If you follow me on Facebook you had already seen my heart, I was trying to enjoy colouring and blending with Staedler pencils form a se I bought for my daughter who is turning 10 next Wednesday.
She was 5 when we came to Canada, life goes by, in a flash.
That is exactly why I am writing here today, to thank the readers who now and again still stop by even though I haven´t been so present anymore.
Thank you!
Anyway, for what it is worth tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and I care about you a lot, this drawing might not the best ever but yet, here it goes, as life is perfect in its imperfections and surprising everyday:
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Love and let yourself be loved.! 🙂
Hope you come back,
Drikka
P.S.: I liked Staedler but can’t help but looove Prismacolor and Polychromos.
I know it´s been a long time, I apologize. We have finally been back home to Brazil and back. Before we took off I was looking for something that would keep me busy for most of the time, so I bought myself a nice and Zen coloring book at Chapters West Edmonton Mall right before we checked out, called Colouring Meditation.
I hadn’t coloured in a century, or more, I took some drawing lessons, which I absolutely loved back in 1999 I guess, then I gravitated to painting oil on canvas, loved even more, and because of so many reasons after a few paintings and having a baby not willing to practice at home I put everything to rest, until after she was about 3 when I really started working with colours again that was with my crochet, well it works for me, I can see my hands move about a surface or yarn or thread that has some colour on it and more, create something out of it.
Anyway coming back to my coloring kind of journey, I ended up almost not having to occupy myself in the colouring at that time (mid August) because just the thoughts of being with my mom siblings and beloved ones after so much time did the trick and kept me quite busy.
I started with this in September, but have been more searching for nice ideas and ways of working with these media that are kind of alien to me now. So here are some of my attempts so far not many, I am having fun and even bought that Secret Garden the other day so I can have another go with it. So far I have only been having fun watching lovely tutorials on YouTube. Let’s see…
Here tell me what you think,I also have a few more pictures in my facebook page GlaserCrafts or not but share with me:
Starting with the Valentine’s day in the middle of February we go on with our lovely projects into the so expected and already mentioned Spring.
Let just say Spring is in the air, last year I thought the Easter bunny had come by night to visit us, the paw prints have proven to be of a cat in reality, well this year I saw the bunny, sneaked behind the curtains and Voila! No one can think it is a mistake, here is the pic for you.
Up above there him is a bird house, and because these birds (sparrows) did not migrate, we kept on feeding them, so all through the Winter they had a place to come,
sparrows in Glaser Crafts backyard
so did their friend the bunny. This made my daughter really happy, she knew now the Easter bunny had been well fed, so he would like to come for Easter and make sure she was glad too!
I hope you all had the most wonderful holidays, mine was so nice!
We enjoyed each and every moment of it. For Christmas eve we did visit a couple of friends, spent the loveliest afternoon, before rushing to the church where my husband, despite not being religious, played beautiful tunes with his trio Voila! Though they have been playing as a trio no longer than a year, the 3 of them have large experience and share true passion for music!
My daughter simply loved the play at the church when she could actually learn how “Jesus was born” . We had a nice dinner out and since she slept on the way back home she only saw what Santa had left her on the following day the 25th. She loved it.
Santa really knows best, since it was not got what she had asked for – in secrecy and not told a soul, but “Magic Santa”- he really figured out what she needed indeed. On that spent the most delicious day at the dearest friends as well.
So with the burden of offering a Merry Christmas to her, out of the way we could relax and enjoy visiting more and more friends, socializing and having lots of fun. They the mentioned trio even made a delightful concert on January 2nd, which was full of life and talent! We are now so invigorated for this New Year to come.
I know I failed telling you this, but my husband had been invited to renew his research and we are now spending one more year here that means up until 2014. Isn’t it interesting?
So with that being said I have to go now! see you pretty soon with a few surprises I hope!
Following up one of my posts I would like to start wishing you Merry Christmas. Start getting ready for Christmas, is it here at our doors! I am so very happy, for this year I really won a few of my internal battles, and feel ready to knock down a few others!
So I would like to share with you a nice song, that is constantly coming to my mind And that is quite how I feel too!
Note: If you’re a vegan, I don’t think this piece of writing is suitable for you, I’m sorry.
Our very own crochet Christmas banner at the door
I love Christmas, guess I always will. I cry out of most Christmas songs and feel deeply touched, emotionally connected with pretty much everything that has to do with this time of the year.
When I was a little girl, my dad always ‘took care’ of the meat we ate at home, at these festivities the pork was divine.
Dad loved baking it in honor of his deceased mom. He grew up in an underprivileged environment therefore having pork once a year alone meant Christmas for him and his 7 siblings.
