Settled in the Maritimes of Canada, surrounded by the forest and Acadian Mountain Chain, I live a simple life of gratitude. This blog is a journal of my art, food, furkids, garden, home, my life and my thoughts. Thanks for reading!
Welcome my Friends, to Thursday's Art Date (posted on Wednesdays)!! 😊😊 Today our theme is Yellow!! Following the prompt is optional! Please feel free to share any of your art, we would love to see it! ☺
Tweety Bird is looking very cute dressed as a daisy!
Just a note on comments! Blogger sometimes hides comments in Spam. If you don't specifically look for them, you won't find them. The other day I found comments in my Spam folder from people who've been commenting on my blog for years.
It's been a rough week for me...Raven's brace is giving her a friction sore...I may have to travel to Nova Scotia to the orthotics company that made her brace to have her properly fitted. I had to do monthly shopping too and that wore me out! I'm also trying to arrange insulating my basement...too much contact with people drains my energy!
I decided to do a little Art Therapy video with the lemons for my YouTube channel, Rain Frances Art, it was SO relaxing!
I had a nice Greek dinner last week! When I find fresh pita bread, we eat that right away! We had tzaziki sauce, a tomato/and mushroom mix, and some Greek Potatoes!
I also made some Slow Cooked Vegetarian Chili - very good with a little shredded Cheddar and some sour cream! You may notice some sliced baguette on my plate...
I just wanted to promote one of my friend's blogs. Leigh, as many of us know her on her homesteading blog, 5 Acres and a Dream, also has a photography blog! She has a series called A Year With My Camera, here's what Leigh says about it:
"A Year With My Camera is a beginners photography course, designed to teach beginners how to use their camera's manual controls to become better photographers."
It's a great course for beginners, please check it out!
That's all for now folks! Please check out the link widget below for more artistic creations! See you soon!!! 💗 💗
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Upcoming Art Dates For Rain's Thursday Art Date: click on the links below for a description of the prompt and inspiring images!
This art date is all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! You can follow the weekly themes or post any art you like! 🎨
Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! Please revisit to make sure you don't miss those who join in a little late! All spam and non-related links will be removed! The link gadget will be available until the following Wednesday!
Welcome my Friends, to Thursday's Art Date (posted on Wednesdays)!! 😊😊 Today our theme is PINK! I decided to draw Baby Bugs Bunny today with rosy pink cheeks! I think I captured his innocence before he decided to become a total stinker! I'm joining in with Nicole's FFO (Friday Face-Off) post! I'll also be joining Gillena's Art For Fun Friday post!
Following the prompt is optional! Please feel free to share any of your art, we would love to see it! 😊
My friends, meet Raven! She is a 5-year old Mountain Dog/Lab mix as far as we all can figure. Bernese or Swiss Mountain Dog? We think Swiss. Mixed with a Black Lab or a Golden Retriever...she is so sweet, and very timid.
She is the newest addition to our little fur family! I saw Raven's adoption ad in April and applied to adopt her. She'd already been "spoken for" and I was unbelievably a little crushed. She reminded me SO MUCH of my late Marlene and in my heart I knew she was meant for us.
Raven has an old leg injury and has developed osteoarthritis in her left hind leg. She needed a brace to help her walk, so the shelter kept her until they could raise the funds to fit her with the brace. She was at the shelter for 4 months.
She went for leg castings at the beginning of May. She received her brace two weeks ago. I've been following her story on FB and calling once in a while to see how she was doing because I truly felt such a connection with her.
On May 25th I got a call from the shelter asking if I was still interested. Apparently the lady who was going to adopt her opted out - possibly from the knowledge that Raven needed so much care...and that there was a chance her good leg would also fail her one day and she'd need a brace for her right leg. Of course, I accepted!
Jack and I drove the 4 hours to the Grand Falls NB shelter to pick her up and they got along amazingly! Getting the brace on was a challenge at first, but now I've got it down pat! Raven loves to walk and I'm so thankful the shelter was able to raise the funds to help her!
She's been home with us now for 5 days and it's like she was always here! We are thrilled! Here's a little video of her walking with Jack!
And as you can imagine, it's been all about Raven for the last week! But I did find time to sneak in some art, videos and food!
On the way to the shelter, just a few minutes from home, there was a moose on the road. It was the size of a horse but didn't have antlers. It looked like a female.
