Sylvia's Simple Shots

This is the steam from a heating system rising above a building across the back alley.

Back to very cold days.  We have had warmer temperatures with no sun, rain, freezing rain, and now back to -22C.  This has created crazy driving conditions - school bus cancellations, folks not getting to work, and mostly chaos.  I have been staying home.

I cancelled a visit to a sewing center to test out a walking foot for my vintage Bernina 830 record.  I hope to get there by the end of the week.

I finished this book on the weekend.  The Brushstroke Legacy by Lauraine Snelling is a story of painting which crossed several generations.  The main characters Ragni Clauson is the modern day women working for an advertising agency with the pressures that come with it. Nilda Torkalson lived in the 1900s in the family cabin and she is Ragni's great-grandmother.  

Ragni goes to the family cabin with her 15 year old niece Erika to assess the required repairs and ensure the minimum is done to save the building. They will camp on the property for the first while till the cabin can be camped in. 

The neighbour Paul Heidelborg has been keeping an eye on the place and was the one to advise the cabin needed attention.

The girls get back to nature, clear the tall grass, fix some windows and the roof to ensure it is critter proof, remove the rust from the cast iron stove in the cabin.  During the process both reconnect with painting and discover some rosemaling painted in the cabin by Nilda.  

Rosemaling is of Norwegian origin.  Nilda came to the cabin as a housekeeper and cook for Mr. Joseph Petersen who ran a farm in North Dakota.  She takes her young daughter across the country by train to assume this new employment.  She living in a very rural area and in a rustic cabin which is so different from the grand house in New York which was her previous employ.  Assessing the meagre food stores in the cabin puts her in a state of concern.  Mr. Petersen and his hired hand have been living in the cabin and working the farm - being bachelors doing their own cooking and housecleaning.  Needless to say improvements are necessary.  

Mr Petersen has asked for a supplies list for a trip to town.  She faces her fears and makes a good list for staples, laundry supplies, and pencils and paper.  She will at least be able to drawing until she gets paid and can buy paints. 

Another story with story female characters who grow, find their way and eventually thrive.  Loved the book and would recommend it. 

In order to make my own gluten free baking I followed my sister advise to make my own oat flour.  Take some whole large oats. Place in a blender and chop/grind until it is a fine texture.

We have found this flour can replace wheat flour.  My Mom has been eating gluten free for her cancer and couple of us have adopted it to some degree.  This is also my Mom's vintage blender which still works great. 

I made muffins from Mom's recipe.  They were great.  You can use any gluten free flour - 1 to 1, almond, quinoa, buckwheat or corn.   She eats them with cream cheese so it is a snack she can still have at the lodge as she has a small fridge.  We need to bake them for her.  I will make some more before my next visit.

I have been working on a sewing project.  This is an Art Portofolio Carry Bag for my art work. 

You can check out the details here.

The Flickr Macro Monday challenge this week was to take a shot as close as possible with the camera equipment we had.  The limit is normally 3" but we should get much closer.   There were several tiny objects to use as subject matter.  We needed to include the measuring as well in the photo. You can check out my photostream (SMDPics). 

I am sharing with  Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #321 .

Sylvia's Simple Shots

It's cold and windy.  The wind blew overnight and created a few winter landscapes aka snow banks.

We are at -27C feels like -36C wit the windchill. 

I confess, I took this photo from inside.

I did go out last week to mail stuff that needed to be postmarked in 2021.  I had 2 pairs of fleece sweat pants; a long sleeved shirt, my blue fleece jacket and my winter jacket; a tuque and my parka hood; 2 pair of gloves, and my winter boots.  I had 5 blocks to walk to the post office, I stood in line for a few minutes then 5 blocks back.

On the weekend it warmed up to -12C so I did my big grocery shopping and put the gas in the vehicle.  On Sunday I had a visit with my aunt as we were headed back in the deep freeze.  It was nice to have a couple of hours with my humans.

While visiting my aunt she mentioned that she was liquidating some of her ornaments as she has downsized to a 4 foot tree from a 7 footer. 

I was allowed to choose a few.  These are the ones I chose because of course I have a much smaller tree myself these days.  They are all glass and old. The pink round one is 2 inches in diameter and the bells are a bit smaller.  The bells actually have clangers and tinkles when rung.  I think these would be classed as Shiny Brights which were ornaments imported from Germany in the early 30's.  The left one is not silvered on the inside which I understand from my research was discontinued during WWII which sometimes helps to determine the age of an ornament.  You can check out more information on Shiny Brights on Wikipedia.

