This part of my blog is all about the things I collect or the things I make myself. I love so many things, I paint and draw and want to learn oils and pastels. I knit and crochet but want to learn tatting. I embroider and can turn my hand to most things given a chance. So much still to learn and do. I live in hope of some day reading all my books, learning all I want to learn and now I am learning to blog. You will often find my original poems, poor as they are I offer them here. I also appreciate other people art and will feature things I find that I have enjoyed. That includes pictures of fairies and fantasy or maybe just anything beautiful.
I try to use my own photo's as much as possible, sometimes I borrow from the web. If I inadvertently use your picture without giving credit, please do let me know and I will either credit or remove it, I hope you will do the same with mine.
If you wish to leave comments on my blog you can do that by joining google if you do not have a blog yourself, please comment if you can I appreciate that.


Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Spirals.............

Nature is so wonderful. Have you ever noticed all the recurring patterns found in all of nature? Spirals is just one that is found in every aspect. This first example of flowers, just look at the center of a flower and see what you see flurejpg Our own body, our crown of our head begins with a spiral......and the clouds in a hurricane and even the stars in space hairjpg Pine cones and cactus and even a cabbage planjpg Snails and seashells..........from fossils in the beginning of time......spirals shelljpg Plants and ferns before they unfurl, such pretty spirals spiraljpg What other things can you think of that I have forgotten?

Monday, October 29, 2012

Blue Monday......................

Some pretty blue pictures for you, its such a beautiful colour. The colour of the sky in summer and as we are headed very quickly into winter here are some things to make you think summer and cool nights maybe. Lets first sit on the bench, take a deep breath and inhale the scent of the bluebells. Feel the cold breeze on your face and listen to the birds.............think of the things that you love that have the colour blue. ponder Look at this beauty with dew drops shining in the sun blfl So much beauty all around, the sky with its puffy white clouds and the birds on their daily rituals. Photobucket I am thinking of wearing blue to go somewhere special, what shall I choose? dress or maybe something more casual? blusablue I love blue in my house too and for a summer cottage especially. (I am still dreaming) bed blue Photobucket Blue China is a popular colour for a lot of people and fits in many decors bluecups Dreamy with my ice pink........love it bluepink Nice in the kitchen or just about any room. bluebuckets I wish I could say the pictures are my own but they are not, so thank you to whomever they belong. I found on either photobucket or the web...........no copyright infringement intended. I am joining up with Smiling Sally at Blue Monday

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Norman Brumm.........

Norman Brumm was a well-known Michigan artist who favorite subject were the birds and flowers of Michigan. He was a painter, both in oil and water color, but what he was most known for were his works in enamel on copper. He created both plates and sculptures in this medium. Norman Brumm passed on in 2008 – so there are no longer any artworks being produced by him, but he has left a large legacy of works behind........................ I have enjoyed this mans work for many years. I have collected a few. They are expensive and so I could only enjoy the small things. This is one of my favourites. It has the Morel mushroons, the violets and I think it's beautiful 102_0230 When we first found the Norman Brumm showroom, it was in a very large building near Charlevoix. He had so many interesting things there. Fossils, rocks, crystals and the strangest looking furniture made from tree roots. He had some of his watercolours on sale as well as the Enamal things. I loved his work right away and bought a very small piece. Over the years I bought a few more. The violets are from Ananda Brickers Wildflowers. Brummjpg The mouse was my very first piece. The wooden mouse is a carving by Rod Conklin, another of my favourite local artists. The mouse is carved from Sumac, like Ananda, Rod has retired. So what I have is all I can get now. However the estate of Norman Brumm is still selling his things in a shop that I often visit. So even though the price has gone up since he died, I may yet collect a few more. I love Chickadee's and so these pieces sit with a plate by another local artist in China painting 102_0251 I have one other piece that I will add later. Don't know where that picture is right now. Anyway, I just wanted to show off one of our local artists. We have many, this area lends itself to art, the water and flowers, the sky and the woods. It all makes a beautiful place to live. I can not afford real expensive art but what I do buy is usually local artists and they make the things I love and so I would rather pay for something made with love than anything from a store. This is the one I forgot 102_0415 I am linking with Make it Pretty Monday

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Pretty bedrooms.............

I have found some wonderful bedrooms on the web and collected them in my pictures. I would like to share a few here. lovely2-1 When I was a child I read a story about a girl. She went to stay with an aunt and I don't remember the circumstances now except something had happened to her parents. Well her bedroom at her aunts was pink rosebuds on the wallpaper and white coverlets with rose buds. I always wanted a room like that. This room is an adult version of that maybe? prettyroom Or maybe this one? rose1 I know, most of these are pink. I love that quiet pale pink rosebook To me a bedroom needs to be calm and peaceful and so most of the colours I choose are muted colours. This one is really muted and a bit fancy for me, but still I could be very comfortable here. pinkbeauty3-1 More rosebuds lovey I can not imagine it being very practical but a white bedroom. How sweet it is.......... bedding Especially with a deep grey or a lavender background whitebed Or beige although it reminds me of stormy skys and winter mornings. whiteb I have some other colour selections that I will do in another post. I especially love the pale blue and greens.......but that is for another day. Sweet dreams. Linking to No Minimalist here Open House Thursday

Thursday, October 18, 2012

I love Poodles.............

