T Stands for the Last of the Scarecrows, The First of the Christmas Decor and Second on the Second

    Hi everyone. Happy new week to you. And to everyone who stops by over at Bluebeard's and Elizabeth's blog  for T Day, Happy T day to you.

    Happy December to everyone too. I hope if you celebrated Thanksgiving last week you had a lovely day. 

    Let me start out with my T day drink photo right off the bat. 

    Last Tuesday a friend and I took an annual day out to our neighboring town of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.  We went out to lunch at a local sandwich shop and then did a bit of holiday shopping in some of the little stores intown. Outside one of the stores (which happen to be a wine seller and wine bar) these scarecrows were still out. Ha ha, I think Mr. Scarecrow has had a bit too much wine with his lunch and decided to take a nap. 😏 Mrs. Scarecrow looks like she's having a hard time staying awake too. 

     Many of the stores were already decorated for Christmas and here's a few displays I passed.

     And since T Day is also December 2, I am going to include my  Second on the Second repost. Second on the Second is also over at  Bluebeard's and Elizabeth's blog. Even if this isn't a repost about a drink, I'm choosing this page because I really like it. Plus when I wrote this post on December 1, the forecast was and still is for our first plow-able snowfall on  the second. 

   I made and posted this page  last year and posted on November 12, 2024. If you're interested in how I made this page or the post you can click on the link. 👍

   What else has been going on with me? This past weekend was busy with the Thanksgiving holiday and  starting to get ready for Christmas. We spent the holiday at my sister-in-law's home in Maine, and we also spent some time on Saturday visiting with my daughter and her husband since we didn't see them on Thanksgiving. We also went to the Christmas Tree farm in my town and chopped our tree. If you want to cut your tree at this tree farm you have to go early in the season because as soon as they've sold what can be cut and sustain their business for next year, they close.

 

    Here's my husband  and our tree for this year. We found a tree we liked close to the entrance so it may not look like there's a lot of trees because of the direction I'm facing. (But they do have a lot of trees, and you can't tell from the photo, but it was relatively crowded at 9 AM Friday morning when they first opened for the season.

    And here's the tree, mostly decorated but I still have a few ornaments to put on a few bare spots.  

    One of this week's projects is to get the rest of the decorations up.

    Wishing everyone a happy new month and  week ahead, plus, a Happy T day too.

   

   

Hello December

     Hi everyone. Happy December to you. And welcome meteorological winter too.  I'm not sure I'm really welcoming snow shoveling, but a little bit of winter is always good. 😏

    Since it's a new month, it is now time for a new challenge over at Art Journal Journey.

    But first, I would be remiss if I didn't once again thank everyone who supports Wendy by joining up at AJJ. A Moment in Time was such a lovely theme and everyone rocked it. And I would be even more remiss if I didn't thank November's lovely host Wendy. Thank you Wendy for being a super host and inspiring us with not only a great theme, but some lovely ideas too. ❤

   Since it is a new month, it is time to welcome our new host and her challenge. Once again I want to welcome the talented Sharon who you probably know from her blog That Girl Fritchey. Sharon has picked a topic appropriate  for this month for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. Her theme is 

WINTER.

    Here's my first page. I absolutely love my background. I recently picked up some Kuratake Gansai Tambi Graphite watercolor paints. This little 6 pan set  makes some great dark sky colors. I used the graphite blue for this background. I used a lot of water with the paint, and while it was wet I splattered white acrylic paint into it. I think I captured the feel of some  wet snow coming down, the kind of wet snow that clumps even as it falls. 

   I then used white acrylic paint to paint the snow on the ground and added this fox clear sticker (from a Ciao Bella winter sticker set).

     I felt like the bottom snow needed something so I layered some strips of washi paint. To finish I added this stamped quote from Paper Artsy (I think it's one of Allison Bomber's images-hopefully I'm right about that). 

   I also need to write a reminder about our dreaded rules at AJJ. Please ONLY art journaling is allowed . It can be any kind of art journaling made with any type of media (paint, paper, cloth, wallpaper...these are just a few that pop into my head.) And also, please link up through blogger because not all of our hosts or admins are on all other types of social media. 

   I'm looking forward to more winter journaling, (even if I'm hoping the real winter won't be terribly long this year), and I'm also looking forward to seeing everyone's winter themed art too.

