Picture postcards...{4}

I am back today with another fun postcard. This is the oldest one I have and it was sent in 1906 before writing was allowed on the back which was reserved for the address only. It reads...

Alpine Tavern, Nov.7.06
Dear Grandpa
Mamma, Papa and I arrived here last night at 5:30, all well, I fed the Bears to-day, 
everything is fine here, will write you soon.
James

Short, sweet and to the point. James must have been really excited to share that he fed the bears at Alpine Tavern and in present day that share would have been immediate, probably over the phone or via video chat so it makes me wonder how long this message would have taken to reach his grandpa. Days? Weeks? Also, If you look at the back of the card you'll see that the postal stamp reads Echo Mountain so I did some good old fashioned research (I googled it) and found this website which tells all about Ye Alpine Tavern on Echo Mountain and the adventures to be had there. It's an interesting read, especially the bits about the "hair-lifting" mode of transportation people endured to get there which had something to do with electric rails scaling a mountain and a circular bridge...Crazy! You may also want to check out this page because it shows photos of the area in its prime.

 I appreciate this card for where it comes from and also for how old it is but my favourite part is the caption under the donkeys...it reads "When shall we three meet again?" and it confuses me a bit. There are only two donkeys pictured so am I to assume then that the third donkey...or ass...is the recipient? Is James calling his grandpa an ass?...

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

Rain, away...

A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long.
e.e. cummings 

I took these abstract-rain-on-my-window photos on Sunday after my macaron photo-shoot and felt the need to share them with you. This is what late fall looks like to me on a Sunday evening in November; a bit strange and dreamy like an e.e cummings poem.
The trees are all bare and the wind has blown all the leaves away and fall has passed for the most part...at least the pretty fall with the colourful leaves...and it's been replaced by that grey, rainy, windy in-between where raindrops travel sideways.

You may have noticed I talk about the weather from time to time and I feel the need to explain that it's not because I don't have much else to say...I see the world in terms of quality of light and the weather is always responsible for that, not to mention that as much I don't want it to affect my mood it almost always does and on rainy days like today all I want to do is sleep, or cosy up with a good book and some gingerbread spice tea.

Wishing you a happy, cosy Tuesday...

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

Adventures in Baking {7}...Very Berry Macaroons

Hello friends! I hope you've had a nice weekend and for all of our American friends who celebrated Thanksgiving; do your pants fit a bit tighter today? I really hope so, because that just means you made the best of it! I always overindulge on holidays...it's the proper thing to do! All joking aside, I hope you had a happy and safe holiday without any crazy black friday shenanigans...like pepper spray...seriously!

Yesterday I set out on another mission to finesse my macaroon skills...To be truthful, I picked out a bunch of baking recipes but in the end the macaroons won again because I haven't been able to stop obsessing over them. This time I went with a very berry theme and they turned out wonderful...most of them. The tart flavour of the berry filling paired with the sweet, melt-in-your-mouth goodness of the shells was the perfect combination. There are still a few steps in the process that I will be changing next time but over all I feel I have learned a few things...and the task was a bit less daunting. My hubby was taking his job as sampler very seriously and gave me two thumbs way up...so I must have done something right.

If you're interested in the recipe for these cuties I'd be glad to send it along (it is a lot of text and I don't want to list it here so I set it up as a pdf instead)...I improvised a little bit for the berry confiture but followed the recipe for the shells in a book called Macarons by Bérengere Abraham, which I highly recommend.

Photos: by me, Kinga Subject

La Lune...La Mer...prints by Double Merrick

La Mer + La Lune prints by Double Merrick 

Happy Wednesday! I am just dropping in today to share my love for these fun screen prints. They are by Double Merrick and I found them on the Keep Calm Gallery page. I like the beautiful imperfections on these and the neutral tones are really speaking to me.

Since taking up silk screening as an obsession I have been toiling away in my studio like a mad scientist desperately trying to make perfect prints and it seems that with silk screening this is pretty near impossible. There are too many steps, each with a unique set of challenges and I have an obsessive compulsive need to master each one of these steps so the learning process for me has been caterpillar-crawl-slow.  Each print comes out slightly different and slightly imperfect and perhaps what I need to learn from all of it is to embrace the imperfections...or so my husband tells me. Maybe this once I should listen to him?

Be sure to visit the Double Merrick website as well as Keep Calm Gallery...you'll be inspired for sure!