I have always loved poodles. They are one of the most intelligent dogs, 2nd to the Border Collie. They can be athletic and outdoorsy. Mine on the other hand have always remained themselves, untrained. They are allowed to be who they are. I now have four. Each one is very different from her siblings. My first poodle friend was "Poppett" who I had as a child, she was supposed to be my Mothers dog but we did everything together. We would walk across the fields together and sometimes we went so far she would ask to be carried home. Poppett died soon after I was married. She had a different relationship with each member of my family. While I was home she slept with me. My Dad took her out for her last walk at night and she would come to my room when they went to bed. After I was married and when we got settled we got a dog but it was never the same kind of relationship as I had with Poppett. I was busy with little kids and she was more their dog. Later I got my first poodle, "Bonnie Prince Charlie" he was a silver poodle. Charlie played with my kids rather like Poppett did with me, he went everywhere with them. When we moved into town he was killed, he got out somehow and was hit by a car. I was devastated. We saw a sign one day "Poodles for sale" and we got our sweet "Bonnie"........She was a miniature poodle as was Charlie and Poppett. Bonnie was awesome and I knew that when her time came how bad it would be so when a guy that I knew had a batch of poodle pups for sale I got "Buttons"..........Buttons was the love of my life I think. I never knew a person could be as close as we were. Both Bonnie and Buttons had health issues. Bonnie as she got older had heart issues and Buttons had epilepsy (among other things) but for charactor both were just terrific. These are the current Poodles in our home. Bodicea, Bijou, Bella and Brea. Picnikcollage-1 Now we have digital pictures it's so much easier to have pictures on the computer. Here are a couple of pictures of Bonnie and Buttons. The style of poodles have changed over the years. They always dock the tail, but Bonnie had a very short tail with a pompom now the girls have much longer tails. prettybuttons062 Buttons looks funny in this picture but its a lovely picture of Bonnie prettybuttons066 This is the old Buttons, she was just so sweet........I missed her so much, my heart was broken when she died. LydiaandButtons011 We always had more than one poodle after Charlie died. We got Buttons when Bonnie got older and then a girl at work found a white poodle that came to her house, it was lost. We took her in and called her" Bambi". She was found in the woods. She only liked men and was a mean little cuss, she had been abused for sure. She had cuts on her neck as though she had been tied up and left. Anyway, we took her in and loved her but she was always unpredictable. Had a sweet side but she never really got over her fears. Here she is with Buttons. variouse096 Bambi died soon after Buttons. My son had bought me "Bodicea" by then and she is a Tuxedo poodle. Bodi has a very sweet personality and has the most expressive face. She is adorable, fat and cuddly. Tristen says she is his friend. tristenandmore007 Soon after Bambi died we got little "Bridget", she was a tiny toy poodle. She was the cutest little thing and had the biggest personaity of all. She thought the world revolved around her and it pretty much did. When I took her for walks she had a fan club I think. She expected people to admire her and they did. She would stop and look in cars expecting someone to say "oh look at the cute little poodle" and she would walk up to people on porches expecting them to adore her and they did. She has a wardrobe of cute clothes and strutted her stuff. We never found another quite like Bridget. It was such a shock to loose her in a freak accident. morebabypoodle006-1 Bridget being naughty bridget091 Bodi and Bridget got along really well and it was not long before we decided to get a white poodle because my husband was missing Bambi. So along came Bijou. Here is a picture of the three of them. My poodles have always got along, never fight and love each other. They compete for attention sometimes but do not seem to envy each other. gardenJune08043 This is Bijou girls028 Bodi and Bridget autumnpoodles038 Bridget died at aged 5 by a freak accident. We just could not get over the shock. She was such a presence in our life it left a huge gap......even though we had two poodles we wanted another. So we called the breeder that we got Bijou from and he brought two to choose from. We could not choose and so we ended up with four. Then we had Bodicea, Bijou, Bella and Brea. We see our other poodles in each of them. Bodi is very much like Bonnie and Bijou is what we think Bambi would have been like had she not been abused. Brea is so like Bridget and Bella is sweet like Buttons...............I think these will be our last. We are older now and I would not want to outlive them. I hope with all my heart all my poodles will be waiting for me when I get to heaven........it would not be heaven without them. septpoodles09009 All the poodles we every had loved to run unleashed and we could always do that until now. The ones we have now play together in the back yard and do not like to ride in the car or go outside the fence. These are Bodicea, Bridget and Bijou sunday190909013 This picture was taken at the barn where I kept my horse. barnsep09003

Saturday, October 13, 2012

more pretties, cups and flowers

Photobucket I have found these pictures on the web over time and saved them for a pretty post. Photobucket Oh the flowers are in the China on this one Photobucket This one looks like you would want to sip the tea and smell the rose at the same time. Photobucket So many beautiful tea cups and flowers. This one is gorgeous and needs no other embelishment. Photobucket The pink roses seem to go with any of them thumb_large This next one makes me want a cup of tea cup-of-tea-with-dog-rose-blossom There are so many pretty ones I just can't stop........but I must I think I will have some Chamomile tea now. Photobucket I am linking up with......The Dedicated House do go visit us there. Make it Pretty Monday