A Moment in Time That Is Moving On

    Hi everyone. Happy weekend.  I'm enjoying a fun but busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend too. What I can't believe is that it is now just about the end of the month, and Monday it will be December. Where in the world is this year going to?  It won't be long until we're writing 2026. But let's NOT rush that!

    I had a great Thanksgiving. I never did take any photos though. I was too busy chatting and eating. 😏 I did take a photo of the pumpkin and pecan with cinnamon frosting cake I made to bring to my sister-in-law's home. I don't think any of us could eat dessert, but the brother-in-law the chef had foil containers for us, and everyone loaded up on desserts to bring home.  Plus he  made so much food we all took foil containers home with another meal.

      I brought home half the cake, which isn't too bad considering the other desserts people brought. One niece brought a chocolate cheesecake, and the chef himself made apple turnovers and a couple of types of cookies.

    Today I want to share my last page for Wendy's Moment in Time challenge at Art Journal Journey. Her challenge runs through tomorrow (Sunday November 30). I'll also  be linking my page  to Gillena's Sunday Smiles once Saturday turns to Sunday.

   

   I thought I'd share my last autumn themed page since meteorological winter starts on Monday, December 1. I thought the black leaf represents how this season is ending.  Even though there are many moments in autumn, I think if you think of autumn as a single season it works for a moment in time-maybe?

    I used a scrap of paper from which I'd die cut an alphabet as my background and added it over a page colored mostly yellow. Then I used lots of scraps off my work table to create the rest of the background. I punched out the circles, stamped the words and then used a black Sharpie followed by a white pen to put the dots around the edges. I glued these circles down and then used a small flat backed pearl craft supply on the top. And that's all there is. 

     Thank you Wendy for hosting for us again at AJJ. And thank you everyone who joined in. The moment for this month did fly by, but there was some amazing art. ❤

    That's about all that's new with me. Today my husband and I are off to visit with my daughter and her husband since they spent the holiday with his family. We'll be having lunch, BUT not a big turkey dinner.  😉.

   

   

Happy Thanksgiving

     Hi everyone. Today I have a short post. I just want to wish everyone who celebrates today a 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

    These turkeys that visit my yard are very lucky not to be on someone's table. 😉 Of course it is not turkey hunting season, and you can't just go and shoot them. Every time they show up I count them and there are still 13, so I guess they haven't been caught by a bobcat, coyote or anything else.

I bet those turkeys are glad they're not in these next couple of images I found online.

       I'm thankful for many things in my life (but I won't bore you with here, especially if you have cooking to do) 😀, and one of them is for you my dear blog readers.

    Whether you're a wild bird person, a Snoopy Fan or prefer Norman Rockwell, I hope you have a wonderful day. 

 

 

Back to Nova Scotia-The Bog

   Hi everyone. Happy Wednesday. If you're celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, are you busy with any prep? I’ve been trying to figure out what to make for a dessert.   I'm heading with my husband to Maine to his sister's house as we've been doing for the last few years. The best thing is is that my sister-in-law is married to a chef, so barring some crisis, dinner will be delicious. 😉

    Today I am going to share a few more photos from this past September's  trip to Nova Scotia. Last Friday I shared a few photos from our visit to Cape Breton Highlands National Park. ( That post is here if you are interested: Cape Breton Highlands National Park-part 1.) I wasn't quite sure how to write that park post, so I just shared the photos in random order. 

    Yes we did get lucky with the sunshine the day we visited the park, especially seeing the next 2 days while we were on Cape Breton Island it was cloudy and even a bit chilly. However, some of the trails we thought about walking in the park were closed. I'm not sure if it was because we arrived a bit late at these trail heads (well a bit late being it was in the 11 AM ballpark) and the maximum numbers of walkers/hikers had been reached for the day,  or if they were closed because of the drought and  the needed environmental protection from that.   Or maybe there were other reasons. However we did take a few short walks on open trails. One I found interesting, (although it was quite short) was a bog trail.

If you're not familiar with bogs, they are characterized by wet spongy ground. The wet is sometimes not even visible from the surface, and if that water is covered by several meters of growth you may be able to walk on the top of the bog and feel not squishy but not solid ground beneath your feet.

