resurrection fern

Happy Birthday Benjamin Jerzy

Today is my son Benjamin's birthday. He was born at sunrise on easter morning 22 years ago . A very special entrance for a remarkable boy. I wanted to use this occasion to share some of my very favorite photographs.

The other day I asked him what his favorite poem was and he shared a poem of Lord Byron with me . It goes like this:Here didst thou dwell, here schemes of pleasure plan,
Beneath yon mountain's ever beauteous brow:
But now, as if a thing unblest by Man,
Thy fairy dwelling is as lone as thou!
Here giant weeds a passage scarce allow
To halls deserted, portals gaping wide:
Fresh lessons to the thinking bosom, how
Vain are the pleasaunces on earth supplied,
Swept into wrecks anon by Time's ungentle tide!

Your life is like a poem etched into my heart from sunrise on easter morning .....

these ones don't stack

The title is in reference to the last post about the little mothers or russian stacking dolls. Okay, I know kind of silly of me but sometime one just has to amuse one's self. One of the great joys of being a rural physician is making house calls out at one of the beautiful farms of central Ontario. My little town that I practice in is surrounded by such farmland. I especially love visiting the farms in the spring because of the new born animals. Yesterday I made such a trip before coming home for the day and I was so lucky because I got to see three day old nubian goats. They are a breed of goat that comes from the midde east and according to the farmer their milk makes wonderful cheese. They structure of their foreheads is very interesting and unlike the goats I usually see. It gives them a sweet slightly comical appearance. They look like little dogs and like puppies they were wagging their tails continually. The lambs were a little older , a few weeks old and they were so active it was almost impossible to photograph them . The lambs were so noisy but the goats didn't make a peep the entire time I was in the pen with them. I am also sharing a picture of a mother alpaca and her baby with you that was taken during the winter at a different farm. I just thought it fit well with this post. Enough with the words.

I have always thought that one day I will have myself a small hobby farm . I think nubian goats will be definitely be on my list on animals to raise. Have a wonderful saturday.

Little Mothers

No this isn't a post about pregnant young women but it is about russian stacking dolls , Matryoshkas, which I have learned the best translation is "little Mothers". I grew up with a few of these dolls in my home since my father was born in St Petersburg Russia to polish parents. I loved to play with them and I imagined that they had made by hand in Russia for many , many years. I was quite surprised to read that the first russian Matryoshka was made in 1899 in Sergiev Posad, a small monastery village and a great center of toy making located near Moscow. The inspiration came from Japan, as so much of our modern crafts do, with a japanese nesting doll named Fukuruma . One of the most talented artists in the toy workshop , Malyutin sketched out the first matryoshka and an an eight piece doll was born.

I have collected a few of these dolls over the years but my oldest daughter , Tamara, has become a serious collector. I wanted to share some of her collection with you. A few of these are dolls I have given her . Only one was purchased new at a craft fair and the rest were found at thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales. We make up little stories about them . Some of the little mothers are childless when found or sometimes children are found with no mothers. The funniest ones are those mixed families where the children are actually different , obviously originating from different mothers but they still fit together although sometimes with a little more difficulty, like an allegory of modern families. I took these photographs on a recent visit to my daughter's apartment. The light quality wasn't the greatest but it does set a nice mood for the collection.

This next picture is from my sister Helen's collection.

Then back to Tamara's with a picture of the textile version that the very talented sara made . She also designed a beautiful little pin for my daughter that you can see on her flickr pictures. She also has a beautiful art piece from tiel .

. I love the work of irina troitskaya and would love to purchase one of her fantastic sets to add to her collection .

Have a wonderful start to your weekend. It is definitely finally starting to feel like spring here in the great white north. The robins and redwing blackbirds have returned, the snow is melting and small patches of grass are visible . I even saw some real pussy willows yesterday. Tomorrow I will do a spring post about some real live "little mothers". Sorry I forgot to insert sara's textile dolls photograph earlier. Oops!

How I Became an Art Collector

The other day I was reading a post by holly of decor8 fame about buying affordable art for your children's rooms. I loved seeing all the different artists see choose and I left a comment about how my children love getting original art work as gifts for special occasions like Christmas and birthdays. They sometimes even ask for a specific artist that they have come to like through flickr or etsy or reading blogs. I in turn really love buying them art and love to see how they use it in their own personal way in their space. I came to realize that my children have become art collectors. Here is a picture of my youngest daughter's art wall although it has changed a little since this picture was taken . Her art collection includes emily martin , kup kup, lisa congdon and sugarloop Then next is a picture of some of my next youngest daughter's art collection including the work of matte stephens, cathy campbell and lisa congdon.

Then a picture from my oldest daughter's apartment showing her love for the textile art of sara lechner

Well the art collecting gene must be genetic . Either that or I have a very strong influence on my children . I started collecting art when I was a quite young. I saved my money from summer employment and then I went to an art gallery that had opened in the Byward Market of Ottawa and in 1976 I purchased a piece of art titled Vase ritual by Norman Laliberte

I still love this art piece. I knew nothing about the artist or whether or not it would be a good investment . I paid about 200 dollars for it , a whole lot of money for a student at that time. I have never regretted my decision. I now know that he is quite an accomplished artist and that this painting is now worth a lot more than what I paid for it. Original art can be a great investment. What art have you been beautifying your world with?

