Photo: Dew on red tulip, Tulip Festival, May, 16, 2009
Puzzle: Hilton Head Lighthouse
Size: 504 pieces
Dimensions: 27.3cm x 45.7cm
Producer: Mega, Encore! series
Location: Hilton Head is a resort town (located on an island of the same name on the Atlantic Ocean) in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The island gets its name from Captain William Hilton. In 1663, Captain Hilton identified a headland near the entrance to Port Royal Sound, which he named “Hilton’s Head” after himself. [Wiki]
Photo: Yellow striped closed tulip, Tulip Festival, May, 16, 2009
Photo: Lilac tulip, Tulip Festival, May 16, 2009
Photo: Red and purple field, Tulip Festival, May 16, 2009
Book: The Babytalk Insider’s Guide To Your Baby’s First Year
Title: The Babytalk Insider’s Guide To Your Baby’s First Year
Author: Stephanie Wood and Kitty O’Callaghan, contributing editors, babytalk magazine
Source: Ottawa Public Library
ISBN: 978-0-446-69804-7
Available online
Notes: This book’s main message, it appears, is to calm the parents down by telling them not to stress about pretty much anything except putting …
Belly cast
In August (about a month before my due date, and a bit more before Alaric was actually born), I travelled to Julie Keon’s studio in Cobden for a belly casting session. The result of this session was a white body cast from shoulders to top of the legs including the arms and hands, made with hospital grade plaster-gauze strips. The cast remained with Julie for a few weeks to be completed, strengthened and painted the shade of blue I have …
Puzzle: Coliseum, Rome, Italy
Size: 750 pieces
Dimensions: 59.69cm x 39.37cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, Wonders of the World series
Location: The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian: Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo), is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.
Occupying a site just …
Puzzle: The Sleepy Shopkeeper by Mike Wilks
Size: 550+ pieces
Dimensions: 46cm x 61cm
Producer: Great American Puzzle Factory
Author: Mike Wilks (b. 1947, London) is an artist, illustrator and author of nine books including the global bestseller The Ultimate Alphabet (Pavilion Books, 1987). [Wiki]
Note: Puzzle within a puzzle – find over 1000 things that begin with the letter “S”. “Who would think that here in the nooks and crannies of the sleepy …
Puzzle: A Court Reception
Puzzle without any missing pieces:
Size: 650+ pieces, 3 pieces missing, 3 pieces damaged. Update: Sincere thank you to Cliff from Albany, NY who sent me the missing 3 pieces. His puzzle was missing 5 different pieces, and so between the two of us we could put together a complete one.
Dimensions: 48.26cm …
Puzzle: Citadel by Kirwan
Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 50.8cm round
Producer: Grand Toys, No. 6191
Artist: Kirwan – His images are political, surrealistic, and humanistic. There are paintings, book covers, cards, calendars, architectural design, many other illustrations and sculpture. [Kirwan Studios site]
Drawing: Citadel, ©1978 and 1994. 36″ round, oil on canvas over wood.
Box: photo
Puzzle: Grand Teton
Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 48.26cm x 35.56cm
Producer: The Canadian Group, Sure-Lox, National Parks series
Location: Grand Teton National Park is a United States National Park located in northwestern Wyoming, south of Yellowstone National Park. The park is named after the Grand Teton, which, at 4,197 m, is the tallest mountain in the Teton Range.
The origin of the name “Teton” is not definitive. One possible origin is that it was the name given …
Puzzle: North Cascades
North Cascades National Park is a U.S. National Park located in the state of Washington. The park is the largest of the three National Park Service units that comprise the North Cascades National Park Service Complex. Several national wilderness areas and British Columbia parkland adjoin the National Park. The park features rugged mountain peaks.
Puzzle: Victorian Splendor
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: cm x cm
Producer: Springbok
Poem: If I could select any house in the world
or the dwelling that I would call home,
how quickly I’d pick a Victorian manse,
a house with a high stained-glass dome!
I’d surely want turrets and towers, all rounded
and stretching straight up to the sky,
and right on the top of the tallest of all
my …
Puzzle: After the Shower by Kevin Daniel
Size: 500 pieces
Dimensions: 45.72cm x 60.96cm
Producer: Karmin International
Artist: Kevin Daniel
About the Artist: When Kevin Daniel began dabbling in paints and completing portraits as a young man in the early 1960s, he had no thought that he was nurturing the beginnings of a profession that would last a lifetime. As he studied the Renaissance masters’ paintings and portraits from books and museums, his thoughts were only on how much …
Gallery: East Coast, Canada, July 2009
Puzzle: Tea in the Sunroom by Janet Kruskamp
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 48.1cm x 68cm
Producer: RoseArt, Masterworks series
Artist: Janet Kruskamp
Painting: Enhanced Giclée, 22″ x 28″
Puzzle: Sunset Blaze by Viktor Shvaiko
Size: 1000 pieces
Dimensions: 48.1cm x 67.9cm
Producer: Mega, Limited Edition series
Artist: Viktor Shvaiko
Box: photo
Painting: 30 x 50 giclee on canvas, hand embellished
Breastfeeding
Early on in my pregnancy, when my doula asked me whether I was planning to breastfeed, I was baffled by this question. Being raised in Russia, I did not understand what was being asked. I am having a baby, the baby needs to be nourished, that’s what the breasts are for, hence – yes, of course I would be breastfeeding.
After reading more literature regarding postpartum, I realized that in North America formula is for some reason considered a viable alternative to breastfeeding (and not just an emergency measure), and breast- versus formula-feeding is a hot political topic. Leaving out …
Photo: Britannia Beach, Tree, November 11, 2010
