'The Christmas ____________'

I've noticed over the past few years a surge in 'Christmas'-related items (featured in sappy songs, sappy coffee-table books, and sappy so-forth) that in fact have a very dubious connection to Christmas, if indeed at all. Apparently if you stick the word 'Christmas' in front of something it instantly becomes very marketable during the holiday season. I think we've only scratched the surface with the endless possibilities, and so beyond the obvious 'Christmas Shoes' I would like to offer a few potential alternatives, with the aid of Google: 

Not making the list (but that's for next year!) are the Christmas Ironing Board, the Christmas Strutless Biplane, and the Christmas Creep.

Christmas Projects

  A few Christmas projects: a kitschy Christmas wreath to grace the door (complete with pink animals, a nativity set, and swirl candies), as well as an old music-box ballerina (from the days of my youth) suspended in a glass ball ornament à la Michael's. I had to saw her one arm off and re-glue it once she was inside- not an easy feat and there was some frustrated muttering involved, but all in all it turned out rather fine. I'm particularly fascinated by artist Thomas Doyle's miniature people-in-glass sculptures and can only guess at the amount of patience and precision his work requires.

it came upon a midnight clear

November fields and sunsets I've forgotten I miss 

until I go home and see them again.

Went for a coffee at Mitzi's with the roomies recently;

cute place.

saving gigi, from the vault

It used to look like this outside my window. 

No longer, my friends.

CanadianAnimation Artist of the Day

Hey! I'm featured in an 'Artist of the Day' lineup on CanadianAnimation.com that Grayden Laing curates. Mosey on over!

 
Ladies in Wool, at the Royal Winter Fair. The ladies' and sheep's outfits matched and appeared to be home-made. It was kind of adorable.

scarf time!

solo sketches from Saving Gigi

before they changed to winter hibernation hours :(

Raccoons of Toronto

That morning when you wake up and your eyelid became inexplicably angry and grew overnight.

peanut butter

Montreal, Part Deux

A few sketches of Montreal, from the teeny tiny sketchbook:

Enjoying a lovely little parkette and statue of Jaques Cartier before meeting my friend Eric.

Another little parkette somewhere around the bus station. Montreal has so many great little parks scattered around.

An American tour guide. He was unusually loud. I eavesdropped and learned the culinary history of foie gras.

Some folks at the fest

Montreal Stop-Motion Film Fest 2014

I had the pleasure of attending the MSMFF (otherwise known as) last weekend; a real delight. I've attended in the past and must say I'm quite fond of this festival; small, friendly, full of enthusiasm and inspiration, a stellar line-up of speaking guests, and in a scenic city with old-world charm. Some pretty solid films in the line-up again this year, and the highlight of the event was Georgina Hayn's presentation on puppet fabrication of The Boxtrolls, courtesy of Laika. The level of detail involved in each character and their respective costumes is absolutely stunning, and afterwards a very enthused audience was invited for a close-up look and touch of the puppets on display as well as to ask Georgina further questions.

Georgina Hayns presenting The Boxtrolls puppets

photo frenzy

Time spent outside of the festival included making a trip to Simon's (department store of much acclaim), wandering around the old section of the city, walking to and from home-base, and checking out the Insectarium at the Royal Botanical Gardens:

I caught a ride with this guy to the old part of town

Charlevoix pedestrian bridge

Insectarium at the Royal Botanical Gardens - amazing!

The Chinese Garden at The Royal Botanical Gardens

sketch nights in the city

Hipstahs (noun): Those dudes with the beards and toques and tight, tight attire. And probably a cappuccino.

Victory Cafe

Freezer-bananas, Banana-Bread-bananas - you know the kind.

'- a strong, young treeeee...'

I heard a sermon some time ago that mentioned Psalm 1:3 ('he is like a tree planted by streams of water') and thought of a song learned in grade school back in the day - The Tree Song. Great stuff.

turtle, turtle

A turtle I met a little while ago, hanging out in (his? her?) little hidey-hole.

Killarney

I've recently returned from a week-long 78km backpacking trip in Killarney with friends and thought I'd share some snippets of associated moments and memories:

Our trusty steed: Luke's family car, literally on its last legs. We discovered before departure early Saturday that it boasted both a flat tire and a leaky gas tank. Aesthetic embellishments included duct tape in strategic places, and a botched acrylic paint job.

July 5th happened to be Jen's birthday, and in lieu of cake or alcohol (both the local grocery store and LCBO were closed by early evening), Killarney presented us with other offerings: the remnants of a fantastic tub of caramel crunch pralines ice cream from the local general store, with thanks to our skilled negotiator Christian (whose skills came in handy throughout the trip).

A view of one of the lakes within the park, during that golden, golden hour

reflections of sunset on water during said golden hour

a tree, representative of the tree populace in the area

A tally of animals sighted throughout the trip. No bears, just poop. Lord of the Rings quotes to keep us going.

Our campsite on the second night of hiking. Every site was situated on a lake, of which there were many, and they progressively became more picturesque throughout the trip. Pictured, left to right: Jen, Luke, Josiah, and Christian's foot.

Tuesday was terrible. It rained all day, we packed up camp far later than intended, and the trail was slippery.

Thursday, Christian's negotiating skills came in handy again. We opted for a different campsite than what we'd booked, discovered its intended campers were enroute, and with the simple gesture of a friendly wave, all was well. Pictured is Luke reading What If You Are a Horse in Human Form? Serious stuff. Josiah a.k.a. Mountain Man is on his right.

Wild blueberries. They were wonderful.

Our last campsite featured crystal clear water that revealed dead trees, long fallen, lying in the depths.

I am pleased to add that our trip included many instances of trail songs, including none other than Northwest Passage.

More trees

Back in civilization Friday night, chillin' in the famed Microtel of Parry Sound.

some picture I saw of some guy some where on the 'net