Life on the Island

My Trip to Alberta

2012-02-18T21:59:00.000-08:00

I just got back from a week in Edmonton. I went to visit my daughter, her fiance and my grandson and their new house that they had only just moved into a few days before my arrival.

I couldn't wait to see my grandson who was 10 months old the day I arrived, I hadn't seen him since the beginning of October. He has changed so much since I last saw him, he is crawling and pulling himself up on anything he can grab. He loves to sit with his toy box and gradually empty it out, one toy at a time until the box is empty! Unfortunately a couple of days after I got there he went down with a nasty tummy bug and was feeling quite poorly and was still poorly when I left. My week went by so fast and before I knew it I was packing my bag and getting ready to leave again :(

A smiley boy before he got sick

Wearing his Valentine T-shirt, Little Heartbreaker ;o)

I had a window seat on the flight home and the sky was so clear the view was amazing!

Alberta landscape, very flat!

Beautiful mountains

Mountains poking out of the clouds

Beautiful Sidney

2012-01-09T12:34:00.001-08:00

We have walked around Sidney quite a lot but never in this particular area. We found a little parking lot on Resthaven Drive and parked the car. We found a footpath that went along between the bottom of a row of beautiful condo's and the waterfront. I would loooove to live in one of those! What gorgeous views they have! Imagine breakfast in the mornings looking at that! Fantastic!
We walked around the waters edge along the path, then back along and round to the mariner. We love to look at the boats. We love to see the tugboats in particular. I would love a little tugboat.
It was an overcast day but very mild, I think it was about 8 degrees, not bad at all for a January day!

I want to live here!

I love the bright green moss on the wall.

The water was so clear.

Sam had spotted a seal (in the pic at the top) he followed up with some barking which scared the seal away, naughty Sam :o)

2012!

2011-12-31T11:57:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a very

HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR!!

A wall plaque for Logan.

2011-12-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

When our grandson was here in September we attempted to take his hand and foot prints. We managed to get both hands and one foot print onto the space on the clay (should have made it bigger) the prints could have been a bit deeper into the clay but we didn't want to press his hands or foot any harder than we were already doing. His bedroom has an owl theme so I decided to add a branch and some owls to the plaque. Once it had been bisque fired I painted all the glazes onto the plaque instead of dipping into just one colour glaze. I am not sure why the leaves came out blue, I did use a green glaze, but I don't think Logan will mind :o) I think it's quite cute and I hope Logan likes it too.

Little donkey

2011-12-06T23:17:00.000-08:00

After quite a few weeks of careful work my latest piece is finished. I have made a donkey. I am proud to say that he is the first animal I have made (with 4 legs) where the legs have not cracked or broken. I took great care to support him on a lump of clay throughout the sculpting process. He was then glazed with a white glaze with black over top, I did think he would come out a bit more greyish black like on the glaze sample but that was not the case. But I quite like the way the glaze came out on his muzzle. All in all I am very please with Mr Donkey who has yet to be named.

I also made a dragon bell, a little squirrel salt shaker and what was supposed to be a little sheep egg cup, the egg cup is too small for an egg! The glaze on the squirrel and egg cup are a little too thick too. I plan to make some more animal egg cups and salt shakers and will remember to try a different glaze next time.

Dogs and time change!

2011-11-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

How do they do it? Since the clocks changed this past weekend we have had trouble getting the dogs round that extra hour till their dinner time. Scout is sooo funny, she has a really good clock, at dinner time which is 5:20pm she will come and tell you, even if she is out cold fast asleep she suddenly wakes up, has a yawn and a stretch then comes to me and gives me "the look"! If I am sitting she will put her two feet on my arm and she will pull. If I ignore her she will then do a little hop, then give me another look. If I still ignore her she will then come round and put her feet on my leg and then walk towards the kitchen. If I am in the kitchen cooking our dinner she will come and look at me then walk to their food drawer and give a little whimper to tell me it's her dinner time too. Well after the clocks changed right on 4:20 which of course would be 5:20 before the clocks changed she came to me and asked for her dinner, I said "no it's too early" but she wasn't having any of that, it was dinner time! I have no idea how we are going to get it back round to feeding at 5:20 new time, she just won't give you any peace until she has it. I could be firm and just say "no" but I can't do that. Sam doesn't really care, he just waits for Scout to ask for dinner! haha
But I have no idea how dogs know exact times of the day, they are so smart.

Scout is such a funny girl, look at the way she sits sometimes when she is watching TV!!!!!

Just chilling!

"what you looking at"?

She also has a bad habit of stealing the remote for the TV, she looks after it for us!!!!!

Naughty Scouty!

It is like having two year old twins in the house on a permanent basis, they certainly keep me on my toes! But we would never have it any other way, they are so much fun even when they are being rascals!

Waiting to see if she will get a piece of my toast!

Back in the mud!

2011-10-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

It has been months since I sat down at home with my clay. For one reason and another I just don't seem to have been able to sit quietly and do my own thing. So this weekend I forced myself to get the clay out and do something! I have been working hard on an animal at my ceramics classes and my teacher suggested I do something quick and fun at home and enjoy it, so I did! This is what I made ....

I made a squirrel salt pot, and a dragon and a chicken bell. The chicken will have his it's legs dangling from the bell part once it is finished. I have a few more ideas in my head, I am going to try a little egg cup tomorrow, watch this space!

Sunday Stroll

2011-10-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

We went for a gorgeous walk down the trail to the Todd Inlet, lots of leaves have fallen leaving a carpet of leaves, the colours are beautiful. Autumn is my favourite season and I love to see the fall colours. The dogs loved their walk, sniffing all the smells.

We passed what we call the "Snoopy Tree", doesn't it look like snoopy?! The white is a fungus growing on the tree, snoopy's ear is a hole.

The water at the inlet was looking a little dirty, the water doesn't change often in the inlet so it can get a bit icky from standing still.

It was so sunny and warm, just perfect fall weather.

The Cutest Pumpkin In The Patch!

2011-10-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

Baby Logan and his Mum are here for a visit, and today we took him for his first trip to the local pumpkin patch, what fun he had! He doesn't quite sit unaided yet but managed a wonderful balancing act while we took pictures of him and he didn't lose his balance once, clever boy. It was a lovely sunny day but slightly chilly so we didn't stay too long, just long enough to take some great pictures. And don't you just love his t-shirt?! The little monster is saying "burrp"!!! hehehe I love it!

The pumpkin fields look so pretty.

Grandson with his Mum

Mr Cutie, look at those blue eyes and the cute t-shirt.

Hmm pumpkins are quite comfy!

I may take a nap!

Bobbing along

2011-10-08T23:26:00.000-07:00

on the ~~bottom~~ top of the beautiful briny sea ... ...

Today we took the little blue boat out for it's 3rd trip, we have had a bit of trouble with the oar locks so hubby decided to get a small trolling motor which runs off a battery, so until we can sort the oar locks we shall use the motor. Having the motor means we can glide effortlessly across the water and we can go out onto the water for about an hour to an hour and a half safely.
Mount Baker looked totally awesome today, Mount Baker is in Washington State, in the United States. It's funny some days the mountain looks further away but on a clear day or on a day where the light is catching it in a certain way it looks so much closer. In the other direction over the Olympic Mountains it looked like we had bad weather coming our way, the sky was dark and looked like it was coming in fairly quickly possibly bringing a lot of rain and wind so we decided not to go out too far and just glide around the shoreline from Oak Bay to Cattle Point then back again. We hadn't seen any seals today and I had just put my camera away into my bag when a seal popped it's head out of the water right next to the boat! By the time I had got the camera back out of the bag it was gone, I missed it, oh well next time Mr Seal!

Click on pictures to make them bigger.

Heading out of Oak Bay

Mount Baker

Bad weather looming in!

The sun beaming through the clouds onto the ocean

The sunnier side of the trip!

Heading back into Oak Bay

Wimbie came along for the ride

Awesome trip!!!

2011-10-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

My daughter had a voucher for a whale watching trip so we decided to go while the weather was still good. It was a beautiful sunny day and couldn't be more perfect.
We headed down to the inner harbour to get our boat, we decided on the boat instead of the smaller and more open zodiacs that shake you up quite a bit. I don't need shaking up and I was a little nervous about being seasick, so a boat it was! The trip was 3 hrs long, we headed out of the harbour and into the ocean heading up towards the top right of the peninsula but out into the ocean into the waters of the United States.
We were very close to Stuart Island which is one of the San Juan islands in Washington State and there they were! Whales, magnificent and wonderful whales! The whale tour company is very very good at sticking to the laws that keep you from getting too close to the whales. There were some boats that were very close and we were told that those boats were research boats taking samples from the ocean. We learnt a lot about the whale and the dangers they face. My daughter is doing a class about the whale as part of her geopraphy degree so she was really interested in hearing and seeing the whales. It was a fantastic trip and we really enjoyed it.