My Weekend , All Pictures , No Words

project colorful nests

I am hoping I can interest some of you in a little project my daughter and I have started . If you read this blog you know that I love knitting and other needle arts. In doing these projects over the past few months I have been saving all the little pieces of thread and yarn and scraps of fabric in a large bowl. A few weeks ago the bowl was full and I remembered a little spring project that I had always wanted to do. We placed all the scraps on a sturdy tray with a small bowl of birdseed and found a good location for this in our yard. We are hoping that the birds who are returning to our yard will be attracted to the seed and then notice all the lovely colorful material that they can use to build their nests. Later in the spring my daughter and I are going to walk around our community searching for colorful nests and we hope to be able to photograph some and share them with you in a future post. Here is a picture of what the birdies will have to work with.Inspired by this project and the window of Anthropologie on my recent trip to NYC I decided to make a little colorful nest of my own. I used linen for the main fabric and wove torn strips of fabric from my stash , vintage lace and vintage silk embroidery thread through stitches of embroidery. I made the bird from wool felt and attached it to the linen . I like it in the embroidery hoop but I might stretch it onto a frame .

I hope your first weekend of spring and Easter if you celebrate it is filled with color and hope.

Project Budburst

Happy Spring!!! Although spring has officially arrived this morning our weather forecasters have told us to prepare for about 6 more weeks of winter weather with more snow. Last week a huge chunk of ice and snow fell off our roof and broke a large branch off my favorite tree , our magnolia tree. I decided to some into the house to see if it can be forced since it is unlikely that the trees with bud or bloom anytime in the next few weeks. Here's hoping. It looks nice in the thrift store vase I found a few months ago. The cross stitch on the wall is one of a few I did when I was in my teens. It is a danish pattern that my sister brought home from europe for me. Sorry about the poor lighting and the paint peeling off the wall. I am hoping to repaint this summer.

The picture above is like an "I spy" . See if you can spot the mating pair of cardinals in the tree. They return to our yard every spring or at least I like to think it is the same sweet singing couple. I love to wake up to their song in the morning. I wanted to tell my american friends about a very cool project I came across this week. I was very disappointed that I couldn't register for this special project. It is project budburst and is a way for citizens to take part in documenting the effects of climate change on your local habitats/environments. I think it would be a wonderful project to involve your children in . Children have such a inherent love for the natural world. How are your easter / spring preparations coming along?

Cats Reduce Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke

Good news for past or present cat owners. It was recently reported at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference that owning a cat reduces your risk of heart attack and stroke by one third. This is a very significant reduction. It seems that your risk is reduced even if you don't have a cat presently but have had one at some point in the past. Owning a dog , although it has been proven to reduce blood pressure does not have the same risk reduction as cat ownership. I find this very interesting because one would expect to be getting more exercise being a dog owner since you don't have to walk the cat. I personally find cats very relaxing to be around. They seem to have a calming effect similar to meditation. Dogs are usually more active and excited and don't seem to have a calming effect. No explanation was given for the results so that is just my conjecture. Here are some of my favorite cat pictures from my i photo collection. I bet you feel more relaxed just looking at them.

Happy St Patrick's Day

They say everyone has a little irish in them especially on St Patrick's Day. Today I will wear a little green which isn't difficult since it is one of my favorite color. I will listen to some of my favorite Irish musicians on the way to and from work. On my play list today will be Van Morrison especially his cd with the Chieftans, Damien Rice, Paddy Casey and my new favorite Glen Hansard on the soundtrack for the movie ONCE. I will keep my eyes wide open in the hope of seeing a leprechaun today. If he doesn't bring me a little luck or a pot of gold at least he might be able to fix my shoes. Have a wonderful day and happy birthday Nina!!

Knitting a Rag Nest : A sort of Tutorial

With Easter and Spring around the corner I have been thinking a lot about eggs, birds and nests. Last year I knit and then felted all my children nests for their easter treats. This year I wanted to do something slightly different using some fabric from my scrap pile. I decided to knit a nest from fabric. I made this up as I went along so the instructions are not very detailed. Nests come in all different shapes and sizes just like people so I don't think you can mess up too badly. The first step is quite fun and I am sure you can enlist some little helpers for this. You need to tear your fabric into strips of approximately 2 cm width. Don't cut, tear it really makes a difference in the appearance. Have you ever seen a bird with scissors or God forbid a rotary cutter. When you need to join the strip just tie a knot leaving some ends. These will add character to your finished product.

Arwen, my cat really wanted to help tear up the thrift store sheet into strips.

You will need a set of 4 thick knitting needles because this nest is knit in the round . I used 10mm needles or u.s.size 15. I cast on 36 stitches divided amongst 3 needles evenly.

Join the round and knit for about 4 rounds before starting the decreases. Knit 4 stitches and then knit the next 2 stitches together (k2tog) and repeat this until you have completed a round. You have decreased 6 stitches. Knit a round . Next round knit 3 stitches and then k2tog and repeat this until you have completed the round , again you have decreased 6 stitches. Knit one round. Next round knit 2 stitches and k2tog , repeat this until the end of the round. Knit one round. Knit 1 and then k2tog and repeat until the end of the round . Knit one round. You should have a total of 12 stitches left on three needles. Cut your rag strip about 12 inches long and thread it onto a yarn needle. Thread it through each stitch and pull to gather up the last 12 stitches tightly. Fasten the end .

You are finished. Wasn't that easy. You can leave your nest empty or fill it with an egg , bird or easter treats.

You can knit other things with rags. It is a great way of using up old sheets or worn out clothing . A few years ago I knit summer bags for my daughters to hold their knitting projects. I called then rag bags. Here is a picture of Deborah's bag.

It wasn't that long ago that pink was her favorite color.