Fall Festivals

I started writing this a few days ago, when I got home from the first fall Arts Festival. And then I probably fell asleep, since that is pretty much all I was good for the last few evenings. I am currently back in Stowe, getting set up for our second festival! The good times never end! But here is a bit about the first one...


We are right in the middle of the Fall Arts Festivals. The first was this past weekend, the Hildene Fall Arts Festival in Manchester, Vt. - the same place where the Southern Vermont festival was held in August.


I got a rough start on Thursday - setup day -, becoming ridiculously lost on my way to pick up cheese for the new Vermont Cheese, Beer, and Sausage Tent. After 45 minutes of back and forth and all around (in my defense, the construction worker I asked for directions sent in the completely wrong direction), I found the cheese and then had a lovely 2 hour drive to the festival grounds. Turns out the cheese selection was Bonne Bouche and Chevre. Stinky! It was a gorgeous trip, however, through the flaming red and gold Green Mountains.


By the time I got there, the rain and wind had also arrived and the temperature was cold cold cold! This general nastiness continued through Friday, but a surprising number of people braved the weather and came to the show. The die-hard Art Festival Patrons! We applaud you!



Saturday the wind was still around and the cold hadn't given up either, but we had loads of people! I worked the front gate, and man was it busy! When I finally took a break, I could hardly walk through the tents because there were so many people. It makes me so very happy that so many will come to an Arts Festival. And they come from a long ways away too - 2 or 3 hours often!



Sunday was quieter, but still busy. We ran out of show programs in the afternoon and some customers were annoyed, but what could we do? We printed several thousand copies! I guess that's just a sign of a successful show!



I headed out Sunday evening pretty much as soon as the gates closed. A benefit of being festival administration is I don't have to hang around for the cleanup. Instead I get to go to work in the office early the next morning, to get ready for the next show!


This festival certainly tired me out, but I also feel more on top of things than at the summer shows. I know how we work now - I have some experience - and when I answer questions they can actually be helpful answers instead of only pointing out someone else to ask.



The closing moments of the festival were graced with a fabulous rainbow that truly and honestly ended right in our parking lot. I was too tired to go collect the pot of gold.

New Studio

Here are a few photos of my new studio/office. Its small, and somewhat cramped (especially right now because there are still more art supplied to find proper put-away places for), but it makes me so happy! I have a window that opens to the back yard and our neighbors' terrific sunflower garden, I have a closet, and best of all, the room has a proper ceiling* and is right off the dining room. It feels real.

It is a bit small, and it does double as a guest room, but I have put that to my advantage, using a stack of twin mattresses for a table. I think its a rather ingenious solution, thank you! They can be spread out for a makeshift guest bed (takes up the whole entire room!), and when they are stacked they are the perfect height!


And the walls still need that coat of white paint. That will feel good.


My cds are in here because they are too embarrassing to have out in public (mid 90's alt-rock hits anyone? Remember the Calling?)


And yes, I already need to tidy! That's what having a studio is all about though: it's totally being used. So much in the works already.


*I have read that ceiling height has been linked with creativity, with higher ceilings being more inspirational. At my old house, my studio was spread out over the upstairs, and I really do think the low, slanted, dormer ceilings were somewhat a stifling. So a proper, square ceiling has been my dream for quite some time. And it came true! How lucky am I?!

I am still here!

Crawling slowly out from the piles of boxes and desks (I had so many desks - who knew?) and more boxes...

Started putting my studio together this evening. Very exciting. Only I realized that I have a bit of a catch22 - had to get the stuff put away so painting the walls can happen, but now everything is so neatly put away on the shelves and I'll have to move it all again to paint. Hmm.

In other exciting news, we finally cooked dinner. The first actual home-cooked meal I have had in... wow, I can't even remember! Between the festivals and the moving cooking really got lost. I never really knew how much I would miss it.

I shall post pictures soon of my progress, if only to document it for myself so when I look back I can see how far we have actually come. Because there is certainly a long way to go.

Wishing you a very happy weekend!

Painting, Packing, Moving!

The title says it all. A few days back from the Southern Vermont Arts Festival and I am going insane with the, um, joys! of moving house!

I won't trouble you with pictures of my packing. Its really not a pretty sight, I can assure you.

Instead, here is the dining room transformation in the new house - I really love it, can't wait to finish!



This is kind of before.


This is the poor pup who doesn't understand the need to spend such a long time indoors not playing.




