Canada Day New History Images
Monday, July 1, 2013
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Happy Canada Day!
As we Canadians celebrate our Nation's Birthday on Monday - July 1, here are some beautiful Canadians to tide you over until Tuesday!
Have a great Canada Day to all my Canadian Peeps!!
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| Rachel McAdams. Canadian. |
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| Hey Girl, Ryan Gosling is Canadian. ;) |
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| Ryan Reynolds likes his Pizza with Ham and Pineapple, like most Canadians. |
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| Elisha Cuthbert, also Canadian. (FYI if you're not watching Happy Endings, you are MISSING OUT!) |
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| Poutine - fries, smothered in gravy and cheese curds, proudly Canadian. |
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| Maple Syrup, boiled tree sap. Canadian. |
Thursday, June 27, 2013
a quick note
some of you may know that Google Reader is disappearing on July 1. Right now i'm test driving feedly.com and bloglovin.com
so far, there are pros and cons to both - but i'll have to give them more time before i commit to either.
both readers easily grabbed my content from google reader, so that was handy.
if you're going the bloglovin' route:
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
so far, there are pros and cons to both - but i'll have to give them more time before i commit to either.
both readers easily grabbed my content from google reader, so that was handy.
if you're going the bloglovin' route:
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Monday, June 24, 2013
Weekly Challenge #124
Happy Monday everyone!
First of all, as always - a few house keeping items:
Before i get on with my post today, i wanted to share something from Maria Vennekens, our guest blogger last week, in response to your submissions to last week's challenge.
Last weekend, i took the boys to Calgary, Alberta - to visit some friends and go to the zoo. here's some photos.
We did the zoo in the rain, and Chewie was happy to have a reason to wear his new raincoat.
luckily there are enough indoor things to do at the Calgary Zoo that we still managed to have fun.
This was the first time i had taken the boys on a long road trip, so i wanted to do as many fun things as we could, and the day after the zoo i tried to take them to Heritage Park but, literally, the minute we started unpacking the kids from the van the sky opened up and it started pouring. So we decided to go to the nearby mall, which has a carousel in it. They didn't really seem to notice a difference, and they loved the carousel.
Driving home from Calgary, we stopped in Drumheller, AB to check out the DINOSAURS at the Royal Tyrell Museum Chewie had a pretty fun time - and at the end we were all happy to go back home.
It was a pretty good trip and the boys were excellently behaved during the 6.5 hour car ride. It was a good time and i feel better about our upcoming trip next weekend, back to Alberta for my grandmother's memorial service.
Weekly Challenge #124: "We Are Calgary"
While we were in Calgary last weekend, i took the opportunity to drive my family through Bowness - the community in the North West of Calgary where B-rad and i lived during the first few years of our married life together. I showed my family my old house, the hill where B-rad proposed, all our old haunts and we all marveled at how much the community had grown and changed in the almost seven years we've been gone.
It's changed much more, now.
You may have seen some footage of the flooding in Calgary.
It's just heart breaking.
Bowness is the community shown in the beginning of this video. The whole community is just destroyed... and it's not the only one.
The water is on it's way to Saskatchewan - though i'm told the flooding won't be as bad.
As always, when disaster strikes - amidst the heart break you hear these amazing stories of how the people come together, how humanity rises to the occasion. This disaster has it's fair share of stories - one we were following closely was the evacuation and protection of the animals at the zoo, as the zoo is on an island on the Bow River. Luckily all the animals are safe and sound.
This week's challenge is an open challenge - i only ask that you keep Calgary in your hearts this week, and any part of the Earth where people are dealing with incredible struggles and tragedy.
If you would like to donate to the Canadian Red Cross' Fundraising Efforts, you can do so here.
First of all, as always - a few house keeping items:
- If you're NEW here (and there've been a lot of new additions to the party!) I'm working on creating some tutorials to help you out. You can click on the links above or: See "Getting Started" and "Tutorials"
- To see all the past weekly challenges - click the tabs above
- Please grab the button for the Weekly Challenge (on the right sidebar) to display on your blogs! share the fun!
