A flying visit to SF

A view I had the last time......

 A friend I saw the last time..... and this time again. 

 We went out to shop, dine and talk :)

 and had a lot of fun

 There is so much going on

and the weather was gorgeous, sunny and no fog.

 It was so good to see Robin again!

 Had cocktails at the same place as last November.

Had a little snack and wrote a  postcard. 

 We had crab fried rice

Pad Thai

 And a toast to friendship!

 Breakfast together

And then we had to say goodbye but we know we will meet again :)

Have a wonderful day!

♥♥♥

Animal Wednesday / Studio update

 My Sjimmie is recovered fully! He even killed a mole last night.The poor things was waiting for me in the hall as a gift from Sjimmie. So i think he is completely back in action :)

He is eating and enjoying life again. And I am so happy! I have been so worried.

 This little fellow landed in our garden this week

 When I got my gloves to put him in a safer spot, he was gone

 Does anyone know what kind of bat this is?

 Sarah is enjoying the sunshine. we are finally having wonderful weather!

 Sjimmie checking out the painting i did today. Just primer on the windows ;)

Close up of Spook, relaxing in a basket in the window sill.

And some pictures of the studio

 The new floor

 door to the living room

 walls isolated  

 windows arriving 

 It was a tight fit......

 dooropening in the living room

 the windows instead of the garage door 

 with the shutters down it still looks like a garage door

 mess in the garden

My future view 

I love the process. Looked forward to this for so long and I am enjoying every minute of it. Even the mess :)

Happy Animal Wednesday 

♥♥♥

Mignon completed

Mignon in steps on my favorite mantra by Snatam Kaur.

I listened to this music while creating this mandala and it inspired me to use the flamingo as a totem animal for Mignon.

Have a happy day :)

♥♥♥

Mignon 27-11-1985

All numbers of the date of birth added gives the number 7 as Life Path number and her course number is a 7 also so 2 times purple.

For the Life path number I picked 7 purple lotus petals. For the course number I always paint the color as a background.

I enjoyed painting this mandala, I hope you enjoyed the making of :)

BTW Sjimmie is doing much better today, I have no idea what has been wrong with him but I am very grateful he is recovering.

Have a nice day !

♥♥♥

Mignon step 7

 Here I painted 5 white clouds in a blue sky to complete the year 1985

and here is my Sjimmie. He is really very ill :(

I have never seen him like this before and I am very worried. Been to the vet this weekend and unless a miracle happens I will go to the vet tomorrow again.

The vet  (and I) don't know what is wrong with him.

He has not been eating since Wednesday. But today he had a few bites of chicken and some bouillon. I hope the medicine he got will soon kick in.

Please keep your fingers crossed for my black Prince.

Have a wonderful Sunday:)

♥♥♥

Mignon step 6

27-11-1985

For the eight I painted 8 magenta flamingos , a symbol of elegance, wealth and balance. For the sense of community and the ability to work together.

In ancient Egypt, flamingos were symbols of the sun. Egyptians believed that flamingos represented the sun god Ra. Flamingos also have been known to symbolize "beauty, balance and grace."

When the flamingo is your totem:

 Flamingos are bright, very social animals who are very family oriented. Both birds in the species are responsible for nesting and care of the young. Flamingo people tend to be vibrant, outgoing, and even flirtatious. Flamingos display amazing balance often standing on one foot and pulling the other close to the body to maintain body heat. Flamingo people are also well-balanced and resourceful - not letting anything go to waste. Personal Reflection... Flamingo appears to encourage you to be more vibrant and social, to truly enjoy the company of others and take time out to play. Flamingo people need the social structure of groups and do very well as community organizers or group leaders. Their natural charm, coupled with their ability to take on and share responsibilties equally, make flamingo people great team mates and partners.


To be well balanced is certainly a goal of mine.
Have a flamingo kind of a day :)

♥♥♥

Mignon step 5

step the 9 lotus petals in rainbow colors.

In India, the meaning the lotus flower represents health, long life, honor, favor of God etc. Lotus flower also represents divinity, fertility, wealth, knowledge and enlightenment.

In Buddhism the Lotus flower is known to symbolize purity of speech, of the body, and of the mind. It is fabled that Siddhārtha Gautama (Gautama Buddha), whose teaching Buddhism is founded upon, left a trail of Lotus Flowers in his wake with every step that he took. Perhaps the major Lotus flower symbolism is it’s association with spiritual awakening or enlightenment.