I also have a new video for my Rain Frances Art For Kids YouTube Channel, How To Draw A Hamburger!
I've harvested all of the asparagus I can for the season, and the latest dish is an Asparagus and Fontina Tart. This is very good with Homemade Puff Pastry! (Cheddar works well for this too!)
Speaking of pastry, I made some Homemade Croissants (also called crescent rolls or butterhorns!). These are very easy to make, they just take a commitment of time. They certainly don't stick around long!
Fresh tomato pasta with homemade garlic bread. I used my No Knead Bread and added Parmesan cheese and broiled, then sprinkled with fresh parsley. Very delicious! I'm joining in with Kathy's monthly Food Wednesdays post! The first Wednesday of every month, we join together and share foodie photos, recipes and ideas! Mark your calendars and join in!! ♥
That's all for now folks! Please check out the link widget below for more artistic creations! See you soon!!! 💗 💗
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Upcoming Art Dates For Rain's Thursday Art Date: click on the links below for a description of the prompt and inspiring images!
This art date is all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! You can follow the weekly themes or post any art you like! 🎨
Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! Please revisit to make sure you don't miss those who join in a little late! All spam and non-related links will be removed! The link gadget will be available until the following Wednesday!
Welcome my Friends, to Thursday's Art Date (posted on Wednesdays)!! 😊😊 Today our theme is May Flowers - Flowers Blooming! Flowers sure are blooming here in rural New Brunswick! Bugs Bunny is doing a little plein air painting in the flower garden today! The prompt is optional! Please share your art! ♥
May 28 Update: I've been visiting blogs and commenting this morning, but got that error message again saying I've reached my limit of comments allowed, try again tomorrow. So please bear with me! I'll be by soon! I guess I'll have to do a little each day!!♥
On Friday I'll be joining our friend Nicole's Friday Face Off! Every Friday she hosts Friday Face Off on her blog, where you're encouraged to show off your art face! This is from Nicole's blog: "Only one rule, your post hast to feature a face, human, alien, or animal. It can be in any art medium." Please join in on the fun! ☺ I'll also be joining Gillena's Art For Fun Friday! Let's share our art! ♥
I did some art therapy this week too. Besides October, May is probably the busiest month for me. There just seems to be so much that needs to get done outdoors that I find myself overwhelmed at times. This was a very relaxing watercolor painting that I did...I took my time and didn't worry too much about the end result.
More art! I put together a #shorts video of me drawing Yosemite Sam! (Shorts are vertical videos that are less than a minute!)
I'm trying to come up with a cartoon "me" for introduction videos...this is what I've got so far. It was surprisingly LONG to get this drawn! I'm trying to learn animation too...it's a bit over my head though. (That oval thing I'm holding will hopefully end up being a pizza!)
My best student, Lily, followed along with my How To Draw A Blue Whale lesson on my Rain Frances Art For Kids YouTube Channel! She's doing SO well!! For those who have commented on Lily's drawings and paintings in past posts, THANK YOU!! I've forwarded all of those comments to her mom - I think it's so important to encourage and validate kids who do beautiful and creative art! ♥♥
I'm so pleased that I was able to harvest a few dozen sprigs of asparagus over the last week! I left 2/3 of the sprigs in the bed to encourage strong and solid root formation! But as of next year, THEY ARE ALL MINE!!!! Oooh can't wait! ☺
Our favourite asparagus dish is to make some Crepes, sprinkle in a little Cheddar cheese, place some steamed asparagus inside, roll them up and bake them until the cheese is all melted! I'm joining in on Kathy's Food Wednesday post today! We share foodie photos, recipes and ideas, it's a lot of fun if you'd like to join in!
Remember that fresh Upland Sandpiper who was flirting with me? I found him! And her! There are two of them living in the blueberry fields across the road!
Potatoes and raspberries! Here's my latest gardening video I did for Rain's Kitchen and Garden YouTube Channel! I got my potatoes planted in my raised bed; and 3 raspberry plants planted in another raised bed. I'm so happy that is done, it's hard to be out there with the black flies!
