I still can't figure out the problem with blogger. The new posts aren't coming up. At least not on my computer. There are two others besides this. Oh well, anyway, April 30th was Asser's birthday.

Happy Birthday big guy!

It was so good to see him.

How about this rain? Geez, everything here is flooded. I don't know how the chickens don't get stuck in the mud, it's so deep and swampy, yuck! Hopefully Wednesday it'll clear up and dry out a little, but it'll take more than a few days to dry this mess up.

I chose the photo of Jay Sr. at Jean Georges' for today's post, because it's bright from the sunshine coming in through the windows. It's such a nice place. Hopefully this will go through and get posted. Whatever. I won't be back tomorrow night because I'll be going to maryland tomorrow to see Gabriel and Jonah's spring program. I'll try to bring Isabella home with me.

I posted a blog last night, but it's not showing up on my computer. I just can't figure it out. Today was just an outright mizzy day. Everything ached, probably from lack of sleep, from everything aching. 

It's almost over now. Celeste came by this afternoon and just left. We watched "Soul Men". It was hilarious and sad at the same time. Bernie Mack was really funny. And how about Samuel L. Jackson? I mean how diverse is he? We just watched him in "Twisted" last week. Talk about two extremes. The photo is of jay and Celeste on the left and Danny and Torri on the right. We were in Washington Square Park. This was taken immediately after a drug bust to our left. I heard the guy that was buying the drugs say to the policewoman, "I'm really sorry". She and I weren't buying it. 

Well, I'm going to try to publish this one more time. If it doesn't work, I'm going to bed, I'll try again on Monday. Have a great weekend.

Right after we got off of the train at Penn Station in NY, Danny and Jay Jr. headed directly to the shoe shine stand. I love that they still do that...meaning that you can still get your shoes shined like that.

Today I met a new chicken friend Jen, in Churchville, just above Morgantown. We met outside of Shady Maple. I haven't been there in years, which is weird, because I used to go there a couple of times a month with Diane Komorowski and all of her kids and my kids, a total of nine kids, in my station wagon...before mini-vans and seat belts. We always had so much fun. After Shady Maple we'd hit Goode's for fabric and notions, to make "jams" for the kids. Hawaiin-type shorts that were so easy to put together and sew. Then we'd go to Hartz's Farm for whatever organic meat that I didn't raise. Like organic beef cubes, hot dogs and bacon and other pork products. Also cheese and other dairy, but not milk. We had goats for that. Well Shady Maple is all done up now with a separate smorgasbord restaurant that's like a Walmart. The food is different too. It's pretty much the same menu, but the mashed potatoes are fake. The broasted chicken was great. I wanted to go shopping there and also stop by Hartz's, but there was no sign there and I ran out of time. 

Found a deer tick on me today....ugh....I have to find a better way to repel them. I can't go through this Lyme disease thing again. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so hopefully some ticks will drown and I can work on the big paintings some more.

After we had Mojitos and a couple of great snacks at Jean Georges' on Sunday, we went back outside to stroll around. The weather had dramatically and thankfully cooled. I got this shot of the boys, but not the typical one of them holding the globe like Atlas, which was close by.

I started collecting the herbs and peppers for the garden this year and got a bunch of annuals today. I had to meet a woman about chickens in Newtown Square this afternoon, which also brought me close to Gentile's Market. I was thrilled to see the place loaded with flowers.

This morning I took Jay Sr. to the AT&T store to get him an iPhone for his birthday. Somehow I also wound up with one for Mother's Day. Smart, very smart. Really, it was, since we were due for an upgrade and they were on sale. We are both extremely technically challenged, but we're already having so much fun with these things. The photo quality is really impressive compared to our last cell phones. I'm headed out to Pennsylvania Dutch Country tomorrow on another chicken mission. I'm planning on lunch at Shady Maple. It's been many years since I've done that and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll give you the low down tomorrow night.

Since I'm prepping and working on some larger paintings, the paintings di giorno will be put on hold for a while and be replaced with photos. You'll get to see and know my family and even my chickens better. Thank God the weather will cool down tomorrow, albeit the rain will return, but I'll accept that instead of 90+ degree weather. Last night when I locked up the chickens, a fox ran past me. It was the local, dominant male. He was big and looked very healthy. I have mixed feelings about that. I'm happy that he's not sick and rabid, but I for sure don't need another big and strong predator around here. He reminded me of Winslow Homer's painting "Fox Hunt". He was running in that same position past me.

The photo is one I took at Chanticleer recently of an urn with the inside painted black, filled with water and harbingers of spring--daffodils and forsythia-- floating on it. So pretty and dramatic. They always have such good ideas like this.

Back in December when it was Danny's birthday, he said he wanted to go to New York. Jay Sr. said the same thing in March when it was his birthday, so we left early by train and went yesterday. Jay Jr. took care of making the restaurant reservations. We had Lunch at Bar Boulud, which offers a great charcuterie. We always order a lot of different dishes for all of us to share. The food was outstanding and we sat for at least two hours sampling everything.