   This bog walk had pockets of exposed water and much of it had a wooden boardwalk to walk on.

   Bogs are environmentally important because they can control the flow of water in an area by holding it like a giant sponge and even purifying it in that process. They can also absorb excess carbon from the atmosphere and store it. Of course they also create an environment for some plants and a place for many animals to live or feed in. 

   I believe  (although I may be wrong as I'm trying to tell from my photo) the plant in this next photo is of a plant commonly known as Arctic Cotton. I saw a lot of type of flower on one of my trips to Iceland.

    Because bogs tend to be acidic, often specialized types of plants grow there. I definitely recognized all these next flowers though. I saw a lot of them when we hiked  the Tablelands in Gross Morne National Park in Newfoundland back 2018. These are the flowers on the purple pitcher plant. 

Here's a diagram that was on a sign in the park. 

Can you see the flowers scattered around the bog in this next photo?

    This walk might have been short, but it was an interesting one. I hope you enjoyed the views too. 

    For those of you in the US, I hope you have a nice Thanksgiving Day tomorrow. And for everyone, have a nice rest of your week. 

Time for a New Challenge

     Hi everyone. It's Tuesday,  and time once again for a new challenge at Try It on Tuesday. Thank you everyone who joined our Get Ready For Christmas challenge. There were lots of fun holiday designs, and I'll have a tough time picking my top 5 for certain. 😀

     Our latest challenge which runs for the next 2 weeks is SNOWFLAKES.

   I was (well still am) having fun playing with all my Christmas supplies, so my page today may not feel cold or be the snowiest of pages. You know that saying "If Kisses were snowflakes I'd send you a blizzard...". Well my mind twisted that all around, and I was thinking about how fun it would be if Christmas ornaments could fall like snowflakes (without breaking of course)  and magically decorate a tree. I'm not sure how my brain went from snowflake kisses to Christmas ornaments, but it illogically did. 😉

   I made my page in my ledger journal. The background is inked red and then I double stamped an Arden background image twice across the middle.  All the ornaments are an old Hero Arts image that I stamped, colored and also added a bit of glitter to. The tree is a punch out piece from older set from 49 and Market. I die cut the snow flakes using a couple of older dies and then lined them up across the page. The bunny is from a Ciao Bella ephemera book. Then I added a couple of other punch out images, a couple of stamped postmarks and finally a quote from a set of scrapbooking quotes. I outlined the quote so it would stand out.

   If you're looking for some other snow art ideas check out the other pieces from the design team. As always, our challenge runs for the next 2 weeks.

    I'm also going to link up my page to Wendy's Moment in Time challenge at Art Journal Journey. Christmas is many moments in time, and so are the times on the postage cancellations. The challenge at Art Journal Journey runs through this upcoming Sunday and is only open to art journal page. 

    I hope you are inspired by snow and join us at Try It On Tuesday with your snowy art. 

T Stands for Last Week's Chores

    Hi everyone. Happy new week to you. And hello to everyone who stops by  Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog for T.

    Last week I had a much needed "quiet" week without any planned outings. Besides some art and reading time (❤), I had some "chores" I've been wanting or needing to get done. Some of them I'd been putting off for awhile too. 

     I haven't really decorated for Christmas, but I did put up my winter tree in the dining room.  It's in a rather dark corner  and with these short days, the tree really adds some light. I keep this tree up until late January or early February until the days start seeming longer so I don't really think of it as a Christmas tree.

This second photo makes it look like there's no light on the bottom, but there is.

    I also managed to do some more cleaning out. I had donated 3 bags of art supplies earlier this month when I did an art supply pick up and clean. This past week I organized my closet  and switched over from my summer to my winter clothes. While doing that I cleaned out another 2 bags of clothes to donate.  😀 

      

   And after a windy start to last week, it finally was still enough that I could do some fall leaf cleaning. I don't really care if I get all the leaves cleaned up, but living in an area surrounded by oak trees means I'd be knee deep in leaves come spring if I just left them.  Plus in some places (if we don't clear them) they clog the snowblower and get really slippery to walk on. I'd rather not fall if at all possible. 

   I usually rake them out for the garden and then take the leaf blower to get them off into the woods. The problem with the leaf blower is that the battery is heavy and by the time I get done (and go through a few batteries) my dominant arm is pretty sore for awhile.

