Yum yum !!
That sounds yummy Rosey. What a spoilt boy !
I'm feeling a "connection" with you Canadians at the moment. My afternoon yesterday, turned out to be as I'd hoped it would be. A quiet afternoon with the Louise Penny book. After lunch I took it outside to my favourite sunny/shady spot, along with the local newspaper, preparing for a quiet read. ( it's amazing how much more time I seem to have to myself, when the DH is focused on a project ..) Anyway...I started with the local rag, just to see what was happening in the district. Imagine my surprise when I saw the story about a "captivating new art form for a local artist"...Encaustic painting ! I nearly fell of my chair. This lady had visited Canada last year and, while there, did a course with an encaustic artist. When she returned home, she turned the conservatory into a studio and has become addicted ! She goes on to tell how the technique has been around since at least 100 to 300 AD when it was used to create death masks for the Egyptian mummies... She explains the technique thus: " the coloured beeswax is melted onto wood, canvas or card and then blended and shaped, using a range of tools, the wax becomes your paint. " She uses her travel iron and her little chefs blow torch (!!) Sounds fun to me . I'd never heard the word encaustic before Rosey posted the photos. Now I'm what my DH would call a I.E. (instant expert...) Feeling a nice warm fuzzy, having connected this way with a fellow BB poster, I then resumed reading my book. Only one page into it (ch 6) I read that one of the characters "picked up her book. Ngaio Marsh..." Ngaio (a Maori name pronounced Nigh oh) Marsh is a celebrated Christchurch author ! ) Another warm fuzzy....
The table is taking shape nicely in the garage. Seems likely that we will either have to take a wall down or get a helicopter in to move it. Alternatively we could leave it in the garage and do our outside entertaining there..
Back to my book..I'm up to Ch 33 now and I'm still not sure whodonit !
Marion.
Supper Selection
Asked himself what he felt like having for supper tonight. He listed a fine supper, the ingredients of which he knew I would not have. Second choice, I asked. He replied: "a cold mashed potato sandwich".
Guess what he had.
Toasted............................!!
Rosey
Encaustic painting..
That's new to me
Rosey but I can see the attraction, both in the "doing" and the "seeing". Love the colours . For me it represents the corner of a garden ! Blurred colourful images, just like my garden ! Thank you for posting the photos. they do liven up the page. Talking of "livening up" I need a bit of that myself. I've been staying up far too late this week watching the semi-finals of the tennis (Australian Open) .
Thank you Jane for the book revues. I was on my way to the library the day you posted, so made a point of asking for books by both authors. To my surprise they had several by each, all but one were out on loan. "The Cruellest Month" was there so that now is in my possession and I'm up to Chapter 6 already. It's Saturday here today and, if I have my way, I should have time to find a quiet corner somewhere this afternoon, and sit back and enjoy !
DH has been busy in the garage this week, making a table. A few years ago he set himself up with some wood-working tools but, after the initial novelty of it wore off, they have remained idle. Last week he broke the outside table, it had a glass top, he miscalculated the position of the hole in the middle, where the umbrella went... Wow ! Did that make a mess ?!? The glass shattered into a million bits . It was everywhere. He was very cross with himself and decided there and then that he would make another table...(he is no carpenter...) He has had some hardwood here for awhile (acquired from the Power Board....taken from old power poles...)_It's all looking good. VERY heavy though, and will take an army of men to move it. (a bit like Bee's son and the shed ..) Watch this space ! I will post a photo when it is finished.
Enjoy the w/end.
Marion.
Post: Rosey
On the week-end I bought a very small encaustic painting. It is 6"x6" painted on board with inch and a half wooden frame surrounding the edges so that the painting is thrust forward. Not sure if that explains it but you can't see the edges except viewing it sideways. Andrea Bird, an encaustic painter in our area, is someone whose art I've been following for several years and have taken a workshop with once or twice. Encaustic painting involves the use of pure beeswax mixed with oil pigments. The technique is interesting too. Layers and layers of colour are laid onto a board and a heat gun, blow torch or dry hot iron is used to move the colours in the wax around the surface. Having done this briefly I can assure you that not only is it fun but unpredictable insofar as what you end up with. The more skill, the more control, I'm sure of that. This painting was done by Andrea's husband, Daniel. It was hung horizontally with the red image lying sideways. I saw it straight up and down, vertically as the horizontal image reminded me of a canoe. I like it both ways actually but have hung it vertically as I bought another of his paintings, similar in colour but a more horizontal composition. Just thought it would brighten the board with colour.
Sara, I know what you mean with the dolphins gracefully leaping in a curve out of the water and going back down in and repeating this motion across the landscape of the oceon surface. Such a beautiful sight.
Today in Ontario, Canada it is grey. Such an achromatic month colour-wise. Worst winter for ice in the 23 years we've been in the country, too. Not much snow so far. I long for a good old fashioned snow storm...of course, while I'm safe at home and not on the roads.
Rosey
See post above, no room to write: Rosey
Dolphin spotting
I saw a dolphin in the water, very close in by the beach yesterday while at the beach condo.
The unusual thing is that he was swimming around in the same spot for 5 or 6 min. Usually you just see them one, then just the fin, and they go ahead with their trip. There was a shrimp boat nearby, so I'm thinking shrimp were running and he was getting his share. I was cleaning windows --a much needed project.
Has anyone used a "sewezee" or a travel table like it? Many in my guild have it and swear by it for classes and retreats. I'm thinking about it, but wondering if it is the only thing on the market.
Marion--I saw an HGTV show with the shipping containers used as offices, but this is the first used as shops. An excellent idea! I think they are also used for the homeless as small homes.
OK, football is on,
Sara in Fla.
BOOK REVIEW
Before I get to the aforementioned subject, Marion, those pictures certainly speak beautifully of the resilience of your fellow New
Zealanders.
The book which is the subject listed is The Cruelest Month by Louise Penney. I believe it was
Rosey who first recommended it or at least the author. I downloaded it to my
IPod to which I listen when on the road (it's a full half hour just to the nearest grocery store). It was a real gripper involving murder, quirky characters who are
lovable and otherwise, multiple suspects and political
intrigue. What more could I, a great fan of well written who
dunnits, ask for. Ms. Penney is firmly placed among my list of favorites.
Speaking of authors I enthusiastically recommend a Canadian
author, Alan Bradley, who began his series at age 70, a retired engineer, and fan of English style mysteries as am I. The chief sleuth of his work is
Flavia de Luce, age 11, irreverent, precocious, and very funny. She lives with her widowed father and two older sisters. The sisters think she is something of a disgrace and she entertains herself with pulling their chains. Father is the descendant of the old landed gentry who is having trouble maintaining the manor house in its traditional
elegance in the mid fifties. Give yourself a treat and a smile reading this series. As with all series it's probably just as well to start with the first one, Sweetness and the Bottom of the Pie.
Jane
