Saint John Family

My mother was from Saint John, New Brunswick and originally the family settled there, later many of them leaving for New Jersey to farm.
Couldn't resist this "stick your head through" thing in Saint John. KInda fun, eh?

Whales Ahead!

While out at sea, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean near New Brunswick, I spotted these whales alongside the ship and I was lucky enough to get a photograph of them.

Back from the reunion

The cruise was amazing but it was more amazing to get together with 35 other family members in Saint John, N.B.

Other ATC journalling going on...

Check out my friend John's first-ever journalling ATC. Pretty cool eh?
Oxbow Congregation

Also check out Jen's blog. The "Hat" ATC she posted looks similar to my journalling ATCs. What fun.
Jen Worden's blog

Fun Weekend

The weekend was a busy one, but the wood will now be dry and ready for the winter.
Getting ready for my family reunion. Should be a blast.

Okay, I'm still doing it...

...ATC journalling that is. I am thinking that I won't trade all these cards right away (who would really want something about my bad hair day anyhow?) and put them all together in a little book. Just a thought. Let's see if I'm still at it in a month, or week (or tomorrow, for that matter)...

ATC Journal, Day 3

I wasn't going to journal on an ATC yesterday but then I stepped on a frog and inadvertently brought it into the house, attached to the bottom or my shoe. The poor thing was covered with cat hair and lint. I just had to do an ATC about the little fellow. Read the ATC to see how it all turned out...

Ronna's new kitty

adopt your own virtual pet!

Journalling ATCs, Day 2

I'm having fun with these journalling ATCs. But I know good intentions and all that. When I was young, I was hooked on writing in my diary (with it's little key and ensured privacy). That lasted an entire week.
We'll see how these go. I guess I'll do them whenever I feel the urge. Then it's still fun, right?

Journalling ATCs

The current issue of ATC Quarterly features Witta Jensen from Denmark who has done a daily journal ATC for more than ten years. Small events immortalized on bits of cardboard. The upcoming issue of ATC Quarterly will feature Cindy Couling from California whose advice to everyone who has a hankering to journal is, "Just do it and don't worry too much about the results. Keep going."
So I did it. Yesterday I decided to be spontaneous (can one actally decide to be spontaneous?) and I started my journalling ATCs. I hated the first one. Too messy and all over the place. I decided to focus on Domino's trip to the vet. I liked the idea of the second ATC, but the pen I used was too light and hard to read. Third time's a charm. Yup, that's me being spontaneous.

Summer Blooms ATCs

My garden is at full throttle right now. I love sitting outside amongst my flowers with the hummingbirds buzzing around the bee balm and the chipmunks at my feet. Summer is the bee's knees.

Lazy Summer Days

This past weekend was the Pioneer Museum's annual Booksale, which I've volunteered to help run, for the past few years. We must've sorted, unpacked and packed over 20,000 books. All proceeds go to the running and maintenance of the museum. I spent the last two days running around, fixing books up on haywagons and having the time of my life. My back felt it and I'm a little sunburned in places where the sunscreen missed but other than that I'm very pleased. We had big crowds and lots of books were sold. Off to find that rocking chair on the porch now.

One Fish, Two Fish

These 2 pages are a spread from the collaborative art journal that I'm involved with. The round robin project is completed monthly. This time I got the "fish" journal. We still have a few months to go till all the journals have made it around. Lots of fun.

Happy Birthday Cleo

Tonight Richard and I are heading to Ottawa to celebrate his mother's 90th birthday. Wow! We're bringing the cake, which I made yesterday.

Big Spud

Here's the big potato at the Potato Museum (where else would it be?) in O'Leary, P.E.I. It was a "must see" when my sister and I visited the island a few years back.

Moooooo

This big cow was in Dymond, Ontario on the way up to Cochrane.

I Love Neon

I've always loved neon signs and have taken photographs of them for sometime. Now that I have a digital camera, I seem to have a growing collection of them in my "Neon" file. I thought I'd share one of my favourites, taken in Maine.

A Greener ATC Group

Our ATC group here in Dunvegan usually numbers 15-20 people. Each month we serve coffee, tea and juice (and cookies too). But the little hall we meet in only has 5 or 6 coffee mugs (they have hundreds of dainty cups and saucers but they are a nuisance to enthusiastic traders who need at least one hand to grab a card)!

Having listened to a bit of the Green Earth concert last Saturday, I decided that we as a group, can actually do something. I've e-mailed all the traders and asked them to donate their extra ceramic mugs to the hall so that we can have enough for everyone and avoid using styrofoam and plastic cups. People have been wonderful. A few people wrote and said they had spare drinking glasses as well. Another said she had cutlery she could donate too.

Does anyone have Al Gore's address? I'd like to tell him that we're doing our bit.

Summer Memories ATCs

A small group of us have met every few months for the past few years to make ATCs with a theme. Mostly the themes are suggested by the time of year in which we meet: February was valentine ATCs; April was spring or Easter; July was Canada Day or summer, etc.
This past weekend the theme was Summer Memories. One gal made butterflies. Another did a series on outhouses. Another did collage memories of camping and one gal drew funny cartoons of her grandchildren's recent visit to her home.
I found old photos from trips that my grandparents had taken in the early 1960s. These photos were all discards: thumbs or backs of heads took up most of the shots. I collaged these onto dark blue ATC cards, trying to make them look like they were placed in old photo albums, using black photo corners and white captions.

Oh Deer

Yesterday we went over to a friend's place for a barbecue. Next door, a farmer had saved a fawn from being run over while he was haying. It was a few weeks old when he came upon it sleeping in the grass (thankfully he stopped his machine and didn't run it over). He said he was afraid the mother would reject it because he had handled it.
Once it gets a little bigger (it's only one month old), he's taking it to an animal wildlife refuge. As he says, it's so tame, he could never let it out in the wild.

Meow Birthday Cake

I made this cake a few weeks back for a birthday boy who loves cats! Cute, eh?

Cats in Victorian Hats ATCs

I have a plethora of kitty images, having saved years of cat calendars. I decided to put some of those kitties in vintage hats, (those images courtesy of the Sears-Roebuck catalogue, circa 1908).

Wanted: Owl and Pussycat ATCs

The challenge for the upcoming ATC Quarterly centrefold is "The Owl and the Pussycat." So far we've received some fabulous entries but we still need some more. Deadline is August 15. Send hi-rez, (300 dpi) jpegs to: editor@atcquarterly.com.
To see last issue's challenge check out:
ATC Quarterly centrefold

Strawberry Season

Richard and I picked berries the other day. My kind of picking...in 10 minutes we had each filled up 2 large baskets. I hardly worked up a sweat. We came back and I threw an angel food cake into the oven. Perfect with the strawberries!

Happy Canada Day Again

I love this mechanical man who resides at Mac and Brenda's place.

Happy Canada Day

These photos were taken today at the Canada Day parade in Alexandria, Ontario. There's nothing like a small town parade. Marching bands, vintage tractors, farm animals. How can you beat that?