Bernie's contest - do it for the dogs!

Darn...Bernie has dropped to Number 6 or 7 which is just terrible! She won't win unless she is in the top 4. Oh, bug all your friends and neighbors. Bernie does SUCH wonderful work, and is such a great person. Claudine has been helping so much. Donate by using the badge on my blog..or Claudines..or Bernies...or at six degrees... PLEASE help out if you can.

Thurday - only two more commutes

This week has been spent packing up or shredding of 13 years worth of junque in my office. I admit, I am a pack rat at work, but find that keeping info does often come in handy. But now it's all gone, so no one can ask me "how did you do that purification 10 years ago?". Sorry, it's all gone!

So I only have tomorrow and Monday left to commute into Cambridge. HURRAY!!!! Tuesday and Wednesday they are moving us and Thursday we get to unpack and settle into our new homes close to home. I can't wait! But I was getting a bit nostalgic today about not coming into the city anymore, and might make the time to come in for meetings in our corporate office - just to get my city fix.

I had my first class last night at the Worcester Art museum, a continuation of a mixed media class from the fa... I do find it a bit frustrating in that there are very few continuing students so we seem to start the same stuff over and over again. But I'm doing my own projects so it is really a one on one class for me. I did bring in some items for critique and got some good feedback about distressing a frame for a shadowbox, and some other good feedback. We are also doing an art piece a day for the class, and I've decided to do a paper - mixed media quilt. Should be interesting.

Pears Again

I did this on the plane, copying from a magazine.

Colored pencils, with a watercolor pencil used as the dark background. You should have seen me dipping my pencil into my airplane glass of cranberry juice.

I'm starting to get the knack of the colored pencils but these pears could use more roundness, more contouring. Sometimes I "see" flat and have to remember that I am looking at a round object. Plus...I'm not too good yet at remembering to leave white space. Ah well...

Good intentions

I'm going to join with Lynn and Cris in a healthy eating plan. I've been doing pretty good except for over the holidays with eating right, but do have to get out there and exercise. I was just reading Lynn's blog about exercise, and got all excited about going for a walk - looked out the window and it's snowing. Good Excuse to stay in Jammies!!! Actually I will go out, since it is snowing lightly, and it's pretty, and I'll wear boots that won't make me slip!

This is not the eternal quest for the perfect body (yeah, right - like that would ever happen!) but just the realization that it's time to get serious. Last week's episode of fainting really did scare me - I have to take care of me. I do enjoy my life after all, and want to continue to enjoy it! I need to be there for my nieces and nephews and for the 'rents. And the big one, the hubby !

I think that the big change for me will come when I stop the oh so long commute into the city after next week. We have to have our offices packed by next Friday, and the movers start coming the week afterwards. By the week of Feb 4th, I'll only be commuting 12 miles instead of 30 and on back roads - not conjested city streets. This will give me about an additional 2 hours per day to do MY stuff, and I hope like hell I can convince myself to do spinning again, or yoga, or stationary bike.

Wish me luck -

Just for fun

Found this blog thru another one from another one etc. So I can show this funny cartoon!

Time tonight to draw a bit.

As I said in my last post, we went to NH today to check in with the kids and their parents and actually all had a great time together. The kids needed distraction and happily showed us how to play "Guitar Hero" on their X box. I had so much fun with that game, its the first game that I actually liked. Usually they make me so nervous, but this one had me laughing out loud. Teenager beat his uncle in darts, pool and ping pong - and I beat Uncle in Guitar Hero. Uncle is now making dinner. Poor Uncle!

Had a bit of time to draw tonight, still learning with the colored pencils. I can travel with those, and only need a sharpener and eraser to keep going. The one below this is supposed to be one of those black and white chickens...done with purple and brown. If you enlarge it you can see that it looks like he has a little hat on.

The second one is another landscape copied from a photograph. I think it would have been better with out the tree, but there you go. Live and learn.

Where does the time go???

