How cool is this .. the light from my Ikea desk lamp reflected the surface of my Moroccan tray onto the ceiling ..

Ok, I’m lost in some kind of loopy learning curve .. WordPress has taken away the “slideshow” option button, so I’m not able to list photos as I would like to do.  So these are not in order, but I know I’m not alone.  Frustration with the slideshow (lack of) experience kept me from blogging .. however, today I found that I could enter a number of photos (by holding down the “shift” button and clicking on the photos that I wanted to include) ..

Last week found me driving downtown to visit a lovely little shop where I will be selling my soaps on consignment.   I didn’t take any photos, but will do so the next time I go back downtown.

This lovely little shop is lovely and calm .. there is a retro, honest feel about the place.  The young proprietor, Jenny, is very artistic and creative.  She offers sewing lessons to all ages .. and along one side of the shop is a row of lovely sewing machines and in the middle of the shop is a fantastic large rectangular wooden table.

There are displays of art by local artists … beautiful ….

As I looked around the shop, I noticed a lack of plastic and glitz … the hard-scapes are wood and fabric drapes adorn the interior doorways.

It almost felt as if I  took a step back in time when I entered the shop.  There was a feeling of calm, of not being rushed about … very relaxing.  Plus .. she loves my soaps and since I love making soap .. I’m looking forward to stocking her shelves with my product.  How exciting is this!

http://www.harbourliving.ca/event/the-makehouse-holiday-booty-market/

Across the road from this shop .. I noticed more lovely shops .. this rug shop was filled with beautiful carpets .. and I tried my best to get a good picture of that lovely blue and white ceramic object .. don’t know what it is, but loved the colour and design.

And close by .. was this wonderful shop with luxurious carpets

Further on, there is this great guitar shop.

This is the guitar store, what a magnificent place to discover.

But really, what caught my attention. were these magnificent guitars. (see the funky tv set and the gypsy-ish, flamenco-ish painting in the background)

Standing back a few feet .. I could see the antique tv and the flamenco dancer (painting)

The sparkly guitars attracted my eyes towards them

Meanwhile .. back home in my back yard ….

The leaves are tenaciously attached to this wild apple tree.

And up above .. the skies were just so lovely and blue …

Lovely lovely love blue skies

How appropriate it was for me to see this license plate, as I drove home with my huge bags of oak leaves!  The driver noticed me taking a photo and gave me a positive thumbs up wave!   So I laughed!  How true .. no pain .. no gain!

Out of order  .. but this was my second day and I’d filled nearly 24 or so huge bags with oak leaves for the garden!

My second day of gathering oak leaves and I started here.

Only 3 scoops with the handi-hands and the bag is nearly filled!

These are my “handi-hands” totally wonderful for scooping up leaves (or seaweed!!)

I gathered all the leaves from this area and only stopped when daylight faded!

Here are some pics showing the full bags of leaves .. I crammed them into my little car .. here is the back angle …

And I had to really push to get 8 bags in .. so the front passenger seat went way forward.

There it is .. short and sweet .. about my daily life .. sometimes in my garden, sometimes in someone else’s  garden and once in a while .. downtown.   But always, always … .watching the skies above.

🙂