tania howells

I used to make many little shadow boxes before I was doing whatever it is I do now. Being invited to join this flickr group reminded me. I have a few still left in boxes here and there.

It was a lovely slow weekend, with a stroll down to look at the M.A.D.E. show which was really cool and I ran into a number of lovely friends. After I wandered a bit, looked in cool shops and had a tea in a cafe and wrote a letter! I felt like I was on holidays as I usually never just STOP and enjoy. It was so nice. I walked home and bought some geraniums for the porch and had enough time to go for a swim at the pool. Ahhhhh. Sunday was a dinner with my girlfiends which recharged my batteries, as well as a bike ride to the market for some food, sitting in the sun knitting and brunch with Paul. Every so often I notice how blessed we are and I feel very grateful.

Today it is MONDAY! Which always has me up early ( ha- that means 8:00), a bit jittery and getting down to business. Now I have cleared away all the spam, answered relevant emails, sketched some more things that need doing and had my tea. However it is also nearly May, which is my month! I love May, it is perfect and it is finally a Saturday birthday year again. Yay!

Here's to an easy going start to the week for all of you! xo

loot

I love it when I get the stuff my work is used for. I have been lucky to get a bit of mileage out of this baby zodiac image, and yesterday I received these sweet little Mirage Paper Co. produced notebooks that the image was used on recently. On the left is a family image that I did a while back which they bought for use on such promotional items. I was glad to also finally see the application it was used for and I am curious about what other things they have put it on...

In one of my "I must have that!" moments last week, I bought this awesome pendant, which arrived yesterday. I can call it an early birthday gift to myself. Also, I thought that it could be a kind of talisman. I am in the running to be *possibly* chosen for a project involving owls and this owly might help! I have always loved Susie's work. It's just fantastic.

Some things...

...on my desk.

This weekend was earth day and our neighbors arranged a clean-up on Sunday. I was shocked at the amount of trash that has been dumped just beyond my line of sight, along the railway tracks and now there is a massive pile of garbage and bags that the city was meant to pick-up yesterday. I ache all over from the lifting and piling of junk! What a good day, what nice people live near by and what weather! Sunny and warm finally. The sad part is the people who live right next to the tracks felt the need to clearcut a lot of the greenery / small trees that grow there! That gave me panic attacks and fretfulness. They seem to have left enough that hopefully when it grows in, we will still see green. They said something about allergies and it blocking sunlight, though the trees are scarcely tall enough to do that. I think some people just see that sort of growth as weeds and as messy, but they also helped with the trash cleaning, so that is good. " Hey, its earth day! Lets cut down trees! " sigh. Trying to see the bright side- it will grow back eventually.


Also, happily my tulips seem just about ready to bloom! I had planted a ton in the fall. I also bought three small pots of grape hyacinths to plant among them- lovely!

best tee shirt ever

Long sleeved with sparkly clouds on it for only $1. I couldn't believe it. I had almost bought it when it was first in the store for $12.99 but I was being cheap! I guess it pays to wait it out.
Here is a shot of my winter things. I am optimisticly planning to move most of them out and put in the summer stuff again because it is finally sunny and maybe warm out. I liked the look of all these patterns side by side and gosh darn it I am sick of them as well.

hilda

Meet Hilda! She has grown out of the pupa stage to a full grown squirrel. Here she is doing something I often do - standing in one spot and staring, trying to remember what it was she came outside for. It turns out she needed to relocate all the acorns she had hidden last fall for a special acorn pie she wants to bake. I hope she won't mind sharing it with the cats because they aren't allowed to use the oven.
Nor are they allowed to eat cat grass any more. Here is a pretty picture of the tender little shoots I was sprouting just yesterday. This morning we were awoken too early by the noise, all too familiar, of cat upchucking. I found the pot upturned all over the red pillows I have on my desk for the cats to snooze on, dirt everywhere and obviously he had eaten not just the shoots but dirt as well. Ahh the peanut sized brain. I had hoped that young cat grass would agree with their systems better than the older cat grass, but alas no. So much for ruffage.

paraskevidekatriaphobia!

That is fear of friday the 13th, which I do not have, but what a word!

Instead, I have 2 beautiful copies of this book I did the cover for! Can't wait to tuck in and read it again. They did a great job with the cover making the words slightly raised so they look embroidered and the sequins are shinier than the rest of the paper. Lovely!






Occaisionally my not throwing out anything comes in handy, like today. I knew I had these ancient stamp hinges here somehwere and they were right where I left them in a drawer. These must have belonged to my dad when he was a little boy, and when they come in a packet of 1000 it is no wonder they have lasted so long. I had a brief stamp collecting phase as a kid where I went to a stamp club at the library. I think I got in trouble for giggling too much...Anyway, I still love stamps and a have a wonderful old stamp book from some relative I never knew, on my bookshelf.