Lately I feel pressed for time in all directions. Work. Home. Health (?). Friends. Where do I find the time to do what I love? Isn't it silly to only find time for drawing on a plane? When do I find time to visit my online friends, and visit other sites, see new artwork, chat, learn? And non-virtual friends - it's even harder to find a way to all get together.

Tonight my nephews were supposed to come over for a relaxing sleepover, but yesterday their grandmother died, suddenly and of a stroke, so I am going up to NH to be with the family and just have a hug with those kids. Yes, they're almost 15 and "understand" death but in reality they are still little kids, excited about going to see their Nonna and surprising her with a visit. Yes, they understand that it was a "good death" in that she didn't suffer and didn't linger on this earth too long after suffering that stroke, but oh boy... they are sad and hurting and all I want to do is to get up there and actually touch them. It's almost an overwhelming feeling, this need to touch.

So, there goes the day off at home. Can't sort out those old clothes for Goodwill. Can't go to the postoffice. Can't do all the itsy-bitsy chores that fill up a day...but I can be there for my boys, give them a big hug for me and for them and help them thru this sad time.

Ah well... I guess I do understand where time really goes.

Illustration Friday - Tales and Legends

Lizzy Borden took an ax

And gave her Mother 40 whacks

When she saw what she had done

She gave her Father 41

Poor Lizzy - infamous New England crazy woman.

Lizzie Andrew Borden[1] (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927) was a New England spinster who was the central figure in the hatchet murders of her father and stepmother on August 4, 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts, in the United States. The slayings, subsequent trial, and the following trial by media became a cause célèbre, and the fame of the incident has endured in American pop culture and criminology. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted, no one else was ever arrested or tried, and she has remained notorious in American folklore. Dispute over the identity of the killer or killers continues to this

This illustration is not taken from an actual picture of Lizzy, but was an experiment with a cabinet card photograph. But when it was done it reminded me of Lizzy somehow. I've always pictured Lizzy as a meek, mild obedient daughter who one day just had enough and went over the top. New England winters, stern parents and being known as the local spinster would probably do that to anyone.

I just realized that I've used Lizzy before for Illustration Friday and I apologise...and will hasten upstairs to do something else for Tales and Legends. Meanwhile, enjoy Lizzie - I've always liked her.

Thursday night - Home

I'm unpacked, in my comfys and happy to be home. Not a terrible flight, I had a window seat and as usual, I plugged in my ipod...grabbed some colored pencils and started doodling. I had about 1 square foot of space to stretch out in, the poor kid next to me must have been 6 feet tall and was curled up like a bug in his seat.

Skymall is SUCH an interesting magazine (not) - here are some excerpts from what you can buy on an airplane. ( I do not know what is wrong with my scanner - it's one of those combo scanner/printers and it's printing funny also. I have to see if I can get it serviced.

My personal favorite is the octopus type charger for all the essential road warrior equipment - and the marshmellow shooter. Just what you want on a plane.

Thanks for all the non-lectures, and caring messages. I am feeling great..and then my dr called me today and said that the antibiotic that I am on is not effective against this infection, so she put me on another one that I started tonight. I think the first one must have been doing something otherwise I'd still be on the bathroom floor!

Ah well, a peaceful weekend is planned. The kids are coming over with the third "Pirates of the Caribbean" and we'll just lounge and enjoy each other. Lovely.

on my way back home

Good old American Airlines tomorrow. Home again, feeling great. Got the nephews for the weekend - hurray!!!

One has time to think on the plane!

I have time to think on a plane, and time to write, sort out my computer messes, people watch and draw funny pictures from the in flight “you must buy this” magazine. .

I am fuming a bit because I missed my flight this morning, and missed out on the upgrade that I usually get on that flight. But they’ve got me in an exit row so at least I can move my legs around. We connect in Dallas to go to San Diego, and I’m hoping for a smooth connection. ( it was and I got upgraded on that leg so yay for me!)

I’m still amazed that I missed my flight; it is so unlike me that I question whether I am still under the weather or I just didn’t want to go.

