Story 5: Easter in Collingwood

Hope everyone is having a nice spring! It's May in Toronto and the weather finally seems to be warming up, which is great because the constant rain/cold was beginning to get us down. Anyway, here is a story about our trip to Collingwood in April...it ended up being exciting in more ways than we expected. Enjoy!

Story 4: "The Adoption"

Happy 2019! 

My first posting of this year will be about how it all started... the story of how we adopted Oreo (Rory) last March from Grimsby, Ontario. I thought it would be a nice way to celebrate a belated birthday with him too, as he turned 5 years old on January 30th. Happy belated birthday little guy!

I hope you like it. It's a story that I've been wanting to tell for a while now so I'm glad it's finally finished.... between night classes, a full-time job and Christmas, it's been a struggle to find any spare time. Anyway, I had a few more stories up my sleeve so stay tuned and I'll make an effort to update my blog more often. One of my co-workers recently complained about my lacklustre schedule, so I don't want to disappoint too many more people.

Thanks for reading and stay warm y'all (:

Third R&R story: "The Sleepover"

Happy September! I hope that everyone had a good long weekend with lots of sunshine and relaxation. Summertime sure flies by quickly.

I am proud to say that I finished the third Ran and Rory story (see below). I hope you like it...it's about how Ran and Rory (Oreo) finally became really good friends after first ignoring each other. I guess some quality "together" time in the same house will make even the shyest dog come out of his "shell".

Thanks for reading!

 [narrated by Ran the dog]

For the past couple of weeks, Ritsy and I have been staying at Rory’s house with Matt and Maki. Ritsy is selling her condo so that she can buy a house with a basement, out of which she plans to run her own dog grooming business.

At first, me and Rory just ignored each other. I still couldn’t understand him and he smelled funny.

But soon after, we became really good friends!

Now we do everything together and even chase each other around the park. So much fun! We even stay at each other’s houses each week and cuddle together on the couch. Rory turned out to be a really great little guy and I don’t think he smells funny anymore.

THE END (and Ritsy did end up buying a bungalow with a basement 😊)

Second story: "The Beginning"

Hi everyone! The second Ran and Rory story has been posted! This one is all about Rory and his journey from Korea to Toronto.

Hope you like it (: 

Hi there! My name is Rory and I moved into Matt and Maki's house a few months ago.

I came from far away and now I feel like I'm finally settling into M&M's home. Their place is nice - it has lots of parks close by where I can run and chase balls!

During the first month in Toronto, I as really nervous and shaky on the streetcar. I only trusted Maki and growled at other people.

One day, Matt took me for a walk and I ran away! I saw the stairs that Maki and I walk down everyday and I wanted to run home before she forgot about me…

It was scary - I had to cross a busy road and run down lots of streets before I got home.

Maki was shocked to see me in the backyard: she told me she was very worried about me (?)

Matt came home shortly afterwards and seemed upset and stressed out. I promised him I would never run away again.

THE END

Drawing for charity auction, plus a random sketch

Happy Sunday!

Today, I finally finished a small drawing for the Animal Alliance of Canada, a local animal charity who is planning an art auction for October as a fundraiser. All artworks are to be 4" x 4", so I decided to create a drawing of Ran (mother's dog) in a snowy background, since he's mostly white and would look cute surrounded by snow. Here is the drawing (below):

Pen and pencil crayon drawing of Ran

Two versions of the dog drawing

I started off with the puppy more centered on the page, but decided to make him bigger and closer to the bottom for the final. I might finish the other one off in a similar colour and give it to my mother in a few months (when it's actually snowing). Ran is pretty photogenic–always smiling and happy. I based this painting on a photo of him that I took last week, below (with the red body harness). This is how he looks ALL the time. 

Ran the dog--just over a year old

In other non-dog related news, I also did a small drawing of Matt walking into a flying cicada. It was pretty funny to see, as cicada's only come out once every 17 years (!) and they're humungous. We were heading out to a new bar in our neighbourhood when this happened and I remember it was totally weird to see such a large insect flying drunkenly into his face. Matt recalls the insect having "red eyes" and making a loud noise as it heading directly for the side of his eye. Bizarre!

Cicada hitting Matt on the side of his face.

Anyway, wish me luck with the auction! Woo-hoo!

Also, I've just created and Instagram account, so feel free to follow me there too. I haven't posted anything there yet but I'll start doing so real soon. Have a great week!

Sunday drawing

Sundays are always the best for drawing in cafés. Today was a slightly overcast, mid-temperature spring day, which prompted an americano at our favourite spot and a walk in the park.

Here is a drawing of M, working on a drawing for the Mutek music festival. Happy Sunday!