    It seems to me like I do a lot of leaf cleaning, but on most of my property I don't clean them. Mainly it's just in  a couple of my gardens, the decks and along the driveway. The wind (luckily) blows most of them off of the lawn, and the rest of the property is just left natural so the leaves can remain.

    Luckily that chore was finished on Sunday afternoon because that evening we had a dusting of snow. 

     I've almost completed my November chore list. Not that I made an actual list, but the list I had in my head. I'll have this same list come April (minus the winter tree) when it's time to switch the clothes from winter to summer and when the snow melts and the leaves need to be raked once again. 😏

   Before the Sunday evening flurries we had our first hard frosts last week. My roses that were still in bloom (on my climbing rose bush) a couple of weeks ago went from looking like this

to looking like this.

    I need a photo for T also. I did a bit of baking last week. I made some cranberry orange muffins which ended up tasting more like  cranberry orange scones (not the super hard kind of scones, but real scones). I guess these would be called scuffins. I'm not sure that's an actual word, but if not, it is now. 😏

    I also made some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I had one for a snack the day I made them and I included my Diet Coke with it in the photo for T this week.

   That's it for me. If you're in the US, I wish you a happy Thanksgiving this Thursday, and to everyone, now matter where you live, have a great T day and week ahead too. 

Happy Weekend

     Hi everyone. Happy Sunday. I'm having a much quieter weekend than last weekend (my post about it here T Stands for A Busy Weekend), however it is just as exciting since my husband finally got his new truck. You may have read about the accident we had in his old one back in September when an out of control motorcycle slammed into the front of that truck. Who would think that a motorcycle could total a pick up truck? Well it did, and finally he's got a new one. He's a happy guy now, except  I know it won't take him long to start complaining about car payments. 😏  That's especially true since his old truck had low mileage, was fully paid for and was still running great. He  hadn't even been thinking about a new truck until he accident happened. 

    Life does throw curve balls at you, doesn't it?

   Today I have a journal page for Wendy's A Moment in Time challenge at Art Journal Journey. I am also linking  up to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

    There is something about morning that I love, even when it takes me a bit to get moving like these cold days.  My page celebrates those moments when I wake up,  look out the window and the sun is out. 

     I used my ledger journal, and this time I covered the page with a Gelli printed piece of deli paper. I then added the fussy cut window. The shutters/flower box were already blue, but I darkened them with a marker,  as well as making the curtains darker and adding the yellow watercolored background to show the rising sun in the window opening. 

    I hand drew, colored and fussy cut the clouds,  and I used acrylic paint for the area around the sun sticker. Below the window I also added a die cut key and the quote, which was my inspiration for the page in general. It's an old Stamper's Anonymous quote from well before the days when they only made stamps from the Ranger designers.

   And how about a few sunny morning (but not early morning) photos from the walk I took the other day. I was chilly, but I hadn't gone for a walk for a few days so I enjoyed it.

You can see I had my most reliable walking buddies with me for it too. 😏

  I was especially happy with Pete who I left unleashed. A doe/female deer ran right out of the woods in front of us. I told Pete to stay with me, and he did. It's never a good time to let your dog run deer, but right now it is hunting season, and I wouldn't want him to be shot.  I'm sure that's one reason why the deer was up near the homes along the lake and not in the woods. They definitely know where the hunters are and where they aren't. 

    That's all for me. Have a super rest of your weekend and also  start to the new week ahead. 

Back to Nova Scotia

    Hi everyone. Happy Friday. Today I'm joining Nicole for Friday Face Off, and I'm also joining Gillena for her Friday Lunch Break. I'm taking you back to Nova Scotia again, and this time we're spending some time in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.   

   If you're not familiar with the park's location, you can see where it's located on the map below. 

   The park is a really beautiful place,  and we spent a full day there. In fact, the sweeping views are almost hard to photograph and really capture the grandeur. Rather than getting too detailed, let me just share some various photos in  random order, and you can decide for yourself what you think.

  

      Let me finish today's photos with my face for Face-Off. I gave the park a 2 thumbs up, as you can see.

   I have some more park photos  to come in another post. 

   Have a great Friday and start to your weekend.