Here’s what happened. I think I had an infection brewing for a few weeks but was unaware of it. Actually I wasn’t totally unaware but was not paying attention. Too busy with parents and holidays etc. So this thing brewed and brewed and finally got my attention on Thursday - so I hopped off to the Dr. and got some wonderful antibiotics. But think about it, by that time something had been brewing in my system for a few weeks and a few doses of antibiotics was not the magic bean
.
Thursday night I woke in a cold sweat, was clammy and uncomfortable and rather delirious, I knew something was wrong but couldn't’t articulate it, had no fever, in fact it was very low and in our house you aren’t sick unless you have a fever. I was hyperventilating and kept walking around because it felt like my blood pressure was low and all I could think to do was move. I was stumbling around the house feeling like I needed something, went into the bathroom – passed out and on the way down pulled the towel rack right out of the wall. And not just the rack part – the actual piece of the wall pulled out. On the way down I must have hit the bathtub with my hip because I have a black and blue mark the size of my hand – it’s actually more black than blue and is really ugly looking, and twisted my back – yow! I think I was heading towards sepsis and the fact that I was on antibiotics kept me from going all the way there. I have no idea if this makes medical sense at all but the dictionary says symptoms are:
Cool, pale extremities
High or very low temperature, chills
Lightheadedness
Low blood pressure, especially when standing
Low urine output (due to kidney failure)
Palpitations
Rapid heart rate
Restlessness, agitation, lethargy, or confusion
Shortness of breath
Of which I had most.
I managed to get up from the hard bathroom floor to see a horrified and terrified husband who had no clue what to do, except to help me get back to bed and try to calm me down. I don’t think he had any idea how potentially scary this might have been. He thought about driving me to the ER but we were having sleet and snow, and by the time he thought about calling 911 I was asleep again. To him, fever means sick and no fever means not sick. He is not clued into the “no fever, potentially worse” scenario. Well, he is now. He has strict instructions about delirium and odd behavior associated with an infection. He also stayed up all night worrying that I would start walking around again and would fall down the stairs and hit my head.

So, wisely I didn’t go to work on Friday, didn’t fly to California on Saturday as planned, and took it easy most of the weekend. We did go snowshoeing yesterday for a short time, and it did leave me exhausted and sore. Nice slow walks along the ocean are planned for California this week. Nice and peaceful.

Before anyone lectures me, I did call the Dr for a complete physical when I get back. And yes, I know that this could have been life threatening. Funny thing …when you’re feeling sick you don’t think logically do you? Someone else has to do that for you. My non- medical hubby had better wise up!

So all this trauma must be why I had a good night’s sleep last night and slept thru the alarm, the phone calls from the limo company and my internal alarm clock. I just needed it! And I promise to pay attention to body signals in the future ...good lord one would think I was a medical idiot. ...

Flight to California

For the very first time in my life I overslept and missed a flight. Not just overslept and knew I couldn't make it - oh no... my flight was at 6;55 am and I WOKE up at 7:05. I was peaceful for about two minutes until I realized what had happened. Luckily I was able to call the company travel agency and rebook without too much of a penalty, but it is still a shock to me that my internal alarm clock, flight obsessiveness didn't kick in.

Perhaps I really needed that extra two hours of sleep, don't think I'm really feeling perfectly well yet. Well, hopefully they'll be a hot tub at the hotel that I can soak my weary bones in.

The best laid plans...

I have been working on quilts for my nephews and had hoped to have them done by Christmas -but there was not way to get it all completed. By Thanksgiving I knew it was a no - go so gave them other presents and showed them the partially finished quilts. Being delightful kids they were pleased with their alternate gifts and enjoyed the thoughts of the quilts. I have one top finished and have been working on the second top.

The second top has caused me great grief and trouble. I tried a pattern that called for making uneven strips of fabric, sewing them all together and then cutting large quilting squares and making the quilt that way. After just a few minutes I knew this was going to be a disaster and would take forever. Essentially you have to make the strips of fabric before you can even start cutting the quilt. I knew the kid would be in college before I could finish this. Here's an example:

So I punted. I made the squares, but much less than called for and I bought precut blue jean fabric off ebay. Then I used the made fabric as accents only. While I was working on it I realized that it was kinda dull so I took the made red fabric and cut circles and appliqued them all over the top. That brightened it up a bit. I may add more, not sure yet.

