Three Artists on a Day Trip - High River & Nanton, Alberta - Part Two

If you missed Part One you can read it here....

Self Portrait in antique store, Nanton

After Dea, Millie, and I left High River, we headed to Nanton. Dea is working on an artists book, and the images that inspired it, were from Nanton. She had originally wanted to make collage using the images, but decided there was enough of a story line to warrant a book. And since she now NEEDED more photos for her book, and since one of my hobbies is collecting old images of other peoples' families, I begged to go along.

Ghost from the past.

The hands of time have stopped...

I heart cigar boxes...

Oh yes, another self portrait

Millie & I

Every orphaned typewriter I see, I want to take home...

Dea & Millie at the Tumbleweed Cafe

Oh, I am SURE we will!

Ladybugs were everywhere at Annie's in High River, we ended up with a stow away....

Dea did find her photos and letters. I found some as well. And some more silverware for my spoon assemblages, a few books, some buttons, and a charming little camera, all to be shared another day.... 

 Where is your favourite place to hunt for treasures?

Three Artists on a Day Trip - High River & Nanton, Alberta - Part One

Last Sunday, my wonderful hubby stayed home with our kiddos while I went on a highly anticipated day trip with my dear friend, Dea Fischer, and her amazing daughter, Millie Rose. None of us are morning people, so it is nice that nothing was open at our final destination until noon. We rolled out of Canmore in Dea's jeep, our first stop: High River...

When you get three artists into a car, with nothing to do but look at the scenery and chat, of course we talk about art. Actually, I think we talk about art everywhere... anyway, it was a real treat to get to talk with Dea about our separate and joint ventures. We both always have something on the go, and it is nice to hear about what the other is up to. We just completed joint and single submissions to the 2012 CREATE in California and are working on a book proposal...

After about 2 hours, maybe it was less, we arrived in the beautiful little town of High River. The gorgeous little houses struck me right away. I live in a completely over priced condo/town house in Banff. I get house envy when I go to small towns like this because I know I could have a huge house with a huge yard and garden if I lived anywhere other than Banff. But, of course, not many people have the privilege I do, being able to actually live in a National Park, so I accept and love our little abode in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. But, the artist in me dreams of a more picturesque home, instead of a cookie cutter one... oh well.

Our mission in High River was to visit our friend, artist and owner of Art and Soul Gallery, Annie Froese. I met her while giving artist demonstrations at Canmore's ArtsPeak Arts Festival earlier this year. She and her friend, Larissa Mclean, were sharing a studio in the same area I was, as part of The Edge Gallery's, leg of the art tour. They are both colourful, beautiful women, who make colourful, beautiful art. We traded work and contact info and promised to see each other again. I bumped into Larissa at the Canmore Mountain Market a couple of weeks ago, by surprise. I am glad I did because she was not able to be there to meet us. Annie, invited us to come to her gallery for a little show and tell of our work.

As we were looking for Art & Soul, Dea noticed some beautiful geraniums along the sidewalk, and exclaimed, "That must be it!". She was right. Both Annie & Larissa are synonymous with flowers, in my mind. We parked the car and headed to the back of the gallery where Annie's garden and her studio is. Both are so lovely!!

We spent a couple of hours enjoying the gardens, exploring the gallery, drooling over Annie's studio space, eating lemon meringue pie, photographing one another, show and telling our latest work, and making plans for future visits. Dea & I would love to teach classes at Annie's one weekend, and to play with Annie in art making as well.

Here are some photos of the fun we had... you will notice a couple of photos of ladybugs. They were everywhere and an element of the trip that I will always remember...

Part Two will continue our fun with photos and tales from Nanton...

Welcome to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada!! Photo Essay, Part One

This trip has been in the making for about three and a half years. Back in January of 2008, I hosted a digital travel photography workshop in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. A friend of mine from Ottawa, Izabel Barsive, spread the word and I ended up with an amazing woman, Tawna Brown, and her friend Rachel, from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, in my workshop. Since then, Tawna has been inviting me to come to Yellowknife. She is so passionate about the city she grew up in, that I had to come. She doesn't work for the tourism board, but she is the first person I have ever met who carries around travel DVDs about her city. She also gave me a luggage tag, that when she picked us up at the airport today she recognized. She should be paid for all the efforts she makes to bring people to her city.

This summer, the stars aligned, and we were finally able to take her up on her offer to visit Yellowknife. We usually spend over a month visiting family in Ottawa and Minneapolis, but this year, we did that in May. So, we were able to take advantage of the fact that Yellowknife is in our region when it comes to frequent flyer miles, and we were able to book this trip. Also, due to the generosity of Tawna, who has opened her home to us.

