Children's Art

Battleship grey day...

Fern and I went for a walk out at Fort Rodd Hill...hadn't been there for years.

Pirate's House at West Bay Marina

I think everyone would get a chuckle when they look at this whimsical "pirate house" across from West Bay Marina. I couldn't see any info on it but I felt it was very well done whoever was responsible.

Itty Bitty Book Reviews

"Three Day Road" by Joseph Boyden

A pretty amazing novel and certainly Boyden is someone to watch. Loosely based on the real-life WW I Ojibwa hero Francis Pegahamagabow who was a famous sniper in WW I. Wasn't quite ready for another WW 1 horror novel but I picked it up on a 7 day fast read and was totally engaged by it. Our bookclub heard Boyden read a passage from the novel earlier in the year and that whetted my appetite.

"Girl with the Botticelli Face" by Bill Valgardson

A very disappointing novel after having been quite impressed by some of his short stories. He came to our bookclub meeting and we all enjoyed chatting with him but I did find it interesting that he did 40 drafts of his excellent short story "Bloodflowers" but wrote this novel in 33 days without doing any revisions...I think that tells the tale.

Annette's first painting

I got my friend, Annette, painting yesterday and Jim and I were both very impressed with her first attempt!




“Camus Flowers”
by Annette Louise
8 x 10 acrylic on paper
May/06

First Painting

My latest painting

I've been wanting to do these wonderful old wooden boats you see in the south of France in our favourite Mediterranean villages. They are called "les pointus".



"Les pointus"
11 x 14 acrylic on canvas
May/06

Esquimalt Library

I passed by the Esquimalt Library the other day and noticed the mural on the side so just had to stop to take some pictures. I was very impressed!

Latest painting

Having fun doing these mats of designs I've done while I frustrate myself trying to do some subjects that seem to keep eluding me...


"Arbutus with Olympic View"
24 x 29 acrylic on linoleum mat
May/06

More Children's Art

Children's Art

Wonderful blue camus everywhere

This photo was taken near the summit at Mt Doug but camus is blooming everywhere in Victoria at the moment.

Smile for the day...

I got a kick out of this floral display at the corner of Blanshard and Finlayson.

Itty Bitty Book Review: Story House

"Story House" by Timothy Taylor

Wow...this is quite the read. Very impressive and about a gazillion things to think about. I'm sure the world of academia could spend forever with it. Alway rather neat to have a Vancouver background (Taylor is a Vancouver writer...previous first novel was
"Stanley Park" which I didn't finish although I felt it was quite good but too many other books awaited). This one has lots to say about fame, authenticity, counterfeit, etc.

Robin drinking from the pool

And here is Robin who loved drinking from our pool and also was on the hunt for our doves. When the Wisteria was in full bloom I noticed Robin climbing stealthily along the arbour but couldn't see what he was after. Then all of a sudden our doves flew out....good thing I was there but Robin was unimpressed!

Our Turtle Doves in Carqueiranne

I just got around to printing up and posting to Flickr a number of photos I took in France Feb-May last year. The great thing about a digitial camera is that you can take sooo many photos but doing something with them is the next challenge!

These are our doves that took up residence in the arbour of wisteria at our villa.

Children's Art

Latest Painting

I'm having fun with these mats (and avoiding trying to paint my California poppies beside the house...somehow I think that might elude me.)



"Tuscan Hills with Sunflowers"
23 x 30 acrylic on linoleum mat
May/06

My faithful "volunteers"

I love this time of the year when California poppies appear beside my house:




This is a photo I took at Butchart's...quite lovely but I love my "volunteers" best!

Could almost be the south of France...

A couple of photos taken in Sidney last weekend:


The tulips remind me of Carquieranne.



I think I must paint more lavender fields.

Itty Bitty Book Review: Two Short Story Collections

"My Father Took a Cake to France" by Cynthia Flood

A contemporary Canadian writer who I hadn't read before. Some stories seemed just a little forced, too unusual, some meant to shock perhaps but didn't quite ring true. All were interesting to read.

"The Blush and other Stories" by Elizabeth Taylor

A British writer (1912-1975). I believe I've read her novel "The Wedding Group" and must read more. She is really very good and more along the lines of an Alice Munro that can mine the ordinary in extraordinary ways. I see she's written "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont"...heard of that lately...an upcoming movie perhaps?

Billie's Calendar: May

Latest Artwork

"Mimosas along the road to St. Tropez"
22 x 30 acrylic on linoleum mat
April/06

Telegraph newspaper online

I always enjoy looking at the "Pictures" of the day or week on the Telegraph as they mount photos from around the world. For example today there is a photo of a sumo wrestler holding a baby during a baby-crying contest in Tokyo...think I would be crying if this fellow grabbed hold of me!

Telegraph newspaper online

More furry logic...

I forget what the caption for this was. I lent my book out so make up your own!