We were not this close to the whales, my pictures have been cropped.

Tools Are Ready And We Are Waiting To Start!!

2011-09-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

It's seems like forever! Classes ended in June and I have not touched clay since then. Pottery classes start again this evening and I can't wait! We will be back in the new Art Centre and Ceramics studio that they have been building for the past year. It is about 3 times bigger than our old studio and I can't wait to get in there and see what its all about.

Boat Launch!

2011-09-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

My hubby has spent almost a year building a 12 foot row boat in his spare time, and last Saturday was launch day! He has never done any type of woodwork before or fibre glassing of any sort so everything was new to him. I think he did a brilliant job for his first attempt. The boat is extremely solid and floats and rows perfectly.

We picked Oak Bay Mariner for the launch as it is easy to park the car there and get it off the car. Then it's just a few steps down onto the beach. Hubby and daughter did the first trip out and I stayed on dry land to take pictures. I think we will be taking it out again this weekend and I will be going too.

There is a heron sitting in the green boat behind, next to the yellow thing.

The boat is named Sarelen

Sunshine and Starfish at Salt Spring Island!

2011-08-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

We went on the ferry over to Salt Spring Island for the day. After arriving on the island we drove up to Southey Point where there was a gorgeous little bay. It was so peaceful, no one around, just the sea and the starfish! There were lots of starfish on the rocks waiting for the tide to come back in, it amazes me how they can lie on the rocks in such heat without dying. There were some very funky looking rocks at the bay with holes in them, one looked like it had been a big bubble that had popped!
We then went onto Ganges Harbour for some lunch, it was a hot day so we couldn't leave the dogs in the car so we sat in the park and ate fish and chips! Very tasty!

Heading over to Salt Spring Island

Southey Point

Wonderful starfish!

Just one of the many funky rocks

After lunch we drove an extremely rocky, bumpy road up to the top of Mount Maxwell. Halfway up we were thinking it was a bad idea, there were huge potholes in the road. But we made it to the top and the view was well worth the bumpy ride. From the top we could see Burgoyne Bay below and as far over as Sidney on Vancouver Island, the boats in the Burgoyne bay looked tiny. We then took the bumpy ride back down the mountain to Burgoyne Bay, it was just as tranquil and peaceful as the other bay we stopped at.

Burgoyne Bay

We were way up there at the top of Mount Maxwell

Our day went fast and it was soon time to head back to Fulford Harbour to wait for the return ferry home.

Shops at Fulford Harbour

Precious times.

2011-08-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

We have just spent a wonderful week with our daughter, fiancé and grandson. It was so good to have baby snuggles. Logan did his first real giggle while he was here, it was wonderful to share a first with him. He had been doing the odd laugh but this was real giggling. He also had his first taste of pureed carrot! That was fun, the first taste was "ohhh yak", then it was "hmm well maybe not so bad" then "oh this spoon is good to chew on" (he is teething already) then I think he quite enjoyed his first taste of carrot, although he was wearing more than he ate I think! haha

We went with Logan up island to Cathedral Grove Cathedral Grove to see the ancient forest, we knew his Dad would like to visit the forest and the amazing trees. Some of the trees in the forest are over 800 years old! Can you imagine standing that long for so many years, if trees could talk they would have lots of tales to tell. We took our daughters there 7 years ago, my hubby told people that he wanted his children to see the huge trees before they disappeared, people laughed at him, well 7 years on a lot of the really old trees are gone and more will go too. We took pictures of the trees with Logan and his Mum standing beside them and we will be interested to see if they are still standing in 10 years time!

First taste of carrot

Hmm not so bad!

Logan ready for his road trip

Logan with Mum and Auntie

Just one of the big trees

A perfect tree to take a picture, its massive!

It won't be long!

2011-08-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

It's only a week to wait until our little grandson comes to visit again, it is about 2 months since we saw him last and he has changed so much in those 2 months. Just recently he has started to laugh and giggle and he now enjoys a game of peek a boo! We are very lucky that our daughter sends us pictures and videos daily and we also get together when we can on the webcam. But we are so excited to be actually seeing him again in person!

He is such a gorgeous little boy and has such big blue eyes. He just got a new hat and his first pair of jeans and at the ripe old age of almost 4 months he looks so grown up! hehe

Add caption

15 weeks

Logan, 16 weeks wearing his new hat and jeans!

Boris, needle felted critter number 2!!

2011-07-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

I can see this needle felting becoming just as addictive as ceramic sculpting! One of the great things about needle felting is that it can be done in front of the TV or outside, you don't have to worry about it drying out or cracking, and there is no mess! Apart from the blood pouring from my fingers!! hehehe
No just kidding!! hehe I have poked my fingers a few times but no blood.

So here is my second felted critter, meet Boris the little rat. I had started out making a mouse character but he started to look more rat like, so a rat he became! I think he is rather cute and somehow I even managed to do his feet in such a way that he stands by himself!!! Yay!

I am getting the hang of using the needle and the stabbing action that is required and hopefully my needle sculptures will improve as I go along just like my ceramic sculptures did!

Below are the pictures of how you start with needle felting, the wool and shaping etc.

You pull a piece of wool off the braid and roll into a tight ball then start stabbing with the needle until the ball or shape you want is together and firm. From there you add wool and shape using the needle just like you would add clay, then add the head and limbs for whatever you are making and voila, a critter, hopefully!!!

The piece of wool before rolling into a ball

The ball which will be the body of the critter

The start of Boris!

Eye eye!!

Wow those are some teeth you got there!!

All finished!

Boris the little rat!

Yannick checks out his new home!

2011-07-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

I am a very lucky lady, look what arrived in the mail! Yannick the wonderful Pussman Bear from Belgium that I won in the wonderful give away on her blog. He is gorgeous and the pictures of him don't do him justice, he is way more handsome in the fur! :o)
He was eager to check out his new home so we took him off to the beach once the sun decided to pop its head out (its been raining for a couple of days) it was gorgeous down at the beach, beautiful blue skies.
Later we headed up to Mount Douglas to check out the view from the top, there is an amazing view of the whole of Victoria and the sea beyond. He really enjoyed the view! Then it was back home to rest on the bookcase with his new buddy.

Down at the beach

Sitting on some amazing driftwood.

At the top of Mount Douglas

We live way over there just above Yannick's head.

Yannick (Pussman Bear)

First needle felting project!

2011-07-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

After a bit of pondering I decided to make a bunny like the ceramic one that I have made. As this is the first real needle felting I have done without any help I don't think I have done too badly! I guess the main thing with needle felting is getting use to felting the wool and using the needle and building the layers to add thickness etc. Also using the needle to sculpt the features. I had a bit of a problem sculpting the face of this bunny as the dark colour is really hard on my eyes for some reason, his muzzle didn't go well at all and he has a sort of shocked smirk look on his face!! But all in all I am quite pleased with my first effort.

I have to go and buy more needles and a finer needle for sculpting, I also want to buy a lighter shade of brown then I might try another bunny of some description.

I have now rearranged bunny's face and I think it looks a wee bit better, not quite so smirky scary! This is how it is going to stay now anyway, this first project is now finished! Onto the next!!!

Needle Felting Class Results!!! No Laughing Please!

2011-07-02T23:24:00.000-07:00

Well what can I say?!! My daughter and I had a blast at the needle felting class today. We made bee's!
I only poked myself with the needle 4 or 5 times, you soon learn to keep your fingers out of the way!

We were shown how to make the body, how to add stripes or lines etc, how to attach a head and also antenna or limbs, then of course how to add eyes, eyebrows etc and anything you may wish to add. We made large exaggerated wings to learn how to do 2D flat felting (a 2D classes is being held in August). So all the basics were covered in our class today. Using all that we were shown today we can basically make anything at all. The stabbing motion of the needle into the felt is very relaxing and I can see how some people find it very therapeutic to needle felt. It is also very easy to fix something if a certain part of the item you are making doesn't go right, you can just pull it apart and start again, or stab it a bit more to fix the problem.
We bought a couple of books, a spare needle and some felting wool and we are now eager to see what we can create on our own. We just need to pop to the craft store and get some pipe cleaners to use as armatures.

The bee my daughter made has a much cuter smilier face than mine, mine looks a little angry!! hehe

What shall I try to make tomorrow? Hmmmmm........................

