A Gift

It's officially spring now! Welcome to the season I say.

This touching story of friendship almost had me in tears last week.

It tells of 2 lifelong friends, and of how one volunteered to be a surrogate mother for the other. What a gift.

I'm lucky about housework in that my husband M likes to vacuum.  Maybe I have to thank his mother for that:

Paint Party Friday - The Swimsuit

Here's an inspiring story on this 100 year old lady who got her first gallery show.

For Paint Party Friday I sketched a model in a cute swimsuit I saw in a sales brochure. It's done in my art journal in watercolour pencil and crayon.

Downtown Toronto

Some weeks ago, the 'S' key on my laptop computer started sticking.  I had to press extra hard on that key to get it to type correctly.  It was most annoying as my computer is not that old and I wondered what would happen if it broke completely.  Now, for some reason it has started to work properly again.  Needless to say I am overjoyed.  Maybe a crumb got stuck inside it.

I've noticed recently I am not receiving all blogger comments in my email, so I have to check my blog comments now as best I can  and hopefully I won't miss any.  Does anyone else have the same problem?

Here are some downtown Toronto photos I took when I was there recently:

The Toronto Stock Exchange

The financial district

                                                 You can see Old City Hall in the distance

New L Tower

The Perfect Lunch

The National Club

Lunch

Dessert

Husband M and I were lucky enough to be invited to a wonderful business luncheon recently.  It was hosted at The National Club, which resides in a 140 year old building in the heart of the financial district in downtown Toronto.  We had to dress business casual.  A financial advisor was touting a new technology type of investment.  I honestly was mainly interested in the food although I did pay attention to the product presentation.  And I did ask what I thought was an intelligent question.  (I inquired as to whether we might be in another technology bubble as in the year 2000.  They didn't think so.)

So I had perfectly cooked medium roast beef, salmon, mushroom-shaped potatoes, salad with a fresh raspberry dressing and vegetables.  I chose an olive bread slice to go with the meal.  Then I bit into the dessert and remembered to take a photo.  I think the trend is toward bite-sized portions which is a good thing.  I really enjoyed this healthy lunch.

Diaper Changing Tables

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Son K ate this delicious meat shawarma the other day while out with friends.

I read a story about Ashton Kutcher in the paper late last week, he said there are never diaper changing tables in the male washrooms and wants to see changes made.  He is a new dad as you may know.  Well, good for him!

Leafsnap

Daughter L made this fun treats for a party she hosted one weekend.  They are shown on small saucers to give you an idea of the size.

corn dogs and one with just cheese

zucchini brownie with berry compote

The Canadian Wildlife Federation has released this app in collaboration with Columbia University in Maryland and the Smithsonian Institution.  You can download it on your ipad or iphone.  So if you take a photo of any leaf, it will identify the tree for you and give you other information about the tree.  I downloaded it, so once the leaves return, I hope to be able to identify this tree that sprouted beside my kitchen window many years ago.  I can't wait.

Sunday Sketches - Atop the Hill

Oops Sunday Sketches is cancelled this week, fyi.

This is the piece I had done for Sunday Sketches. It's also the Ides of March. It's done in my art journal in watercolour crayon and pencil. I called it 'Atop the Hill'.