Sylvia's Simple Shots

The tomato plant which my sister brought back at the end of June is producing fruit.  My Mom used to order seeds in February, start plants inside in April and put plants in the garden late May and got results in July to September.  That takes patience.

I did keep it watered and with good sun from the east for long enough each day I got tomatoes. There are still some to come.  Better results than the place downtown.

The marigolds are doing well too!

Very happy! 

I finished this book recently.  A Vintage Affair bye Isabel Wolff.

Phoebe has opened a vintage dress shop filled with wonderful dresses, coats, handbags, and much more.

She gets a call from Mrs. Therese Bell a french woman who is interested in selling some of her vintage clothes. They meet at the elderly lady's home and spend time going through the treasures. There is a blue coat though that is off limits and not for sale.

Emma is Phoebe's best friend who has recently passed away under very difficult circumstances. 

There are 4 men - A remarried father, Guy the ex, Miles the older man with a spoilt 16 year old daughter and Dan the color blind newspaper reporter.

The story has WWII backstory which I loved.  It all turns out well but not with a few curves.  Wonderful story!

With the help of my aunt's husband the shelf I prepared was installed this week.  

It helped to get stuff off the floor and put away instead of in the way.

It is all light stuff up there - coolers, plastic bags, the canner, and some paint boxes.

The brackets are from IKEA - Krokshult which I really love.  The shelf is smooth knotty pine from HomeDepot. I did have to put about a foot off the end.  I sanded it by hand and was really happy with the final result.

I attended the Allied Arts Council's Open Art Competetion reception on Friday night.

There are over 100 pieces of art in this and on the walls of the Spruce Grove Art Gallery. 

Wonderful evening - seeing fellow artists, good food, and good conversations.

The best part was having the awards in the Black Box Theatre where everyone could see the winning art, the artists receiving their prizes and all seated and comfortable.  What a great idea!  The theatre holds 175 and it was very nearly full. Great support for art and creators.

I did not have art in any shows this year due to renovation at the old place due to flood, listing and selling my place down town, buying a new place in the west, renovation the new place before I could move in, packing and moving, and then unpacking into a smaller place.

I brought the last of the moving boxes to the ReUse center this week!  Yeah.  It felt really good.

I found a cobalt blue plant pot at ReUse this week.  What an amazing find. No damage as far as chips or cracks.  

The inside and outside have evidence of the surface being affected by sitting in some kind of liquid.  That is near the bottom.

Not sure which plant will be placed in it but what a great addition to the living room.

I found a small cobalt blue votive holder which will be added to the couple I already own.  They will look great with candles inside.

I purchased a new to me shower curtain this week because the lace one has yet to show up from packing boxes despite there is very little left.  There are several missing pieces still.

I am sure they will show up but I was tired of seeing the bathroom looking unfinished so I bought one I could live with long term so the other one not appear.  I have been living with just the liner for months.

Beautiful green foliage at the bottom with embroidered butterflies stitching on going up the curtain. Very transparent so does not darken the showering space at all.

Five dollars well spent.

Inktober 2024 - 29 Potted Plant

Inktober 2024 Challenge

29 Potted Plant

Another bit of red today.

I created a yard fence with a large potted plant sitting on the paved stones.

Permanent black marker laid over my pencil drawing.  I then applied some watercolor. 

Down to my last couple of pieces of Canson Mixed Media 154lb paper.  This has been great paper for this challenge.

Nearly done!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I dropped by a green house yesterday on my way back from a short morning of photography.  I managed only 10 shots before I was out of battery and I had not recharged the extra from my trip the day before so more more photos for me.

I walked around the botanic garden just to get the exercise I needed and the greenhouse did not open till 10 am.

I was at the door at 10am and wandered around to eventually find the Sansevieria / Snake Plant / Mother-in-Law Tongue plant.

It measures about 7 inches high so the price of $13 dollars was worth it.  This is not likely the final decorative pot for it but it will do for the photo shoot.

I did some investigation of the Pothos or Devils Ivy and it is soaking wet so that is why it is not doing so well.   I have to learn to water according to the plants needs and not just once a week.

I am learning and now I have 7 plants which a huge improvement over 0 when I worked.  Just did not have the energy and connection to handle it then.

We had several days in the last 10 which were what I would call heat wave days.  Above 30C in the day and the overnight temperature not dipping below 18C.  

I had to put a dark sheet in the dining room window to keep the morning sun out of my place.

Thank goodness it did not last as long as last year.

I made a bottle full of Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette this morning.  Love this dressing on almost anything.  I use it for salads, I put it on my fish for the bake oven fish dish, and just to add a tang of flavor to a whole grain dish.

You can find the recipe here in Jenn Segal's French Grated Carrot Salad posting.

I just store in a cleaned out Dijon Mustard plastic jar in the fridge.  I double the recipe.

I enjoyed this book a lot. The Road Home by Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen.

It is a Naomi and Ruth story based on the bible but set in modern times.

The women are living in Las Vegas and have fallen on hard times.  They have both lost husbands in the last few years and Ruth is Naomi's daughter in law.  Naomi is now in her 60's and wants to go home to Pennsylvania where she grew up.  Ruth grew up in the foster system and has no real home so decides to make her home with Naomi. 

They travel across the country in an old Impala that Naomi's husband had both here years ago.  They work along the way to have enough cash to get HOME. 

Beautiful story!

I want to do some work on the kitchen.  

I painted the middle panel of the kitchen doors in 2017.  You can check out the improvements made then in this post. 

