Painting and Photography

Blue Jay Bathing by Charley Harper, famous American Modernist
from Cincinnati (born and raised in West Virginia.)

Charley Harper once remarked, "...herein lies the lure of painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe."  

I think this is also one of the lures of photography, and why I enjoy my brother's photos so much. Humboldt in Digital

Stellars Jay by Dave, famous Humboldt in Digital photographer

In art and photography one's attention is drawn to something that might otherwise have remained unseen.

Rain

Sure, there are some negative aspects to our seemingly endless rain.  For example webbed feet are probably going to be an impediment the next time I try to wear flip-flops.  In the meantime the runoff seems to have entered our municipal water supply.  Thus every shampoo ends with a rainwater rinse and one may luxuriate in extra soft hair without the application of special hair products.  You may call me Fluffy, at least until our water turns hard again.  

Rain and wind, rain and wind...
http://www.weather.gov

A Nice Pot of Pintos

Something else that just can't be beat.

 Link to recipe for overnight soak or short soak method

Put to soak the night before.

Rinsed and ready to cook the next day.

"Good belly fodder!"

Once they have cooked up nice and tender and creamy-textured you can doctor them with some salt & pepper, maybe chili powder & a little cumin... or maybe just a little El Pato Salsa de Chile Fresco.  Olé!  Serve them with carrot sticks & a slice of fresh bread to soak up the juice.  Just like lunch every Friday at our old elementary school. 

This pot is from a two-pound bag of Western Family pintos I had in my pantry & in the whole two pounds of beans I found NO pebbles.   It made me a little nervous because over the years I've sorted through a lot of beans & there are always one or two sneaky little bean-shaped stones in a bag.  I'm not going to stop looking for them, but this was a pleasant surprise!

Redwoods

There's simply nothin' else like 'em.  

Alaska

Remembering the good parts of even the most difficult times.

Standing on the ocean, yep!
Does this person look comfortable?

Our de Havilland Twin Otter

The other pilot, Dan, and one of our mechanics
It is wonderful to have a mechanic along when one flies in Alaska.

A beautiful sight after a long flight over open water and sea ice.

Ostensible Kinfolk

On a visit to British Columbia I discovered this photograph of our family's long lost kinswoman  "Unfortunate Incident Jane."  She was a frontierswoman who aimed to model her bad behaviour on that of her American counterpart, Calamity Jane.  

Unfortunately, Unfortunate Incident Jane was handicapped by the fact she was Canadian and therefore constitutionally was obliged to be unfailingly polite. 

Japanese Anemones

Pretty and fun to say! 

Also reliable and thrive on neglect.

Good Guys

I think Paladin was the "goodest" of the good guys in the old westerns.  Matt Dillon, Gil Favor and Rowdy Yates, Ben Cartwright and his boys, Reese Bennet and the other Texas Rangers all were wonderful heroes;  but of them all Paladin was my favorite and still is.  How many cowboys in the heat of battle would shout to their enemy, "Use your brain!"  I'm pretty sure only Mr. Paladin would be so audacious.  

Have Gun Will Travel is on dvd now.  The writing is really good and the battle between good and evil never goes out of style.   One of my favorite activities is to spend a quiet evening knitting in the company of the ultimate good guy, a man called Paladin.  

The best dog in the world

Everybody knows their own dog is the best one in the world, and I am no different.  Chris had the softest fur on his ears, and he was so smart he taught himself new tricks.  For a little while I think he thought he was a cat, because he would climb the apricot tree in our front yard just like the other cats did.  Imagine the cats' surprise the first time Chrissy followed them up that tree!  Completely on his own initiative Chris would fetch and sit up.  One memorable night he treed a skunk, called for reinforcements, and stood pointing in the classic pose of all good hunting dogs.  He even sometimes would stop to open the newspaper and read a bit before he brought it to the house. 

The dismount is always the trickiest part.

The perfect sleeping position, in case anybody might
want to rub his tummy in passing. 

The yellow cat, Termite, had an identity crisis also;
he acted like a dog in a lot of ways.  Mother named him
Termite because she declared he was the most
useless thing she'd ever seen.

For a short time Chris thought he might be a pansy.

Flowers

Who can guess whose garden, where, and maybe even when?  

It is David and Frieda's beautiful garden, of course!

Just "some of my flowers" Frieda wrote.  

I can't be sure of the date, but I think it was maybe 1995?

Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; 

they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.   --Luther Burbank 

Isn't it nice to know the famous American botanist--who gave us the July Elberta peach, the Santa Rosa plum, and the Russet Burbank potato, the most widely cultivated potato in the United States--also gave us the Shasta Daisy?  Yep!  

His house, greenhouse, and garden in Santa Rosa, California are now a city park open daily to the public, free of charge.  (Located at the intersection of  Santa Rosa Avenue and Sonoma Avenue, next time you are passing through.)  I know this from reading a little WIkipedia article of course! 

