A Connection?

Here are some beautiful neighbourhood Zinnia flowers.

This genius Ikea ad is hilarious, you have to watch it!

I was at the gym yesterday.  This personal trainer and his client where chatting nearby.  I heard him say 'I love mugs, I just got this new one' (it looked like a Starbucks mug).  The client replies 'You love mugs?  I love socks!'  and so the conversation began!   Do we have a connection here, lol.  They were young people (20's, 30's) what can I say.

Breaththrough Therapy

I am noticing these beautiful roses blooming in people's gardens at this time of year, simply stunning colours.


There is hope for heart failure patients (like my mom), Novartis has developed an exciting new drug.  It is being hailed as a rare breakthrough therapy and they are rushing it to market.  Of course, my mom also has some advancing dementia, it won't help that.

On another topic, son K and I recently took a bus tour to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas.  I occurred to me that these bus tours are not necessarily safe.  I keep hearing in the news of these tour bus crashes that injure and kill tourists in different parts of the world.  In fact, our tour guide seemed to be falling asleep at the end of a long day.  We had 2 brief but scary moments.  I guess a lot depends on fate.   Overall it was a great tour that we took.

Costa Rican Art and Chocolate

One of my sisters sent me some Costa Rican art and chocolate from a trip she made to Costa Rica. The chocolate is not as rich, creamy and sweet as I'm used to, more watery I'd say. It was interesting to try it though.  The art looks playful, just what she would choose!

Costa Rican Art

Costa Rican Chocolate

Rose of Sharon

I'm hearing that September 8 is the night of the Harvest Moon!  Look out for a big bright moon tonight.

Husband M, son K and I took my good friend out to lunch for her birthday yesterday.  Then my friend and I went for a walk and a cup of tea after.  We had severe thunderstorms this past Friday then the weather got a bit cooler.  It is still very pleasant though.

Here are some Rose of Sharon photos in the neighbourhood, in the last one the blooms are open.  A friend gave me 3 sprouts and I am trying to figure out where I can plant them!  I have them in a pot right now.

Sunday Sketches - Lily Pond

I did this 'Lily Pond' for Sunday Sketches on good quality cardstock in acrylic (6" x 6"). It was inspired by a photo Kay took on a recent family trip to Japan. I have permission to use any of her photos, thanks Kay!

Vegas 2014 Continued

We visited Las Vegas last week as husband M was on a business trip and it fit well into son K and my schedules.  K and I decided to do a one day bus tour to the Grand Canyon.  The tour stopped at the Hoover Dam briefly and went through the town of Seligman on Route 66.  The Disney movie 'Cars' was based on this town/route.  Here are some photos of our tour.  It was a long day but it was worth it.

Hoover Dam

Lake Mead

Seligman/ Route 66

Route 66

Prickley Pear

Grand Canyon Tour Guide Chad

The Grand Canyon

Elk at the park

Fresh Spring Water tap

Sunset over the Grand Canyon

Sunset over the Grand Canyon 2

Paint Party Friday - Columbine

This piece for Paint Party Friday was inspired by a photo taken by Kay on her blog. I had never seen columbines in those colours as the ones in my garden are yellow and don't look two-toned really. She took the photo during a family tour to Japan. My lavender version is on good quality textured cardstock (6" x 6") in acrylic.  Thanks Kay for letting me use your photo.