It's Friday

Today I'm working in studio on two pieces I've got up on the easel.  One is a small 8"x10" and the other a 24"x 24" .. both landscapes.  Hopefully I'll make some progress today and then around 5pm head over to our local farmers market.  I am so spoiled to be able to walk up the street every Friday and pick up local produce, jams, breads and organic meat.  Our little village does seem to have it all.

Hope you have a great weekend .... see you Monday

An Interesting New Resident and A Trip to The Farmer's Market

I noticed the other day when I was taking out the compost that this guy seems to have taken up residence near my backdoor. Now I'm not someone who dislikes or is fearful of spiders, for some reason they just don't seem to incite the "yuck" factor in me..........for me it's always been about snakes. All that slithering just creeps me out. Not sure what variety of spider this is but if anyone knows I'd be interested to find out. He is absolutely fascinating to watch!

I was at the Farmer's Market on Saturday and always find it to be quite the treat. Nothing tastes quite like local produce. All those vendors setting up their tents at 6:00 a.m. rain or shine. You've got to admire that. Here's a few of my favourites.

This is Mark of Quaker Oats Farm. Hands down he makes the "best" stuffed olives I have ever tasted. I love the sundried tomato ones as well as the garlic. But if you have the garlic you have to make sure whom ever your with has them also......... a little goes a long way. My friend Rob favours the blue cheese stuffed but I'm not a big fan of blue cheese.

Tam makes delicious hand rolled spring rolls as well as garden wraps, sticky rice and curried chicken stew.

Tom is our local honey guy. He owns a small business called "Lavendar Hills Honey". Probably one of the kindest as well as happiest people I know.

Jennifer of "Apple of My Pie" is not only a vendor at the market but also a friend. She and her husband Ford run the booth every Saturday morning. If you don't pick up a pie from her by 10:00 a.m. your out of luck.......she sells out pretty quickly. A testament to her wonderful baking.

Hope however you spent your weekend that you made the most of it.

On A Roll

Reds

Thread on Cotton

Yesterday went better than anticipated so today I'm on a roll. I've decided to tackle our overgrown gardens. Now John was always "the guy" when it came to taking care of all that but he's been unbelievably busy at work these days so the task has fallen upon me. If you saw the backyard you would know it has fallen on me. So this morning I went out and pulled some weeds and did some snipping of deadheads (I think that's a gardening term). There is still a lot to be done but today is a rather wet one and the mosquitoes are out in packs. I feel bad for our rhubarb though as it doesn't always get eaten. Our friend Jennifer who owns "Apple of My Pie" has a booth at the farmers market in Orillia and she sometimes raids the patch so at least in that way someone is enjoying it.

On the art front I've got a couple new galleries I am interested in but the application may have to wait until the end of summer as this one is just filling up too quickly. Check out OENO as it is one of the galleries I'm interested in.