What a difference a week makes

Most of the snow has melted (again). The weatherman says today's high is going to be 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 Fahrenheit). The birds are just singing outside like crazy. I haven't seen my first robin, but my hubby said he saw several the other day. Things are looking up.

The sad, sad truth

Issued by Environment Canada : 5.00 AM MDT Monday 21 April 2008
Winter storm warning in effect.
Today
Day: Periods of snow. Amount 5 cm. Blowing snow giving poor visibility at times. Wind northwest 30 km/h gusting to 50. High minus 6. Night: Flurries. Blowing snow giving poor visibility at times this evening. Wind northwest 30 km/h gusting to 50 becoming light near midnight. Low minus 10.

Tuesday
Cloudy. 60 percent chance of flurries in the morning and afternoon. Wind northwest 30 km/h becoming light in the evening. High minus 4.

Wednesday
Sunny. Low minus 14. High minus 2.

Thursday
Sunny. Low minus 17. High zero.

Friday
A mix of sun and cloud. Low minus 8. High plus 5.

Normals for this time of year:
Max:
14°C
Min:
-1°C

Look at the photo I took a few minutes ago. The car's all nice and clear, it must not be too bad out there. Uh, no. I went to work this morning that's why it's cleared off. Can you see my sidewalk? Neither can I! According to the Edmonton Journal, this blizzard's the worst April storm to hit city in nearly 20 years. Don'tcha wish you lived here?

Today I shall stay put and maybe do some Spring Cleaning. Now that's an ironic thought, eh?

Show & Tell Friday ~ Old Fashioned Bubblegum Machine

For Show and Tell Friday today, I've decided to show you my super cool bubble gum machine. I bought it a few years ago at a 2nd hand shop. It reminded me of the bubble gum machines from my childhood. The first day I spotted it at the store, I couldn't find a price on it, so I asked the store clerk how much it was. She made up a price on the spot which I didn't like. So, reluctantly, I decided to pass on it. The next time I was in the shop, I saw it still sitting on the shelf. I noticed that a price had been put on it, so out of curiosity, I checked the price. I was excited when I saw that someone had priced it at $3. I scooped it up, purchased it and happily brought it home. I bought gumballs to fill the bubble gum machine, but my two sons made the gum disappear in a only a couple of days. I gave up buying gum balls, but decided that if I put glass marbles in their place, the gum enthusiasts would leave my toy alone.

Speaking of gum ~ I have a fun story to share with you. When I was young, my parents had some friends who owned a gas station/general store/restaurant. I would often go visit these folks with my dad. One day when we stopped in to see our friends, my father gave me a penny to buy a bubble gum. Hoping I would get a favourite coloured bubblegum, I turned the dial. For some odd reason, the machine started spewing bubblegum after bubblegum at me. I put out my hands to try to stop the onslaught to no avail. Soon there were gumballs rolling down onto the floor. Seeing my awkward dilemma, the owner finally stepped in and was able to make the bubblegum machine behave itself. I looked up at the adults. I must have had an I-didn't-mean-to-break-the-bubblegum-machine look on my face because they all burst out laughing. What happened next could only be called a child's dream come true. I was told that I could have each and every gum that had covered the floor. I had gum for a week!

Day at the Farm delivered

Today I was finally able to give Susan the Wide-eye Portrait I painted for her entitled Day at the Farm. Yay! It's always so much fun to see people's expressions when they see their paintings for the first time.

Show & Tell Friday #1

In my blog-hopping escapades, I came upon a blog which had Show & Tell Friday featured on it. This fun little activity is where Bloggers simply show & tell about some item in their home on their blog. It's the brain child of Kelli of There is no place like home (where you can find a list of all the Bloggers who have Show & Tell Friday on their blogs). I'm going to try this out and we'll see how it goes.

The first thing I will show you is a little iron plaque that hangs above my stove. This treasure I found many years ago while garage saling. At first glance, I think my guests think it's going to say something like The Kitchen Prayer (read below) or have some such equally super-spiritual message. Everyone seems to get a chuckle out of it.

The Kitchen Prayer
God bless my little kitchen
I love its every nook
And bless me as I do my work
Wash pots and pans and cook.
And may the meals that I prepare
Be seasoned from above
With Thy great blessing and Thy grace
But most of all Thy love.
As we partake our earthly food
The table before us spread
We'll not forget to thank Thee, Lord
Who gives us daily bread.
So bless my little kitchen, Lord
And those who enter in
May they find naught but joy and peace
And happiness therein.

Tag ... I'm it!

Caren has tagged me in a Book Tag.

Here are the rules :
Pick up a book of at least 123 pages.
Open the book
to page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Then post the next three sentences.
Finally, tag five people to do the same.

The book I chose is Sholom Aleichhem's Tevye's Daughters, the novel that Fiddler on the Roof was loosely based on.

Quote:
"Said Pessie, "You must have quite a few enemies."
"I have enough, God be thanked," countered Sossie.
"May they be planted in great numbers and fail to come up."
"Soince when have you become such a shrew?" asked Pessie.

Now it's my turn to tag the following folks. I hope they'll wanna play too!

Charlotte at Alice Overground
Josh at Running With Scissors
Ruth at My Creative Soul
Cindy at The Joyful Artist
Arlene at ART De Me

Painting elephant?

You MUST check out the following link!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LHoyB81LnE


A Bug Flew Up My Trunk is a painting done by Edmonton's very own elephant, Lucy. For a mere $650.00 it could be yours!
Original: 20x24 inches

Christmas in April

Can't remember where I saw the first bulb wreath, but I started collecting old Christmas tree bulbs at the ReUse Centre soon after with the hope of collecting enough to make one. Well I did collect enough and here is the result ~ my first Christmas Bulb Wreath.

This one measures about 17 inches in diameter. Once I collect more bulbs, I think I'll make a couple more for Christmas gifts. The only thing is, is that these babies are going to be difficult to store. Perhaps I'll make some wreaths with newer, non-breakable bulbs. Also if I want to hang one on my door, I'll have to make it entirely out of non-breakables.

Blogoversary winning portrait

Caren Mcnee was the very first person to leave a comment on my 3rd Blogoversary post and was the name pulled out of the pointy party hat draw ~ I'm sure that doesn't happen very often. Anyhoo, I finished her portrait yesterday and here it is. I'm not terribly happy with the colour reproduction of this photograph, (it's much richer in person) but you can get an idea of what the painting looks like. I've added a little photo of Caren with the portrait here, so you can check out the uncanny resemblance between Caren and her portrait. Hehee!

I'm hoping that when the portrait arrives at Caren's house, that she'll have her photo taken holding the portrait as I am trying to collect photos of people with their Wide-eyed Portraits for my files.

Kiwi Caren measures 12 inches x 16 inches. You may want to start looking for a frame, Caren. Let's hope the Canada Post's canoe paddles your painting to you quickly!