So, after he got married, every year around April he would go down to a local farm choose a piglet, start to “feed” (at home he would spare food for the piglet, we never got to know all that for sure -I mean I guess he did say it over and over, but then again we wouldn’t listen) and pay for it. By the end of the year that would’ve been paid in full and his to take home and bake for Christmas.
My Mom was in charge of the many desserts, granny made the Christmas cake, and some Brazilian traditional treats, she did it like no one else does, or ever will -after all she was my granny-. As for the rest of the family my uncles and aunties would bring other foods along with their presence and love.
Then Daddy died in one May that was so unfair! My elder brother and I were living away and used to go home on weekends and for holidays. That year we had a series of financial setbacks, but we managed to buy a nice huge chicken, Mom was still shaken by the fact of not having him around, granny too old and busy taking care of my grandpa in bed. So I stepped up and offered to do most of the cooking, when I thought about to the poultry: a chicken… I would have to season it to perfection to make up for not having the usual turkey, not having my Dad’s seasoning, and having no idea what Daddy used besides love to make his food taste so like Christmas. I had to make sure my little siblings wouldn’t miss him that much. And I was left with a chicken.
One day before Christmas Eve a man knocked at our door asking for Mom. He told her that earlier that year Daddy went to his farm picked a piglet and was sending it food as usual then he stopped. Because that particular year daddy had paid in full, he never did that before, the man assumed daddy would go and fetch the pork. Much to his surprise he learned the daddy had passed away early in May, so he decided to take it himself and hand it to Mom.
Mom almost fainted, feeling sorry for both her and the pig, not knowing what to do with it, and my brothers gladly carried it into the kitchen. We never knew for sure if daddy had paid for it in full or not, it was so not like him.
Anyway, now I had to be quick, still no clue, but much more material to work with. I was deeply touched, daddy looked after us. Turned on the radio, to “fill up my tank” and cooked like crazy.
Do I have to say that luckily I found in the rear back of a cupboard a large variety of seasoning labeled with his handwriting? Do I have to say that our dog who was always beside him while cooking, was now restlessly beside me? Do I have to say that there were no mourning tears for that Christmas Day? Some relatives showed up, even one wealthy uncle, he could not resist trying what he said was: “-Some delicious turkey!”?
No, I don’t, because that very Christmas taught me we have to bury our beloved dead ones, pay them respect, share our love, and keep going. Once in a while we weep, then we keep going. That is life, with all there is to it.
… … … … …
If you ask me what our plans for this coming X’mas are, I ‘ll have to say: we don’t know yet. Because we did not quite fit in the Brazilian communities up here, and do not have close Canadian friends, to share such a family event together, we might either spend the three of us, eating my food, again; or travel somewhere interesting and have a good time.
It takes about 2 days to go back to Brazil and the tickets for this time of the year are shamefully too expensive. Of course I miss my family which is kind of large, and my in-laws too, after 16 years together they are kind of my own family extended.
I don’t regret being here especially because my daughter is so happy, I am not sorry for us, we all know that in one way or another we will end up having what is takes for a perfect Season, that is being among the ones we love and care the most.
As someone raised in a Catholic environment Easter has always meant moments of inner reflection considering everything Jesus went through just to “save us”. We were not allowed to even think of eating meat back then. That’s what I learned Easter was all about. Suffering, injustice, betrayal, capital punishment, rage, God’s punishment, mystery, silence… not to mention tears.
We had to go through it all in order to hunt for some chocolate eggs on Sunday, usually somewhere around my grand Dad’s carpentry trunk. Did it pay? Thinking back I believe so, as we hunted for the eggs, my siblings and I along with my cousin neighbors doing a sort of competition, which was nice in a way.
Those days lay far behind in my memory, almost faded away, and as much as I consider myself a person who believes in the goodness of Jesus Christ, I am not a Catholic anymore. I have studied other religions and theories, but I do not concentrate myself on having a “title”, neither teach this to my daughter, the world is full of tricky evil as it is. So Easter to her is always nice, she knows bits and pieces of the story as we all know bits and pieces to say the truth, and she longs for the wonderful day Jesus is back and in order to celebrate that the Easter bunny brings us chocolate eggs because there is life in eggs, and where there is life there is hope.
That is how I like to celebrate my Easter, having positive thoughts, as if we had a new chance to do what is right. As it is everyday.
We can always do better than we did before, remember we haven’t lived the this moment yet. It is in your hands to do what is right, what is best and what would make people feel better.
Enjoy your Easter, the best you can, enjoy life the best you can,
Hi lovely people,
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