I finished this book last night.  A Turn in the Road by Debbie Macomber.   A story of a road trip with Bethanne, Annie her daugther and Ruth her ex-mother in law.  They travel from Seattle to Florida for Ruth's 50th Class reunion.  Bethanne has been divorced for 6 years when her husband walked out on her and their 2 kids.  She had to reinvent herself after being his partner in life and his biggest supporter in his realty business.  Having hosted many events in support of his business she turns to setting up a Parties business and has done very well.  She has several stores which she runs with the help of her daughter and a business manager.

On the trip the itinerary changes as each woman puts in her dibs for where to stop along the way.  Ruth wants to stop and look up a woman who was a neighbour and friend when she was first married. The girls pitch in at the restaurant during their visit.  The next stop is to visit a beautiful lake which some customers had mentioned at the restaurant.  The rental car breaks down and help arrives on motorcycles - the bikers from the restaurant. Bethanne takes a ride back to town with Max on his bike to get help.  He had caught her eye the day before when she was waiting tables. All three women have their love stories develop.   Ruth was meeting an old flame from high school at the reunion.  Bethanne's ex-husband now divorced again makes a play to reunite and Annie meets several young men along the trip.  

I found the struggle between these three women to get along as they wrestled with their own insecurities about life and men challenging.  I guess that is what it's like.   It was just okay for me.

I decided to purchase some essential oils sometime in December.  They were a bit pricey. My favorite essential oil bottle was getting low and I was not going to the biggest craft sale to purchase more.  My wax melts as well were needing refreshing and I was not going out into a crowd to find a Scentsy rep. 

I found a health food store with the scents I wanted.  Pine Needle for the Christmas Tree and Grapefruit and Bergamot to replace my near empty bottle.  I use it on my doll diffuser mentioned here.  I put a drop on each morning as I do my exercise.

I thought I would just use beeswax to make wax melts.  I melted some and added my grapefruit and bergamot oils and let it solidify.  

When I researched a bit more I discovered that I need to add coconut oil so it will melt in the warmer.   So I will have to wait till it warms up next week and purchase some.

This one will have to be remelted and adjusted.

I used a silicone mold to form it and it should be the right size to fill my warmer's bowl.

This project is on hold for the time being.  I did have some Scentsy pieces left so I still have time to make this project work.

I received this felt tree oil diffuser from my sister for Christmas.

It will get the pine needle scent next year.   I think I had a bit of a reaction to it this year so I will leave that for the time being.

Love the light color and stitching on this cutie.

It will go into the box with the decorations and come out next year.  Maybe next December the world will have righted itself.

The theme for Flickr Macro Mondays this week was "cotton".   Mom and Dad are now settled in their new residences. Mom at the lodge and Dad at ExtendiCare. Fortunately, only across the parking lot from each other.  During the sorting out of this from Mom & Dad's move I brought home an apron my Mom embroidered about 60 years ago.

It features these beautiful cabbage roses, so I used that for my image on Macro Mondays.  You can check out my Flickr Photostream at SMDPics. 

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday # 162 and Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #319. 

Have a great week.  It good to be back. 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

The colors this fall are amazing.

Caught this vibrant orange maple leaf at the park on Friday.

It was perfect and the light was making it glow.  

We hardly ever get this kind of color in our fall leaves in the west of Canada.

I was thrilled to capture this one.  I did not even think to pick and press it.  I hope others enjoyed it because I chose to leave it behind.

The plants in the north window are doing so well. 

The spider plant is getting ready to produce flowers and propagate.  I expect these could become babies.

That must mean it is happy!  I am remembering to water it regularly and I gave all the plants fertilizer the other day.

I was given another African Violet by my sister.

I managed to get it to hang in the north window.  It is on the small hanger as the spider plant I just mentioned.

She gave it to me about a month ago now.   I do remember to water it from the bottom.  I will keep it away from the cold window in the winter.

I hope this one does better.

I used to able to grow these years ago and have flowers on them so that is what I am aiming for again.

I finished this book last week.  The Dance by Dan Walsh and Gary Smalley.

