Artist & Illustrator
Paul has been away and is still away. When he’s away from us, I tend to feel pretty sad…
Here are some things that are have been cheering me up while he’s been away…
A visit from Pop
Finally getting a warm day!
Flowers from our backyard
Sosi’s paintings of these flowers
Quiet moments
Crazy moments
Having this handsome man to keep me company.
I’m so lucky I get to be the mom to these 2 little ones. Sometimes I feel so completely inadequate for the job, like they deserve so much more than I can give. Each day is a fresh start and I get a change to be better, and become the mother I dream of being.
Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there, especially my mom and my mother-in-law Norete… love you both.
We had my mom and Grandma here for Easter.
I think the highlight of the visit for me was flying kites down at Victoria Park all together. My Grandma fell in my kitchen on her second day here and broke her rib. She was such a trouper it is unbelievable.
Here she is at 85, broken rib, flying a kite. It was the first time in her life that she had ever flown one, she was so happy. The woman is too cute.
Let’s face it, we’ve had a pretty crumby run with pets. Last year we had 2 hamsters and 2 fish die, then to top it off, we failed miserabley at puppy ownership.
I have a feeling that’s all behind us now though. We found this sweet little guy at the Humane Society and we’ve had him home with us for a week. He ‘s 3 years old and was a stray. He’s so calm and gentle… a real angel, so we’ve decided to name him Angelo. 🙂
We love him! (and I think he’s pretty happy with us too)
Happy Easter weekend. We have had a lovely weekend full of warmer weather, sunshine and visiting family. Hope you are all enjoying the long weekend.
Along with all the leisurely walks, coffee drinking and baby holding, I also got to visit some amazing book stores while in Montréal. The first, this one above is the Drawn and Quarterly store. I had a mild heart attack when I saw how close it was to my sister’s house (around the corner!). I love comics and graphic novels and this publisher has some of the best. I spent a couple of very happy hours in there and came away with these:
I bought Tove Jansson’s “Who will comfort Toffle?” mostly for myself, but Sosi also loves it. It is so gorgeously illustrated and made, I could go back to it over and over and always find something new.
The story is so sweet and heartfelt.
I want to frame each page and hang them on our walls. I’ve wanted to get Sosi into the Moomin comics and thought these colourful picturebooks would be a good start. I was right, she loves them.
While there I also picked Guy Delisle’s “Pyongyang” for myself and devoured it. It was such an amazing look into the mundaneness of living in a part of the world which we know so little about. It was fascinating. I’d love to read more of Guy Delisle’s books.
I also got to some lovely French bookstores to look for books to bring back for the girls. Ila loved this one I brought back for her. It has furry-bits and flaps and monkeys… all the makings of a perfect book in her opinion.
I wanted to find some really fun French books for Sosi, who is in French immersion. I saw this and once I started looking through it I couldn’t put it down.
I grew up watching Barbapapa and all the happy memories flooded back looking at these pages.
I think this is Sosi’s favourite gift that I brought back for her,
she is completely captivated.
It even ends with a pop-up page, all books should end with a pop-up page!
You can find all sorts of wonderful Barbapapa books at the Renault-Bray site. They even do free shipping on orders over 39$. I know I’ll be ordering more!
I love Montreal. It’s where I went to art school and where I met and fell in love with my husband. It’s been about 14 years since we left, I was amazed that the city still feels exactly the same. It is so beautiful and full of energy.
It was heaven to have so many days to myself to wander, explore and feel nostalgic for those days.
I visited my favourite spot for coffee everyday.
I walked all over the city, seeing younger versions of myself everywhere.
I ate so many wonderful meals,
saw old friends,
and was lucky enough to have this bundle of love come to see me for a day.
And then there were the babies… the babies! They are beyond adorable !! Here is sweet Adderley sporting one of my knitted creations.
Here is Phoenix melting my heart into a big puddle.
