Romanesque creation

We walked around the lake today. 

If you look closely, you can see Mt. Rainier back behind

the trees and buildings. A pretty day.

 

We found this diamond in the rough, next to an old condemned building

 (I remember it as the old Memorial Clinic)

Delightful flowers among the weeds.

Could they be crocus?

 

Later, I collected some stuff to try some

leaf printing.

Watercolors, Leaves, Paper...

 

It was fun and I enjoyed the results.

Then, I created this dish.  It doesn't have a name but it is Romanesque cauliflower, fettuccine, bacon, and sauce. Delicious! and especially nice that we could eat it out on the deck in the sunshine.

Random souvenirs

ANOTHER rustic peach pie!

This time I had my wits to get a photo before we gobbled it up.

 

 

Over the weekend retired husband got a notion to renovate the front porch!

Who'd a thought?

removed, leveled, repainted

nice and clean.

 

 

And something new from my art journal.

The following are from a two page spread. 

 Somehow they looked way better photographed separately

and in close up "pieces".

At least to me.

 

Techniques are from the Suzi Blu on-line class I'm taking. 

I never thought I'd be able to draw a nose!

Next lesson is side and 3/4 views of faces.

 

They look pretty ordinary until you start adding layers,

 

 

and textures,

 

and more layers.

I'm having fun finally using a lot of the supplies I've been collecting over the last ten years!

On these pages I used pencils, colored pencils, acrylic paint, water soluble oil pastels, book paper, washi tape, a star punch, jelly pen (white), a palette knife, water soluble crayons, rub-ons, ink and rubber stamps. I might even have a go at it with a little sandpaper now. or maybe I should leave well enough alone.  Nothing is ever really "finished".

The thing I like about this kind of art is I can do it 10-15 minutes at a time.  I can put the pasta on to cook, and work for 12 minutes.  Then it can dry while we eat. Then I can add another layer and go clean up the dinner dishes.  Then another layer and go watch tv for a while. This is how I work well. Its good to get away from it and come back later with a fresh look.

The 22nd of December

A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

When we first built our house, we purchased a Jenn-air stovetop with grill. We used that grill a LOT. It was so fun to grill steaks and chicken and pork chops indoors anytime. A couple of summers ago we got a gas grill for the deck and we've never used the Jenn-air grill since!

Phil brought home a griddle to replace the grill.

Now, we'll use that!

I made "corn cakes" with syrup and sausages for breakfast.

I received many accolades for the effort.

Jolly!

Party Party Party

This cake needs 83 candles!

That would be quite a blaze, but hardly enough to show EIGHTY THREE years worth of experiences...Three daughters, 6 grandchildren, 20 (?) great grandchildren, a couple of great-great-grandchildren! We had fun today celebrating my mom's birthday. FOOD: IKEA-style meatballs with gravy and rice and lingonberry sauce; Asian lettuce roll-ups; cole slaw; pumpkin muffins. And of course CAKE and ice cream! All three daughters attended, and our cousins Mike, Suzie and Samantha came too. We planned out Thanksgiving. A lovely day in spite of rain.

Many flowers and cards too.

Mike took a picture of "all the girls" that turned out nice and I hope I get a copy of it to share here.

Earlier that day...

At our scrapbooking group, it was my turn to make cards for the two birthday ladies. I had a lot of fun making these and they were easy! torn paper, ribbons, music paper and stickles.

I always like incorporating music paper into my crafts.

I don't know why, it just always looks so elegant with all that black and cream.

We also planned our annual Christmas party at this meeting.

I made these pumpkin muffins using my "Colonial Pumpkin Bars" recipe, but putting the batter into muffin tins. I piped the cream cheese frosting on top, moderately, and then put a big bowl of cream cheese frosting and a spoon nearby.

All that socializing - I need a nap!

October 27, 2009 - food and friends Discovery Bay

Eating healthy meals was a big part of our "escape" "retreat" "getaway"... plan: Here A is plating up our breakfasts.

J brought a 20 lb box of apples - she made apple butter in the crockpot - delicious!!!

Our vegetable crisper -- you can see what kind of weekend this will be!

