Italian Coffee

Daughter L had brought us some coffee from Italy on her recent trip there. We loved it and I wondered if we could find good Italian coffee here in Toronto. Sure enough I found the brand pictured above at Walmart. L says they had that brand in Italy but the saleslady had suggested to her that she might try another brand that wasn't so readily available in Canada. I can't wait to try this one!

Paint Party Friday - Fall Leaves

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! I did some 'Fall Leaves' for you in my sketchbook (9" x 12") in watercolour pencils outlined with a waterproof black PITT artist pen. It is based on a photo that I took in the neighbourhood.

Pretty Gourds

Well, I've bought my pumpkin, it just needs a face painted on it and my candy has also been purchased. It will be Halloween before you know it!  Are you ready?

Scribble Picnic - Fill in the Blank

Welcome to Scribble Picnic's 'Fill in the Blank' theme! This is my interpretation of the
 'negative space ' directive. It's done in permanent markers on heavy white paper (8 1/2" x 11"), looking over the wall at the mountain view.  The wall represents the negative space in the painting, with the mountains serving as the subject.

Church and Coffee

Fall Leaves

I met my friend S after church this past Sunday. The priest introduced a handful of children being prepared for their First Holy Communion.  They are so cute at that age, probably grade 1 or 2.  Each had to announce their name and school.  S and I went to Panera Bread, she bought me coffee and we shared her delicious cherry vanilla bagel. The weather was muggy with the threat of rain.  Soon it will be time to cut back the flowers, if you haven't already.

The cute kid

We have a lot of these evergreen yew trees in the area. These pretty berries are eaten by the birds. However the seed within is poisonous. It is interesting to learn that the birds pass the seed undamaged in their droppings. Other birds can eat around the seed.

There was the cutest kid in the drugstore the other day.  He was counting up his small change at the cashier until he came up with $10 and had a sigh of relief.  He was able to buy his video game card.  He said he had been saving up for weeks for this and was so happy.  

LED lightbulbs

blue spruce

We have a lot of these blue spruce trees in the area. They grow 30 to 60 feet high and live for 200 years on average.  They also make perfect Christmas trees. They are deer resistant in the forests. Native Americans used them as medicinal plants and the twigs were given as symbols of good fortune.

They are having instant rebates on LED lightbulbs in our area in an effort to promote energy conservation.  So many of the supermarkets and hardware stores are offering LED bulbs for about 50c after an instant rebate.  The bulbs normally cost at least $3 each.  We took advantage of this to purchase a lot of LED (60w equivalent or 800 lumens) soft white bulbs and husband M spent some time yesterday replacing most of our incandescent bulbs with these new ones.  We are looking forward to the power savings over time.