I 've decided to tack this quilt, and was getting ready to do it tonight BUT found that the batting that I have is only twin size. When I started these quilts both boys had twin beds. One now has a double size, so I had to make a larger quilt for one and figured that I'd better make a larger size for both kids. But I forgot about the batting. And now its' Sunday night and I can't use yucky Wal mart poly fil after getting used to Dream Wool, so I went on line to order dream wool. Hopefully it will come while I am in California so that I can really finish it next week. I'm a bit worried about the binding on this quilt. I got some red flannel and would prefer to do it myself but I'll have to see. The green quilt that I made for Brian I am going to have professionally quilted and finished off. Since I made that so long ago, I feel I didn't put as much creativity into the whole quilt, so I'd like to to have really nice quilting. Plus a blue jeans quilt calls out for a tacked finsh, don't you think?

And here's a sample of the unfinished, unironed quilt. I chose not to set out the jeans material in advance, I wanted a random approach. I think I got random, but sometimes random patternes.

I hope I have it finished before winter comes.

A good friend just told me that she is going to be a first time grandma. I'm starting her gender neutral quilt already!

Out of Control

I thought I would be a wise guy and try to anticipate the topic for IFN and thought it would be "out of control" . Is wasn't, but I had done this and I like it so here it is.

Sunday AM - a great time to post and be quiet

A colored pencil mandala. I drew a whole bunch of empty circles in my sketchbook and do these types when I'm in the mood. I'l learning....

A Place to Bark - Contest update

The picture above is my brother's family dog - a wonderful fat little pug named Maggie. She is the friendliest litte dog and get's so excited when people visit that she curls into a comma shape and walks at you sideways wiggling all the time. Isn't she so ugly that she's cute??? (gotta love those pugs)

Bernie is in second place to win the big contest to build her kennel. Winning the contest is dependent on the number of people donating, not the amount, but I think $10.00 is the minimum, see the badge below. Go to Bernie's site and see the video she has posted with the latest set of pups, just amazing. And please donate. I know that you all have...pass the word along!

Illustration Friday - January 18th - PLAIN

I immediately thought of the Plains, those inland oceans. Purple waves of grain and all that.

The picture doesn't do justice to those wide wonderful vista's but it was fun to draw.

Friday update

Since coming back from Florida I've been sorta sick, under the weather and have finally decided to take a day off work and stay home and stay in bed. Probably the best thing for me. I'm supposed to go to California tomorrow for the week but am going to cancel the weekend part of the trip at least.

Before Christmas Deb, Switchsky and I decided to exchange goodie bags of stuff, I started the whole thing by begging people to take cigar boxes that I had a surplus of (if you want some, just email me!) and had a great time assembling the box of junk, stuffing things in, from rocks, to glitter to foam pieces. I've gotten a GREAT box from Deb and while my intention was to spread everything out and take a picture, the things were so great that I started using them right away. So much for good intentions.

Here are some toasty socks and a beautiful warm cozy PURPLE (my favorite color) blanket.

There will be more pictures coming of more fun stuff.

So the socks are on my feet, I'm wrapped in color and am going back to bed. Thanks Deb.

It sure is January

We have about a foot of snow in the yard right now and I didn't even venture out of the house to day, instead chose NOT to hassle with the drive and do work at home. But of course, every other employee in Massachusetts also chose the same thing so now none of us can get on with our VPN thingy's. At least not reliably. So...I'll blog instead...right?

Claudine did a great post about Bernie Berlin and her animal shelter and I've put up the badge again. It was on my site but seemed to not be working so hopefully this will help. Go read Bernie's blog, she is such an awesome person, and loves her animals so much. Go donate to help her build a better shelter. She takes such good care of her animals, and gives so freely of her time, love and money. When I get a dog, it's going to be from Bernie - first of all I know how well she cares for them and secondly, I am dying to visit her place and perhaps help out for a day or two if possible.

