Our art sale yesterday was the first time in six years that we had dry, sunny-ish, cool weather with NO snow!
I had tons of china for sale...
...a couple of small, framed drawings...
...and some tile trivets too. 
My friends Brenda and Holly had lots of lovely art for sale. It was just a super day. Thanks to everyone who came!
I did this set of ATCs for our monthly artist trading card swap which is today at 2 p.m. The cards combine cat rubber stamps I bought in Portland, Oregon some years back at a funky shop called Collage. I combined those images with rubber stamped snowflakes and various stars I've collected over the years. I also added wooden cats to some and little word disks to others.
Here's the flyer for the annual Art Sale I've done with fellow artists Holly Kelleher and Brenda Kennedy for the past six years. It is to be held in Dunvegan on Sunday, November 29th from 1-4 p.m. If you're going to be in the area, let me know and I'll send you directions.
My wonderful cousin, Richard Spiegel lives in Hawaii and produces the most amazing honey in the world. Click here to see his website: Volcano Island Honey. 
This week that silly poutine cake of mine is in our local paper The Glengarry News. What fun!
I noticed (how could you miss it?) this graffiti-styled art on an abandoned building near the public beach in Nassau.
Pretty cool. But I couldn't help but wonder if it was actually graffiti or graffiti-styled advertising. Even the security camera is splashed with orange paint.
Note the website for bahamas.com spray painted into the image. Not sure which part is art and which part is advertising. Hmmm. Maybe that's the point?
This fabulously painted cement wall was in front of a work site.
Next Sunday, my friends Brenda, Holly and I are having our annual art sale at the Dunvegan Hall from 1 to 4 p.m.
I am selling lots of ceramics but decided to do a few small art pieces as well. I painted a small selection of eggs and framed them. 
Avid birders take note: I have taken great liberty with the bird's eggs and many don't match the birds labeled below them.
Yesterday, Richard and I headed to Vankleek Hill (about 15 minutes from my place) to see Issa, the artist formerly known as Jane Siberry.
I missed seeing her in the early 80s when I was busy working at enumerating for a Federal election and she was performing at the Rivoli on Queen Street in Toronto. I remember seeing by all my friend lined up for the show and I couldn't go. I was bummed.
But I got my chance to see her on Sunday performing in the auditorium of a local high school. She's fantastic!
After the show I got to tell her I'd waited some 25 years to finally see see her perform live.
And I got her to autograph her latest CD for me.
I guess it's true that good things come to those who wait.
Several people have suggested I start a blog devoted entirely to the art of poutine. So I did! Please check it out when you have a chance: It's called Poutine Chronicles.
As a regular viewer of Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, I'm always looking for that hole-in-the-wall place that features REAL food.
Da Junkanoo Shak in Nassau, Bahamas seemed to fit that bill.
The menu looked promising.
You may be familiar with conch (pronounced "konk") shells. They are basically GIANT snails. The meat of the conch is second in popularity only to the escargot and is very popular in the Bahamas (and the West Indies too).
We started with conch fritters.
They were yummy, kind of a corn bread-y type dough with a bit of conch right in the middle.
I ordered a conch salad. Really good and now I can see those hot peppers that are sitting on top of the salad and man, they were some hot!
Richard had a conch burger. Yum.
We washed it all down with a couple of local beers.
Gotta love Kalik! Unfortunately it is not exported and can only be enjoyed in the Bahamas. Okay so when's the next plane?
While visiting our friends Roberta and Phil in Florida, Phil showed me the fine art of making Mojitos. Lots of limes, mint and icing sugar.
These ones were going to be extra special with the addition of the fruit (the pear) from a prickly pear cactus.
Phil peeled and then mushed the fruit really well. Isn't the colour amazing?
My job was to divide it amongst the four glasses and to keep muddling.
White rum, sparkling water and ice were added and yum-o! We had pink Mojitos!
Meanwhile, the rest of the prickly pear cactus, called "Nopales" was waiting.
Richard and I cleaned off all the little needles...
...really, really well.
And Phil barbecued them as one of the many sides with our steaks. Tasted a bit like grilled peppers. Very cool.
Last week Richard and I took a 2 day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to the Bahamas which stopped in the capital city of Nassau.
The colours were astounding.
We walked for hours in the sun and gawked at the architecture.
Lovely, eh?
And this was no set up for tourists. This cop was really directing traffic...and it seemed to me, taking his life into his hands.
We also took a glass bottom boat tour and saw amazingly colourful fish, which were impossible to photograph. From the boat we passed by Paradise Island with the Atlantis Hotel in the background. It's just huge!
Later, back in Nassau, we headed to the public beach. Richard took off to take photos.
I had to get that white sand between my toes.
The water was so turquoise, the air was 90F with a breeze. I'm ready to go back!
