Blog Archives

'Spocking' the $5 Bills

3/7/2015

With the death of Leonard Nimoy this past week, and being avid Star Trek fans, my kids took note of how people were 'Spocking' their old paper $5 bills, by drawing over the portrait of Wilfred Laurier, and turning him into Spock. So Bonnie, our little artist, decided to give it a try...

"Save enough of me, and prosper"

"The craze for defacing Canadian $5 bills to make former Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier look like Star trek's Spock is not illegal, but it is "inappropriate," says the central bank."

Girls in the Snow

3/5/2015

Now that it's March and finally starting to warm up a bit, the girls wanted to go out in the snow.
So Jan helped them build a snow fort. The puppies came along to play outside too....

A Friendly Polar Bear

3/4/2015

Saturday Rachel brought a toy polar bear for our weekly doll photos.
I couldn't resist taking some photos of her bear with my dolls....

Four Velours

3/3/2015

I've chosen four fabric combinations for four Italian Renaissance costumes, and am wanting to get started. Only problem is, my neck arthritis has really flared up the past few days, so my hands and feet are in a lot of pain. Yesterday I couldn't do anything. So here's hoping today is better.

I've chosen four fancy velours and cut out the overskirts. Next step is to rework the bodice and sleeve patterns and cut those out. These ensembles will also include a petticoat and pantaloons. Women in those days didn't wear underwear, but I make pantaloons anyways, just so the doll's resin bottom is protected from the doll stand. I think most people will gladly sacrifice 'historical accuracy' to keep their doll's butts from getting scratched.

Niagara Falls

3/2/2015

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day - minus five seemed almost balmy compared to how cold it's been the past month. I'd heard so much about how beautiful Niagara Falls was because of all the ice that formed as a result of the extreme cold all of February, so we decided to go see for ourselves. Seems like millions of other people had the same idea, since it was extremely busy. In fact I've never in my whole life seen it so busy there. It was so crowded that we'd have to work our way through the crowds, and hover, ready to jump in when someone moved away from the railing. But what a sight.... The American Falls were almost completely frozen over....

American Falls

I had brought along three dolls, but it was challenging to find a good place to take photos with them, as it was so very crowded. But I wasn't too concerned about people watching, since there was no avoiding it. In fact, as I was ignoring all the people, I heard "look, so cute!" so often, and other people even started taking photos of the dolls.....

Lonnie looking over to the American side

American Falls

Goat Island and edge of Canadian Horseshoe Falls

Massive ice falls, Goat Island

The Canadian Horseshoe Falls were completely open......

Nami & Byuri at the brink of the Horseshoe Falls

The far edge of the Horseshoe Falls looked very impressive.
Everything on our end was covered with a thick layer of ice from the frozen mist...

Nami & Byuri found a spot where they could get a good view....

Broken Lens

3/1/2015

Yesterday I accidentaly dropped my camera (only the second time ever) It was in it's 'strawberry case' but it landed right on the lens. I felt sick, hoping my camera wasn't broken. Then when I tried to take a photo, the camera wouldn't focus or shoot. Then I really felt sick. We were at Niagara Falls to see (and photograph) all the ice everyone had been raving about, and I couldn't believe I just wrecked my camera. I looked at the lens and the UV filter was completely cracked. After screwing off the UV filter and trying again, the camera worked just fine. Whew, what an incredible relief!!

So, there's my very first photography tip for anyone with a real camera - protect all your lenses with a UV or glare filter. I do, and that $30 investment saved my expensive main lens. Today I went straight to Henry's to purchase a new one.

Dinosaurs

3/1/2015

Well, Ringo being the frugal sort, took just a little of his snow-shovelling money
to treat himself to two new little dinosaurs for his dinosaur collection......