Manitoba Art Expo

Dear Knittah,

On Friday, Noricum, her friend, and I went to the Manitoba Art Expo. There was lots of lovely art there. I mostly hung in my travel pouch, but Noricum remembered to bring me out to introduce me to Linda Glowacki:

She does lovely needle-felted artwork, and got a real kick meeting me. She seems like a fun person!

We enjoyed looking at all the art, and Noricum saw lots of people she knew... some were from the art club she belongs to, and others she took workshops from.

The driving to and from the show was really scary, though. The roads were really icy! Plows and sanders were out, but they were having trouble keeping up with the conditions. Noricum's friend is a really safe driver, though, so we made it there and back without any accidents, although one red light we weren't sure if we'd manage to stop before the intersection. (After that we watched the walk signals, and slowed to stop if they turned red. That method had us stopped at a green light once, though. We felt a bit silly... but safe!) We saw one accident happen when someone couldn't stop for a red light, and another where someone slid all the way through a red light. In that second case, we were really glad there was a clear lane beside us, because that person *had* been in our lane. Had there not been an empty lane, we would have been rear-ended!

Driving was much better on Saturday when Noricum took me grocery shopping. We were both very relieved that the roads had improved so much.

Love,
Swatchy

Carved Decoy Show

Dear Knittah,

On Saturday, Noricum and her dad took me to a carved decoy show. There were so many beautiful carvings there! Noricum says I have to write fast, because she needs the computer back, so I'll just show you these three photos:







Love,
Swatchy

Night At The Art Gallery

Dear Knittah,

Last night Noricum and I had a nice picnic in the cemetery (falafels in a pita), followed by a visit to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. We didn't take photos because the art we really wanted to take photos of we weren't allowed to. Oh well.

They had a neat craft exhibit. The commentary was interesting too. One thing mentioned was how craft used to be valued as income and providing necessary items for the family, but now tends to be looked down upon.

One interesting fact about the gallery is that an heir to the person that the gallery is named after and who donated much of the art to the gallery is claiming that the art was just "on loan" by the Beaverbrook Foundation, not gifts. He wants some of the art back so that he can sell it to raise funds to fix up a historical building in England... which he happens to live in. A friend of Noricum described this to her. We think it sounds a little self-serving. Especially since some of the paintings he wants are Salvidor Dali portraits of Lady Beaverbrook (from when she was Lady Dunn) and Lord Dunn, and this heir is by Lord Beaverbrook's prior wife.

When we were at the gallery there was a class being given on making an art doll. Looking at the gallery website, it seems that there are individual classes held (nearly) every Thursday night, and they only cost $10. Noricum is considering looking into taking one. (It looks like there isn't one next week, and there's only one Thursday left after that.)

Love,
Swatchy

Baked Expectations, Artorama, and a really great dinner

Dear Knittah,

I'm sorry I haven't written much lately, there just hasn't been all that much happening in the way of exciting travel... and I admit, I've been a bit lazy. Sorry! The good news is that I'll be making a trip to Fredericton, NB, this spring, and will be stopping in Toronto on my way there. (I'll be sure to check out Lettuce Knit! Oooo... they're open late Wednesday nights... I wonder if that's when the SNB meets? I'd love to hang out with a Toronto SNB! And, of course, if I happen to meet the Yarn Harlot, I'll be *sure* to get my picture taken with her! Noricum has met her a few times now, but I haven't gotten to meet her yet. *sigh*)

Anyway, here's the small bits of excitement we had in March:

Noricum and I and Noricum's friend (HJ) and Noricum's friend's husband went to Baked Expectations early in March. Noricum hadn't seen her friend in quite a while, and HJ is *pregnant*! (Baby knitting! Noricum had some fun with baby knitting back in February.) Anyway, the cake was soooooo good, that we didn't manage to get a photo of it before it disappeared. Whoops!

However, HJ helped take this photo where Noricum is pointing to the cake she had a slice of:

It was *yummy*! It was chocolate cake with a layer of chocolate cheesecake and another of chocolate mousse, all coated with chocolate ganache. (Can you tell Noricum likes chocolate? Or that she couldn't decide between cake, cheesecake, or mousse? And that in a state of chocolate-indecision, this cake was perfect? If she goes back again, though, she plans on having a slice of "plain old" chocolate cheesecake. Not that anything is "plain old" there!)

Then nothing much happened for *ages*... Noricum worked on her dissertation, and I hung out in her pocket, waiting for interesting opportunities.

Today, something interesting finally happened! We went to Artarama, an art show of local artists put on by the Knights of Columbus. (Noricum's dad is in the Knights, and her mom is having lots of fun doing art... so she had two invitations to go.) here's some of the art we saw:






(Did you notice I actually met one of the artists in that last photo!?! I gave her a postcard.)


After a fun afternoon looking at art, we had a *yummy* dinner at Masa, a Japanese restaurant:

Mmmmm! This time I managed to get a photo before all the food was gone... although there was already a big dent in the edamame, and Noricum had eaten two of her pieces of sashimi. For dessert, we had puffed rice cake at home that Noricum's mom had made. Mmmmmm!

Well, it's getting past my bedtime now, so I guess I should go to bed.

Love,
Swatchy