A bit Of Adventure

Because of my knee our season of kayaking was cut really short...

 

but we still had a bit of lovely adventure.



Happy Weekend

I hope your having a beautiful cozy Fall weekend...

Full of beauty and rest and happiness.  See you Next week I hope XO.

Coat Worthy Cute

Here's my latest little handmade felt stitched brooch...

 

 

What do you think?  Would you wear this on your coat? (email me if your interested)

Lemony Lentil Soup, Sunflower Pate & Than Snooze

Hi ya everyone.

Well as promised on Instagram, I am going to share
two of my all time favorite dishes with you.

They are both easy to make, super satisfying, super healthy for you and both completely vegan.

First is my Lemony Lentil Soup

(This is a staple dish in our house and I've perfected it over the years.

Everyone I make it for loves it and they always ask for the recipe).

 

 

To Make:

 

In a big pot, heat about 2 tbsp. of olive over medium heat and than toss in one big chopped onion.

Add 4 or 5 finely chopped garlic cloves and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Than finally chop a nice big handful of fresh parsley and that to the pot.

Peel and finely chop a potato and a nice big whack of finely chopped kale and add to pot.

Than add 1 heaping teaspoon of cumin...don't forget the cumin!!! and salt & pepper of course.

Than your going to put in 1 and a half cups of red lentils and stir them all in

(you can use green or brown lentils too but they don't break down as much as the red).

Add to everything 6 cups of vegetarian soup stock and 2 tbsps. of lemon juice and stir.

Bring this all to a boil and than turn it right down to a simmer...

make sure you cover the pot with a lid and let it cook for a full hour.

Serve with fresh parsley if you want...extra lemon and a slice of the pate.

YUUUUMMMM.

 

*********************

 

Now for my Sunflower Pate

 

(This is healthy and so insanely delicious, I bet once you try it, you'll be hooked

we love it spread on crackers or even fried up in the mornings as part of breakfast, it's SO tasty).

 

 

To Make:

 

Whiles the oven is preheating to 350 degrees

Grease any pan that you would normally use for a loaf, I like my ceramic 4 x 10 inch pan

Than just toss all of the following in a food processor...

1/2 cup water

1/4 olive oil

1 onion, peeled and chopped coarsely

1/4 soy sauce (or a bit more if you like it really salty)

1 large potato, peeled and diced

1/2 flour

1/2 nutritional yeast (yum)

1 cup of sunflower seeds, salted or not (keep these in your freezer so they stay nice and fresh)

4 garlic cloves

1 tsp of thyme, oregano and 1/2 tsp of sage.

Than...

blend all for that up really good until pretty smooth, pour into your pan

and bake for about 40 minutes or until a fork comes our pretty clean.

 

 

Gobble these two recipes down and than take a nice long siesta

cause you deserve it, cause life is tiring and most of all because it's good for you

just like that yummy food ya just made.

Yummmm.

 

I really hope you love them and that they make your tummies happy.

XO



A Perfect Day

Back when Matilda was here

This was one of my most favorite days of summer...

 

I worked on a piece with a tight deadline surrounded by buns, a sunning pigeon & my handsome hon.

It just felt like a perfectly perfect peaceful day.



The Fresh Green Rushing Kind

Wherever you are in the world, no matter your job or age or sex...

I hope that you have a ready and steady source of soul refreshment always there for you.

 

 

This is my kind...the fresh green, rushing water kind....ahhh.

Thanks a million to all of you lovely souls who join me here, I'll see ya tomorrow I hope XO.

Muskoka We Love You

About a 1.5 hour drive from us is a place called Huntsville, Muskoka and we love it so....

It's a place we can go to and enjoy and get back home to the buns in one day.

 

 

It was an unplanned day away from the house, away from stress, away from the mess...

drinking sangria in a wine bar, strolling along a quaint main street & enjoying amazing views  AH.

Cute Coloring

Hey everyone...

This coloring page of mine is going to be in the December issue of "The Coloring Studio". WOHOO.

If you want my coloring pages just sign up to Keep In Touch and I'll send them along monthly.

 

 

I am wishing your way an amazing and beautiful weekend full of warm breezes, restful sleep

and not too many leaves falling!

Enjoy yourselves and see you here next week I hope XO

So Glad

I am so so so glad that I am not one of the ones headed back to school this week...phew!

I loved school, almost the whole way through, especially my 4 years at OCAD.

 

The learning never ever stops, not if you want to grow as an artist

But I sure am glad that I get to head into my studios than anywhere else.



September Work

Just a sneak peek at something on my desk this week...

 

 

Hope your having a wonderful week.  See you tomorrow I hope.

A Finished Project Article

Hey guys guess what?

 

 

I just found out that the watercolour version of my "Owl & Key" was accepted as a

"Finished Project" article in the upcoming December issue of  "The Coloring Studio"

 

 

Which means that not only will my coloring page for the Owl & Key will be in the magazine

but my finished piece will be feature alongside an article I have to write on my process of making it.

 

Pretty cool huh... wohoo...ha ha.

 



Matilda Leaves

Well our special feathered friend was apparently not meant to join our motley crew long term...
(this won't be my last blog post about her though because I have so many
more beautiful shots and stories of her that I'd love to share with you).

 

 

Long story short...

I started calling around to try to locate a vet because we thought if she was staying,

we wanted to make sure our bird baby had a good doctor to help her out when need be...

 

 

but during that process we ended up talking with an expert,
a lady who rehabilitates wild birds all of the time, we had a good long chat about pigeons,
her knowledge was so helpful and very extensive...

 

 

We still had huge concerns about how happy Matilda would be in our house, she be in a cage,

alone, more than she'd be happy with & she wanted company 24/7 which we just couldn't provide

(not with September coming and both of having to soon get back to the bump and grind of things).

 

This lady explained that Matilda probably liked us a lot for sure,
but if we wanted to be sure that she really wanted to stay with us and be an indoor bird,
we'd have to give her the choice between us and a real flock of other pigeons...

 

 

So luckily, my parents have a big beautiful flock that they feed everyday...

So we brought our sweet feathered soul over there and almost right away she went straight to them.

It took 3 try's before she left but as hard as it was we knew we were doing the right thing.

 

The first time as soon as she saw them, she zoomed out of the cage and was skirting the group by a couple of meters, when a big impressive male saw her, left the group and came to her gently and invited her to join them and she did, timidly at first but still she didn't know yet to follow the group. 

 

 

So when they left, she waited for them but than eventually came back to us & back home we went.

The next day she flew right up into the tree to see them all...but the same thing happened,

she didn't follow them when they flew away and she came back home once again

 

But the 3rd time...she flew straight to them all again, a flock of about 40,

and at 11:00am on August 26th, when they all swooped out of the tree and flew away into the horizon

she was with them...she followed...with strength and beauty and grace.

 

 

She's doing really great.  My folks see her everyday...she's eating and doing all the normal things.

Today marks her first full week out there in the wild with all her buddies.

She's only the 2nd brown bird in the group and the only female so she's really easy to spot.

 



 It was so hard to let her go...but we knew deep down it was the best for her...

We wanted to keep her...we loved her.  We always will love that special sweet brown pigeon.

Every single second I waited with baited breathe, afraid the other would be mean to her...

 

 

Every second I had to hold my arms back from grabbing her and taking her back home again...

We miss her madly.  We hope she'll be safe but we do know she has great natural instincts.

She'll always be an amazing summer love affair, full of magic and beauty, never ever to be forgotten.