Breakfast! Kale vegetable pie (sorry A. I forgot the name of it) - delicious with a potato crust, kale and veggies, feta cheese on top. I could eat this meal 3 times a day forever! We also had a green salad and kiwi. Yes, this was breakfast - a good way to start the day out green!

My new friends, A and L

A out on the deck talking on the phone.

J made individual cheesecakes - topped with that apple butter. Scrumptious. (not exactly healthy, but lots of nutritious ingredients!).

Backing up to dinner - we each brought our own meat, and served sauted kale, roasted delicata squash, and an extremely excellent avacado, tomato, garlic and feta salad.

10-22-09 Thursday

Here is our dinner guest, I mention her later in my blog. The ceramic device in which she sits was a birthday gift to Phil from somone who loves it when he cooks!

I love to be served a cup of coffee! ahhh - Trader Joes! Phil makes the coffee every time these days. His coffee is very good too!

I had a great telephone visit with Walker this morning too. After school today he was off to two after-hours lectures and a haircut by a girl from another dorm.

Have you ever cooked a Jerusalem artichoke? I bought these at the Farmer's Market today. I got a recipe too that contains butter and heavy cream - to make a product like mashed potatoes. I'm going to try it, but maybe not so much heavy cream. The people I bought it from also had "burdock" which I thought was an herb, but it looked more like a tuber. She claimed it was very tasty and earthy. Vicki did buy a little piece of it ($1 worth).

Here is my coffee maker. Doesn't he look all retired and relaxed? This was taken on the Sunday hike around the lake.

Today I went to Greek class with AJ and we learned to sing the Greek National Anthem. We also got to hear original Aesops Fables type stories by the other students. AJ and I wrote one but we were too shy to read it out loud. It was the best story through.

Phil is cooking a whole chicken on the grill tonight. I'll try to get a shot of it. It gets grilled upright in a special ceramic device.

October 9, 2009

I know yesterdays post was a little gross - all those dead fish! ugh. This morning Phil cooked a beautiful brunch for us -- pan-fried trout with bacon, apple cake, and orange juice or V-8. It was great! The fish was so delicate and tasty. Way to go Phil! The Bacon was a nice touch.

We had such a nice brunch, we didn't have to eat again until dinnertime. We only ate 3 of them and froze the rest. Maybe we'll save them until Walker is home.

We are still having fantastic weather. I think it is supposed to last through the weekend so I hope we can go on another hike. I am thinking around the lake and through downtown.

Otherwise, I have lots of possibilities. Today I bought an album and some other stuff to start our Photo - Road Trip Album. I have a little bit to do yet on the scrapbook - road trip album. I have dozens of other art projects in my head too -- so little time!

Thursday October 8, 2009

The star of the beginning of my blog is my apple cake! Beautiful, isn't it? But I couldn't choose which image, so I have three! I told Phil I wasn't going to make this cake again, 'cause it has all that butter and sour cream and sugar - and well, you know there's only Phil and I to eat it all!!! And we will!!! BUT, Phil tasted it and said it is "the best thing I have ever made" and "don't you dare throw away the recipe". So .... Weird Fork Angle:

Betty Crocker, watch out!

This morning was foggy, and I made myself stop and take some pictures of the capitol. I took quite a few of this too, but this is probably the most interesting. The foggy day promised to turn into a sunny one.

Today is my fun Thursday. I like to meet Vicki at the Farmer's Market and today was an especially nice day because it was sunny and bright but not so many people there. They even have installed heaters inside in the aisles for winter. Its open through December. Vicki stepped out of the way everytime I even sort of aimed the camera in her direction. But, she was good about suggesting places to walk for a possible shoot.

This is the garden at the end of the market. We ate our lunch near here - Vicki had spinach ravioli - I had a blt on focaccia bread. mmm Does it sound like I'm obsessing about food?

Another pretty view of the garden. After this, we walked over to the boardwalk and looked at the boats and flowers and people and animals. I also made a quick stop at Trader Joes. Also a treat.

Phil is out fishing today and if he gets a fish, I will have to post it tomorrow!