My Trusty Assistant

Although I'm slightly uncomfortable taking pictures of myself, I push myself to do it. Why? Hmmmm. I'm not sure. I do know that a few years down the line, I'm glad to look back and have a few shots to record the moments.
I've painted myself a number of times as well, and I'd like to do that again soon.

I'm enjoying Dottie Angel these days. Pat turned me on to her. I'm guessing those are pictures of Tif in most of her posts. I wonder if she uses a tripod and timer or does she have help? In her bio she says she has four kids, maybe they help. For the above picture, I had my trusty assistant to aid me. She's right outside the frame. I was trying it on my own, and I think I've mentioned her sixth sense for when I am in a self portrait mood. I like that I was able to step away from my desk this time. Thanks darling!

(Photo-My trusty assistant with her trusty assistant.)

The BEST Pancakes. Really.

1/4 c. ground almonds

1/4 c. flour
1 tbsp. finely ground golden flax seed
pinch salt
3 tbsp. sugar (or honey)
3/4 tbsp. baking powder

1 egg
1/2 c. milk (maybe a bit more to thin)
1/4 c. ricotta cheese
big spoonful sour cream

This is a 1/4 amount of the recipe, since it is just us three. Mix the dry and the wet separately, then combine. Butter the pan. They can be a little tricky to flip, so pour them small. They crisp up nicely in the pan and hardly need syrup.

Room With a View

When I look out of my window, from either my studio or from my living room, I am greeted by this wonderful old shingled house. It's in great shape and the brown color is soothing to me, plus for the last few weeks, the huge, showy, blossoming tulip tree against the house is totally alive and singing a song of Spring!

Ahhhh! I love the view!
The house is owned by a charming woman Corinna. She's probably in her late 70's, I'm guessing. I see her out there gardening and she loves a visit from us. Really I think it's Annie that brings her the most pleasure though. Our plan was to take over the watercolor sketch pictured above that I did, (with help from Annie) this morning, but Annie has the stomach-flu-from-hell and we are only going as far as the bathroom then back to her bed! Ugh!
I believe we've got everything we need to make it through this bug thanks to Dr. Nieters (a million thanks you's!) who made a surprising house call around noon. He did a check-up on Annie and gave her herbs and medicine to keep her from getting dehydrated and to stop the vomiting.

Send Annie any healing thoughts if you can! She's miserable.

Give Us Stray Dogs

When I got home from working on Saturday, I found these signs plastered to our front fence and on the tree in front of the house! I got a huge tickle from them! I love how her line drawings are turning out these days. I find a lot of character in them and I can see much progress and refinement in her work. I found the first dog sketch on my light/tracing box. She must have drawn the first one, traced it, then added the fur to make the second. Clever darling!
Annie reminds me so much of myself at her age! I drew a lot, especially animals, and I would have done anything for a dog. Anything. I would even pretend I found a "lost" (neighbor) dog and bring it home and beg to keep it. Annie loves all animals, and even though we have dogcatfishsnakeguineapigcanarieslayinghens, she still yearns for more.

And by the way, don't give us stray dogs. Please.

Dog Party

We threw a spontaneous hot chocolate party this afternoon. We tidied the house, made a pot of yummy vegetable soup and laid out some reindeer cookies and a small cake before our guests arrived. Annie and I put on festive dresses and decided to go across the street and invite some of our elderly neighbors to share some holiday cheer with us. When we got home Jasper (our large shaggy dog) had eaten all the reindeer cookies and the whole cake! Ak!

Oh well! At least he had some holiday cheer.

The party was fine, there was plenty to enjoy. The photo above shows the small ornaments I made for our guests. Each one depicts one of our canaries.

Oh We'll Bake an Apple Pie When She Comes!

"We'll be peeling some apples when she comes!
When she comes!"

We'll be rolling out some pastry when she comes!
When she comes!

We'll be adding some spices when she comes!
When she comes!

Hmm. There's no good lyrics for when she goes.
That's just a sad song!

(O.K. Annie just made up the verse below...)
We don't want LaLa Pat to leave.
Oh, we don't want LaLa Pat to leave.
Oh we don't want LaLa Pat,
Oh we don't want LaLa Pat,
Oh we don't want LaLa Pat to leave!

