Happy Canada Day!!

A chalk art drawing in red and white. There are two concentric circles and in the middle of the smaller circle is a Canadian flag. In the space between the two circles, at the top of the image it reads, "Happy Canada Day". At the bottom it reads, "Share Hugs Here"Happy Canada Day folks … to all of those born here, and to all those who have found their way to our shores. Remember to hug the ones you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!!

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. A shout-out today to our wonderful friend Glennis, who wrote this beautiful poem back in 2019: Free Hugs

P.S. II, the sequel – a reminder that next Saturday (July 6, 2024) is International Free Hugs Day! Let your hugging inhibitions go and embrace the love!!

Happy Father’s Day!!

This is the final image of the completed chalk drawing. The spiral pattern is at the top of the frame. Under that it says, "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY" and "HUG YOUR DAD"Hi Folks:

All of Marcia and Mike’s parents are gone now, but we have two sons and a son-in-law and five beautiful grandchildren. We are Grandy and Grandalf! 🧙‍♀️&🧙‍♂️

As with those who are moms, Happy Father’s Day today to all of the strong, loving men who are fathers, to those who are chosen dads, surrogate dads, step-dads, adoptive dads, and to the women who are also dads.

Special thanks to all those who love and support them.

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. For anyone who’s interested in knowing how the spherical pattern was made, click here:
Father’s Day Hugs (behind the scenes)

Father’s Day Hugs (behind the scenes)

Hi Folks:

This is a short post that covers a bit of what went into making our latest chalk art drawing, for those who might be interested…

To start with, credit and thanks to @the.world.of._drawing on Instagram for the design! Much appreciated.

Now, if only sidewalks came with grid squares we would have been all set. Unfortunately, they typically don’t. So, in order to create the design in sidewalk chalk, we had to get a little inventive. The first step was to create the pattern in CorelDraw, like this:This drawing can be viewed as an angular two-dimensional sphere, but upon closer inspection it appears 3D, like a bagel bending around itself.The second phase was to take that pattern and cut it into 12 pieces. Each section is contained with an 8″x10″ rectangle so as to fit on a sheet of letter-sized paper. An X-Acto knife was used to cut out the red lines in the paper, leaving gaps at the junctions to hold the template together. The next step was to assemble the cut-out pages of the template into three strips of four images, using painter tape to hold them together:This image shows all 12 pages of the template with the cutouts held together with painter tape.These strips were reassembled on the sidewalk, and a piece of white chalk was used to transfer the cutout lines to the sidewalk. After that, coloured chalk was used to complete the pattern. The final result looks like this:This is the final image of the completed chalk drawing. The spiral pattern is at the top of the frame. Under that it says, "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY" and "HUG YOUR DAD"That’s it!

Hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!

Hugs,
M&M

A Very Special Free Hugs Day

Hi Folks:

Today (June 8) is a very special day for us, for three reasons:

1) It’s World Ocean Day! As Sylvia Earle said, “No blue, no green.” Oceans are vital in so many ways that we can barely begin to comprehend.

2) On June 8, 2002, Marcia proposed, and we continue to celebrate Us every day.

3) AND, our first Free Hugs adventure was on June 8, 2010! You can read more about that here, but when we set out we were – in a word – terrified. Excited, but terrified. We had no idea what to expect, and we stood there with our FREE HUGS posters for what seemed like an eternity until a little girl saw us and came running over. The rest, as they say, is history. Eleven years, thousands and thousands of hugs, handshakes, fist bumps, smiles, stories and more shared with people from (at least) 88 countries. Our thanks to each of you – every hug is unique and special.

In honour of the occasion we updated our Hugging Spot in front of our house:

a chalk art drawing on the sidewalk in front of our house. Encased within a large circle are a fluffy cloud, a rainbow (although Mike managed to reverse the colours) and the words HUG HERE, in multi-coloured chalk.

(No you’re not allowed to point out that we got the rainbow colours reversed – purple is such a lovely colour and it called out … and it went downhill from there. Think of it as a sunrise instead. A new day. Yeah, that’s it. 🙂 )

Remember to hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!

Hugs,
M&M

Making Panoramas in the Rainforest (part one)

Hi Folks:

I’ve been making digital panoramas for a lot of years now, and I’ve written at least a half-dozen different posts on different aspects of them. This one is for a specific case scenario rather than a general post on panoramas, but before we get too far, we need to cover a few basics. If you want to skip the basics and go straight to the rainforest part, click here.

First, understand that digital cameras don’t capture images. Digital cameras read light and render it as information; that information can be displayed in a way that makes it look like a photograph. All digital cameras capture raw files; not all digital cameras give you access to them. Now, raw files require digital post-processing on a computer (as compared to .jpg files, which are post-processed using an algorithm provided by the camera manufacturer and the processing power of the camera). The other side of that comparison is that raw files provide much more information to play with than .jpg files. This is especially important when shooting in the rainforest, as we’ll get to below.

