Chipotle-Rubbed Salmon Tacos

Today I had an urge to cook...this has not been happening for me me in quite a while, love eating but only love cooking when I am in the mood. This recipe is from the March issue of Food and Drink...fun to make and delicious! The top pic is the chipotle, orange zest rub, then next the salmon being seared and  finally the finished dish. Now... it is a bit of a trick to prep the food, sip some wine, serve it,  photograph it and eat it while it is still hot!

Insomnia

Last night when I should have been sleeping...after reading for 2 hours...trying to fall asleep for 1 whole hour...I gave up and just played with my camera...I woke at 10:00 am...my crazy internal clock!

postcrossing from China

Today I received this postcard from China, not only is the card beautiful but the stamps are as well...Thanks Cheung

Thought du Jour

Today while sitting in Balzac's enjoying a pot of ginger tea I came across this quote in the Globe

"It's frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself"

                          -Simone de Beauvoir

As I was walking home in the fabulous sunshine I kept thinking about the possible implications...

my birthday gift

Today I received my birthday gift...a day late...the fault of Canada Post not Tom...a fabulous new lens for my camera! I am so happy! A new toy...this should allow me to actually get some of the photos I have been wanted to capture. Tonight I was just playing, came across this wreath still in my loft waiting to be packed away, perfect...it gave me a chance to work with depth of field and a little glitter!

paper love

One of my favourite things is paper...of all kinds but especially these wonderful papers from The Paper Place in Toronto on Queen St W. Whenever I travel by train and have my 2 hour stop in Toronto I head immediately to this perfect shop and stock up on whatever catches my eye on that day. Above are samples of what I purchased yesterday as I travelled back to Stratford from a visit to my parents north of Port Hope.  I will use these in card making, collages, gift wraping or just gazing at and admiring their beauty.

Postcrossing

Today I received this lovely card from Yulia in Odessa Ukraine! Lucky me...this card is not only a beautiful image, the stamps are also gorgeous along with the very thoughtful greeting...so much went into the choosing...thank you Yulia!

http://www.postcrossing.com/

 

New York Daily Photo: Sieve of Darwin

New York Daily Photo: Sieve of Darwin


a blog I follow and love...oh the romance of NYC

Sunday

Sunday was such a beautiful day here in Southwestern Ontario, about 8 degrees and sunshine! Tom, Aaron and I visited The Clay and Glass Museum in Waterloo, something I have been planning to do for a long time! Along with enjoying the lovely space I fell in love with the sculptures... Broken... But Still Standing by Louise Pentz. A perfect tribute to International Womens Day, these works in clay were so hautingly beautiful. Unfortunately my lighting was a bit off for the photos I took inside but should give and idea of what was happening at the museum.

http://www.canadianclayandglassmuseum.ca/

enroute to Washington State

This beautiful card is on its way to a lady who loves reading, drawing, music and snowflakes! I chose this card because of the resemblance to snowflakes although it is actually titled Fairy Tales by Paul Klee. The original is watercolour and gouache on paper...I just love it!

Play Day

There are probably a million things I should be doing but instead...just playing...baked some muffins....listened to Amos Lee...read the paper...took pics around the house.

The first pic is my lunch...organic free range soft boiled egg with fresh ground pepper and Maldon Sea Salt, along with toasted 7 grain bread from the Grainharvest Breadhouse in Waterloo...lucky for us The Gentle Rain here in Straford carries it!

The next pic is of the most beautiful flowers...a gift from the family of a very special girl that I have worked with for over 2 years. My work is ending because of the family moving away, tomorrow will be my last day with my beautiful friend.

The last pic is paper...one of my passions...hanging in my loft on a red bamboo ladder and that is exactly what I think ladders are for!

Enroute to Russia

This postcard is on it's way to St. Petersburg, Russia! This will be card #4 that I have sent, 1 to the Netherlands, 1 to Finland and 1 to Virginia! So much fun to read a little about the recpient and then hunt for the perfect card for that person! The above is going to a prof of engineering who likes mysterious and unusual cards...hope she wioll like this one.

Gods in the Mail

Today I received my first postcard through postcrossing. It is from Alexoundza in Greece!!! I love it..it is just so perfect. It reperesents the three ancient gods Afrodite, Pan and Eros. Of course Eros is the god of love, Afrodite  the goddess of love and Pan the god of nature...how perfect is that!

Balance Among the Chaos

Balance Among the Chaos
Originally uploaded by hyacinth50

This is a watercolour painting I did a few years ago, from a photograph that I took in the Shakespeare garden in Stratford. I have done very little painting recently and need/want to start something new. I am making myself a promise that I will have one on the go within the next couple of weeks!

Sunday Afternoon

While out for a walk this afternoon I came across this amazing frost and moisture in a window at the Post Office...such a beautiful day for February, sun shining, 1 degree, losts of people on the streets!