Here is why I needed the hinges- I wanted to stick down and finally frame these wonderful Dick Bruna stamps a kind Charlene sent me ages ago. I just love them.

This weekend I am going to try and make this cute headband by the talented Heather Bailey. It'll be nice for the warmer weather, if that ever comes.
Have a good weekend everyone!

Oh dear- How have I not exploited moving avatars yet? I know I am not a 15 year old girl anymore and I don't have a myspace page ( is a blog the same thing??), but look at these guys! It is the bubble bobble guys from one of my all time favorite video games. ( oh, and you know that the Thompson Twins are playing on my itunes? nostalgia alert nostalgia alert) I was researching the signs of the zodiac again - yes this time I have to do teeth as zodiac symbols! - and somehow I stumbled here, as you do while googling things. It is a like a teenagers wonderland. I don't know what would have happened had I been born later and was a teenager today. I am rather glad I am not a teenager today. Back then I got myself into some potentially dangerous situations and with all this internetting nowadays- well, I would have been doing who knows what. shudder.


oh- how about the bunny?? sigh. It is so cute I could just eat it.



ok ok, back to work. How to draw a molar as Aries??

It has been a quiet but nice long weekend. On Friday, we went to see Blades of Glory which was as stupid and delightful as I had hoped. The costumes, the hair - you can't lose really. I got in lots of knitting. I am working on a little tank top from the latest issue of Knit Simple. I have a pile of this mission falls green cotton which my mum got at a garage sale (!!) and gave to me, and it fit this pattern's swatch. Sunday we had a short but sweet brunch with friends and today I managed to get to the thrift store where I found a great little IKEA table lamp and this book which I dove into straight away over a bowl of popcorn and a cup of tea. The movie version of this book is one of my favorites , I don't know why, it is just so sweet and I love the actors in it as well. It is going on the shelf of books I keep for when I need comforting.

Tommorow it is back to work!

But first, some of the nice moments -

-The times being in the midst of preparing food. I love measuring out the ingredients, mixing and listening to the radio with candles burning.
-A long walk with Paul after brunch through the neighborhood adjacent to ours, looking at people's houses, thinking about all the families.
-The moment of being tucked into bed and reading your favorite book and nodding off to sleep. Currently I am devouring The ladies No 1 Detective Agency books and am just loving their slow pace and kind characters. I am just finishing the sixth volume.
-Being covered in cats on the couch watching a movie with Paul and having chocolate ice cream.

happiness is...

... a little bag of potting soil and a bunch of pussy willows on the way home from work. I remembered had bought a tiny packet of basil seeds in an optimistic moment last fall. I will plant them in the egg box once we eat all the eggs. Then perhaps it will be full grown in time for the summer tomatoes and I can make my favorite summer dish again.
... being greeted by the everything bird as you near your street. Can you see him? High in the tree by the railway bridge, singing with all his might. This is so far the best shot I have gotten of him because my camera is not that great- it seems to make even close things look very distant and also this bird likes high perches.

Here are some friday ( I know - it is thursday but we have friday off for easter!) flickr faves-
-Heidi's strawberries!I have been thinking alot of many of one thing- they look so nice all together.
-These wonderful paper butterfly pieces.
-Dreaming of spring I want to get a forsythia bush for by my front steps. We had these in my yard as a kid and I love them.
-I never ever tire of funny little chihuahuas.
-Something I need to constantly tell myself.
-beautiful fluff.

stillness and the city

I am still thinking about Amanda's post about stillness in the city. I loved to hear a view point of someone NOT spending all her days in the bustle of city life and talking about things I don't actually notice all that much. I definately notice the pace, the noise and overstimulation, but the stillness within the city noise is one of the things I cherish about living here, without having really realised it. More specifically, moving to our new home, just 3 blocks south of a bustling street. It often feels like an oasis of quiet - during the times between the commuter train passing ofcourse! Sitting on the porch in the summer I almost feel I am away at a cottage. That comes from the contrast of having lived on said busy street for a long time. I even LIKE the train passing for some odd reason. It reminds me I am at home, not racing somewhere else.

Anyway, I had a feeling this post would be a rambling monologue. I was just really inspired to notice the stillness again and there is lots to be had! It is something I actually do seek out every day, a habit I may have developed as a coping method in this overwhelming, deadline oriented town. I often look up, which is a peaceful view when it is not stormy. I take the back streets on my bike and stop in the park, and of course I always manage to take a quiet moment for some tea. I still get nervous, anxious and I worry at times, but I always feel good knowing that this city is my home. I love travelling around town and seeing people I recognise, though have never spoken to and I love always being able to see the CN tower, something I have seen all the way back to when I was three. It has always been there.