Sylvia's Simple Shots

I visited the St. Albert Botanic Park with my aunt this week to see the peonies in full bloom.

Gorgeous big flowers in so many colors.

This is the third book in the Angelic Letters Series by Henry K. Ripplinger.  The Angel of Thanksgiving.

Henry and Julean are happy with their new daughter, a new home and Henry's new job.  He still cannot forget Jenny his first love.  Julean hears Henry talk to Jenny in his dreams at night and is troubled about it. 

Father Englemann has returned from the seminary and is as popular as he was as the grocery store owner.  He is now the parish priest still dispensing his lessons of love, forgiveness and thankfulness for all things.

Jenny accepts James' marriage proposal but puts the date far in the future hoping that Henry will be in touch.  Jenny and James eventually marry and Jenny has a son. She now lives on an estate with beautiful grounds and the flowers and nature and the gazebo are her solace. 

The angel her father commissioned before he passed eventually makes it's way to Jenny and is placed near the gazebo which brings her much comfort.

My aunt are just a few years apart in age and both celebrate our birthdays in June so we decided to treat ourselves to Delux Burgers - mushroom and sweet potato fries for lunch.  They were super delicious!

She had a pecan tart for dessert while I had a slice of tiramisu.  I saved the Nanaimo bar for supper.

The insects were a buzzing and flitting at the Botanic Park.  On the left is an Ashy Mining Bee - I had not seen a black and white bee before, the Ferris Ruddy Copper Butterfly just perched itself on the edge of the leaf for just a bit - I managed one shot, a Hoverfly on a pale purple Aster. 

It was a good week!

Photo Coasters - Sets

This set was made with the Blue Bird art made my sister. You can find it here.

Share Your Cup

We celebrated Canada's 150th birthday on the weekend.

I decided to have a red and white breakfast.  I made whole wheat pancakes. I put with high bush cranberry syrup in my red and white bowl.  I had my tea in the matching mug.  Cream for my tea and pancake syrup was served in a glass creamer. I chose a white IKEA plate with a bit of butter on a small china plate.

I did collect some small flags which I placed in a small vase.  I landed a Canada 150 commemorative water bottle.

I was very good and a nice relaxing breakfast.


A visit to the Community Garden gave me a lovely deep pink rose with an ant highlighted on the left.  I love the moody photo of a light pink peony on the right.  They have been so nice this year.

I bought a coffee table photo book by a local photographer, Daryl Benson.  It had been advertised and I was intrigued.  It is a wonderful book with photos from across the country.  Really enjoyed looking at and will go back to it for inspiration.

The scrapbook store was promoting 50% sales on quite a few items so I thought it was worth a trip.  I had been making a lot tea related cards for a challenge and had hoped to land a Tim Holtz Tea Time die. No luck and I am really in stash busting mode so no other product came home with me.


 

I spent several hours walking around Beaumaris Lake and captured a lot of wild life.  There was a hare baby, Canada Geese, ducks of all kinds, a Coot, a Ring Billed Gull and Red Wing Black Bird.These photos are Ring Necked Grebe on the left and checkout the little head sticking out on her back.  The little one is hitching a ride. The right has a Double Crested Cormorant and a American White Pelican sitting on a structure in the middle of the lake.  All eyes are on me.

I have been sewing.  We have a family event coming up and there a request for donations of items as a fundraiser to support the rent of a facility.

I made a set of flat ware roll and placement combo which facilitates outdoor eating.  I added a small coordinating napkin which makes it completely zero waste.  Just wash and reuse.

I chose a bright pink and purple floral fabric a coordinating pink solid.
I cut the place mat pieces at 13Tx19.5W one from each fabric.  The pocket was cut at 8Tx19.5 W.  It was hemmed at the top and then sandwiched between the layers and a white ribbon was added on the left hand side. After stitching all the way around and it was turned inside out.  I over stitched all the way around the outside edge.  I then created slots on the right hand side one for each knife, fork and spoon.  A wider one for the napkin.  I had just enough fabric left over to make a small napkin with a floral header.  Place the flatware, the napkin and there is still pocket for anything else you might want to include. Once the complete just fold the top edge down then roll from the right hand side going toward the ribbon ties.  This will ensure your flatware stays in place.  There were some designs which did not have the flap but I thought it was critical.



Sharing with Share Your Cup #255 hosted by Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson.

Recent Snapshots

It was glorious on my walk this morning.  The weather was great and some folks were headed back to work.

This is a nice plant taken at the Legislative Grounds this morning.   It sat in most shade from this large tree.  The blooms are darker in shade but a few are highlighted with a bit of sun.  My research leads me to believe it is Salvia Nemorosa.

The out of focus pebble concrete makes a nice neutral background.




It was Canada's 150 birthday on Saturday.  There was much to take in for the milestone celebration.  I found this small flag in the community garden on my walk that day.

This was a nice find where kids had been drawing in the parking lot with side walk chalk.  A heart, a kite and flowers were great subjects.

The peonies are fabulous this year. I have been able to get quite a few good photos for my calendar next year.

I love the large blooms. They strike me as soft and gentle.  There have been several colors.

I love this image in that it is moody with the dark background with the pale bloom in the center.  Having a bud is a bonus.

The House Sparrows were feeding at the feeder this morning.  This is the male of the species and of course would not cooperate to have his photo taken on the feeder.  Down to the ground to get the seeds which have been ejected from the feeder.

