Time Flies

Boy, it does not seem like ten days since I have posted. Been busy, and doing some art.

I have been concentrating on the ancestor's photos (I am scanning and identifying as many people as my Mother, Sister and I can), and have been doing some sketching. I have not been too faithful about an art project a day, but that was negotiable. I figure that the scanning and working with photos counts for a lot of art, even if I am not producing output at this time!

I bought three old cabinet cards at an antique store, and after I got involved in this genealogy stuff, I posted the descriptions and names of the people that were written on the back of the cabinet card. Anyway, I am posting the picture here.

The cabinet card says: Cushman Arcade Studio, Springfield Ohio

On the back in pen is written: Uncle Al Gaines and Aunt Lou and in pencil : For Mother

Another Friday, no disasters

I said that I was going to hide on Friday nights, but went to a great Brigid/Imbolc celebration and managed to get home without incident!
I found the neat moon calculator on the right. It will always give me the phase of the moon. As I was arriving at the ceremony tonight, there was a fingernail moon, and it was breathtaking.
Busy weekend ahead, and hopefully I will have time to do some art, as I have fallen down on my promise to do some art each day. Does surfing the web at work and looking at art blogs count?

First Update, Creative Everyday 2008

Cold Shoulder from Baby Cakes- this new quilt (a birthday present for my son) must be comfortable, as BC only roosts on the most comfortable perches in the studio.

Here is the quilt minus the cat. Hope you enjoy it and have a great birthday DB!

Day One: sketches in my journal, too sloppy to post here.

Day Two and Three: working on the Crown Royal snugglie (see above) and a quilt for me! I found some great flannel that has spools of thread, needles and thimbles, and it is in an orange/red colorway, plus it was on sale! What more could I ask?

Pictures will follow tomorrow!

Friday is the PITTTTTSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Next Friday I am coming home and hiding (see my Jan. 19th Friday the 13th posting). I had plans for this Friday, and as I was waiting for my friend Pamela to meet me and go gallery hopping at First Friday, my car got hot, steam was coming out from under the hood and water was leaking out. Even one of these would be bad, but all three were catastrophic! We went to a 7-11, got water and put it in the radiator. Seemed to hold, and we limped to my local repair shop (it was now 6:30). They could not work on it until Saturday AM, so we went to a movie, as neither of us was up for the trip downtown to see art!
We saw Atonement, which was a very strange movie. I had a lot of trouble understanding the mumbling english accent, but would give it a medium rating. I enjoyed the movie but do not know that I would watch it again.
Keep your fingers crossed and hope that my car does not cost an arm and a leg! I got paid yesterday and had some overtime and a large expense reimbursement, but I did not want to spend it on my car!

On another subject, I have joined the Creative Everyday 2008 group. Still working on my creativity and intention.
http://www.creativeeveryday.com/creativeeveryday/creative-every-day-2008-.html

Click on this image for more information.

Artful Quilters Webring

I have been meaning to join this webring for several months, but never remember when I am at home, and do not want to join from work! (even tho I do surf the web from work). You can follow the link to the right and get to some fantastic sites!

What do I want for the coming year

Our topic for this Thursday's yet unnamed Women's group is "What do I want for the coming year?"
I have given up on New Year's resolutions, so glibly manifested after a glass of champagne and then guiltily discarded by mid-January.
But this year I am really going to concentrate on time. Recently I was talking to my 84 year old mother and realized I AM ALMOST 60!!
Fifty Seven (going on 58 very soon!) sounds so much better than ALMOST 60!
As a child my grandmother always told me the older you got the faster time went. If time accelerates any faster, I will be 99 before I know it.
Increasingly, time goes by in a blur, like the calendar pages in an old black and white movie.
I was born in 1950, and Halley's comet and the new millenium seemed vast distances away in the future. Since both have come and gone and we are currently in late January, 2008, I feel like I am losing my "time grip". Monthly magazines arrive in about 3 weeks, and my semi-monthly paycheks roll in with regularity (I don't mind this...)
The only way I can think of to control this time warp (isn't that a song from the Rocky Horror Picture Show?) is to become more intentional. I already have a structured life, but need to have more intention about how I live and enjoy.
I work in a high tech and high stress enviornment where I am the expert, and I use my artwork to relax from that grind. I have always loved creating and need to get some balance between work and recreation.
If I can plan and live my life intentionally I think that I will enjoy life more, even if I cannot create more time.
Quantity vs. Quality- quality should always win out.
By setting my intention, I manifest my desires--whatever they may be.

Much better week!

Well, after my faux Friday the 13th last week, my week was much better this week! Long and busy, but no disasters.

I have joined an Altered Book Round Robin with some women from the Art-e-zine site. We are using small board books and I started my book with two spreads in it. Can't decide if I am through or not, but I have two weeks to decide that.

I could have sworn that yesterday was Friday the 13th!

