Christmas...

It's our turn to host a Christmas supper, and another 25 pound turkey comes out of the oven successfully, much to our relief. Meanwhile the kids enjoy some precious time with some cousins.

 

organic vegetables

Various goodies are delivered to the office at this time of year, usually taking the form of chocolates, cookies, or bottles of wine. One of this year's unique gifts included a generous bag of organic vegetables from Peas on Earth via Bountiful Market, given to us by a client group and which I got to take home...beets, a squash, and parsnips.

mountains

Mountain sketches from a recent trip to Banff. 

Mount Rundle from Johnson Lake, and two consecutive views from the Chateau Lake Louise, with a misty Victoria Glacier in the centre.

 

A Lake Louise composite view, from left to right: the edges of Fairview Mountain and Mount Lefroy, then Victoria Glacier (with the top of Victoria Mountain in the mist), Mount Whyte and Mount Niblock joined by a snowy saddle (the "Big Beehive" is in the foreground), and Mount St. Piran at the far right.

Urban scenes from a trip

A streetscape from the Cathedral neighbourhood and a downtown view across CN maintenance yards, both from Regina, Saskatchewan, and the view of downtown from "Garbage Hill", an urban park built on top of an old dumping ground in Winnipeg, Manitoba.   

 

Every Day in May (EDiM) 2021

Once again this year, I participated in "Every Day in May", a Facebook page in which participants from across the world post sketches daily based on the day's prompt throughout the month of May. It's my 5th or 6th year now, and this has become a good yearly opportunity to stay focused on something I like doing for 31 consecutive days. A quick sketch before going to bed every night was a great meditative way to end each day. 

My personal policy has been always to sketch from real life (usually at the kitchen table with a glass of beer), but this year I made a point of using pen and ink only. 

Here are all 30 drawings from last month...

Tulips

A good friend brings three stems of tulips in a vase to share some Valentines joy with my family, and we are touched. 

It reminded me of the few weeks in the early days of the pandemic, in which sketching the tulips sprouting from the ground  every day brought a sense of calm and groundedness that I craved during an especially trying time in the spring of 2020. By the grace of God, extended to us through the kindness of friends like this, I am grateful in being able to say I am in a completely different place today.

a selection from April and May, 2020