I feel so grateful to have had this time alone with my sister and her sweet babies (thanks Paul!!). I miss them all so much already.
I’m busy getting ready to leave for 5 days. I’m trying to squeeze as much I can into these last couple of days.
Like:
one on one time with this sweet girl…
getting as many cuddles as I can from this little monkey …
desperately trying to finish this piece for an upcoming show. … my hands hurt from all the stitching!
I just finished this family portrait for a friend of my sister’s who just got married. She has a little budgie that is always on her head (so cute) and had a pet duck that passed away. My sister told me she still tears up talking when she talks about him.
I’m going to bring it to her when I go visit her in Montreal later this week. I’m going to meet my new little niece and nephew! So excited to hold those new little babies, but also feeling some anxiety about leaving my little babes for longer than I’ve ever been away from them…
In between the wind storms, deep freezes and snow flurries we have been getting some glimpses of Spring.
Our first crocus, which I urged her not to pick, but apparently she just couldn’t help herself…
First sneaker sightings!
A window opened for a few moments here and there.
This past week I’ve been sersiously knocked off my feet with a sinus infection. We’ve been doing a whole lot of nothing in this house while I try and get back to normal. I’m always surprised by just how happy my kids are to do nothing. I always think we have to do things for them to be happy, but some of our best times are sitting around here, doing nothing.
I found these amazing pop up scene books at a local dollar store (such a score!). We ‘re working away on the Fairy Garden(it’s amazing) one here, but there are so many more! They are illustrated by Clare Beaton, I’ve been a fan of her fabric work for years and was thrilled to find them… even more thrilled to have them this week. They have kept both girls busy (and happy) for days. (We photocopied the pages for Ila to “colour” and “cut out” herself and kept the real pieces for ourselves… she never knew the difference).
I never would have expected it would be a puppy that would push me over the edge… but I guess that’s how life works sometimes.
Sorry for my absence, I tend to get real quiet here when things in my life get a little out of control. The puppy has gone back to live with her mama and my very lovely and kind friend Gail.
Birdie is such a sweetheart, but she turned this little family right upside down and me into a crazy person. We’re all feeling much better now and life is getting back on track.
That little pup sure taught me a lot in a short time… like I need to accept my limits (I can’t handle anymore beings being dependent on me) and that it’s OK to admit you’ve made a bad decision (maybe my worst decision).
This past week has been filled with quite a bit of chaos. New puppy craziness, less time to work or sleep, children with fevers, a broken dishwasher. When life gets like this and I feel the chaos starting in on me I always find calm in the kitchen.
My sweet friend Lesley often leaves cookies on my doorknob. Around here we refer to her cookies as “Lesley cookies”. They are big and delicious, full of butter and chocolate chips… totally unapologetic cookies. Last week there were a new type of Lesley cookies on our doorknob, even better than the original. So good I had to make some myself… and I want to share the recipe with you.
Lesley’s Other Cookies
2/3 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 white sugar
Cream until fluffy
beat in 1 egg
and 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup of oats
1/2 cup coconut (unsweetened, medium dessicated)
1/2 cup flour
Stir up. Add handfull of raisins or chocolate chips. Drop into cookie pans, bake at 375 degrees. 10-15 minutes until brown around egdes.
… and in the tradition of Lesley you must go hang some on someone’s doorknob. Enjoy!
We spent the weekend basking in the joy of a new puppy. So happy to have little Birdie home with us for keeps. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too.
Sosi made these paper plate portraits of me and Paul. Paul is looking a little hairy, and I’m challenging my inner Annie. 🙂 I love them!
The rainbow party was a success! We had so much fun getting ready for it and the kids all seemed to have a great time. We made these super easy and cute hanging rainbows (made with paper plates!).
The cake… was amazing. It was totally gone by the end of the party, a sure sign of a good cake!
The best part of this party was seeing my sweet little girl this happy.
We ‘ll so lucky to have her in our lives.
Lori Joy Smith
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