**PLEASE PARDON THE CONSTRUCTION DUST. My website is in the process of being completely revamped, and my brand new site will be unveiled later in 2021! Stay tuned! **
Every once in a while, Debbie shares new art, writing and resources; subscribe below. Browse the archives here.
Happy Valentines Day! Jodi, Allison and I had our first Urban Tapestry practice at Allison's and John's new house. I can see why A & J called it a Tardis house; it's much bigger inside than it looks from the outside. Anyway, it's gorgeous, with lots of storage space which is STILL EMPTY despite the fact that they're nearly finished unpacking (!).
The photos at the top of the page were taken during our winter cottage visit, when we stopped to eat at 3 Guys And A Stove. The food's good, but one reason we tend to stop by is the JEFF FACTOR.
A while back, the restaurant was bought by Jeff Suddaby (pictured at the top of this page to the right of my Jeff), who is the host of Who's Coming For Dinner.
Jeff Suddaby pushes his personal brand in the restaurant very hard. You can get JEFF the coffee. JEFF The Rhubarb, Strawberry, Peach Jam. JEFF The Hot Red Pepper Jelly. Plus lots and lots of other JEFFs. You can sample JEFF products at each table, and shelves of JEFF stuff for sale on the main floor.
Not only that, but there are JEFF ads and posters everywhere (including the women's restroom), plus a giant tv screen running a video all about (of course) JEFF. And just in case you were hovering on indecision about whether or not to buy some JEFF, there's even a big sign letting you know the Top 10 Reasons To Take Jeff Home:
Anyway, the whole JEFF thing was pretty amusing (and only a tad creepy). Plus I admit the brainwashing marketing worked - I was buying a bottle of JEFF The Maple Cranberry Salad Dressing before I could stop myself.
And suddenly I realize that I never did talk much about our cottage trip in Blatherings. One of the highlights for me was how absolutely quiet it can be. There's pretty much nowhere in the city that you can find such peace unless you lock yourself in a soundproof room.
Of course there's no running water up at the cottage during the winter (the pipes would freeze), so Jeff and one of my nieces chopped a hole in the ice for water. We brought some water in jugs from the city, but also boiled lake water. Packing for winter cottage trips is always interesting because you're always aware that you pack has to be pulled on a sled across the ice. The more weight there is, the harder the crossing will be.
Other pics/highlights...
A bonfire out on the ice:
A marten spotted outside the cabin window on our last morning:
My sister and my nieces improvised a birthday cake for Jeff (much easier to smuggle/carry cupcakes across the lake than an entire cake):
Making ice candles:
Running out on the frozen lake in the snowstorm:
In case you're wondering, we have no indoor plumbing at the cottage; there's an outhouse up on the hill. A tad cold in the middle of winter but it just adds to the adventure.
Lots of snow in our part of Toronto yesterday! Here's the view out our back door this morning:
Doesn't look like much at first glance, but the snow drift on our deck is so high that you can barely see the benches (the bit of brown in the top right corner).
Jeff has been doing a ton of snow shovelling lately but last night he came home to find our entire driveway already shovelled clear by our next-door-neighbour.
I know I've said it before but I'll say it again: I love our neighbourhood.
I've been investigating a snow shovel that I could use. I've been paranoid about regular shovels because my tendinitis has been good lately and I've been able to type normally for quite a while -- I really REALLY don't want another setback.
This is a great article about types of snow shovels which lists several types that would probably be good for me since they involve pushing rather than lifting. Some of them wouldn't be great at moving heavy snow, but fine for light to medium snowfalls, or at least to reduce the amount of shovelling Jeff has to do when he gets home. I like the push-shovels (esp. the ones on wheels).
Survey O' The Day: Notebooks!
I've posted a "writers and notebooks" survey in Inkygirl today plus photos of the fabulous notebook I recently bought from Erin's Etsy shop recently.