Dancing

Yvonne sent me this link.  You will be happy if you follow it.
Happy People Dancing on Planet Earth

The Blackberry Jam Nebula

I took this picture, but every time I glimpse it

 I think it is a NASA shot of a nebula.

Really it is just blackberry jam at the foamy stage.

Maybe the universe is a big pot of blackberry jam, and the planets are all just tiny seeds. And we earthlings are living in a tiny bubble of atmosphere!  LOL  Time for my morning coffee.

See what I mean?  This is a NASA picture of the Bubble Nebula
the molecular cloud looks a lot like jam to me although a bit less dense.

Spidery time of year

I love this time of year when the chrysanthemums are out.

But I just hate this time of year when the spiders get rowdy.  People taking their daily paths can be seen frantically waving their arms around their heads to get the webs out of their faces.  

Lake Wobegon revisited

Good looking men

The first time I heard Garrison Keillor report the news from Lake Wobegon some of his stories sounded strangely familiar.  Looking through old photo albums has made the reason clear:  in our family as in Lake Wobegon "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."  

Strong women

We hail from a different "little town that time forgot," yet I'm certain the decades can't have improved it since we moved away.  

Above average children

Main Street

Family Photos

I'm  building a new page of family photos.  
(See the list of pages near the top on the right?) 

I love our snapshots and the people in them!

Grandad on his 90th birthday
March 1978

A Not So Humble Prayer

Years ago I copied this prayer onto a piece of paper and left it in my guitar case.  I'm always surprised when I find it again, a friendly reminder from my former self.  I wish I could remember the original source of it. 


Lord, keep me from the habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.

Release me from the craving to straighten out everybody’s affairs.

Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details—give me wings to get to the point.

I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of other’s pains.  Help me to endure with patience, but seal my lips on my own aches and pains.

Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet;  I do not want to be a saint—some of them are so hard to live with.

Make me thoughtful, but not moody;  helpful, but not bossy.  With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all—but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end.

Rescuing Photos from sticky album pages

Last night I managed to remove an 8x10 photo (the shiny red airplane in the photo below) from one of those sticky photo album pages from the '70s.  I used warm air from my hair dryer and the thinnest ruler I own to keep from losing ground once I'd gained it.  A key seems to be gently tugging the photo in  directions sort of parallel to the page rather than straight up.  Also to avoid curling the edges, use only as much heat as it takes, but let the air blow under the edges of the photo as you give it little tugs.  Easy does it.   

Amazing, really, how strong that old glue can be toward the middle of the photos where it has dried out surprisingly little.  It's a fiddly business peeling the photos off.  My best tip of all?  Have a new album ready and put the photos right back on a new page just as soon as you have scanned them--if that is your objective.  If you leave the photos loose you will regret it, don't ask how I know! 

Shiny Red Airplane

This pretty plane belonged to one of the flight instructors at the airport in Tallahassee, Florida.  On the day we took this photo I had just completed my first solo flight NOT in the shiny red tail-dragger, but in a nice safe Cessna. 

Old Photographs

I have had photos stuck in some old albums with glue dots on the pages and clear plastic over the photos.  I'd like to remove them because parts of the pages have turned brown and ugly, but sometimes that old glue just won't let go even though it might be all dried out someplace else on the page.  

In desperation I just tried using warm air from my hair dryer to lift a photo off a page and it seems to work!  The photo wanted to curl but I quickly flattened it out under the lid of my scanner.  I'll be trying again after supper tonight, but in the meanwhile, here is a picture from my old field party days.  

John, Hilda and Shorty, and Marcella

Hilda is the woman who gave me the recipe for Pig Pickin' cake and other recipes as well.  Shorty's real name was Lloyd Clinton, but he preferred for us to call him Shorty.  

Interesting Weather

Just a little while ago I noticed some changes in the sky.  In the time it took for me to come inside and finish my supper the sunshine has disappeared altogether over my house. 

A new novel from Louise Penny

Louise Penny

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries
Set in Quebec, in the village of Three Pines and elsewhere

Her latest novel The Beautiful Mystery will be published on August 28th.  

I think the only person who could adequately express my admiration for Louise Penny's writing might be the author herself.  Her characters and plots are rich and multi-layered, and although the subject is murder there is always a little gentle humor to be enjoyed.  Also there are frequently some well-loved animals around, be they ducks or dogs.  One always returns refreshed from reading one of Louise Penny's novels.  

Links: LOUISE PENNY'S BEAUTIFUL WEBSITE
        FRENCH LANGUAGE PAGE ON LOUISE PENNY'S WEBSITE
        Amazon's Louise Penny Page

Garden Nurseries

I just added some "quilt show" pictures of flowers and things from Alden Lane Nursery to my Gardens page.  The beautiful colors including all the shades of green inspire the quilter in me as well as the gardener.

