Birthdays, Books and Cake

Each family has its own traditions around birthdays. In our family, birthdays always involve a homemade cake, a family dinner and books.

My eldest daughter Emma is 17 today. I'm having a lot of trouble believing how fast the years have gone by, but I am so proud of the beautiful young woman she is.  She is intelligent, kind, principled, a little bit quirky and very strong-minded. I love each and every part of her.

I remember the day I found out I was pregnant with Emma. It was on the Thanksgiving weekend and that seemed entirely appropriate.  I recall how very hard it was waiting to meet her which I finally did on June 1, 1995. As a birthday bonus, Emma's cousin Erica was born the very next day.

From the look of these recipe cards, you have an idea of how many times I've made this cake. That peacock blue ink and calligraphy-style printing tells me that I copied this recipe in my early twenties, loooong before I was a mom. :)

Ever since Emma and Chloé were babies, books have been one of the gifts they have received from us on birthdays and at Christmas.  Of course, they would receive toys but there would always be books among the packages.

When Emma was about eleven or twelve, she came into my room and said 'Mama' in a serious voice to the point that I was a little worried about what she was going to say.  She said, 'Mama...I just wanted to thank you for giving me your love of reading'.  I thought my heart would burst.

This year, Emma has asked for an iPod as a gift. She has been using my old one that is not performing very well at all anymore.  A couple of weeks ago, she asked me if by requesting an iPod, would she still be receiving some books as she always looked forward to them.  I would find it very hard not to include them. Right now, I am making her cake. Later we will go to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner.  And tonight, along with a brand new iPod, Emma will receive a big stack of lovingly chosen books.

♥ Happy Birthday Emma! ♥

New Paintings and Mother's Day Wishes

Here is a little nature collection composed of three paintings I've been working on in the past week.  The shell painting was already included in a previous post, but you're seeing this particular feather study and the painting of a forget-me-not stem for the first time.  I'm sending out warm Mother's Day wishes to my own mom and all of the other lovely moms who come to read these pages.  I hope you have a wonderful day.

On this Mother's Day, I woke up to the smell of delicious waffles being prepared for me by Emma. My gifts were memoirs by Rosanne Cash and Diane Keaton and recipe books (no, I don't have enough yet) by Béatrice Peltre and Heidi Swanson.  Chloé has also said she wants me to pick out a fish for my studio and she will pay for it. I'm going to get a betta.  Meeko gave me Norah Jones' latest CD (very thoughtful of him).

On Mother's Day, it's nice to spend a little time on favourite activities.  I worked on my forget-me-not painting this morning and plan to work in my vegetable garden this afternoon. I'll take some photos of my progress and post them later this week.

For your Mother's Day enjoyment, here are some photos I took yesterday in the garden. I wish I could transfer their fragrance along with the images. The lilacs in particular smell so beautiful this week.

"Um, wait a minute. Meeko, have you been in my garden?"
"No, and I really hate being blamed for what the other kids do."

Isn't She Lovely?

Before Christmas my sister Nancy, who usually spends her time making beautiful jewellery, made the sweetest mouse for my Mom as part of our family's rainbow project. Isn't she adorable? (My sister too.) Mouse is knitting a rainbow scarf. Nancy talks about it on her blog here. I can only look wistfully at something like this as I didn't inherit the knitting gene in our family.

It is an odd day when I am not wearing something that Nancy made.  I wore these gorgeous jonquil vintage glass earrings through much of the holidays.

This is another pair I wear very often.  They are quite small and delicate and go with so many of my clothes, plus, as I've mentioned here before, I have a thing for hearts.

When I was visiting her over the holidays, she made me a pair of these ones as a gift (lucky me!) and I've worn them all this past week!

I own a lot of earrings and necklaces made by Nancy. I actually try not to look at her Etsy store too, too often or I would buy something each time!  I like making things out of wood and one of the projects I have had in my head for a long time is to make a big storage tray for my earrings that can fit in my dresser drawer. Maybe this year I will finally do it. :)

Winter Wonderland

I was feeling a lot of pre-holiday stress yesterday and decided to take a short walk with Meeko in the forest at the end of our street. We can't walk there except in wintertime because it is very swampy.  So it was our first walk there this winter. There wasn't another footprint except for rabbit and deer tracks.  We weren't able to go the whole way because it's still not entirely frozen, but what we saw was magical and I wanted to share these photos with you.  The walk transformed the way I was feeling. I hope it helps you too.

This is where we had to stop. You can see Meeko is looking a little wistful.

This week has definitely included all kinds of stress. My Mom had surgery on Wednesday but is now home and is doing really well. If she is feeling up to it, our whole family will be travelling next week to have a late Christmas dinner with her. The mother of a very dear friend is also in hospital this week.  My heart is with her and her family. I know of other families dealing with difficult situations and I am thinking about them too.

I hope I say this right. I really didn't know what this blog would do for me when I started it.  I began it mainly as a way to make sure I kept painting.  I'm not sure that I expected so many visitors from around the world--really nice people. There have been encouraging words about my paintings, nice words about my developing photography skills, thoughtful words (and rainbows!) for my Mom, shared feelings and thoughts about gardens, dogs, food, art, children, music, computers, cameras, rocks, rain and snow...so many things.  I have visited many of your blogs and been inspired by your art, your photos, your homes and your lives.  Somehow this blogging experience that started out feeling scary, cold and impersonal has turned out to be quite the opposite. I have a sense of community with people that has nothing to do with where I live. I have friendships with people I've never met. It has given me a sense of the world being a smaller, kinder place and I like that very much.
Kathleen xx ♥

For Ginger

Well I guess life won't throw you one curve ball when it can throw you two.  I got a very sad email from my parents saying that they had to say goodbye to their 12-year-old (almost 13) Golden Retriever today.  Ginger was operated on this past summer for a tumour and bounced back rather beautifully. Unfortunately it returned recently and in a way that did not leave treatment options.

