Pumpkin

I bought my Halloween pumpkin, they were on sale for 99c last week, regularly $2.99 at my grocery store. It has been years since I carved one, I will just paint a face on it as usual.

Wedding Favours

Daughter L went to a friend's wedding recently and their table received these yummy chocolate wedding favours. I thought it was a nice touch. The 5 bridesmaids were allowed to choose their own dress design in the same colour of course. This is a great idea don't you think, as everyone has certain preferences in what they wear, in what suits their figure.

Paint Party Friday - The Dress

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! This piece is based on a newspaper clipping I saw, I loved the bow at the back of the dress. It is done on purple cardstock (6" x 6") in permanent marker, sharpie white marker, and outlined with a PITT pen.

Fall Colour

My Words for Wednesday piece is here in the comments.

It was a gorgeous Fall day on the weekend. I spotted some early fall colour on a walk and took these photos for you:

Cork Coasters

In my quest for the true 'non stick' glass coaster, I found these cork crafting sheets at the dollar store. I used some other circular coasters I had as a stencil. A soft leaded pencil was great for outlining perfect circles. It was easy to cut them out using scissors. One sheet made 5 coasters. They work really well!

Pumpkin season

We are officially into the fall season in North America! I took this photo of the pumpkin display at a Home Depot on the weekend.  

Snickerdoodles

Daughter L made these snickerdoodles using this recipe. They are delicious, hard to stop at one. She wasn't really in the mood, being a bit busy that week but I mentioned they might make a nice treat to take along to a function she would be attending that weekend. Thus we all enjoyed snickerdoodles!

Shanghai China

My sister's Viking Cruise to China ended in Shanghai. Here are a few photos of the city. She stayed in a lovely hotel called the Westin Bund. In her room she noticed that the toilet was curiously enclosed with glass partitions.  They were able to visit The World of Fakes marketplace and said the shopping was fabulous.  You had to bargain, however.

Shanghai

glassed in toilet

Westin Bund hotel Shanghai

Sunset on the Yangtze

Paint Party Friday - Inspirational

Welcome to Paint Party Friday, and thanks to Kristin and Eva for always hosting! This is an inspirational piece done on purple cardstock (6" x 6") in acrylic and Sharpie white paint marker.

"Keep your face to the Sunshine and you can never see the shadow"  ... Helen Keller

Some Chinese animals

If you are interested you can read my latest Words for Wednesday story here in the comments.

My sister who was on a Viking cruise to China sent me these photos of some Chinese animals she encountered. This cute cat was being spoiled by the tourists. The other photo is of a Chinese rabbit!

cat

rabbit

Scribble Picnic - Exploration

Welcome to Scribble Picnic! The new theme is 'Exploration'. I did a greeting card (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")  in permanent marker, acrylic and PITT fine point marker. It is based on a photo of the Yangtze river in China that my sister sent to me while on a cruise there. She said the river was polluted and smelly although people were still swimming in it. Hopefully it was nicer as they went further down it.

Sustainable tourism in China

My sister who was on a Viking cruise to China sent these photos of a primary school in Jingzhou sponsored by Viking. It is a poor town.  It is a trend for companies to contribute something to the local economy (sustainable tourism). That certainly benefits both parties.  The tourists enjoyed the visit to the school and participated in certain activities.

Misspelled

Three Gorges Dam in China

By the way, Michael's Scribble Picnic is set for Wed Sep 19th, so please join us there!  The theme is 'Exploration', inspired by his and Alexandra's recent move to Kentucky.

My sister sent me these photos of the Three Gorges Dam that they visited during their Viking Cruise to China. I remembered there were a lot of issues surrounding the construction of this grand engineering feat and found a link here describing the issues. Travelling is educational even for the vicarious traveller!

It seems large areas of the scenic Qutang, Wu and Xiling gorges were submerged upstream by this dam. The government argued that the dam would control flooding problems(debatable) on the Yangtze river and provide power to the region. 1.3 to 1.9 million people were displaced and the reservoir was polluted by human and industrial waste. The dam was inaugurated in 1994 and completed in 2006. All generators were operational by 2012. A large ship lift was operational by late 2015. Ocean sized ships can now sail inland.

Three Gorges Dam

Three Gorges

I asked my sister who is on a Viking cruise to China to send me some photos of the scenery and she did not disappoint. They travelled 193 miles through the Three Gorges, the most scenic section of the Yangtze river.

A gorge is 'a narrow valley between hills or mountains, typically with steep rocky walls and a stream running through it.' Three Gorges consists of Qutang gorge, Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge. They took my sister on a little trip up a Yangtze tributary by Sampan boat as pictured below.

The sea level has raised 180m (590 ft) since the Three Gorges dam was built. I will talk about the dam tomorrow.

stunning scenery

travelling by  Sampan boat

Xiling Gorge

Words for Wednesday Writing Prompt

fall arrangement

Coffee with Peppy introduced me to Muted Mumblings' Words for Wednesday writing prompt. The challenge appealed to me and I decided to give it a try today.  I chose Delores' prompt words left, bachelor, dripping, movies, doorway, mansion.  My fictional story is called 'Joel and Brad'.

Joel and Brad

Joel lived in San Francisco, California.  He was a handsome man, tall with the brightest blue eyes.  He actually looked more attractive in person than in his photos.  He came from a smart and wealthy family, his mother was a lawyer and his father was a businessman who sold his first company for 50 million dollars.  Joel  was a good student and graduated university with a computer science degree. He was offered a high paying job with a technology company right out of school.  He was a proud, gay man, a bachelor comfortable with who he was.

