December 17th 2010





Only a few more days, and it will be time for a holiday! I've been busy the last little while, and a break would be welcome.


I just finished up a couple of small paintings for Nikole to use for her shop update on one of my favorite online shops Herriott Grace. I think we had many of the same ideas as far as holiday imagery went- I sent her drawings of juniper berries while she was taking shop photos with juniper berries in them! Funny! I'm looking forward to seeing more of her father's wonderful handcrafted wooden things.


I'm also finishing up a couple of jobs and some Christmas presents, but plan to take a nice break tonight to sit by the space heater and drink hot chocolate with marshmallows in it. (The space heater was purchased yesterday to keep me warm at my desk. Our furnace is currently off, as well as the hot water heater, because there was a carbon monoxide leak into our house in the middle of the night two nights ago that caused the fire department to turn them off for our safety. The repair man hasn't been back to fix them yet, and it's gotten pretty chilly in here). Hopefully we'll have heat again tomorrow!


Even with the chill in the air, this was something to make me smile. A couple of things, actually! My dear friend Mélanie, who wrote Le Géranium which I illustrated last year, sent me the most wonderful surprise gift! I was already familiar with Loyal Luxe through Anabela's blog, Fieldguided. Well, one of their kitty chalet's showed up on my doorstep yesterday! It was the sweetest gift, and I've set it up and been coaxing Dre into it for part of the afternoon. He may be too large for it. This is how I found him a few minutes ago.




Another thing? My neighbour across the street finally got all of his lights up.


12 comments:

  1. Hahaah! Aw, Dre! You can cut the opening, maybe. It's so funny -- your post made me re-read my post where I talk about "when we get a new kitten!" Ha! We had never intended to do so! And now we have a kitten and she uses the cabin from time to time.

    Your neighbour's lights are an inspiration.

    I really love juniper berries! We named Pony's mom, the feral cat, Juniper. Junjie!

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  2. I just ordered cloud cookie cutters from Nicole!
    Your illustrations are super lovely!
    Let me know if Dre shows interest in the cabin...I wonder if Fig Newton would like it??? :P

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  3. That's so cat typical - I love it. He looks pretty cosy, regardless.

    Those lights are seriously impressive. I wonder if they need to bother with lamps indoors at night...

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  4. Anabela, he's in it now! He's so big, but he's chilly and probably wanted somewhere small to curl up - Yay Dre!
    Charlyn, I love the cloud cookie cutter! I want the feather one as well. So pretty. And like I told Anabela, he's shown interest! Fig is still playful, and would probably love it! (Check out the little teepee too! Eee! So cute!).
    Siubhan, I know! He's been in that spot for a couple of days now, and it feels pretty warm in his little cat-cave! haha!
    And the lights may help light the interior of our neighbour's house, but we don't need any lights on in our living room! It's fantastic!

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  5. i like everything in this post, melinda. i think you're my number one christmas friend. xo.

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  6. Aww, Tony! You're very sweet. I hope your Ma's stay was fun, and that you saved some of the imperial cookies for her! xox

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  7. okay. those illustrations are beauties, Melinda!

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  8. Thanks Tanya! Happy holidays, and we'll talk in the New Year!

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  9. you got a cat house!! so lucky!!!!!
    Nikole showed me your paintings! They are so perfect for her store!

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  10. Celine! The luckiest! And he goes in it, now! I put the duvet over the top, (it looked like snow!), and it must have been warm while the house has been so cold because it coaxed him in! yay!
    I'm glad you liked the paintings! It was so much fun to work with Nikole!
    If I don't see you until after, happy Xmas! xox!

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  11. OMG..just checked out the teepee!!!
    It's *so* for Fig... ;D haha

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