Navigation Change

I just switched my old tabs at the top over to links at the side, near the top.  Also added a page of links to other places.

Pig Pickin' Cake redux

I made one of these this week to share with my knitting class in honor of our teacher's having paid off her home mortgage.   

I was a little out of practice, and relearned a few lessons.  I'll add some notes to the recipe, but in essence what I learned is that without the instant pudding mix to stabilize it CoolWhip will melt and get runny at room temperature.  Since I took the CoolWhip out of the freezer immediately before I mixed in the pineapple/pudding mixture, I had a few bits that didn't get mixed in very well.  My sister suggests moving the CoolWhip from the freezer to the fridge the night before, and also suggests using the bigger box of instant pudding mix instead of the small one the recipe calls for.  

Regarding the name "Pig Picking Cake", it turns out in the South a barbecue is sometimes called a pig pickin'.  This would be a good dessert to take to a barbecue because the Cool Whip won't spoil when whipped cream might.  

Pig Pickin' Cake

I just added Pig Pickin' Cake to my recipe page.  

I was given the recipe by Hilda, the wife of one of the men I worked with on a hydrographic field party.  Hilda and Shorty lived in a small trailer they towed to each new survey location.  Hilda cooked up a storm in the trailer's tiny kitchen and enjoyed swapping recipes.  

We never figured out the name of this cake except it is so delicious it might have caused the fifth little piggie to cry, "Oui! Oui! Oui!" all the way home!  

Loving Quilt Shows

LINK:  Quilt Shows
 I am making a new blog for photos from quilt shows.  
Update: Changed to a page for links to quilt shows and a few photos from ones I have attended, starting with  
Quilting in the Garden, Livermore, California, 2008: 

(Click on a picture to see photos displayed at actual size, 

navigate with arrow keys in the screen that opens.) 

Ripening berries

The blackberries seem particularly juicy this year

probably a result of Washington's very rainy winter. 

Today only, August 8, 2012

Free e-book at Amazon and B&N today   

UPDATE:  the everyday price for this e-book on Amazon is $4.61

WINNING THE CLUTTER WAR - FREE EBOOK OFFER

The publisher of THE ORGANIZER LADY®   books, Revell Publishers, is once again offering a one-day  free download of the M.A. flagship book, Winning the Clutter War by Sandra Felton.

The ebook will be offered free on August 8, 2012 midnight to midnight primarily on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

You can link to these two places, basically the book's page on Amazon and B&N:

AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/Winning-the-Clutter-War-ebook/dp/B0042P563A/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1343852959&sr=1-1&keywords=winning+the+clutter

BARNES & NOBLE
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/winning-the-clutter-war-sandra-felton/1100377775?ean=9781441213952&itm=1&usri=winning+the+clutter

The ebook is free for the Kindle today.  It's not my very favorite of Sandra Felton's books but it is free! :-) I wish they would do this with The Messies Manual, The Procrastinator's Guide to Good Housekeeping.  Our library's copy of that book is falling apart.

Sandra Felton as I know her from her books and her website is a genuinely nice person and helpful too.  Her books about housekeeping are aimed at procrastinators and "messies" and are full of encouragement and useful advice.     

Bhutan, a small country with a happiness policy

I watched this documentary film on PBS some time ago.  The country of Bhutan and its people are beautiful, and their government has an official policy of promoting the people's happiness.  If you would like a nice bit of hopefulness this would be a good film to watch.

Links:  Bhutan a Kingdom of Happiness

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

A new Ewan McGregor movie always makes me happy.  Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is new to me, although evidently it was released in September 2011.  At this point it is available on dvd.     

There's no salmon fishing in Yemen, tourist board warns

The Yemen tourist board has warned would-be British holidaymakers that it does not have a salmon fishing industry, after a surge of interest due to Ewan McGregor's new film.

6:06PM BST 02 May 2012

The Yemen Tourism Promotion Board said they had been "inundated" with requests about the Western Asian country following the cinema release of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.

Benjamin Carey, Yemen Tourism's UK spokesman said today : "There's been a real surge in visitors to our website since the film. There's been thousands of visits to our website.

"Salmon fishing isn't actually that popular in Yemen, but there are excellent sea fishing opportunities in the country.

"Also, unfortunately the EU is currently advising against travel to Yemen, which we think is excessive.

"Some places are very hospitable but I wouldn't advise people to go to certain places at this time."

Blackberry Jam

Early August is time to start picking blackberries and making jam.  Blackberry jam makes me happy when I make it and when I share it and when I eat it on almost anything:  peanut butter sandwiches, fresh hot scones (or cold leftover scones!), waffles at my sister's house, hotcakes at my brother' house, vanilla ice cream, ... or plain jam on a spoon.  Mm!  

Yvonne's recipe for blackberry jam is on the recipe page.

My recipe for scones is posted on the recipe page too.