On my coffee table at the moment

On my coffee table at the moment...


tulips

A glorious vase of tulips in pink, violet, lavender and white.


yarn tangles

Little nest-like tangles of yarn snipped off from weaving in ends.

Less photogenic but also present is random household detritus like envelopes, and, of course, books. The latter run the literary gamut from Fox in Socks and Moo, Baa, La, La, La to Gödel, Escher, Bach and Od Magic.


Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Happy Holidays!

Solstice Bouquet

May your days be merry and bright over the holidays. Christmas with a small one is extra fun, even though she's too little to understand it yet. While the toys and storybooks have been enjoyed, I think tissue paper has been the biggest hit.

We are doing lots of feasting and grazing, just how we like to celebrate as the days start to lengthen again. Happy Solstice and Christmas!


Snowflakes


Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Spring in Amsterdam

It's definitely spring now, with lots of sunny, warm days, and pretty flowers. Most recently, I've spotted a pink hyacinth, a daffodil, and some snowdrops in bloom. I took a walk in the Vondelpark the other day and took these pictures...


Spring in the Vondelpark
Spring view in the Vondelpark.


Carpet of Crocuses
A glorious carpet of purple crocuses under this tree.


Forsythia in bloom
A bright yellow forsythia in bloom.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

A visit to Paris: Fountains and Flowers

I continue my Paris holiday retrospective with a few pictures of fountains and bits of gardens that I especially liked. Old European cities like Paris seem to be filled with these pretty details.


Mythical Fountain Creature

The Fontaine St-Michel had these wonderful mythical creatures spouting water.


At the Jardin du Luxembourg

I loved the flower plantings in the Jardin du Luxembourg. I thought the colour scheme and mixture of textures was beautiful.


fountain in Jardin du Luxembourg

This fountain in the shade was also in the Jardin du Luxembourg.


Fountain in Paris

This fountain was near the Centre Pompidou.


Lion and Flower Pot Parade

I spotted this "parade" led by a stone lion in the Jardin du Luxembourg.

You can see all the photos from our holiday in my trip to Paris set.

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Indoor sunshine

It may be a bit misty outside today, but there's lots of sunshine inside! I love how affordable flowers are in Holland -- this bouquet of 30 daffodils was just 3€!


Sunny Daffodils


Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Winter Solstice Greetings

Solstice Bouquet

Wishing you a Bright and Happy Winter Solstice!

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

A visit to Keukenhof gardens

Tulips and Blossom trees

My parents visited us in Amsterdam at the start of April and we went out to the famous Keukenhof gardens to look at the flowers. The spring has been a bit late this year, so the tulips were not all out, but there were blossom trees and hyacinths and some tulips.


Tulips in the greenhouse

In the greenhouses, there was a massive and stunning collection of different tulip varieties.


Tulips in the greenhouse

It's a bit of trip out to the gardens since you need to take a bus to the airport and then catch a special shuttle bus to the gardens. From Amsterdam, it will take you about an hour to get there.


Tulip

However, it's really worth doing at least once since tulips are such a symbol of the Dutch culture. There's even a windmill at the gardens, though it's no longer functional.


Windmill at Keukenhof

I highly recommend visiting during the week. We went on a Tuesday, and while there were lots of people, it was not unpleasantly busy. All the rest of my pictures from the gardens are here. It's probably one of my most colourful sets of pictures ever.


Tulips and Daffodils

I was a bit pokey about uploading all the pictures because my parents' visit was unexpectedly extended due to the volcano eruption in Iceland. We tried to take full advantage of the extra few days and it was nice to have a chance to do the things we hadn't had time to do before. We went to the farmer's market, some thrift shops and a flea market, and cooked some delicious meals at home. We even had a little trip to IKEA since we needed extra bedding and towels.


Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

All the world seems in tune...

Purple crocuses

I love Spring. I think it's probably from living on the West Coast as a small child (which is also the source of my love of rocky beaches, mossy and damp forests, and the ocean). Spring is supposed to start in February. But after the age of 6, I've spent most of my Springs in places where Spring dawdles in around mid-April or early May. And then it's usually around for about 20 seconds before it decides to be Summer. Montreal was like that. We had glorious long Autumns, but fleeting Springs.