Marilyn is married to Jim Anderson, a successful businessman. After 27 years of marriage, Marilyn has had enough of feeling unloved and neglected. She wants to experience some measure of happiness before she's too old to enjoy it, even signing up for dance lessons, something Jim would never do, not even on their wedding day.

The dance is a metaphor for the relationship she has with her husband and the physical dance she so would so much enjoy doing with him.

They both meet older and wiser mentors who help them negotiate this crossroads in their marriage. 

I was glad it was the first book in the Restoration Series so if I chose to follow the series I am at the beginning.  I will not be chasing down the next books but we will see if another shows up sometime.

I finished this book this weekend.  The Return by Nicholas Sparks.

The story of an injured Navy doctor -- and two women whose secrets will change the course of his life. Trevor Benson never intended to move back to New Bern, North Carolina. Having been injured in Afghanistan and having inherited his grandfathers cabin he decides it's as good a place as any to figure out his way forward.  It holds wonderful memories of his childhood.

Natalie Materson is the deputy sheriff and Callie is a quiet, hard working teenager who lives in the trailer park up the road from the cabin.

A crisis triggers a race to uncover the true nature of Callie's past, one more intertwined with the elderly man's passing than Trevor could ever have imagined. In his quest to unravel Natalie and Callie's secrets, Trevor will learn the true meaning of love and forgiveness . . . and that in life, to move forward, we must often return to the place where it all began. 

I have been working on this project for several weeks.

I drew the original and did a test watercolor of it in this post.

Once I had decided which frame I was going to use I needed to enlarge it as well as make some design improvements.

Then it was suggested that I color the large one with the colors I planned to use in the final project.  That was completed this week.

I then had to transfer the design to the back of the glass.  You can check out this video for the instructions for Faux Stained Glass featuring Elmer's Glue.

The "leading" took less time to dry than I anticipated so I finished it yesterday and hung it with the hope of seeing the sun through it this morning.  Disappointed.  Overcast and cool all day so far.  Maybe tomorrow.

I hope to see the magic on the walls when the sun shines.

Progress is bring made on the Wall Christmas Tree as well.

I purchased a photo shelf for the space where the tree will hang.  The ring will be bolted to the shelf then the tree will hang from there.

I found the perfect s hooks at Ikea with one end bigger enough to go over the branches.

The star will also have to be painted gold because right now it is green.

Good thing I started in January. 

It will be ready to hang in early December.

The Flickr Macro Mondays Challenge this week was "smoke".  Steam was also allowed.  It was very challenging photographing something that just disappears so quickly.  

After check the group there are a few things that last a little longer - namely incense.

You can check out my Photostream (SMDPics)to see the shot I submitted.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I spotted this tree dropping it's red leaves all over the ground at the gold course.

We have so few red fall leaves here that it is a big deal when I see them.

I did walk the golf course when they were closed during the first bit of the pandemic but now that is not possible.  I would have liked to pick a few leaves to press.

I guess I will enjoy it from afar.

This is one of the books I bought at the large garage sale early in September.


A story of redemption and getting back to core values. Mary Bridget Washburn finds herself in Alexandria, where she hopes to bring happiness to a troubled widowed pastor and his three children. She is running from her past which included an abusive father, the loss of her children and being on the fringes of a meth drug business.

With a job and a place to stay God provides a way for her to remember her faith, her christian grandmother's influence, and her love of children.

The crisis comes of course in the last couple of chapters. The pastor as well has some turning around to do and manages to see the light in the end.

It has a happy ending and justice is served.

If you have checked out my posts this week you will see that I finally accomplished my Wall Christmas Tree. You can follow the link to see the full details of that project. 

I mention in that post that I wanted to make a bag to store it when it is not on the wall.

I dug through my stash of fabric and selected a dark green and green and white striped poly cotton fabric.  There was just enough with only small bits left over.

The bag measures 40 inches tall by 9.5 inches wide finished.  I had a strip of the striped fabric which I made into a tie.  I just attached it to the side of the bag and I can just scrunch the top of the bag and tied it around.

I also created a piece of cardboard about 8 inches tall and 32 inches wide to provide some stability when rolled up.  I placed the tree on a piece of cloth added the card board and rolled.  This was there is less likelyhood the wires or cords getting entangled.

Super happy with this.  It's so nice to ahve the sewing machine out all the time which allows me to just whip up a project.

