My week in a nutshell...

My oldest child, formerly known as the Teen with Lots of Stuff, now "College Student with Good Grades!" and I went to visit family in Ottawa for a few days before said college student starts a summer accounting internship near home.

Of course, we went to see family but the fact that there was an exhibit of paintings of my favorite Canadian artist 

at the National Gallery of Canada clinched the deal. 

I love the architecture of the gallery building...

the views....

the light....

the art...

I did not take any photos in the special exhibit which was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!

but I snapped one of my favorite Georgia O'Keeffe's

Lake George with Crows

 (that is our local Lake George)

and a Gustave Klimt 

for my fiber art group friends back home...

Besides art and family, I did enjoy some delicious vegan food too!!!

As for my own art,

I have been trying to draw every day...

I am afraid to mess up my studio...

well not really, but I do like to photograph it
and the windows of the building...

I dabbled with a marbling kit I bought on my recent trip to NYC...

I took a free expression drawing class with some fiber art friends...

 I played with some iPhone apps...

and did some reading...

All very exciting says Olive!

And you can see Olive immortalized in fabric 

at the Quilt Alliance "Animals We Love" contest 

Better yet! You can vote if you are a member!!!

It is not a very expensive membership,

Quilt Alliance is a wonderful organization

and you can meet me and Olive in NYC in September!!!!

Freezing to death...

or almost!

In my previous post, I was coming back from the (almost) dead and now.... 

I am freezing to death!!!

What were my ancestors thinking when they settled in North America?!!! 

(These are my paternal great-grandparents in Toronto) 

You would think that growing up in Canada (Ottawa, to be exact) 

would make it easy to tolerate winter...

This is Mom, sister and I in front of our house...

(just kidding... we are in a glacier in France!)

There used to be a time when I actually enjoyed winter!

This IS really the house I grew up in...

We spent time ice skating on the Rideau Canal, making snow houses in our front yard

and tobogganing (as we called it!) down big hills!

 (I am in the red jacket... my awkward early teens!)

 But then, I grew up!

Sure it is pretty...

But it is no longer fun...

it is just COLD! 

 (yes that says -9 degrees Fahrenheit!)

and winter in upstate NY (where I hang my coat these days)

is very, very, very, very long!!!!

So I am trying to pass the time sewing...

knitting...

and watching the grim reaper wrapped in a flannel quilt eating Italian ice!

Stay warm!!!

How to stay sane in the long, cold, and snowy winters of upstate NY

For some reason, 

when my ancestors arrived in Canada and the USA

in the early 1900s

 (my maternal grandfather on the far right,

 from a town in Russia, now in Belarus)

they chose to live in climates similar to the ones they grew up in...

(my paternal grandmother on the far right, born in NYC, 

her parents from a city which is now in Belarus)

And for some reason, 

Mr. U and I chose to perpetuate that absurd decision!!!

Yes, it is still winter in upstate NY ...

much to my chagrin....

It is getting very old!

It has been long, cold, and snowy!

Mr. U tells me that he thinks that our last cold snap is about to be over for the season.

I hope he is right.

Not being much of cold weather gal,

I have been hunkering down inside

(anything to maintain my sanity!)

Luckily, there are a lot of birds in upstate NY

who enjoy being here in the cold

(what is up with that?!)

and so I watch them on Nature Boy's homemade bird feeder

right by our kitchen table

and I take lots of photos. 

There is even a lunchroom bully!

and lately,

some non-birds!!

When I am not sitting at the kitchen table...

I am at the gym before the sun rises

(so my muscles don't atrophy from being inside so much)

....spending endless hours on the telephone

with our newest health insurance plan

trying to secure much-needed diabetic supplies for Sugarbaby...

(my recommendation: write a letter about your dissatisfaction to the CEO,

that seems to get things going... with a direct line to their executive office

that I can now use anytime I have problems! but I suspect those have now been ironed out!)

knitting!!!

socks for me!

socks for Mr. U!

and a wrap for me!

trying to stay caught up with Life Book 2014...

but for kicks, 

and always in search of the ultimate journal/diary project...

(and in an effort to make yet another huge mess in my studio)

I added another project!!!

The Documented Life...

which I need to catch up on!

I have also been sewing

but that project is ...

sorry!

So like those hibernating bears...

I will emerge when Spring comes!