White and Yellow crocuses

So I am absolutely savouring every moment of the long and glorious Spring in Amsterdam. Several weeks ago I started seeing crocuses and snowdrops and this past weekend I saw some daffodils. It's also been Spring-y inside lately with some hyacinths. If you're wanting a bit of Spring and it's not what's outside your window, treat yourself to some beautiful flowers!


Vase of Hyacinths

Or just draw some. I drew on the envelope of a letter I sent recently. Email is very convenient, but the tangibility of a real letter is always a treat. My Mom, in particular, has been spoiling me with lots of little postcards (some of them seen propped against the mirror in the photo above). Whenever I think of how fun it is to get Real Mail, I always think I should send more of it. Perhaps visiting exotic new places will encourage me to follow through!


Envelope Embellishment

Mini-update in a brief blip of wireless

Tulips in the Afternoon

I haven't forgotten about this little blog of mine, but I am mostly internet-free at the moment. I've been snapping pictures with my iPhone though (that phone is the only reason I'm not going through crazy email withdrawl). Our apartment is starting to look a little bit home-y in spots.


Dining with Tulips

I'll be back with more thoughts on our expat adventures and life in Amsterdam once our internet is set up (it apparently takes about a month, so hopefully any day now...).

Autumn in the country

I spent Thanksgiving with family in the countryside. Eek, that was already a month ago! Here's a few of the pictures I took.


fall colours


sumac on a grey fall day

I thought the sumac was especially beautiful.


sumac study

One of my favourite Thanksgiving "chores" has become the tradition of me snipping some things from the last of the garden remains to make pretty flower and leaf arrangements for the table.


flowers on the table


Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Painting ... a wall

flowers for the house
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

I've been busy lately making my home feel a bit loved. I bought some more flowers, this time from the grocery store. I'm finding myself drawn to pink and white lately. I always make up my own mixed bouquets from the 2-for and 3-for buckets since I find the grocery-store-prepared bunches are always a bit random in terms of colour and flower type.


new wall colour
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

This past weekend, I also painted a wall with the beautifully named colour "Ocean Air" (Benjamin Moore 2123-50). This wall had previously been a bright spring green (you may have noticed it as a backdrop during green week). I liked the cheerful colour, but it was so bold that I noticed it all the time and consequently I was ready for a change. A bit of paint, a few coats painted while listening to some fun music, and it's a whole new space. Definitely worth the time involved.


burst idea sketching
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

And for those of you wondering what I've been doing for the Burst wordplay challenge, um, well, I've mostly just gotten ideas. I've done a mind-map kind of brainstorming, but I still haven't done my finished piece. I think it's a classic case of "student syndrome" ... waiting until the last possible minute before it's "due".

Flowers to beckon Spring

office flowers
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Spring doesn't really show up properly in Montreal until mid-April. We get teased by March with a few nice days here and there, but there's always another snowstorm and chilly day up its sleeve. March is also usually filled with dirty humps of melting snow ... not at all reminiscent of the the velvety soft white it once was. To hold me over until Spring, I buy myself flowers from this little corner shop near the post office. It's not a fancy florist's, but their flowers are reasonably priced and they must be fresh as they always last well. Daisies are one of my most common choices as they're $6.99 for a huge bunch, and they'll last for 3 weeks. This week I splurged on 2 bouquets... a mixed bouquet of purply-pink daisies and a bouquet of some mystery spiky white flowers (I love the texture, no idea what they are).


march house flowers
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

So all this is from $15 worth of flowers ... 2 large vases (one in living room, one in kitchen), 3 small vases on the coffee table, 1 small vase in the office/guest room, and 1 small vase on my sewing desk. If you're feeling impatient for spring, treat yourself to some flowers... even the cheap ones will cheer you up!


studio flowers
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

Which 6 orchids do you prefer?

Orchid set
Originally uploaded by allisongryski

I'm working on selecting photos for my first photograph cards. You can see my prototype photo card, which I made yesterday. The actual ones will use the deckled (ragged edge) cardstock that I used for some of my stamped cards.

What I want to know from you, dear reader, is which of the above orchid pictures would you like to see on a card and what type of set would you like. Please take the poll in the sidebar and select 1 type of set and up to 6 of your favourite orchid pictures.

The last poll showed a "watering can" as the clear favourite for a new stamped design. I wonder if that's because we're all ready for spring and summer gardening. I know that's why the idea occurred to me. I'll be sure to post the design when it's ready.