Chocolate cake

Here's a pic of the last year's chocolate cake I made for my mom's birthday. Not bad looking but probably not perfect. It was a bit lopsided. But the sprinkles does make it fun doesn't it? How did it taste? Well it tasted great and chocolatey especially when you add a secret ingredient such as Nutella. OK not so secret but oh so decedent. I usually add a bit to anything relating to chocolate. It is the great enhancer after all. 😉😋

 

Its a Sign!

Yup you guessed it. Its an actual sign. OK not terribly exciting but pretty neat to me. Last season in August, at the end of the month I think, but the actual news article got published in Sept. The park across the street finally got a new sign. It was since that time we moved in to this neighborhood, sometime in 1998 that the old one was knocked over from age. It was never really that durable to begin with. Just your typical wood used in a common wooden fence around someone's lawn. None the less the new sign is not much better from the original other then they added a reflective coating so you can reflect it at night with your car's headlights. I guess the city was trying to save some money. But did they have to place it in the exact spot the old sign was in? I mean every year there's a pretty huge and deep puddle in that spot because of unscrupulous bone heads who either park their cars there for a soccer game or take a joy ride though the park when we're all sleeping.  I wouldn't be surprised when one day I look out the window and see it knocked to the ground. Anyways there was a bit of a revealing ceremony soon after. Apparently it was in honor of some woman's father. Even had a footage crew, a reporter or two here along with the mayor and other family members. You can read it your self in the article posted here. As for whats happening with the world right now, lets not talk about it. Just enjoy some peace. 
Thanks. 😌

The house thats for the bird that has everything.

Well I had or rather I still have this cheapo purse. I only had it for a couple of years I guess before it got all torn up and ratty. It was really nice when I got it. Most unusual and different from all the other purses I had in the past and I just couldn't resist purchasing it despite in my head I knew its a cheapo. Plus I felt sorry for the foreign girl working in that little shop that I know probably wasn't going to last for much longer and she would probably loose her job. Well I was right. The shop soon after closed and she probably had to go back to her own country cause she just couldn't make a decent living in our humble little mall. It really is a little mall which consists of just the main grocery store and a few enclosed shops. Definitely not a plaza. 
Anyways instead of just throwing the purse away I decided to make it into a bird house out of it. Something I kind of wanted to do anyways in the future and took advantage of when I got an old ratty purse to do so. 
So here it is. I hung it close to a bird feeder underneath a shed roof but so far no takers this year. Oh well maybe next year when I move it to a different more secluded spot. 

 

Kitty Jacket

Oh so OK when you have lots to do you sort of neglect other things but then what else is new. 
So anyways I have this thing I put together but, I really didn't design the kitty image so that's why its in here. After all I didn't airbrush and or design this thing. But what I did do is put several things together instead of just throwing it out. It was just too cute to throw out anyways. I have this old jacket I wear around the backyard when its cold, I saved this old image from a purse that got old and ripped. Plus saved a few other odds and ends from some old jeans I had to throw away as well since they were ripped beyond wearing them.  Then I put several things together and what do you have? A nice jacket and no garbage to fill a landfill. A worth while compromise and cause. Plus you get a real nice jacket. :)

Happy ThanksGiving!

Happy ThanksGiving!

Just want to wish every one a peaceful, a bountiful, a full of love and Happy ThanksGiving.

As many of you know its Canadian ThanksGiving. The Americans have it a month behind us but that's Ok. All that matters is that we celebrate the bounty we do have and be thankful even though some of us don't have much. In which case some of you are nice enough and generous enough to share that extra bounty of the harvest with others who maybe have a hard time to make ends meat to put food on the table. I say Thanks a bunch to all the good hearted even if you can't give a whole lot. But there are other ways you can share the bounty how about the stuff from your own body? I don't mean blood and organs although yeah those are good things to share as well, but there's something else that’s just as precious that comes from you that you can share. How about time and a listening ear? There are many people out there who for what ever circumstances, are needy in terms of a little friendship. They have no family, no friends and no other love ones and they dread days such as these. Many time or every day they feel excluded. So consider inviting them to your nice Thank'sGiving feast or at least some coffee time or a movie. You could make their month. Come on, you have so much friendship, some of you are rich with it. Consider sharing a bit with someone who's lonely and has a lack of.

Speaking of sharing, here are some nice pics of some wild red currents I found growing near my mulberry tree during the summer.

This just in. Another reason to be thankful for. A children's book that I illustrated a few years ago is finally out.

Its apparently called The AdventurousSunshine. 

Check it out. :)

Another one of those update posts.

Yes its another one of those “things I have been up too“ posts.
Just finished that former blanket now quilt via up-cycling.
Going to have a really nice quilt this fall/winter cuddle season.  If there are any rips on any of the squares they should be easy to fix. 

 Front

 Also front.

 Back

                                                      Also the back.


For work, still currently hunting for a new gig after the other repeat gig was canceled due to medical reasons via client a few months ago. Definitely not easy hunting down a new antelope er gig.  Murphy’s law. I only seem to have invites for gigs when I’m currently working on an active gig. Why people why? So frustrating.