My bee on the left.

My bee.

Daughters bee.

Sculpting of a different kind!

2011-06-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

For some months now I have had this strong urge to do some sort of craft using a needle. Now this is very strange for me because I have always loathed any form of needlework. I can crochet but only the basic stitch and have made the odd boring square or oblong blanket but that is as far as it goes. I hate sewing with a passion, well I did! Being taught to sew was always a challenge for me as I am a lefty, at school I was shoved to the back of the classes and told to sit quietly while the rest of the class (righties) were shown how to sew. My late Nana was a wonderful crafter with the needle, she could knit, quilt, sew, she made lace etc etc and I could kick myself that I never learnt to do any of those things from her.

After a lot of searching on the web I have decide to try two needle crafts, one is embroidery which seems to be called "Doodle Stitching" these days. I have bought some material but need to find some embroidery threads. The other needle craft is Needle Felting, my daughter and I have both signed up for a needle felting class this coming Saturday at Knotty By Nature in Victoria. We will be shown how to needle felt and sculpt using felt. I can't wait to try it, I wonder if sculpting with felt is anything like sculpting with clay? Now the question is, should I take lots of band aids with me? I hear those needles are sharp!!!!!! haha

Watch this space! Hopefully I will have something to show you if all goes well!

Here is a little needle felted owl made by Salt Spring Wool Arts which has just joined our household :o)

Made by Salt Spring Wool Arts

Ucluelet Revisited.

2011-06-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

We have just got back home from spending a wonderful week in Ucluelet, we enjoyed it so much last year that we returned this year. This time we stayed in a different place, we had a wonderful little cabin that looked right onto the beach. Our week away was for chilling and relaxing and that is exactly what we did.

Gentle strolls on the beach,apart from the dogs who were tearing around the beach at great speed! You can not make a Jack Russell go sloooowly! haha Thankfully Scout was feeling better and enjoyed running on the beach too. We ventured out to Tofino and visited most of the beaches along the drive back, Chesterman Beach, Long Beach, Wickaninnish Beach and Florencia Bay. Florencia was our favourite.

We also walked part of the Wild Pacific Trail, past the Amphitrite Lighthouse. The lighthouse has a webcam and we waved to our two daughters one in Victoria and one in Edmonton who were watching the cam as we went past! How cool is that?!

We enjoyed it so much and the cabin was so perfect we think we will be returning next year!

Our cabin, Morning Mist.

View from our cabin deck.

Scout enjoying the view.

Amphitrite Lighthouse.

Broken Islands

Beautiful sunset outside the cabin.

Statue in Ucluelet.

Sam checking out a huge starfish.

Poor little Scout.

2011-06-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

Our little rescue Scout is having a few health issues. We are not sure it is allergies or something else going on. A few days ago she started chewing her back feet really badly, she would not leave them alone, then we noticed she had sores on her ears. So on Monday we took her off to the vets to get her checked out. The vet noticed that she also has a couple of sores in her mouth but she said this could be from the constant chewing of her feet. The vet said the symptoms are similar to those caused by allergies but could also be something going on with her immune system which is much more serious. So for now she is treating it like an allergy to see if the symptoms go, if they don't then further test will have to be done including a biopsy. We are now applying cream to her feet twice a day and she is taking Reactine at bedtime. She also has to wear the dreadful buster collar to stop her chewing her feet. Poor little girl she has been bashing her way around the house, banging on doorways, getting caught trying to get under the table to lie down, we have also felt the buster collar slamming into our legs when she comes running up behind us! Ouch that hurts!
She can't fit in her crate to sleep when wearing the buster collar so she has been sleeping with me for the last 2 nights on the spare bed. Last night she was snuggled up so close all tucked in.
We have our fingers crossed that it is allergies and nothing more serious, she has been through a lot already in her life and doesn't deserve anymore stress. We have to take her back to the vets in about 5-7 days to see how things are.

Yes!! He made it!

2011-06-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

Well I am soooo pleased and excited to tell you that I fixed my boars legs successfully, he was bisque fired and survived the firing with no more cracking. Last week I glazed him, I did his eyes black, I then did a red oxide stain on his trotters and also the inside of his ears to give a slightly different colour, I then brushed on a black glaze to the rest of the body, I gave him 2 to 3 coats then wiped it all off leaving the glaze inside the textured surface. I had a certain idea in my mind of how I wanted him to look. Yesterday I went to see if he was fired and yes he was! I think he looks absolutely fabulous (if I do say so myself, hehe) and I am so excited. He is my favourite piece so far I think, and has now been put in a special place on the bookcase.

My roo was also finished and ready to bring home, she is rather cute too, and I enjoyed using the different coloured underglazes on her. I also did a little lizard pot that I threw on the wheel then added to lizard too.

Growing so fast!

2011-05-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

My little grandson is now just over 7 weeks old and has changed so much already. He is coming for a visit next weekend with his Mum and I can't wait! He is already smiling and he has good control over his head already. I think he is going to be like his Mum she did everything early. He is a pretty good baby so far and sleeps well, he has slept through the night for the past 3 nights, also early for a 7 week old I think!

He is just the cutest little boy and I cant' wait for lots of hugs when he's here!

I looooove this black and white pic.

Oh no disaster!!!

2011-05-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

Mr Boar has cracked!!!!!! While drying out here he has cracked, his legs and feet mainly and for some reason his back! Nooooo! I am hoping we can perform a miracle on him tomorrow when I get to class. Fingers crossed!!

I suspect the cause of the cracking in the legs are the bamboo skewers that are in there. But no idea why his back has cracked too, maybe it was a bit too thin.

I think I should be setting up a hospital for injured clay creatures! I have an injured roo still waiting to be glaze fired, now Mr Boar and I have numerous other elephants here who have had to have limbs reattached!

But I can't part with them and they still sit proudly on my bookcase.

What a boar!!!!!! hehe

2011-05-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

Here he is, my latest creation! A wild boar!! I am trying an experiment with this piece, I have supported the legs with skewers, placing them inside the legs, my teacher said I could do this. She said the bamboo will burn out during firing. I have also made sure there is enough space around the skewer to allow for some shrinkage and hopefully no cracking, and there is a hole so they won't blow up either! So far the bamboo skewers have worked like a dream, much better for support. So fingers crossed for the bisque firing!
I really enjoyed making this little guy, and he came together quite well. I have been running over some of the glazes in my mind and I am hoping to find a suitable one that will allow the texture of the boar hair to come through. I may use a stain then a glaze, hmmm.
The building process below.

And here he is all finished.

Bears!

2011-05-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

Some of you may or may not know that I am a bear collector, I collect antique, vintage and artist made bears and have quite a varied collection. I also had my own bear store a few years ago.
I have admired Pussman Bears for quite some time now, I love unusual bears and bears that are made in wonderful funky colours. One day I would love to add a Pussman to my collection.
Here are a few pics of my collection, yep I know I have way too many!!! But there is always room for one more!!!

Pussman is having a give away at the moment so if you are looking for a wonderful new bear to add to your collection stop by and have a look. http://pussmanstuffies.blogspot.com/

Home again

2011-04-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

I have just come back from spending 2 wonderful weeks with my new baby grandson in Edmonton. Logan is the sweetest little boy. I miss him already. It's so tough being so far away from family. I loved feeding him, burping him and rocking him to sleep when he was a bit upset. Hopefully it won't be too long before we see him again. I know when we do see him next he will have changed and grown a lot! It is quite wonderful being a grandparent :o)

Just over 2 weeks old

Once back home it was also back to pottery. The sculpture of my Mum was finished and ready to bring home. I am really pleased with her. I also picked up a pot I made. I was also pleased to see that Roo had made it through the bisque firing with her gimpy leg. She has now been glazed and is waiting to be fired.

My first baby Grandson

2011-04-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

Logan Emerson was born April 8th, weighing in at a healthy 6lb 11oz. He is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to meet him. I fly out on Tuesday to go stay with them for a couple of weeks, I'm sooo excited!
I can't stop looking at his pictures!

Roo!

2011-04-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

My next piece is now finished and ready for firing. It took me a long time to get the roo done. I had major problems getting her to balance and the legs kept breaking (this seems to be a problem I always have) I think I have to try using wire or wood inside for support next time I try something like that. Unfortunately on the way to class one of the legs broke again, even though I packed her in a box with a lot of towels on the bottom for cushioning but I heard the leg snap! We did some major surgery on her leg when I got to class and hopefully it will work. She is now waiting to be fired. Keep your fingers crossed she makes it because I really like her!

