Sunday Sketches, Summer of Color - Candy Apple Red and Yellow

This is an art greeting card (5 1/2"h x 4 1/4"w) done in acrylic and pencil.  The colour theme at Summer of Color is 'candy apple red and yellow'.  I like the bold colour combinations in fashion for this summer season.

This photo from a sales flyer was my inspiration:

Linking to Sunday Sketches and Summer of Color.

Maddening

I keep getting these calls regarding 'air duct cleaning'.  I have been hanging up on the caller the minute they start telling me what they are calling about.  The last one was a blocked call and I got so mad I said 'If you don't stop calling me I am going to report you to the police'.  Well, husband M and daughter L were home at the time and had a good laugh because it is not like me to say something like that!  I'm tempted not to answer the phone, but I do in case it might be something important (schools, doctors) even though I have call display.  Recently I was very abrupt with the Police Association calling about their charity.  They announce themselves as the Police and you don't want to be rude to the Police, but they are using their name for the purpose of soliciting in this instance.  How do you handle unwanted phone calls?

I got this joke from Ploughing Through Life:

Paint Party Friday - Planet Earth

I am really pleased with the way this one turned out. I was inspired by a brief image of planet Earth that I saw in the recent 'Man of Steel' Superman movie. This piece is done in acrylic on one pound cardstock (6" x 6").

Linking to Paint Party Friday.

RFID products

I was in the CAA (Canadian Automobile Association) store the other day and noticed these new travel products while I was in line. I actually went to buy some movie tickets as they offer the best discount. The RFID blocking Shields or wallets marketed as RFID-blocking devices can make it more difficult for someone with an electronic reader to read your cards.  Do  you use these products?  I don't.


RFID blocking wallets:

Airline Carry-on Compliant Shampoo and Bodywash:

Atrial Fibrillation and Some Colourful Lives

I got this joke from Ploughing Through Life:

Here is this informative video on Atrial Fibrillation from the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Find out if you are at risk. This condition can triple your risk of stroke.

And if you enjoy reading biographies of interesting people, I read about John McAfee in the newspaper recently, what a colourful life he has had.
He is the antivirus pioneer. 'NASA programmer, drug dealer, technology guru, so-called “eccentric millionaire” living a bizarre existence in Belize surrounded by dogs, armed guards and young women'.

And Chuck Hughes of Food Network's 'Chuck's Day Off'  is promoting his new book and has also lived a lot in his 36 years.  Here is the article I read in the newspaper. 'Chuck Hughes talks food and kicking booze and drugs'.

Dragonfly

There was major flooding in Toronto yesterday evening.  The subways were shut down and even the airport was affected.  There were power outages all over the city.  Fortunately we were fine, but  the next block over had a four hour power outage.  Everything happened so suddenly, a deluge of rain between 4 and 5 pm in some areas.

To continue with my regular post,  we spent the Canada Day long weekend with L's boyfriend's family at their cottage up north. They had a lot of dragonflies hatching at this time of year. Here are a few photos of one of them emerging as an adult, leaving its larval skin behind. It's fascinating, I didn't know they did that. They are predators that eat mosquitoes, which is a good thing.  They take a couple of hours to moult.  Here's a video describing the dragonfly life cycle if you are curious.

Melon Salsa and Conch meat

Here's a nice looking recipe for 'Fresh Melon Salsa' from whole foods. 
It only needs 5 ingredients. I'm thinking you could use apples, pears, whatever fruit you have on hand for this kind of salsa. In fact I've seen an apple and pear salsa at Whole Foods before.

I took  this photo of some conch meat I saw in a Chinese grocery store the other day.  I didn't try any but it seems we can get just about anything here these days.  Have you ever had conch meat?  I might have tasted deep fried conch on a Caribbean vacation, needless to say I can't remember how it tasted. 

Conch Meat