- The limit of submissions to the slideshow is TWO, but please feel free to post as many as you like to your blogs. I will take the first two presented to each challenge.
I know that some of you have told me that the paypal button does not work, and some of you have had no trouble, i'm not sure why it's inconsistent, i've redone the code a few times... If all else fails you can donate to my paypal address which is madam_diva ( a t ) yahoo ( d o t ) com - also to those people who donated this week... THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Before i get on with my post today, i wanted to share something from Maria Vennekens, our guest blogger last week, in response to your submissions to last week's challenge.
I really was surprised by the different approaches to challenge #123. Some of you just started drawing and came up with lines that eventually became new patterns. Others searched for inspirations to create new patterns. All these efforts resulted in beautiful drawings. Almost everyone struggled with the problem where to begin and what to draw. This was also my own experience. After that struggle you end up with a Zentangle or a ZIA.Thank YOU Maria for your challenging challenge!
So my answer to the question “Is it a Zentangle?” would be: The product is a Zentangle but the process to get there was not.
Thank you all for your willingness to try this challenge and share your thoughts about the process.
Maria Vennekens CZT
Last weekend, i took the boys to Calgary, Alberta - to visit some friends and go to the zoo. here's some photos.
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| Both boys loved the monkeys, but who doesn't love monkeys? |
luckily there are enough indoor things to do at the Calgary Zoo that we still managed to have fun.
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| the zoo in the rain |
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| This smiley boy enjoyed the butterfly house. |
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| what rain? |
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| Artoo and Grampapa goin' for a ride |
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| "Mom, i'm not even as tall as his knee!" |
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| so cool |
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| This statue is hollow, and you can climb to the top and look out the T-Rex's mouth |
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| Inside the dino, so excited! |
Weekly Challenge #124: "We Are Calgary"
While we were in Calgary last weekend, i took the opportunity to drive my family through Bowness - the community in the North West of Calgary where B-rad and i lived during the first few years of our married life together. I showed my family my old house, the hill where B-rad proposed, all our old haunts and we all marveled at how much the community had grown and changed in the almost seven years we've been gone.
It's changed much more, now.
You may have seen some footage of the flooding in Calgary.
It's just heart breaking.
Bowness is the community shown in the beginning of this video. The whole community is just destroyed... and it's not the only one.
The water is on it's way to Saskatchewan - though i'm told the flooding won't be as bad.
As always, when disaster strikes - amidst the heart break you hear these amazing stories of how the people come together, how humanity rises to the occasion. This disaster has it's fair share of stories - one we were following closely was the evacuation and protection of the animals at the zoo, as the zoo is on an island on the Bow River. Luckily all the animals are safe and sound.
 |
| I was inspired by Maria Thomas' tile on the cover of The Book of Zentangle - it reminded me of the people coming together like thousands of hugs |
If you would like to donate to the Canadian Red Cross' Fundraising Efforts, you can do so here.
If you have a blog, add the site-specific URL where your tile is posted to the linkey machine below! Don't forget to link back here so that others can join in the fun! (if you don't know how to find this, you can see my half assed tutorial here)
Also, please feel free to come back often and visit the links of those people on the linkey machine - don't forget to leave a comment or feedback, everyone loves feedback. ;)
If you don't have a blog but still want to participate, you can email your tile to me and i will post it here. (please email to weeklychallenge(at)mail(dot)com). I just ask that you put in the subject line: Challenge # ________
The deadline for each weekly challenge is Saturday night so that i can round everyone up by Sunday. What this means is that i will stop adding tiles to the slideshow on Sunday. You're still more than welcome to do the challenges and add your name to the linkey machine.
I will be more diligent with the linkey machine - by editing out the ones that don't work, the doubles, the links that lead to nowhere, the links that go just to blog home pages (this is why we need those site specific urls), and the spam. And there is some spam. PLEASE do not put your *home* page in the linkey machine... please? for me??
Monday, June 17, 2013
Weekly Challenge #123
Happy Monday everyone!