I managed to get his eye in focus but his beak is moving.  There were quite a few around the feeder this morning with interruptions as folks were headed out of the apartment building on a regular basis.

I should have been out earlier.

I just snapped this light on the back end of a car parked on the street the other day. 

I love yellow and the circle of the light sunk into the cowl for protection looked kind of cool.

This was an art piece that was installed on the weekend.  I first saw it on the weekend but decided to revisit under better weather conditions. 

To my amazement there are photos in some of the cirlces.

This is one of 5 art pieces commissioned for the Canada 150 celebration.

Transect is a glass and stainless steel structure, in the shape of a sphere, punctuated by blue circular glass panels featuring photographs of animal tracks, native plants and times in Alberta’s history.

There is a bit more information here.

Now that I know there are others I will have to direct my feet in that direction on coming mornings.

Sharing with
Through  my Lens 101 hosted by Mersad

Recent Snapshots

On my walk the other morning I was surprised by a brush on my leg.  It was the neighbor's cat.  It meandered a bit as I stood taking photos of flowers.  Then his focus changed and as you can see something caught his attention.  I don't what it was and he did not pounce so it was not food anyway.

He is quite a large cat with nice coloring and nice eyes.

A trip to the Lois Hole Provincial park last night did not yield many good photos.  I guess the waterfowl babies are growing so the parents are free to move about a lot more.

I found the swallows in their regular place under the boardwalk sitting on the metal braces which keep it square.  He looks more puffy here than usual.  Love the orange color of his throat against the blue of the head. 

 I have not taken a lot of sunset photos in my time.  I guess I don't have an ideal place to take one.  Here I had to live with power lines.  There is trees between me and the sun so it does not create a super shot of the sunset on the water.

I am investigating where would be a great place to go capture that shot.  I'll keep you posted about more sunsets.

The birds were Black Headed Gulls which I had not seen before.



I finally got some peony photos.  I have been waiting for them to open for a couple of weeks.  Cool weather contributed to a slow rate of blooming.

There are so many colors and various levels of fullness in petals.  I love their grand size.  I found hot pink, light pink and white with a hint of pink.

Very happy with these.

The peonies were so lovely.  I like this two toned on with 2 shades of pink and the petals are filly in the center and smoother on the outside.

I believe this one is named Santa Fe.

It will likely be part of my photo calendar next year.

I continue to drive through Elk Island National Park in hopes of seeing and photographing bison. 

This was last Sunday on my way back from the country to visit my Dad. 

This is a small male.  He refused to lift his head.  They are majestic and very large animals.

Maybe, I can't blame him because there was at least seven vehicles on the loop taking photos. 



Sharing with the following:

Mosaic Monday #46  hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

Through My Lens #100 hosted by Mersad

Tea and Mother's Day Event

I'm sharing the page of my Tea Time Calendar for May.

It features a white bone china teapot by Mantles Kingsbridge.  It's matched with a  Royal Worcester fine bone china tea cup and saucer the pure white Serendipity pattern.

My sister helped me with this table scape and we added  a peony in a crystal vase.  It is a beautiful pink and it adds a bit of height to the table.

A white cloth napkin with a crystal napkin ring.



We hosted our Mother Daughter Sister Friend event on Monday night.  You will recall that I blogged the tea cup coasters I made earlier this year.  We had 80 attend who enjoyed a wonderful roast beef dinner.



We decided to use teapots as center pieces for the 10 tables.

The teapots featured as follows:

a navy one from Ikea,
a Japanese with a wrapped handle,
the cute pink one,
an earthenware glazed in bright colors
a ceramic one in bright green with white flowers,
an elephant in a shiny black glaze,
a blue and white tall one,
a classic Brown Betty,
a clear glass with a fluted body and
a Bone China Royal Albert Petit Point pattern.

Here's how our tables were set up with the cute tea cup coasters.  Each coaster had a pink tag which shared this message.

"A gift for You to help you encourage others.
A teacup coaster to place under
your daily cup.
Should God place someone on your mind as you relax and enjoy your cup.
Make a call, send a text or email, give a card, or plan a visit. Stay connected."

We provided coloring pages and word scrambles as activities for the young ladies who attended our event.

I brought one home and colored it as a way to unwind after a long day.

I chose bright colors with yellows and pinks and purples being featured which were our colors for our event.

I love this fine porcelain tea cup by Adeline.  It features pink and yellow chrysanthemums with gold accents.  The top is not round and features a wavy top edge.

The tea pot is white porcelain by PC.

I added some books in the background along with a vase of pink roses to repeat the pink in the photo.  

I brewed Jade Citrus Mint green tea leaves in my white teapot.  I enjoyed a wonderful cup of tea this afternoon.

  





Sharing with Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson who hosts Share Your Cup #248

Bernideen's Tea in the Garden

Ruth at Antiques and Teacups - Mother's Day Tea Battenburg Cake

Card - CST Challenge #12 - Fav Coloring Technique

I created this card for the CST challenge. My favorite technique is watercoloring so I selected this peony and use a watercolor palette and paintbrush. I painted the whole flower in a light layer of color. Adding a second layer of a bit darker color in the shaded areas adds depth to the flowers. I layered it onto a coordinating pink cardstock then onto a green card. I added a stamped "Happy Birthday " greeting in green.