Family, Owls and Kilns

Our time spent with the Husband's Dad during on our trip had some pretty amazing highlights. The Peanut had a blast plying with her cousins, is still talking about it and asking for sleep overs. This time around we were able to get a little extra playtime in with them which included (those are gasps and squeals of joy you are hearing) not one but two orange kittens.

There was also a family BBQ with family that (in the nearly 20 years I've been with the husband) I hadn't met as well as family that we hadn't seen much of since the last family wedding. We had a great time and a fantastic visit.

On a play date visit with the husband's cousin's family we were introduced to the family of owls who had taken up residence in our cousin's yard. The young ones have been named Hoot and Holler and they put on a pretty good show for me when I brought out my camera.

One of the best parts of our stay with the Father in Law is that he lives just down the road from the Reids who were in the Fine Arts program with me at Red Deer College. If you've followed my 5 question series you may remember that I featured Auvery two years ago. It's still one of my favourite features not least because I love the eclectic quality of her work. Where Auvery's work is as fun and full of ideas as she is Joe's work has a quiet strength to it that also mirror's his personality. My current favourite series of his, are the ceramic thermos that is used as the profile picture on their studio's facebook page.

Joe and Auvery are currently in the process of building a wood fired kiln just outside of their converted barn studio. We slipped down the road for a little visit and a studio tour. I'll be honest and say that I have some pretty extreme studio envy; their space is amazing as is their work. They also have a website and blog that you should totally visit.

Since our set of dinnerware has been slowly breaking piece by piece over the last few years I'm planning on starting a new collection. I'm hoping to buy a setting or a piece of a setting here and there and since I'm not to bothered about getting matchy matchy I'll be buying from Joe and Auvery.

and in completely unrelated news: yesterday was the deadline for entering the Melissa and Doug draw. Since we obviously didn't hit the 200 facebook fan mark (I'm in the process of emailing my contact with them) I'd like to still do a draw from all the entries I did get; including the extra entries I promised those who entered before the original draw date and send one of my sun catcher's to the winner. I'll post a little about that in the next few days.

A Thousand Words

some crows over the rainbow...well at least one

A Thousand Words

this neighborhood is going to the birds

A Thousand Words Thursday

just another foggy morning in Bird-ville

Halloween is getting closer

and you can tell because:





not only that but we're going on the Ghost Train tomorrow night. It's a family tradition for us, we started when the peanut was an itty bitty bit and we unaware that she was hanging out inside my belly and we've gone every year since. Since the Peanut is nuts about trains and has been for most of her life it's a treat on many many levels, not only does she get to stay up extra late but she gets a ride on the train, and a chance to see the petting zoo animals and there's a possibility of peacocks and raccoons. (We of course have raccoons in our neighborhood but they don't share space with peacocks) and I'm not even going to get into the face painting and extra chance to dress up. It's going to be a good night.

I can fly

I dream of flying, not often, but I do dream of flying. coasting on air currents, swooping, diving, gliding. watching the land drop away as I rise, speeding over the edge of a cliff and out over the water. I fly joyfully and with ease and concentration. I think one of the best things would be to lift off and fly. Dreams when I can lift off are my favourites and I'm glad I am able to remember them.

I love watching birds fly. One day a few years ago I sat at the window of the Lonsdale Quay and watched a hundred gulls surfing the wind. They hovered in place, sometimes twisting and diving is response to air currents and shifts. It was a pleasant half hour.

Today, while Miranda napped and the husband went out for some quality Mother and Son time I caught another aerial ballet from the dining room window. Crows lifting and diving twisting and climbing in the sky. I caught myself wondering if they felt an exhilarating sense of freedom and joy in the dance or if they were riding the air in a bid for an adrenaline rush, to see just how far they could follow the currents before needing to twist out and regain control.