So dear friends, just give $10.00 if you can, or less...or more and Bernie's little 4 footed (sometimes 3 footed) friends will send you a doggie or cat prayer. Plus you might win one of her awesome ATC's - wow! and double wow!

Back to "work". sigh....

stitches again

This was my first drawing for "Stitches" but then I remembered my altered book and posted that instead. My scanner is going goofy and I'm not happy with the shadows on the scan. It's not printing well either and may have to have something drastic done to it.

On the way home last night, as we were taxing out of Myrtle Beach, I quickly sketched the view outside my window of our little wing. Just for fun.

Illustration Friday - January 13th post

I took a class this year and our year end project was an altered book with the theme of "Threads". We did a cover and a page in our own book and then did pages for each other's books. I haven't received my copy back yet, with everyone else pages, but will get it soon when the class starts up again. Here are some pages that I did using woven paper, stitching, glue, images, ink and ribbon.

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looking at trees

I had a discussion with my brother this week about colors of trees and he see's grey like I do. Hubby see's reds and orange and green and Jon and I were astounded as I always am about the different ways to see. Switchsky has said to press your nose against a tree and see the colors that way, but lately I have to put my glasses on to do that.

Anyway, I was playing with a photograph that I took when It was snowing out and the trees were very dark.

A bit of color enhancement and it want to this.

Now I can see the colors, now perhaps I'll try to draw them.

So much has been going on...

We did do this view on Friday night, after all the family fuss, just the three of us sat on the beach, wrapped in towels and watched the sun go down. Always one of the highlights of a trip to Sarasota

Since before Christmas things at the Stella Household have been topsy turvey. We were in Florida for the holidaies, where I spent most of my time cleaning and paying bills, but had fun anyway. Then I came home alone for 9 days to absolutely freezing weather (4 and 5 degrees Celsius) and then we'd have a day of 50 degrees. The snow melted and froze and melted again. I wore down coats and then plain jackets.

Last Wednesday night I flew back down to Tampa, got picked up and had dinner with Tony (what a treat) and then on Thursday morning - I went out to breakfast to meet Deb. All of you who have been reading about my obsessions know I was nervous - but very happy to have the opportunity to meet this special person. So yes, I did fly out of the house a tad late, drove like a nut, did a two wheeler into the parking space and started towards the cafe. And yes, there was Deb, wiggling in her seat with excitement and waving. We had a big hug, and alot of "you looked just like I expected, and sat down with some coffee.

Here's the nice part. By blogging a bit about our lives, we get a glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of that person. They choose what to blog about, and what persona to show to the world. As would be expected, there is so much more to learn about a new friend, and we just jumped in, asking about things we knew about and talking about the snakes, and my dad's birthday along with so many other things that have nothing to do about blogging or art, or on line etc. Anyway, we sat there for about two hours, gabbing and finally we both had to take off to our respective responsibilities. But oh yes, this was a treat. Deb is a total love, honest, straight forward and kind. I really look forward to continue blogging with her and meeting up again someday.

And my next in person visit will be with FY - and I expect that will be as wonderful.

I was going to take pictures of Deb and I but just didn't get around to it and it was OK. Here is my memory drawing of Deb, in person she is of course, much more animated and smiley.

Waking up in the middle of the night

Sometimes whenI wake up in the middle of the night all of my personal information has fled and for a few seconds I am absolutly floating in the unknown. It's not a panicky feeling at all; I have no anxiety about not knowing who I am, where I am and why I am there. There is no worry about getting up for work, worrying about what time it is or what day it is. Of course it all comes crashing back within a few moments, but for those few seconds - I feel totally free.

An award from a friend

Kerstin gave me an award today which actually tops off the end to a great day. And it was a Monday which makes the fact that it was a great day a big surprise.

