Troll Hat

What is it about making hats? It satisfies my soul 💚

This one is for wee baby Parker! We can’t wait to meet you September this year 😍

Surfacing…

Have I been sleeping, distracted or immersed in an alternate dimension?

How does one simply forget that she has a blog?

Printmaking entered my life like a storm and I’ve been wandering for 3 years in it, not lost but submerged in its depths. I started my own business as well, finally. It’s in the infancy stages, but I’m turning that dial up in the new year and it will take me on new adventures. Africa has made my hit list of destinations, wow! I never saw that one coming. Never once in my 40 years on this planet did I think of going there!  I guess that’s what happens when one completely aligns with her true purpose of walking this earth. Am I in the flow? I believe I am. I’m not sure where the current is taking me, but I’m riding it. Fingers crossed, engines fired up and eye on the target! What is it exactly? Just being me, myself and I in all my glorious hot mess and hell fire!! My own sovereignty with no master but ME!! As a wise woman once said, “Repeat after me, umm, ah, hold on… I don’t have to repeat after anyone”, I do as I like and as I please, and that satisfies me! Look out life, I’m coming for you like the world’s on fire 🔥 I live in gratitude! Life is a blessing, so go live it….as you please 💖

Home

I’m a Newfoundlander born and bred and I’ll be one till I die. I’m proud to be an islander and here’s the reason why, I’m free as the wind and the waves that wash the sand, there’s no place that I’d rather be than here in Newfoundland… (The Islander, by Bruce Moss)

Yes, I’m a little homesick today. We are slowly taking out the Christmas decorations for our annual party and I came across this lighthouse I bought last year to remind me where I come from.  

I do my best to just let go and embrace the place I live in as my home, but there are some days I just need to hang on to my home of childhood. Today’s that day ☺️

Reflecting and Projecting

Art is my mediation and today I’m looking at the very first watercolor I created. It came to me naturally without the boundaries of formal instruction. That’s not to say that formal learning of techniques isn’t good, it’s essential for progress, but there’s something to be said for creative moments that spring unannounced from your being. 

 Paris ’98 
I did carry on with being unschooled in this artistic medium, and sketched many scenes that caught my eye and spoke to my heart. I also remember vividly this year of being jobless in a foreign city. I was lost and art saved me or found me rather. I stared in the mirror each morning and whispered to myself “so really, who the hell are you without your higher education and your books?” Despondent, once I stopped burying myself in science assignments, projects, and exams, I came up empty. Chris (husband/best friend) was happy and working, and never lost himself. Le sigh.

  
That first year in Paris I turned myself upside down, inside out, insane, and exhausted searching for meaningful work. I wanted the job that would make me sing each morning. Nevermind that I had no work visa. I reasoned that if I got the job, I’d get the visa somehow. A year went by….no job, but my sketching and painting were taking root nicely. 

 Corsica ’98  
 Etais La Sauvin (Steve’s House) ’99  
L’Hirondelle, France ’99

 These sketchers are part of my travel diary. There’s many, but I loved these places the most. They are only second to my precious island; Newfoundland.

Here is the most precious place in the world to me! It was my place when there was nowhere else I could go. It grounded me so that I could dream freely here.

Middle Cove, NL ’02

 My partner Chris asked me to marry him here one cold July evening, five years before I painted this landscape, as we lay on the cliff -pictured in the middle distance here. Star gazing in the grass and wrapped together in love my best friend and lover thought he would like to stay forever with me. I agreed wholeheartedly. It was magical. 
The journey to find myself and silence my ego had begun without much time to blink. Did I enjoy this task that was shoved in my face? No. Was it critical for my true self to emerge? Yes. Was it painful? Most definitely; lots of pain. Have I found myself? Partly. Am I finished with this intimate seduction that my dark side, my ego keeps thrusting on me? No, but I’m so close! So very close.

  

Love, so simple. 

XArby

On a lighter…

and whiter note….

Betty Cole is busy! She crocheted this beautiful table cloth for her sister Nancy and brother-in-law John.

With a 1.5mm and 10 cotton yarn she constructed the table cloth using a flower square pattern and then kept adding them. I’m so impressed with Betty’s efforts and patience, and the exquisite results. I definitely do not have this level of patience, but aspire to it one day.

I love simple and clean white.
Thanks for sharing your work with us Betty! I just love it!!