The making of Mother!

2011-04-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

My Mum is done! I have spent all day today working on my Mum just incase I have to rush off to Edmonton at short notice. I wanted to get her made then hopefully if I am still here I can get her glazed on Wednesday in class.
I really really enjoyed making her, working on the face is still a challenge but I am slowly getting the hang of it I think. I would like to try a larger head to work on and see how that goes. Maybe next time!!

All done!

2011-03-31T12:04:00.000-07:00

My little armchair with man (my Dad) sitting on it, is all done. He turned out pretty good for my first attempt at something like that and I am really pleased. I wish the trousers and hair had turned out more brown than pinky but never mind I still love it. Now I am attempting to do my Mum!!!! Well I can't just do Dad and not Mum! hehehe Watch this space!!!!

My first ever human figure!!

2011-03-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

Don't laugh!!!!

Well this is my very first time ever attempt at a human figure, it wasn't meant to be a perfect person but I wanted to try and get it to look somewhat human! I have to say that I really really enjoyed making this piece. I made the armchair by making 4 pinch pots then shaping them into the 4 pieces of the chair, then I joined them together. I then started the figure my making a stick figure then I added the clothes like you would if dressing a paper doll. I then sort of turned him into my Dad! hehehe.. My Dad sits in his armchair with his book and remote control and often has his little bird Joey sitting on his shoulder. So the most difficult part of the figure of course is the face and as hard as I tried I could not do the eyes. They were too small and awkward and the clay on the face dried quite quickly so when I touched it it started to crumble. I took it to class on Wednesday and the teacher and I tried to redo the eyes but it was difficult, so they had to remain in the state they were in. I have now glazed him with low fire underglazes which were painted onto the greenware (first time I have done that) and he is now awaiting the bisque firing. So I hope he is ready next week, and I hope he looks good!

Down The Beach

2011-03-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

A cool overcast slightly rainy day means an empty beach, so off we went with the dogs. They needed a good run and an empty beach is perfect. I just wish the little horrors would leave the discarded crab legs alone! The seagulls have eaten the best bits and leave the scraps behind, our two like to eat them, of course we don't let them but they do manage to swipe the odd one or two!
We also found this beautiful red starfish on the beach, what a gorgeous colour, and beautiful red seaweed! We thoroughly enjoyed our walk and the dogs had a lot of fun and were ready for a little nap when they got home.

Seahorse!!

2011-03-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

I remembered this week to see if my seahorse was fired and ready to bring home.. don't know how I forgot about it last week! I am sooo pleased with the way he turned out. Sadly the hole I made in the back for hanging isn't big enough, so I am thinking of trying to poxy a small piece of wire to the back and hopefully that will work as it would be such a shame not to be able to hang it. I am going to hang him in our bathroom once the bathroom has been freshly painted!

Hippo "pot" amus :)

2011-03-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to practice making a bowl or pot on the wheel then adding to it to make an animal bowl or something. This is my latest effort. I think he is rather cute and will be perfect pot for M&M's, or a funky dish for dip or salsa! Just got to get him fired then glazed now.

A little foxy!

2011-03-10T11:19:00.000-08:00

My little fox is done! I love the colour of the glaze. He came out pretty good but I still think he looks rather deer like and his front legs are a bit iffy, but all in all I am happy with him. I am still learning as I go and with each piece I do I learn something new.

I also made a little pot, I drew a little whale and star fish on the pot, then used wax resist over them to keep off the glaze, then dipped the pot in the sea green glaze.

A little owly!

2011-03-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

Saturday was our daughters baby shower and sadly would couldn't go, we are saving all our pennies and air miles for when baby has arrived. So instead my other daughter and I went shopping for some cute shower gifts to send for the shower. The nursery theme is owls and the baby shower was an owl theme too. We found some cute owl things, then we got crafty and made owl gift tags and cards. I am not a crafty person by any means but I really had fun making the owl card and tags.
Baby is due in less than 4 weeks now, but everyone thinks he will be early including the doctor! So we might not have to wait 4 weeks until he is born. It's so exciting!!!

Snow Day(s)!

2011-02-23T14:57:00.000-08:00

Hmm I guess spring isn't springing quite yet!! Mother Nature sent us about 8 inches of snow! What a shock it was to wake up this morning to see it all thick and white outside.
Of course snow means a venture out for a walk with the dogs! They of course love it, Sam has always loved the snow, Scout not so much but even she seems to be enjoying this latest snowfall.

Of course this much snow on the island means, no school, no college and people are advised to stay at home and off the roads.

So apart from the walk earlier it has been a nice cozy day at home!

It's a beauuutiful day!

2011-02-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

So we headed down the beach. We were expecting a beach full of people because the parking area was full. I have no idea where the people were because the beach was empty! All the better for us!! We looove empty beaches (apart from 3 people that were just leaving) because empty beaches are dog friendly ;o))
Our little Scout is such a funny girl, she didn't know what going for a walk meant when we first got her and had no idea what to do, she use to walk along look extremely depressed and if she came across a rock or a log that had to be jumped over she had no clue. Look at this rascal now!!! hehe

She ran off ahead of us and waited for us all to catch up while standing like king of the castle up on the rock! You could almost see her smiling!

With the camera on full zoom I just managed to get a picture of the seals sunning themselves on a rock.

Mount Baker in the United States in the distance.

For family and friends in the UK ;o)

Brain Crawl!

2011-02-17T10:55:00.000-08:00

Haha, that is the name of this cool glaze on my pots! Isn't it awesome? I really love it. I like the pots too even though they are a little ummm heavy, but sshhh, don't tell anyone they will never know! ;o)))

I am no green fingers, but.....

2011-02-15T10:43:00.000-08:00

I have managed to care for an orchid, a cheap Walliemart purchase at the time. It had two or three flowers on it when I got it. They lasted quite some time before dying and falling off. After they died I cut it down and sat it on the table, it did nothing for over a year! I decided to move it onto another table out of the way as it was pretty boring to look at! Well it liked being shoved in the corner with less light and before I knew it we had the start of the stem the flowers grow on! I was pretty excited when I saw it and immediately staked it so that it could grow upright. Now it has two gorgeous flowers on it. I am so chuffed! hehe.. Success at last! Oh I have no idea what type of orchid it is.. a slipper perhaps?

I lost my Mojo!

2011-02-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

We have so much "stuff" going on at the moment, illness, first grandchild on the way, and all sorts of other stuff that I seem to have lost my mojo for pottery! But I have been trying to get my mojo back!

I have just completed a fox that is waiting to be fired, we were starting to call the fox a Dox! Why? Because it looked more like a deer than a fox!! LOL Anyway I fiddled with it and "tried" to make it more fox like, so we shall see how it looks after firing. I have done a few little pots on the wheel, but I just can't get to grips with it at all. A small pot is all I seem to be able to manage. But having said that the walls and bottoms of the pots are starting to become a lot thinner and lighter! Most of the pots I have made can be used as door stops!! hehe.. I also sat and made a little seahorse that I can hang on the bathroom wall once it is finished. I am now racking my brains trying to decide what to do next! Hmmmm thinking, thinking..........

Here are my latest pots, I love the browny cream glaze on the first one, and I managed to do a pretty good foot on the green one, something else that is improving slowly!

This the seahorse. (I only recently found out that the seahorse is on the endangered species list)

Twit Twoo!

2011-01-27T09:32:00.000-08:00

At last!!! My owl was ready to bring home! He had been waiting to be fired for quite a while now. I made this owl for my Dad who collects owls. I hope he loves it because I do! I am so pleased with the glaze, I did a black stain first then I think I did a red brown glaze over top.
I do have one teensie problem though! He stuck to the kiln a little so he has this blob on the bottom, he is a bit wobbly, so I have to see if I can sand it off somehow so he is more stable. I can't give my Dad a wobbly owl can ?!

Remembering

2011-01-26T09:59:00.000-08:00

Our little dog JR who left us 3 years ago. He was such a great dog.

Goodbye Pantry, Hello New Cupboards!

2011-01-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

Over a year ago the fridge that was in the house when we moved in gave up and had to be replaced, we then found that none of the new fridges of today fit into the current space. So we had to decide whether to trim and try and modify current cupboards or just replace with the new cupboards that we had been planning on fitting somewhere in the future. So we decided to go with the new cupboards, so three new cupboards were fitted around the new fridge and that is how it stayed for over a year. But after the new year we decided to continue with the fitting of new cabinets.
New kitchen's don't come cheap so we are doing it all gradually. Over the past two weeks we have completely removed an old pantry cupboard, moved along the fridge to the end and fitted a run of new drawer units and cupboards above. The kitchen looks so much bigger with the pantry cupboard gone (I always hated it) We still have the ceiling to repair, drywall to mud and repair, doors and counter tops to fit, but it is already looking soo much better. We hope to continue with the rest of the kitchen during the coming months. I think it's going to look really good when it is all finished....