Second, to do this with any degree of efficiency it’s important to understand at least the basics of colour management as it relates to cameras and computers. Remember: it’s less about accurate colour and more about consistent colour between devices.

So that we’re all on the same page, it’s important to understand the difference between a panoramic image and a digital panorama. Compare these two images:
(click on any image to see it larger)

a 1x4 aspect ratio image of the shoreline near Dallas Road in Victoria, BC. This is a grayscale image, with a winter storm bringing in waves from the left of the frame, and colliding with the rocks, driftwood and beach on the right.

Dallas Road shoreline, Victoria, BC

a digital panorama of sixty images, showing the north cliff face of Third Beach, near Tofino, BC. The ocean is on the left, and there's a small beach and some rocks in the foreground

Third Beach, Tofino, BC

Continue Reading →

Happy Mother’s Day!!

This is an image of the latest chalk art drawing in front of our house. The main part of the art is a series of circles ranging in size from 6 " to 12" o 18" to 36", all drawn in different colours. Across the bottom of the pattern reads, "Happy Mother's Day" and on each side it reads, "Share Group Hugs Here".Happy Mother’s Day to all of the world’s Mothers and to all those who fulfill the role … step-mothers, chosen mothers, adoptive mothers, surrogate mothers, soon-to-be mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, brothers, uncles, dads and more. And let us not forget the Earth, the great Mother of us all. 🌏

Remember to hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!!

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. As Marcia’s dad used to say, “Remember Father on Mother’s Day“!

Pacific Rim Whale Festival Auction

Hi Folks:

Mike here. Although the Pacific Rim Whale Festival (in Tofino/Ucluelet, BC) ended yesterday, there are still 6+ days left in their online auction (ends March 31, 2024). One of those items is a print I donated to the auction. The image is of Cox Bay, Tofino, BC from a photograph I made a few years ago.The print itself is 12″x24″ (30×60 cm) and with the mat it extends to 18″x30″ (45×75 cm). I didn’t frame it because framing is a personal thing and I wanted to leave that open to the buyer.

This is a 2:1 wide image of the surfing beach at the north end of Cox Bay near Tofino, BC. Although a colour image, the colours are so muted that it appears to be grayscale. The waves are rolling into the shore, and several people are on surfboards, enjoying what may be the last ride of the day as the sun is setting behind the clouds in the background.

Last Ride – Cox Bay, Tofino, BC – October, 2020

If you’d like to support the festival and own a Mike Nelson Pedde original you can find the auction page here:

There are a number of other excellent auction choices as well. All proceeds from the auction go to support the whale festival and raising awareness about whales and the health of our oceans.

Hugs,
M&M

2024 Hug Zones

This is a chalk art Hugging Spot made with sidewalk chalk in front of our house. At the top and bottom of the image it says, "Share Hugs Here". In the middle is a large circle, and within that are a series of sinuous lines all made with different colours of chalk.Hi Folks:

2024 marks the third year we’ve been creating Hugging Spots on the sidewalk in front of our house (and occasionally elsewhere). Last year I believe we made 11 patterns and about the same in 2022. We’ll see what this year brings! The image above is actually our second pattern for this year; the first was for Valentine’s Day. To keep all of the patterns in one place we’ll add that to the bottom of this post. If you happen to be walking by our little corner of Victoria feel free to share a hug with those who are accompanying you. If you’re nowhere near us, feel free to create your own Hugging Spot! All it takes is a little chalk, a little time and a little love. Many thanks to the wonderful people who stopped to chat while work was in progress and special thanks to the young woman who offered a hug before the artwork was completed!

If you want to see our previous patterns you can find them here: 2023 Hug Zones and 2022 Hug Zones.

Remember to hug someone you love today, even if it’s you!!
M&M Continue Reading →

Happy π Day!

Hi Folks:

It’s March 14 once again, the one day of the year where everyone has the right to be at least a little more irrational than usual. For some of us that isn’t easy, but we do our best. 🙂

For the past several years we’ve honoured Ï€ Day by offering glimpses of that most alchemical of processes (pastry), although one year we shifted to Michael Smith’s Potato Bacon Cheddar Tart (with a bacon crust) and one year we offered a Cast Iron Shepherd’s Pie. This year we thought we’d shift once again and go with something a little more romantic. As the song goes, “When the moon hits your eye like a big peachzza pie…” WAITAMINUTE. Peachzza? Why not?

Flatbread in varying forms has been around for centuries, and while most tend to be savoury in nature, there’s nothing to suggest one can’t twist flatbread toward dessert as well. When we lived in BC’s Okanagan Valley, peach season was (and still is) a highly-coveted celebration. Woe betide those who failed to show up at the Saturday market much later than the crack of dawn because fresh peaches always sold out early.

NB: if you’re of the overly anxious type and can’t wait for peach season, it is possible to make peachzza with canned peaches. Just make sure to drain them well first. You can drink the drained-off juice separately (we promise not to tell anyone 🤫) Continue Reading →