A person’s path in life is said to be similar to that of the Lotus. Starting at the seed stage, early in the karmic cycle, through to the bud emerging from the dirty water, representing a person following the path of spirituality and leaving attachment behind, and finally blossoming, this is when a person has become fully awakened and has achieved nirvana.
(Picture and meaning found on this site)

Studio: End of day 5

Have been busy although there is not much I can do at this moment in my studio. Except deciding and ordering things. I am still exited about every step.

Tomorrow is already my last day off. Sunday I will fly to Chengdu.

No blogger or Facebook there so can´t keep in touch......

Thursday when I return I hope to see much done in my studio.

Tomorrow morning I hope to make a blog round and leave some comments :)

I know I am not a good blog friend at this moment.

I  expect to get more time in July again.

Have a nice day!

♥♥♥

Mignon step 4 / Studio and AW

 Hahaha how many subjects can you squeeze in one title?!

Well step 4 is the millennium ring  in Mignon´s birthday.

I picked an Ouroboros for that number.
 The Ouroboros "tail-devouring snake", is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon swallowing its own tail and forming a circle. The Ouroboros often represents self-reflexivity or cyclically, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end.

Studio end of day 2.

Happy Animal Wednesday (I thought the snake would count for AW) !

♥♥♥

Mignon step 3 / Studio day 1

Mignon 

Step 3:

Mignons mandala is painted on canvas (15,7 x 15,7 in)

She is born in the 11th month so I chose a rainbow of colors for the number 11.

 Today finally Henny (our builder) started on my studio to be :)

 This is how it looked after day 1.

I am so exited!!!!!!

It was a lot of hard work, our walls are quite thick and hard.

Here is where the door to the living room will be.

Have a nice Monday :)

♥♥♥

Mignon step 2

(27-11-1985)

Step 2 :
7 purple lotus buds. The Lotus bud is perhaps the single most popular offering of the Buddhist as he worships at his temple, or his home altar. It is quite often held in the folded hands of the listener within the temple as sermons are given or meditation is practiced. Often in the early morning hours as the Buddhist bonze makes his way through the streets with the "merit bowl" wherein the laity may earn merit by giving cooked rice, there will be a Lotus bud or two within his hand. Likewise, it has come to form a part of Asian architectural and sculptural motifs.

A lotus bud is a symbol of potential growth, pureness, truth and spirituality.

I like to use this in the middle of the mandala as the person is at birth gifted with all these potentials and later in life (and in the mandala) all these things will blossom.

Have a wonderful Sunday :)

♥♥♥

Mignon step 1

Mignon is born 27-11-1985 

(we always say the day of birth before the month)

So I started with the 2
The 2. An orange Yin Yang symbol This symbol represents the primal opposing but complementary forces found in all things in the universe. Depicted as it is, it also outlines the necessity of balance in all things.
Yin & Yang are Co-Arising and Interdependent: The curves and circles of the Yin-Yang symbol imply a kaleidoscope-like movement. This implied movement represents the ways in which Yin and Yang are mutually-arising, interdependent, and continuously transforming, one into the other. One could not exist without the other, for each contains the essence of the other. Night becomes day, and day becomes night. Birth becomes death, and death becomes birth (think: composting). Friends become enemies, and enemies become friends. Such is the nature - Taoism teaches - of everything in the relative world.

Within light there is darkness, but do not try to understand that darkness.
Within darkness there is light, but do not look for that light.
Light and darkness are a pair, like the foot before and the foot behind in walking.
Each thing has its own intrinsic value and is related to everything else in function and position.
Ordinary life fits the absolute as a box and its lid.
The absolute works together with the relative,
like two arrows meeting in mid-air.

~Shih-tou~

from an article by Elizabeth Reninger

Have a wonderful day!

♥♥♥

Just some pictures :)

 Our  apples trees are blooming

 Our girls are pregnant? Or not?

 Queens day this Monday (DH took this picture, I was in Shanghai)

Look at that Malus in bloom!

 Today I worked on my new window :)

 When I see these towers I know I am nearly home. I just love a sky like this when it brings out this light on the trees and green.

 This is what I am painting on Wednesdays. The view from my garden...........

An yes in real the towers are that crooked:)

 My cactus bloomed and had still some Orchids left from Bangkok!

 Last one standing. Can you believe I brought these flowers home the 21st of February. That is more than 10 weeks ago!

 Today on my way to my stained glass class we  were early and visited the castle in Burg-Haamstede.

Have been to Shanghai in the meanwhile, but couldn't blog there or get on Facebook.......so I missed a lot.

Returned Tuesday late and have had 2 busy days and so will be tomorrow. Nearly no time to catch up with you all. I try to do little by little while drinking my morning coffee.

Have a nice day!

♥♥♥