Random Five and Friday Finds 28.2.14

Happy Friday!!

Jumping right in to Random Five Friday...

ONE

The SUN is seriously shining today! 

This has been the most brutal winter here and that I can recall
in my 60+ years on this planet!

Frequent waves of temperatures in the -30 Celcius range
- they call it a Polar Vortex

More snow than I have seen since I lived in ‘the snow belt’
with drifts taller than me
- okay so I am a bit short (5’4”) but not THAT short…

I am happy to see the sun making shadows!
(I think it has been a darker winter too!)

But I need more….which leads me to..

TWO

I am packing for a tropical destination vacation!!

Not going for a while yet
but it makes me feel warmer just pulling out the summer clothes!

We couldn’t get what we were looking for
(it is called ‘you snooze, you lose’ for waiting too long)
at our much loved Curacao
so we are heading to Barbados for the first time…
I am soooo looking forward to it!

THREE

Combining with Kim Klassen’s Friday Find:

This week while going through boxes in the basement to get ready for renos,
I found some of my childhood books that my father had given me years ago…
I am not sure why I had separated them, at the time,
from Winnie the Pooh and Ferdinand the Bull
which have always resided on my shelf...
but they are together now

but now that Dad is gone
it was very moving to have found the inscription in this particular one…
my Great Grandfather was also like a father to my Dad
as my Grandmother was a single mother
from the time my father was four years old...

FOUR

Kitchen Report….
still thrilled with my CSA bins…
today I am making maple glazed carrots and pork chops,
roasted garlic and creamy smashed baked potatoes
with double cheddar bread..
oh yeah…

FIVE

20 more sleeps until the official first day of spring and I have flowers!!!
 Okay…so they are INSIDE…but just seeing these pretty pink blooms
has lifted my spirits and renewed my hope and faith
that the universe will unfold as it should…

Wishing everyone a wonderful (& warm) weekend and a good week ahead!

Please pop over to A Rural Journal
and see what Random Five things others have to share!!

...and don’t miss all the fabulous finds at Kim’s Friday Finds

 Thank You, to both of these wonderful women
for their time and for providing the space
for all the wonderful sharing that goes on...

Janetxo  

    

Random Five and Friday Finds

Sometimes,

when you are going through 80 some odd years of 

your parent's memories

you just have to take a break...

I have tried to scatter little bits of sorting

throughout my week 

rather than spending entire days

going through things...

I thought it might be emotionally easier.

I am not sure if that is the case

but this week held many joys.

...and this was one

ONE

My father was one of the founders

of Capital Records Canada

back in the late 40s and early 50s.

When I was born in 1953 

my parents thought it would be 'fun'

to record my birth.

This, 

at a time when fathers weren't even allowed 

in the delivery room!

This week I came across the product of that recording session.

This is also my Friday Find for Kim Klassen's meme

I am not sure how many labels were printed

but they glued them onto white cards and sent them out

as birth announcements

See how the details of my birth are displayed 

like song title, producer, length of song etc...

Weren't they clever! 

TWO

I know a lot of farm folk follow Nancy's blog over at A Rural Journal

and contribute to Random Five Friday

so this may seem weird to them...

but

having grown up in a big city and then moving 

to a small town surrounded by farms in my retirement,

I get pretty excited about having real fresh eggs and produce!

Every other Thursday (during the winter)

I get a lovely CSA bin filled with delicious fresh food

from a local farm.

I can't begin to tell you how excited I get about that!

I brag to my city friends and they are so envious!

Especially when I tell them that I will never buy eggs at the grocery store again!

So I want to thank all you amazing farmers & farmettes!

I know you work so hard from daybreak until long after dark

and I, for one, greatly appreciate your efforts!

THREE

A few weeks ago I joined a Facebook group

'Art Abandonment'

There are 10,000 people out there globally

who are abandoning their art for others to find!

...and now I am one of them!

Can I tell you how exhilarating it was to

sneakily drop a few pieces of my "art"

at the movie theatre?

I think I am already addicted!!

FOUR

I have been participating in a month long playful online workshop. 

Deb Taylor's Mish Mash has been packed full of fun and creative ideas!

I have (finally) learned how to use my iPhone to take and edit photos!

So far we have explored photography and food in some very interesting ways 

and I am looking forward to the upcoming multimedia exploration & projects 

over the next few weeks!

FIVE

Saving the best for last!

The Mister is creating a NEW studio for me!!

I am currently using an old workbench in the basement for an art table,

my sewing machine is in our guest room (mostly put away)

and my desk/computer is upstairs in our living room...

We are insulating and finishing the basement this summer

so he put a nice big studio in the plans for me.

With room for my art table, desk and sewing machine all in one space!

We will be emptying the basement to do the work but

just to be sure I would like the space he has put up 

a spiffy new table for me to try out.

Right under a window and beside the fireplace!

He got these angle adjusting legs from Ikea...

and a beautiful glass table top!

I don't want to get too used to it 

because it will have to come down in the spring when we begin the renovations...

but for now I am in heaven!

Well that was a very random five for this Friday...

Hope to see you next week!

Janetxo  

  

       

Re-entry

Or perhaps I should title this post
RE-re-entry...

Just a whole lotta stuff

calling out for my attention

these days...

Re-entering the blogosphere 

was not as easy as I thought it would be...

I have decided to stop beating myself up 

about neglecting this space...

it makes me avoid it,

rather than working harder to be here.

I clearly am not cut out to be a daily blogger.

...and that is what it is!

So, from here on in

I shall post when and what I can

until such time as 

"normal"

has been redefined in my life!

It seemed appropriate, for Texture Tuesday over at 

Kim Klassen's Cafe,

to use her 'kk_re-entry' texture...

My kudos to Kim!

She is one of the strongest people I know and

is working on her own re-entry,

much larger than my own

and so much more successfully.

Until next time...

Janetxo