Now I want to paint all of the cupboards in order to freshen up the kitchen again.  I have chosen a light yellow and a warm grey in craft paint to paint paper which I will tack up against the cupboards to make a decision on a color.

I did investigate replacing the hinges but that was a no go as they have changed - the holes are not in the same place and the plates are not the same size so I think they will just be painted.

I want to had knobs or handles to the doors and drawers but I have not made a final decision on those yet.

I will post updates as they happen.

I played hide and seek with a Northern Flicker the other day.  They are a wood pecker which spends a lot of time on the ground looking for food. 

An enjoyable time.

Flickr Macro Monday was Miniature.

I got this miniature Tupperware Thatsa Bowl key chain in my prize from reunion raffle.  It is so cute and you can see the lid comes off.  I have a couple of the regular sized bowls in the Tupperware in the cupboards.

Love the color of this bowl as well.  The ones I have are white and red.

Have a great week.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 A beautiful hollyhock plant grew on the edge of the parking lot of an abandoned building.

It is a volunteer! I am so glad it decided to grow there.  I have no idea where the seeds would have come from.  I have not seen some of these in the neighbourhood.  I suppose it could be dropped by birds? Carried by mice?  Who knows!

A very tall stalk sporting several gorgeous warm pink flowers.

It was a precious surprised and it blessed my day.

My niece gave me a nice macrame plant hanger when I saw her a couple of weeks ago.

It was to replace the flimsy one I had cobbled together to hang my spider plant in the bedroom.  The plant is doing so well there in the north window.  I have been cutting off the spiderettes when they grow on this plant.  I may decide to keep the next one to create a new plant.

I decided to re-pot this plant while I was at it.  I put it into a bigger pot and added soil. It should be good for the next year or two.

I am wanting a Sansevieria / Mother in Law Tongue / Snake Plant which likely will go in the bedroom as well.  I stopped a CTire today and checked out their garden center but no luck. I will have to go to a green house this week.

I found a new tape measure.  The one I have owned for 30 years had the lock break about 6 months ago so it is very difficult to use.  

I found this one this week for $1 so the price was right at the thrift store.

It may be shorter than the other one and it is smaller so better size for me.

Trying to decide if I keep the other tape for crafts or not.  Probably not as I have other priorities.

It worked well to determine how much flooring I would need for the kitchen.  We shall see!

This book Take me with you by Brad Newsham was a great change from the fiction I have been reading.

I'm not much of a traveler so I have not experienced wanderlust where one just needs to leave and go.

As a young man in his twenties in the early 1970s, Brad took a trip to Europe but was pulled to visit Morocco, Turkey, Iran and finally to Afghanistan.  The trip was to be a month but lasted over 7 months. At the end of the trip he wrote in his diary - Someday, when I am rich, I'm going to invite someone from my travels to visit me in America. 

14 years later, he lives in San Francisco and drives a taxi for a living.  Safe to say travel may be in his blood.  Now, single again, he decides to take 100 day trip. On this trip he has decided to keep the vow he made years ago. He visits the Philippines, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa. He is traveling on a very low budget of $25 a day so he find very cheap accommodations in each country.  As he travels he gets to know people along the way. He gathers the name and addresses of many people.  Some he has promised to send photos he has taken.  He has not shared his plan with many people.  The book tells it like it is to travel in very poor countries, travel in less than ideal conditions, but meet some salt of the earth people. 

I have been able to pick about 1/2 cup of raspberries in the patch at the end of the block.  I have permission to pick.  I am amazed that many don't pick them but I guess if you grow up thinking raspberries come from the grocery store then you may not recognize them on the bush dow the block.

I love raspberries and they are my favorite fruit to pick.  I love picking my fruit clean and it is very easy with raspberries.

I have had raspberries on my breakfast 3 times.  It is delicious and nutritious.

This has been a very good year for raspberries.

I won a few things at the raffle at the reunion.  

There was a Tupperware tumbler with blue and yellow items.  That got my attention.

Here's the nice tea towel that was included in the tumbler.

There was a small Tupperware key chain, stainless steel straws, and a few other things on the summer theme.

I hope you have a great week.

Pretty Things, Delicious Food and Family

My sister was out to visit for a couple of days.

She brought gifts she had picked up for me recently.  This is a nice classic shape flower pot.  My plant shelf had taken a spill recently due to my lack of attention so a new pot was in order.  I love it.

Next to it is a 15 minute timer which I purchased for my photography because the sand was yellow which will be a nice addition to my cobalt glass photos.  She also encouraged me that I could scrape off the black letters on the outside of it.  Indeed I was able to so now they will not be in the way during my photography!  Thanks.

The other flower pot was in the shape of a watering can!  Really lovely and it's yellow!  How perfect.

I switched out the plants until it all worked.

The plants are doing so much better closer to the window.

I am very happy and I remember to water them regularly.  I expect they soon will need a feed of plant food to keep then healthy.

She also brought a wicker hat which did not work for her purposes.

I hung this in the bathroom where I have had a winter snowman hanging year in year out.  It was time for an update.  I had recently made that decision and then the wicker hat arrived!

I will have to decorate it with some flowers I expect but have not decided yet what they will be.

Sunflowers are my first thought but not really fitting with the bathroom so I will think on it some more.

We had a good walk in the afternoon to a high end second hand store but came home empty handed.

Spent some time on photography door prizes for the barbecue on Monday.  More about that later.





We cooked a wonderful supper for ourselves.  Steak, mushrooms and onions, coleslaw, and asparagus.  It was delicious.

We headed over to my other sister's to visit, pick up some art from my niece and look over some sewing machines.

It was a wonderful couple of days.