Daily Doodle - September 11, 2011

The best move we've ever made!

Daily Doodle - September 9, 2011

“Changed Priorities Ahead”, Tom read aloud with a laugh, as we whizzed by a road sign posted in a construction zone, “Now that’s kind of apropos!” 

What prompted this quip? Well, only days before, we’d become engaged amongst the beautiful ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey, in York, England.

We’d spent a sunny summer’s day wandering around the medieval streets of York and came upon the abbey’s remnants in the Museum Gardens. It really is a beautiful setting, with lush gardens, surrounded by trees, and - when we were there - bathed in golden sunlight.

We found a bench to sit on and catch our breath, and that’s when Tom began. I can’t remember exactly what he said or if he got down on one knee, but I do remember being a bit nervous and feeling very loved. I definitely remember saying, “Yes!” And I’m pretty sure that Champagne was involved.

When major life events like this happen, you want a photo to commemorate the occasion, don’t you? So we asked a passing groundskeeper if he’d mind taking a quick snap of us. He gamely agreed. Tom handed him the camera, gave him a few quick instructions and dashed back to sit beside me on our “engagement bench”. His cap askew, the cuddly and amiable groundskeeper pointed the camera in our direction (more or less). We smiled happily, the flash went off and we thanked him for his help.

It wasn’t until we got home and had our film developed that we realized there was a problem. Somehow, our tipsy (we speculated) photographer had managed to capture a beautiful portrait of the abbey’s wall right above our heads. That’s right; we have an engagement photo of a wall!

So there you go. I may not have an engagement photo, but I’ve got a good, (no, GREAT) fella!

Apropos? Most definitely!

Daily Doodle - September 6, 2011

It’s a serious business, food poisoning. I wouldn’t dream of making light of someone’s suffering, but in this case I’ll make an exception.

In the early days of our relationship, Tom would occasionally go out with the lads, play some NTN trivia and have a pint or two (or three or four). So when my beloved arrived home late one night in a rather inebriated state, I wasn’t too surprised. I ministered to him, offering him a large glass of water and some prophylactic Aspirin and went off to bed. Tom, however, advised me that he would be staying up for a while to “unwind”.

In the early hours of the morning, I was awoken from my sleep by, um, retching sounds which seemed to be coming from the bathroom. I got up to see what was going on and found a pale-faced Tom wrapped around the toilet bowl.

“Ughhhh,” he moaned, “I think it was the pizza.”

To this day, Tom will tell you it was bad pizza…but you and I know differently!

 

Daily Doodle - September 2, 2011

Imagine…You’re in love. It’s Christmas and you’re walking with the object of your affections to get your first-ever Christmas tree together. You find the perfect specimen at your local grocery store, bundle it into the nearest shopping cart and begin the long walk home. As you dream about sipping hot chocolate and humming along to jingly Christmas music while decorating the Christmas tree, you notice…that it has started to SNOW! 

Daily Doodle - August 31, 2011

Daily Doodle - August 29, 2011

I haven't posted much lately, but that's about to change. 

Over the next month or two, I'm going to post some paintings (and preliminary sketches) that I did for my husband. This year, he turned 50, so I wanted to give him something special for his birthday. I decided to make him a painting for each of the years we've been together - 21 in total. This painting is the first in the series.

Now, I certainly don't claim to be romantically astute. This painting of a Hershey's Kiss is proof of that! My husband and I met at work, way back when cameras still used film and photos were developed in trays, we worked as darkroom technicians in a Vancouver photo lab. My fella-to-be's darkroom was down the hallway from mine, but I got along swimmingly with my darkroom neighbour, Ralph. In between shoving prints through our paper processors, we'd exchange witty banter, put the world to rights, and console one another when things weren't going well. Anyway, I was going through a bit of a rough patch and I'd been chatting with Ralph about it. One day, when a cute little Hershey's Kiss appeared on my darkroom easel, I naturally assumed that Ralph had left it there to cheer me up. And why not? Never mind that Tom had:

• asked me out to play with his friend's exotic animals (holding a tarantula really helps to break the ice)
• spent an evening giving me a back massage at his friend's studio (I mean, come on!)
• spent many hours mooning over me (see definition below) at the spotting table.

AND Ralph was married with two kids.

 
Apparently, Tom was crushed that I didn't recognize his oh so subtle advances.

What can I say? I'm not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.

moon over someone: to spend time thinking about someone who you are attracted to rather than doing anything useful.

Daily Doodle - August 16, 2011

For Mum