Kerstin is an amazing person, someday we'll have to meet. She constantly amazes me with her quest for the odd and unusual, her finding of great ideas and projects on the web, her love for sort of sideways movies. Amazing woman, thanks Kerstin - I enjoy our projects together and love watching us both grow in creativity, talent and art passion. I will be passing on this award to 10 blogs...but not tonight. Tonight is one of the last nights I have the house to myself and I am going to lose myself in a goopy movies and draw pictures and enjoy.

I have two more days at work, then down to Florida and am going to meet up with Deb for a cup of coffee or something like that, as we will both be in Sarasota. I'm so anxious to meet Deb, and nervous as I usually am about meeting new people. (I have to guard against calling up people before I meet them to pretend that I have just developed a plague that they shouldn't catch so let's cancel our meeting ...OK? ) What if we have nothing to say to each other (yeah right...with my mouth?) or if we hate each other on site...or if we wish we could spend more time together...or....or....or. My imagination runs wild. No fear tho' I am not missing the chance to meet Deb - she has become a very special blogging friend and it's going to be great to meet the person. But should we wear red roses in our lapels so that we know each other? or pink hats? I'm sure we'll find each other somehow.

Photo opportunity don't you think? (But what if my picture comes out bad, or Deb thinks I'm ugly or fat or boring or,or, or

Copying

I find that I see drawings and photo's better than I do real life, perhaps it's the ability to study and focus. Real life drawing makes me nervous, and I can't yet do anything that looks like a human figure. So in practice, I am starting to copy other artists - which I understand is a time honored method of learning.

This is a copy from a colored pencil instruction booklet - not even 0.1% as good as what is in the book but a fair start when I looked at it the next day (it was that art fairy from Casey's blog!). (Original drawing by M. Ferron)

I took the kids to see National Treasure today and we had a great time. First had to buy one of the twins some long sleeved button down shirts and an actual tie, he needs them for school. He looks so handsome and grown up in that shirt and tie, I nearly cried. The other kid didn't want anything so we just roamed Target until it was time to go to the movie. Then came home to pizza and talk until it was time for them to leave. What was interesting was hearing these two 15 year olds talking about the upcoming election and who they like. As they put it, they like Obama because the people from Obama's camp who came and gave the talk at their school were the coolest of all the speakers. And the most in touch. The didn't like the woman who spoke for Mitt Romney...because all she talked about was herself and because she cursed. I was shocked hearing that they were shocked about the cursing but I guess they're being brought up right. ( and as I have no small hand in this upbringing I get to feel proud also). As usual after a day with them, I feel uplifted, happy and somewhat tired...but happy is the front most feeling.

I also bought a Koala Sewing cabinet this weekend and had it in the back of my car - where it would have stayed unless the kids came over with their dad and helped me bring it down to the basement. It's a beauty, with a fold out top, and casters and a large fold up back for quilts. Hurray!!! My sewing machine even goes onto this little airlift dumbwaiter thing. Awesome. Now I can finish the quilts for my boys.

Illustration Friday Night - January 5th

Topic: How I eventually came to know nothing at all.

Difficult one I think. My initial thought was books, then I picked one up and started to draw. That's it. Done. Post.

Religion is always controversial, if not alternative. It can fall under a number of acceptable IFN concepts such as :

Politically incorrect, simple, sacrilegious, literate, existential, brooding and candid.

ha HA - let's see if anyone comments about kitties on this post.

Circles - January 5th

I don't know what defines a Mandala but started drawing some circles this week just to play with colors and markers. It is very soothing to work within a circle, and I'm going to investigate this more - Teri has a Mandala site that is wonderful. My are all DVD sized - that' s what was to hand.

First one above and then scanned in and color enhanced. I love the fact that you can adjust colors to see what they look like when changed. Sometimes it's a bad feature, sometimes it fun to play with a different color scheme without going back and redoing everything. Cheating? maybe - what do you think?

It's not meant to be a "7" in the circle about, it's just the way it turned out. But since it supposed to be a lucky number, maybe I'll take it as a sign.

Home Alone !