First of all, as always - a few house keeping items:
This week i've managed to hurt my neck some how. It hasn't been fun. My chiropractor is on mat leave, and i haven't managed to get out to find a new one... plus, i'm kinda sketchy about neck adjustments, so i want to make sure i trust the person moving those bones around... So i spent a large portion of this week grumpy and in pain. Some angles are more difficult than others, like, say - looking down at a Zentangle tile. :( sad face.
This weekend B-rad went off to celebrate Fathers' Day with his Dad and his brothers for their annual Boys Only fishing trip. He left bright and early Thursday morning. Me and the little boys took this opportunity to go on a road trip to Calgary, AB. Artoo had an appointment in Calgary on Friday morning, so my parents came along to make a weekend out of it. We had a lot of fun - and went to the Zoo even though it rained. Chewie loved the Zoo. He loved seeing the elephants and the hippos and the giraffe, but both boys loved the Penguins. We finally got home around 9:30 on Sunday night - exhausted, and anxious to sleep in our own beds so i haven't downloaded the pictures off my phone yet.
This week we are lucky to have CZT Maria Vennekens as a guest blogger! We attended the same CZT training course back in 2010, and she has been a regular contributor to the challenge. This post - it's a doozy, i'm not going to lie. I'll be very interested to see your contributions and your thoughts on the process. I have my own thoughts that i'll share later after sitting with this one for a bit.
Weekly Challenge #123: "Guest Post: Is it a Zentangle?"
As a CZT I often get the same question: How creative is the Zentangle method when everyone works with the same given patterns? The answer to that question is not so difficult.
When starting with the Zentangle method you do not need creativity.
In a beginners class your CZT will give you a lot of information about the Zentangle method and also will teach you some patterns. You copy them and have a nice personal piece of work.
Because everyone has a personal way of mark making the Zentangles turn out totally different, even in the first lesson.
Later your creativity makes you play with the patterns.
You alter them, combine them in different ways, or you invent and deconstruct new patterns.
This only is possible trough the creativity that has been developed from the moment you start putting your pen to paper (again).
The answer to another question I got lately is not so obvious; Zentangle plays with patterns but can you do a Zentangle without using existing patterns or tangeleations* of them? My first thought was: of course I can. But when I sat down and tried, I found this is quite a challenge.
I did a tile and a zendala and found myself thinking and planning what, where and how I would draw.
I really missed the Zen part of Zentangle; the repeating strokes that slowly built the pattern without the need of thinking and planning. I think that ‘Zen’ part is essential to the Zentangle method. So, did I make a Zentangle?
The challenge for this week is: can you do a Zentangle without using existing patterns or tangeleations* of them? And what are your experiences while doing so?
*patterns and tangeleations as far as you know
First of all, as always - a few house keeping items:
- If you're NEW here (and there've been a lot of new additions to the party!) I'm working on creating some tutorials to help you out. You can click on the links above or: See "Getting Started" and "Tutorials"
- To see all the past weekly challenges - click the tabs above
- Please grab the button for the Weekly Challenge (on the right sidebar) to display on your blogs! share the fun!
- The limit of submissions to the slideshow is TWO, but please feel free to post as many as you like to your blogs. I will take the first two presented to each challenge.
I know that some of you have told me that the paypal button does not work, and some of you have had no trouble, i'm not sure why it's inconsistent, i've redone the code a few times... If all else fails you can donate to my paypal address which is madam_diva ( a t ) yahoo ( d o t ) com - also to those people who donated this week... THANK YOU SO MUCH.
This week i've managed to hurt my neck some how. It hasn't been fun. My chiropractor is on mat leave, and i haven't managed to get out to find a new one... plus, i'm kinda sketchy about neck adjustments, so i want to make sure i trust the person moving those bones around... So i spent a large portion of this week grumpy and in pain. Some angles are more difficult than others, like, say - looking down at a Zentangle tile. :( sad face.
This weekend B-rad went off to celebrate Fathers' Day with his Dad and his brothers for their annual Boys Only fishing trip. He left bright and early Thursday morning. Me and the little boys took this opportunity to go on a road trip to Calgary, AB. Artoo had an appointment in Calgary on Friday morning, so my parents came along to make a weekend out of it. We had a lot of fun - and went to the Zoo even though it rained. Chewie loved the Zoo. He loved seeing the elephants and the hippos and the giraffe, but both boys loved the Penguins. We finally got home around 9:30 on Sunday night - exhausted, and anxious to sleep in our own beds so i haven't downloaded the pictures off my phone yet.