And nice blue walls!

Now I just have to get the other house packed up.

New Taste of Stowe - Part II

I made it to the field about 10am on Thursday, in time for the exhibitor check in. It was really great to finally meet in person and put faces to all those names I have been seeing over the past several months at this job. Not so great were the heavy rainclouds that hung persistently about and periodically dropped buckets of rain on our heads and on the festival field and all the gravel (subsequently mud) roads throughout. It was a fairly dismal day, made exciting by events but with an ever-present fear that this might just be the weekend's forecast.




Imagine our feelings of relief when 6am the following morning brought bright blue skys and mountains glistening from the overnight thunderstorm. Friday was a gorgeous day. We finished the set up and the public began to arrive as soon as the gates were open. It was not a mad crowd, that would have been an unusual - although certainly acceptable - turn of events for a Friday morning. But it was satisfactory. This was our first festival of the season, but some of the exhibitors reported that at other festivals, attendance has been down by some 20-50%. We had significantly better results than those, but the current economic situation was apparent. Interesting how that works.


I spent most of Friday touring the tents, meeting and chatting with exhibitors. There are some really wonderful people who attend this show - I am looking forward to seeing several of them again in Manchester, VT next weekend!



Saturday, I had to make a trip to Syracuse, New York to visit another festival - it was a big weekend!

New Taste of Stowe Arts Festival!

This weekend all the work of the last seven months starts to pay off - our first Art Festival of the Season! If you are local, please do come by, there are some really amazing artists and artisans selling their work, and the food is going to be simply incredible. The show is in Stowe, Vermont, a top-quality resort town for those unfamiliar with the area, and several of said resorts will be attending the show, offering spa treatments and gourmet menu samples. If you are in the area, you can visit craftproducers.com for details.

We are so hoping for these crazy thunderstorms to pass on by!

Summer Wealth

Tuesday afternoon I made a stop at the Charlotte Berry Farm, a truly wonderful place. This was my first visit, my first berry farm experience ever actually. I will go back.


I felt so rich coming home with my boxes of fruit, so glistening and ripe and such amazing colors.


All that was not eaten up that evening went into the freezer for smoothy making and waffle toppings. I'm not going to say they will last until this winter, because most likely they will not. We tested the frozen fruit smoothies this evening, and I must say, they were amazing.


What do you put in your smoothies? I used a random mixture of the strawberries, blackraspberries and blueberries, some plain yoghurt and a bit of orange juice. They were so creamy and a particularly incredible shade of red-purple.


I do believe another round of berry-picking must happen sooner rather than later!

Its been a Big Week

Wow, ok, where to start? As claimed in my last post, I did indeed get a slew of miniature paintings painted - fun! Also some other projects with which I am quite pleased. But those didn't happen so much on the weekend as on the days I had to stay home from work due to an unhappy run-in with an ill tempered zebra mussel resulting in a late night trip to the emergency room.


Not so much fun.

The new paintings are going in the shop, and I will share pictures of them here over the next few days, but first I want to show you the other things I made.


Ever since I made the abstract cover for my quilt book, I have been wanting to create some fabric flags or banners. I had patchwork ideas like the quilt book cover in mind, but I also wanted to incorporate some text, simple words or phrases. Turns out the awesome wooden type I found works quite as stamps! I brushed them with india ink and stamped words onto the fabric. They are watersafe and I really like how the letters are a little wonky.


The words I could create were somewhat limited by the fact that I neglected to get a letter "R". Oops!

I stamped the letters onto colorful cotton and stitched them onto a natural linen backing. There is a channel at the top for hanging.


I would like to try a few more of these, but I also know how my brain works and instead of mass production, it is quite likely I will move on to something else new... !

(These hangings will be in the shop shortly as well)

The First of June

Wishing You a Very Joyful June!

Household Safety

I am working from home today. Officially working, not working on projects and doodahs and such; I have my office setup on the kitchen table (its brighter here, and the tea kettle is nearby). This means I get to keep Ramona (she's the pup) company, as she does whatever it is that she does during the day. So far, this mostly seems to be sleep.


I have the back door standing open. Its a bit chilly, but worth it for the fresh spring air and the nice sounds of birds and windchimes and street traffic that drift in. Ramona sprawls on the floor at my feet, keeping my toes warm and, assumedly, dreaming of wonderful things.