After a LONG week at work, went to dinner and to play cards at a friend's house. While we were heading home, going through an intersection, this HUGE white pickup runs the red light right in front of us! Luckily the car to my right braked quickly and I was able to swerve and miss the idiot by no more than a few inches. He did not even slow down!

Then I get home and inside my house it is 39 degrees! It was only 15 degrees outside! Cold air is coming out of my vents. I immediately turn off my NEW FURNACE, and look around. PNM (Natural gas supplier in NM) had turned the gas off to make repairs in the area. By now it is 10:30 and the service man does not arrive until 12:30. In the meantime I am building a fire in the fireplace (my only source of heat!) Fuzzy will not even come out of whatever hidey hole she is in, and it is very cold. Luckily I have an electric blanket on my bed, so the cats and I repair to the warm bed. By the next morning it is only 60 degrees (although that is a great improvement over the 39 degrees from the night before). I called my HVAC guy and he can't make it until noon. When he gets there he tells me that the whole winter (I had a new furnace installed in April, 2007) the air conditioner has been running when the heater is running!

Does this look like a cold cat?

Anyway, the furnace has been repaired, and the cats and I are roasty toasty warm! Hopefully my huge electric bill will go down too!

Wishing you you warmth and happiness!

Pay It Forward Challenge

Judy at http://cheerytomatoproductions.blogspot.com/ has inspired me to join this exchange:

“I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, which is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.”

Envelopes and Furry Aliens

If you have ever received a snailmail from me, you know that I try to NEVER send a plain envelope. Since all that I get in the mail now is bills, I would be very pleased to receive one of these envelopes. I put on a return address label (I use a separate white stickon label for the to address), and then color with sharpies (front and back are decorated). I get to practice some freehand patterns and try out different color combos.

As I was sitting and playing, my two furry aliens (aka Baby Cakes and Fuzz Bucket) were playing around. Fuzzy seems to be giving me the evil eye....
and then she is only a shadow, Baby Cakes is looking for her!

Let's see if this egg hatches!

Get your own egg here!

Gratitude Sign

Got this email from a very good friend today, and want to pass it along...


Ever wonder how to say thanks when you saw a military person in uniform? See a simple way to do it from across a room or as you are passing by. - skip
And when you can, say it outright - rk

Check This Out: The Gratitude Sign

http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

Seems like a very simple thing to do, and even though I am adamantly anti-war, I plan to take up this gesture.

I am still scanning, cropping and identifying old family photos to post on Ancestor.com. This is so addictive, I can't stop!

Can I count photoshoping as my daily art process? If I can I am set for the year!

Happy New Year, 2008

Atop the Arc de Triomphe,

with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Jan 1, 1972

Tulierres Gardens, Paris France

Dec 31, 1971.

I spent the weekend at my Mother's house. We went through her photo albums and I relocated two pictures that were taken New Year's Eve 1971 in Paris . I am no longer married to Larry, and in fact he died in 2003, but that was on HELLACIOUS New Years weekend. We danced down the middle of the Champs Eleysee (??) with a magnum of champagne! Parisians definitely know how to celebrate the new year.

My christmas cactus is in full bloom.

Merry Christmas

I have had a very low key Christmas this year. I intentionally withdrew from "Commericialized Christmas" and made charitable contributions in my families names (with a few gifts for my nieces). I got all of my obligations fulfilled without setting foot in a mall! (My sister is the shopper in our family and makes up for my mother and I...).

I worked Christmas eve to let my co-workers have the day off with their families. It was a very low key day, as almost no one was there, so work was not that bad.

Since I had to work and could not go to my Mother's house, I was able to attend the Christmas Eve service at my church First Unitarian of Albuquerque. I assisted with the Children's service at 6:30 (I was the head candlelighter in charge of about 20 little candle lighters!). The Children's service was charming and chaotic, as only a church full of children can be! The adult candlelight service was very nice, and much less chaotic.

Then this morning I dragged myself out of bed to go to Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge to see the birds. If you get there before dawn, when the sun comes up, the birds, en masse, take off. It is very thrilling, and they fly almost overhead.

I discovered that bird pictures MUST be taken with a telephoto lens, but here are three that will give you an idea of what it is like.

A huge flock of snow geese taking flight just after sunrise.

Believe it or not, the small black speck in the top of the tree is an Eagle!

Three Wise Cranes? Taken from my car.

I saw four eagles, three deer, lots of ducks, geese and sandhill cranes.

Now to finish off this day, I will attend a Christmas potluck at church.

In the spirit of the season, here is some a beautiful renditon of Pachabel's Canon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGrhzCgy_bg

Three things

Pokey Bolton of Quilting Arts asked for you to send in a picture of something homemade that you had made for Xmas. I sent in a picture of the collage that I made for my friend Marion, and it is on the Quilting Arts blog. (Of course it is on my blog too, but this is almost like being published.)

