Oh, What a Time It Was

The "detour posts" about my disconnected comments aside, I left off with a brief post as I was leaving for an "artsy" weekend south of Calgary with two good friends, visiting them at their new home (of about 18 months) on a small acreage in an area known as "Foothills" -- somewhere near Okotoks and Dewinton.

We had a lovely time!  Not much in the way of dyeing, painting or otherwise messing about, but a great deal of good conversation, long walks, good food, good books, and wonderful feasts for the eye: a yarn shop, a quilt shop, an art gallery, a museum and the Leighton Art Centre.

Tower Gallery,
Leighton Arts Centre

The latter is the place in which -- you may recall -- I hope to have a solo show -- and I was delighted to be able to meet the Curator, and have a wee chat.  I was also able to see the Tower Gallery, which is the space in which I'm hoping to show my work.

I'm rather relieved to realize it's not as large as it looks in this photo I found online!

The day after I returned from this mini-vacation, I was adopted by a stray cat.  The poor wee thing came to my door on the Tuesday evening around supper time -- likely drawn by the smell of the chicken I had on the barbeque.  It was very scrawny, a brown-black long hair with very matted fur, and what appeared to be an abscess on its left shoulder.

I got hold of a good friend who's very knowledgeable about animal care, and then got hold of my vet -- a stocky fellow of Ukrainian heritage and indeterminate age, who makes his living mainly with cattle and horses, but who has a soft spot for the smaller animals as well.  I arranged to bring "Mr. Cat" in the next morning.

Mr. Man Eating After Surgery

He weighed in at only five (!) pounds, even with all that fur, and the abscess turned out to be a tumour.  The vet anaesthetized him, shaved him as best he could to get rid of most of the matting, and removed the tumour, sending us home with antibiotics and instructions to come back in 2 weeks to remove the stitches -- but to keep him posted in between on progress.

The next week was a real challenge.  Miss Pookie wasn't at all happy about this interloper, whom I'd now named "Mr. Man" -- expanded to "Mr. Messy Man" as I watched him eat!  His tongue was not only swollen, it had an old wound -- a split -- that probably came from eating out of a can at some point.  He had trouble grooming himself, and confused his litter box and a 'nesting' box I'd set up for him.

It was a roller coaster experience, with the two cats sometimes tolerating each other, but more often than not, not doing so.  Cleaning up the widespread mess Mr. M. made when he ate -- and then watching that improve as he became re-hydrated and the swelling in his tongue went down.  He was a real lamb taking his liquid antibiotics, and letting me wipe his face after his meals (I had a face cloth just for him).

I slept poorly, sometimes with both on the bed with me, and sometimes worrying about Pookie, who spent more time than ever outdoors and seemed to be subsisting on air, as she was refusing her food.

And then...it was over.  Wednesday this past week, Mr. Man collapsed after a warm sponge bath (I was cleaning his nether parts as he'd managed to mess 'em up).  It appeared he'd had a stroke.  Back to the Dear Vet, who took him into a heated kennel, and said he'd try to feed glucose and see if Mr. M. would revive.

I had to be away that evening, so followed up with a phone call the next morning...but Mr. Man was gone.  He'd tried to stand in the kennel the evening before, but collapsed again, bleeding from his nose, and quietly succumbed to whatever abuses and illnesses he'd experienced.

A bouquet of comfort
from my good friend, G.

It never ceases to amaze me how loving a creature even for a very short time can be such a risk -- for relationships always involve risk of loss, with attendant grief and pain.

But there's no way around it; we must love anyway.

Blessedly, the comfort of good friends and the need to return to my work has restored my equanimity (for now!)

Inspired by Scotland -- A collaboration
with Mary Wilton 

The evening Mr. Man left us, I was at the Artists' Reception for the Camrose Art Walk, with my friend and colleague, Mary Wilton.  The event was held where our work is showing -- the Jeanne & Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre -- which added extra excitement to the evening for us.

The attendance was not as great as expected, but the smoke from the fires in B.C. and Northern Alberta were having an impact on people's leaving home, as visibility was affected on the roadways, and breathing was a challenge for patrons with heart, lung and allergy issues.

Still, we met some very interesting folks -- and each of us ended the evening with two pieces sold!

I worked in The Shop on Thursday, and was in Sylvan Lake much of Friday, due in part to a meeting with a young woman in the Tourism area of the Town, working to establish an Artists' Co-op Gallery there.  She shared the concept with me, and gave me time to show her some of my work.  A very exciting prospect about which I expect to hear more in the fall.  Stay tuned!

Then Saturday -- back to work!  I'd been asked to replace the two sold pieces at the Art Walk, ASAP, please -- and so promised to do so by this coming Friday.  I called my framer, Andrea, and found out that she has enough moulding in stock to do at least one piece.  She'll also be able to get more moulding this week...and would get them framed so I could pick them up on a circuitous trip that will end up in Camrose on Friday afternoon.