Pantry Cupboard

After the pantry had been removed and new cupboards fitted

Below are the during pics..........

A Blustery Beach Walk

2011-01-05T18:11:00.000-08:00

We all bundled up today in our warm coats, dogs included and headed down to the beach. I love to go down to the beach on a wet and blustery day. I love to listen and to watch the waves crashing onto the beach. It is good to take the dogs down the beach of a wet and windy day because the beach is usually empty and that means they can go off leash and I don't have to worry about Scout barking at other dogs.

They both had a blast today even running into the water which was very brave of them, I would have thought that it was freezing cold today, but they didn't seem to care.

Wally and Martin's new home! (Fire-belly newts)

2010-12-28T17:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to the big chain pet store where we found a really great 10 gallon tank with hood and light for $29.99 for Wally and Martin. Bargain!!! They were in a teeny tiny tank so I think they are going to love the space in this one. They can swim about more and have more room to explore. I hope they will be OK, it is always a worry when you change their homes etc that they will be OK and not die for whatever reason. There is no reason they should so hopefully they will be fine. They now also have three little rocky cave things to go and hide inside instead of just the little turtle, so lots of places to go and chill.

A Breezy Boxing Day Walk

2010-12-27T11:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we took ourselves of down to Clover Point for a breezy walk. We didn't actually walk too far in the end because it was a bit too cold in the wind. But it was good to get out and get some fresh air and clear the lungs.

Happy Holiday Wishes

2010-12-24T09:19:00.000-08:00

WISHING YOU ALL OUT THERE A HAPPY AND WONDERFUL HOLIDAYS AND ALL THE VERY BEST FOR A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR!!!!

Hoppity Harold for Grandson to be!

2010-12-17T12:52:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest creation, a bunny! I have made him for our new grandson who is expected in April.

At first I thought I would just make the bunny then decided to turn him into a money bank. I then decided to use some underglazes which I have never tried using before. I usually dunk in the bucket when glazing! At first I wasn't too keen on the whole painting technique but soon got into it and in the end quite enjoyed it. There are limited colour glazes at the studio so I went with what they had. The brown is darker than I wanted but I am still happy with it, he sort of looks like a chocolate bunny!!! hehee and oh so yummy!!! But all in all I loveee him!

I hope baby will love him too when he arrives and is old enough to look at him!!!

We love rain don't we?!!!!!

2010-12-14T13:44:00.000-08:00

Nope! Not recently anyway!
Vancouver Island rain this past few days has brought flooding to many people. Lots of flooded homes and basements and even the odd rock slide right down onto a home while the home owners slept! Thankfully no one was injured but they are now homeless.
We are some of the lucky ones, yes we were flooded down in our family room once again, just like last year but this year it came in at a totally different place, in fact we are not sure quite where the entry point is. Our family room carpet is basically ruined, we wet vac'd it and have had the wood stove burning at a hot hot rate to dry everything out. Not what we needed right now, but like I said we were some of the lucky ones, it could have been a lot worse, so we are very thankful of that.
Today we have rain.. and sleet!!!

Rain stained carpet :(

Where the rain came in!

What does she remember?

2010-12-08T11:26:00.000-08:00

As some of you readers know our beautiful Jack Russell Scout is a rescue dog, we rescued her from a dog rescue in Vancouver BC. She was brought from Clackamas County in the United States by the Vancouver Rescue. From the papers we have she went into the county's dog services at Clackamas right on Christmas, she was given kennel cough shots on Dec 28th. She was then moved to a kill shelter in Tacoma Washington where she awaited her fate. Thankfully she was rescued on January 11 by the rescue from Vancouver, there she was looked after, spayed and given some well deserved love and attention while the rescue found her a new home(us). She had lots of issues, she didn't like being touched and was extremely fearful of fast movements, noises etc. We adopted her on March 21st, 2009.
Well one of the things that we wonder is do they remember past times in their lives? Last year was her first Christmas with us and while I put up our Christmas tree she lay right beside me and never left my side. This year she is even more clingy while putting up the tree, she has lain either right beside my feet or in-between me and the tree while I was decorating it. Does she remember what happened to her? Does the Christmas tree trigger what happened? We wonder!
Thankfully now she is not jumpy or fearful and looooooves to be touched, she comes to us and asks for hugs and loves to be petted. While out walking she will suddenly jump up and give us a lick as if to say "thank you". I had lots of "wish we hadn't adopted you" moments when we first got her but my goodness we are sooo very glad we did. Yes she still barks at the window, yes she still barks at other dogs but does it really matter? She has never bitten any dog or anyone so I don't really care. She is a happy little dog and we love her. So Happy Christmas Scout and I hope your bad memories of Christmas's past will be replaced with happy Christmas memories!!!

Here she is helping me put the tree together.

This is where she is lying right now, bless her.

Checking in with Wally and Martin (Fire-belly Newts)

2010-12-04T23:28:00.000-08:00

Or should that be Martina as Martin is female!
After I had cleaned Wally and Martin out today they looked so cute swimming about in their lovely clean tank. I am amazed they are still alive as we have never been lucky with fish or such like, we have had them for about 7 years now, so they are doing well. They are pretty easy going though and don't take a lot of looking after, just clean them out and feed them, they entertain themselves! They seem to get quite excited when we go near their tank or maybe they just want food! Martin(a) is the boss of the tank, at feeding time she will bite the heck out of poor Wally who is so tiny compared to her, all he wants is some food poor guy. We are going to look at getting them a bigger tank again, they were in a bigger tank before we moved to BC but we put them in a smaller one for the moving process and we never got round to replacing their big tank, but I think they would love a bigger tank and a bit more room to swim about.

Snow in paradise?!!!

2010-11-22T17:42:00.000-08:00

Yep it's true! Once again I am posting more snow! We got a little over the weekend, but today we got much more and it is much colder, our temperature today was minus 7 degrees C and we had a windchill of minus 14!!! This is nothing compared to the winters we endured in Alberta, but having said that the snow is wetter here which make conditions much worse even with just a couple of inches of snow. The wind has been gusting to 70km too blowing snow and making conditions worse.
The dogs have only been leaving the house for toilet duties then have been coming straight back in and straight back to lying in front of the fire! They are not silly!!!
I hope we are not going to lose power next, the lights are flickering a lot, well I hope it stays on till dinner is cooked at least!!

Just a little bit!!! Brrrrrrrr!

2010-11-20T12:07:00.000-08:00

Brrr it is pretty nippy here in paradise! Last night brought us rain that turned to snow, thankfully not a lot of snow, it is a very windy and chilly day at minus 1 degree. Apparently there is a lot more snow up island, but I am more than happy with the amount we got, in fact none would be just fine!!!
I think Sam who was born on November 23rd in Alberta remembers snow, he loves it and runs around the back yard so fast that it is hard to take a picture of him!! Scout is a different kettle of fish, she walks on it like she is walking over sticky honey haha

If you look closely you can see the white tornado flying round the back yard!!!

Breezy Walks!

2010-11-17T10:30:00.000-08:00

Our weather has been a bit breezy the last few days and I love breezy days. So off we went to the beach where it is always fun on a breezy day. There is always lots of new driftwood that has washed up and the beach always changes it's look because of that which I find quite fascinating.
The first pictures are at Clover Point.

After Clover Point we went down to Cordova Bay beach which is one of my favorite local beaches.

Lest we forget

2010-11-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

Today we are remembering all the fallen and injured that have fought for our countries. Today "we" remember our Uncle Arthur who fought in the second world war. He did not die in the war, he was one of the lucky ones. He passed away a few years ago. When he was alive he marched on Nov 11th every year with his medals proudly on his jacket. I don't think he ever missed a Remembrance Day parade. He was a very proud and wonderful man. Remembering you Uncle Arthur xxxx

A trip to Nanaimo and an early birthday pressie!!!!

2010-11-08T14:26:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we took a trip up to Nanaimo to have a look at a used item that we had seen on K***** a well known site for buying and selling and a good place to find used items. It is something that I have talked about getting and hubby said we should go and take a look, so we did. It was in almost new condition and the price was extremely reasonable too, so guess what?!!!!! We bought ourselves a pottery wheel!!!! I couldn't wait to get it home and give it a whirl!! Now I can practice at home! YAY!!!