Then we walked to Central Park found a seat and baked in the shadeless sun, until we left and went to Jean Georges' for Mojitos, which couldn't have been more refreshing. We also had a snack of tuna tartare and a bruleed fois gras, both of which were spectacular. The bartender, Justin, gave us his father's business card for a connection to his Italian restaurant and factory. Jay Jr. has all of the info, but I can't wait to check it out. I'm also really looking forward to going back to Jean Georges' for lunch or dinner. So after our cool down there, we cabbed to Washington Square and went to the park, listened to some music and just hung out. We left there and walked around. We discovered a mews where I took some reference shots in hopes of doing a painting or two of it. Very charming. Then we stopped by Otto, Mario Battali's place on Eighth St. It's a glorified (in a very good way) pizzeria, with a cozy, european, trattoria feel. We had some proscuitto, olives and bread there with some wine. Another winner that I'd like to go back to and taste more.

We left there and searched on foot for Babbo. We found it, and went in where we met John at the front desk, who knew our name before we told him. He's from Bala Cynwyd. We were led upstairs and seated for the fabulous to begin. Mark was our waiter and Marla our sommelier.

Everything you've heard about Babbo is true, down to the nerve-biting music. I'd just finished reading the book, "Heat", by Bill Buford, so I already had a picture in my mind of what was going to happen, but I was wrong, really wrong. It was so much better than I had anticipated. I had read about the back of the house in Buford's book. I wasn't prepared for how great the service and the rest of the front of the house was going to be. The chef generously sent out the buffalo mozzarella with grilled ramps for the table. I still am craving those ramps. The mozzarella was an event in itself, being so deliciously creamy. Everything we had was above and beyond, but truthfully if you go, get as many pasta dishes as you can. I have never....please forgive me Grandmom...ever, had any, any better, anywhere. I mean I stood next to my Grandmother and helped her make fresh, homemade macaroni and ravioli. I've made it myself, but nothing near as good as what I had last night. Now I know why it's so good, I read the book, but I was foolish enough to think that it was going to be comparable to my Grandmom's or mine. Not. Now I'll be on a mission to try again, because not only do I know how to do it better, but I personally have the secret ingredient. It's what will make the difference. It's my obsession, it's the egg. The kind of egg that my chickens lay. The only kind that will work. So it's perfect that tonight's painting di giorno is an illustration to make my point. The fresh, raw egg in the painting has an orangey, well-formed, firm yolk, with a substantial, but not rubbery, white that doesn't run in the pan. It is literally, the best egg you'll ever taste. My Ameraucana hen laid that egg, that day, but my Marans and game hens lay the same quality and intensely delicious egg. I'm tempted to write a lengthy page on what makes that kind of egg happen, as opposed to eggs from the store or even some farm eggs. Instead of a comparison, I'll just tell you what happens here. During the day my hens that produce our eating eggs, run around the yard with no boundaries, they scratch around in the leaves for bugs...chickens are not vegetarians. They're omnivores and eat a lot of protein in the form of bugs, worms, and whatever meat, dead or alive that they can find. They also eat grass, greens, fruit and vegetables. We never treat our lawn or plants with pesticides or herbicides, nothing, ever. We have a creek behind our house, they drink from there and from the waterers (which have organic, apple cider vinegar with organic garlic steeped in it added to the water) that I provide for them. I feed them whole, organic grains, seeds and supplements. The chix get a starter mash, but again, it is totally organic. All of them get kitchen scraps. They don't get soy.

They're locked up after they go to bed and let out in the morning to do the same thing. Now if I'm not going to be home all day to protect them from the hawk, fox, etc. then they stay in their pen, but that's not often. This is the kind of egg that you need to get the kind of pasta, fresh or dried, that they make at Babbo. I'll try again. " Raw Egg on a Blue Plate and a Meyer Lemon", 8"x8", oil on gessobord, $150., framed.

Well there it is...an image. Same one I tried to upload yesterday and the day before. Who knows? This photo is of my dear friend Karen Morss aka the "Orchardess", aka, the Lemon Lady". She's the woman that has www.lemonladies.com in Emerald City, California. I've known her since high school. She's no bigger than a minute, but loaded with personality and a tiger packed in there somewhere. She makes me proud to be a woman. If you've seen the movie "Yes Man", she's a "Yes Woman", she's done it all. Notice all of the beauty and color around her. A very beautiful and colorful person in so many ways.  This photo is from when we went to visit her one afternoon while we were in California last summer. She made cold cucumber soup for us. Uh! Was it ever good. Then she made a warm plum tart for dessert. Amazing, just like Karen. 

My painting is finished, but I wanted to try this photo first, so I'll post it on Monday. 

Jay just came in from smoking his cigar, which means it's movie time. Enjoy your warm,summer-like weekend. 

