soeurs du jour

Old Haunts

When Barry and I were at home, we crossed the Ottawa River into Gatineau and went to Barry's home town of Aylmer, Quebec.   We drove past the house he used to live in.

and another old stomping ground,

The British Hotel, many hours were spent at the British by both the local kids

 and the imports from Ottawa.

As we toured around town we discovered some fantastic lawn art.

It's fun to go back to the old haunts but it's also fun to discover what is new!

Do you still live in your home town?

Happy Saturday!

xo

Kath

around town and around home

i don't usually take photos of cityscapes but lately i have been inspired by this photographer, watawa.  i look forward to seeing his photos, hoping that it will be something i recognize.  this is a photo of the west block of our parliament buildings, reflected in the bank of canada building.  i suspect that there are thousands of photos of this particular reflection.  as you drive by it grabs you!!  

i loaded lightroom 2 today onto my mac.  i have a bit of a headache from watching tutorials all day and believe me, i still can't figure out how to store, load, save, find, NOTHING.  i have to take a deep breath, give my poor little head a shake, and remember that the first time i opened photoshop i thought to myself "i don't think so" and i closed her up and didn't go back for months. scared the crap out of me back then and now we are close like family.  i suspect that tomorrow i will go and buy a book to help me.  and when i am buying the book, i will buy a starbucks coffee too.  oh my day is shaping up.

i miss taking pictures of my babies.  i miss the babies.

time for a trip to montreal.

today i bought a puffer, a pop-up flash diffuser.  kath had one so nothing would do but i go get one too.  i bought the same MEC bag that she did too.  sibling envy.  i didn't have much time to play with the new puffer but i took these.

with the puffer

without

can you see a difference?  

please don't get tired of my tulip photos.  once the tulips are available in my loblaws i am never without them.  they sit on my desk.   this week i have had something else at my desk.  i don't mind, he is only home for a week and i am happy to have him here.

have a great weekend.

see you sunday, tag you're it sister.

xo margie

Love an Inspirational Corner on a Thursday

I was over at Christina's blog today, Soul Aperture and was inspired by her to show you a little corner of my world.  This shelf on my desk sits at eye level, just to the right of my computer.

On the left is a candle margie bought me during our thanksgiving visit, you remember the one, that's the visit where we made a very bad choice of meeting place.

The triptych is St. Francis and belonged to Barry's late brother, Brian.  Brian was a hilarious, wonderful guy and a good friend to me.   I wish I could ask him where this came from, it is rustic and simple and so beautiful.

 

My marbles sit in a century old glass that likely came from our mother's mother and some of the marbles are likely margie's and our brother's.   

The paper weight was our father's and the tiny origami crane was picked up on our recent trip to Ottawa to visit our families.

Hmmmm.   Isn't it interesting how I thought I had gathered a little collection of things I love and grouped them together because of colour and shape and then not realized until this very moment that I've gathered mementos of family here. 

Sometimes I give myself what I need without even knowing I'm doing it.

Happy Love Thursday!

xo

Kath

project runway canada

project runway canada was filmed here in ottawa several months ago.  two of good friends were on last night's episode, the divorce episode.  designers were given the wedding dresses of local ottawa divorcees and asked to produce a design that would be pleasing and wearable to the women.  how exciting is that!  

my friends, manon and ellen, modelled their new and improved wedding dresses in front of supermodel iman and brian bailey, internationally famous canadian designer.

  

so ellen threw a party.  to celebrate the airing of the episode.

with great food made by jaimie and her crew.

yummy stuffed jalapeno peppers.

 

at ten o'clock we crowded around the television.

the cake was cut.

we laughed, too hard and too loud.

luckily everyone at the party had taped the episode at home.

too much cheering every time one of our girls was on screen.

fun fun fun.

xo margie

NOT a knitting blog.

I knit.  I like to knit.  Margie does not.  She has laughingly warned me that I am not to turn this into a knitting blog.

