A Perfect Day for Skunks

Yesterday, I finished the above piece titled "Murphy's Perfect Day". As I hung it up in the studio last night, I realized that I had had a perfect day as well. I woke at 6am and went right to it....got a lot of painting done and managed to finish a big project I have been working on. In the afternoon, we drove up to the Feather with a friend and had a magical walk in the salty, fresh air. The day ended with a lamb dinner at our house and a game of cribbage. I was skunked. My only consolation was that SHE was skunked, too. I don't think it's right for people to come to your house, eat the lamb dinner, enjoy the pear poached in Lapponia liqueur with spiced cream and quince preserves and then beat you at cribbage.

After all, it was LAMB!

I never!

Well, next time I will play harder and beat said friend at the cribbage.

Or perhaps instead of lamb, I will serve skunk.

Anyone have any good recipes?

Images: "Murphy's Perfect Day" by Cara and Pam * wood cut/acrylics

Poppy's Perfect Pear

Would the True Culprit Please Come Forward

This is a photo of tiny, orange, black and silver footprints all over our brand new white chairs. SHE was very cross with me and said it was MY fault and that I have to be more careful. I said that it was NOT me, nor was it my fault.

1. My feet are not that furry

2. I wear size 10 shoes and my feet are not that small

3. I don't really like that colour combination

4. I rarely STAND on the chairs....only for light bulbs, certain dance routines and scraping paint splats off the ceiling

I can't believe that I am always getting in trouble for everything that goes wrong.

I DID leave my wet paint palette on the counter for the night, but I don't know what THAT has to do with anything.

...but when she was bad she was horrid!

SO......the truth comes out. Caught wet-handed, is creepy Lily.....in the SINK, washing his painty paws. He was trying to distract me by eating my parsley and making vampire faces. Wet, mucky, orange/black/silver Lily prints. Everywhere. I have to get it all cleaned up before SHE sees it.

To make matters worse, I am making a HUGE batch of Sangria for our book club dinner tomorrow night. There are lemons and limes and pips and peels and red wine spots everywhere. UGHHHHhhhh!

She just got her decanter cleaned out and put away....(thanks to everyone for all of the great advice!)

It is all sparkly and shiny and clean. I am dying to "Sangria" it again.

It was so pretty. I am going to. I am going to do it now.

How angry can she get?

I will let you know.

As Sick As A Dog!

It is hard to find a good veterinarian. It is really wonderful when you find a great one! We are lucky enough to have found a terrific gang of people at the Baccalieu Trail Animal Hospital that treat our crazy family like gold. We've brought in cats with sore paws, toothless cats (they don't make dentures for cats because it is hard to get them to hold still while you wait for the denture paste to settle), cats with swollen eyes, overweight,embarrassed dogs, cats with bad nerves, cats with hemorrhoids ( perhaps caused by the bad nerves...we won't get into the details, butt the medication was a nightmare) and kittens with lung infections. You name it, someone at our house has had it. We've actually started self diagnosis based on the animals medical histories....geez Pam, you're barking like a dog...bad cough....we should call the vet. All fun and games until SHE noticed I was scratching my ear a lot and made me a white, plastic cone for my head out of an old garbage pail.

Image: Baccalieu Trail Animal Hospital by Cara and Pam

Hand-carved wood, mixed media

They Dance

The other day I saw a man and woman walking down the road, holding hands. They must have been in their late 80's. I wondered if they had been together all of their lives. I hoped they had. I imagined that they had been leaning on each other through difficult times, marriages, children, death and despair. I imagined the joys they had celebrated....the births, weddings, graduations, holidays and parties. And I imagined that still, when the mood is right........they dance.



Image: "They Dance" by Cara Kansala

Acrylic on Canvas

Now There Is a Lemon Wedge Between Us........

I am in BIG trouble. Again. We had a gang in on Sunday to celebrate various springy- time events and I thought I would be clever the night before and make a big, gorgeous batch of Sangria. In the morning I searched for a jug. I found a beautiful decanter...YES, the one I gave her for Christmas. She loves this decanter. She loves her red wine. She often puts her red wine in her beloved decanter. She does.

SO, I carefully poured the fruity-winey, loveliness into her prize decanter. Great! It didn't look quite full enough, so I cut up 4 oranges and 4 lemons and wedged them down the neck of the beloved. I crammed them in with an upside down wooden spoon. I worked really hard at this.

So proud was I of my creation. It wasn't until I saw Her face, that I realized what I had done.

How were we supposed to get all of those oranges and lemons OUT of the decanter? How could I have done this? What was I thinking?

To be honest, I was probably thinking about poodles and rainbows and cupcakes and I MUST have been thinking about how much fun it was to ram giant fruit chunks down tiny, decanter necks.

After all of the Sangria was gone.....(we kept adding more wine to the bottle).......we all sat and looked at the beloved. Wires were suggested. Letting the fruit dry until it shrunk enough to fall out was suggested. Upside down shaking, pulling, hooking out with knives...all suggested. Currently it sits on the table. A celebration of my badness. A tribute to everything ridiculous. I quite like it that way and it smells nice...the winey, soggy fruit chunks. I am no longer in charge of Sangria making. I AM, however, thinking about how I can somehow use her terrarium to make homemade beer.