Winter in the Sun Parlor!

Now that I have retired from my position as Personal Support Worker, I am taking winter in a much more philosophical light! I have discovered that I really don't HAVE to go out in the snow unless I feel like it! Actually, when I confessed to Maggie the other day that I had done absolutely nothing all day except make meals, she gave me permission by saying:"So what!  You're retired!" 

-- Okay! Now I can relax!

On Saturday I FELT LIKE going to the river to take pictures by the mill!

The bush in the second picture is located by the mill itself, and the last picture is farther down the street to the west.  You can't really see the water in the cove, since the ice and snow have it covered!  Some Canada Geese usually take up residence there, but it seems they have left for the forseeable future! If that old tree and the cove look familiar, I used them in my painting of the geese two years ago!

There's a beauty of fresh-fallen snow, it's like God has covered the mud and rubble of life, and promised a new start. I love to see the snow, before the cars and slush of traffic mess it up.

After I finish some renovations and repairs on my home, I will start my projects for retirement. I plan to organize all my family pictures, and scrap book them, but more importantly, these pictures I took on Saturday will help inspire me for more painting, which will start within the next month.

Have a great day, and stay warm and safe this winter!

Phoebe

A GIGGLE with the GOATS Jingle Bells Holiday Performance

HI! It's been a long time since I published, and I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Blessed New Year!

My life has been hectic lately, and I'm getting ready to retire at the end of this week! Yes; on Christmas Eve! I'm hoping to be able to concentrate more on my art, and publishing this blog!

I hope you all enjoy this little video, and try not to only see Curried Goat!

Have a great day,

Phoebe

The Christmas House!

For the last 14 years, two sisters in Olde Sandwich Towne have decorated the one sister's house and hosted a "Christmas Walk Through" on the weekends of November and through the first weekend of December. It is an older home, but when you walk inside, the magic of Christmas just busts through, and motivates me to start my thinking and preparations for this season's celebration. Every corner and detail of the home is decorated and most of the decorations are for sale! I just discovered the house last year, and was sad when I heard that this would be the last year for the Walk Throughs. But I guess the ladies are getting older, and they find it too much work.  

This is the time of year that most of my clients are thinking about what their Christmas will 'look like'. Many have not much family left, and others, their plans are not confirmed as yet; several have to think about travel, and nothing is really cemented until we see what the weather will be like! It's funny how each family works differently. I  have had clients who's family will gather all around them, sometimes bumping into each other to help out, while others are left alone for the holidays and sometimes are not even visited until quite a while later.                  

As for me, I will not start decorating until December, I usually start thinking about now, and decide what I will do with the house, and what I will do for presents at Christmas time. As usual, I will buy some and make others, I started making some presents last summer, and as usual, I usually have a "jump" on presents by this time of the year. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Goodbye Summer 2010!

I just love the windmill near the end of Mill Street at Russell in Olde Sandwich Towne!  Just down the path you can see in the bottom left corner of the picture, is the Mill Street dock; there is park land on both sides of the path lots of benches and places to watch the birds, ducks, and if you go near the wooded areas, you may see some four-legged creatures! But you have to watch, and be quiet!

I took this picture last month when I was down there for a walk, and decided to come back with a camera at least three more times this year. I want to get the four seasons in pictures. I plan to go back within the next two weeks for the fall shot. You can't see it from this shot, but the low bushes in front of the windmill have red flowers, I don't know what kind of bushes they are, but they are very beautiful. I was also interested in the twisted branches on those bushes.

I found them interesting, and will draw them at some point, maybe incorporate them in one of my other paintings!

The twists in these branches, remind me of our lives in Christ. He leads, and guides us through many twists and turns, some good, some not so good, some sudden and some not quite as planned. Sometimes we wonder how we can go on, but just like that small piece of sky in the last picture, He shows us where He is, and how, in His strength, to survive another battle.

Have a Great Day!

Phoebe

Saying Goodbye

Today I finished a painting I have been working on for some months. It is taken from several pictures my daughter-in-love sent me from Izzie's dance class. Finishing a painting is like saying goodbye to an old friend.  I have struggled, slaved, loved, and made a friend of the subjects, in this case, people, and the background, making decisions, and making the work a part of my life.

I have already started several nature paintings, I find them more restful than portraits and people! I needed a change!

In a way, I am taking the completion of the 'Dance Class' as when I had to say goodbye to a client two weeks ago.  As I have mentioned before, I am a Personal Support Worker, and work in people's homes to help them with their daily personal care. In this case, the man had an injury, and he recovered from that injury; so I was no longer needed for him. It was a good goodbye!  Most of the time when I say goodbye to clients, it is because they have to move to a nursing home, the hospital, or when they pass away.  At least this time the man got better!

Goodbye's are a part of life, but that doesn't make them any easier. When people we get to know and care about have to leave us; when someone is a part of our daily life, and then they are no longer there, we miss them, and it is hard to get used to not seeing them. Well, now I am waiting for my company to 'replace him' with a new client!  I wonder who that will be?  I still have six other clients,  So there it goes! At least I won't be bored!

Have a Grest Day!

Phoebe

The Garden Helper

This spring I have been so busy with work, keeping track of World Cup Soccer, and my garden, I have hardly had time to turn around!  At least this summer has been hot and wet, and my garden is doing very well so far.

When it came time to plant my seeds for snow peas, yellow beans, and Swiss Chard, I was well supervised by my two trusty helpers, my son Paul, and our dog, Thomas. Tom can only reach one corner of the garden on his chain, the corner he can reach is near when I have planted the snow peas. As I was planting them I put down the package of seeds, and ZOOP! He grabbed them and took off down the grass, shaking them all the way! I wonder if it's the pug or the beagle in him that makes him so fast? At least I got some planted, but there are no seeds left for a second harvest. I have always had an interesting array of green things growing in my grass; maybe if I didn't cut it I would get more snow peas?

This past weekend, I tackled the big job of trimming the several Rose of Sharon trees at the side of my lot, between my house and my neighbour's, we like the sound barrier and the privacy.  The trees are about twenty years old, and occasionally I have to trim them away from my house.  Well, to our dog, they were just a new toy!

He helped me move the large branches in the back yard for trimming mostly because it was his choice. When it came to the cutting up and putting them in boxes so our Public Works department in the city would take them away on 'pick-up day'; Thomas decided to take them OUT OF THE BOX for further playing! He loves to chew wood, to the point where my friend Maggie, calls him The Beaver. His favorite is the dead wood, maybe because it falls apart better.

Hope your summer is going well, and have a great day!

Phoebe

New Portraits

Hi!  I just finished some new portraits, now on to the action picture I was planning!

Hope you enjoy them, and have a great day!

Phoebe