My lastest watercolour dog portrait is a 60th birthday gift for my sister. Her name and “60” are hidden in the blanket pattern.  Her kids benefited from Mom’s 60th, too, as I had professional prints made for them.   

That’s how long it’s been sine we left our house in the rain forest. How do I know this? Every time I open my laptop it tells me how many days it’s been since its last backup. Fortunately there’s nothing crucial on there and the day count is coming to an end. Yes, the house…

"When I'm 64" and "They Say It's Your Birthday." There's only one year that both songs are relevant for anyone, and this Ides of March was the one for me. Thank you to all who communicated in the variety of ways available these days, so appreciated.  64 is good, it's the countdown to 65, when…

If you google weathervane, the likely candidate to sit on top of one is a rooster. I found it unnerving to see one with a gun on top near us at our temporary place in in the US. When the wind is right it's aimed right at you. This is a photo of a similar…

A few of my favourite things, HI continued: You know what I'm going to say…a few more of my favourite things to do: hiking, geocaching and painting. Especially on a tropical isle. Blogless Marsha's David took us on a "walk" in the neighbourhood where we were staying. The destination was the Queen's Bath and, bonus,…

In these pictures you might think we're on the Camino in Spain.  It was a five mile walk, longer than our usual ones, but another mile up past the mahagony forest this was the local scenery:  Aloha! Located halfway around the world from Spain, we’re escaping winter by visiting friends, appreciating an opportunity to replay…

I heard that there was an Andrew Wyeth exhibit at the SAM and discovered there were a few more days left before it closed and moved on. Wyeth was my watercolour drybrush inspiration since high school and this exhibit fulfilled a long held dream. It was easy to recruit Blogless Marsha to come along, unlike…

The  mild, but rainy, NW part of Washington state, is a wintering ground for Bald Eagles and Trumpeter Swans. Despite the weather we've made it a point ourselves, to winter by exploring the small towns of Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties. Our first stop was on an unusually dry and warm day where we saw…

One more post from the past, this one from California, then back to the very rainy Pac NW, where we've sought comfort in cooking….in our…wait for it…Instant Pot. Yes, I've fallen prey to the epidemic of home chefs who have bought this Canadian invention. Did you know it's Canadian? I did the patriotic thing by…

Sydney, Australia (as opposed to tiny Sydney, BC, population 11,600) has 4 million people in its boundaries. Although only a third larger than Melbourne, it feels like a crowded place. After docking early in the morning, and locating our hotel for our one night stay, we texted our Aussie friend back home. If you had…