As those of you following the Canadian news (or my other River/Road post) may gather… we’ve had a spot of flooding, here in the St. John River valley of New Brunswick. And as I said yesterday,

When Nature gets nasty, know what we do around here?
We rush out and take pictures, of course.

Especially those of us who live up on high ground.

Here are the flood photos that He Who Hogs The Power Tools took yesterday and this afternoon, while I wandered about with the dog and chatted with other flood watchers:

Highway 105 at Keswick, NB, 30 April 2008


Highway 105 at Keswick, NB, 30 April 2008


Highway 105 at Keswick, NB, 30 April 2008


Mactaquac Dam, NB, 30 April 2008


Mactaquac Dam, NB, 30 April 2008


Corner of Brunswick and Carleton Streets, Fredericton, NB, 30 April 2008


Back of Crown Plaza Hotel, Queen St., Fredericton, NB, 30 April 2008


Officers Square, Fredericton, New Brunswick 30 April 2008

Arts and Crafts

This was a spur-of-the-moment craft project, instigated by my young friend Kelly (who was spending March break with her grandmother, our next-door neighbour) and carried out on a stormy evening when our other entertainment options were limited.

Remember the Bendy Holdy Wondervase? If you’ve got a pair of them, you’ve got great fun! Kelly had had her heart set on playing with those flexible vases from the moment she laid eyes on them, so of course that was the very first project we had to do!

And what’s a vase without some flowers?

They’re a bit of a tough job, these flowers, since we didn’t have much in the way of materials — Kelly glued together popsicle sticks and painted them green to make the stems, for instance — but hey, we had fun doing it!

One of the tissue-paper flowers — the white one printed with tiny red hearts — went home with Kelly as a gift for her Grammie, because grandmother’s have a deep appreciation for such things.

Granny Squares

What can I say? For the better part of a year, I’ve been griping about the sad state of the throw pillows on the couch.

Scraps of yarn, a couple of crochet hooks, and an eager young helper with a week’s break from school… and now I’ve got plenty of “granny squares” to fashion into cushion covers!

Healthy Exercise with Dogs

The long-faced greyhound — who can’t get out to his running yard, with all that snow, enjoyed a Novice class in Rally Obedience. (That’s a dog sport that involves high-speed obedience moves around a timed course: great fun! You can learn more about it at RallyObedience.com.)

And when the weather wasn’t too bad outside, we had some doggie visitors… and some lovely brisk walks on snowy trails, coming back home to cinnamon buns and hot chocolate.

…and Nature Appreciation

Because winter in Atlantic Canada may last just a teensy bit longer than we’d really prefer… but, still, it does have its moments!

Yes, December is defnitely here.

There’s a winter storm warning on for, well, almost all of the country, according to Environment Canada… Just in the past hour, the snow has been moving in quickly here.

He Who Hogs The Power Tools scampered out earlier than planned to do the first-of-week errands in town, and I’ve had the dogs out for some exercise (for the prevention of cabin fever — they don’t much like going out in a storm, so we have our fun now).

Meanwhile, a large buck white-tailed deer just walked purposefully up through the orchard from the road, heading for the back field. He’ll hunker down in a sheltered bit of woods and, no doubt, hope that the coyotes are otherwise occupied…

I was slow to grab the camera, and you’ll see that these two through-the-window snapshots are astonishingly poor — but at least they’ll give you a glimpse of today’s wild visitor. (Click the thumbnails for a slightly bigger picture.)

In another hour or so, it’s going to be a winter wonderland out there, and I’m feeling the urge to start a little festive baking and candy-making. Truffles and brown sugar fudge and maybe some shortbread cookies?

It’s Canada; it’s December…
Let’s eat!

I’ll probably never get over craving an Andy Sanchez vanity top, or Shawn Lovell’s metal-sculpture bed where the term “forest canopy” is almost literal… but there’s an endless supply of tree-inspired objets of home decor to snag our attention — and here’s a selection of recent finds:

Clockwise from upper left:

• Yellow Gocco Tree and Tissue Paper Note Cards by bubbledog on Etsy.
• Forest Leaf Collection twig-inspired silverware by Michael Aram [via stuff-i-like]
• Jelly Beans’ bright watercolour painting, The Turning evokes the spirit of autumn. [via Morrgan's Creatures]
• Gum tree jewellery stand by Polli can double as a tabletop screen.
• Woodwright’s oval tree pendant is handcrafted in birch wood.
• Red tree notecards by tamar say “I love you” inside.
• The Alberto clotheshorse — Casamania by Frezza — is actually inspired by coral plants, but it reminds me of the stark shape of a dead tree against the distant skyline, very elegant and sculptural.

Tree stumps have long been a staple of casual — even impromptu — outdoor furniture.

Now they’re moving indoors.

It’s another aspect of the continuing strong trend for elements of nature in interior design and home decor.