A moment ago a neighborhood cat came by, apparently intrigued by the open door. He stuck his pointy little nose in, but saw me right away, and perhaps the large bundle of fur at my feet, and scampered off. Ramona slumbered on. Then the smell of "something unknown" must have reached her nostrils, because she leapt to her feet and with a throaty grr made for the door. She bravely snuck around the corner, her back legs shaking a bit, and peered outside. The cat was, of course, long gone. Emboldened, Ramona barked a little, she has a quiet bark that is nearly never heard, and set out to investigate. She ran the length of the yard, checked the front gate, and came back in to make sure the house was safe as well. One more check around the yard and she determined that all was well and returned to her position on the floor.

I am so glad I have such a brave, alert watchdog. Makes me feel very secure!

Daily Exercise

Except, not quite. Let me explain.

A couple weeks ago, as I was driving home, I came upon a man on his bike. First off, I should explain that there are pretty much three roads that come into Burlington, and if you happen to work outside of town, as I do, you don't have much choice but to tackle the traffic on these bottlenecks. This man on his bike, however, was sailing past us all, peddling away as I practiced the arts of coasting slowly and keeping calm. The light changed and I passed the man by. Ha, thought I, your bike leaves you in the dust. But soon I was stuck at another red light and the biker man was in the lead again. It went on like this until we got to the last intersection into town. While I sat at the stop sign, the man on his bike peddled freely past, winning by a breath. But winning. This got me thinking.


I drive about 15 miles to work. Not something I am happy about, but for a short time the learning process of the job is worth it to me. I did have to think about this quite a bit; for the last few years I have walked wherever I needed to go, and none of my jobs were over 5 blocks away.

15 miles is a bit far for me to bike, right off that is. I am very out of shape and have not been on my bike for a good year. But I was determined.


So last week I pumped up my tires and stuffed the bike in the trunk of my car. I drove out to the country and biked the last 5-6 miles. And it was amazing. And fairly excruciating. Except the ride home was so much better I could see how things could look up. So I did it again the next day. Much easier. But then I decided sleep was necessary too, so the next day I slept in. And then it was the weekend, and now it looks like rain. Do you think I will have the nerve to try again?


I certainly intend to.

Homecoming

I have so much to share - one big and exciting (and incredibly heavy) new project, some recent creations, and a few new ideas. But those will have to wait, because tonight I am dead tired after an overnight flight across this whole darn country (we are quite big!), and trying to recover from the shock of leaving this:






For something more like this:

Big Storm for Real!

So after my pish-poshing of the Big Winter Storm last evening, I woke up to discover that it, well, it was real after all. More than six inches overnight, and falling steadily. Did I take that opportunity to stay warm in my little house and play with my crazy dog and generally get things done? I should say not! I am, lets not forget, a Northerner. And that means I am not a sissy!


I braved the elements and the longish, unplowed driveway at my work, and was Responsible and Professional all day. It is my belief that if one is going to live in the North, one must learn to not be frightened by the snow. Nothing would Get Done. That said, I think I am ready for a warmer climate.





(more paper doll postcards are on the way. I am very excited!!!)

Big Storm!

Actually, it isn't even snowing that hard. But the weather people are calling it a Winter Storm, and I am more than happy to comply. Especially since I have several new dolls in the works.



Plus a puppy who just wants to play!

Oscar Night

I really have nothing to say about it though. Fun to watch - I especially love Jon Stewart and the clips of past winners. And thats about that for that. I'd like to thank the academy...

While I'm here, this was the sunset over Lake Champlain this evening. So nice.

My Week in Review

dear old friends visiting ::: LOTS of yummy food! ::: balmy warmth, rain and the smell of Spring ::: a day off! ::: waffles and molasses ::: back to work ::: dishes? nah ::: ok, laundry ::: clean socks!!! ::: Bright sunny mornings ::: long shadows in the evening sun ::: a red barn glowing in the orange light ::: long traumatic car ride with the pup - for all of 15 minutes ::: and home again in great pain - hers was physical, mine emotional ::: let's hope she didn't have her heart set on puppies ::: great meeting with a wonderful writer ::: exciting new project! ::: sleep? ...

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday Cam!

Coming out of the Fog

This picture pretty much sums up my week. I had been feeling so smug that the cold going around my office was passing me by, and then it turned right around and got me good. Youch! But I think its on its way out now, knock on wood, and I am not in the least bit sorry to say goodbye!

More fun artsy things soon, there are projects galore in the works!!

