Pussy Willows

What says spring earlier than pussy willows cut from the garden and brought indoors? Apart from the snowdrops, these welcome buds are among the first visitors to my garden each spring.

The Art of Ikebana

What could be more welcome at this time of the year than the lovely tradition of Japanese flower arranging called Ikebana. At the end of February I was treated to an exhibition of the Sogetsu school of Ikebana at the Japanese Embassy.

Some were very large and showy.


While others were smaller and more simple.

All were beautiful.

Tea Shop Serenity

When I need to bring a little serenity into my life, a simple cup of tea is often the answer. The calming ritual of its careful preparation forces you to slow down for a few moments, and if you sit down to sip and contemplate, so much the better.

What could we better than a cup of tea... a selection of three different cups of tea. In this case: Jasmine SilverNeedle, Keemun and hibiscus.


And when the tea is brewed for me at my favourite tea shop, The World of Tea, then I am assured of a pleasure for all of my senses. Tea delicately scents the air, while the artful presentation of the tea accoutrement delights the eye and the taste refreshes the spirits.

Photo Finish

I am so pleased with how beautifully this all came together, and how easily. This photograph was one I took during our trip to England this last August. It was taken in the Royal Crescent in Bath, England. The photograph definitely deserved to be enlarged and as luck would have it, I already had a thrift-shop frame that cost only $4.99 that would go perfectly with it, the silver frame complementing all the silver and grey tones in the picture.


Best of all, the frame measures a perfect 11 by 14 inches, so the enlargement needed only to be popped into the back and voila, instant finished picture... a daily reminder of all the beauty that we came across on our trip.

Thrift Shop Magic

As sometimes happens when I am thrift shopping ... and I have written about this before (April 17, 2009), I manage to find all sorts of things that seem to share a common theme of one sort or another. Is it by chance? Well, I do have certain colour palettes that I am more drawn to, but there is no way that I can orchestrate what is going to be available at a thrift shop on any given visit...

On this particular trip, everything that made it into my shopping cart was pretty and pink.


A Van Gogh framed print.


A couple of balls of soft pink cotton/acrylique yarn made in Ireland.


A necklace of rosy ceramic beads.


A hand-embroidered table runner.


And an all cotton muslin sheet with a rose and polka dot motif.

I have ideas about how some of these will be used, so watch future posts when all will be revealed!

Ice Cascade

An icy waterfall cascading down a rockface in Gatineau Park is a visual representation of the effects of the warmth of sunny days and the cold of the nights. It is a creation of nature, an ever-changing sculpture of frozen water. A balance of opposites, of yin and yang...


ebb and flow...


hot and cold...


hard and soft...


and the changing states of liquid and solid.