This weekend we are soaking up the sunshine, celebrating the harvest from the garden and getting ready for an incredible Thanksgiving feast with our family.  There will be turkey from a local farm, veggies from our garden and those of our friends, and oh there will be pumpkin pie! In fact, we may be eating pumpkin pie straight on through until Christmas dinner!  The girls just harvested our pumpkin patch and are thrilled with the 53 sugar pumpkins they grew on one plant!  I must take a moment to acknowledge and thank our amazing neighbours Gordy and Laurie MacDonald who have welcomed us into their garden, sharing tips and stories and so much of their crop, watering our plants and feeding this pumpkin plant with so much extra love (& manure).  You gift has allowed my girls to fall in love with growing their own food and our thumbs are turning green!

Check out the turkey t-shirts my little farmers are sporting – a gift from our friends at Feedlot Studios who have an amazing selection of fabric & ceramic creations for sale all weekend as part of the local Annual Gabriola Thanksgiving Studio Tour.  After a trip to town for some fantastic soccering by Raena, we stopped in to say hi to our crafty friends Mariko McCrae & Kate Wood (Christmas shopping has officially started).  There was also just enough time to sneak in a visit to Dianna Bonder’s gallery of whimsy (got another great book for the kids, autographed by my amazing artist friend).  We still need to make some time to visit our other faves like Sheila Norgate (her paintings will speak to you), Tammy Hudgeon (her glass & paintings will make your heart sing), Illuminati Glassworks (more incredible colour and shine), Fiddlehead Farm (her fibre will make you want to learn to knit), Hayden Harvey (with her studio partners, they offer a bit of everything & it is nothing like you have ever seen), Nina Turczyn & Laura Handford (silver jewellery that you will want to take home with you)…I just realized I could go on and on….I really do wish I had time to visit all the tour artists (good thing I live here and can pick a few new ones each year).  In addition, many artists have informally opened their studio doors this weekend, so be on the lookout for signs inviting you to have a boo.  In fact, my friend Josee Velsen has opened up her La Belle Vie studio (near Silva Bay) and has some of my paintings and cards tucked in with her dreamy selection of aromatherapy, photography, pottery and more!

There are two more days of this annual art indulgence left, so drag your fellow feasters over and check out some of the amazing art on my home island.  Grab your online brochure and start planning your route, you will have an incredible time!   And don’t forget to get your 2013 turkey tea towel! —— Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I have so been enjoying these endless days of summer, the warmth that means I am still swimming in the ocean, the dry that means the crickets are still singing.  This painting says it all:

I love how this painting combines my photography, my paint brush, my typewriter, my memories & my now all together.  Mixed media is really calling to me these days….

I love the texture of the paint on the board and I love the feel of my toes on the warm ground.  I know it is officially autumn now, but this year we are definitely getting an Indian Summer and I am enjoying every minute of it (as my endless outdoor tendencies and extra slack housekeeping attest to).  I hope you are also enjoying these amazing days of harvest and sunshine.  Here’s to many more barefoot moments and swims in the sea!

A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.    Inspired by Soulemama.  

Please feel free to share your photographic moments,                                                    leave a link in the comments section for all to find and see.

I have been finding snippets of time to for quick painting and collages lately. Often with friends or the kids, these sessions are casual and playful and so good for me!  Here is the latest, a celebration of this amazing summer of swimming.  Which, by the way, is apparently not over! The girls and I are planning a picnic lunch and swim at the beach today. Our life is full of giggles and splashes and leaping by the seashore and I am so very grateful!

Don’t you love how her feet are not even touching the ground! I love to watch them FLY!

P.S.  If you have not discovered the wonders of washi tape yet, I highly recommend it….for collage, for sticking notes and art up on the walls, for taping a favourite photo in your journal, for labelling glasses at a party and apparently so much more!  I got mine on Etsy at PrettyTape and it might be time for another order – check this set out:

Is it just me, or are things getting a little busy around here?  The sun is still shining but it seems the lazy, unplanned days of summer frolicing and feasting might be behind me. There seems to be a lot on the calendar this month, just as I expected back when I designed my 2012 calendar.  That is why I chose the “my life is a circus” painting to decorate September.  A little reminder that in the blur of back to work, back to homeschooling, back to soccer, ballet, piano lessons and more….it is ok to let some of those juggling balls drop (do you see them bouncing about on the canvas with joy and abandon? there actually is a doodle of me juggling and dropping balls, as well as related writing, in the under-layers of paint).

Yes, my life is a bit of a circus folks! But it is full of such colour and adventure and I am learning to drop some balls….like when I abandoned all responsibilities for a surprise night with a dear friend last weekend in Victoria.  And wouldn’t you know it, the surprise she gifted me with was a ticket for Cirque de Soleil! This month is certainly a bit of a circus and I am loving it!

What circus acts are you pulling off this month? Don’t forget to let some of those balls drop so you can get in a few more beach days in this gorgeous sunshine!