The True North strong and “SOMETIMES” free, as long as you….

don’t question the Government or else, don’t toboggan on public hills, walk inside the fence at St. John’s harbour (which people have been doing for over 500 years), have an abortion (the legality of which all depends on which province or country you live in), and of course as long as you DO wear Bike helmets, seat belts, etc….or ummmm, vaccinate your families against their will, submit to all medical procedures the Government deems “legal” and just for you at the moment, ummm, like maybe future micro-chipping our kids (trust them….it’ll be for your kids protection and your peace of mind), and well, as long as you allow all your freedoms to be slowly and “legally” be taken away, little by little, year by year, day by day. After all, we, as humans, didn’t evolve or survive millions of years to let it all go now, right?

So let me check, I’m pretty sure I grew up in a country that allowed me the right or the expectation of the right that I, and I alone get to decide if I want any medical procedure, Hep B, meningitis, tetanus, Ebola, chicken pox etc….or any virus, bacteria, pathogen, chemical, heavy metal injected into my blood or my body, or that of my children’s body….I did give birth to them and they are my treasures that I will die to protect!

What’s my message: Dear Canada and the world, “be careful what you demand or wish for….,” and dear media people, you have a serious responsibility in this world, so please stop spreading fear and terror to the people who can’t make informed decisions or think for themselves. Their Government and the citizens of their country are already more than happy to dumb them down and keep them under control like good little sheep without your help.

Peace, love, and hope for a kinder and more compassionate and tolerant world than the one we have currently!

PS, last I checked I still had “freedom of speech” right? Or are there laws in place to tell me (or silence me) about what I can “legally” say to the world? Anyone?

A new outlook in 2015

I decided today, it being a new year and everything, to finally work on my one goal: To find myself! I guess I’m not actually lost physically, but as you might have guessed from my previous posts, I’m all about the inner journey, and so my uprooted existence and reliance on others, two things that un-nerve me THE most, have forced me to look at myself and ask the hard questions (that I never thought I’d ask). What I’ve discovered is that I don’t know what I want. I’m torn in too many directions and so I’m left deciding what is or isn’t really me. I’m sure you all have felt this way at least once, maybe? Well, it’s something that has consumed me from the very first time I heard my dearest life partner “hum a tune” as he prepared to go to work each day. The happiness he felt about what he chose as a life long career threw me off kilter. Why was he so happy about work? What did he find so delightful? How could he be excited to go to work?? Of course, I realized quickly that his work was like play! He loved his trade and was thrilled at the prospect that he not only got paid to do it, but that he was allowed to do it! He was qualified to do the work he dreamed of doing and make a living to boot! How totally thrilling!!! I knew then that’s what I wanted too. I’ll return to this storyline as I continue to blog along, but long story short, I have been slowly and steadily making my way to reaching the goal of finding my “play” job, or if truth be told, my dream life since that initial spark of inspiration from Chris 17 yeas ago. I may not “hum a tune” everyday, but finally I’m getting there!!! And this year I will just be “me” and hopefully get there a whole lot faster. No more excuses and distractions, just fearlessness and being me whist humming Nelly Furtado’s ‘Forca’ daily !!

Cast your nets out wide in 2015 my friends and haul’em in with all yer might!!

Much love!

Jumper: cables

I love how the Australians call sweaters jumpers. It’s not at all logical, but when you think about it, sweater doesn’t seem to have much logic either. I don’t need a lot of jumpers here, but I sure love making them!

I made this one for one of my favorite people in the whole world. It’s full of cables and was super easy. I love the touch of the tattoo band on the arm! Like a real Irish fisherman’s sweater. The pattern came from “stitchn’ bitch” for men.

Hats: My first love

I love hats and living in such a hot climate I’m searching for ways to bring them back into my knitting. I’ve really enjoyed making hats for my baby boy, but he’s growing and I don’t get to make as much of the super cute hats anymore, as he tells me he just doesn’t like them!! The nerve!! Ha!!! That’s my boy!

So here are two cuties I made recently. The patterns are Tricia Drake’s “Welcoming Home Baby”.

The “kitty hat” for a family friend’s little boy, the pointy corners gave me the name, and your baby will look like a kitten in this, trust me!

The weave hat for my cousin’s baby girl:

As long as my family and friends keep having babies and live in the snow most of the year, I’ll be able to satisfy my hat fetish. Yay!

St. John’s Newfoundland

My beautiful hometown, St. John’s Newfoundland. I did this watercolor many, many years ago before a block of Brownstones were built and thus blocked the view of our harbor from the Basilica.

I love this Island because it’s a good place built from the hard work of great people. Not perfect, as no one is perfect (isn’t that truly perfect?), but great all the same. Rugged, wild and free; pure granite, but soft at it’s heart because of the people. I miss you everyday!

I will return again soon and lay my roots deeply in your rocky soil and stay forever.

Mwah!!! Peace and love!!!