Merry Christmas!

Mary Christmas

Ho ho ho!

Christmas decorations

Bunny Ornament

     This year, I just bought a few new Christmas tree decorations, as CC and I already have lots between us and I have made a lot of origami decorations over the years.  I was born in the Year of the Rabbit/Hare, so the plush bunny ornament was hard to resist, plus it was completely adorable!  There were lots of other cute plush ornaments to choose from, but the little pink nose on this guy sold me.  In the same store, Chat Noir, I found a couple of other decorations that were must-haves.  I have always liked bird-watching, so the bird decorations were a good fit, plus they look quite charming and natural hanging amongst the branches.  The Christmas tree got full quickly, so the birds had to find roost in our front window begonia, which is somewhat tree-sized!  We also hung decorations on the Jade tree and the Rubber tree just to make the house more festive.

Birdy 1

     I have lots of old mercury glass baubles that CC put out on shelves  along with Pine boughs.  I also filled an antique pottery bowl with Christmas tree balls that I had bought years ago at Caban (remember that store?) - the colours go very nicely with the glazes in the bowl, with the colours of the painting behind it and with the surrounding furniture.

Birdy 2

Windows

Mourning

     I read the Globe and Mail and every day they have a photo contest, related to a specific theme.  Friday's theme was "Windows", and I decided to upload some images to the contest, which involved me having to get a Flickr account.  I didn't win : ( but it has got me interested in organizing some of the many images I have taken over the years into thematic sets.  I have included a few favourites here, but the rest can be seen at : http://www.flickr.com/photos/imariguy/  Let me know which one(s) you like best.

View from Work

Window Ornament

Fun with paper!

Snowflake

     Nothing brings out my crafty side more than the approach of Christmas.  For years, I have made paper snowflakes to hang in windows and set out doily-like on tables.  Although they are not "true" snowflakes in that they are not six-sided, I like the look of the less traditional, but easier-to-fold-and-cut four-sided symmetry.  Start with a square piece of paper, fold it in half diagonally, then again, then once more and you are ready to begin.  Use sharp scissors so the paper doesn't tear and so you get clean, sharp lines.  From there, just let your imagination take hold.  I try to cut as much paper away as possible and usually just follow my instincts.  The above snowflake (the first of the season!) was inspired by the Christmas Cactuses we have, and which are in the midst of flowering.  The "arms" are very like the serrated leaves with flower buds at the tips.  I have also used coloured paper to great effect and have also cut shapes that can be folded up to create 3D effects.  I will show some of those at a later date.

Origami Xmas tree

     As you may recall from previous posts, I like to make origami, and at Christmas-time, I enjoy making origami Christmas tree decorations for our tree and as hostess gifts.  I was surfing the web this year to come up with some new ideas and came across the following web-site: http://stephensorigami.blogspot.ca/2010/12/origami-christmas-tree-tutorial.html.  His tree is much more involved than mine above and uses poster board.  I am lucky to have such a vast assortment of origami paper that I could use brown for the trunk, but because I was running low on green I could only do three tiers for the greenery.  I quite like how it turned out though and will definitely be making more for household decorations.  In addition, the individual units that make up the tree lend themselves well to Christmas decorations - see the side for the units (upside-down) and finished products.  I used paper that is coloured on both sides, which is important as the individual units would have white showing otherwise.

Christmas Tree Decorations

Remembrance Day

Start of WWI

End of WWI

  As it is Remembrance Day, I thought I would post some old photos of family members in uniform.  Above are pictures of my father's father, William Ernest, taken at the start and end of WWI - what a difference a few years make!  He was a Sergeant in the cavalry and was stationed in Germany. He must have seen some awful things in his time there, but my dad says he never talked about his experiences, something which was probably typical of that time.

  The next image down is my maternal Grandfather, Horace Ernest Edwards.  I never met him as he died when my mother was in her early 20's.  He looks awfully young in the picture and there is a strong resemblance between him and my brother.  I don't know anything about his experiences during the first world war, not even where he was stationed or what rank he was.

     Next is a picture of my great-uncle, Stephen George Stroud, my Nana's eldest brother (he's the one on the left).  My Nana was one of eight and, sadly, Stephen died on the French battlefield mere weeks before the end of the first world war.  He is buried in a military cemetery in France, near the Belgium border.  No one in the family has ever visited his grave and, one day, I would like to make the trek there to pay my respects.  In 1919, his sister, Marie, died from the Spanish Flu, a not-uncommon experience for that time. Stephen's father was never the same and drank himself into an early grave sometime in the 1930's.

Dad, WWII

     Both my father and Uncle served during the end of second world war.  My dad was a meteorologist in the RAF and went all over the world including India, Ceylon, the Cocos Islands, Australia and Japan.  Let's all take some time to remember what all of these brave people did and are still doing to ensure we live in a better and safer world.

Aberfoyle Antique Market

     This past Sunday, CC and I went to the Aberfoyle Antique Market.  We went down early in the morning and it was bright and sunny with a pleasant coolness that made wandering around the grounds perfect.  I had seen a couple of white metal Art Nouveau pieces and some Cornish ware on previous visits and was in the mood for some shopping therapy.  The Art Nouveau pieces were gone and the booth that sells the Cornish ware was closed, but we had a good look around the whole place and made some purchases.

Manhattan glass cream and sugar set

     Firstly, I found a booth that had a Manhattan glass cream and sugar for only $15!  I already have a Manhattan vase and a couple of candle holders and always check out the one booth that sells lots of Manhattan, but they are pricier than I like.  Even though we have an abundance of cream and sugar sets in all sorts of materials and styles, I thought the sugar bowl would make a nice little vase for cut flowers.

