We had a lovely day yesterday despite the rain and despite the fact there has been a lot of it these days! My garden is super-green but my radishes aren’t too happy about that, nor my greens. They are craving the sun after so much moisture!

I think we all tend to get a bit of cabin fever with all this inside business. A few days ago we went to an indoor play area to let the boys run like crazy and it really helped. It made me feel better too to see them getting the ants out of their pants (that saying was a fun one to explain to the boys!).

Yesterday, I figured that rain or not it was time to venture out. I really wanted to collect some leaves to do some printing as I was excited to use the brayer that I just purchased from Michaels during their 40% off everything sale. Oh, I think we (that means mostly ‘I’) did a pretty good job of containing myself among all the crafty goodies and art supplies. I also purchased a Fiskars rotary cutter which has been on my list for a long time and used it shortly after on a skirt I was sizing. I instantly fell in love. Soo nice!

Although it was not raining at present, the forecast called for more so upon leaving the house we decided to take our umbrellas. We walked along the path near our house which overlooks the lovely waterfront harbour going out to the Atlantic Ocean. Despite the overcast sky it was a lovely day and the birds were singing and so many flowers were in full bloom including some St John’s Wort and Birdsfoot Treefoil which are both such a brilliant yellow you can’t help but say ‘hello’! It was a surprise to see all the blooms and plants in full greenery on our first trip to the trail this summer/spring. We’ve been kept away by the weather but reminded that despite a bit of rain, it’s still a great time to get outside. Hey, I used to do it all the time when I was a kid so why not now?

About half way along the trail the rain started but we were prepared and it was just a light drizzle. At first. Prior to our departure we had told the boys we would walk along the trail and go to the new Starbucks at the other end. It was a nice destination spot and a treat and as the rain came down the idea of getting inside with a nice hot cup of something proved sweet indeed!

After a nice treat and a bit of drying off we went on our way again. We only got hit by a smidgen of rain, so little that as soon as we raised the umbrellas it stopped! We had to laugh at the oddity of our weather!

The boys found some young snails on the path and so began our search of saving the little newbies from the doom of squishdom by moving them to the edge of the grass. A good deed and something for which we are always on the lookout: taking care of the little creatures. By the time we arrived home the sun was out and we had to laugh at that timing. Then again, with the sun came the humidity so were happy to now be indoors.

After lunch we started on printing leaves onto paper. We didn’t have much luck this time as we found that painting onto the leaves and then placing paper on top and rolling with the brayer just didn’t suffice. I think I need to buy a foam brayer and try rolling the paint onto the leaves and then placing under paper and pressing. Any input here would be appreciated! I know I saw this done somewhere and feel so silly that such a simple thing is beyond my abilities to figure out at the moment. Alas, I did not take leaf printing in art school! Haha!

We moved on to some printing with the screen and squeegee that we purchased at the same time at Michaels. Stephen cut out a Maple Leaf (very apropos for the day!) as a stencil. I borrowed this book from the library and it was a great help as we figured out what we needed to do. The boys were excited to finally have a go at printing as they would like to make t-shirts to sell with their own creations printed on them. We learned that running the paint over the area to be printed several times is the key. I’d say first time was pretty successful!

Not bad, right? Perfect timing for going out to see the fireworks later that night, too!

Onto dinner and a movie while we waited for 10pm to roll around. I cooked up some spinach and chickpea curry from this book and it was delicious. We all really enjoyed watching Nanny MacPhee  while we ate and had a good laugh!

Time to cut the hair and have a bath! During this time I checked for an update on the fireworks as the day had been so overcast and had turned that way again as evening came on. The fireworks ended up being postponed, but hey, no loss as we’d had a great day and the boys got to stay up late!

I played around with the colouring on my little camera on this one.

Happy Day to all!

Okay, now time to get onto the latest issue of Alphabet Glue that Dawn helped put together!