ATC's

Here are some photos of Artist Trading Cards we made at a Thursday play group.

Laura's - Front - It's duckie time!

Laura's - Back - Merrickville time...

Jamie's - Front - It's movie time!

Jamie's - Back - Can't you hear the whir of the projector?

Holly's - an altered photo of her brother Adrian in Oz with his Mini

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Thursday Mornings

Fun! Breakfast here at Greyweathers with Merrickville South friends - artists Laura, Jamie, Claudette and Wendy. We all contribute to breakfast which unfailingly turns out to be delicious. Brewed Awakenings is where we usually go, but it can be very cold in the winter as I mentioned previously. Then we have our 'Play Group' in the Studio. Heather Snow joins us when she can for this (and the tail end of breakfast - she has kids to get to school first). This week was 'Artist Trading Cards' and was a blast. Just google it to find out what it is all about. I will post photos of what we did soon! Next week I will share some of Michael deMeng's painting secrets at our Play Group. I learned such neat stuff in his workshop last October.

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Afternoon Delight

The sun was actually out today so both Larry and I were determined to go for a drive in the MINI. He enjoys driving it so much that he beat me outside in order to get to drive the first leg of the trip. We zipped down to Brockville for Manoll's Fish & Chips (eaten in the car down by the river), playing hooky from work for a while. Which meant that we finished our work tonight. But the drive was worth it (:

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Sunday Driver

And Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday... No time to write since the MINI arrived - we have been finding reasons to drive ever since. I even took a leisurely drive last night for pure pleasure. We have put over 500 km on the MINI since Wednesday and we still have half of our 50 litre tank of gas left. Now that's a difference from our Safari van!

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MINI Day!

Yes, in 4 1/2 hours we will be picking up our MINI Cooper!!! I can hardly breathe for excitement. Our iMac is due tomorrow. A car made in England arrived sooner than a computer made in Canada. But that's a problem with CDW...the company I ordered it from. All I care about today is MINI, MINI, MINI, MINI <:

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The countdown is on.

Things are really coming together. We have the cheque from the bank, Tuesday we will have the insurance set up and Wednesday at 1:30 pm we go to pick up our MINI Cooper. I can hardly believe it! It has been a dream for so long and it seems that we have waited for ages since we placed the order. The new iMac hasn't shown up yet. Who knows, it may arrive at the same time as the car! In the meantime there is lots of Cirque work to keep us busy and some galivanting in the Mini and the upcoming family gathering here at Greyweathers. Not to mention a lunch on Friday for all our Cirque workers and a breakfast and art play group here on Thursday morning<: It's shaping up to be a fun week!

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It has arrived!

FINALLY the wait is over. Or nearly. This morning Keith from the MINI dealership called to say that our MINI Cooper is in!!! YAY!!! We will be picking it up next week...a dream come true. I spent part of today arranging a certified cheque and getting our insurance company moving on the paperwork. So many steps to buying a car. I hope MINI had a comfortable journey from the Oxford MINI Cooper plant, Cowley, Oxon, England where it was made. What a journey - by boat to Halifax, by train to Montreal and by truck to Ottawa. New snow tires and wheels are being mounted and the usual new car stuff is being carried out at the dealership. Apparently it is a little beauty, all black and gleaming...so says the salesman. Well, of course!!! Over the next few days we will be digging out a second parking spot in our driveway for the new arrival. Somehow I don't think that will be much of a chore. Especially since we will probably have the fellow across the road blow out the snow for us. Ah, only days to wait now...

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Back into the swing of things

After a COLD walk 'downtown' to Brewed Awakenings Larry and I enjoyed a hearty breakfast with Wendy Heuston, one of the Merrickville South gang we belong to. Usually Laura Starkey (and sometimes her sister Janet and her pal Jamie) and Claudette Hart come too, but Claudette is off to visit her daughter in Calgary (where it is probably even colder...brrr) and Laura said, "When I saw how cold it was, I decided to stay home!" Actually, it was pretty cold inside the coffee shop too. It was minus 17C outside and possibly plus 17C inside! I think Laura had the right idea. Larry has no scheduled Cirque work this week, so he is taking advantage of his 'found' time to organize his press space. He is spending time on his blog too, which is really great and can be found at: http://greyweathers.wordpress.com. I got back to work on Totem, the large Cirque paintings, today while Laura worked on starting another box of 96 costume balls. I wrote all the words on the paintings in gel pen (see above) so that tomorrow Laura can spray them with fixative and finish the final steps. We have 8 Totem to finish and box by the end of tomorrow and 6 Energy, which are the small ones. Then on to the next batch of each size starting Monday...

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HUGE Snow!!!

Larry managed to shovel a path from the Studio entrance to the road so that UPS could pick up the Cirque order today. The piles of snow are over six feet high in some places! Sneak loves to romp in it, but it was so cold that he couldn't stay out long before his paws hurt. Back into the living room for him, in his wing chair by the wood stove. Ah...the dog's life.

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It's a brand new year!

The snow just keeps on falling, leveling out drifts and driveways alike. I guess there will have to be shovelling at some point today. Looking forward to that - yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes...no! I am finishing a painting order for Cirque du Soleil in usual last minute fashion - the order ships tomorrow! Oh well, no problem. It will all be ready and then it's on to the next order. What a dream job to have <: I'v been working on setting up our wireless network so that Larry and I can both be online at the same time. With the new iMac arriving in a couple of days, we will have to decide where the 'old' iMac will go. The iBook can 'float' from room to room as the whim hits. What decadence! And, of course, the anticipation is mounting in regard to the arrival of our 2008 MINI Cooper. It is guaranteed to be here by the end of January and could be here any time before then. Woo-hoo!!! I can barely wait...but I have to anyway. There will be lots of touring around this year. Here's wishing everyone a happy and prosperous 2008!

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