My three little furries are all doing well! ♥♥♥ Baby Oscar's ear infection is cured....Jack is just Jack - my little sunshine...and Dana is doing well on his meds. Did I mention this? Dana the tabby cat's behaviour started to take a nose dive when his lifelong friend Leo passed away last November. He'd been attacking Baby Oscar and Jack, incessantly meowing and "barbering" (over-grooming). He was grieving poor baby...but his behaviour was really disrupting the family. We took him to the vet for tests, he's in good health - so he's on an anti-depressant for cats - yes, that's what you read. At first I wasn't too excited about it, but it's DOING WONDERS for him. He's calm, affectionate and sweet again. ♥
I know I haven't been commenting much lately but I am following your blogs and visiting to see what you're all up to! ♥ The baguette video is recorded and is in line for editing! This week I'm transplanting most of my seedlings and planting more seeds into the ground and my raised beds! Monthly shopping just did NOT happen this week and we are bare bones for food, I'll have to force myself to get this done next week...just means I get to be more creative in the kitchen! ☺ June will be a fun month for the art date if you want to follow the prompts, it's all about:
COLOUR!!!
That's all for now folks! Please check out the link widget below for more artistic creations! See you soon!!! 💗 💗
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Upcoming Art Dates For Rain's Thursday Art Date: click on the links below for a description of the prompt and inspiring images!
June 2nd: Colourful June: Pink June 9th: Colourful June: Yellow June 16th: Colourful June: Red June 23rd: Colourful June: Purple June 30th: Colourful June: Silver and Gold
This art date is all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! You can follow the weekly themes or post any art you like! 🎨
Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! Please revisit to make sure you don't miss those who join in a little late! All spam and non-related links will be removed! The link gadget will be available until the following Wednesday!
Welcome my Friends, to Thursday's Art Date (posted on Wednesdays)!! 😊😊 Today our theme is May Flowers - Pollination! Following the prompt is optional! Please feel free to share any of your art, we would love to see it! ☺
Tweety Bird is happily spreading pollen to the sunflower patch that Granny planted for him 2 weeks ago! He's eager to snack on those sunflower seeds!
I'm so happy to say I've spotted several Hummingbirds at my feeders lately! I caught what I think is a male Ruby Throated Hummingbird, hovering and feeding. It's 14 seconds long, if any of my bird-loving friends would let me know if it's a male, I'd appreciate it! I slowed down the first part of the video while he was hovering!
This is my watercolor Hummingbird painting. I really enjoyed doing this painting!
We splurged and bought a screen house! I can't express how happy I am! We don't have the budget to build a screened-in deck for a few years, so this is just perfect! It's in the backyard and faces the bird feeders and the backwoods! Black flies, deer flies and mosquitoes...do your worst!!! ☺
Speaking of birds, you will likely laugh at this! While I was walking Jack on the blueberry field trail, I kept hearing a wolf whistle. For those of you who don't know what a wolf whistle is; it's the whistle that (usually) men make when they see a pretty woman. (Though I've been known to spurt out a good wolf whistle when I sees what I likes lol!) 😁 So here I am thinking there is some creep in the woods laying it on thick lol...after some research I found out that it was an Upland Sandpiper. I drew this in ink and graphite - a quick doodle.
This isn't my video, but I've embedded it so you can hear that wolf whistle...tell me ladies...if you'd never heard an Upland Sandpiper wouldn't you have thought the same thing??? ☺☺ Maybe my ego needed a little stroking lol!
Food, glorious food! I made the baguettes again and I think I have the recipe right. Next time I make them I'll record myself for a video. We had them with Smoked Cheddar and Apple Cider Fondue, very delicious! I'm linking up with Kathy's Food Wednesdays - why not check it out? Lots of great foodie ideas! ☺
Baked Fettuccine. I boil the pasta, heat up some of my home-canned spaghetti sauce, top it with Parm and Cheddar - and it goes under the broiler until the cheese is nice and brown! We had the leftover baguettes with this pasta dish! ☺
I tried a new recipe this week, Veggie Pot Pies! I usually make my pot pies in one big dish, but decided to try them in individual pans. This was my first time using a hot water crust pastry recipe and I'm so glad I tried it! It was a learning curve, but I plan to try this method again! It's somehow really healing for my hands to knead warm pastry dough!!
I had a spinach salad as a side and Alex had steamed broccoli! Oh they were so good!
