At the Hairdresser

corn on the cob

white sweet corn

I was at the hairdresser last week. The esthetician was all upset. She is an older woman and it seems she had been asked to repeat her mammogram, including an additional ultrasound. For three days she had been in a private hell, worrying about the potential outcome. (That happened to me a few years ago so I could empathize).  Everytime her phone rang, she went into a bit of a panic. After a little while, yet another phone call came in and this time it WAS her doctor. It turns out the results were negative and she was happy again! The hairdresser's assistant showed me photos of the recent Syrian refugee crisis. A young boy was found washed up on the shore of a Turkish beach, his family trying to flee Syria. It is heartbreaking and sad and there is a call for North America to do more to help.

On leaving the salon, I noticed a man selling bags of corn from his pickup truck. He must have been a farmer. So I bought a bag of 13 for $5. They are sweet, delicious, large white corn cobs.

Sunday Sketches - Landscape Layers

Welcome to Alexandra's Sunday Sketches! This piece is done on an index card in watercolour pencil. I was inspired by a photo showing lots of landscape layers.

The Great Escape

I read this article about a survivor of the mass breakout (known as The Great Escape) from a German POW camp during World War II.  Paul Royle died recently at age 101. It was interesting that Royle thought that the 1963 movie 'The Great Escape' starring Steve McQueen glamorized the 'reality of darkness cold and terror'. He said there were no motorbikes or Americans there. Only 3 escaped, 50 were shot dead, 23 (including Royle) were sent back to POW camps but survived the war. He intensely disliked the movie for the reasons described.

I am going to try to use more photos and quotes from the public domain from now on.  Of course, my own photos are fine too.  Even though I come across funny and cute things I want to share from the internet we have to be mindful of copyright restrictions, the tendency is to forget.

Husband M and I met up with an old friend of mine and her husband yesterday evening, we had not seen them in awhile.  The husband has to have knee replacement surgery but he has to wait until March next year.  He said the government only allows doctors to perform one surgery per week instead of one per day.  It must be cost cutting measures.  My girlfriend was doing great, having started a regular exercise yoga program.  She says it got rid of all her aches and pains.

Paint Party Friday - Shimmer

It is the long Labour Day weekend here in Canada.  People with cottages tend to close them up around this time as the kids head back to school next week.

Welcome to Paint Party Friday!  Thanks to Eva and Kristin for always hosting us.

I hope you can see the shimmer on the water in this piece done on an index card in acrylic.  I used silver on white paint for the reflection on the water.

Here is my scan, I decided to remove the photo version based on the comments that the scanned
version is fine:

Cake Rusk

Son K and I were at Costco Wholesalers recently and I tasted a sample of these cake rusk biscuits and it was so delicious I had to get a package of them. They look like biscotti but are softer with an almond flavour. K got the other package of assorted cookies.

Daughter L wanted to see 'The Man From Uncle' movie and there is a week long special on movie prices at the cinema this week, so we all went to see it.  We enjoyed the movie.  Have you seen it?

Rain Love

I took this photo of one of many leaves lying on the pavement the other day, maybe I will paint it.

This is a short, priceless video of a toddler's reaction to a summer rainfall with her dad. I have a feeling she will love running out in the rain forever.

Creative Tuesdays - Container Garden

Welcome to Creative Tuesdays and to September! The theme this week is 'Container Garden' and here is mine! It's done on (6" x 6") good quality textured purple cardstock in watercolour pencil and outlined with a fine point marker.