While in Nanaimo we had a little wander around and took the dogs to a lovely park and went along the Newcastle Ferry area (I think it was called) We really like Nanaimo, it is a lovely place.

Dragon Pot!

2010-11-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

I was eager to get to pottery class last night to see if my dragon had been fired and was ready to bring home, and it was!!! I am really really pleased with it! I just used an emerald green glaze for glazing as it was a fairly transparent glaze. I didn't want to use anything that was too think as I wanted the scales to show through. It worked out really well I think.

I also brought home a couple of pots, I looooove the scaley looking glaze on this one, I think it was called Brain Scrawl or Brain Crawl or something, have to check next week, but I love it. I now have an idea to use it on something else I am going to make, oooo can't wait!!

This one turned out pretty cool too, I love the areas where the glaze ran down. For some reason I could not get a good clear picture of this pot on this dull rainy day even with the flash on!

Happy Halloween!!!

2010-10-31T12:55:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share a lovely British children's classic on this Halloween day. This was our daughter's favorite when they were young and they still love it now! It was originally narrated by Bernard Cribbins but I can't find the original. But this one is just as good. It is called FunnyBones..... enjoy and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Early Morning Sky

2010-10-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning when I let the dogs out first thing I noticed this amazing cloud formation. It reminded me of champagne spurting from a bottle! It was sooo cool, then as the spray went up the clouds turned into this amazing bubble effect.

And here's another little pot I brought home on Thursday, I love the shape of this one and I got the bottom perfect too, not too thick and also the sides they are nice and even.

Pots, Pups and Bunnies!

2010-10-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

I got my pots back all glazed and finished. I am not overly thrilled with any of them, they look smaller now than when I made them!! haha I know they shrink a little but! Never mind at least I made them all by myself! I quite like the glazes though, I love the two bowls that have the dull and shiny glaze. I do have some more items to bring home that aren't ready yet. I have also started on my next piece, this is hopefully going to be a bunny money bank. I only started him a few days ago so he is still in the early stages.

Today has been a chilly autumn day, the house felt cold today for the first time so we fired up the wood stove. Once the fire was giving out some heat the dogs disappeared, only to be found snuggled up in front of the fire! When we went and spoke to Scout who was all laid out by the fire she gave that little "I am soooo comfy and warm " growl which means leave me alone!!!

Add caption

Oink Oink!

2010-10-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

Today was a gorgeous autumn day and the rain that was forecast didn't show up. We decided to take a walk along part of the Lochside Trail. We drove up and parked the car then walked along the trail passing pumpkin fields, farms, horses, ducks and of course the wonderful PIGS!!! I loooove pigs! Their piggy smell doesn't bother me one little bit. I grew up a few hundred feet from farms so the smell of farms for me is like a fine perfume!!! I know, people tell me I am nuts!! hehe The pigs were awesome, there they were standing on a big patch of mud with their noses planted firmly in the mud, snorting and grunting! I could have sat and watched them all day! Sam and Scout didn't quite know what to do when they saw their first ever pig! I think Sam wanted to play but Scout was unsure what she should do, I think she was wondering if she should be barking at them or not! Thankfully she didn't!!!

We also stopped to watch the model airplanes flying at the club, the guys flying those little planes are really good. I was in the middle of filming a clip of a Spitfire flying when my camera battery died, so I missed it, but it was pretty awesome to see.

My first!

2010-10-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

Here is my first wheel thrown then altered piece!

I made the bowl and the smaller bowl (which I used as a lid) at last weeks class, I am getting the hang of working on the wheel now and am able to make items that resemble a bowl, and without asking for help. I never thought I would ever get to this point, it has been a long time coming!!

I decided to take the bowls home and see what I could "add" to them! I decided to make a dragon dish with lid.

I first added the head.

Then added the tail, I was going to add arms and legs but they just didn't work right with the shape of the bowl so I decided not to add them. I then added texture all over to look like dragon scales. I added dragon wings to the lid. He turned out pretty cool for my first attempt I think. I will be taking him back to class on Thursday for firing.

Back to nature :o)

2010-10-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day hubby and I and the pups have been out for a decent walk in nearly 3 weeks. Hubby has been really sick and is not out of the woods yet, but he was feeling like he wanted to go for a nice walk and get some fresh air. We decided to have a drive to Horth Hill Regional Park in north Saanich which is just a short drive from here. It was a bit of a hike from the car park up to the view point at the top (didn't think of this fact when we went) so we were puffing a bit! We are both a bit out of sorts from lack of regular walks. But we made it to the top! Phew! There are just a few areas where you can actually see the gorgeous view over to the Sidney area and the harbour at Canoe Cove. But what we could see was pretty spectacular. The dogs LOVED the walk of course, horses had been on the trail around the bottom of the mountain so there were a lot of lovely smells for them to sniff. Scout sniffs so hard and so loud she sounds like a truffle pig!!! hehe so cute!!!

What could have been!

2010-09-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

I was able to pop down to the pottery studio to see if my teapot and other pieces were finished yet as it has been quite a while and I had not heard from them at all. Well my pieces were all done and ready to go home BUT they are all broken :'o(((( My bigger bowl has hair line cracks running all through the bottom, the smaller bowl has a chunk out of the bottom and the teapot also has a chunk out of the bottom. All pieces stuck to the kin! Their bottoms were all cleaned off properly before being fired and the glaze was not too thick, but they said they were having problems with the blue glaze if it was over the top of white, it was apparently running too much then puddling on the bottom of the piece. I don't know if this is the reason they stuck or not as I am no expert in the glazing department! But I am very disappointed. This has never happened to me before. I have never had so many items stick and break. I am going to poxy glue the broken pieces back onto the items and I will use the small bowl as a plant pot for a little plant, the teapot for decoration purposes only and to encourage me to try again with more success, hopefully!
On a happier note, I am back at the first pottery place now and having a lot more success with my wheel work, I am improving each week, last Thursday was week 2. I also managed to drive there and get back in the dark and it was raining and the roads were all shining. But I made it safely, YAY!!

Larger bowl has cracks.

DIY and doggies!

2010-09-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well the painting of the family room is now finished, and a lovely new baseboard heater has been fitted which looks so much better than the ugly yacky browny rusty one that was in there which I think was the original one so 25+ yrs old. The new one is quite efficient too and heats up way quicker than the old one. All we need to do is get some new curtains for the doors that go into the sunroom then the room will be finished. We are really pleased with it. Now onto the painting of the trim up the stairs and our bedroom. Then the bathrooms are next on the list!

Our dogs have been so good while we have been busy painting, they are Jack Russells and can be little rascals when they want to be. But they were very good and let us get on without stealing paint brushes etc. Although Scout did run off with a reel of masking tape! One day we thought it was so quiet that they must be up to no good and went to see what they were doing only to find them fast asleep!

Victoria's Classic Boat Festival

2010-09-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been a year since the last boat festival, this year though the weather was much better, last year it was quite wet, but wet meant you could get around the boats easier and see more, this year lots of sunshine means lots more people out for the day, so not as easy to see things or take piccies. But we had a great day and saw some fabulous old boats. I would love a boat like some that we saw today, beautiful wood inside and out, wonderfully maintained too. Maybe one day when we win the lottery!!! The best little boat we saw today was a small steam boat. I love anything that is steam, boats, engines, trains and I just love it when they toot their horn, it gives me goosebumps!

Pots!

2010-08-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

Today I went to pick up some of my pots from the pottery studio, I still have a couple of pots and my teapot that is waiting to be fired, but they should be ready fairly soon. Also one of my bigger bowls apparently stuck to the kiln and broke when it was removed, so I am one bowl less.

I love the glaze on the first two little pots, I love the colour, it is one of my favorite colours. The first 3 items were made in the first class.

This next item will make a nice mug or cup for water, shame I didn't get chance to get a handle on it. The variegated blue glaze is pretty cool too.

This larger dish was made in the second class, I had made 4 but 2 went missing never to be seen again! I have no idea where they went!

This piggy bank was made in the 4th class, the teacher was showing us that we could make an animal or whatever by making a vase shape then bending it to appear to look like legs which can then be made into an animal. The head was made from a funnel shape made on the wheel also.

I am anxious to get my teapot back and hope it made it through the last firing without any problems, watch this space!!! I enjoyed taking this last course and this was the most success I have ever had on the wheel! Can't wait to get going again when classes start in September.

Boring beige or refreshingly neutral?