(and in world news, I am so sad that Dennis Kucinich has dropped out of the presidential race. Sure, he didn't have a fighting chance, but every now and again its nice to see a candidate with some morals. So long Dennis, and Good Luck!)

Am I Missing Something?

I usually try to keep some semblance of "art" in my posts here, but this just has me so confounded that I need to share it. And the dog could care less, so...

What is with people?


Am I missing something, or is it being suggested that a sustainable future lies with ethanol, um, hummers? Shall we starve our country and rape our land so that a few imbecilic chauvinists can drive around in absurdly over-sized - not to mention incredibly unattractive - army vehicles?

If I could channel the anger I feel over this - and all the other little things like this that occur ever so frequently - into an artistic statement of some sort, believe me when I wholeheartedly tell you I would. The frustration at not knowing what to do with the frustration I feel over the state of the world is sometimes so overpowering that there is no way a canvas could hold it; by putting pen to paper it would be diminished and inconsequented. I do not feel strong enough as an artist to channel the energy of what I experience.

There are so many colossal tragedies happening everyday that I, for one, often feel that I have conditioned myself to tune them out, ignoring for the sake of sanity really. I make dolls and search out the good things that people are doing. And for the most part this works. For the sanity thing at least. But then some small occurrence, and everything comes rushing back. By power of association the waves of tragedy, violence, senselessness, greed, etc etc come crashing in. Isn't this why there are so many horribly unhappy people? I am an inherently happy person - almost disgustingly optimistic - and I am often overwhelmed! The little reminders are so sneaky, the hummers (ok, not so little), the politicians snide underhand comments, the disgustingly patronizing commercials... ay!

Thanks for bearing with me as I rant. Actually, thank you for visiting anytime; you really and truly make my day with your comments and shared thoughts! Joining in to this online worldwide community of bloggers has been a wonderful experience for me.

photo from truthout.org

They say the neon lights are bright...

...on Broadway!



For Christmas this year, C and I decided to go to Broadway. We chose Phantom of the Opera, the longest running show on Broadway, and am I ever glad we did. It was magic, pure magic. That music!

photo from Sarah Brightman: A Biography

This was my favorite part, when the lights rise slowly out of the mist. It actually brought tears to my eyes.

I can't wait to go back - Les Miserables (is it closing? I think so and am so disappointed), La Boheme, The Lion King, Spamalot... anyone want to sponsor me?!

And back again!

hello there! Happy New Year to you!

I have been suffering from what I like to call "procrastination". Not an original term, I admit, but I am strikingly good at embodying it. In this case, I actually have something upon which to lay the blame... Scrubs has taken over my life and resistance has been futile.

But that's really no excuse. Quite honestly, I recalled on my plane trip home - overnight across pretty much most of this very large country - that I had promised a special Christmas end to my little Advent Calendar. Does anyone else remember that? I realize that perhaps no one else does, but I suffer from horrible guilt when I say anything and do not carry it out. So, if anyone perchance remembered that incident, I humbly apologize.

I hope you all had really and truly wonderful Holidays! I will be back with more soon!

photo: Christmas Morning in the Catalina Mountains, Tucson AZ

I Love Mountains

This is the winning view on my drive to work.


Amazing, right? And it was actually taken a bit ago, so now with all the snow we have been having, I can't wait to see what appears when the clouds part! These are the Adirondacks, visible over Lake Champlain from Vermont.

Today I visited the Vermont mountains - the Green Mountains - for a skiing day. We go to Stowe, which is the big one on Mt. Mansfield, because if we are going to spend the money, we might as well make sure its worth our while! Today was just gorgeous, and after I argued with my boots for a while they settled down and stopped torturing my feet and I enjoyed the runs immensely. Nothing like pitting yourself against Nature at incredible speeds on two little sticks! Wow!

Happy Tuesday to you!

On snow and gingerbread

Vermont will certainly be having a white Christmas this year! We had an absurd amount of snow in the last 24 hours, well over a foot, possibly more than 2! And it's still coming down! Of course, I won't be enjoying it, as I am headed to the family in Arizona... not much chance of a blizzard there and frankly, I don't mind!

We stayed warm and cozy inside today, making a big batch of gingerbread. Yum.


We used a Martha Stewart recipe, only we couldn't bring ourselves to add a whole teaspoon of ground pepper. I am willing to believe that it is a wonderful addition, I'm just not in that place yet.


A simple powdered sugar frosting, and a few little candies added the final touch.



