Alaskan Cruise... and teddy bears

Squiggles, Grand daughter's squirrel

I'm beginning to think about this Alaskan Cruise coming up in April. If any of you have experience with this particular type of vacation, I would definitely appreciate any input... as to what to bring, things to consider, etc.

DH and the boys will be home to take care of the cats.  My friend and I will fly to Seattle, take a train to Vancouver - where we will have one day to visit before the Carnival Cruise Ship sails.  Yes, it is Carnival Cruise Lines.  Does that make me nervous... a little?

Things I'm concerned about:

1. The cold.
2. Seasickness
3. Incident at sea

Things I'm excited about:

1. Seeing Vancouver
2. Sharing my friend's 'dream trip'.

Teddy bear (for Dee to see)

Recently Dee at One Foot Out of the Box posted a blog about having a teddy bear.  I commented that I had one too. DH gave it to me when we were dating in college at LSU Baton Rouge.... and it's sat in our bedroom for 45 years now. Does Teddy look that old?  (He doesn't, but we do... oh well)  He is great for cuddling, but I find that the cats have taken over in the comforting department. They are great for that... and seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to knowing when comfort is needed.

Have to put this *teatime* picture up here.  I found it on another website just recently and hope she won't mind my sharing it.  It was just too cute...

found at Deb's blog

an affinity for turtles...

daughter's front yard

daughter's front pond

one of grand daughter's baby Red Sliders in pond

We have an affinity for turtles.  I think lots of people do.  But it seems that each generation (if they have the same affinity/attraction) goes a step further.  I loved horses (rode but never owned one), my daughter got to own 2 as a child, and now my grand daughter has 3.  See where I'm going here? Now I always liked turtles and we have several box turtles that make our yard (which goes down to a creek) their home . Growing up, my daughter was forever rescuing turtles and tortoises from the roads and bringing them home to deposit in the creek.  Now my grand daughter owns several; 2 African Sulcatas, 1 Russian, 1 Red Footed, and 3 baby Red Sliders. She studies what kind of environment and diet each needs and provides special habitats for each.   See?... a step further.

Don't ask me why this subject became my post today because I really couldn't tell you. Sometimes I must refer to by mind as my *monkey mind*.... as  it keeps jumping around to unrelated subjects. 

A while back I said that I was going to post some of my old poems, stories, sketches, whatever, daily. Well, obviously (and fortuitously for you) I haven't done that.  They say that life is what happens to us when we're planning something else... well, apparently that's true. I get caught up with 'other things' and forget said plans. But that's OK.  Hopefully we'll have lots of time together. I'll get around to it eventually.

here's one page out of one of my sketchbooks...

new recipes, favorite books, and playing with pottery...

Ingredients for Chicken Alfredo

This weekend I decided to try the Chicken Alfredo recipe from Marguerite's Cajun Delights at www.cajundelights.blogspot.com . She has so many wonderful Cajun recipes that are so similar to the food I grew up with in New Orleans that I love just looking at her pictures and listening to the music.  But this recipe was not something my mama made and it sounded wonderful, so I gave it a try.  Easy - yes! Delicious - yes! It was a big hit with DH and the boys.  Sorry that I didn't think to take a picture of the finished product.

a handy dandy little book to have...

And this book is one of the best purchases I ever made.  You can look up almost anything in this little gem. When you come across something in a recipe that you've never heard of.... it's here! It will tell you what it is (how to pronounce it), where it originated, and how it's used. The inner page says, "more than 6,700 A-Z entries describe foods,cooking techniques, herbs, spices, desserts, wines, and the ingredients for pleasurable dining."  Of course with the Internet, you can probably look it up online these days... but I still love this book!

playing around...

Lastly I'm posting the end result of me playing around with clay the other night while watching TV. I suddenly felt the urge to make something and was mad at myself for not bringing home my clay tools.  Having left them in my locker at the studio, all I had available was a kitchen knife and a small bit of  clay in the garage. But despite being a little rough around the edges, I still think he's kinda cute.  As for our current chess game project, I have completed the pieces, underglazed the bases, and am in the process of firing them to bisque. After that I hope to stain them lightly with blackbird stain and refire. This week I have to decide the best way to approach the 'chess board' itself.

 







Daughter's new chicken coop

 New baby Cochin Chicks

An image of what a grown Cochin Chicken will look like... (colors vary)

One of the chickens (or possibly rooster?) they have now...

Another chicken (possibly rooster?) that they have now...












They already have dogs, cats, horses, and turtles/tortoises...   This 'chicken thing' is new.  Hopefully it will work out well.  I like chickens!

life on the homefront...

Jack 

As I sit here in my computer room drinking my Sunday morning coffee, I'm thinking about making chocolate chip pancakes for our 5 and 14 year old grandsons this morning. The 5 year old is busy upstairs playing some computer game with his dad or brother... not sure which... but he's apparently enjoying it as his little voice keeps flowing down the stairs full of laughter and giggles. Sunday mornings are the only times we eat a big breakfast around here... usually eggs, grits, biscuits, and bacon or pancakes/waffles and scrambled eggs.  I used to make scones a lot (lavender or chocolate chip pecan), but haven't done this in a while... hmm-mm, maybe next Sunday.

