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UNDER MY UMBRELLA AND BEYOND: Love The Planet Productions

This photographic journal is by Maria Pavlik, co-creator of With My Umbrella, I Can: The Magical Journey of Penelope Puddle, in B.C., CANADA. "With camera in hand and often an umbrella, I explore the everyday wonders of a planet that is not merely a backdrop but our lifeline."

Raining Umbrellas In Yaletown

- July 04, 2018

Art Installation, Yaletown, Vancouver, BC, Photo: Maria Pavlik

AI & Other Unconscious Pretenders

- September 17, 2025

Humans rely more than ever on AI for information and help with a myriad of routine tasks. But it's a weird symbiotic relationship because AI gleans its data from human activity on the web, dipping even into the pool of casual bloggers. I've noticed an unusual uptick in my traffic and suspect it is more from AI bots scraping my data (and maybe yours, too) than random people searching the Internet. Bots have an insatiable appetite, aptly addressed in an article (hopefully written by a human ) HERE . The fact that we incidentally feed a beast that learns from us was of no consequence to the squirrel, however, on a blue sky day when I met real and fake creatures along my way, inspiring my poem below. You might also enjoy reading AI's beautifully and instantly crafted response (bottom of post) when I asked it to compare itself to humans. Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United , SKYWATCH , and Saturday's Critters . Also shared with dVerse Poets ...

Angels & Demons

- September 10, 2025

Looking for blue to peek through the hazy skies lately. Along my way I've been thinking about the Ukrainian girl who traveled to America for safety and ended up dead due to a stranger's violent psychotic act. Angels sent her from her homeland believing in safer outcomes but something demonic found her regardless. And tragically no angels helped the mother calling/pleading for help for her mentally ill son before he became a killer. I have no explanation why bad things happen to innocent people, just a poem that ponders the coexistence of good and evil, each causing random ripple effects from which we cannot detach. Explore more at Poets and Storytellers United , SKYWATCH and Saturday's Critters . Check out my sites: Postcards from Penelope Puddle and Musings of A Puddlist In B.C. Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the Intergovernment...

Paper Bag Princess Gowns & Mom's Homemade Dresses

- May 10, 2019

Remember the beloved children's tale The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch? She had only a paper bag to wear after a dragon destroyed her castle and belongings. The shallow prince whom she rescued showed his true nature by complaining she didn't look like a princess dressed in that bag. Good riddance to the prince but here are some paper dresses any royal or awesome regular girl would be proud to wear. I came upon these works of art at the Oakridge Mall in Vancouver. Hopefully, they will end up in a local museum or someplace where more people will enjoy them. The lovely regal garments made of paper capture the elements and majesty of the natural world. The Langara College Paper Couture Exhibition by Vancouver design students explains what materials are used to create the clothing: "All of the dresses are made from a variety of recyclable white or brown paper, tissue, tapes, glue, spray paint, adhesives, paper twine, coffee filters, cardboard, string, thum...