Esmerelda get's the Royal Treatment

Friday night Homemade Pizza - unfortunately with anchovies, but still...

And Sunday morning Coffee...


This treatment makes up for alot....

Saturday - hot, humid day

DH played raquetball last night even tho he was tired, and came home with a pulled hamstring or something like that. He's sitting on ice, and is cranky and sore. I do feel sorry for him, it really must hurt. But....

We go on vacation in just over two weeks. If he can't go (for some reason) because he has to rest this darn muscle I'm going to have a complete fit, and draw nasty pictures of him. Maybe picking his nose when he thinks I'm not watching. Or watching TV, drooling and napping.

or something equally embarrassing.

Illustration Friday - Memories

It's Emerelda again, dreaming of what was...

Funny story and a good friend!

A friend of our has another friend who has an annual cookout and he tries to make the theme something relevant to the summer news, or events. So this year (he, the second friend is Jewish) he is hosting the Oy-lympics!

So Patrick emailed a reply sentence to me and asked me to translate to "Hebrew" and of course I knew he meant Yiddish. I tried to translate his sentence via on line translation service but got a very choppy looking translation.

So, I asked Kerstin, who asked her husband, who asked someone at the temple how to translate this sentence (isn't this amazing!) Benjamin, Kerstin's sweet husband, didn't know the word for cookout, so he substituted "picnic". The guy at the temple answered :
" Picknick, wos soll des seyn? Man muss doch wissen, wo und wieso.
Wer geht denn einfach so mit dem Essen arois?”
(Picknick? What´s that? You have to know when and where. Who goes outside with their food?)

That is SO exactly what my grandfather would have said that I nearly fell off my chair with laughing! We never had picnics in our house, only proper food at the proper table!

But he also was nice enough to translate the sentence for me to send to Patrick.

“ Mir kennen efsher nisht kimmen oif de zusammentreff/simche. Mir wern dir shicken a brief.”
(We may not come to the get-together/meeting/simche. We will send you a letter/notice.)

Kerstin and Benjamin - thank you! That absolutely made my day! It is amazing to me that from here in New England, I can email a friend in Germany who can find a way to translate something into Yiddish for me, and I can get that translation back to my friend Pat within one day.

I love my blogger friends!

Animal Wednesday - Tomato Hookworm and the Poison Ivy Factory

After doing much bike-riding and kayaking this summer, I am convinced that all Poison Ivy is NOT real - and that somewhere there must be a bunch of gleeful gnomes manufacturing fake Poison Ivy.  I mean really, there is SO much of this stuff around - it can't all be real.  So I imagined a little factory of bugs and gnomes and elves, just manufacturing this stuff in vast quantities and selling it to other bugs and woodland animals who want peace and quiet around their homes. 

This tomato hornworm is coming over with an order for a new batch of PI.  He doesn't look particularly hungry does he, but he does want some protection around "his" garden to ensure quiet, uninterrupted munching. 

Happy Animal Wednesday to you all

Barber of Seville and the Road Runner

I crack myself up sometimes. Driving into work today I was listening to my favorite classical station (as opposed to my favorite country station, or oldies) and this tune came on.

Now I come from a family of musically inclined people. Mom was an opera singer; Dad’s mom was a concert pianist. Dad had an uncle who conducted at the Met (guest conductor, and he got killed by a falling bell in Mexico, but that’s another story). Mom used to sing her arias after we went to bed; opera is my evening sing-song. I went to see Leonard Bernstein conduct many many times as a kid at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I sing in a chorus. I used to play piano and flute. Most of us in the family have perfect pitch.

You’d think I was truly cultured, wouldn’t you.

So why…when I hear this music…do I immediately think of Bugs Bunny and Saturday morning cartoons????