I also made a batch of incredibly wonderful molasses cookies from a long ago post on this favorite blog. So good. I had to freeze some so I would not "accidentally" eat them all tonight.

I hope wherever you are, the evening is treating you well. Happy Sunday, friends!

wow.

oh boy, I've been gone so long I'm not even sure I remember how to do this! Thanks for all your advent calendar love, I always enjoyed the calendars, especially the ones with chocolates! I was trying to figure out how to incorporate chocolate treats into this one, but it just didn't seem feasible.

This Holiday season has been fairly unstressful - gifting wise - mainly because I have hardly had time to think about them! I have a horrid habit of deciding to make all my gifts, and the inspiration for exactly what to make usually doesn't appear until, say, a few days before Christmas! This year I have just been so busy, inspiration may have come by, but I probably wasn't at home. I did manage to finish up my holiday ornament swap items, I'll post pictures after they arrive at their destinations. Don't know if anyone form my swap group has made their way to my little blog, but I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise! I have received some lovely ornaments in the mail already, and my "charlie brown" christmas tree is looking positively fancy!

We are expecting another storm, a BIG one this time. I am seriously considering a move to a warm, maybe even tropical, climate. But until then, hot ginger lemonade and plans for monday skiing should suffice.

I hope you are all having a lovely evening!

Not much happening...

I am having a quiet evening, at home with the pup. The "tree" is lit, there is a cranberry scented oil lamp perfuming the air, the fishtank is bubbling away in a rather soothing manner, and I just vacuumed. For the end of a week, its feeling pretty nice.

But I haven't anything exciting to share here; like I said, not much happening!

Here's to your own peaceful evenings - happy December, friends!

Feeling Christmas-y

It snowed big, white, fluffy flakes last night. We had to take a middle-of-the-night walk with the dog, and it was her first real snow experience. Very amusing. She just couldn't seem to believe that it was all real!

While I find the early and intense commercialization of Christmas to be quite bothersome and actually somewhat sickening, after Thanksgiving is passed, I am ready to jump right in. Things like soft powdery snow and twinkling lights make me feel honest-to-goodness warm and fuzzy, and the smell of gingerbread always seems just tantalizingly out of reach. I will make some soon, and hopefully share the joy with a few neighbors, but for the time being I have contented myself with some holiday decoration.


Besides my sparkly candelier, a Christmas tree of sorts is now sharing its warm glow in my home. A real, live, green, nice-smelling tree isn't really practical for me yet - I will travel for Christmas and don't spend nearly enough time sitting at home to properly enjoy it - so I opted for driftwood. White lights and golden jingle-bells dress it up right now - after the swap I have a feeling it will be much more fun! It needs a bit of adjusting, another trip to the rock shop (aka beach) should put things in order.

***after having a look at this picture again, I just have to add that my poor little tree really looks much nicer in person. The lights should have been the kind on white wire, I know, and the whole thing looks rather as if it will go tumbling over at any moment, but its actually very sweet! :) ***

New Doll

I just posted this sweet little lady in my shop. She is another needle-felted creation, with cloth clothing. They are just so much fun!



In other news, I start my new job tomorrow! Very exciting. Must get some sleep...

Long time gone...

I really did not intend to be gone so long. So sorry! I hope you all had a very warm and happy holiday (the US-icans among you, I suppose), and that you still fit in the clothing you owned before and did not have to brave the insanity of Black Friday to refresh your wardrobe.


My mother came to visit, and we decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner a day early so we could fully enjoy the leftovers for the rest of the week. This plan has worked out splendidly, with gravy pasta dishes and reheated stuffing and plenty of pumpkin pie for breakfast! And of course, the soup in the works. I love Thanksgiving leftovers.


It turned freezing cold here last night and I think Winter is truly upon us. I intend to make the most of it by getting busy with making things. Isn't that just the best way to spend the dark, frosty evenings?

The Facts and the Habits

I was tagged a couple days ago by Sherry of Sage and Thyme to share 6 habits or facts about myself... here goes...

THE RULES

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

THE FACTS AND THE HABITS

1. I am left-handed. I feel that this is a very defining part of my life and sometimes I wonder how I would be different if my right hand were dominant. I also like to tell people that I am lefthanded when I discover that they are too, and then we can talk about how we, unlike the majority of the world, are in our "right minds"! I also feel uncomfortable in Indian restaurants, although this does not stop me from visiting them regularly.