2010-08-25T22:57:00.000-07:00

Over two years ago when we moved into this house we gave the living/dining room a quick coat of paint just so we didn't have to sit and look at "rose" coloured walls. The plan was to gradually work through the house until all rooms were done. Well that didn't happen. We then thought about some colours, a nice yellow for the family room, an earthy greeny grey for something somewhere else, blue for the bedroom etc etc etc, well we played with some colours and in the end we said "nope, lets go with neutral". We had already painted the living/dining a nice shade of taupey, stone, beigey colour, not sure what it's name is we only ever had a number for it. So on Monday we went to HD and bought a BIG bucket of the paint and off we went. The orangey family room is now a nice bright neutral, it looks so clean and fresh, we then carried on where we had stopped over 2 years ago and off up the stairs we went. Today we have painted our bedroom the same colour and that too now looks so fresh and has lost that dingy look to it, thank god! Some colours are soooo depressing! The next job is to paint all the wood trim then put the furniture back into place. Then decide what gets painted next! Here are some before and after pics.

Early Morning Rowing..

2010-08-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went out early to row, we were up and out on the water just after 7am, it was hard dragging ourselves out of bed so early but it was well worth it. We rowed for 2 hours and it was gorgeous, so lovely and cool (we are roasting here in the heat at the moment) we were lucky because just as we were going back to the dock we could feel the heat even at 9am. The water was so calm it looked like glass. We saw the bald eagle, many seals basking in the morning sun, otters and lots of herons.

No pots yet :(

2010-08-12T20:56:00.000-07:00

Last night was the last class of my 6 week pottery class at the new place, I was hoping to bring home my pots but alas no. I have to wait a little longer as they are still waiting to be fired. Last night at class I glazed my teapot and piggy bank. I can't wait to see the results when everything is fired, especially my teapot.
My old pottery studio has got a new location for the fall classes while reno's are being done to their building so I have signed up again with them for fall classes starting in September! Woo hoo!
I have really enjoyed the classes at the new place because I have learnt different things and enjoyed doing more work on the wheel but I do miss sculpting, so I was very torn on who to take my next classes with, the new or the old?! Well I decided to go with the old place but will probably do another class with the new studio later in the year or the new year.
Now the only problem for the new fall classes is getting to them as they are in the evening, I do drive but suffer from a bit of night blindness!!! EEK!!!

So dry!

2010-08-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

Our weather has been so dry now for weeks and weeks, that was until yesterday when it rained most of the day which was very welcome and so refreshing.
The day before the rain came we took a walk around Uplands Park, then around and onto Cattle Point, the dry grasses looked amazing, all yellow and orange in the evening sunlight, even the lichen on the rocks has turned a gorgeous orange. The dogs had a lot of fun sniffing around Uplands Park where lots of bunnies live, a few times Sam was squealing his head off when he spotted a little bunny sitting there, which is why we walk them on a leash otherwise they would be goneeeee!

Piccies from last nights rowing.

2010-07-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

Instead of rowing south down the Gorge we went the other way and went around the Songhees Point, the water is usually a bit rougher when we go out that way which is one of the reasons we don't go that way as often, but last night was quite calm so off we went. It was quite interesting going out that way, we saw the cruise ships that were docked at Ogden's Point, one ship was just leaving too, it was cool to see it going out. Those ships are huge!! We also saw a guy paddling along on his paddle board, he was going quite fast and was keeping up with us quite well. He looked quite funny paddling along with a huge cruise down behind him! He had paddled a long way too so must be really fit. I love to see people on them but there is no way I would ever try that!

Trying to keep cool!

2010-07-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

It is sooo hot here right now, 30+ degrees. We have been trying to keep our furry friends cool and comfortable. They LOVE the hose so for a few minutes each day they get to play and get wet and have fun. We have also filled a kiddies paddling pool up which they also enjoy going in. Sam goes in and has fun trying to catch the rubber ring that is floating around on the bottom. Tomorrow we are heading with the dogs to the beach early while the tide is out, we are hoping to get our selves out of bed and down the beach by 8am!! Hmmmm, we'll see, that's the plan anyway. We like to go early when hopefully there are not too many other dogs running around, just incase Scout has any issues with them, but she has been really good recently and we have had no problems with her and other dogs at the beach.

Pottery tonight was......

2010-07-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

AWESOME!!! I am pretty excited, pottery class tonight was awesome, there are only 4 people in the class so we get good quality time with the teacher. Tonight he said we are going to make 4 or 5 cups or bowls depending how they turn out. I thought "ya right, 4 bowls, it takes me an age to do one, so this isn't going to happen". Well I have to tell you that I was wrong! I made 5!!!!! The teacher was really good, he helped me position my hands properly, and one of my problems has always been not being able to bring up the sides, well he showed me where to put my hands, how to pull the sides up etc etc and low and behold we got 5 pots!!!!!! I am thrilled!!!!! Some of my mugs are more like cappuccino cups that mugs but that is fine. Next week we are making bowls and then the 3rd week TEAPOTS!!! haha.. He was also telling me how I can use wheel made bowls just like I did pinch pots to make my animals. But for now I am thoroughly enjoying wheel work and I am going to give it a real try this time, especially as the teacher is so helpful in showing us how to get it right. We also get extra time on Sundays so we can go into the studio and basically do whatever we want to do, practice the wheel work or handbuild. I think these classes are going to be sooo good!!! Can you tell I am excited?!!!!

YES!!!

2010-07-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

New pottery classes start tonight, can't wait to see what we are going to do and what the teacher is like!!!

Blogger bugs!

2010-07-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

Blogger seems to be having some issues and is deleting peoples comments, so apologies to anyone who's comment has disappeared.

Sailor Sam!

2010-07-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

We are still rowing a couple of times a week and our confidence is growing as we get better. So on Saturday we decided to take Sam with us for a little boat ride around the Gorge. We got him a little doggy life jacket, he looks sooo cute in it. Of course it is the first time he has ever been on a boat, when we lifted him in he spread out his toes and legs to steady himself as he was obviously unsure of where he was going, bless him, he was a little nervous to start with, but he sat on a lap and got quite comfy. He enjoyed sniffing all the smells as we rowed along and got very excited when we spotted the heron on the side of the Gorge. All in all he was a good boy and I think he had fun. We will try Scout next, I know she will be fine, she is very laid back and is quite happy to just sit or lie down, Sam is not quite so laid back and wants to be moving at all times!!!

Beach piccies

2010-06-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the beach pics I took, we went to Schooner Beach, Long Beach, Chesterman Beach and a few inbetween.

Beach Part 2

2010-06-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

Holiday Snaps!

2010-06-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

Well we're back! We have just had a wonderful week up on the west coast of the island, we stayed in Ucluelet at a lovely little place right near the water. Ucluelet is a quiet place, no glitz or glammer, just a sleepy quiet town which is just the type of place we like. We took trips out to all the beaches and forest trails. I was totally taken aback by how vast the beaches were, I don't think I have ever seen beaches of that size in my life. They were totally awesome and I could have spent the whole week just sitting on those beaches. The rain forests were amazing too, so many huge trees that are hundreds of years old.
We stopped at Port Alberni on the way to Ucluelet and on the way back to went to Campbell River and Courtenay.

Hubby bought me a lovely new camera to take on our holiday, unfortunately it had an intermittent fault and wouldn't work when I wanted it to. It wouldn't focus properly and the lens would start shuddering and making a noise when I used the zoom, so I think some of my pics are a bit fuzzy when they shouldn't have been so please excuse their fuzziness. The camera has been returned to the shop today and I have another new replacement that so far seems to be working as it should.

I have got quite a few pics, so I might have to do them all in 2 or 3 posts. I hope I have managed to capture how amazing the beaches were.

Double click on the pics for the bigger size.

Been on Vacation!

2010-06-27T00:06:00.000-07:00

Back soon with some awesome pics of our vacation!

Oar-some!!

2010-06-09T15:48:00.000-07:00

Well rowing is going pretty good, we are seeing improvements each time we go. We have had the odd day that just hasn't gone well at all, not sure if it is because we are tired or what because on those days nothing goes right and our limbs feel like we have weights on them! On a good day we can cruise along pretty quickly now, it is great to go around the harbour and the Gorge, we have seen seals, otters, loads of herons and the odd bald eagle. Last night we finished off our evening at the pub near the harbour for a cool glass of Strongbow cider and a lovely bite to eat.

Last one.....for now!

2010-06-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Stan is all finished and home from the studio. He is my last piece for now anyway. I do have my name down for some classes at the end of June at a new pottery studio that is just getting started, but I think it might be more wheel work and I really love doing sculpting, but they do offer studio time so once I get there and check it out this may be an option so that I can carry on with my love of sculpting and then get the pieces fired too. Meanwhile I may just make some pieces at home and maybe one day I can get them fired when the current studio reopens next year.