This is still some fall color with folks putting out chrysanthemums in their flower beds.

I'll take it while I can get it.

These are a great pink color and I have seen white, yellow and orange ones as well.

It is getting cooler here and we are close to having below zero lows over night.

The challenge for Flickr's Macro Mondays this week is "stars".  Of course there are many options for this challenge.  To the right you find one of the shots I took featuring small paper clips with star holes in the front.  You can check out my Photostream (SMDPics) to see the shot I did submit.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #150 and 

Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #307.

I hope you have a good week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I took a trip to the country yesterday to visit my aunt and her husband.

We took a trip along the back roads and we spotted this pretty barn.

I love the two tone color scheme on this building.  The dormers in the roof and the cupolas on the peak add some interest to the architecture of the structure.

Judging from the ground floor doors and the hay loft door above them the inside of the barn is pretty huge.

The dark skies add drama to this shot.  It did not rain during the afternoon and it spit a few drops while the steaks were on the BBQ for supper.  Great visit

Garden veggies are the best at this time of year.

I have been fortunate to get some from my sister and my aunt.  I am so grateful to those with abundant garden who are willing to share the bounty.

Eating them raw is the best way.

Really enjoying them.

As a kid we picked them from the garden, barely got the dirt off them and ate them on the spot.

Yummy!

Same goes for fresh garden tomatoes.

Red and delicious.  Great to add to pizza, a salad, an open grilled cheese sandwich and a ton of other things.

I got some green ones which are doing their ripening in a brown paper bag.

Most folks here have picked their tomatoes as nights have gotten near freezing a couple of times.

I am working towards a stained glass piece of art.  I have always wanted one hanging in a window throwing some color into my living space.  

I am planning to buy myself one as a retirement gift but I had to put some thought into the subject matter.

I have decided on a sunrise.  The message being the future looks bright at the beginning of a new chapter.

I studied a lot of stained glass pieces then I drew what I wanted at 4" square.  Then I translated it intoo 8x8 inches and traced it onto inexpensive watercolor paper.  I painted this with watercolor and just stuck it into a quick frame.

I need to make some changes to the composition.  I  am missing the second layer of light yellow pieces on the left hand side.  I was having real trouble drawing the lines the right way on the left.  The suggestion is to reverse the right side and trace the lines then make some adjustments.  The larger piece of orange on the right needs to be made into 2 pieces.  The hills pieces need to be small and less similar. 

I will draw another 4" piece then into 8" piece.  It was suggested that I color it with the paint I plan to use for the 14" sample.  The 14" piece will be faux stained glass made with Elmers school glue and liquid acrylic color.  That one will be hung in the window for a while to see if it gives me the feeling I want.  If so, then I may have a piece commissioned if it is not too expensive.

I have been wanting a pansy for my 2022 Flower calendar so I have been check out all the ones I find.

It is so late in the season to find blooms still in good shape.

I found the two on the left in my aunt's flower beds. The one on the right I found at the park today.

The challenge at Flickr Macro Mondays was “Geometry Shapes”.  That leaves a lot of room for all kinds of images.  The image on the left is taken through the view finder of my Kaleidoscope. You can check my Flickr Photostream (SMDPics) to see the image I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #148 

and Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #305.

Be safe and have a great week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

The front door decor received an update from last year.  

I wrapped green garland around the metal star shape and secured it at the top.

I added a green ribbon to the hanger because it was too narrow to fit on my wreath hanger.

I added some red and green Christmas ornaments secured to the hanger. I see that the extra bit makes it almost too low for the peep hole.  It will do!  Maybe a shorter hanger for next year.

I added a metallic red ribbon bow above the ornaments.

Really liking it.

I really enjoyed this book - Dear John by Nicholas Sparks.  John is the main character who was raised by a single father.  He had his rebellious years then joined the army.  With a bit of maturing he returns to visit his Dad while on leave and meets a girl who is building a house for Habitat for Humanity.  They connect in the week he is there and he is headed back overseas.  Letters and phone calls keep them connected.  He learns a bit more about his father on his second leave and they get to know each better.  When his father passes away he discovers his Dad's legacy.

I loved the story because it's not too sugary sweet. The characters are real and honest.  In the end, doing the right thing wins over what's in it for me.

I would recommend this book and I will search for more of his books.

A lot fewer recipes of Caramel Popcorn have been made this year as our large family Christmas has been cancelled.  I have a few siblings who live close so I will drop off bags with the right social distancing.