Reading these blogs give us a glimpse into other people's lives... which on a personal level... may not seem so interesting to the average reader.  But through them I realize how similar and how different we all are. It amazes me when I read about someone who is actually interested in so many of the same things I am, people who have the same concerns, the same fears, the same joys.  It's great to share a little bit of their life on occasion.  And some lives are so-oo different. And I love reading those too! I especially like reading the blogs of those who live in other countries, those who are dedicated to being self-sufficient, artists, culinary amateurs and experts, nature lovers, cat lovers, etc. It's terrific! We have the world at our fingertips. How can anyone ever be bored?

This is a glimpse through our back gate going over into the creek and flood plane. It's the area where most of our wildlife comes from...

This is Jack laying on our kitchen counter watching me cook...

Jack and Tux standing guard on the stairs...

Ghost playing on the kitchen floor with her mouse...

19 year old Molly playing with a stick of catnip on our bed.

                  Our house in snow...

Our backdoor visitors...

19 year old Rose sunning herself in the front window...              

 A custard pie with my pie bird (just for show)

         Some of my favorite cups...

A chicken pot pie (with recipe in background)

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!    : )

books...

One of my favorite dragon books

As you can see, I really like children's books... especially some of the illustrations. My favorite type of illustration is done in watercolor... and not being an art major, I don't know what the technique is called.  But it's a very pale fluidy process (and sometimes it's outlined in ink).  I own some books that use this technique ("city dog, country frog") is one.

And I've seen this technique used in other books, art, and even on a blogsite. Nora McPhail (www.noramacphail.blogspot.com) seems to use it. She does some wonderful watercolors.  My favorites are the people scenes and there's one of a bike in the snow outside the library...

This is another of my favorites. It's called "The Library" and it's about someone who loves and collects books.  I'm going to show you a few pages of the illustrations.  I absolutely love them. You can see the details in the pages better if you click on them to make them larger...

and then there's "The Money Tree" same author, same Illustrator

Isn't this wonderful?  

Sorry to go on and on, but I just love these pictures.  I try to use this technique when I watercolor... which isn't very often (it's only when the muse comes visiting).  

Here's a few of my 'attempts':  First two are just sketches I made of pages from books...

and some random watercolors :

done on a silent retreat...

copying an illustration in a children's book...

Enough of this. Hope I haven't bored you.  

Have a great weekend!

just add chocolate...

getting ready to bake peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

Yesterday I was in the mood to bake cookies and since my 14 year old grandson  (not to mention  son and DH) loves chocolate chip cookies, I thought I would give it a go and have some ready when he came home from school.  I also made home-made cheese burgers with lots of fixings, buns, and my special  HM potato salad.  Now my potato salad is probably not special... but I'm one of those people who doesn't care for most potato salads and have always been a bit 'afraid' of it... since in the south potato salad in the hot sun can be a problem.  My mom warned me enough about eating it out that I almost never eat it period.  But I came across a recipe a while back that we all really love.  So-oo I occasionally make it for us.  If you're interested I found the recipe in Jan Karon's Cookbook (The Midford Series)... and tweaked it a bit.

These are my little pie birds.  The one in the center is not a real pie bird.  I got him at a pottery show in Gruene, Tx.  and he was too cute to resist.  Besides, I seldom use them as pie birds anyway.  They just sit on my Aga and make me happy.

It's only Monday and I'm tired...

chess pieces with first coat of under glaze on bases

OK, it's Monday... about 4:30 pm and I'm tired.  We had to have our 32 chess pieces ready by this morning's class. Most of us did. Some didn't. But I was impressed with some of the other students' results.  Now this is just the sculptured clay forms, nothing fired, nothing glazed, etc.  And we don't have the chess boards made yet. So even though this was a first deadline (and  critique), it's by no means the last. Since my pieces were finished, I started painting the bases with under glaze today. I'm doing the bases in two shades of green and the actual pieces will be shaded with blackbird stain... eventually.

Since I got home from the studio around 2, I've eaten lunch, watched "Good Neighbors' (which we recorded since it comes on at 11 pm here and I can't make it past 9 most nights) and "The Good Wife" which I also missed. Now I'm catching up on my blogs and making potato salad to go with baked ham and beans tonight.

I did see "Dalton Abbey" and have to say that I can't believe that Matthew is dead.  He is dead, isn't he? They wouldn't make it look like he's dead, but not be...    It just won't be the same without him in the show. But of course I'll continue to watch. I'm not a big TV fan, but this is definitely one of my favorites.

Time is up for blogging today. I didn't post one of my old stories, but here is a poem I wrote while on retreat a few years back.  It's called : In the Company of Women.