Wild chives are also known as allium (Latin for garlic).  They grow in wet meadows and near lakes (and in my garden) with a lovely small pink or purple flower.  Traditionally the bulbs were harvested before the plants flowered and used raw or cooked.  They were also used to flavor wild meat and salmon while the crushed bulbs were often used as disinfectant and prevented swelling caused by insect bites.  Because the flavour is so mild, with small children I began using it in mashed potatoes, potato or egg salad, as well as anything I would normally use green onions and the flowers are beautiful in salads.

IT'S COMPLICATED might just be the understatement of the century.

Just when I think I have reached my limit, something else jumps on this crazy rollicking ship.  I am not sure if I will sink, sail or just shut down.

But the thing about these complications is that I want almost all of them.  At the same time.  And the ones I don't want, well they are the price to pay for some of the ones I do want.  Even explaining this is complicated.

Let me try to make it simple.

My life is a lot.

A lot of people.  A lot of dreams.  A lot of expectations.

My time is little.

Never enough hours.  The days fly.  And most of all, the years, oh, the years.

TOO.  DAMN.  FAST.

Somewhere in the intersection of a lot and a little is where it is complicated.

That intersection is where I live.  My guess is that you live there, too.  I would be that you are pulled and pushed and finding yourself with more than you ever thought you could handle.

But look at you.  You are complicated enough to meet this day.  So am I.

We can sail. this ship.

The Author Series at the Airdrie Public Library continued this month with a visit from writer Tyler Trafford.  Such an interesting, funny and engaging gentleman, and what an incredible story.  After the passing of his mother, he received a box of letters that Tyler's mother had received which were written by a European pilot during the second World War.  It was the story of the love of her life.  The title of the book, Almost a Great Escape, came from a movie of a similar title (The Great Escape), which features that specific pilot.   We also had the great pleasure of a performance by the GMHS Sax Quartet and were treated to the artwork of veteran Bob Harriman.  Along with wine & cheese, these have been such wonderful events and I am so thankful to involved.   

I have to say that I loved working on these wooden ornaments, even though painting them was awkward (squares and rectangles are certainly simpler).  This week I think I will search for some more as I love their shape and weight and enjoyed adding colour and pattern to them.  The birds were my favorite to paint and I'm thinking that I'd like to do more.  Now, to decide whether to leave them matte as they are or to varnish in a gloss finish...hmmm.

A member of the rose family, mountain avens is an herb whose root smells and tastes like cloves and is found in rocky mountain and arid arctic areas.  The plant has been used medicinally to stop bleeding, as an anaesthetic, and also to treat constipation, diarrhea and digestive issues, though it is also known to be harmful if used incorrectly.  Mountain avens is the floral emblem of the Northwest Territories.

Imagination
Tracy Laxten & Lisa Sierra
November+December 2015

“The world is but a canvas to the imagination”
 ~ Henry David Thoreau

TRACY LAXTEN was born Saskatchewan and raised in British Columbia.  She is a self-taught artist who has never had any professional training and who prides herself on her different talents. Tracy moved to Airdrie with her three children in 2013 and has contributed to the local arts community by completing ethereal fairy tale inspired AIRdirondack Art Project chairs which were showcased in the Airdrie Public Library over two years, first a dragon and then a grandfather tree.  She enjoys creating art through the mediums of charcoal, pyrography (wood-burning), acrylic painting and by simply using ink. The inspiration for her art comes from the natural world, with hikes in nature and through her compassion for animals.  All of her paintings utilize imagination and are typically completed on commission.
LISA SIERRA, after a long hiatus from painting, picked up a paintbrush after being inspired by the vibrant colour and abstract form she noticed in her surroundings.  Utilizing materials such as paint, tape and a palette knife, among other tools, she began to work in stages to produce both organic and geometric paintings that are full of life and energy.  Her art is a fluid expression of colour, shape and pattern, with the subject matter being less important to her than the colours and variety of shapes and patterns to which she is intuitively drawn.  Lisa has also utilized her imagination to create an AIRdirondack Art Project chair for this year’s fundraiser.

There are certain programs I absolutely love to listen to on CBC Radio - Tom Power's Radio 2 Morning and Deep Roots, Rich Terfry's Drive, Tim Tamashiro's Tonic,  Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap, Tom Allen's Shift and Stuart McLean's Vinyl Café.  Not only do I love the music, but I love the stories, too.

But, when I'm not listening to CBC, I find that I need calm, fairly steady music to paint to as it really influences how I work, both the speed and the energy that goes into my paintings.  Occasionally I listen to Julie Nesrallah's Tempo but find that classical music, unless it's a certain soundtrack or something like Vivaldi, fluctuates too much between loud & quiet and slow & fast which wreaks havoc with my working tempo. 

There are certain jazz musicians whom I've been drawn to for the spirit of their music - Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and Miles Davis - though I usually tend to gravitate to the pile of music above for my inspiration...it's also very soothing to me:

Lord Huron - Lonesome Dreams
Royal Wood - We Were Born to Glory (can't wait to see him live in February!)
Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
Melody Gardot - The Absence
Birdy
Loreena McKennitt - Parallel Dreams
Michael Buble - It's Time
Stevie Nicks - In Your Dreams
Jazz Signatures (a Starbucks compilation)
Hozier (it's in the stereo)

I also like Bastille, Daughter and Ed Sheeran among others but those I listen to on 8tracks (yes, I am of this era).