You know the old adage 'A picture is worth a thousand words'? You just have to look at the above photos sent by my Mom and Dad to know the dog that Ginger was.

Ginger was a gentle soul, a worrier (oh my, did she worry) and a devoted companion.  She was beside herself when my father went anywhere without her. She did not like when anyone was in the lake--kind of a difficult attitude for a cottage dog. She loved her people and they loved her. She liked being with the other dogs whenever there were family gatherings and was always a very gracious host.

Ginger and I developed a special bond this past summer when she realized that I always have dog treats in my pockets (a necessity for the owner of a wayward puppy).  All of a sudden, she was trying to outspeed the younger family dogs when I asked for a 'Sit' or 'Lie Down'.  It was pretty cute.

Marlowe, Ginger and Meeko.  Not in the photo: Mabel.

A huge hug to my Mom, Dad and sister Karen.  Ginger was so loved and well cared for.

And if they could be there with you right now to offer a little canine comfort, I know that her buddies Meeko, Marlowe (my brother's family dog) and Mabel (my sister's family dog) would be.

I think it is hard to hear of a pet dying without feeling the weight of all past pets.  So in this moment, my thoughts are with Ginger but also our childhood dogs Peppi, Mitzi and Toby, my cat Mackenzie King and my sister Karen's cat Whiskers.  I give thanks to all pets everywhere for the wonderful comfort and companionship they bring us.

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.
Anatole France

*  *  *  *  *

I wanted to close this post with four lovely photos kindly sent to me by Émilie who is from Brittany, France. As she said, these rainbows are not in the sky but they are beautiful all the same. Beautiful indeed.

Mucha stained glass in Prague, Czech Republic

Windows in Manchester cathedral

Painted horse in Rotterdam

Cathedral in Jumièges, Normandie

When I look at these photos, they say to me that rainbows are all around us.  We just have to look for them to find them.  And I guess on some days it may be a little harder to see them.  Merci Émilie!

Thank you to all my blog readers for your kindness and thoughtfulness. You warm my heart.

A Rainbow and the Promise of Snowflakes

Here is a very beautiful double rainbow sent all the way from Mifflintown Pennsylvania to my mom by a new reader of my blog.  Thank you, Ruth. Heartfelt thanks to everyone for their rainbows, kind thoughts and words.  My mom really appreciated them.

I am going to turn to more Christmas-oriented posts in the days ahead.  Well, because 'we need a little Christmas' now.

Here's another version of the same song, an oldie but goodie (for added entertainment, watch the skaters):

There is the promise of snowflakes here this afternoon which I'm sure will help my Christmas spirit. :)

A rainbow from another paintbox

And here's a pretty rainbow painted by my niece Katie for her grandmother. Thanks Katie. I'm certain she will love it. I have to say that your painted rock is amazing!  There are lots of artists in our family--particularly among the younger members.

Rocks, Puddles and Rainbows

My sister Nancy has sent two photos to be part of the rainbow we are building for our mom.  This is a rainbow of stones assembled by Nancy's daughter Erica (my niece) when they were in Newfoundland this past summer.  Note the rainbow of bracelets!

And this is our four daughters playing in a puddle under the arc of a beautiful rainbow after a torrential rainfall. This photo was taken three years ago.  They look so young! So that is another good thing that rain brings:  lovely puddles.

Rainbow Cupcakes

Inspired by the theme in our family the past few days, Emma made rainbow cupcakes (with a little nod to the Christmas season with her choice of paper liners). I don't think they would ship safely to the Muskoka region, so they will have to be eaten locally. Sorry 'bout that Mom. :)

The Rainbow is Growing

Here's a rainbow that stretches from my paintbox to Lake Muskoka where my mom lives.  My daughters Chloé and Emma are working on paintings that might get added tomorrow.

For anyone wondering what all these rainbows mean, I can say this.  My mom is going through something very difficult.  I got the news Tuesday night and then woke up to a beautiful rainbow on Wednesday morning.  As my youngest daughter said to me, 'You saw it as a sign because that's what you do.'  She knows her mom. :)

I posted the photo of the rainbow I saw with a message to my mom and she appreciated it.  Then my friends Lucile and Julie forwarded rainbow photos of their own for me to post for her (see the previous post). My mom appreciated them too. So if there can be a little hope and encouragement provided from here while she really needs it, it seems only right to add a few more rainbows. ♥

A New Adventure

I'm taking a deep breath.  I have thought about doing this for ages and here I am finally at the beginning of my blog. 

I am a watercolour painter, a passionate gardener and a dedicated mother.  I am other things too but these passions seem to be the primary ones that consume and motivate me on an ongoing basis. 

In this blog, I hope to chronicle the progress of my painting projects and the ongoing state of my garden (sometimes a paradise, sometimes in ruins).  Along the way, I'm sure that I will comment on other parts of my life as they interest and occupy me.  Be patient with me in the weeks ahead as I'm certain that it will take awhile to get things the way I want them.  But better to start this adventure now than to wait any longer.