic Park this week. 

There were a few flowers blooms but it is just the very beginning. I got a Bearded Iris, a Globeflower, the white Anemones, a Rose and Bergenia.

The dahlias were not ready at all, there were just a couple of roses so plenty more to come. 

I will make several more trips this summer.

Recent Photos

Wishing all my friends and family on line in Canada a Happy Canada Day! 

I captured this flag at the Legislature Grounds yesterday.

The wind was quite brisk but it was a wonderful day with no rain for a change.

Today, it rained for a few hours in early afternoon.







This is the book on my night table this week.  The same author of Bridges of Madison Country which is one of my favorite movies.  Love the story.

I have started a couple of books in the last week which did not work out so they are off to the thrift store.  I have to remind myself that just because I start a book I don`t need to finish.

This one is going well. 

I took on this sewing piece for my niece.  I was part of a fleece project that my niece was leading where we collected fleece blankets.  The blankets were made into these ponchos by girls in her group.

I never put a poncho together so with a bit of help from my niece and ventured out.  The blanket already had the black edging so I just left it. I removed a piece of velcro and the leftovers of a bag it used to roll into. 
The hood and the pocket were cut from the tie dyed blanket.  The hood is sewn into a slit cut in the center of the blanket.  This should be a double seam.  I used a stitched zigzag to sew in the pocket.  The pocket is placed on the inside of the poncho so your arms stay warm too.

I am working on getting a salt cellar because I am tired of getting enough salt into the pasta water with a salt shaker.

I realized that the spoon needed to be plastic, ceramic or stainless steel to survive in the salt. I found a nice ceramic spoon which holds 1/2 tsp of salt.  I have put salt in this cut glass jam/condiment jar but it is not the look I am going for.

I have been looking for a few weeks and I press on to find a container that has a lid with an opening that works for the spoon I have.  Keeping in mind my blue and yellow kitchen I would like ceramic or glass.

I will post the winner here when I find it.

This works really well when making pasta because the salt should be added while the water is boiling.

The gardens and flower beds are growing really well with the rain and sun we are getting.

I love this bearded iris.

Sharing with

Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #34 on Letting Go of the Bay Leaf.


Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #198.

Iris Flower

This is an iris from the my Aunt Winnie`s casket as I attended the service this afternoon.

She was woman who raised 5 children and was predeceased by my uncle a few years ago. She was also predeceased by 2 of her children.

She enjoyed gardening, growing food, collecting seeds and having flowers bloom.

She was recycling before it was cool.  She made sure good stuff was refurbished and donated to those who could use it.

Had a great visit with cousins, aunts and uncles.

I appreciated the time she took when I was 18 and needed to get some practice driving after I had taken my course and before I took my road test.  If I recall it was once a week for about 6 weeks.   I did pass my test and bought my first vehicle shortly there after.

Friday's Hunt 1.20

I took these shots for the challenge of Friday's Hunt.

The prompts are:
Starts with T
Favorite
Evening

This is a plate of Three potato pancakes for lunch.  I added a dab of sour cream on each pancake topped with a bit of cilantro.  A side of kimchi for a bit of great flavor.

My favorite is a blue iris blooming in one of the flower beds on my walk this morning.  Love the yellow in the centre and the fuzzy on the petal on the right.

The lamp post outside whose lights are on once the sun has set.   I guess there is a trio of lights in this photo as well.

Submitting to Friday's Hunt 1.20 hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills.