a tour of the art cave...

this fabulous space was transformed by my genius dad from a sort of non-space -- not really a room, not really an anything -- in between the laundry room and B's office in the basement. Masterminded by my design-on-a-dime mom we added some shelves and a purpose and Hey Presto! -- we have a dedicated art-space. which is great for containing mess and supplies but most of all it gives WORTH to the pursuit of all things Art....

both kids (mostly Savannah) and i spend time in here doing various and assorted things  following a recent and massive decluttering we have moved things around to make more room to work and better use of our shelf space. in the aftermath of this New and Improved space, i felt compelled to add some impromptu signage...

the only Rules of the art cave are -- don't leave your brushes to dry and get crispy and try not to waste paint. but sometimes, you do have extra paint...thusly, you paint on the wall....

deliciously naughty of us, no?

through the key-hole #2 ~ corner bookshelf view ~

Once again, inspired by the lovely Mon over at Holistic Mama...the second in a series of glimpses into *real* houses...*real* people....what I love very much about this little meme, is that the aim is authenticity and not something posed or contrived.  Which goes a long way in this den of chronic catastrophe....

It wasn't easy choosing which corner to photograph. We have numerous bookshelves scattered around the house, and more than a few baskets stuffed full in impromptu reading areas. I chose this one simply because it was closest to where I keep the camera.  :)

Our shelves hold more than books...in this case, a candle, a pen/pencil holder, a bag of postcards and the aftercare instructions from True Grit Tattoos and Piercing. Underneath that, I think are some notecards that Ducks Unlimited sent me in the ill-advised attempt to gain my financial support.

Once upon a time I had my books organized in a vague system of authors and genres.  That was two shelf-movings ago and before Sebastian became fond of taking them all off and putting them back on again.

garden views...

there has been much activity in our little patch -- salvage efforts from the combined pillage of squirrels and Emma-dog....I think I've got it sorted.

the plants that survived the winter (and Emma-dog) were placed in pots and then the soil covered with river rocks...sort of Zen garden meets dog-proofing....

 our little evergreen seedling now has it's own pot...and was promptly dug up by a squirrel...*sigh*...but I put it back in and it seems to be none the worse for wear.

there's something about the time spent in hard labour of a garden that brings a measure of peace to everything else...

gifts in the garden

a gift of garden knick-knacketry from Grandma....

a gift of colour from M....

...and a gift of the wind from Mother Nature...a wee evergreen that sprouted on the edge of a not-doing-anything-else pot.

through the key-hole #1 ~ sink view ~

Inspired by the lovely Mon over at Holistic Mama....this is the first in the 'through the key-hole' series. 

Not a terribly inspiring view in and of itself...my fave sink-view was my old house in Guelph where I could wash dishes and look out into the garden. Any future, permanent-type homestead will be judged very seriously on it's sink view, I can assure you.  Nonetheless, this one is made interesting by how it represents *us*....drying paintbrushes, a plastic scorpion, tea-balls and reusable bags; and, taking the hideous off the speckled backsplash, on the wall to meditate upon is a verse, a mantra for life and a beloved picture taken from my Nanna's house in England after she passed. 

Memories, philosophies for life and a love of art woven into the fabric of daily life.....magic in the mundane. Kind of inspiring after all.

Peace & legos, jam sandwiches & cups of tea...

I'm the first to admit that life around our little patch is not all sunshine and roses...theres' that whole misconception that just because two siblings are close in age that they'll automatically be best chums {which, in a fit of starry-eyed foolishness I bought into}. So yeah, our two Shinies fight a lot....less than they used to...but they do fight. I've come to the conclusion that it's a grand karmic punishment for my own wretched big sisterness...but that's a whole other navel-gazing session.

SO...when peace does reign in our house, 'tis a lovely thing.....

Peace comes in the form of legos and pattern blocks and Candyland strewn around the floor of the Bat Cave....with Snowbell in the thick of things...naturally.

Of course, there's the ceremonial breaking of bread...which in this case are jam sandwiches -- all the rage around here of late, they just can't get enough of 'em....

Behold...the fruits of their labours.....{it's two horses attached to a cart, in case you couldn't tell}. Okay, so that was Savannah's contribution, Sebastian is all about building high towers. There were other constructions but they fell to ruin as part of some complex scenario involving dinosaurs and a remote-controlled tarantula taking over the world....

And what does the mama do when all is quiet and Zen?  Why this....

Ah....sweet serenity....

Weiner love....

Sometimes, a little sausage-dog love, is all a girl needs when she's feelin' blue....

The Great Purge...

A massive decluttering process underway in Savannah's room. This child's space was pretty much a Storehouse of Crap.....well, some of it was crap...most of it was toys-not-played-with or boxes and bags of bits-and-pieces. After much discussion and pondering, a collaborative effort ensued whereby we made three piles -- garbage (thankfully, not much of that), free-cycling (a veritable mountain of Joy to be passed on) and Precious Memories (Savannah's term) -- which were packed in that green tote you can see in the photo. A Divine decluttering indeed.



Our neighbour-friends getting first dibs on the freecycle stuff - -they're all dressed in their finery for Eid ul-Fitr celebrations....how apropos that we are also celebrating the spirit of sharing and Abundance.

And what it looks like now....a clear space..uncluttered and ready to play in. *sigh* Bliss.

Random Garden Snaps

The sun came out last week, so I ran outside and took some pictures....

From the garden...

A few shots from earlier this week...before the Gloom set in....


The sage is flowering....




Savnnah's strawberry plant....all set to ripen....which they did - only to be eaten by *something* during the Gloom when we didn't go out much....

The lemon balm jungle...which has gifted me with some delicious tea...

The fountain -- finally settled in and working on growing some Life around it....

The sun came out again, briefly, yesterday but it rained again last night....here's hoping for some clear skies for our Solstice celebrations....

Have yourself a Shiny one!

Oh, the places we go....

Savannah announced yesterday that reading is "the most important thing". I tend to agree. Then again, I'm a bit biased as I have an uncontrolled addiction to books. Seriously, an intervention may be required at some point.

So we decided to take a tour of the bookish places in our house...and, it seems, there are many...

Even here... a couple of books squashed between the shelf and printer on our computer desk. No idea why they're there..likely because one of them I was using for an online course and the other two as handy reference guides - the computer desk not being too terribly far from the kitchen...

Then of course there's the one shelf next to the computer....which is stuffed to capacity...overflowing even...

Those 'in-progress'....(I'm on my way out to drink tea and read in the garden when I'm done with this)...

The basket under the TV...it also overfloweth.....

The shelf in *my* space...these volumes are 'in-between shelves' at the moment await the purchase of an additional shelf to complete *my* space (a modest corner of the bedroom for my arting and writing pursuits)

The stack on my side of the bed...reads in-progress and the to-be-read pile...

The shelf in Savannah's room...we divided up the big shelf from the Bat Cave to lessen its load and she claimed some volumes for her own...

The basket beside her bed.....a bit empty-ish now as she's gone off the bedtime story routine...

Ah...the Bat Cave Collection...Sebastian's I Spy books...a perennial favourite

A beloved set borrowed from Cousin K....

The Bat Cave shelf...recently lightened to accomodate another attempt to simplify and organize our obscenely vast toy collection...

Sebastian's box o' books and his favourite reading chair....bucket o' dinosaurs within arms reach should the urge to act out a scene overwhelm him...

Yes, I'd say reading is mighty important....in our little family, anyway...