Vivian K. Perry here with my sister Maisie, to tell you my face is ALL BETTER!!!
Just in time for the holidays.
Jennifer also asked me to tell you there’s only one day left to enter her $25 Amazon gift card draw. Click on the card to subscribe to her email list for a chance to win. Subscribers will receive an email tomorrow announcing the winner. Good luck!
Stay safe, and we’ll see you all again in the New Year!
Are you dreaming of a white Christmas?
Winter came early to our corner of the world, and so far it has packed a heavy punch in most areas. These photos were taken a week ago, after our first significant snowfall. We’ve had more since then.
Inspiration can come to the artist in us in many ways. I hope to expand my own horizons in the coming new year, and I wish the same for you.
Here are a few new horizons from Perry’s Point to inspire creativity through the frosty months ahead.
We live on Snowy Beach Avenue now! 🙂
I must give credit where credit is due: Paul “helped” with these next three. They were taken in the last couple of hours before sunset.
“The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” ~ Christopher McCandless
WPC: New Horizon
What do you see on your horizon for 2017?
There is satisfaction in settling on the perfect gift – something that shows how well you know the recipient and how much you care about your relationship with them. And contrary to what advertisers will tell you, you don’t have to drop loads of cash to find the right present. In fact, the most meaningful gifts are often the ones that cost less money, but take a little more thought, time, and creativity.
Check out this list of gift ideas that tug at the heartstrings while giving your wallet a much-needed rest.
Express how you feel about the recipient with a poem or quote (you can use someone else’s, but please give them credit). Write it on heavy cardstock in your prettiest handwriting and frame it. Even if you’ve never crafted before, there’s lots of inspiration to be found online.
You don’t have to be a master chef to make a delicious, inexpensive meal. Look up some recipes and whip up a loved one’s favorite meal and dessert. For an extra festive touch, deck the table with Christmas decor items from your local thrift store.
Burn a CD of songs that mean something to you and the recipient, make nifty cover art with an easy-to-use template, and print out a track listing.
Invite that special someone over for a movie marathon – they get to choose the flicks. Make awesome snacks, munch, laugh, discuss, enjoy, repeat.
Choose a quotation that means something to your friend or loved one, or is significant to your relationship, and get it lettered on a cool print.
Print photos from a trip or an event, or order pictures of you and the gang, or the family. In a world of online selfies and digital photo albums, a tangible memento has special cachet.
Searching Amazon for “cheap stuff” returns a treasure trove of fun gifts. Do your part to help a loved one get goofy and playful with a bundle of goodies they might not buy themselves! Need some ideas? A vintage owl pendant, ‘80’s Style Wayfarer Sunglasses, The New York Times Light & Easy Crossword Puzzles, and the game Set totals less than $19.
Selecting the perfect gifts for your loved ones is often tough, we all know that firsthand. But if you can come up with heartfelt presents, they will earn you mistletoe merriment and possibly save you money in the bargain!
Do you have any clever and inexpensive gift ideas or online gift sites to share?
Yesterday’s forecast had been accurate. We woke up to a brilliantly sunny morning, though it was a little on the chilly side.
After breakfast, I zipped up my hoodie, grabbed my camera and took a stroll around the area we were staying. Won’t you come along with me?
As usual, I couldn’t resist the pull of the ocean, so I took a walk down along the coastline to get these last few shots:
Maybe the next time we visit Twillingate, we’ll come in late spring during iceberg season.
Thanks for tagging along! I hope you enjoyed it. 🙂
Just as I had almost given up hope on an autumn getaway, my guy came through with a road trip in early November to Twillingate.
Being a working trip for him, I didn’t expect it to be much more, for me, than a chance to grab a few scenery photos in yet another part of Newfoundland I hadn’t had the pleasure to visit yet. Known as the Iceberg Capital of the World, Twillingate is a lovely little town that draws many tourists, and although this is not the time of year for icebergs, it is still a pretty location to drop in and take a look around.
The place we booked, the Sunshine Inn, had only opened in August after major renovations, and as it turned out, we were the only guests there that night. That meant we had the entire main floor common area to ourselves.
Take a look at our accommodations:
Pretty artwork in the common area:
Taking in Twillingate Harbour as dusk settled in and lights winked on, I found myself looking forward to morning. The forecast called for sunshine, which would be perfect for a walk with my camera. Come back for Part Two of this post to see what I came up with!
A murder of crows, that is.
There is already a meme going around similar to this next one, but when I saw crows on Perry’s Point the other day, I couldn’t resist making my own.
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In other news:
Add yourself to my email list for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card. A winner will be randomly drawn on December 23rd. Click on the card to sign up.
Thanks for entering, and good luck! 🙂
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In the continuing saga of Vivian K. Perry:
Tomorrow will be our fourth trip to the vet to get more meds for Vivian’s allergic dermatitis. The side of her face has still not healed, so they are prescribing a higher dose of this second prescribed medication. At least she doesn’t have to go along this time, and we are super thankful for that.
Speaking of being thankful,
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American followers and blogger friends!
In this modern-day world of widespread social media and information overload, it seems everyone professes to be an expert on something. This, of course, includes the “rules” for writing novels and memoirs.
I have to make a confession. I’m sharing the following link from writer Anne R. Allen’s blog for my benefit as well as yours. Thankfully, I haven’t been taken in by most of the “stupid writing rules” listed, but I’ve also bookmarked it to refer to the many helpful links she shares throughout the post.