I rather like Stan and I am glad I was able to make him. When I glazed him I used two glazes, a black glaze first then a white over top, because all the glazes are being used up there wasn't enough in the glaze bucket to dip him so I had to pour the second glaze over him (something I haven't done before) I thought I had got the glaze way too thick in some spots but thankfully he turned out just fine and I like the finished result.

Oh what fun!!!!

2010-05-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend we have had! Youngest daughter and friend flew in from Edmonton on Friday evening, we went straight from the airport to the local pub for a wonderful supper.

Saturday was another fun filled day seeing the sights in Victoria, then it was off to Sidney to pick up Mum and Dad to take them out for Dad's 81st birthday. Sunday we headed up island stopping in Chemainus first, Chemainus has some wonderful murals all over the town. We then headed up to Coombs, where they have the Goats on the Roof Country Market. http://www.oldcountrymarket.com/ Yep the goats live up on the roof of the market! Coombs market has so many neat things in it and we always spend way too much money on interesting things!! There is also a wonderful pottery store called Pyromania Pottery http://www.pyromaniapottery.ca/
I couldn't resist a teeny little Raku elephant to bring home for my ele collection, he has such gorgeous bluey green colours.
After our visit to Coombs we went to Cathedral Grove to see the wonderful old growth trees, I love going there, the trees are amazing, some are over 800 years old! Can you imagine standing all those years? Imagine how many wonderful stories they could tell. It is so sad that in some areas of the island these magnificent trees are being cut down. Such a shame, no wonder there are groups who are trying to save them.

Stan you are MY man!!!!!

2010-05-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! Here is Stan in his almost but not quite finished state! He had to have his feet redone once I had got him back to the studio, the toes just weren't big enough or strong enough so his feet got a re-make!
Unfortunately I didn't take the camera with me so I don't have a piccie of him with his new feet. He also got a bit more texture added for his hair. I am really really pleased with him. I have poked holes in all the (hopefully) right places so that he doesn't go bang in the kiln when he is bisque fired, so I hope to see him again in a short while when I go back in to glaze him.

Row row row the boat...........

2010-05-12T18:42:00.000-07:00

We started our new venture last week, rowing! My hubby has done some rowing before but a very long time ago when he was a boy. I have never rowed in my life before and I am also a non swimmer and extremely nervous of the water! Help!!! Last week we went for our lesson on how to get the boat ready and launch into the water, all the safety aspects of rowing etc and then how to row, the position of your body and oars etc. Hubby went first and he did really well, it was not good that he went first because I stood on the dock trying desperately to talk myself out of doing it!!! But it didn't work, the next thing I knew it was my turn. I actually did really well considering I had never set foot into a row boat before. I launched the boat and got into it, I was taken out into the water and then had the chance to row, it is quite a job to get into the correct rhythm and keep your oars in the correct position, I did a few good strokes but many not so good. Then on Sunday we were able to go out on our own, so the 3 of us manned the life jackets and off we went! We didn't venture very far away from the dock, maybe 1/2km away but we just practiced trying to get our strokes correct, we didn't do too bad for our first time out on our own. We were back down to the dock again last evening to have another go, we did much better with our rowing last night and managed a lot more good strokes than bad ones. Our membership allows us 5 hrs of rowing per week for the next year so we have a lots of time to perfect our skills.

Framed!

2010-05-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

My elephant tablet thingy is done! Actually it is a frame which I am going to put a mirror behind. I had originally decided on a slightly bigger oblong frame but my teacher told me that I had rolled the clay a little too thin and suggested I go with a smaller size, which I did. It is now roughly 11 inches square. I built up the elephant slightly to give it some texture and depth, and also the tree. I used paper clay for added texture on the tree. After the bisque firing I painted on the glazes which is something I have not done before. Well just the odd little thing but not a whole item, so I was very eager to get in to the studio on Friday to see how it all turned out. I am over the moon, I think it turned out great. The mirror that I bought to go behind it is a little too big so I have to find a smaller one.
Only one more class left and then I am not sure what is going to happen, hopefully something somehow!

A Sunday Stroll in paradise .....

2010-05-02T15:41:00.000-07:00

Down to the beach today so that the dogs could let off some steam, they haven't had a good run for a while and I think they needed it. As usual we had the whole beach to ourselves so we were able to let them off to run wild! hehe and they did!! They had soooo much fun, running into the sea to catch the seagulls, then chasing them down the length of the beach. It was low tide so a perfect time to go. The dogs kept having a little side snack of crab shell and seaweed, hope they don't get any upset tummies later!
We saw a beautiful big purple starfish having a nap on a rock while waiting for the tide to come back in, we also saw huge barnacles on the rocks. I don't think we have ever seen any that big before.

A Good Day!!

2010-04-23T22:11:00.000-07:00

Today was a nice but busy day, this morning it was off to my parents as it was my Mum's 80th birthday, we had coffee and birthday cake with them today, then tomorrow we are taking them out for a little trip up island to Nanaimo, they haven't been up that way since they moved here. Then it was back home for a quick bite of lunch then off to pottery this afternoon and to see if all my goodies were ready to go home!!!!
All my pieces had been glazed last Friday and fired during the week and were there waiting for me today. I am over the moon with Arnie the Aardvark, I just love him, he is my pride and joy on my bookcase right now ;o)) I also picked up my hippo head, my little salt pig, teeny ele and a little dish that I am not going to show as it didn't turn out well at all, oh well 4 out of 5 isn't too bad!
I also found out today that the pottery studio closes in the summer for a year!!!!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!! The pottery studio is in one of our local rec centers and it has been given funding for a huge extension and a brand spanking new pottery studio! How cool is that?!! So I am not sure what I am going to do for a year without pottery, but it will be well worth the wait and I look forward to going to a lovely new and much bigger studio. But we still have a few weeks before the classes finish so still time to make something else and I have a couple of ideas in mind ;o)

Back to the land of Blog!

2010-04-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

I have been a bit under the weather with some weird virus and have not had the energy for blogging. I am still not feeling 100% but certainly better than I was.

We have had a few leisurely strolls the past few days with the dogs, places that are nice and flat and not too strenuous. Everytime I think I have got used to living in this gorgeous place we have some more "WOW, this place is amazing" moments! Here are few piccies we took while on our strolls.

I am hoping to add my first You tube video to this blog too. It is of Sam playing with his latest find, I hope animal rights are not gonna be after me!!!!!

I hope to have some piccies to share with you on Friday when I pick up my finished pieces from pottery! Woo hoo, can't wait to get my aardvark back.

TGIF!!! Coz Friday's are pottery days :o))))

2010-04-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

It was back to pottery today, it was so nice to get back in there. I took in my box of goodies and they have all gone into the kiln to be bisque fired, (keep your fingers crossed for Arnie)!

So next week I will be able to glaze all my pieces hopefully.

I also collected my roof boss that I made weeks ago, remember it had an accident and two flowers fell off, well I glazed the 3 pieces separately and now that it is all glazed I can see that I can glue the pieces together quite successfully and hopefully no one will ever know!

I started on my next project which I have a piccie of here, I hope to be able to work on this a bit at home before the next class.... watch this space!!

It seems sooo long....

2010-04-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

Since pottery classes ended! Thank goodness they start again on Friday! Yippeee, I can't wait! I have a few items here that I have to take in to get fired then glazed. I am looking forward to taking Arnie Aardvark in to be fired and glazed. He is going to be well packaged and protected for the journey to the studio, he has been through enough and I want him to remain in one piece!

I have been searching the www looking for new ideas... hmmmm what to make next?!! I think I need to get a notebook and write down ideas, I sometimes think of something then forget what it was! haha, a notebook would help.

Wind!!!!!!

2010-04-02T23:22:00.000-07:00

That's what we got today along with a lot of horizontal rain, the winds at times were up to 100km per hr! Of course that meant we had to go and do a bit of storm watching! hehe... Off we went down to Dallas Road which is the perfect place to see crashing waves. My pictures don't really capture the sheer force of the wind, we could barely stand or keep a camera still long enough to take a picture! Unfortunately the wind brought down trees, power lines, ripped off roofing from buildings and wrecked boats in the harbors. Thankfully we weren't in an area that lost power, but another 90,000 people did apparently and some won't have it back on until Sunday.

The seagulls were all tucked into the rocks sheltering from the wind, they looked like white dots everywhere.