Late 1800's Ironstone plate

     Inside one of the barns, they were having a sale for 30% off everything inside. I found a black and white ironstone dish with a neoclassical motif.  We already have quite a lot of blue and white pottery so I was drawn to the black and white.  It has a nice weight to it and CC has already gone out and found a plate hanger for it, so it's up on the wall in our bedroom, above some black and white prints.  Not bad for $45.

Imari birthday present

     While I was buying the plate, CC came across a booth that was just putting out some items, including a beautiful Imari dish.  He bought it on the sly for my upcoming birthday as it had small rabbits on it (I'm a year of the rabbit, doncha know!).  Of course, he showed me soon after and it was a steal for $20!  We have bought other Imari pieces this year at considerably higher prices, and the few pieces we have seen at Aberfoyle always run into the hundreds of dollars, so not bad.

     At a stall that always has interesting art, I saw a painting that I have admired over numerous visits and asked the vendor what he was selling it for.  He said that he had sold other pieces by the same artist on eBay for close to $300 but was willing to let this one go for $150.  I said I was just curious and wasn't going to buy it today.  He told me that if I took it today, he would sell it to me for $100!  Well, I couldn't pass that up now could I?  It is by an artist named Mary Gold (?) and is very reminiscent of Cezanne in terms of brush strokes (brighter colours though) and was completed in '77 (presumably 1977).  It needs to be reframed as it is quite out of date, but it is a lovely piece nonetheless and I can't wait to hang it with all of my other Canadian, female painters' works.

   
While, we were in that stall, CC saw a small, framed postcard of Rose of Sharons that tickled his fancy and he got it for a mere $5.

     On the way out of the area, we had a quick look at the tables set up near the parking lot and CC found a cut-glass bud vase with a sterling silver base.  Originally, he was going to buy it for a friend of ours, but once he got it home and cleaned it up, he decided to keep it - it now sits on our chest of drawers.  It was only $20!
     This Saturday is the big sale at Aberfoyle and we are returning, along with another couple, to see what strikes our fancy this time...
   

Vancouver - part 3

     After a fitful sleep, we had an easy morning then walked over the Van Dusen Botanical Garden, a favourite childhood haunt of CC's.  It now has a new, modern building at the entrance which fit in nicely with the landscape.  We felt young amongst all of the wrinklies and there were many beautiful plants and flowers organized according to region of origin, and of course I took many photographs.

       I particularly enjoyed the maze which had a Monkey Puzzle Tree at its centre - clever huh? We had a good long meander through the gardens and afterwards, lunched at the restaurant there, Truffles (hideous name but the food was very good).  We both had pea soup and I had a beef brisket vietnamese sandwich which was fusion at it's tastiest.  CC had a quinoa salad, also very flavourful.

A-maze-ing

     We went back to the house and I managed to talk to my dad who had talked to my brother on the phone and said he sounded quite lucid and chipper (this after having a three hour operation to have a brain tumour removed the night before!).  After some time relaxing and reading, we caught the bus downtown to Broadway and Granville and met my friend SE for dinner at Portobello.  SE and I had lived in the same house in the Little Portugal neighbourhood of Toronto many years before and have kept in touch over the years but hadn't seen one another in about six years, so it was a reunion of sorts.  While we were getting caught up, an obtrusive waiter kept coming by to see if we were ready to order, and we had to keep sending him away.  I had melon and prosciutto for an appetizer and pasta with salmon and a cream sauce for a main.  After a good long meal and chat, SE drove us through East Hastings (eek!) to an industrial area that had the International Ice Cream House.  It was a mob scene there and once inside I could see why.  After buying a token at the cash which determined what size of ice cream/gelato/sorbet you wanted (single, double, etc.), the real fun began.  You could get small sampling spoons of any flavour you wanted and there were well over 200 to choose from!  Not only that, but there were many odd and delightful flavours to choose from including maple bacon, vegemite, basil pernod, etc.  I have never seen so many happy people in my life and you could feel the energy in the room.  CC had seaweed, SE had porcini mushroom and I had a double of durian and black sesame - wow!  We sat outside in a beautifully lit courtyard, finished our tastes of heaven, then SE brought us home then left us with promises to see one another again soon.  We were in bed soon after.

Bring it on!

     After a good fry-up for breakfast, and a quiet, restful morning, Aunty J took us to the Vancouver Yacht Club for lunch, along with CC's ex-sister-in-law, AC.  It was a loverly, sunny day and we sat out on the deck, overlooking the harbour with great views of West Vancouver across the water.  AC was a bit late and somewhat breathless but calmed down once food was ordered.  I had Fish and Chips in keeping with the water theme of it all.  Afterwards, CC and I went down to the pier and walked to the end of it and back.  After a group photo, we went our separate ways.  Although CC and I had planned to go downtown to see the Vancouver Art Galley, we decided to put on our swimsuits and go down to Jericho Beach for a swim in the water, our first time this trip.  The water was quite shallow and there was lots of seaweed in it, but it was saltily refreshing.  I went in and out a few times and after about an hour, we headed back to the house.  After changing, we headed to downtown Kerrisdale, so CC could buy his mum a birthday card and we could get Aunty J some chocolates from Purdy's.  We also stopped in at Hill's and I bought four t-shirts that had out of print book covers on them (http://outofprintclothing.com/shop/t-shirts/).  We then had dinner at the White Spot, a local hamburger joint, walked home, had our evening scotch on the rocks and chatted  until it was time to go to sleep.

     The next day was pack-up day.  We left around 9:30 for a 12:00 flight home, said our goodbyes to Aunty J and Vancouver and talked about when we would next visit.

Scary Apple-head Doll