R has moved to a wonderful new place in Victoria, close to the water, with her own private brick patio.
So, of course, I made a mosaic plaque just for her. We had a wonderful visit together and I am looking forward to many more moments sitting in the sun on her patio.
I hear D may be hosting a doggie party/open house to celebrate the move!
The city is doing some repairwork to the sidewalks and curbs on my road at the moment. 
Yesterday morning the dogs and I discovered these happy messages in front of our house. 
Someone on the crew has a nice sense of whimsy. As I drove to work I looked carefully along the ten blocks of road receiving upgrades and realized that I have the only spray painted smiles. So thank you, road guys, you made my day.
Filed under Whimsy
I love Cook Street Village in Victoria. One of my sisters and my daughter both live in the area and I always feel as if I am in an English village when I walk around the area and wander up Cook Street and pop into the shops.
(FYI, I have never been to England but Victoria has long been the enclave of all things British in BC so I figure I can’t be too far off).
You really can’t go wrong checking out Bubby Rose’s Bakery or the Beagle Pub and I love Lark & Sparrows vintage inspired clothing by indie designers.
One of the “unique to the Island” shops is Serious Coffee and E, R and I met at the Cook Street location during my recent visit. It was a lovely mild west coast spring day and the front door was open as we sat and caught up on news.
It appears even the ducks are serious about their coffee in Victoria because before too long a little mallard duck popped in and started eating up all the yummy crumbs on the floor. It appears she and her ducky husband had been out for a stroll along Cook Street when she began to feel a little peckish.
He stayed just outside the door and tried to convince her that they should just get going. but when our little mallard lady ignored him and headed toward the back of the shop because there appeared to be even better eats back there he reluctantly followed.
Mr. Mallard was noticeably nervous about this foray into unknown territory and kept quacking at his lady to leave but she was intent on the treats.
Finally she had enough and they scooted out the side door and headed back down Cook Street.
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A lovely Cook Street Village moment.
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Ok I wasn’t gone for 2 months! But blogging just slipped off my to do list for quite a while!I did go to Arizona and had a wonderful time. J and I visited Cosanti in Phoenix. What an amazing place, it is a combination of Paolo Soleri’s family home, the bell workshop and amazing architecture.
We had the opportunity to talk to one of the artisans after a bronze bell pour and she told us Paolo is still active and involoved at 92. Dr. and Mrs. Soleri moved to Scottsdale in 1956 and made a life-long commitment to research and experimentation in urban planning.
The Cosanti Foundation’s major project is Arcosanti, a prototype town for 5,000 people designed by Soleri, under construction since 1970. Located at Cordes Junction, in central Arizona, the project is based on Soleri’s concept of “Arcology,” architecture coherent with ecology. Arcology advocates cities designed to maximize the interaction and accessibility associated with an urban environment; minimize the use of energy, raw materials and land, reducing waste and environmental pollution; and allow interaction with the surrounding natural environment.
We wandered around got some interesting pics and I bought a beautiful bell.
Next time I want to check out the Arcosanti site in Cordes Junction.
Last week I went to a wonderful talk called ” Artist Survival Skills” by Chris Tyrell. Chris is charming, witty and full of information on how to assess your art career from a business viewpoint. He shared info on pricing, marketing, taxes and the info is for Canadian artists.
It is wonderful to have a resource that is written specifically for Canadians. So many reference books are written by Americans and though the general principles apply, the details are not always relevant.
I strongly recommend any and all Canadian artists and craftspeople to check out his website and blog. Chris strongly recommends blogging for artists.
He mentioned that Shawn O’Hagen has a great blog so check her out here. She is a painter that has turned to fiber as her artistic expression.
And here is the link to Cathy McMillan, a caricature artist in Edmonto with a great blog.
We have been having unusually cold weather recently and I am sure the dogs think I am a little strange when I wander around in the bitingly cold wind to snap pics during our morning walks.
Filed under sunrise