I have included a couple of pics of Tom in his new hat purchased yesterday at the antique market...a place we never go but ended up there for a few minutes, Tom the mega shopper picked up the hat...it is called the Buffalonian made for the Kleinhans Co of Buffalo. We think it was made in the 40's and is in perfect condition...as Tom say "no bullet holes " ...he even spent a few minutes this morning steaming and shaping it.

Sometimes A Girl Just Has to Shop

Yesterday I headed downtown Stratford to pick up a card and ended up browsing and actually loving everthing I looked at! A few of these items are for me and a few are to be given away. The orange item is one of those long flowing vests...I never wear this colour, black is my usual but I am thinking I need a little colour...hope I can pull this off. Underneath is a chocolate 3/4 sleeve pima cotton Tshirt I picked up half price...great find. In the same shop on impulse I picked up the very pretty headband, now this is not an item I would usually buy but I fell in love with it and it is hand made in Nova Scotia! Bonus!!!  The buttons I just could not resist...mostly to give. The Big Bear Hug is a book for a very special girl who I will be saying a goodbye to soon...hugs are one of her favourite things next to chocolate.  There is a roll of Tibetan prayer flags which I will be giving away. The Lisa See novel Shanghai Girls is for me...my reward in between volumes of Proust. At the  moment I am on page 376 of Swann's Way.

Often when I shop with a purpose I find nothing but sometimes it all just works!

a meditation

What a great day yesterday with our son Aaron visiting. Spent a few hours just relaxing, snacking and watching some Olympics.

  Aaron and I then set out for a walk along the river in the old grove here in Stratford , if you go to the right you end up in the cemetary. It was the perfect day for a walk like that. The day was cool and gray, the crows joined us with lots of chatter. Aaron mentioned that Grampa (my Dad) has some relatives buried in this cemetary and asked if I had ever found any of the graves. No sooner had he mentioned it I looked up and saw one with the name Nat Fowler, who I was sure was a relative, took a few pics, went to Balzac's one of Stratford's great coffee places.

In the evening we watched a Japanese film called Departures. What a beautiful movie. This is a must see, beautiful pace, filming and story, full of grace, respect and honour. This film won an Academy Award for best foreign language film and also 10 Japan Academy Award prizes. Much of this film is about preparing the deceased for burial and entrance into the next life. Thanks to my dear friend Lori who is the most knowledgable peson I know with regard to film among other things...she passed the DVD to us.

As I was heading up to bed after the movie Aaron asked if I had had a nice day. I assured him that I had...he then said "It has been a meditation on death". I had not thought of it in that way but it certainly was with our walk in the cemetary, finding relatives then watching this magnificent film!

I must mention that chef Tom cooked up a great pasta dinner!

www.departures-themovie.com/

Desire

I absolutely love these boots, have been lusting after them for a few years but...I am not getting any younger and I keep thinking I am too old for these, although once I am even older and eccentric perhaps I could  pull it off. I remember my daughter wearing Docs as a teenager. I thought they were pretty cool but only for her generation. Strange how now I would LOVE a pair. I would probably go for the shorter length because...can you imagine trying to lace into the tall ones even though they would go great with leggings and a long sweater.

A girl can dream about any boot she wishes as she slips into her comfy Clarkes!

Postcrossing

My nephew Jesse emailed me yesterday to tell about a site he had just discovered, his words were "this is an Aunt Karen thing".  He is right. I have joined postcrossing.

 What you do is register and then you will be given a name and address to send a postcard to. In return your name and address will be given so someone somewhere who will send a post card to you. I know I really don't need to be adding this to my to do list but I just cannot resist.

 My first post card is going to Suzannaa in the Netherlands. On her profile she mentioned loving art,books etc, so today I went in search of a great postcard to send to her.; I ended up buying two, one is a Georgia O'Keeffe and the other is called Joy with a quote by Shakespeare "I wish you all the joy that you can wish". I have decided to send the Joy to Suzannaa because we can all use a little joy in our lives.


http://www.postcrossing.com/

On Time

Often I feel that I just do not have enough time...time to do all the things I would like to do...that includes time to just be.

Last night I was reading from a book I own called

The Creative License by Danny Gregory

I flipped to a page on clearing your mind. He talks of the modern stuff that clutters our minds such as billions of web pages, thousands of new products, 500 cable channels, hundreds of new movies each year, thousands of DVD's, cell phones, emails, news, marketing and useless mind candy. He suggests disengaging from all of the media that there is calling it an:

electron fast

This includes:

No TV (I do not do this anyway although it is on my to do list)
Stay off the internet (oops, here I am)
Ignore email
Do not read the paper, magazines or books (except his)


He goes on to suggest that this will free up a great deal of time to become more aware of what surrounds you and just " be" and of course this will lead to creativity.

I love this but not sure I can fully follow his advise. I will try to reduce time spent on the above but not sure I can give them up totally although I like the idea and would like to be more present and creative.

A quote he used:

"If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, the eternal life belongs to those who live in the present"

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Such a beautiful quote and the fact that my son Aaron is studying Wittgenstein makes it even more special to me.