nellyglass studioStained Glass Artist
Emotionally charged, technically challenging and artistically fulfilling, this latest project is installed in the home of our good fiend, Cindy West of Cornhill, NB.
For your viewing pleasure, may I present, A Covered Bridge Story.
February 14th (Friday) – 17th (Monday) was a long weekend with Monday being Family Day in New Brunswick and Heritage Day in Nova Scotia. The weather had been miserable here lately and Monica and I wished we could take a cruise south for a little vacation. So, we did!… south across the Bay of Fundy to Digby, NS. Then on to Yarmouth where Monica booked the 2-night Valentine’s Day special at the Rodd Grand Hotel. Finally on to Halifax for 1 night at the Barrington Hotel and returned home on Monday.
It was a wonderful 3 nights and 4 days jam-packed with local sight-seeing and great food. There were lighthouses, antique stores, architecture, a church or 2 (maybe 10), art galleries, coastal landscapes, old friends and, did I mention great food? We had a blast! Just what the doctor ordered 😁
For my own future recall, I took lots of photos and created a Google Photos album highlighting the trip over the 4 days. Note- there are more than 150 photos in the 2020 Western NS Road Trip album but it includes only brief samples of the various churches we visited. If interested, you can see all my photos of these attractions in World Windows.
Monica and I visited our son, Ryan, in Fredericton on a mild Saturday in January. Our family destination was the Beaverbrook Art Gallery to enjoy the excellent 1-hour guided tour through the various exhibits and permanent collections. It was our first time at this gallery since the new wing was added in 2017. It is a beautiful space full of light.
After the gallery, the three of us hopped next door to Issac’s Way for a delicious meal and stimulating conversation as we recollected our gallery experience. This restaurant is also a venue for emerging artists and displays works on all the walls. Patrons can bid to purchase the artworks in a silent auction format that lasts for several weeks. It’s genius marketing as it keeps partons coming back to the restaurant to check if their latest bid is still on top.
It was a fun afternoon. I enjoy going through the photos again and again 😀
I’m like a curious child now. Everytime we drive uptown lately, I want to make a pass by 230 Princess Street to see the latest installation; an entrance way panel over the door displaying the house numbers. What a wonderful memory I will always have of that late December morning; living my glass dreams with Monica by my side.
Here is the story of the making of 230 Princess Street
Monica and I enjoyed some fresh air around the city on this first day of winter. First, I took a deep breath of stained glass at Portland United church in the north end. Lots of glass there. That was invigorating! Then we strolled through the city market to our favorite lunch spot at Ta-ke Sushi. It was my first time trying the bibimbap and it was excellent! Then home to wrap presents and enjoy an eggnog-afternoon 😀
Monica and I found ourselves in Sussex, NB on a snowy Sunday morning in early November. So what to do? I timed it perfectly to see four lovely churches each with surprising stained glass from both familiar and new-to-me artists. Click each image below to see all the windows in that church:
Monica and I had lunch uptown with Sarah at our (my) favorite lunch spot, Ta-ke Sushi on King Street. The ladies had lunch combos while I ordered the sushi dinner. The smoked-eel was phenomenal.
For a quick stained glass fix, Monica and I took a Sunday morning drive to Oromocto and Gagetown to see three lovely churches; a Catholic, a United and an Anglican. We met some friendly church goers and discovered a new glass artist; R. Dietrich from C.P.I. Art Studio in Montreal. It was a wonderful fix, thank you.
Click each image below to see all the windows in that church.
Cousin Darrel and I grooved on a Tuesday night at the Imperial Theater to the music by Canadian Pink Floyd cover band, Pigs. We heard all our favs plus a couple of more obscure tunes. Such talented recreations of this classic music. After the concert, Darrel and I “pigged out” over meat-lovers pizza and garlic fingers. Good vibes reminiscing our many Floyd concerts of the past… and looked forward to the next one.
The Tom Gore chardonnay from California was a perfect match for Monnie’s seafood alfredo with salmon, shrimp and scallops on papparadelle pasta. The fresh herbs she picked that morning really spiked the deliciousness factor. So much that it called for a second bowl 😁
Monica and I had a chance to have lunch in Sussex with Monica’s sister, Marlene. There is a sushi restaurant there I’ve never been to before, Sushi Jo! Marlene has never had sushi before! I was doubly excited to try a new place and with someone for their first time. We had a great meal with lots of laughs and lip smacking good sushi. Marlene was very brave. Nobody died 😀.
What a wonderful six weeks spent with Monica at home on our back deck as we tended several 4th generation monarch butterflies’ transition from egg to adult. Such a fascinating creature with a complex life cycle involving four generations on migration from Mexico to New Brunswick, Canada. The fourth generation, born here, then returns to Mexico for the winter and the cycle begins again. During it all, the only plant the caterpillars will survive on, is milkweed.
Here is a Google Photo album of our experience with Monnie’s Monarch (photos have my comments attached).
It’s really wonderful to have another birthday and it doesnt get any better than lunch at Take-Sushi followed by homemade butterscotch pie for dessert (thank you Monica). And, thanks to everyone for the B-Day wishes. Life is good at 61.
For three glorious weeks in July, Monica and I ate our way across the east end of PEI following the famous Chowder Trail in search of the perfect seafood chowder. We compared several different eateries plus we created our own epic chowder at Big Point Cottage on the Flat River. Not just chowder, there was an array of wonderful food and drink over the three weeks enjoyed both by ourselves and with family and friends.
There are lots of photos here as we enjoyed lots of food on the 2019 PEI Food Tour
I love late June for two very special reasons; Monica’s birthday on the 29th and our wedding anniversary on the 30th.
To celebrate this year, we headed for Prince Edward Island stopping first into Victoria By The Sea for lunch at the Landmark… awesome chowder and fish cakes. Then onward to spend one glorious night at the very grand Dalvay by the Sea Inn on the north shore. Great service, great food! Happy Birthday Monica 🥂
The next day, traffic was light as we poked our way along lupin-lined roads stopping occasionally to visit a church or snap a landscape moment. By afternoon, we arrived at picturesque Big Point Cottage on the south shore at Belle River. Here we would stay for the next three weeks.
It was raining when we arrived and we enjoyed a quiet afternoon exchanging cards and sharing 35 years of memories over a nice bottle of wine and burgers for dinner. Happy Anniversary Monica 🥂
Here are the photo highlights of June to the End.
What a thrill to reach my 200th Church photographed and documented in my World Widows series of stained glass windows. St. James Anglican Cathedral in downtown Toronto, Ontario is a gothic beauty. My new cellphone wallpaper is the little trifoil window from this church 😀
We spent the day out and about with Ian and Sue as our tour guides… definitely the best tour of my life! Thank you so very much, Ian and Sue, for all of the following.
Here are the photo highlights of Exploring Aurora
This day is definitely a highlight for me on this trip.
Here are to photo highlights of Toronto to Aurora – a special day indeed
Monica’s navigation skills are superb. She took us into East-end Toronto amid bumper to bumper lunch time traffic on the 401 and the Don Valley Parkway. It baffled me how the traffic continuously went from 130 km/hr to zero and then back up again. Here is the chronological list of events over the next two days:
Here are the photo highlights of Toronto – 7 churches and the AGO
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