Picture postcard...{3}

The author of this postcard sent it from Spain while on vacation abroad in 1970. It reads:

     "Had a 12 hr wait. Rained in at Niagara Falls. Stayed the night. Went to Buffalo airport. Got on plane to Palma and left at 4:30 pm. Arrived at Lisbon Portugal at 5:30 am Sun. Arrived at Palma at 7:20 am Sun. Finally! Had a breakfast of buns and tea. Went to bed. Got up for lunch and sat at pool. Went back to bed. Going to go to pearl factory and leather factory tomorrow. Meals so far are LOUSY. Will loose a lot of weight for wedding. Nice flight. Got many autographs. Temp is about 60. Rooms are alright but very cold. Thursday to Tunis. Saturday to caves of Drac. Hope it gets better soon. Love Brenda"

I can't quite put my finger on it but for some reason this card makes me giggle. Perhaps it's the theatrical image on the front of the Ballet Español, Los Flamencos or perhaps it's the choppy short sentence style of writing from our author Brenda who is clearly unhappy on vacation and is thus reciting her itinerary. I especially love that she accounts for the times when vacation was so dreadful that she went to bed. She is however seeing a bright side to the food being lousy...weight loss...and also she is going to the Caves of Drach which should definitely cheer her up...although...if sitting by the pool made her feel like going to bed I can only imagine what the caves will do. Also, I'm glad she got many autographs on her flight; she must have been flying with some really famous people and that's always fun! Burt Reynolds maybe?

Although this may have been an awful trip for poor Brenda it still somehow makes me want to travel...just so I can send a touristy postcard...Do you ever send postcards from places you're visiting?

Photo by: me, Kinga Subject, photo of Ballet Espanol, Los Flamencos...sadly unknown. 

Frosty morning...{Pt.3}

Hello friends...These are the last (maybe) of my frosty morning photos, at least for a while. Soon I'm sure I'll be posting snowstorm morning photos and slushy morning photos along with guess-the-height-of-that-snow bank-photos...there's no need to talk about it just yet but I think I am ready for winter. 

I hope you're having a great monday!

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

Dreamy white...

In honour of switching the background on this blog to white I thought I'd share some of my white themed photos today. The photos above are some of my favourites and I will be putting some of them in frames for the holidays.  I actually snapped the pictures of those glass marbles for a painting I'm working on and I love the photo of the clear marbles on the white surface (bottom right) so much that I'm having it blown up and printed on fine art paper which I will then put in an all white frame with white matting.
Our place is mostly decorated with white, black, grey and a range of warmer neutrals (brown and beige) and I think this photo will be a perfect addition.

Anyway, I hope you're having a great Thursday so far! Are you looking forward to the weekend as much as I am? I have a renewed sense of direction and purpose and have a ton of work to do and I cannot wait to begin....

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

Picture postcard...{2}

The postcard I am sharing with you today was sent through the mail system in 1959. What grabbed me about this card is the image on the front; it's a depiction of a boat pulling away from a harbour and the text at the bottom of the card reads "Toronto from the Bay". 

Souvenir postcards from Toronto in present day look nothing like this one. They mostly show photos taken at night from the water capturing the impressive city skyline and of course Toronto's treasure, the CN Tower. I appreciate the way in which this card shows the passing of time. If it weren't labeled I would have never known it was Toronto in the background and I love how moody the city looks, kind of dramatic and mysteriously lurking.

I wish I could read the text but all I can make out is that the author is asking the recipient a favour because he plans on staying in Toronto for a while longer...
"Not because I do not like the state because I do, very much, so much that I think I will return although I have good prospects here"

And so I am left wondering, did this person stay in Toronto or move along? Did his prospects pan out? Did he find a job in Toronto? Maybe love? Maybe both?...I wonder...

Wishing you a great Tuesday!

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

Adventures in baking...{6}

Hello friends, I hope you're having a good day. On the weekend I attempted a pretty daunting baking adventure and I'm happy to report I survived. It was my first attempt at making macaroons and opted to make them with a pear confiture. They turned out delicious, perfectly sweet and they melted in the mouth just like macaroons are supposed to, although they did not look too pretty.

Don't act like you're not sitting there judging my macaroons for their sad appearance. I know all too well that they are not uniform in shape and size and I could have been more generous with the food colouring but I am not a pastry chef and if you are, please send any all suggestions my way.

Making these little delights definitely brought out my obsessive compulsive need for perfection. I made two batches and got started on a third but had to abort mission when I ran out of ground almonds and realized my kitchen looked like a disaster zone. Now I find myself brainstorming ideas of how I could improve the process as if my life depends on it...and I realize that first I need to improve my pastry bag skills. If you could have seen me you would have been laughing hysterically. You know the episode of I Love Lucy when she goes to work at the chocolate factory with Ethel and the line is going too fast for them and so in desperation they start to shove chocolates in their mouths...my scrambling with the pastry bag felt desperate just like that. There was batter everywhere; I even took the dog out in the middle of macaroon madness and realized in the elevator on the way in that I had dried batter all over my face...no wonder my neighbours looked at me like I was insane.

Anyway, this is not the last you'll see of my macaroons...next time there will be significant improvement. So how about you? Have you made macaroons? Did it go better for you than it did for me?

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject

A gorgeous renovation...