Links O' The Day
Color Pencils Reviewed: Very funny "review" of colored pencils done from the viewpoint of a techie. (Thanks to Ray for the link)
I just found out about the launch of Dear Toronto, a new independent videoblog site by Adam Schwabe, Ryan Couldrey, and Rebecca Black. I enjoying meeting Adam and Rebecca at a blogTO get-together when I was still working for the site (I met Ryan soon after that), and I was excited to hear that they were doing a project together.
I love their first video, posted yesterday:
And when I saw their second video, I was immediately wished I had been able to attend the event. Video Games Live is an interactive concert showcasing some of the best music in video games:
(Speaking of one of the first games shown in the above video, how many others out there actually remember playing PONG when it first came out?)
And IMHO the name of their site, Dear Toronto, is brilliant. Looking forward to future posts!
Blushing
So yesterday I actually talked on the phone with Mark and Alison of Blush Publishing. As wonderful as electronic correspondence may be, it's always so great to occasionally be able to put a human to an e-mail address. We had to figure out the time difference first; it turns out that Wales is about five hours ahead of Toronto.
Both Mark and Alison sound as easygoing and friendly as they do in e-mail, and I could hear their infant daughter burbling cheerfully in the background.
Anyway, it looks like I'm going to be doing bunch more cards for the "Debbie Ohi" line; there are going to be 12 designs in total. Apparently my card designs did well at the Spring Fair in Birmingham, and I believe that in addition to the UK, they've also found at least one distributor in Canada, the U.S. (Texas) and Australia.
I'll post more info about where you can buy cards when they're available. And if you're a distributor interested in carrying these letterpress cards, please do let Mark and Alison know!
I recently got a cheque from Cafepress. Up to now, I haven't really been paying much (ok, ANY) attention to my Cafepress shop. The cheque wasn't a big one but hey, it was a cheque. :-) Apparently people were finding my shop from the general Marketplace area of Cafepress, not from my blogs.
So I've revamped my shop and, as I've mentioned before, I'm going to be going through my illustration archives (including comic strips like Waiting For Frodo and My Life In A Nutshell) and selecting images to put on greeting cards. Possibly other items as well, depending on what image resolution I have available.
I like the idea of putting something in a shop and not having to worry about re-stocking it or having package it and mail it.
"1. Go to: http://www.monopolyworldvote.com/en_CA/world 2. Register by clicking "Log In" then "Create your log in now". (You only need to Log In when you return tomorrow). 3. Add Toronto to your favorite cities by clicking "Add to My Cities." 4. Add any other favorite cities of yours. (Although, at this point you may want to vote strategically). ;) 5. Click "Vote" 6. Enter the Number code that is hard to read. 7. Go back tomorrow, rinse & repeat (until Feb 29th). 8. Very Important: Don't forget to validate your registration by following the link Monopoly send you in the mail. Otherwise your vote will not count! 9. Optional: Post this facebook group on your homepage to remind people to join and/or vote.""
More on Babylon Five
Rather than bore non-B5 types and also for fear of spoilers, I've decided to post any B5-related remarks in my Babylon Five Virgin blog instead of in Blatherings. No guarantees on the frequency of posts. You can subscribe to the RSS feed or to the LJ feed (thanks to Joseph Abbott) if you'd like to find out when I've made updates. So far, I've posted up to Season 1, Episode 4.
Cartoon of the Day:
Thanks to Rob Wynne and Shane McEwan for pointing me to this XKCD comic, which was clearly made for ME. :-D
Chocolate of the Day:
Thanks to netcrimes for the green tea Hershey's bar! It's fantastic. By the way, do check out J.A.'s Net Crimes and Misdemeanors site to find out how to outmaneuver web spammers, stalkers and con artists, plus more about J.A.'s book on the topic.
I'm gradually revamping my Art By Debbie Cafepress Store, by the way. I'll be putting more of my cartoons on art on greeting cards and other Stuff over time, including filk-related greeting cards. At least I've cleaned up the layout a bit for now.
Friday, February 15, 2008 at 1:00PM 