If you are a new or aspiring novelist, you would be wise to give it a read. Above all, make sure you get your writing advice from a reliable source.
Stupid Writing Rules: 12 Bad Writing Tips New Writers Give Each Other
Have you ever looked at your children when they are teenagers – or beyond – and wished you could go back in time to enjoy a day when they were little? I certainly have.
Children grow up so incredibly fast! It’s almost like you blink and they are grown. All the way through childhood they are making firsts: Their first word, their first steps, their first day of school. There is so much to relish and celebrate about these milestones that you almost forget about the time whizzing past.
Kids need a solid grounding and good examples to learn from, therefore conscientious parents want their kids to remember their childhood fondly, and with love. Their formative years are important because they’re going to remember certain things forever, so if you do fun things together as a family, they will remember these events fondly for the rest of their days. Here are some ideas on how to make memories that will last a lifetime.
Play with paint
It’s a great idea to teach a child creativity from a very young age. If they learn not to be afraid of a blank page, they will probably go on to create great things. (As a writer, I have faced that blank page many times.) One of the most imaginative and artistic things you can do with your children is to create and paint together. Let them go wild with crayons, colouring pencils, acrylic and water paint, and glue. They will feel proud of their results in the moment, and it will be fun to look back on their creations together in the future.
Pose for a picture
The wonderful thing about smartphones is that you have a camera almost always at hand. This give you the chance to capture as many candid photos of your children as possible. And don’t forget taking videos of them. If you would like something a bit more professional, a photographer can give you great results. A professional family photo is something that everyone loves to look back on because it perfectly captures a moment in time you can cherish forever. Not only will you have the physical photos, but you’ll have great memories of the actual day as well.
Read stories together
My girl’s favourite: The Owl & The Pussycat
This was a big one for me when I raised my kids. When your children are little, it’s a great idea to get into the habit of reading them a book every evening. This not only calms them before they sleep, but it also helps them learn. The stories that you first read them will probably stay with them forever. Almost everyone can remember the first book that they loved to have read to them. It’s a child’s way of really using their imagination to form the pictures in their mind. Keep a couple of their favorite books for you to show them when they are grown up.
Cook together
If you can teach your children a family recipe that has been passed down through the ages, they’ll remember it forever. A cherished recipe can be pulled out and enjoyed again and again, and it will strengthen the memory for your child of when you first made it together.
Our boy making muffins!
Notice the recurring theme here? Creative endeavors seem to be the best way to make memories for you and your family!
What do you and your children do to make memories that will last a lifetime?
To give us perspective. Of note, Karen’s words from the comment section: “I think when there is a shock, we need time to absorb the news and if we can spend sometime in nature … it does ground us and calm us.”
That often works for me when I need to let go of anxiety.
For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction. – Cynthia Ocelli
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In September, I blogged about how excited I was to have tickets to a local showing in concert of Come From Away, a musical that is heading to Broadway in the new year. You can read that post here.
We attended the Gander show on Saturday afternoon, and it was INCREDIBLE!
Flawlessly executed.
Overflowing with energy, talent, and professionalism.
And generating such love and pride for the citizens of Gander and surrounding communities – who most certainly deserved it – it was truly a moving experience.
“The Come From Away musical was written to show the compassionate response by Newfoundlanders when air space closed over North America after the Twin Towers fell —diverting dozens of planes to Gander. The community took in more than 6,000 passengers for several days while planes were grounded.” – Local CBC story on Come From Away
Can you imagine if the population of your town had nearly doubled on 9/11?
The show tells the tale through the eyes of local mayors, residents, a pilot, and stranded passengers, 100 minutes of heartfelt musical numbers that show how Newfoundlanders went above and beyond with their own special brand of hospitality.
To paraphrase Canadian playwright Irene Sankoff, cowriter of the musical:
“Not only did the {citizens of Gander} let people off of the planes who were {strangers} to them, but they let them into their community buildings. They canceled school for the entire time that “the plane people” were there, devoting all of their energy to taking care of them.
They put them up in their schools and community buildings, and then began inviting people home for dinner, inviting them to stay the night, cleaning their clothes, and giving them anything that they could ask for over the time that they were stranded.“
Countless times during the show, we laughed out loud. And many other times we wiped away our tears. And boy, did we ever applaud! I had chills several times, and it had nothing to do with the fact we were in a hockey arena.
I could go on and on about it, but just let me say, if you have the opportunity to see the show in Toronto or New York, you should. I know I’m biased, being a Newfoundlander and all, but I think anyone would enjoy such a positive showing of humanity in the face of crisis and disaster. With all the negativity in the media these days, it was a welcome change.
The cherry on top? All proceeds from the Gander shows were donated to local charities.
I think our little province and its people made quite an impression on those affected that week. To illustrate, near the end of the show, one of the “plane people” from the U.S. told her new Gander friend that Newfoundlanders can’t tell knock-knock jokes.
“Why not?” her friend asked.
“Okay, I’ll be the Newfoundlander,” said the American. “You say knock knock.”
“Knock knock.”
“Come on in – the door is open!”
This is a shining example of Newfoundland hospitality and our way of life being brought to the Broadway stage. Did I mention I was proud?
For more info, here is the Official Come From Away Website.
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