A Peaceful Night

Last night was unexpectedly peaceful. We were going to a condo meeting, for the space out at the airport. (our hanger for our tiny plane - and actually my "country" house - I'll explain later) Anyway, I was hoping to meet the other condo owners and perhaps their spousal units also and have a good time. As we drove up to the large hanger where the meeting was being held, I could see immediately that this was an old boys network and that I wasn't going to have a good time AT ALL. So, luckily I had all my traveling drawing equipment with me so I went to the hanger, opened the door and sat and drew....and drew....and drew! The meeting went on for four hours - I'm so glad that I wasn't there.

Tony was a bit frantic thinking that I was all alone in the hanger, perhaps stewing over being left alone - but on the contrary, I was having a lovely evening. Aside from being a bit hungry, I drew this fish...a new Animal Wednesday...three ATC's for a trade and doodled as shown below. I had no radio, no TV, no distractions aside from the airport birds (mostly plovers and swallows). I got to watch a beautiful sunset and enjoy the evening breeze with no mosquitoes. I was totally happy with my own company.

It's interesting to me how the blue section seems to come forward on this fish, which the green seems to recede. Is that because there is more black lines in the green section? Anyway, he's fishy and bubbly and I like him.

Just doodling - Hmmm....now that I look at it, it seems rather suggestive. Oh well... You can see the scan of the fish behind the doodle which was done on thinner paper.

I call the hanger my country home because I don't have a country house. Obviously one has to choose in life and we chose the airplane. No, not as expensive as a country house, but we still couldn't do both.

A Happy Tuesday to you all.

Note: after posting this I had a bit of "what a spoiled brat I must sound like - whining about an airplane instead of a second home". As I re-read it again, I give myself a bit of a break, no real whining seen. But it was interesting for me to review my own thoughts on large possessions such as houses, cars, airplanes, boats. DH and I are conservative to the point of practically hiding money in the mattress - and everything that we have is paid for (except the house, small mortgage there). We've worked so hard all these years to get these presents for ourselves - and we do enjoy them. I know how lucky we are, I really do count my blessings every day - that we are healthy and happy enough to be able to enjoy the things in our lives that we take pleasure in. Sure, we could buy a second home on the vineyard - and mortgage it up to the hilt. Lot's of our friends do that and they still sleep well at night. Me? I'd be looking for a night job to ensure that the bill collectors stay away from the door.
Enough justification.
Go to work mim - you need the money!!!!

New Project

I bought a book on embroidered boxes and had to give it a try.    I love this medium, it's funky and not precise, and there are threads hanging down but what fun this was.  It took me weeks to do, as I would only do it when I had some time.  I used scraps of fabric that I had in the house, and gold thread and some old gold beads and just freeform sewing. Despite the little fiddly bits, this was a very soothing project.  

Looks like a nice holder for a nieces birthday present doesn't it? 

Bike riding in the Summer

New England summers. You have to know them to appreciate them. We've had lots of rain this summer but the past few weeks have been sunny and warm, with a hint of cool in the evening. So we've been out trying to cram a summers' worth of play into a few weeks.

The past two weeks have been non-stop work and play..to the point of exhaustion! But in New England, you have to take advantage of the good weather when it decides to arrive, so biking and hiking and beach are on the list of must-do's every weekend.

Yesterday we left the house early and went to a guided hike around the Wachusett reservoir to visit old cellar holes. The reservoir was built in around 1900 and basically the state forced farmers to sell (at a very cheap price) their land and homes - some of which had been in the family for generations. Sad stories but old ones and the remaining cellar holes and odds and bits lying around are intriguing.

First thing we saw was this tomato hornworm - what a beautiful bug. I don't want him in my garden but he really was great to look at with his vibrant colors. None of the pictures I saw on the web showed this actual color guy with the stripes. But you can see the horn in the back. They turn into hummingbird moths - which are fascinating to watch.

I find that I take pictures of small items - as opposed to the large view. This rock wall crevice fascinated me - I have ideas about who is living inside. This piece of wall is from a barn cellar - which was made of massive stone blocks, an absolute masterpiece of engineering.