Hubby is still down in warmer climes so I have the house to myself. It's too quiet and I miss the feeling of being looked after. I'm really not so spoiled, but when he is not here I have to think about snow on the bulkhead door, and locking doors at night, closing windows etc. I know I sound spoiled, but I think that after so many years together you simply fall into "favorite" tasks and take ownership of those. He is better off than I since I travel so much he is much more used to being on his own. We got a new coffeepot recently, and I didn't even know how to use it (yes, I figured it out!)

So...since I have the house to myself I am going to do some things that are impossible when we are both home. I am going to continue to CUT things out of my closets, cubby holes, hidey places, attics. Unused and battered suitcases will be going to Goodwill. Along with out of style and non-fitting jeans and shirts. MAYBE I'll get onto the photographs but I'm not sure about that one, that's a task that is daunting and practically overwhelming. What I like and hate about tasks like these are the starting...and the total mess in between...but I like the resorting and putting things back all organized. Then I can start throwing things into the closets again and 5 years later will sort it all out again. Don't even ask why I don't keep it organized in between. I just don't. It's a luxury to me to just Throw a suitcase into the attic and walk away. Hey, if that's where I get my thrills...then let me be!

I drew that scissor down at Mom's house. I draw lightly and tentatively with pencil and then when I scan it in, it's too light to see. So I have to darken it and then all of the squiggles and drawings on the other side of the paper show thru. I guess I have two options - live with the darkened version or draw more emphatically with pencil. I'll try the emphatic approach first.

IF - 100% - January 4th, 2008

If you win this game, you get 100%....but of what?

Sorry for the repeat post, I should have saved this picture for IF - but didn't know it would be applicable.

Fruit - December 2007

Since I am trying to eat more healthy fruit, I figure that I should also draw it. Heres a quick study of a pear, quick because I was hungry.

And also 3 pears and a squash. I didn't eat these.

Blogger Game - January 1st

This idea came to me on the plane home tonight but I couldn't do anything about it cause I needed markers. So came right home, toasted up a bagel and started the New Blogger Game. Just for fun.

A great way to start the new year - with a story

Deb just did a nice post about her excitement about chickens and this made me want to post my chicken story.

Let me set the scene. Many years ago we bought our first house - and had to go WAY out into what was then the country to be able to afford a house. And since we were in the country we bought an antique house, surrounded by apple orchards, with our closest neighbor about 1/4 mile away. Now picture a girl from NYC moving to rural Massachusetts, I was such a rube. The first night we moved in I went to take my dog for a walk, went to the end of the driveway and thought "what now - there are no sidewalks?". Poor Parker got walked in the yard only that night.
Anyway, our wonderful neighbors across the street had a huge old house and barn and they kept sheep and chickens. We would trade pet sitting and one year they went away and I got to take care of the sheep and the chickens - and to keep the eggs if I wanted them.
I came home from work the first night and ALL the chickens had gotten out of their coop somehow and were all clustered around the front barn doors, clucking and scratching, and making a general racket. Mr. Rooster was hiding somewhere, not protecting his girls at all. I had NO idea how to get them back into the barn. I opened the doors but they couldn't figure out how to get thru the doors and back into their little space. I wouldn't touch them - I thought they would bite. So, since I was wearing a red coat, which was long and beautiful and by a famous designer - I held open the flaps of the coat, and scrunched down and HERDED the damn chickens back into their coop. My husband was across the street HYSTERICAL with laughter. But he didn't offer to help, cause he was scared of them also. But it worked, they all moseyed back into the barn and into their section.
I didn't take the eggs, I was so scared that the chickens would bite me and fly at me, and peck my eyes out that I just left the eggs as they were. My neighbor collected them when she got home, and brought them over.
So that's my chicken story. I think that all chickens in the world share about 2 or 3 brain cells and just shuffle them around. I know that there are alot of chicken lovers out there who might take offence, maybe these were specially dopey chickens, but every time I took care of those animals I made sure they were well locked up and would never get out again. And I still never collected the eggs.