(It might be "When you make a mistake...keep your mouth shut")

Inhabitat

I continue to be very attracted to innovative compact living spaces. This site has lots of interesting links. This link was a "Prefab Friday" entry and features a Toronto architecture firm making prefab cabins for lakefronts.

Inhabitat

Itty Bitty Book Review: The Ice Age & The Wars

"The Ice Age" by Margaret Drabble

This was written in 1977 and is one of her best I think. I had read it before and it seems still very appropriate for current times only we haven't hit the crash just yet of once again inflated property prices, over consumption, etc. The more things change the more they seem the same...

"The Wars" by Timothy Findley

This was also written in 1977 (a good year for many things...Richard was born in '77!) and I read it when it came out. Both are bookclub choices hence the re-reading. This novel left a strong impression on me at the time and it hasn't lost any of its power. Wow...what amazing writing and a wonderful depiction of the horror of WW I.

More furry logic...

You'll always be my best friend...you know too much.

Crofton and the ferry to Saltspring

We really look forward to seeing Crofton when we take the ferry to Saltspring. We enjoy the drive up as well as we are always going to Sidney it seems so makes for a change.



Ferry to Saltspring



The dock at Crofton



Crofton's new seawalk

San Jacinto Mountains: Third attempt

I wasn't going to try this again but just had to have one last try before I move on to other things for a while. The idea was to do wild desert flowers in front but that just didn't work out. Ah well...the golf course is authentic. I did have a row of palm trees but cut those out as it seemed overly busy.



“San Jacinto Mountouns & Golf Course”
acrylic on canvas
12 x 24
April/06

Itty Bitty Book Review: Burros and Paintbrushes

I found this very charming book by Everett Gee Jackson in a very neat bookstore in Santa Barbara. He spent around 3 years (1923-1926) in his youth painting in Mexico in places like Chapala, Guanajuato, Ajijic and Mexico City. These places are certainly very changed now and it was interesting to read about his adventures at this time. I was also very attracted by his artwork.


Street in Ajijic



Women with Cactus



The Charcoal Burners

More furry logic...

I'm not tense...just terribly alert.

Dame Muriel Spark: Author

I see Mureil Spark passed away at the age of 88 in Tuscany where she had been living for about 30 years. I enjoyed pretty much everything she wrote, particularly "The Girls of Slender Means", "Mememto Mori", "The Mandelbaum Gate", and of course, "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie"...who will ever forget Maggie Smith playing the school mistress!

I see in the obit that she produced respected biographical and critical work about the Bronte family. Also that "The Girls..." drew on her experience as a young woman struggling to make ends meet while writing in London. Apparently she was almost starving until novelist Graham Greene gave her a monthy allowance and some wine on condition she did not thank him or pray for him.

BTW, Jim's edition of Graham Greene's "No Man's Land" has been published and is available in bookstores and the library has two copies. This is a story which was written to be made into a film but never was. It has been published but buried in an obscure anthology of Greene filmscripts. The edition also includes another very interesting story called "The Stranger's Hand". Worth a look for Graham Greene fans and David Lodge fans as he did the forward to the edition.

Good Friday on Saltspring

We had a super day on Saltspring being treated to one of Carole's famous lunches and a special bonus seeing John's photography show "Landscape Amnesia" at the Galleons Lap Gallery. Some of the images are displayed on the gallery's website.
: : Galleons Lap : :

The photos are beautifully done and it was very impressive to see them all together displayed in the Gallery. Congratulations, John!

Not everyone will be attracted to these photographs as they make a very strong statement about development on Saltspring Island (although John does still insist he is just documenting what is happening...) and consist mainly of the Channel Ridge development around Vesuvius.

Now what is interesting about this development is that it boasted about having loads of environmentally friendly features and the first thing they do is cut down all the trees!



John having a little joke while I try to take a photo.



Out of hiding finally...


John has also photographed a lot of the traditional beauty of Saltspring and the original idea of the show was to have these photographs side by side but in the end there wasn't room. So I took this shot of the clear cut photos juxtaposed with the idyllic beauty of Saltspring out the gallery window.




A few more shots of Galleons Lap...I loved the primary colours.

Over 100 varieties of daffodils

I always admire the wonderful display of flowers especially in daffodil season on this property by Campus View Elementary School. When I stopped by this time to buy a couple of bunches one of the owners was there and told me they had over 100 varieties of daffodils.

San Jacinto Mountains: Second attempt

Still working away at this...will take a while I think!



"San Jacinto Mountains with Palms and Skirt Palms"
16 x 20 acrylic on canvas
April/06

Butchart's

I decided to get a pass for Butchart's Gardens this year so Annette and I went out yesterday. Seems crazy to have this wonderful resource at our doorstep and not take full advantage of it. Always seem to be focusing on trees these days.

Abby...the neighbourhood cat

I was at my computer and saw Abby next to our stone "sleeping cat" looking out for birds. I guess our sundeck is a good perch for the trees nearby.




Abby is a very brazen cat and certainly wasn't bothered by seeing me. She took her time making sure she didn't want to pounce on a bird after all then stared me down!