This is a view of one of the rock walls of the barn. Can't do it justice in a picture - it was amazing.

Indian pipe. Lovely and fragile and glowing in the sunlight.

The reservoir. This was about 30 feet from the back of the rock wall barn - and of course used to be a handy river to build your house near. Water the cows easily and all that. Now this reservoir waters all of Boston! Water comes from the Quabbin (another sad story, but for another time) into this reservoir and then to Boston where they proudly told us that is is Unfiltered! The water is only treated with ozone for killing bacteria - but I am going to see if ozone kills nasty parasites also, I'm thinking NO!


Another interesting fungus, I just love taking pictures of these fungi surprises.

After the walk/hike - we went bike riding in the Harvard forest. Here is the street in front of the forest. Nice and peaceful and quiet looking.

Here is one of the bike paths. You can't tell how steep it is, but believe me - it was steep and rocky and exhausting and exhilarating. My head was juggling around so hard that I could barely see straight. I got off and walked frequently, but loved the rocky twisty downhill runs. Fun, great exercise - but I crashed when I got home and didn't wake up till 6:00 am.

There are a number of trees that are turning colors, rogue trees we call them, but they know better than us that autumn is coming. I'm going on line to buy warm bike leggings. I'm starting to think about where to put my outside plants for the winter. We start to make mental adjustments even tho' we might have warm weather for another month or more.

Today I'm staying home! Home chores call, bills and such. Gardening projects. Perhaps it's the nesting instinct kicking in....

The complete Story

A Saga of love, loss, reconciliation



















I have been working on this incessantly; the idea started from some other drawings that I did and the fact that a close friend just reconciled with her husband. Hope you can stand the 20 pictures.

Animal Wednesday - Wierd Shark

I was at the beach this weekend and kept thinking about the shark that had been sited off the coast of Nantucket, I believe the scene of the terrifying movie "Jaws". So I went back and fount this guy just waiting to be posted!

It's been a very odd week for me, between traveling and trying to make the most of the nice weather (when it's not raining) I haven't really found time to blog, or really check out friends blogs. I feel a bit ungrounded when this happens - but hopefully I'll get to truely finish my laundry this week and can unpack totally and just enjoy.

HAW to all my friends out there,

A wonderful gift

My friend Kirstin sent me this amazing little book by Danny Gregory!  If you haven't seen it and love dogs...try to get this onto your Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever list.  It's a little treasure.  Below is one of my favorite drawings - seeing as how I love pugs.  But there are just wonderful, evocative drawings in this book - what talent! 

Thanks Kirstin - you made my day when this showed up right after ankle surgery.  I hadn't posted about it because I keep looking thru it and showing it to people who visit. 

And to anyone who hasn't visited K's blog - go ahead to see some amazing artwork from a very interesting, talented and slightly wild lady! 

Installment 2 - the adventures of Esmerelda

Maybe there is another path to follow.

August 14th - Thursday

Esmerelda was trapped as the witch 3 continued to cast spells all around her so that she could run away with 20.

PEI and a Purple Mushroom

I didn't take a lot of pictures on this trip, mostly due to the rain and grey skies. But here are a few that I can share. 

First  - the Inn that I stay at.  Actually the whole block is part of the inn. I've only stayed in the main house, but hear that the other buildings are wonderful also. 

My room had a wonderful big, king sized bed with fluffy soft bedding - and this was also in the main room. 

Nice entryway to the room, peaceful. 

Monday night I walked along the harbor - had ice cream for dinner. 

We went out one night to a "Lobstah Suppah" and this church was accross the street. 

And that's it for PEI pictures.   

Got home tonight and DH was bike riding. When he got home he brought me a present (to draw he says - I'm thinking "POISON - LIFE INSURANCE!!!!) Actually I thought it was kind of sweet that he would be biking thru the woods, see this obviously poisonous fungi and pick it to bring home for me to draw. 

And the underside. 

Amazing looking ain't it? Any idea what kind of purple haze mushroom this is?