In fact, tree stumps seem to be turning up everywhere, whether in their natural form or in a more polished version, even as a hand-crafted representation — and put to use as occasional tables and stools and pedestals and bases for glass-topped table… the possibilities are literally unlimited.

On the up-market end, Hudson Furniture shows a line of tree stumps ranging from a gorgeous natural teak stump to an intriguing collection of petrified wood stumps with colourful striations created by the passage of time.

Or mxyplyzyk offers hand-carved stumps from the trunks of discarded Chinese fir trees, each one a unique piece of functional art in its own right.

And DFC goes a different route, with a tree-stump-inspired ceramic version, hand-glazed in bold modern lime-green or sculptural white.

Having lost a huge old maple tree in the past year, I’m looking at these stump stools and tables with a special interest.

Instead of trying to compost that giant tree stump, perhaps I should be thinking in terms of a new coffee table — natural spalled maple with a lovely smooth hand-rubbed finish?

[H/T to Moco Loco and Kingdom of Style]

Sculpting with natural materials is, well, almost second nature to California artist Margaret Dorfman.

Her unique Veggie Parchment Bowls are made by hand with fresh fruits and vegetables, chosen according to season. She’s developed a chemical-free technique in which paper-thin slices of veggies are cured, pressed, dried, aged, and molded into free-form translucent bowls, perfect for holding potpourri, glass votives, or for display.

Veggie Parchment Bowls made of papaya and beet root (top of photo) and zucchini slices (bottom) among the unique gifts offered by VivaTerra ($42 – $79), and there’s a lot more astonishing artware by Margaret Dorfman at the Gallery of Functional Art — a feast for the eyes!

This past weekend was Thanksgiving, here in Canada, and I think I’ve figured out why we have our Thanksgiving so much earlier than the Americans do — it’s to take advantage of the fabulous Fall weather.

Around these parts, the colourful autumn leaves near at their best in the first week of October, and the apples are practically falling off the trees.


The weather is cool enough that you can cook up a big huge turkey dinner without overheating the kitchen to the detriment of the cook, and frosty nights make the ripe apples sweet… yet the sunny days are still warm enough for us to go out in shirtsleeves — on Saturday, the younguns were out in shorts and tee-shirts!

We get a lot of the seasonal yard work out of the way, on the weekends around Thanksgiving time, and entertain a lot of guests — sometimes both at the same time, as in the case of apple picking — and still (somehow) have enough energy left over to take the dogs for a hike in the autumn woods.

Here’s a little bit of show-and-tell (for Lara’sTalk About Tuesday to share the joy. No pictures of the big Thanksgiving turkey dinner, however — everyone was too busy eating to bother with a camera!

Face it, there’s just no substitute for a five-foot tall giraffe to pull together a jungle theme bedroom!

I just came across a real treasure trove of nature-inspired giant wall stickers, totally beautiful and quite realistic…

Besides the jungle or safari theme — everything from palm trees to parrots, toucans, monkeys and apes, and other exotic creatures — Wall of the Wild also offers giant wall stickers of the world under the sea (coral and dolphins and sharks, oh my!). And what kid wouldn’t love a room straight out of Finding Nemo? Or you can choose colourful stickers with themes of the North American wilderness, birds and flowers, barnyard animals… even the ever-popular dinosaurs like our old pal Triceratops (the large size measures a whopping 35″ x 40″)!

Bonus #1: Get a free “Patriot Mouse” sticker when you place an order.

Bonus #2: Send in a picture of your Walls of the Wild animal art decoration, and if they put it on the Customers Walls page, you can choose any one of their products — free!

Sun rooms, three-season rooms, Florida rooms, whatever you want to call them, more of us are finding ways to bring a little outdoors inside.

Fancy iron-work (think French cafe style) or comfy cottage wicker are popular furniture choices, with a pillow-heaped day bed for lounging with a lemonade on a hot summer day.

Now, imagine if you could extend the blend of outdoor-nature and interior style, to blur the line between home and garden. Add a jungle of potted house plants — over-sized, grouped in corners or on either side of the patio doors, with a single lovely piece of garden art nestled among the greenery.

Appeal to all the senses. Scented candles, or simply a few arrangements of aromatic herbs and flowers, are a soothing delight. And what about a delicate set of windchimes near an open window, or the soft water-music of an indoor fountain, perhaps wall-mounted if space is an issue?

Keep the colours light and airy, to continue the sense of space and freedom you draw from outside — with a rich splash of accent colour to mirror your favourite flowers.

The back wall, facing the garden, might feature a textured finish (faux stone?) or even a wall mural to continue the illusion.

Try a little trompe l’oeil painting if you’re artistically inclined. Or consider a pre-printed wall mural, as durable and easy to install as any good quality vinyl wallpaper. MuralsYourWay.com has a terrific selection from Monet’s poppy-splashed masterpieces to the frankly fantasy garden, and will also print custom murals from your own photographs or original artwork.