An Early Taste of Thanksgiving

A couple of months ago, on a hot summer day, I shot a Thanksgiving story with Sarah & Murray Bancroft. Sarah is the editor-in-chief of VitaminDaily and Murray is a talented chef and food stylist.  Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October - right around the corner and I can't wait.

Thought I'd share some of the day with you...

Sarah and Murray's daughters, Emmanuelle and Charlotte, help with dinner by digging up potatoes from the garden.

The "kid's table" decorated in deep oranges and pinks. Plates and bed spread (used as a table cloth) from The Cross. 

Emerson digs into her Pear Tarte Tatin. 

The menu. 

Sarah sets the table for dinner. 

For Sarah's tips on entertaining with kids, and loads more pics, click here or pick up the October issue of Today's Parent. The recipes are fantastic!

Weekend Observations

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Here's a little of mine...

Nerissa Goco is the designer of these beautiful bags. Check out their shop here. 

See more of the Cross here.

This fun "guerilla gardening" workshop was put on by Aloe Designs. Guest speaker was author and blogger, Andrea Bellamy. Hands in this pic belong to Aynsley Tanner, my partner in seed bomb making. I can't wait to start tossing these randomly throughout the city. 

This book is so helpful if you have just a tiny space to work with. I've shot Andrea in her tiny garden for Sunset magazine - it's incredible how many edibles she grows. 

What did you get up to this weekend? Hope it was a fun one!

Back soon,

Janis

Weekend Observations

How was your weekend? I hope you had a good one!

A little of my rain soaked weekend...

That was a little of my weekend. What did you do? Any of you getting anxious for spring, like I am? 

Back soon!

janis

The Underrated Houseplant

I just don't think houseplants get the credit they deserve. They are incredibly inexpensive, come in a variety of colours and textures, are easy to care for and they last a long time. What's not to love about all that? Do any of you have houseplants? Hate them? Have a brown thumb? Fill me in.

I believe this is an aspargus fern. It's perfectly happy sitting in some vintage pottery.

A gardenia (about to flower again) sits on the window sill in our bathroom.

I believe this is an asparagus fern as well. Feel free to correct me if need be! This cute canvas planter, by Serax, is from Orling & Wu here in Vancouver.

A beautiful begonia sitting in pottery by Bison (a fantastic Australian company).

Now, this next bit is not a houseplant, but thought I'd show you a bit of a "before and after" of our, once unwelcoming/hideous, front entrance.

Booo.

A selection of plants picked up for 30% off. Whoohoo!

A little more welcoming now. The pot is huge, but very light weight (when empty!) and it also doubles as a chalkboard. This makes me happy.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Back on Monday for Baked on Monday. I think it will be some kind of bread. I have to take a break from butter for one week ;)

Happy Ending

When I first starting blogging, I thought it'd be a snap to work, live and fit in blogging at least 3 times a week. No such luck. As a freelance photographer, I take the projects as they come in, and it's been busy. I did manage to add a few new prints to my shop, but that was about it. I really admire all of you that can blog daily, work, be a parent....how do you do it?  Do tell!

This week has wrapped up with a whole bunch of happy.....

 The purple potatoes I planted with my niece, Annika, actually produced heaps of purple potatoes!

My Washi paper adhesive tape arrived from Little Happy Things. I love this tape. It's perfect for taping kids art work, notes, pictures, to the wall and peels off easily. Plus, it comes in fabulous colours. Check out Erika's etsy shop - it's so cute.

 Finishing off the week was a shoot with Gwyn, one half of the dynamic girl power duo of Gallant & Jones. They design and make these beautiful beach and garden deck chairs. I have one, and it's so well made and comfortable. Love it.

Have a lovely weekend! Back on Monday.

Not Much of a Gardener

Just got home from a long day of shooting product. Back hurts from my improper photography stance. To make myself feel better, I'm eating some Missing Goat cardamom peach jam all by itself, right out of the jar. Wow. It's quite incredible.  

I've mentioned that I'm not much of a gardener, and either is my husband. When the Mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson, decided that city hall needed a community garden, I thought we should have one too.  I discovered it is not an easy project (for us anyway!). 

We have a tiny back yard, so the vegetable patch is really tiny. When I planted two scrawny, and almost dead, tomato plants I had no idea they would grow so tall.  They are as tall as me, when I pick up a branch (is that the correct terminology?) from the ground.  I didn't provide any support for these poor tomato plants, but they still seem to be doing ok as there are heaps of pear tomatoes all over it.  It's a tangled mess though.  Beets and carrots look like they might eventually become edible too.  Fingers crossed. 

I took a couple of quick shots of the city hall garden, and a few from our garden.  Any helpful gardening tips would be welcomed! 

A beet, isn't it?

A tangled mess of pear tomatoes

Vancouver City Hall community garden

Renee, tending her garden at City Hall