A Week of April Days

April 21 - Tea Day - Amy pouring herself a cuppa.

Sometimes, it is just fun to celebrate a week of special days when nothing very special is happening. This last week was one of those weeks for me. Starting off last Saturday, 21 April was "Tea Day" - a celebration of the amazing drink tea is. Tea is a wonderful drink that comes in a wide variety of different flavors, each of them having a distinct personality and character. It’s been used for everything from a simple morning libation to the central element of certain social and religious rituals.

April 22 - Sunrise at Hall's Gap, The Grampians , Victoria

22nd April was Earth Day which is not only a celebration but a call to protect our natural environment. it is customary for groups and individuals to mark the day with community environmental activities.

April 23 - English Language Day - Watercolour drawing and collage: Wilma Simmons

Monday 23 April was the United Nationals English Language Day English was a quiet language that began on a small cluster of islands off the coast of Western Europe, it slowly developed and spread through a few different permutations until one day, in an explosion of colonialism, it suddenly spread across the world like wildfire. It became the language of what was once the most powerful nation in the world and has since become the language of commerce in countries all over the world. English Language Day celebrates this language, its history, and its oddities! (from daysoftheyear.com)

April 24 - Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day - stitched tea bag sculpture : Wilma Simmons

Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day commemorates the day in 1915 when hundreds of Armenian intellectuals were arrested in Constantinople (Turkey) under government warrants. They were sent to exile and killed. The annihilation of the Armenian intellectuals was a part of a plan to exterminate Armenians in their homeland. I chose the image of a tea bag sculpture also to pay tribute to Armen Rotch, an Armenian artist who creates amazing tea bag installations to raise awareness of the one and half million Armenians killed in the last years of the Ottomon Empire.

April 25 - Anzac Day - Red Poppy and Nest - textile art : Wilma Simmons

ANZAC ( Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand to commemorate the ultimate sacrifice of men and women serving in wars, international conflicts and peacekeeping operations. The day was originally the day when the Anzacs attempted to take the Gallipoli peninsula against the Ottomon Empire in 1915, World War I

April 26 : Hug an Australian Day - Watercolour and ink drawings : Wilma Simmons

26 April was Hug An Australian Day. This is an annual event , founded by Thomas and Ruth Roy of the Wellcat.comwebsite. Though the origins of this event are unclear, Hug An Australian Day has quickly become popular over the last few years, and is celebrated by sending the likes of greeting cards and e-cards to Aussie friends.( from daysoftheyar.com)

April 27 - Tell a Story Day - BNeedle felted doll and teabag book : Wilma Simmons

27 April - Tell A Story Day . This is a special day celebrated in USA and the United Kingdom. The aim of the day to get participants telling, sharing and listening to each others stories. It is a celebration of the art of oral storytelling in all of its many forms, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, a tall tale, or folklore.

And so at the end of 7 very interesting days, I kept wondering tonight if I should continue ... well, at least until the end of the month - such good celebratory days coming up "Save the Frogs Day, then "Zipper Day" and "World Jazz Day" . N0 ... you just enjoy the remaining days of April!

Is it a mutant? Is it an alien? It's an octopus - or is it?

Have you ever thought how strange a creature the octopus is? This week's fascination started when I asked the question, "What colour is an octopus when it's underwater?" The answer is "any colour it wants to be " - An octopus' coloration depends upon its surroundings. An octopus possesses the ability to alter its coloration depending on its immediate environment. This defensive technique protects the animal from predators and entices prey to come close to the animal . ((from https://www.reference.com/pets-animals/color-octopus-be94f74fcdc74ebe) . Why did I want to know the colour of an octopus? Because I wanted to draw octopus tentacles as mermaid hair for my art journal! Then, I began to think it might be considered a little too weird and even perverse to give a mermaid octopus hair.... Facebook friends assured me that this was not so, citing Medusa and her snake hair as a precedent, and even one friend said that she thought it was l...

Christmas Countdown Characters #22

So close to Christmas and it's getting harder to find Christmas celebrities but today here's a wily W character. W is for Wilma . Yes I am Wilma but I am NOT today's Christmas celebrity. Wilma the weasel is the one of the main characters in T he Flight Before Christmas , a 2008 animated movie and its sequel Little Brother Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure . The Flight Before Christmas centres around the problem of Niko, a small reindeer afraid of flying, and in search of his unknown father who is one of Santa's Flying Forces (that is, one of the eight main reindeer who pull Santa's sleigh) Wilma is a street wise fearless singing weasel, who Niki and his surrogate squirrel father, Julius befriend while saving Santa from a wolf pack attack . Long story short, the climax involves Niko, Wilma and Julius killing the wolf leader, the Flying Squad saving themselves in order to save Christmas, Niko...

Lilly Pilly

Today is Australia Day. I chose a photo of some Lilly Pilly berries as a celebratory image for this national day. Lilly Pilly is a common name for a plant, Syzygium smithii which grows mostly in Eastern Australia, from the northern rain forests of Queensland, throughout NSW to the southern Wilson's Promontory in Victoria. In New Zealand it is called "monkey apple, but other names used in Australia, besides lilly pilly, are Eungella Gum and Coast Satinash. The largest Lilly Pilly recorded was found in Dingo Creek Flora Reserve, near Tenterfield where I once lived. The tree now growing in my garden was once a small seedling which I was gifted when I left Woolgoolga, a small coastal town in northern NSW. Its name is said to come from the Aboriginal word 'weelgoolga' describing the lilly pilly which grows in profusion there. It is probably no surprise that the lilly pilly berries are edible as bush tucker, and make a beautiful jam or jelly. I have even seen re...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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