Lise's Ramblings

 The COWS crew understands the joys of frosty treats.  Back-to-school time signals a sigh of relief from parents who have been juggling their children between camps, temporary child-care and obliging grandparents. This time of year also brings overnight temperature dips.  By day the mercury climbs back to the mid- to high-20s, but brace your little piggies for nippy mornings. Please don’t step outside in bare feet to collect your newspaper, and you may want to rethink those open-toed shoes. Yes, it’s time to bid farewell to our summer of warmth and indulgence: barbecue dinners, drinks on the patio and the best of all…frosty treats. Beyond the obvious―frozen daiquiris and iced frappuccinos―we will polish off the tubs of ice cream and boxes of popsicles. We will conjure up the restraint required to resist buying the marked-down frozen treats that the neighbourhood grocery store is clearing out.   Even if your freezer isn’t stocked, in At...

"In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and―SNAP―the job's a game!"  ~ Mary Poppins It's far too easy to drown in negativity. Instead, hang out with an incurable optimist. It's time well spent. Visit www.haroldsplanet.com for a shot of optimism        AWESOME!       

Driftwood at Panmure Island, Prince Edward Island  Substantial pieces of driftwood serve as natural benches at the beach, whether you huddle there to gaze at the waves by day or sing campfire tunes at night.  At dusk, driftwood can also serve up eerie silhouettes. "Wait, is that a moose up ahead?" Even basking in the sunshine, driftwood takes on many forms. At times I see antlers, but I have also spotted a teeter-totter, a Hobbit dwelling, an oversized sea horse, a pile of brooms, an antique bird cage... Do you ever wonder where those weathered tree trunks and branches started out? I would like to know if a piece of driftwood started life as a sapling on exotic shores. I contemplate how it looked back then and what animals sought shelter there. Did a swing dangle from one of its branches? Was a fort tucked away among its leaves? Were initials carved in the bark wrapping the trunk? And...

LOL. BFF. ZUP. n00b. RT. OMG. ROFL ... ad nauseam Bemoaning English's demise in today's instant-messaging world? There's an app for that. Just kidding. JK. But, if you search amid the language shortcuts and the Interweb, I promise you will find people who take short attention spans and 140-character limits as a positive challenge. Sure, Lady Gaga, Charlie Sheen and Justin Bieber have far more followers that the owners of the Twitter bios below, but wouldn't you rather read these instantly identifiable, witty and snappy entries?   As   Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet,   "...brevity is the soul of wit."  True, clever bits are      AWESOME!!!

Every once in a while, a special place becomes extra delightful. That's exactly what I witnessed this past weekend.  We're fortunate to have breathtaking views on Prince Edward Island. While the shores and ocean views are incredible, I consider New Glasgow to be one of PEI's jewels. Tourists know the village for its New Glasgow lobster suppers and the PEI Preserve Company . Golfers know about the Glasgow Hills course, because everyone receives free mussels after every round of golf. Families make the trek to visit the Toy Factory , where you can buy handcrafted wooden toys, including a ferry or a lobster boat. I enjoy driving to and through New Glasgow. I marvel at the rolling hills, parceled fields, and all the birds feeding and nesting along the Clyde River, which meanders through the village. However, Sunday's drive to New Glasgow exceeded my expectations, because of a magical new addition.  The bu tterfly house. I fina...

The Daniel Brenan Brickhouse , a Charlottetown-based restaurant, presents your bill in simple terms: the damage. How refreshing to see a direct, honest message.       AWESOME!

Our reliance on plastics and other materials means that today more woodworkers are hobbyists than professionals. I hope that doesn’t mean generations of children will never know or relish the distinctive smell of workshops. You know, the fusion of sawdust, glues, wax topcoats, oil finishes, a hint of wood burned by saws or sanders left in place too long, and in certain cases, some basement mustiness.     That combo is a cherished smell from my childhood , so I should add it to my June 10, 2010, blog post about fond memories jogged by scents. Woodworking smells cause me to reminisce about Harold Lampman , who I knew only as "Dad" even though he was my grandfather. He crafted countless gifts for us grandkids: dollhouses, jewelry boxes, stilts, doll strollers, frames to showcase my grandmother’s needlepoint, etc. Like Harry Potter, my grandfather could work magic. He would take a piece of oak, cherry or mahogany, place it on his lathe, and fashion a replacem...

If you’ve ever lived in a rural area or a town on the outskirts of a metropolitan centre, you realize everyone relies on brave men and women who serve as volunteer firefighters.  Volunteer firefighters battle a PEI blaze. Even if you’re a city mouse, you should be thankful for the volunteer firefighters who: douse out-of-control campfires and yard fires; battle barn and brush fires that threaten our food sources such as crops and farm animals; put out forests fires that ravage the trees responsible for cleaning our air; and rescue people, pets and treasured belongings from house and vehicle fires. Volunteer firefighters risk life and limb to save others’ lives. While the volunteers may not have the same modern equipment as full-time, professional firefighters, these women and men are dedicated, well trained and always ready to respond to a call. These individuals also serve as first responders in situations other than fires, work out to stay fit enough for their d...

Last night, NASA had a lot riding on the Curiosity Mars Rover landing. That made it surprising and refreshing to see humour in the mission’s official tweets.  Too small? Click for bigger version. Kudos, NASA. After Curiosity's nearly 570-million-kilometre, 36-week journey hurtling towards the Red Planet, the rover needed to land safely in the Gale crater and beam data from Mars back to Earth via the Odyssey satellite. That’s exactly what happened at 1:32 a.m. EDT today (Monday, August 6, 2012). Amazingly, just seven minutes before touchdown, Curiosity was traveling 17 times faster than the speed of sound (for perspective, that's approx. 21,000 km/h). This mission required ingenuity, dedication and collaboration on the part of the engineers, scientists, project teams and management. Lots could have gone wrong between the research, the design and build phases, last November's launch and today's landing. Advance to the 4:40 mark of this embedded video to ...

Wait, is that a…? No, really? Do you see what I see? When well done, a trompe l’œil conjures added depth, layers, height, life, fantasy and more. Source: thisiscolossal.com via Pinterest Italian frescos gracing ceilings in ancient churches are among the earliest and most famous trompe l’œil masterpieces. Think of Andrea Mantegna’s Oculus, part of the Camera degli Sposi , which dates back to 1473, in San Giorgio ( Mantua , Italy ). Today, the trompe l’oeil technique even moves outdoors. On an annual basis, Florida lures mural artists and street painters from around the world to attend the Sarasota Chalk Festival. Eduardo Kobra, one of 250 artists to participate in 2011, drew a library to bewitch the Festival’s more than 200,000 attendees. This trend of taking the trompe l’oeil outside is also happening in Europe . Exterior murals present passersby with a glimpse inside a Polish library (biblioteka), and London ’s Canary Wharf recent...

The laundry bins are empty. You've washed every last piece of clothing, tucked away the drying rack, and folded or hung all your outfits. Oooh, the selection. When all the laundry is clean, you can choose to wear anything from your wardrobe.       AWESOME!!!