This week we are lucky to have CZT Maria Vennekens as a guest blogger! We attended the same CZT training course back in 2010, and she has been a regular contributor to the challenge. This post - it's a doozy, i'm not going to lie. I'll be very interested to see your contributions and your thoughts on the process. I have my own thoughts that i'll share later after sitting with this one for a bit.
Weekly Challenge #123: "Guest Post: Is it a Zentangle?"
As a CZT I often get the same question: How creative is the Zentangle method when everyone works with the same given patterns? The answer to that question is not so difficult.
When starting with the Zentangle method you do not need creativity.
In a beginners class your CZT will give you a lot of information about the Zentangle method and also will teach you some patterns. You copy them and have a nice personal piece of work.
Because everyone has a personal way of mark making the Zentangles turn out totally different, even in the first lesson.
Later your creativity makes you play with the patterns.
You alter them, combine them in different ways, or you invent and deconstruct new patterns.
This only is possible trough the creativity that has been developed from the moment you start putting your pen to paper (again).
The answer to another question I got lately is not so obvious; Zentangle plays with patterns but can you do a Zentangle without using existing patterns or tangeleations* of them? My first thought was: of course I can. But when I sat down and tried, I found this is quite a challenge.
 |
| before shading |
 |
| after shading |
I did a tile and a zendala and found myself thinking and planning what, where and how I would draw.
I really missed the Zen part of Zentangle; the repeating strokes that slowly built the pattern without the need of thinking and planning. I think that ‘Zen’ part is essential to the Zentangle method. So, did I make a Zentangle?
The challenge for this week is: can you do a Zentangle without using existing patterns or tangeleations* of them? And what are your experiences while doing so?
*patterns and tangeleations as far as you know
Maria Vennekens is a CZT that lives in the Netherlands. Half of the week she works as a primary school teacher. The rest of her time is divided over her husband, house and garden and growing bonsai trees. Besides that she teaches calligraphy and Zentangle in her own studio and elsewhere in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. She also likes walking, reading and exploring cultures on other continents than Europe. The only wish she has, is to have more hours in a day!
You can get in touch with her trough info@zentangle.eu or take a look at her website (most in Dutch) www.zentangle.eu
You can get in touch with her trough info@zentangle.eu or take a look at her website (most in Dutch) www.zentangle.eu
If you have a blog, add the site-specific URL where your tile is posted to the linkey machine below! Don't forget to link back here so that others can join in the fun! (if you don't know how to find this, you can see my half assed tutorial here)
Also, please feel free to come back often and visit the links of those people on the linkey machine - don't forget to leave a comment or feedback, everyone loves feedback. ;)
If you don't have a blog but still want to participate, you can email your tile to me and i will post it here. (please email to weeklychallenge(at)mail(dot)com). I just ask that you put in the subject line: Challenge # ________
The deadline for each weekly challenge is Saturday night so that i can round everyone up by Sunday. What this means is that i will stop adding tiles to the slideshow on Sunday. You're still more than welcome to do the challenges and add your name to the linkey machine.
I will be more diligent with the linkey machine - by editing out the ones that don't work, the doubles, the links that lead to nowhere, the links that go just to blog home pages (this is why we need those site specific urls), and the spam. And there is some spam. PLEASE do not put your *home* page in the linkey machine... please? for me??
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Weekly Challenge #119 Slideshow
See this week's challenge Here
what a beautiful slideshow!
If you have trouble viewing the slideshow you can see the online album here
what a beautiful slideshow!
If you have trouble viewing the slideshow you can see the online album here
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Weekly Challenge #118 Slideshow
See this week's challenge Here
Thanks for being patient with me, the slideshows are on their way....
if you have trouble viewing the slideshow, you can see the online album here.
Thanks for being patient with me, the slideshows are on their way....
if you have trouble viewing the slideshow, you can see the online album here.
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