Painted floors



My studio.  Of all my floors I will miss this one the most.  It was here we celebrated my girlies with wedding showers
and here where my own artist daughter started her painting career.  And here where I find comfort and let the music play.

 I'm not exactly sure how the conversation went ever so long ago when our living quarters housed three teenagers, two parents, and three medium/large sized dogs.  I believe it was initiated one day when we inadvertently introduced the dogs to a new food without a slow change.  The results were catastrophic as their digestive tracts needed time to adjust (if you know what I mean) and the ancient carpet in the family room HAD to come out.  But what to do?  We did not have a plan to replace the carpet and there was old flooring everywhere which would mean only a matter of time, change in food or not.  Our complete house was a high-traffic area and we were hard pressed to decide what to do with the floors on a tight family-raising budget sooooo.... the conversation was birthed and initiated a new task for me to run out and grab a few cans of inexpensive mis-tints from Home Depot and maybe one or two 'chosen' colours to tie things together.  And so it began.  Who knew?  that slowly and surely floor after floor would expire for various reasons and up it would come exposing the sub floor just begging to be painted.  Our own version of wood floors under our bare feet.  We loved the feel and they became just part of the landscape.  Each year more and more traffic worn. 

My kitchen floor.  The demo begins.
'One day you are in and the next you are out.'
They literally took a saw or sander to all my floors

Fast forward, O I'd say, 15 years or so?  Maybe 10, and this week marks the demise of all these floors with professionals coming to do major surgery and then put a 'real' floor in.  Laminate is not what it used to be people!  And with the passing of the third dog last December, we are ready to add to our family which is now sans teenagers.  We chose a laminate especially with a critter in mind.  And just maybe there will be two of the four footed kind.  Either way, I am not sad to see the painted floors go, even though this is how all my friends know us.  I just could not keep them clean any longer.  I will miss them and I'm ever so grateful for an open-minded SwHt who let me do things my way. 

And just for posterities’ sake let's look at the rest

Navigational star, the center of the studio floor.  I had figured out exactly where North was. 
See not to far off from being perpendicular.  I had sort of hoped it would be more dramatic
but decided to stay with authenticity.

My kitchen table stood over this modern faux carpet.  This section
is painted over linoleum which is ever so much more hardy than
the plywood sub floors.  This one stood up to a beating.
I copied this from a particular painting and now when I want
to give credit I cannot remember their name.  It may come to
me later.

In my study, where I do most of my work for a living I painted
large tiles and topped it with a more traditional looking carpet
style.  I also included the Twenty-third Psalm around it's border.
I've literally sat on the promise of those words for years and
prayed many prayers along with David.  "He prepares a table
before me..."

Front hallway looking into my studio

It marks the end of an era for me.  But we have things we are looking forward to in the future and a little grandbaby that we want to crawl over the floors so it's time to upgrade.  What a sweet reason to do so! 

MCC Quilt Auction

Last week my sister, on her way home from an epic trip with her friends to France and Amsterdam, stopped in my part of the world to spend a few days with me.  I've been travelling vicariously through her pix.  When she comes we always head East to Abbotsford to see my now 91 year-old father.  We just happened to learn that the MCC quilts that will be up for auction at the annual MCC Festival for World Relief sale Sept 7&8, were on display at the Clearbrook Public Library (on display last week only). My sis took these fabulous pix.  Mennonites are known for their quilting and I have at least three of my own mother's wonderful hand quilted blankets. Seeing these up close and personal was a real treat. The hand stitches are phenominally consistent!  I so admire the work of these women (some of whom have been my friends since childhood) AND I am proud of the cause that their raised funds will go toward as part of MCC's relief development and peace work around the world.  So many opportunities to do good.  I LOVE it!

Ayden Gallery Vancouver



Had a fantastic weekend!  A dear longtime friend and I went on a day adventure to celebrate my birth.  She let me choose the destination and since I had to do some price comparing at Dressew, it seemed more fun to have a companion.  Both she and I had not been down to this end of Vancouver in a while and we dropped into a few old familiar haunts... and a few new ones.  Had lunch at the Greedy Pig.  Stopped by the Salmagundi Shop with the apothecary drawers that I remember going through as a teenager and my kids have done the same.  Could not resist stepping into Button Button and we hiked down Water St. 

Fluevog store Gastown

 Passed the gas clock in Gastown and took a peek into the amazing new Fluevog store.  Gee... those windows are a dream for a sunny day.  Can you see the sunlight on the floor indicating that almost the whole ceiling is glass??!!!  I can only imagine how mystical this space is when the rain falls.  Absolute class!  I have a pair of Fluevog Angel wing tipped boots that I bought for my birthday gift in 2000.  They are scuffed and have a few drops of paint and I consider them dear friends.  Sooo comfy. 

In the evening my SwHt and I headed out for 'The Beautiful Decay of Life' opening at Ayden Gallery in the International Village.  My daughter's work is being shown there.  So delighted when we arrived to see her three paintings front and centre when you walk into the gallery.  Quite impressive!  And they look amazing! 

 

The Beautiful Decay of Life at the Ayden Gallery Aug 10 - Sept 2, 2012

Oil on canvas, Rebekah Joy Plett



How blessed am I????!!!!  





Calgary

So I'm just back from my second trip to Calgary to join daughter-the-younger on a visit to see daughter-the-older.  Calgary Trivia: the sidewalks are only one person/stroller wide so when the three/four of us went for a walk (which was every day except for the day that we had the car), we had to walk single file or do this.  Usually little Miss E and I went ahead and the sisters would chatter behind us.  For some reason this prompted little Miss E to have to do her own chatter and she would kick her feet up and yack away to herself. 

And that one day we had the car? we were off to Costco to buy a very deserving homemaker a Dyson vacuum cleaner.  I confess that we just might have walked around the corner in the store and mocked out loud at the sight of halloween costumes being on the rack in July until we saw the little dragon and 'just had to have it' for **you know who** because she specializes in dragon speak which is one of the many reasons we love her!!! 

I am absolutely loving having this new little person around!

Commissioning

A commissioned piece that went out this week.  For a sweet one year-old.

Running the Race...

“Always concentrate on how far you’ve come,
rather than how far you have left to go.”~Unknown

Thankful



And it was good!



Who, in sitting down in front of these colourful and flavour-saturated berries, could help themselves and not say, "Who may I thank for these?"

Dear Creator... Thank YOU!

and... to the one who had THIS other brilliant idea, I need me a couple of these.   

Image from here