2. I find four leaf clovers. This has been a habit of mine since childhood, and now is somewhat compulsive - when I see a patch of clover I have to at least glance over it to check!

3. I also pick up pennies. I blame this on my mother because she does it too. All of my coat pockets are filled with lucky pennies that are probably incredibly disgusting from the street. The combination of the clovers and the pennies make me feel like I really fit into my wierd neighborhood. (I am just not sure if I am exceptionally lucky, but so far I have no complaints!)

4. When I am nervous I twist my earrings. Because of this, I kept losing earring backs, so now I pretty much only wear the ones I got my piercings with, the ones with the backs that lock on tight. Now I can twist to my nervous little heart's delight!

5. I hate shopping for toilet paper. Not quite sure why, but the toilet paper aisle really stresses me out.

6. I blush very easily. My father used to enjoy demonstrating this to strangers.

There we go. That was actually harder than I thought it would be! Where have all my habits gone? hmm, maybe the transitory college lifestyle was better for me than I realized!

Moving on... I tag Becca and eb and anyone else who wants to play along! Leave me a message so I know where to go to learn all about you!

Baby, its COLD outside!

It is starting to get blustery and cold around here, especially in the evenings as I learned last night trying to find a bus home from the car lot. I am attempting to purchase a vehicle, my very first car, and its all absurdly hard! I won't bore you with the details, but let me just say that car lots are designed for people who already have cars. People walking in off the street are at an immediate disadvantage. I'm just saying.

I am also busy trying to find a new job or jobs. Hence the need for a car. Aya!

In between these adventures, I found some time to paint a couple days ago. I haven't managed to take pictures, but I want to talk about the paintings because I had a lot of fun with them.

One of the hardest things for me, I have found, is letting go of an idea. This spreads into my art in that even when I detest a painting, I find it difficult to part with or make major changes to. So I made a break for it and brought out all the reject paintings, the ones I wasn't sure about, and the ones that just plain bored me, and I whitewashed everything. It felt so good. I chose small areas that were appealing and left them alone, and painted a thick coat of white everywhere else. Words aren't really working here, so I will try to get pictures tomorrow.

I feel that I am rambling a bit, so hopefully along with the pictures tomorrow, there will be more coherent words!

Have a pleasant evening, friends!

Back to the everyday

So I'm back to the normal colors around here. Though I must admit that that does not exactly extend beyond my blog - the Jack o'Lanterns are still bein prominently displayed and I fully intend to light them up every evening until they melt into oblivion. I like to stick things out 'til the bitter end!

I found a brilliant site this morning, a blog illustration/cartoon game between two people, and I just have to share. It is called The Superest, with the tagline Who is the superest hero of them all? I highly recommend you click the start at the first hero link and work your way up.

In other news, I am looking for a new job. So if you know of something amazing, tell me about it and I will dream and scheme a way to get to it! Unless of course you are in Vermont, in which case I will take it very seriously and be forever grateful.

I have no pictures right now, so... Yikes!


They just won't stop!

Do I *have* to take off my costume?

I'm going to go back to the normal colors around here, but please, can't I keep it strange for one more day? I just really love how the pumpkins glow...

Plus, I just realized that the post before last was number 100! So happy 102nd post to me! or to the blog, but what's the difference, really?! In honor of the event, I am going to eat a candy bar, and I encourage you to do the same. I'm sure you have plenty of left-overs!

ooooo...

and a Happy, spooky, shivery, sugar-filled Halloween to you!

Autumn colors

My yard is somewhat overrun with squirrels, horrible little beasts! They managed to erase the entire bed of beans I planted, as well as the carrots, and tried their best with the cucumbers and tomatos, although the scarcity of the former, and my vigilance on the latter, thwarted the thieves a bit.


Being something of a color addict, I enjoy looking at tomatos. The red of a fresh, homegrown tomato seems to emanate summer light. They glow.


The apples aren't my own, but once I start photographing food I usually get a little carried away.

Fresh Basil!

I picked my basil plants clean a couple days ago. It has been unseasonably warm here, but at some point reality is bound to return and the frosts will come - this is Vermont after all! So no more fresh basil. It is now nicely dried and crushed in a jar in my pantry. I think I will be set for quite a while!


It makes me feel good to dry things. Like I am honestly settling in for the winter, although at this point all I have is dried basil and dried carrots. They probably wouldn't last me long in dire need, but its a gesture..



(and I also posted a new painting in my etsy shop - have a look?)