Hello and happy Friday! Hope you're all doing well today.

So, yesterday I mentioned that I had something fun to share and I was hoping that I would get to it sooner but life gets in the way sometimes and so does daylight savings time. Because it now gets dark so early I ran out of natural light to snap photos of the December issue of Grand Magazine (our local/regional magazine), which has a four page article about a reno project that is near and dear to my heart. 

My husband's aunt and uncle, Debbie and Mark Ryan, are the epitome of do-it-yourself-ers. As long as I have known them they have been renovating something. Their most recent project began three years ago with the purchase of a gorgeous eleven-acre country property on which stood a house in need of some serious help. On the first night they spent in their new home with their three kids, they tore out the hideous kitchen and haven't looked back. Since then, they have added a 2000-square-foot addition which includes a master suite that of course contains a gorgeous bathroom with stand alone tub, his and hers vanities and built in bookshelves. The first time I saw it I had to ask if they were aware that there is a library in their bathroom. The rest of the addition includes a finished laundry room and what I call a "wing" for their two daughters complete with a t.v and entertaining area that has a bright pink accent wall and a fire place.

What I love about this home is that everywhere you look there are pieces of reclaimed or refinished furniture and DIY projects galore. For example the vanity shown in the picture above (on the right) is a rescued dresser; they've even reconfigured the drawers so that they would be functional while allowing the plumbing to run to the sink (which looks more like an expensive bowl than a spot to spit your toothpaste). Also, the bed in the master suite (pictured above) was a handmade project along with the beds in most of the rooms...and that's just the beginning. Upon visiting you might find yourself saying "Wow, I really like that table/chair/bed/headboard/pool lounger etc. Where did you get it?" and the answer will be..."We made it!"

It is a dream of ours to get out into the country and renovate an old farm house, plant a garden and maybe raise some chickens and this renovation project is a true inspiration. Mark and Debbie have created their dream home and did it with hard work, craftsmanship and a ton of imagination and they now have a home that truly reflects their personality, which I think should be the ultimate goal of any reno project.

Oh, did I mention they've also added a pool...and did I mention they have horses? A complete dream right?

Photos: by me, Kinga Subject, except the photos on the left page of the magazine spread which were done by Peter Lee. 

You don't have to buy me flowers...

...Nope. Not at all. You don't have to buy me flowers because I buy them for myself. I pick them up at the market and grocery stores and every time I visit my mom she sends me home with a bouquet from her garden (I definitely miss that most about summer). It's nice to get flowers from someone but equally nice to give them to yourself. So I bought these beauties for me, and they have been cheering me up over the past few dreary November days. Also, I have some fun news to share with you so I will be back with that a little later on...Until then, I hope you're having a wonderful day!

Frosty Mornings...{Pt.2}

These photos are my ode to sunrise. I've never captured the sun quite like this in photos before...probably because I have never been up early enough.

Have you seen City of Angels? You know the part of the film where the angels all gather on the beach facing the sunrise and there's heavenly choir music? Well that's what these pictures remind me of. I hear a choir of angels. Except my angels don't look like Nick Cage or that guy from NYPD Blue who goes skinny dipping and probably shouldn't...and I am not Meg Ryan because unlike her character I don't ride my bike hands free with my eyes shut (crazy)...and I also sleep just fine...too fine in fact...which is why I have never captured the sunrise in photos this way before...

If you want to see the scene I'm talking about you can watch it here.
Photos be: me, Kinga Subject

Frosty mornings...

Frosty mornings are peaceful and quiet. They do not at all signal that winter is around the corner with its gifts of cruel nostril freezing temperatures and snowbanks the size of Everest, no they do not. On Sunday morning when I took these photos I was up at a hideous hour to drive my adorable husband (although at quarter to six in the a.m, he wasn't so adorable) and his friends to a nearby rally point. They were going to a football game.

When we got in the car the windshield was iced over which wasn't at all surprising because it is November, except that we didn't have our scraper in the car, which is also not very surprising, our general lack of preparedness for the upcoming season is routine actually, we do this every year. One morning in the depths of autumn we get in the car and we're astounded that there is frost on the windshield and then we blame each other for not having the necessary tool with which to remedy the situation. It usually takes a snow storm to get us to dig out the old scraper from storage and that usually happens at a quarter to six in the morning when we're already late for something. I drive the car most so I will take responsibility...you can pretty much leave it to me to not have a scraper but to have my camera.

This early morning photo session with nature was a really meditative experience though and I'm glad I braved the elements. The sun was just rising and the light changed quickly. It was quiet and cold and it cleared my mind and energized me for the day, which ultimately, or rather as a result, was a really productive one. It reinforced what I already know to be true...that being an early riser is good for the soul...I'm sure there's a book about it...it probably has 'chicken soup' in the title...

Photos by: me, Kinga Subject,  {ps}...there are way more where these came from and I will share them soon...