I generally make bags to sell which of course did not happen this year.

 

I was lent this book by a friend.  It was a quite read with a lot of wisdom inside and some beautiful art.  Some I recognized and others that I will look up on line.

 

I put up my quick and easy Nativity this year.  It is a large metal nativity which has be powder coated in shiny black.  I have set it on my antique trunk and used my photography backdrop stand to hold the starry fabric behind it. I was hoping the stars would show but I had to get far enough back to see it all.

I placed my LED Noma Heritage Teardrop lights in the front mixed with green garland. Since they are LED I don't have to worry about them getting hot.

 

Recently, I have chosen to watch only positive shows.  To fill my head and heart with good stuff. The news and some of the my regular shows are crime shows so violence, conflict and dissension were the order of the day. These are the ones I watch every week day.  I just love the Baking Shows. 

The challenge for Flickr Macro Monday this week was high key.  I thought it would be easy but it was not.  I learned a lot but took a lot of rejected shots.  You can check my Flickr Photostream SMDPics to see the image I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #109 and Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #270. Keep safe and well!

Recent Photos

This is the puzzle I am going to make this week.  It is from Eurographics Puzzles and is a reproduction of Marc Chagall's - The Blue Violinist done in 1947.  He was a Russian French painter (1887-1985) raised in the Jewish faith who spent time in Paris in the early 20th century.  He traveled extensively and lived in the in several countries during his long life.

I see that I will need a bigger space than I thought to put this one together.  I will work on that.

I hope all the pieces are there as I did acquire it second hand.  Here' s hoping.












I did some coloring this morning the gorgeous sunshine which was really warm!  Considering that it was -18C at 7:00 am.  That's enough reason to stay inside.  This will become a card.  The coloring book originally appeared in this post.

I finished this book this week.  It was different to read a book written by a man with Kabul, Afghanistan as the setting for the story.  It takes place after the Taliban has taken over the city and affected the culture and place dramatically. The two couples in the story Moshen & Zunaira - wealthy and had careers and Atiq & Musarrat - now a prison keeper with his wife very sick and dying.  It is a very difficult life.

It has made me want to research more about Afghanistan history as they had very different lives before the Taliban.  The couples were more equal it seems before and now there is a drastic contrast in their every day lives.

Yasmina Khadra is the nom de plume of the Algerian army officer Mohammed Moulessehoulm, who is the author.  He took the feminine pseudonym to avoid submitting his manuscripts for approval by military censors while he was still in the army.



I took hundreds of photos this week in the above mentioned sunshine.

This is one of my shadow macro photos.  The object is a small black mesh half sphere in shape. Could be the top of a microphone possibly. 

I love the intersection of the actual metal mesh and the shadow the sun created.  I find the shapes that result appealing.  The dark crescent shape created by the overlapping of 2 shadows is very cool.

The Flickr Macro Monday theme this week was "Shadow".

The mosaic on the right are a few of the photos I took.  You can check out my photo stream at www.flickr.com/photos/smdpics .

I am sharing with
Mosaic Monday #75 hosted by Angie
Through my Lens #236 hosted by Mersad
My Corner of the World hosted by Betty

This Week in photos!

I had an Easter Bunny at my place at the breakfast table Sunday morning.

Milk chocolate my favorite and in such a cute shape.

The bell around his neck actually jingles. Way too cool.

I shared it around the table and had  the left overs with my supper last night.

I always bring flowers to Mom for Easter so those are the pink tulips.  They will open later this week. There was a basket of mums on the table and see the blue bunny hiding amongst the blooms.

There was a little boy celebrating his 2nd birthday on Saturday.

His Mom had made this beautiful cake.  The train actually ran around the cake on the track.  Very cool!

The fondant decorations was very well done.  Hills, mountains, gulls, flowers, a big sun were all around the cake.  Chocolate cake was great.

I stopped to take a photo of these stands of trees along the highway.  They soon will lose their silhouettes and but leaf covered.  It was early evening and the sky was starting to be multicolored.


The theme for Macro Monday this week was "bottle cap". We could photograph anything which would seal a bottle.

This is a glass stopper for a glass perfume bottle.

I added some bokeh in the background.  You can check Flickr here.  My photos here.

Sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday and Mersad who hosts Through my Lens.