Happy Birthday Star Trek!

The original series of Star Trek first premiered on TV 46 years ago.  I was only 5 at the time and don't think I started watching the show until a few years later, so it's not like I remembered this fact all on my own. I know this because today's Google Doodle is a picture of the bridge of the Starship Enterprise with the letters spelling "Google" altered to represent the original cast members (Spock as the capital "G", Kirk - complete with hair piece - as the letter "O", etc.).  Honestly, those people at Google are so darned clever!  Then again, we already knew that, didn't we?

Even better than that, if you click on a certain area of each picture (yes, there is more than one), it becomes animated and plays certain iconic Star Trek sounds and/or images, like sound of the elevator door opening while the red alert siren is being heard, or Kirk battling the Gorn.  Well, if you're a Trekkie like me, you'll recognize these things and have a laugh or a bit of memory flash. 

If you're reading this today, go visit Google to check it out.  If you're reading this post after today, Google "Google Doodle Star Trek" and you'll find it.  Trust me, it's very cool, you're going to want to see it.  If you're a Star Trek fan, that is.

But...

Wait a minute, if you move the garbage pail into the middle of the floor, we can't use it to jump up on the kitchen counter - where's the fun in that!?!!

More School Days Photos

It took 3 trips to the postal substation in 24 hours before they were able to hand over my parcel to me, even though I had received a delivery notice.  Canada Post is wondering why people are using their services less?  Gee, I wonder why?! NOT!!

While I savour this wonderful album and take time to photograph each page so I can post them here, I will share with you some of the school themed photos I used for my journal swap pages (click on the individual photo to see an enlarged view):

The graduate:

The Thanksgiving pageant:

The roller skating club:

The girl in the Brownie uniform:

The kids dressed up for their first day of class:

Fabulous, aren't they?

Back to School

The first day of school here in the Toronto area was a bit of a wild one.  We had rain for most of the day, with several torrential downpours which caused a lot of flooding and totalled approx. 35 mm - about 1.5 inches - in my area combined with thunderstorms here and there.  When you compare that to the 2mm we got the entire month of July, you can see how easy it was to break the 31 year old record, with another 20 - 30 mm possible overnight.  Even more amazing, one area nearby reported getting close to 90mm!  My cousin, who is a teacher, reported a power outage at her school, which probably made the first day jitters just a little more pronounced for both staff and kids.  Wildest of all, my boss's teenage daughter had a lockdown at her high school this morning after one of the kids got stabbed by another kid (who has not yet been found and charged).  On the very first day, can you imagine??! Crazy!

I had prepared for the start of the 2012 school year by taking part in a journal swap organized by my friend Michelle Geller.  Back in May, she posted about this Moulin Rouge journal that she and a group of talented others had made.  When she asked at the end of that post if anyone was interested in taking part in the next swap, I quickly replied "absolutely"!

Our theme was "vintage school days".  Fourteen of us participated, which meant we each had to make 14 pages, send them to Michelle by a certain date and she would put all the books together.  Just like back in school, I didn't start mine right away and ended up rushing towards the end to get them all done in time but I made it.  I ended up doing 2 different designs and each of the 7 copies of each style is similar to the others and at the same time, unique.  Each page also needed to be decorated on both sides.

I was really thrilled with how my pages turned out.  I started with some black and white photos from my collection of photo albums. Happily, I found several with a school theme, such as graduation and pageant photos and a few that looked like kids dressed up for the first day of school.

The first design was based on the primary colours (red, blue and yellow).

Front side, featuring protractor pocket

Front side showing with
pocket contents removed

Back side with pocket, vintage photo
and handpainted tag

The second design had more of an antique look, with a burgundy and beige colour theme.


Front side

Back side with protractor pocket folded in

 

Back side, opened out

The various supplies I used included scrapbook paper, flash cards, protractors (I was so excited to find several boxes at the thrift store one day, knew they'd be perfect for making a pocket to tuck things into), stamps, school book pages, decorative tape, tags, pennies, ribbon, rick rack and acrylic paints.

Michelle mailed the finished books back to us last week.  It usually takes at least a week for mail to travel from the U.S. to Toronto and sure enough, I got a card from the postal delivery person in my mailbox today that said there was a parcel for me that would be at the post office by 5 p.m. tonight Alas, when I went there at 6 p.m., I was told it hadn't arrived yet. :(  You can imagine my disappointment!  Some of my fellow swap members who live in the U.S. have already received and blogged about their books but I have been resisting the urge to read their blogs until I have my own copy in hand.  In the meantime, the suspense is killing me!!

Stay tuned, I'll post photos of the finished fabulousness as soon as I can!

Labouring Today

The start of a long weekend is always filled with such promise.  You know you have three whole days to do whatever you want and the possibilities are seemingly endless. 

In my case, I had a long list of things on my "to do" list but only one thing that I really wanted to get done.  I woke up Saturday with a clear goal - to clear off and tidy the top of the dresser in my dining room/studio.  In spite of my best intentions, my procrastination self took over and instead of facing this daunting job:

I did this instead:

3 loads of laundry
changed bedding
baked cookies
decorated Rolodex cards
tidied kitchen craft area
had a nap
watched TV
glued things into my journal
cleared off the top of my bedroom dresser
sorted out my jewelery (a lot of which had been jumbled on top of said dresser)

So lots got done on Saturday but not the one task that was at the top of my list.

Went to the cottage yesterday and I'm really glad I did, it was such a perfect summer's day.  But of course, that meant the dresser didn't get cleaned off yesterday either.

Which left only today to get my rear in gear and tackle that mess. I told myself I'd work on it for two hours straight, which I did.  After an hour, I could see definite progress.

Miraculously and thankfully, it looked like this when time was up:

I then took an hour's break before spending another 2 hours sorting everything I had removed from the top of the dresser and putting everything away where it belonged.  I figured a 4 hour workday was plenty long enough for a holiday Monday and now I am going to relax and enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done!

Wondering what the kittens were doing while I laboured? I'll give you one guess.  :)

Belle Neige

Belle Matisse and Belle Cherie

Calliope

Belle Simone

It's hard work being a kitten too!

A Little Spooky

I took this photo of the setting sun reflecting off the windows of one building onto another while I was downtown the other day:

A few blocks later, I took this picture of the sign from a radio station that played all the top hits when I was growing up in Toronto:

Imagine my surprise when I got home, downloaded the photo and noticed what appears to be a face immediately to the right of the sign!  It's probably just more light reflecting off windows but it's a little spooky, wouldn't you agree?

Toronto Graffiti

Here are some pictures I took the other day/early evening when I was in downtown Toronto, walking to the AGO.  Luckily I had my camera with me as some of this graffiti is really spectacular:

Imagine Pooh and Piglet being
part of a graffiti painting?!

I especially liked this one!

Not sure I understand the theme of this painting
but I quite liked it! See detailed shots below.

Close up of the detail -
how long did it take to paint all those dark lines?!

The artist's signature

Even the tarmac on the ground
was decorated in this parking lot!

This one was my favourite, I love the colours they used:

Obviously, we've got a lot of talented artists around this city!

I felt a bit like I was back in Rome, with the warm weather and street art, especially when I saw these two scooters parked on the sidewalk!