More of Fern's Paintings...

You're on a roll here, Fern!


Boats and Castle



Tuscany Poppies



Bridge in Verona

La Vie en Rose

We enjoyed this movie about Edith Piaf very much although the constant changing of time periods became a bit annoying and was unnecessary I think. We were pleased that it wasn't overly sentimental...certainly a risk with her life story since it is tragic. I felt the actress who played her was fantastic. I had searched YouTube for Edith Piaf before and brought up lots of hits but now there are 20,300!

Monique and her new Elantra

Monique is very happy with her new car...great colour! We should have taken it yesterday to go swimming at Coles Bay. We decided to take our old convertible and it was over heating (just replaced the radiator a few weeks ago!) so didn't get swimming but did have a wonderful bouillabaisse at the Blue Peter in Sidney...highly recommended. We've had it several times and always great.

More new and old...

Thanks to Richard who not only got the new TV set up and advised us on what to buy but he also set up my new laptop which I'm loving. It was a lot of work for him this weekend but he did get to see Kristen and Karen who were up from San Francisco and also scored an old MacPlus from Stephen. These old machines have a lot of sentimental value for him as this is the computer he learned his first computer program (hypercard) on and of course the rest is history!

The MacPlus was my first computer that was mine alone so it is special for me too. I had previously shared an old Adam with Jim and Richard which saved data on a cassette tape (no kidding!) and we did email with a 300 baud modem....very slow but then everything was text based so not a big deal.

Trusty old MacPlus

Joe Norris

Mary bought this wonderful Joe Norris painting at the recent Winchester Gallery show. It's just fabulous and I'll look forward to admiring it whenever I visit.




Ships and Tug c.1976
30" x 50"
Enamel on canvas

The Sidney Pier Hotel

I felt this was going to be a monstrosity when it was being built and would effectively ruin Sidney's waterfront. I think it looks not bad and it certainly is providing a magnificent place for tourists. Quite an interesting article in the Globe and Mail today about it. I love the idea of the "black box" room service for guests staying in suites with kitchens. This consists of a prix fixe three-course meal ($50 a person). The chef arrives with an array of little pots for the "seafood black box": early harvest fava beans, spot prawns from Brentwood Bay, arugula picked yesterday from a farm near Deep Cove. The chef instructs you how to finish it or will do it for you and lay it out family style. What a great idea if you're travelling with young kids!

Sidney Pier Hotel

In with the new...

It's amazing how little room this all takes up. I love my Bose speaker with my iPod and what a sound from such a miniature speaker. It's great to get rid of all the clutter associated with old stereo system.

Out with the old....

We're taking advantage of having Richard and Ian around and upgrading to a new TV/Stereo systems. What a mess of wires!





Jim was especially pleased to get rid of the Rogue's Gallery.


I don't think I can part with these speakers. They were from our first stereo set we bought in 1968 at Commercial Electronics in Vancouver and we've never replaced them.

An experiment

I use my scanner for this sort of thing but I would like to free up some desk space so seeing if taking a photo with my camera works just as well.


Children's art



Signspotting

Children's Art

Champagne Tasting

I really lucked in yesterday when a friend of the Curlings couldn't go to a Champagne Tasting at Brasserie l'Ecole. Even though it was just supposed to be afternoon nibbles there were wonderful cheeses, meats, smoked tuna to die for, and even pieces of rack of lamb in dijon...wow!

We tasted 5 champagnes including a Bollinger Grand Annee 1997 at $140 but I felt the reception wine which was a sparkling wine from Alsace (Lucien Albrecht Cremant D'Alsace) at $22 stood up wonderfully. The Pol Roger Brut 1998 at $77 was excellent as well but I do find it a bit difficult to pay those prices.

I loved this bottle and asked to take one home. It has scenes of Paris and the champagne is also very good at $65 a bottle.



Duval Leroy Brut Paris Label Champagne

Fern's latest paintings

I really love the style of these paintings...way to go, Fern!



San Fermo in Verona




San Zeno in Verona

Happy Birthday to Jim

You are my sunshine!

Celebrating 60 years...

Jim and I both have birthdays within a week of each other so celebrations tend to go over a period of time. When we were having dinner with Derek and Mary last week they gave us a bottle of Stellar's Jay Champagne from Sumac Ridge which we enjoyed with Don and Elaine on my birthday. I just love the bookends that they gave me and they are now holding up our Time-Life Library of Art books we got for a song from a library sale down in Palm Springs last winter.



I just had to show off these bookends in the living room rather than hiding them away in my sunroom library.




Jim doing the honours.




Don and Elaine waiting patiently.

Smart cars in Paris

Carqueiranne 2007 052
Originally uploaded by jsexton

Paella in Paris

Carqueiranne 2007 070
Originally uploaded by jsexton

I think I must do a market painting incorporating paella.

Carqueiranne Port

Carqueiranne 2007 125
Originally uploaded by jsexton

I will never tire of these pointus boats...my next painting will be incorporating them.

Carqueiranne Port

Carqueiranne 2007 128
Originally uploaded by jsexton

The wooden structures on the right are where the fishermen sell their fish.

Carqueiranne Port

Carqueiranne 2007 129
Originally uploaded by jsexton

These are some photos I uploaded to Flickr but didn't get around to blogging...at least I don't think I did! This is one of the fishermen who go out in the traditional wooden boats selling his wares.

Carqueiranne

Carqueiranne 2007 130
Originally uploaded by jsexton

A few things I've been reading

I can't believe how little I've read in the last while or so.

"From Stone Orchard: A Collection of Memories" by Timothy Findley

Bronwen lent me this and I really enjoyed reading about their adventures on the farm they lived on in Ontario. I'll have to look and see if he's written about the house in Provence.

"The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver

Great stuff...really enjoyed this.

"Nobody's Mother: Life Without Kids"

An anthology of women reflecting on not having children. I mainly read the selections from people I know or know of and these were very interesting but wasn't really motivated to read beyond that.

"Digital Fortress" by Dan Brown

I've now read the last Dan Brown. I was saving it for a long plane ride and it did the trick. Otherwise very forgettable and mediocre.

Bomb plot: Heathrow Terminal 4 evacuated | Uk News | News | Telegraph

I enjoy linking to the Telegraph in the morning and thought the news this week would be how the July 1 smoking ban would be working out. Alas, if only such innocent things were in the Briish newspapers these days. At this moment Heathrow's Terminal 4 (where the international flights leave from) is currently evacuated while a suspicious package is investigated. Passengers are being searched on the way out and all baggage will have to be rechecked. Glad we're not flying home today and glad that Richard got home safely from San Francisco last night.


Bomb plot: Heathrow Terminal 4 evacuated | Uk News | News | Telegraph: "Terminal Four of London's Heathrow Airport has been evacuated while police investigate a suspicious package."