I make some really nice things.  I love to knit for babies.   Friends are expecting and I'm knitting a sweet little kimono sweater for their babe.

On Sunday we headed out to a local antique store that is closing and boasting prices at 70% off. I found a box of knitting patterns and wondered if I could find a cute retro sweater pattern that would be fun to knit.

Oh look, little elves. 

With yellow whoopie cushions, oh wait, maybe they are mushrooms.

There is no way I would knit this sweater, 

but I had to buy the pattern when I turned it over and saw the back.

I'm sure it's an innocent game of leap frog, but I couldn't help myself. 

 I  burst out laughing. 

Have yourself an inappropriate giggle today. 

xo

Kath

macro monday

i like macro monday.  

sometimes i can use a new photo that i have taken with this day in mind.

these little bears were stuck onto the top of the cash register at starbucks.

or these rubber boots i bought at loblaws

$12.00.  a pair for dave and a pair for danny.

or i can go back into the archives of photos and

 find something i haven't seen in a while.

like these little things.

happy monday.

xo margie

Sunday Shopping

Remember the other day when margie and I took the same pictures on the same highway?   Sometimes we will both decide to work on the blog at the very same moment and one of us will hit save and the other loses her post.   No big deal but it happened this morning.  I was just ready to hit publish and something happened.  Oops!   I tried to recover my post and up came a post by margie.    I tell you this, because I am going to recreate my post now and when you read hers tomorrow you will have to know that we did not consult on the topic.  It was just that "thang" us sisters have.

When I was in Ottawa  I did a bad thing, I was inspired to this bad thing by my sister.  

Barry and I have a duvet cover that is aged and the cotton feels like silk.  I noticed a tiny tear recently and was saddened because I knew the end was near.  Margie suggested that we buy a President's Choice duvet cover.  Those of you who live in Canada will know and love the President.   Our American friends have a great leader in President Obama but we Canadians, well we have President's Choice.    Most of our grocery and home items come from the President.   You can go to a dinner party and rave about a dish (and the dish it is served on) and your host will proudly say, "The President!".

So what was the bad thing?   I bought a grey slate duvet cover which slightly changes the look of our room.   Now I want to go Sunday Shopping and buy new lamps, rugs, a ceiling fan and a bookshelf.   One thing always leads to another; shopping is not in the books nor the budget but I can dream, right?

If you want to Sunday shop you should check out Leslye's Etsy Shop; Wayfaring Wanderer has one too and Julie over at Tangobaby has some beautiful books of her photographs available. 

The Target ad just landed in my inbox .... I think I'll just hit delete!

Happy Sunday

xo

Kath

after breakfast

i'll do my best to get back here after breakfast.

right now, coffee to drink, a newspaper to read, and then 

out to the airport to pick up youngest son.

enjoy your weekend kids.

margie xo

Home Fires

Hi everybody!  I see margie has kept the home fires burning.     

We were driving hither and yon, visiting family and friends.  The last few days have been spent in the country, no wifi, no high speed, no dial up, so we left the computer in the car.  I knew I could count on margie to hold up my end while I disappeared off the grid for a few days.

We were in Aylmer, Quebec when we came upon these ice fishing scenes. 

  I discovered this very rare two headed deer on the way home from Barry's sister's house.  

I looked at these cows and thought, "a blonde, brunette and redhead walk into a barn."  

It reminded me of those bad jokes.

I've missed all of you.  I am so happy that I have three more days before I am back to work.  I'm going to do laundry, a bit of cooking and a lot of blog reading.  

The taking it easy portion of my holiday begins.  

xo

Kath

in love

are you IN love?

do you have the good fortune to be spending your life 

with someone you are IN love with?

does someone have the key to your heart?

 then give that person a kiss and tell them it's love thursday.

what are you waiting for?

by the way, president obama is here in my town today.

and in his honour, rather than having a band, 

it is snowing to beat the band.

xo margie