My Favourite Image of the Year

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

Mostly every year since 2010, on New Year’s Day we’ve taken the opportunity to make some images of Marcia, and without hesitation it’s my favourite image of the year. We started out doing this at Government House, but for the past several years we’ve headed to Beacon Hill Park instead. This is the image for 2025:

This is a portrait orientation image of Marcia - sporting a bright red hat, a multi-coloured scarf, black raincoat and black pants, leaning against one of the giant sequoia trees in Victoria's Beacon Hill Park.

Marcia, New Year’s Day 2025

I know she looks beautiful here, but the image doesn’t really do her justice. You’ll just have to take my word for it.

From Marcia and me, we wish you a new year filled with as much happiness, health, prosperity, excitement, love, peace and adventure as you can handle!

Hugs,
M&M

Reindeer Games

Posted on December 23, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

No, not that one. This one:

This is an image of Mrs. Claus along with the reindeer Twinkles and Krinkles standing in front of the large Christmas tree on the bottom level of the Bay Centre in downtown Victoria, BC. Mrs' Claus is wearing her signature green parka.

Mrs. Claus, Twinkles and Krinkles at the Bay Centre, Victoria, BC. Still much waving to do!

A lot of people lose their smiles this time of year, so Twinkles and Krinkles like to wander about and wave at people to see if they can help find their smiles again. 🙂

Mr.and Mrs. Claus do their best to keep the reindeer from getting too rambunctious; sometimes it isn’t easy as they do love their task!!

Hugs,

🤶&🎅

(and Krinkles and Twinkles)

Mrs. Claus (sans parka) and the reindeer enjoying a refreshing cup of tea at The Good Earth before continuing on!

Taking time for a refreshing cup of tea!

Spooktacular Hugs!!

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

We haven’t done much chalk art recently because of the rain (no complaints – it refills the aquifer and we’ll appreciate it next summer). Unfortunately rain isn’t very kind to chalk art! We’re expecting another major storm this weekend so we’ll have to put out something else for Hallowe’en, but in the meantime, remember to hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!!

Hugs,
M&M

Put On a Happy Face 🙂

Posted on August 31, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

As Labour Day weekend is upon us we’re starting to wind down summer once again. Vacations are (for the most part) coming to an end, children and adults are going back to school… Still, we wanted to offer a reminder that even as seasons change, some fundamental things don’t. Self-value is inherent, and not linked to what we do. And kindness is always the right response.

To that end, we wanted to offer you a reminder to put on a happy face and engage your world with love. 💗

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. This drawing took two whole sticks of yellow! But it was worth it… 🙂
P.S. II, the sequel: This is our ninth Hugs chalk art pattern for 2024. If you’d like to see all of them, click here: 2024 Hug Zones.

Happy Father’s Day!!

Posted on June 16, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

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)

Posted on June 16, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

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: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: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:That’s it!

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

Hugs,
M&M

A Very Special Free Hugs Day

Posted on June 8, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 2 Comments ↓

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

Happy Mother’s Day!!

Posted on May 12, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

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

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

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

Posted on March 17, 2024 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

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 →