I also had my first sale at Fiver.com. I sold a set of pompoms that can also be used as a cat toy. Downside can’t do it any more unless Fiver has or makes some policy changes to the “only for five dollars” thing. Just not worth sending it though the mail at above 7 dollars a pop. To make it worth my while I’ll have to charge and provide more of them to make it worth my while. In the mean time I’m selling seedlings of Mimosa, Chinese lantern tree and Wisteria vine there currently. Very beautiful flowering plants that can over winter quite well.  I’m thinking of selling my pompoms at Zibbet.com for now. A really nice place very similar to Etsy.com, only Zibbet is free. You only pay a fee if you go premium and that will get you more stuff like more selling spots other then the standard 50 with the basic registering. Already at my little Zibbet store, so far have 2 other items for sale. A tie-dye tee-shirt that glows in the dark and features a breaching or splashing dolphin. I airbrushed and tie-dyed it my self a number of years ago. Really nice for outgoing people or kids. The other thing I have is a nautical style Christmas ball. It as a net like pattern I made with twine and real shells from Florida I personally dove for and then I painted little sea stars all over in random areas. Also very nice. Can be used as I intended as a ornament for the tree or some one who has this theme in their house.
None the less I will be making more things in the future for sale on Zibbet. Like more airbrushed tee shirts pompoms of course, some special toys I’ll airbrush. Some made by me other adapted. I also try other things as well. Bonus I’ll have some new artworks for my portfolio too. Might as well take advantage of many things like downtime, making money and PR.

Over all, the last few months have been crazy. Lots of things breaking down that need to get fixed. A shed roof, doors, an old van, my poor computer, a small ladder and now our main large screen TV.  No I won’t blame gremlins but old age and obsolescence. Not counting my computer of course. Apparently a video card went ca-bluy . I never even got the blue screen thingy. It just wouldn’t boot up one night before Victoria‘s day. But now all is well……..for now.

Things I will be working on soon. Hopefully a new gig, some of my own things, picking mulberries and making lots of jam. Maybe even pickling as well.

Hoping things will improve soon.
Need to stay positive.

Look ma, made pickles!

Made garlic dill pickles for the first time ever last weekend. I used a recipe I found at Instructable.com. I only hope its good and crunchy like a pickle should be.  The recipe was easy to follow and assembling every thing in to a jar or two was just as easy. Just that it was a little hard to determine when to remove the jar out of the boiling water since there were no real significant bubbles to let you know of a hard boil even though I had the temp up to where you would have an ideal proper boil. And yes I gave it some time as well. Guess I’ll have to find out if I did a good job in a few weeks when I open the small jar and give it a taste.

To the watering hole

Sunday was a great day for Meetso to take a break from hunting in the great jungle that is our back yard and relax by our busy little watering hole. The water fall babbled while the light from a bright sunny day danced on the water's surface. The koi fish large and small frolicked in the water causing the new addition of water plants to move from their places. A spider's web hung like a shiny chandler just above the water probably constructed last night to catch supper for a spider.

After that I when in to the downstairs kitchen and made my last batch of strawberry jam for the year. I burnt half of my hand from a exploding jam jar. I had freshly boiled strawberry jam poured in to a jar and then when I went to screw the top on tight, it exploded on me and all over. I was burning in pain of course. So luckily I was very close to the sink. So I ran the cold water and placed my hand under the water. I then filled a near by pot with cold water and place my throbbing hand in that. Later my dad came down the stairs to see how my jam was progressing and saw me in my predicament. He handed me a ice pack from the near by freezer and I placed it in to the pot of water and stuck my hand in again. I held it there for at least 15 mins or more till the pain wasn’t that bad. Then next day things were back to normal. Thank God!. This is like the 3d time I had something searing hot fall on my skin. I healed quite quickly with no real residual effects.

Strawberries on the brain.

Made another nice batch of strawberry jam just the other day and it turned out great.  I think this time it was a bit more soft which I like. But before that I went and picked some more mulberries from the front tree and park across the street.  There wasn’t much left. Kind of disappointing but still its just enough for two more batches of my strawberry jam. Might even have enough for a mixed berry pie if I make one in the future. I think last year there was a bumper crop of mulberries and that’s why there was weeks of picking. As for my peaches, I have a feeling there won’t be any. But maybe some but the squirrels are already picking the best ones even though there not ripe yet. My little jungle tiger needs to be a bit more diligent. Maybe just scare them away. He doesn’t need to eat them. I on the other hand may have second thoughts. I have heard that squirrels are quite tasty.

 Meetso my little jungle tiger watches from his favorite sleeping spot as I pic some mulberries.

 What's this I hear? A tasty toy and snack?

Yum, some tasty mulberries. Gift of the wild birds.  

 Looks a bit like Smurf berries. Don't you think?

Meetso is out of his jungle and out on his grassy plain. " I want a belly rub."

Belated Meetso

   I was going to share these earlier but with all the craziness of stuff to do it just wasn’t possible. Now its just another type of craziness and catching up to do. So far I managed to get some clip art done, some spring cleaning but more to be done, gone out, checked countless emails, planted seeds, planted plants. 

  Still have to post a few posts in my blogs which I'm currently doing, finish some unfinished personal projects, work on other personal projects so I can have some new things in my portfolios, freshen up my web site since its looking a bit dated, make more clip art before the next paying project, make some jam and probably other things if I get the chance. Yup my plate is full. 

   Anyways these pics of Meetso were taken last fall. Meetso was in a real playful mood so I thought I catch some of his funny antics mostly playing among the blue wisteria. 

                                    

Batting some ribbon among the blue wisteria.^

 Meetso spots a morning dove near the water fall for the small koi pond. ^

 Meetso sniffing around for mice. Such a poser. ^

 Meetso looking down at the world. My favorite pic. I just love the colours and the pose. ^

 Looking all cute. ^

 Play with me, if you dare!.........^

 NahNah!......^

 Pekaboooooo!........^

  Last night he caught his forth bunny. Bad kitty! Although I admire his excellent hunting skills and it’s a great use for catching pests such as mice, squirrels and rats I would really love it if he leave the bunnies alone. Btw I usually catch those bunnies and let them go in a neighbors yard near a park when Meetso is not looking.