Sunday Sketches - On Valentine's Day

Welcome to Sunday Sketches 'On Valentine's Day'! This piece is done on a (3" x 3") memo sheet in watercolour pencil.

Here is a Disney Love Medley in honour of Valentine's Day! 

You know, I don't have much chocolate in the house today and maybe that's a good thing!

At the eye doctor

I was at my opthalmologist this past week for my annual checkup, the small cataract in my right eye is thankfully stable, as it has been for many years.  He checked my eyes for any signs of glaucoma as my grandmother had that, and he also examined my retina, all is good.  It seems English is getting more simple these days, I noticed he calls himself 'eye physician and surgeon' as opposed to 'opthalmologist'.  The kids used to have a pediatric dentist when they were little and after awhile they changed the sign to say 'dentistry for children'.

I noticed the doctor had a photo of his family on a desk.  They had really become grown up since the last photo I saw.  I mentioned this to him.  He asked how old mine were and I told him 20 and 23, remarking on how the years had flown by.  He said his were 15, 20, 23 and 25 and agreed with me.

It seemed strange to get my next appointment for February 2017 but that is a year from now.

Paint Party Friday - Avocado

Welcome to Paint Party Friday!  I did some avocados for you today in watercolour crayon done in my art journal (8 1/2" x 11").

Enjoyed this Movie

I watched the movie 'The Intern' the other night starring Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro and LOVED it!  I especially loved the positive message at the end.  It's a comedy and I thought the acting was great.

Then I was watching Jamie's Super Food and he was doing an episode in Costa Rica and discussed cashews.  You can learn more about them here, and see a photo of the cashew fruit. The cashew grows on a tree.  The accessory fruit is called the cashew apple and is juicy and edible.  The kidney-shaped true fruit grows at the end of the cashew apple.  Inside this fruit is a seed (or nut) coated with a poisonous layer.  Cashews have to be roasted outdoors because of this poison. 

I found this 4 minute video that shows you how to extract the cashew nuts from the fruit.

I like cashews do you?

A Welcome Diversion

On the weekend I was waiting to meet my friend S at a meeting spot along the road.  It was about 1C (34F) and promised to get warmer throughout the day.   I saw this pretty young woman running towards me, I wondered if she was trying to catch a bus or something.  She stopped as she approached me and started talking to me in English with a slight accent.  I asked her if she was Chinese and she said she was.  She told me she was coming from a Chinese class at the local high school.  It turned out to be a boring event so she just decided to leave.  She was running for the exercise but thought better of it (why risk leg pain, she gestured toward her legs), and decided to walk instead.  She wasn't overweight, average height, slim in fact.  She asked me what I was doing at the side of the road.  I told her I was waiting for my friend who is sometimes late.  She suggested I should start arriving later then.  I asked her if she was finished high school and she nodded her head (yes) and mentioned she was thinking of taking some sort of course now.  She bid me goodbye and thought she should go home and have something to eat.

It was a welcome diversion as I waited for my friend, who arrived within 5 minutes of my waiting.

Instant Rice

I got this 'buy one get one free' coupon in the mail.  I decided to try this new instant rice product.  I was amazed that all you have to do is tear a 5cm hole in the top and microwave for 90 seconds!  It tasted pretty good considering the effort it took!  Seeds of change is a certified organic seed company and the ready to heat rice comes in a bunch of flavours.  Do you like rice?

A Good Father

Husband M and I were in McDonald's restaurant one morning.  I mentioned to one of the employees that is was a Professional Development Day at the schools that day.  We laughed that it meant a peaceful morning as the place is usually very busy with school kids during the week.   She started telling us of the hour and a half bus rides (each way?) she endured as a child going to school.  It seems she grew up in Northern Ontario.  As a result she really appreciated Professional Days off school but maybe not so much her mother as there were 4 kids in the family.  It must have been tiring for the kids, those long bus rides. 

I asked if she would consider retiring up north one day, back to where she grew up, you know.  She said she had 6 properties out east in Newfoundland and that is where she would retire.  She said her dad had bought the properties thinking of his 4 kids and I thought, what a good father!  She really appreciated her dad too.  Apparently the 4 kids will share in these properties.

Of course Newfoundland gets a LOT of snow, but it is peaceful and the summers must be wonderful.