17 June 2011

Flower Thief Strikes Again...


Banyan gave me this today!  It was kind of funny to see him show up at the door holding such a huge purple pompom in the palm of his tiny little hand.  He was wearing his florescent green 3-D chalk glasses which made it even more comical.  
Of course there is no stem.... he just pick the head right off.  I don't even know where he got it from..... Soooo I would like to apologize to any neighbour that might be missing one of these!

...but I absolutely love it!

16 June 2011

Mihara Countryside

When I come back from travelling overseas, I need a period of time to put my experience on the shelf and let it sit until I am ready to re-examine my experience and how it has affected me.  
After a full year, I think I am ready to pull it off the shelf and re-visit my trip to Japan.  

I want to start just outside of Mihara where I stayed with some good friends of the family, Keiko and Haro. They became my parents and took care of me for a few days.  This is where I fell in love with the Japanese countryside.  Outside their kitchen window was a field of water.  All around their house were neatly organized rice paddies, some brimming with water, others filled with rice.  The sound at night would buzz with frogs, crickets and all kinds of insects.  It was like living in My Neighbor Totoro.  Some of the roads were barely wide enough for Keiko's little compact car to drive across.  There were no rail guards, just a straight drop off.  She would drive so fast on these roads like it was nothing.  

My Japanese parents felt it was a bit boring there but it was so beautiful and peaceful to me.  It was like having a retreat from my travels.  I went for a walk just to soak it all up.  


An old skinny man riding a bicycle pulled up next to Keiko and I as we were walking.  He was missing a few teeth, wearing an Adidas track suit with crusty plastic sandals on his feet and smelled like a brewery.  He asked me (in japanese of course) where I was from.  I just looked at Keiko hoping she would translate.  He was excited to find out I was from Vancouver and talked about the Olympics.  He also said he liked the way I dressed, I had good style, then road off.  

As we made our way back home, this man appeared again.  He was holding two little brown glass bottles and gave them to us.  It was a little awkward.  It was like he was trying to 'pick us up'.  I don't know about you, but my mom taught me never to take anything from a stranger.  We hesitantly accepted the bottles and continued walking as the man stood there for a few minutes watching us leave.  I don't know what he was expecting but I was glad to get out of his sight.  I guess the bottles were some kind of energy drink which I would never use.  Keiko and I had a little chuckle and gave the bottles to Haro.  Apparently he likes them.   


14 June 2011

BMW Binoculars

Some times inspiration and creativity blows in with the wind only to die suddenly when life's menial tasks get in the way.  I often get ideas and try to hang on to them until I have time to sit down and let them come out.  But... I find it hard to keep up the house AND keep on top of my ideas at the same time.  One of them always suffers.  

Every once in a while, I manage to get a project out.  

I took a sick day while my Husband and son went out for the morning and my goal was to just rest.  No house work.  Then I saw two empty toilet paper rolls sitting on the back of the toilet.  Hmmm....I had a vision and went with it.  

My little man needed his own pair of B*M*W binoculars.


My Son is obsessed with BMWs because those are his initials. Every time he sees one, everyone must stop to acknowledge HIS BMW passing by.  He is already begging us to buy a BMW and he's not even five!


I wanted to create a stencilled look like it was for some utilitarian purpose.  





Banyan was excited to get a random present.  It was like he couldn't believe it.  He kept asking, "Why?  Why did you make this for me Mama?"


Even though it was something small and simple, the act of creativity felt good for my soul.

11 June 2011

The Harvest

 I spent a lot of time in the garden today... perhaps more than I should have with this oversized bump in front of me.  I've had to plant my garden in stages and had to start everything late this year due to unmentionable weather.  But last week was a proud happy moment when I took my first harvest.  Mint, parsley, thyme, arugula, and red leaf lettuce.  
This is truly my favourite thing to do... make salads from my garden.   

Every year I get a little more obsessed with gardening and I am at the point where I think about it as I am falling a sleep and thinking about it when I wake up.  I actually brows through the West Coast Seeds Catalogue on a daily basis reading about what I want to plant next or remind myself of how to take care of what it is I have already planted.  I have never taken this much time or care for my garden before but now that I live in a place with full sun and a ginormous garden box, the possibilities seem endless. I am also happy to report success as this is the first year my arugula and mizuna haven't been completely munched by creepy crawlies.  
Did I also mention no squirrels ?

01 June 2011

Petunias

My little boy has been at it again, filling my vase full of fresh flowers.
He found these Petunias lying on the road in front of our house.  
We were on our way out but he insisted that we put them in water right away.  
So we went back inside and found a place for them.  
It turns out they had fallen off a hanging basket that our neighbour  just brought home.  



Looking at them everyday makes me happy.  
Thank you to our neighbours for the free flowers :)