Life's a Stitch

Christmas, 2019, back when we could gather with more than one household for the holidays. 23 from the Wilbo clan gathered together to celebrate. A Spanish serrano ham was ordered, complete with ham stand and knife. We dreamed of a glut of prosciutto style meat, to no avail. Here is the link to the caper of the disastrous deli meat.

Advance two long pandemic laden years. This Christmas there were four of us, in accordance with covid guidelines, triple vaccinated Mari and KC joined us to celebrate. Son, Bryant and partner Sammy had just returned to their home in Bali. On the 20th, there they appeared on facetime, requesting we open their gift early. I protested, preferring surprises under the tree for Christmas morning. He insisted we unveil their gift while they were present. 



What a surprise to find a 17lb serrano ham for the four of us. M had tried to dissuade him from buying it, reminding him that the previous time we had 23 people in attendance. His answer? "Not my problem." and it hasn't been. We've had salty dried meat goodness right off the bone and on pizza, sauteed with veggies, on grilled cheese sandwiches, chopped and scattered on broiled potatoes. Mari has kept a  ham diary and daily photos. Since the 20th, we've only had one hamless day. Who’d have thought a piece of meat could make our low key Christmas special. 

Although far from typical, here’s hoping your Christmastime and holidays were merry, calm and bright.

One last painting of fall. I know the leaves are long gone, but I didn't want to wait until next year to post this.

Watercolour 11×14, matted to 16×20.

The world seems to be tightening up again. It's the impending doom feeling of March of 2020. Travel quarantines are being reinstated and I read this morning that Pfizer is considering recommending a fourth vaccine dose in order to fight the Omicron invasion. Our Canadian news included a recommendation from the public health authority in Thunder Bay, Ontario discouraging non-essential travel to neighbouring US states Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan as their covid infection rates are ten times higher than in their Canadian region.

Makes me ever more appreciative of the opportunity we had to travel to Kauai. The weather was beautiful, company good and the time relaxing, just what you hope for in a vacation. I miss my sunrise walks accompanied by crowing roosters and the song of meadowlarks. The local albatrosses (yes, that’s the proper plural of albatross) arrived to their protected nesting sites in a regular neighbourhood. The residents know them by name and look forward to their return. One of them developed this website: the Albatross of Kauai. Did you know: when they take their first flight, in their first year of life, the albatross doesn't touch ground again for 3-4 years? They fly over ocean waters, eating from the sea and sleeping on the water.

As she posed so well for this picture, I'll be painting her soon.

We made time for geocaching, which I combined with painting. The diffuse light, coming through the stand of ironwood trees made for some interesting shadows that pointed right to the geocache location.

The plumeria were mostly winter bare, but I had pictures from another trip, so I combined what I saw with the previous photo. What better place to paint a Hawaiian memory of another time.

After 20 months our world widened again. Grateful to return to Kauai, reuniting with good friends, it was the proverbial feast for the eyes and soul. So accustomed to the comforting greys and forest greens of home, the scenery and colours of Hawaii were startlingly beautiful. 

Prior to the days of digital photography where it’s too easy to amass 25,000 photos on one’s phone (my guilty conscience needs no accuser), on vacation I would limit myself to one roll of 36 or 72 shots. This method encouraged more direct interaction with my surroundings, rather than viewing all things beautiful through a screen. Limiting the quantity made me focus on the quality of my photos. Those days are gone. 

Learning a lesson from the past, rather than inundating this post with images, overloading your brain like the memory capacity of my phone, here is a handful of the best examples of colour and scenery from our trip.

 

 

 

 

It’s pet portrait time of year. There’s a lot of interest in the colourful variety. Here’s the famous Petey, who shares an Instagram account with doggy sibling, Donny.

Petey loves his blankie. 

A colourful scene, asking to be painted, is the Canadian/US border at Blaine.

 

That was taken last week prior to the nonstop rain delivered by La Niña, which produced an Atmospheric River. Inverse.com defines this phenomenon:

Atmospheric Rivers are long, narrow bands of moisture that extend from the tropics to higher latitudes. These rivers in the sky can transport 15 times the volume of the Mississippi River.

 

This weekend, up to 150 mm of rain is forecast (that’s 6” for the non metricated). Could you imagine if that was snow? The common 1:10 ration would produce 1.5 meters (60”) of the white stuff. In that regard, it’s a good thing La Niña comes with warmer temperatures.

At this never ending pandemic? At the state of the world, be it political or environmental? Nope, something for more simple and pleasurable. As the song goes: I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. 

 

We recently made the 35th variety of mostly sugar free ice cream, some lactose free, in our countertop machine acquired in May. Yes, that’s six batches a month. 

 

Some have been pseudo healthy. I’m thinking of the one made most often – banana frozen yogurt. 

 

Then there are the everyday favourites: maple, coconut pineapple, or eggnog. 

 

There’s the deliciously unusual – basil ice cream, white with a hint of green, and the subtle flavour of our summer garden. 

And there was the epitome of decadence  - Callebaut dark chocolate ice cream. The richest most fudgy deliciousness you’ll ever taste. A little goes a long way, a small satisfying bit feels like enough.