Joel was 26 when he met  Brad while on vacation in Thailand.  He was emerging from the warm, blue ocean dripping wet when he laid eyes on Brad mingling on the beach with a group of friends.  It might have been love at first sight for both of them.  Brad was a published writer, 5 years older than Joel. They were so different from each other, yet they complemented each other.  Equally good looking, Brad had a more outgoing personality while Joel was more introverted.  Joel would sooner go to the movies than to a party.  Brad told Joel he was initially attracted to his good looks and then fascinated by his intelligence.

 Brad left his hometown of Chicago to be with Joel, as he could write from anywhere.  After two years of dating, they were married in a lavish ceremony at Joel’s parents’ mansion.   Brad remembered how stunning Joel looked when he first appeared through a doorway leading to the outdoor patio where the ceremony took place.

The couple had always wanted to have children of their own.  It wasn’t long before they hired a surrogate to carry their children.   When the surrogate miscarried, it was the most painful time for Joel and Brad.  They decided to try again and this time they were able to have twins, a boy and a girl.  Joel revealed to his parents that the boy with the bright blue eyes was his biological son while the daughter was Brad’s biological daughter.

Life is now so happy for Joel and Brad, every day they feel such gratitude for having been blessed with their perfect family.

Paint Party Friday - Just a Sunflower

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! This piece is called 'Just a Sunflower' based on a photo I took. It is done on canvas in acrylic (24" x 18"), a lot larger than I usually do.

Non stick coasters

wooden coaster

I had been noticing that all the drink coasters I have routinely stick to the glasses when you lift the drinks up. Have you noticed that? I tried ceramic, metal, paper and all kinds of materials (mainly because I was sort of collecting them). Finally, I tried these wooden ones and they work! I also heard vinyl ones and silicone ones work well, maybe plain cork ones would too.

And that is my trivial topic for today!

China Continued

My sister sent me some more photos of her Viking cruise to China. They wandered The Great Tang all day Mall at night, it was very close to their fabulous 5 star hotel. She was most impressed with this mall. It leads to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a landmark of Xi'an. The Tang mall was more than a mile of lights, performers, and music. There were a couple of Starbucks there and no bicycles were allowed.  The photos below speak for themselves.

Yangtze River

The great tang all day mall at night

Travelling Vicariously Again

Terracotta Army

My sister and brother (and his wife) are on a cruise to China. They shared photos of the 2200 year old Terracotta Army in Xian, China. Some 8000 terracotta soldiers were discovered in 1974 when farmers were digging a well. China's first emperor Qin, a harsh dictator, had ordered them made by slaves to accompany him in death. It is an elaborate mausoleum considered one of the greatest archaelogical sites in the world. Emperor Qin unified China, standardized its weights and measures, monetary, economic, legal and political systems. He built The Great Wall. His son had all the 700,000 artisans and workers buried alive to keep the location of the tomb a secret. Here is an interesting link if you want more details.

And let us commemorate the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States.

A wonderful morning

flowers in my garden

I woke up one morning last week, and went outside to start my few minutes of daily weeding. I couldn't help thinking 'oh what a wonderful morning!'   The odd squirrel was about although I didn't notice any birds chirping.  It was the perfect temperature (18C or 64F) and sunny.  It would go to about 24C (or 75F) that afternoon.  My friend was coming over so we could celebrate her birthday with a walk and a nice lunch afterward. We had fun chatting about everything too.

My friend is turning 60, as I will be next year.  She thought we had better get to crossing those items off our bucket list.  My idea is to remove some of those items as we run out of time, life does get in the way!

Digital Mammogram 2018

I had my biennial digital mammogram done last week.  That is, I have it done every 2 years.  Cancer Care Ontario notifies me by mail when it is due.  A friend had sent me some information about requesting a thyroid guard during the x-ray process.  The technician told me they use guards only for children up to 15 years old or perhaps pregnant women, assuring me that the amount of x-rays is very minimal.  Then she told me to stop talking during the process.

Within some weeks, my doctor and I usually receive a letter with the results (fingers crossed that all will be well for another 2 years at least).  I noticed the past few times that they have stopped offering a free nursing consultation where I used to receive extra tips on breast examination and other useful information.  It is likely due to necessary government cutbacks.

The Hot Walk

I went for a hot walk one afternoon last week, it was only about 28C (82F) but it felt fainting hot in the sun.  Apparently the humidity made it feel like mid-thirties (95F).  I took relief every few minutes under the shade of some large trees.  I supposed a morning walk might've been a better idea.  We needed some bananas from the grocery store and I thought it would be a good idea to walk.

It reminded me of a post I made  6 years ago where 'I made a mental note to remember this sticky day in the dead of winter when I'm freezing!'

Are you ready for fall (if you live in a cold climate)?

Paint Party Friday - Lightning on the Lake

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! This piece is done on purple cardstock (6" x 6") in permanent marker and Sharpie white watercolour marker. It is called 'Lightning on the Lake'.

Belt bags

I was browsing a magazine last time I was at the hairdresser's and noticed these belt bags that have apparently come back into fashion. They might be good for the younger people going out to a party or to a club.

New Party Drink

Daughter L introduced us to this new party drink called Social Lite. It has only 4% alcohol (vodka) and 80 calories so it is perfect for my diabetic husband (1 carb per can) and he loves it. It comes in many flavours, smells delicious and has a taste of soda water.