friday fixations: orchids

The Orchid Society of Alberta is having its annual orchid show and sale this weekend, and it is pretty amazing. If you need a little hit of spring, I highly recommend it.

 This is my favourite one from the show. Can you even believe this is an orchid?!

the gem and mineral show

This weekend, we went to the Edmonton gem and mineral show. I thought it would be a good way to get my Drumheller fix without actually having to drive all the way to Drumheller. But it kinda backfired on me cuz now I want to go to Drumheller even more.

We were kind of disappointed at how few Canadian gems and minerals were there. Stones were also really expensive and overly processed.  I had hoped to find a bit of ammolite (an Alberta gemstone), but pieces smaller than my pinky finger were way too expensive for me and besides, I wished they had been polished just a touch to bring out the colour but not so much to make them look fake. I'm not a big fan of stones that are polished, pierced with holes, or grinded into unnatural shapes (like the bin of rock skulls we saw). And a lot of the jewelry had out-dated settings so we didn't get anything except a piece of fossilized coral.

We like things weird.

calendars!

I've been working on these for a while now and I figured it's probably time to let them out into the world and stop fiddling with them a hundred times a day already!

Also I can't for the life of me choose a favourite. I couldn't even decide which individual months I liked most to make a random sampling calendar.

That being said, it doesn't prevent YOU from choosing from the calendars to make your own unique blend. If you've got a favourite, grab it. If they're all your favourite, grab them all! Each is standard U.S. letter size, perfect for printing off at home.

This year, I decided to ditch the watermark (because I really hate them). Instead, I put a license on the photos through Flickr. So remember these are for non-commercial, personal use only.

Thank you ever so much for reading and supporting le blog this past year. Your comments and loving presence really mean so much to me.

(if you find any... mistakes... let me know and I'll fix it up prompt-like. the more you stare at numbers, the more you second-guess yourself)

Outdoorsy pics from 2011 Calendar

find them here

Crafty pics from 2011 Calendar

find them here

Foodie pics from 2011 Calendar

find them here

{note} These will only be available through Flickr for a limited time.

remembrance day poppy hack

I am a terrible Canadian. I mean I was a terrible Canadian. I've never worn a poppy before this year.

I know.

And it's not because I'm not remembering.

I am.

I have one excuse.

I hated the poppy pin. H-A-T-E-D. There were a few years I tried to wear one. But the poppy pin would stick in my face, pull the threads out of my scarves, get stuck on my mittens (when bringing my hand up to my face, of course), and it would always fall off within two days. I could usually catch its disappearance the first time but never the second.

So this is just a quick little DIY for you Canadians out there that have a similar problem. It's not hard. I just finally (finally) got around to hacking a poppy this year.

You start with your poppy and it's dumb pin. You can get one anywhere this time of year. ANYWHERE.

You're also going to need a safety pin. Something around the medium size. Not too big and not too small.

Remove the dumb pin and work the safety pin up from the backside of the poppy, through the black centre, and down to the other side.

That's how it should look from behind. The black centre pops up a little bit, but I like that. I think it gives the poppy a little more dimension.

Now pin it on your jacket and adjust the poppy to hide the pin.

I swear that poppy's not going anywhere. It won't stick in your face and it definitely won't destroy your silk scarf.

{note} one unintended side-effect to wearing a poppy is that every. single. salvation army/army/navy/young boy you encounter in every. single. store you go into is not going to solicit you to buy a poppy. Cuz you've got one on.

abraham lake

I could have stayed much longer here, but I'm glad to be back.

early morning storm

I was chasing storm clouds this morning.

orange storm from Idle Wife on Vimeo.

And then the storm clouds chased me.

rain and thunder from Idle Wife on Vimeo.

I was totally soaked.

alberta aviation museum

the only time we ever thought to visit the aviation museum was a couple winters ago when the annual Make It! craft show was being held there. we honestly never once considered the museum or that it may actually be interesting, but it was. and if you happen to be or to know someone who's a huge plane or war enthusiast, well then. there's double-triple fun to be had. I even noticed Idle Husband without his phone on more than a few occasions and that's really saying something.

we went on Monday so maybe it's not typical, but we had the entire museum to ourselves. we enjoyed the quarter games and sat inside a small passenger plane without having to stand in line first, and we could take our time enjoying them without being rushed out. those are the museum experiences I particularly enjoy (which is why I never like to visit my absolute favourite alberta museum in the summer -- well, that and the scorching heat).