Cherries

The message from Lois was "Bring a bucket. The cherries are ripening quickly!"

I am not sure which tastes better...

cherries warm from the tree 

or hand picked raspberries...
or vine ripened tomatoes...
or fragrant basil...
or...

Thank you Lois!!

Augie's 5th birthday

Yesterday marked the arrival of August Maxwell Hall five years ago. We celebrated Mexican style with mini sombreros, music and a delicious taco dinner.

The unicorn donkey is hiding behind the gang!

A musical quartet of "nose-singing sombreros"!

Uncle Adrian and Augie sing a Mexican duet.

Summer Solstice

It seemed fitting that my Women's Discussion group should gather around a bonfire to celebrate Summer Solstice. Research shows that people around the globe mark this annual event in the same way. 

Solstice celebrations were a highlight of the pre-Christian calendar, and bonfires, maypole dances and courtship rituals linger on in many countries as holdovers from Europe's pagan past.

Our celebration started with a delicious potluck dinner: devilled eggs, maple cranberry sausages, focaccia buns, radishes from the garden, kale chips, broccoli salad, dates, cheese, lentil salad, homemade apple pie, rhubarb crumble...and, of course, a variety of wines.

We decided to modify ancient traditions by adding some new quirks. Solstice is also a time to purge and renew, so we held a gift exchange of items that were collecting dust in our homes...items that would eventually end up in thrift stores.

I selected the largest gift, neatly wrapped in recycled newspaper. To my delight I discovered a pair of inline skates that were almost my size!

With Diana's assistance I managed to squeeze my right foot into one of the rollerblades. It was quickly obvious that circulation to my toes would be cut off within minutes! Fortunately it was her turn to select a gift next and she stole the skates from my clutches! 

After much switching and swapping and stealing (including the "scarf battle")we settled down around the bonfire with apple pie a la mode and chocolate martinis.

It was finally time to purge memories, to make room for new positive remembrances. We each wrote a short story about a past experience that we would like to erase. After sharing with the group the stories were thrown into the fire, rendered to ash and smoke!

It was the longest day of the year. Driving home at 11pm, the sky was still brightly lit to the west.

Mosaic sections completed

Wendy and I spent several hours today working on the sea of blue tile pieces 

that formed the final section of the mosaic wall.

It will be so beautiful!

Accolades to Tracey for her design and dedication.

Also to Eric for his ongoing and unflagging support!

Mosaics continue

The Mosaic Project is ongoing. 

Today I brought Lois to the gallery to help with smashing tiles and fitting pieces.

Yesterday the salmon arrived. 

Sharda, a local glass artist, created several fused glass salmon to be fit into the design.

A master mosaic artist will be arriving in Salmon Arm on Sunday night to begin the installation 

on Monday morning. Hopefully we will have all of the sections finished before then.

Mosaic Project

What fun! I have joined the volunteers who are piecing together a gorgeous mosaic wall at the Ross Street Plaza. Designed by Tracey Kutschker, the project has attracted nimble fingers of all ages from our community.

Maggie and Tegan joined me this morning to piece together this portion of sky, tree and apples. The overall design (approximately 30' x 8') moves across the four Shuswap seasons.

Created in manageable sections, these sections will be positioned in place 

and mortared at the end of the project.

Tiles are smashed into small pieces and volunteers then search 

for the perfect colour and shape to fit the puzzle.

Jane and Tori piece together a tree branch and apples.

It's important to remember where the sun is positioned

in the scene and where the light will reflect 

on the apples and the tree limbs.

So sweet!

So sweet!

Unfortunately she thought that our strawberry plants were sweet!

All of John's careful nurturing disappeared in five minutes!