Come back soon.We miss you already!

Really Tight

Since taking on a mortgage, we've really had to look closely at what we are spending on and how we live our lives. Ak! What more can we pare down? Will our investment be worth it? Was renting a better deal for us? Should we have waited? Again I'm trying to think of ways to save resources and maybe even make some money. And wishing it could be more simple.

Then I saw this lovely picture and quote and it soothed me, so I'm sharing it.


“We are such spendthrifts with our lives,”
Mr. Newman once told a reporter.
“The trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I’m not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out.”

-reprinted in the NY Times tribute.

A Warm House

After Annie's guests had all left her Halloween/Housewarming party today, she asked if our house was now warm.
It definitely feels warmer to me!

I just wish I could have gotten Vivi the hedgehog and Lily the cat in the picture too.

All I Wanna Do

O.K. So I started the mural. And I can't stop! It's all I want to do! I'm still blocking in the first layers of basic colors and shapes and I have soooo far to go. I'll admit I've taken on an enormous challenge with this mural. A much bigger one than I anticipated. It is a whopping 32' in total length and to achieve the look I want, I will use a dry-brush technique (hardly any water, mostly paint) loading up the brush with a few colors to get a soft grassy look, one that is touched with the orange glow of sunset (or sunrise?). All of this on a ladder with the light changing constantly. I can only paint for about 30-40 minutes, at the most, each time I make a go of it. Then I'm pooped. My arms are getting a workout, so are my legs, my eyes and my brain.


On top of working on this exciting project, of course our life wants constant attention. Food to be made, dishes to be washed, hair to be brushed, brownies to be baked for the Homeschooler Obama Bake Sale (we made over $600!), animals to be fed, books to be read, phone calls to make, laundry etc.,etc. You know what I mean.



Since I find it hard to even walk through the dining room without picking up a brush, I'm trying not to go in there unless I can paint for a while. That is one way I'm trying to have balance (or restraint) with this project.

I feel nervous showing WIP photos because there is so much that will be different when completed (like the peachy sky, that's just a first layer) but I will post a few here so you can see what I'm up to. Oh, and if you didn't see the initial phase of sketches, you can find them here.

"...and they called it poultry love..."

That's Annie and Nell snuggling up in the rocking chair. Annie has had her in bed too. I draw the line about chickens in bed. So far Annie has made several "Nell" movies with various characters as co-stars. I play a bit part in one of them. It's really me in the background trying to keep Jasper on a down stay. He's painfully jealous of the chickens and moans, yips and all out barks when Annie is playing with them.

And no. We haven't had an egg yet.

I'm hopeful.

And I'm not surprised, considering.

Registering

Since we just moved, I needed to update my voter registration and I did it right on-line and you can too. That is, if you need to.

I really want to believe in the vote.
I'm choosing to believe that we have a voice.
I really want to believe in the vote.
I'm choosing to believe that we have a voice.
I really want to believe in the vote.
I'm choosing to believe that we have a voice.
I really want to believe in the vote.
I'm choosing to believe that we have a voice.
I really want to believe in the vote.
I'm choosing to believe that we have a voice.
I really want to believe in the vote.
I'm choosing to believe that we have a voice.

I Dream of Houses

I really do! I think a lot about our new house, other houses I've lived in, even my dollhouse and I dream a lot about houses I see around me. I love to go into houses, basements, attics, yards and I want to visit as many as I can. Alameda is the perfect town for me because it is solid historic homes from one end to the other. That said, I saw Patrick Dougherty's work and I love his imagery well, because he seems to dream of houses too.

So, we are working hard on the new house. We have torn out the old bathroom and replaced the floor and walls with new tile! Ahhh! I couldn't stand the thought of bathing in there with the old stuff. Starting Monday the old 3/4" fir floors will be sanded down, filled, stained and refinished!

Then we move next Saturday.

Celebrating!

The waiting is over and it is finally ours! I'm surprised that I don't feel a little more excited... maybe the 49-day-grueling, check-and double-check, pins-and-needles process diffused my energy a bit? Now on with the show. I've picked some paint colors, secured some workers and am going to do some work before we move in in two weeks.