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I hid out at home today and found this great story in some of my genealogy stuff:

Grandma’s Apron


When I was a little child, grandma’s garments made little impression on me. Her apron was a big affair of dark printed cotton, slow to soil, and edged around with bias tape. It’s uses were limitless.
The apron made a “basket” when she gathered eggs from the hen house late in the afternoon. If there were fluffy, yellow chicks to be carried to the back porch during the sudden cold spell, they made the trip peeping contentedly in Grandma’s apron.
When those same little darlings grew into henhood and liked to peck and scratch among Grandma’s flowers, she merely flapped her apron at them and they ran squawking to the chicken yard. And I can see her yet, tossing cracked corn to the hungry flock form her apron.
Lots of chips and kindling were needed to start fires in the big ivory colored cook stove in Grandma’s kitchen. Sure she carried them in her apron. Vegetables and fruits, too-lettuce, radishes, peas, string beans, carrots, apples, peaches, all found their way to the kitchen in Grandma’s carryall.
While things were cooking, it was a handy holder for removing hot pans from the stove. IF the men working in the field weren’t too far away, the apron waved aloft was the signal to “come to dinner”. At threshing or company time, when the long dining room table was crowded with hungry folk, Grandma hovered about passing aromatic dishes and flipping the big apron at pesky flies. When Grandma came to visit the apron stood ready to dry childish tears. IF the little ones were shy, it made a good hiding place in case a stranger appeared unexpectedly.
The apron was used countless time to stroke a perspiring brow as Grandma bent over the hot woodstove or hoed the garden under a blistering sun. In chilly weather, Grandma wrapped the friendly garment around her arms while she hurried on an outside errand or lingered at the door with a departing guest. Hastily and a bit shyly, it dusted tables and chairs if company was sighted coming down the lane. And in the evening when the day’s work was done, Grandma shed her garment of many uses and draped it over the canary’s cage.

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I got a strange call from my son today. I was expecting that he would receive his christmas present today. He did get the box,but the present was for a friend in Florida. I had them in identical boxes, and just put the wrong address on the boxes. She and my son have had "issues" in the past. so it may have been a freudian slip! Anyway, he was very puzzled over why I had sent what I did! Can't say much more or the secrets will be out!

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Snow may descend, so I don't know if I will make it to my Mother's house this weekend, may have to postpone until next weekend. Either earley or late, Christmas is still Christmas!

Sue's scalloped corn

I took a dish to our "Non-denominational Seasonal" pot luck today. It was from a Weatherford family reunion, and I loved the way it tasted. Somehow, it got put away, and I found it the other day (I have not been a Weatherford since 1999, so that shows you how long it has been rattling around). Anyway I found it and decided to take it today. It was a great hit, so I am posting the recipe here.

It was given to my by Donna Enger.

Sue’s Scalloped Corn

1 Can Corn, undrained
1 Can Corn, cream style undrained
2 eggs
1 Box Jiffy Yellow Corn Bread Mix
1 Stick Butter (melted)
8 ounces of Sour Cream (I did not have sour cream so I used cream cheese instead)
2 cups shredded cheese of your choice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Mix the first six ingredients together with 1 cup of the cheese
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, the remove and top with remaining cheese (for the potluck I did not top with cheese until I got it to work)
Bake for another 30* minutes

*(to take this to our potluck I only put the casserole back in for 15 minutes, let it cool and then spooned it into my crock pot. When I got to the office I put the cheese on top and turned the crock pot on low until lunch time!)

The funny thing about it is that I copied it onto the back of a family tree for the Weatherford's! So I was able to flesh out that limb of my family tree without contacting my ex-husband! Winner times two!

Christmas Tree and Christmas Cactus

This is the closest my furry aliens (a.k.a. Fuzzy Bucket and Baby Cakes) will allow me to have. This is in my studio, so note the iron, covered server and sewing machine). I love the fairy lights and may leave them up all year round.

I am so excited! I have had this Christmas Cactus for years ( I just CANNOT trash a living plant, have to wait until it dies!) and it has never bloomed. And now that I have moved it into the jungle window (see above) it has buds on almost every branch! It looks like it is going to be pink.

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I have started a revolt against "Commercialized Christmas"! I have decided that only kids under 12 are going to get Christmas presents from me this yerar (well, there are few exceptions and they are not getting purchased gifts...). I just finished capes for my nieces, black with the hoods lined in pink with silver stars! They should love them, as they are both very DRAMA QUEENish! The photo above shows my latest creations, left: Goddess of the Frozen North, middle St. Frigidita, right, St. Floridita. Fun and easy to make from Sardine tins!

I am also making my christmas cards this year.

December Countdown for Free Downloads

Go to this site and get a download of images after you put a link on your site! 25 days of downloads, you can't beat that.

http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/