May 24, 2014
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Tuffy P goes shopping

Today was the spring Christie spring antique show out in Flamboro. Unfortunately, both of us couldn’t go as Georgie had a vet appointment mid-morning we didn’t want to miss. Fortunately cousin Paul was going with us so Tuffy P had some company.

DSC05725Tuffy P came back with some excellent stuff. Regular readers will know by now that we delight in repurposing all kinds of old stuff around the house and garden. She found a couple excellent wrestling action figures for the kitchen, a bird house, some shutters, and a simple cowboy whirligig for the canoe garden.

IMG_1307Meanwhile, I looked after the vet appointment, ran some errands, then headed to yumart for the opening of the new show featuring Lee Lamothe and Tim Noonan.

Lee and Tim have vastly different approaches to art-making, but both share a very personal sensibility. I’ve only known Lee a short while, but I’ve known Tim for many years, going back to our days at York University. Later, Tim often joined Tuffy P and I, our friend Ardis and also the late Ron Bloore on painting/drawing trips. We called it Sunday painting, because we would typically go out on Sunday mornings. We’d drive around the countryside looking for places to draw and paint, hike a little, and enjoy a wee picnic along the way.

Lee is exhibiting small black and white “RetroDigitalCollages” and Tim is showing new expressive paintings including acrylic paintings, oils and watercolours.

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May 24, 2014
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Allergies

Georgie, our Newfoundland puppy (he’s 9.5 months old), has been enduring some itchy rashes on his underside this spring. His vet says it’s allergies. He makes it worse by scratching at the itchy areas.

We came home with a bag full of stuff to combat the problem. The goal is to treat it successfully without depending on antibiotics at this point. So we’ll be using various wipes and ointments and even a food supplement to up the essential fatty acids, and as well we’ll try an antihistamine.

May 19, 2014
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The Ellie Mae Memorial Crown

IMG_1282The crown appears to be fiberglass. It must have once been part of a parade float or something like that. It is suspended on a metal milk can, and marks the spot where our Newfoundland dog Ellie Mae’s ashes are buried.

May 19, 2014
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The New and Improved 27th Street Book Box

DSC05716I’ve been working on a new, bigger, more solid book box for the front of our house. The book box is a community library. Anyone is free to take any books or to leave books. There is also a bulletin board inside and a notepad if anyone feels like leaving a note. There are quite a few regulars who come by and take or leave books every so often. There are of course other folks who walk by the house without noticing it’s there.

The new and improved model has room for lots more books and bigger books as well. It also has a snazzy paint job using stencils of letters and metallic spray paints.

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If you’re in the neighbourhood, come by and check it out.

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May 18, 2014
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Tomato Train

I’ve tried growing tomatoes here at 27th Street but conditions are marginal because of shade from all the mature trees on and around the property. At our last home, on Blackthorn Ave, we had a small garden but it got a lot of sun and we were very successful tomato growers.

This year, I decided not to plant the usual bunch of tomoato plants, but we do have one “cheater” cherry tomato. I call it a cheater because we bought it already in bloom and even with our mediocre sun, we’ll get enough cherry tomatoes for several salads.

DSC05685I decided to make a tomato train, so I arranged the wagon behind the locomotive, set them up in front of Mrs. Goose and set the cherry tomato plant on the wagon.