Paint Party Friday - Mountain Ash

Welcome to Paint Party Friday, thanks to Kristin and Eva for hosting!

I was inspired by a recent photo of a mountain ash tree in bloom that I took while on a walk.
It's done in acrylic on cardstock (8.5" x 5.5").  It's a greeting card.

I just found this interesting article where this 84 year old woman did her own portrait on an Ipad...it looks fantastic! Go have a look!

Friends

I took this photo in a store at the mall. I really don't need to buy anymore flowers. But I liked this one, it made me think of my bloggie friends, I wish I could give you all one of these!

I seem to have gained a few unwanted pounds over the summer, they have stealthily crept on!  That's my bad news for today!  This time last year I was down 10 pounds due to some surgery I had.  Sigh!

Dkzody has put this exercise for sciatica on her blog.  It's really simple and feels great even though I don't have sciatica.  I thought it might be helpful for some.

Lovely Weekend

This past weekend was lovely with great weather. We finished moving L into her university dwelling (finally). She won't actually be there until just before school starts next week as she will be with her boyfriend and his family over the upcoming long Labour Day weekend. We'll say our sad goodbyes tomorrow. There are so many families doing the same thing, some of them will be first year students and I feel their pain. On the one hand you are happy for them but on the other... A friend of mine told me she cried every single year of her son's 4 years away at school! It doesn't get any easier. L is entering her 3rd year. Then I was reading a lovely article in the newspaper where this TV personality Jeanne Beker is really sad because it seems that after university, then they can really move on (away)! It's something to consider.  L is always out even when she's home anyway.

At any rate, life does go on.  L was busy so M, K and I  decided to attend the Toronto Buskerfest 2012 downtown this past Sunday.  It was being held over the entire weekend and they closed a couple of streets.  It was colourful and entertaining and we had a great time although it was very crowded as the day wore on.  They only asked for a voluntary donation as you enter, to fund epilepsy.  Here are a few photos I took for you:

We caught this great act above. The girl atop the man on the unicycle was actually just picked out of the crowd! The performer was very entertaining, funny and even charismatic.  He even had her boyfriend come out of the audience with a surprise act. We ended up dropping some money into his basket.

They had a lot of shopping and food carts with all kinds of wonderful food.  There was even a Hawaiian shave ice stand, but unfortunately it was closed at the time.  I would have loved to try it.  We did some sampling and finished with a yummy funnel cake, icing sugar only.

In this recent article about the buskers,  most of them say the best part of their job is making people happy!

Creative Tuesdays - Curly

Creative Tuesdays' theme this week is 'Curly'. This 'curly tree' is an acrylic on cardstock (6.5" x 4.5") inspired by a piece I just did for Sunday Sketches which in turn was inspired by a photo I saw in the newspaper!  I chose to colour the tree in a red/brown mixture tinged with gold, hinting of the upcoming fall season perhaps!

IKEA breakfast

M and I went to breakfast at Ikea on a recent weekend. It was so crowded because they advertise breakfast for $1.  (And it was also the weekend.) This deal includes scrambled eggs, 2 sausages, and hash brown potatoes. Optionally, you can add 3 slices of bacon, or additional sausage for an extra dollar. Then you can add 2 pancakes or 1 thick slice of French toast for and extra dollar. Then coffee with refills included would be another dollar. So we ended up spending $4.50 each including tax for our breakfasts. We decided it's still a good deal and the coffee is quite good. Smart marketing don't you think? Oh, the pancake syrup is included, one packet per pancake I think.

There was a recent article in the newspaper saying that Ikea is the 2nd wealthiest company in the world with a net worth estimated at 39 billion. And it's a privately owned company! (The first wealthiest is a Spanish retailer.) It's been announced that Ikea will be getting into the budget hotel business.

Sunday Sketches - The Old Tree

I saw this photo of a beautiful old tree in the newspaper and knew I had to paint it! It's acrylic on cardstock, (11" x 8.5").

Please visit the other Sunday Sketches participants, and thanks to Alexandra for hosting!

Senior Moment

I got this in an email and wanted to share it with you, so funny!

The very first senior moment on record:

And that’s what happened to the dinosaurs.