I've never worked this quickly -- but by Saturday night I'd chosen my inspirational photos and had one 12" square canvas painted, and the background prepped for a 10" square piece.

This one has inspired the 12" x 12"...and is still under construction.

This one..."View from Eilean Donan"...

Has become this...

View frome Eilean Donan -  (c) 2018
10" x 10"
Wool, commercial fabric, paint.
Needle-felting, machine quilting, painted,
mounted on stretched canvas

So there you have it..."[the] time it was" in my life these past couple of weeks.  Probably pretty much like "[the] time it was" in your lives too, Gentle Readers -- ups and downs and sideways moves, love and loss, excitement mixed with anticipation and not a little joy.

I wish you fewer 'downs' and 'sideways moves' this next week or two -- and much more peace and joy.

Linking this to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday..."see you" soon!

Some People Make It Look So Easy

Recipe: Tasty Timeline

Just before I began my "lay-low-for-Advent" time out with Facebook, I found this recipe for "Cracker Candy" posted there by one Lori Nolan.  In the video -- complete with fast-forward -- she makes this stuff look oh-sooo-easy to make.

I had the ingredients around the house, so I thought I'd give it a try.  If it worked out, I reasoned, I'd take a batch over the the Mirror & District Museum's Open House tomorrow afternoon, and maybe make a batch for the kids at Christmas, instead of my (traditional) 5-Minute Fudge.

Well...it really is pretty easy -- but you have to work really fast to spread the brown sugar and the chocolate layers, and I was really worried that the bottom -- the crackers -- moved around on my greased tin-foil, so that some of the brown sugar topping seeped under them.  In the end, my 'taste test' showed that that was really -- as Martha would say -- a Good Thing.  The stuff is delicious, and is now boxed up in the fridge for delivery tomorrow.  Batch #2 will come closer to Christmas.

Another person who makes "it" look so-o-o easy is my friend Mary Wilton, with her fabric painting.  You'll recall from an earlier post that a week ago I took her Friday evening/all day Saturday class...with mixed results.

Not being one to waste materials, on Wednesday I 'set to' figuring out what I'd do with them, as well as doing up some more mono-printed pieces for more wintry miniatures.

First, though, I relegated the "trees positioned on background 3" to the 'sample' files.  No matter how I played with it, I couldn't see how to make it work.  The brown trees are just too clunky -- and positioned in just such a way that I can't work around 'em.  At least, not right now.

That decision made, I turned to the other backgrounds, and the other painted trees, which had fusible web (Mary gave us Steam-a-Seam Lite) applied so were ready to cut out and fuse where desired.  In the end, I used only three more of the trees I'd painted -- all "birch" -- and I cut off the main part of one of the background pieces to make this new miniature composition:

Old Birch at Dawn (C) 2016
5" x 7" matted to 8" x 10"

Old Birch... - Detail

The bottom of the piece was replaced (as you can likely tell) by a piece of unpainted fabric for the 'snow', because the original just didn't 'work' for me. :-)

The remaining background I'd painted had that weird grey stuff going on along the bottom from a failed experiment, but I really liked the top of the piece so again, I separated the two.   That crazy grey stuff had something to it, though, once it was standing on its own.  It kinda looked like foggy evergreens.  So...I fussy cut it along its top edge and auditioned it in various ways against that background.  The result is another mini...

Foggy Morn (C) 2016
5" x 7" matted to 8" x 10"

Foggy Morn - Detail

Last but not least, I'd painted a piece of that white-on-white fabric, and outlined an evergreen with blue gel glue on the right side.  Wednesday I painted the tree; once it was dry and heat set I washed out the glue, so that today it was ready to stitch.

I confess I don't think this one is quite as 'strong' as the night-time version, but I offer it here for your consideration anyway.  :-)

First Snow on the Prairie (C) 2016
5" x 7" matted to 8" x 10"

First Snow - Detail

I hope to present these to Denise at the Bonavista Fine Art Gallery in Sylvan Lake on Wednesday, along with these ones that need hand stitching before they're ready...

You'll notice one is...ahem...smaller than the others.  That's because while I "measured twice and cut once", I...um...still cut it a bit too small.  Not to worry! I have a mat that will work...so stay tuned for a "finished" post within the week.

Meanwhile, as I have some hand-stitch to do, I'd best be off!  I'm linking up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday (on time for a change!) and settin' to work.   I'm thankful for her faithful platform, where I can meet up with so many wonderful creative people!  And I remain thankful that all of you, Gentle Readers, continue to read the ramblings of this Crazy Canuck.  :-)

Have a great weekend, eh?