Tulip Party Time!

On Monday, we visited our local garden centre in search of 22 pots of tulips.

 When we got there, we found that other tulip appreciators had arrived first, leaving very little. We bought what they had left and then went to the grocery superstore, where we found a great supply of unopened tulips. Thanks, Loblaws! You saved the day!

It's a Tulip Party and you are invited!

Signs of Spring...

at last!

Although the tulips aren't here yet, I'm thrilled to see the first tree leaves, aglow with sunlight.

Until it's tulip season, I can look at these:

Thankful Thursday - Art by Rima

M and I are lucky and very grateful

to have such a great friend, artist,

Rima Sharma,

who painted this wonderful

helicopter

Check out her other art at @artbyrima5

just for him!

Layla by Eric Clapton

"Layla" by Eric Clapton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX5USg8_1gA


in honour of Layla.

Is it Spring yet?

Although it's late April, we only started to see signs of Spring
on the weekend, when we returned to our old midtown neighbourhood for a quick, late lunch.


Hazelton Lanes, a nearby shopping mall, is undergoing a massive reconstruction, and the café we wanted to go to was gone. But it was close to 4 pm and we were starving.


We had a nutritious, heart-healthy lunch--okay, chocolate bars and Diet Pepsi-- and I took a few photos of the neighbourhood to remind myself that, yes, Spring will come soon. Even to the suburbs.

The Woman in Gold is Pure Gold

The Woman In Gold


Yesterday I saw the movie, The Woman in Gold.


It is based on a true story about Maria Altmann, who sues the Austrian government in the 90s to get back the Klimt portrait of her aunt which belonged to her family and was stolen by the Nazis.


Helen Mirren, as Maria, and Ryan Reynolds, as Randy Schoenberg, a young inexperienced lawyer, deliver dazzling performances. There are many flashbacks woven into the storyline. The brilliant last scene made me choke up.


Maria reminds me of a couple of my husband's relatives, both Holocaust survivors.


I highly recommend The Woman in Gold and predict it will win some Academy Awards next year. It is pure gold.

Decoupaged Contact Lens Box

Decoupaged Contact Lens Box

(Here's Looking at You, Kid!)

Last week I showed you a decoupaged cigar box which I gave to M for his birthday.

Today my decoupage project is a box which I gave to M to keep his new contact lenses in. Eventually he decided not to use the hard contact lenses, and went back to glasses. He now uses this box as a sewing kit, for needles, thread, and buttons.

For the top of the plain box, I used a very thick piece of leftover wallpaper. Normally this isn't a good idea for decoupage because it is too hard to sink it into the surface. And it didn't sink. But I still think it looks pretty.

Wallpaper goes on the exterior top of box.

I painted the top exterior brown and the bottom exterior white.

I painted  the rim white. I lined the bottom with brown velvet, with a trim of gold thread.

Full view of interior.

 But..Wait!

 What's that on the top?

A cut-out of an owl 

 from a greeting card

 is pasted on a white-painted background.

The top is also trimmed with gold thread. 

"Here's looking at you, kid!"

(at least while he wore contacts)