 

 

And all the rest in between: coffee, variations of vanilla with the addition of blueberries, strawberries and cherries, butter rum, and strawberry cheesecake. 

 

I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but I’m not much of an ice cream eater. But the intent was to find treats for C, who has had to cut back on sugar. Mission accomplished. 

Recently, Opus Art hosted a challenge, “Your Creative Life,” where artists were invited  to submit a work in progress with an explanation of their approach. It was so nice to receive a message today that my sunflower painting was one of the projects selected. This is a portion of it in progress:

Seeing my name in writing, tagged as a “Watercolour Artist” feels like a dream come true, considering my artist’s  bio starts with “I was an art school reject at the age of 17, when I was told my work was too commercial in style.” I”m grateful, after a satisfying career in non-profit management, to have the opportunity to pursue my art.

 

 

Judging from the pictures can you guess where we were? Hint: we got brave and took our first flight since the pandemic started. 

 

There were badlands, cactus, sage brush and hoodoos, enough to make you believe we were thousands of kilometres south, when in fact we were a bit northeast of Calgary, in Drumheller, Alberta. It was a glorious 23 degrees (74.3 F). 

It all started the previous week, with Canadian Thanksgiving in AB where we did it by the book. It was a relief not having to Zoom yet another holiday dinner, but was disappointing not to be able to gather with more than M and KC’s household. And don’t let yesterday’s photos fool you, Thanksgiving brought us a smidge of snow. 

 

Being Thanksgiving, food was the highlight. I’ve handed the Turkey baton over to M, so I was only responsible for sweet potato cauliflower mash and gravy. Dessert was from Made by Marcus, their famous pumpkin ice cream pie decorated with torched marshmallows and toasted pumpkin seeds. 

 

The rest of the trip’s meals did not disappoint, given KC’s passion for cooking. The highlight for me was a lesson in making his homemade gnocchi, light potato pillows that melt in your mouth. Now back home, I’ve already made them and they were delicious with chicken cacciatore.

 

What a great souvenir, coming home from travelling with the ability to relive the experience with delicious food. Thank you KC and M.

Now what was I going to write about? Who's knows? It was one of those questions about where you fall on a specific topic. Those kinds of things half of those questioned answer one way and half the other, but it's slipped my mind. It must have something to do with how I've been spending my time: knitting, cooking, walking, painting, watching Ted Lasso. Nope, that didn't bring it back. It'll rear it's head around 3:00 a.m. I guarantee it. 

Last night we cooked crabs. C, the lucky fisherman caught four keepers in under an hour.

And here's my recent painting (watercolour 11×14), done from a photo taken in Varadero, Cuba, by local artist and online instructor James Koll. I love the golden hour lighting in it. 

I will let you know when I remember what this blog post was to be about. 

It took me three months to realize I had been paying for Apple TV, something I had never used. Ninety days came free with one of our phones and Apple "generously" extended the deadline during the pandemic.  Such an oxymoron when it comes to its customers – Apple and generous. Apparently I failed to extend it on my calendar as well. Reviewing my bill I did wonder when my iCloud storage had increased, but carelessly dismissed the thought. The penny dropped when I compared the two credit card bills and realized we were paying for both services. Insult to injury? I could have had those months for free as I, too, had purchased a new phone. 

I immediately went into action, cancelling the subscription and noting I still had access for nearly a month. The challenge – watch enough free Apple TV to make my $18 mistake worth it. The weather has cooperated in supplying a "robust" storm system, perfect for movie/series watching by the fireplace. So far we've gotten hooked by Ted Lasso, viewed the documentary about the US presidential war room during the week of 9/11, and watched the Broadway production of Come From Away. I'd say we're getting our money's worth. 

It's been quiet here as the kids have gone home with the exception of B and S, who can't leave due to covid restrictions at their destination. They've gone to spend the week with friends in Vancouver. I've spent a fair amount of time painting and taking online classes. I have been a follower of Lian Quan Zhen for years, studying with him in Spokane and Portland. A second Spokane class was cancelled due to the pandemic and he, like many artists, went the Zoom route. I generally find these classes too expensive for what they offer, but there have been exceptions. I found this one geared to his previous students and all the introductory information provided in the pre class video, so we spent the actual instructional time learning new things. I like the way he encourages us to come up with our own placement of objects, so everybody's composition is slightly different. It was nice to work larger, too, ending up with a 16×20 painting. 

It’s easier and far less expensive framing-wise when a painting is a commercially standard size. I sell my pet portraits matted so they can be popped into a widely available standard 11×14 frame. Many artists use the oddly sized traditional paper measurements that can only be custom framed, which can be quite pricy. And don't you hate it when that happens? I cut my paper to fit standard sizes.

It’s getting to be that time, when Christmas gift commissions start coming in. If you know someone who is interested please comment or dm me on my artist’s page on Instagram. Matted 8×10 custom originals, for 11×14 frames, great gifts for $150-$200 including North American shipping. Finished paintings also available with a good selection of matted paintings for 8×10 frames for $40-$70 plus shipping.