Driving through Banff National Park on the way to Calgary

Our beautiful backyard

In the air...

One of many out the window shots....

Touching down on the runway in YK

To be continued, as we are off to play...

Wicked Cool Campers!

I live in a place where there are more tourists than locals, especially in the summer. People from all over the world come to Banff, making it one of the most visited National Parks in the world, with 4.5 million visitors a year. I appreciate the tourists, because otherwise I couldn't live here. I love to see these people enjoying my backyard. I also love that everyday is different and I never know what I will see. This weekend, while going to the Community Greenhouse to water our plot, I saw this camper. It is from Wicked Campers, which have offices beyond North America, in places like the UK and Australia. Andre, my husband, & I, lived for 2 months in a VW van, known as a Kombi, in Australia, with a friend of ours. Three's a crowd? Yes, at times... but rather than break up after the trip, Andre decided he loved me, foibles and all, and proposed 6 months later... anyway, back to this fun camper. It made me smile, and grab my camera. I even went to their website and found out that you can rent one of there campers for as low as $31.50 a day, when booking for more than one day. That's a good price!

As for who paints their campers and thinks up the fun sayings, it is all done by volunteers. Well, actually maybe not all of it, but there is a page about how you can volunteer to paint, write sayings for, and even fix the campers. I do get a bit sick of how artists are always asked to volunteer their services but this would be a fun project if someone was able to volunteer their creative talents.

Are any of you going camping this summer? Do you go camper style or back country tent style?

365 Days With Kiddos - #11 - Have a Tea Party with Fairy "Milk"

I recently posted images of a friend's vintage tea cups. My wonderful friend, Kirsten, lives on Harmony Farm in Western Maine. I lived in Maine for close to 10 years and I have known Kiki for 11 years. We met when a mutual friend introduced us when I was selling some of my photography at an art sale. She was a reporter for the local weekly paper and we met soon after to talk about my work. The rest is history. Kirsten and I have worked on some amazing projects together as a writer and photographer duo, many of which were for the Kingfield Historical Society and the Mount Abram High School. We even received a grant to produce a documentary book with high school students who we were teaching photojournalism.

Over the course of these projects we became close friends. To say we have consumed massive amounts of chocolate and tea together would be an understatement. Since leaving Maine we have continued to have our tea parties via phone. This is actually a great way to keep the tradition alive but I always long to see my friend face to face.

This summer, we spent three days in Maine during the course of a trip to Ottawa to see family. Most of the time was spent at a family reunion in a town about 2 hours from where I lived in Maine. We did make it to my old town, but for less than 24 hours. Our family headed straight to Harmony Farm where Kiki and fresh blackberry tarts were waiting!

My husband, Andre, has known Kirsten for almost as long as he has known me. I met him in a church, while photographing his cousin's wedding, in the same town that Kirsten later got married in. When I met him, he lived 270 miles away in Canada. Soon, so did I. When we returned to Maine for Kiki's wedding, we stayed in the same inn as the whole wedding party and we could see the building where we were introduced from the window. Not only do Kirsten and Andre share the same birthday, they now share a friendship, too. Kiki has been to visit us in Banff, where she and I had high tea at the Banff Springs Hotel. Kiki has gotten to know our daughter, Quin, but this was the first time she met little Emmanuelle, who LOVED both Kiki and her tarts!

Like me, Quin knows how to enjoy a tea party. In fact, Kiki calls her a "professional". She got such a kick out of watching Quin pour and fix her tea and eat her little wrapped chocolates and several tarts.

Have you ever had a tea party with your child? Quin actually drinks decaf or herbal tea, with lots of milk and honey. Children in China, Japan, Korea, and India all grow up drinking tea. It is refreshing, has no calories without milk or honey, and is ph neutral so it is not bad for teeth. Tea has many health benefits and both fruit and mint teas appeal to kids. Everything from simple sandwiches with the crust cut off to fruit cups to baked goods are appropriate. And of course a pretty tablecloth and fancy tea cups add to the fun.

If you don't think you child will drink tea, you can make them a simple drink my father used to make for me. In fact, he made it for my brothers and I, and even they still talk about it. It is called Fairy Milk. The reason I put it in quotes in the title of this post is because it can be made with cow's milk, but it can also be made with soy, almond, or rice milk.

Dad's Fairy Milk
By Tiffany Teske

Ingredients
- a cup of milk
- food coloring (I recommend using natural food colorings which you can find online or you can make)
- honey

Directions
On the stove top or in the microwave warm the milk to a good drinkable temperature for a child. Let them select the color they want their milk to be and allow them to put a couple of drops of the coloring into their cup. Next let them add the honey and stir. Then gulp, gulp, gulp but remind them to keep their pinky finger up :)