Lemon pie with graham cracker crust. So delicious! I used a boxed pie filling, the brand is Shirriff's. I just followed the directions on the box and it turned out really yummy. It's funny, I feel like I'm transitioning from all-scratch baking to sometimes boxed/prepared baking. Maybe I'm just too busy these days?
That's all for now folks! Please check out the link widget below for more artistic creations! See you soon!!! 💗 💗
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Upcoming Art Dates For Rain's Thursday Art Date: click on the links below for a description of the prompt and inspiring images!
This art date is all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! You can follow the weekly themes or post any art you like! 🎨
Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! Please revisit to make sure you don't miss those who join in a little late! All spam and non-related links will be removed! The link gadget will be available until the following Wednesday!
Welcome my Friends, to Thursday's Art Date (posted on Wednesdays)!! 😊😊 Today our theme is May Flowers - Sun and Water! Following the prompt is optional! Please feel free to share any of your art, we would love to see it! ☺
Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny are spoiled rotten aren't they? I'd love to live their lives of luxury in the Sun and Water!! I've been busy this week with videos for the YouTube Channels!
In the other video, How To Fertilize Your Garden, I talk about the conifer trees we planted last fall and what I'm using as fertilizer to help them thrive.
On Rain Frances Art For Kids, I'm sharing a new video: How To Draw A Green Pepper!! Thanks to everyone for their support on this channel, I've gotten some great feedback and the channel is slowly growing!
Here is Lily, a wonderful young artist, proudly showing her beautiful starry sky painting! She followed along with my painting lesson "How To Paint A Starry Sky"!
That was part one of the video; this is Lily showing her painting from part two! Way to go Lily! ♥
Here's my latest #shorts video for Rain Frances Art. It's about 45 seconds, I'm drawing the Road Runner with some funky 60's music in the background!
I'm so excited, my asparagus is starting to pop up!! I planted roots in the spring of 2020. When you plant asparagus roots, you need to leave them be for 2 years. The third year (which is now!!!), you can harvest about 1/3 of them (so I've read). This will help them really develop a good root system. After the 3rd year, you can harvest them all and they should come back for 10 years or more! Nicole my friend...it IS worth the wait if you have the space!!!
I put up my Hummingbird feeders this week. Cloudia, Jeanie, Nancy, David, Phil, Irma, Eileen, Jenn, Tom, Diane, Monica, Carol, Traude, Bill, Sallie and all of my bird-loving pals will be proud of me, I've been keeping an eye on the migration map! There was a Ruby Throated sighting in a town about an hour away from me just this week, so I'm hoping they'll be back soon to visit my feeders!
On the food front....I will try not to drool as I type this....I MADE THE BAGUETTES! Oh dear...those of you who follow me on Instagram saw this already! They turned out amazing! We had them with my Homemade Camembert Cheese and it was such a delight! PS: David...my arteries thank you, but wanted to let you know that Rain eats plenty of leafy veggies and drinks her fair share of red wine to help with those cheesy fats! 😁
Here's a 15-second video to show you the crunchy outside and the soft, fluffy inside!!! Those pans were definitely worth it. I will share the recipe in the next few weeks, I need to tweak it just a wee bit and my intent is to film myself making them for a foodie video!
I'm linking up with Kathy's Food Wednesdays this week! Why not join in? We share foodie posts and recipes!!! ☺ It's great for new ideas! Here's what I call my pizza-fish-soup. I just put a fillet of white fish in foil (this is Tilapia I think), top it with homemade Pizza Sauce and some Parmesan cheese and bake it in the foil at 450 F for about 20-30 minutes. The Parm mixes with the sauce to make it a nice creamy type of broth. I topped this with a bit of Mozzarella, very delicious!
Thanks for all of your lovely comments on this blog, on YouTube and on Instagram!!! ♥♥ Let me know in the comments what you're all up to! Any gardening? Baking? Spring has sprung here in the Northern Hemisphere!!
That's all for now folks! Please check out the link widget below for more artistic creations! See you soon!!! 💗 💗
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Upcoming Art Dates For Rain's Thursday Art Date: click on the links below for a description of the prompt and inspiring images!
This art date is all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! You can follow the weekly themes or post any art you like! 🎨
Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! Please revisit to make sure you don't miss those who join in a little late! All spam and non-related links will be removed! The link gadget will be available until the following Wednesday!