Every year it feels to me, like spring will never come and then when it finally does, it's like boom, it's here. With the fall and winter and this past month so dreary, I have mixed emotions about it being 85 and 87 on Saturday and Sunday. I feel like with all of the rain, we'll all need blood transfusions with the swarms of mosquitos. Even with the chill in the air today, the sun felt good and the chickens loved it, so I went out and took some photos of them and Gussie, the duck. 

Let's see how Blogger feels about images tonight.

Well, not good I guess. It won't work. I'm happy that my painting isn't finished, it's more disappointing when I can't upload paintings than it is of photos. I'll try tomorrow on the upstairs computer. Hopefully the painting will be finished tomorrow. I used a different medium this time as an experiment and I can't put any more paint on because if I dab even the slightest bit too hard the layer underneath lifts off. I hate it when that happens.

A really busy day. Went to meet a student in Lansdale this morning that needed quail eggs for his African Egg-Eating snake. Wow, that sure brought back memories. I used to have a young one when I did reptile shows with my petting zoo. The snake partially swallows the whole egg, crushes it and drains the contents of the egg and then spits the shell back out. I believe other snakes just swallow the egg whole and digest the shell.

After that I went to a farm where I used to get all kinds of animals and supplies for the "Funny Farm" petting zoo. More memories. I still love that place.

Tonight I met with Cine to give her the painting she bought from Margot Pierce at the art show Friday night and she also bought the painting I did of eggs and their conversation about Henri's feathers. I really do appreciate it Cine, thank you very much. More Cuckoo and Black Copper Marans chix hatched yesterday. Today some seriously dark brown ones are in the process.

As my granddaughter Josie would say, "I'm wiped out"! So it's the 22nd of the month and I'm noticing that Blogger has big trouble uploading images this time of the month. I've already tried four times to upload. I'm too tired to fight, so we'll catch up tomorrow.

We have plenty of birthdays in March. Jay Sr. is 58, Krista is 36, Jeanie is 30, Isabella is 4 and Gabriella is 4. Happy Birthday everyone! As my father used to say, "I hope you live to be 100 and the last voice you hear is mine".

Krista, the hotel finagler got a reservation for a suite for the "girls"--Jeanie, Celeste, Krista and me--at the Ritz Carlton in DC, to celebrate Jeanie's big 3 0. It was during the Cherry Blossom Festival and even though the weather was miserable, we had a great time.

We got out to the lake for a nice walk and then went back to our suite to get ready to go out to Corduroy Restaurant for dinner. It was really, really good. I love an open kitchen, so we got to see the chef working and after dinner, he told our waitress to send Jeanie back to talk with him. Celeste went with her. He was very nice. The atmosphere is wonderful and the service was great.As we were leaving, Jeanie put on a hair demonstration for the table next to us. We had more fun than is usual for us. 

The photo above, right is of Jeanie and Krista among the cherry blossoms.

Right after Jeanie was born and Jay took me back to my room and the nurse took Jeanie to the nursery for clean up, a young man came into the room and just stared at us. He said that he just had to see the parents of the most beautiful baby he had ever seen. He said that he was in awe of her. I still am.

Thank you God.

I have too many chix happening here. They're taking up so much of my time. I'm a hatch-a-holic.

In all honesty, they're not the only things keeping me away from the easel. I've had the grandchildren here off and on for weeks. Truth is, they get a lot more painting finished than I do!

We've been having lots of fun. The older they get the more fun they are.

We had the March birthdays at Krista's house. It was the best time. Jay Jr. cooked for Easter here. What a treat! The Johnson grandchildren were here for the week and helped me make the Easter bread and Spetzatto. 

Jay Sr. and I have been spending a lot of time with the boys, Jay Jr. and Danny, Celeste and Torri also. We've hit some really great restaurants....Parc, Cheifa, Heng's, Bamboo and Trattoria San Nicola, which was just OK. I can't remember the rest right now. Jay Jr. has done some incredible cooking here and now he's the sous chef at Firecreek Restaurant and Bar. It's only been open for a couple of weeks at the most, but it is really good and the appetizers are a great value. My favorites are the calamari appetizer and the pork ribs appetizer, but the others are very good also. Seriously, you could make an entire meal out of the ribs for $9. It's huge and comes with sweet potato salad. The ribs are saucy and tangy just the way I love them. There's tons of good stuff on the menu. It's a steak house in a rehabbed old building, which was a paper mill. It's the perfect mix of industrial and quaint. Cine, Penny and I went last week and sat at the chef's table. They make great margaritas...oh, and don't forget to try the apple cider donut, bread pudding. We're going to NYC this weekend for Danny and Jay Sr.'s birthdays. I can't wait. 

I had an art show last weekend at Church of the Saviour and sold the star fruit painting. Lots of interest in my art these days, which is a real incentive to get back to work.

Jay Sr. and I went to see the Cezanne exhibit thanks to Melissa. Such a nice thing for her to do. thanks again Melissa. 

I'm going to have to fill in the events as we go along this week since I didn't tell you about the Cherry Blossom Festival that we went to for Jeanie's 31st birthday....and the kids got me on Facebook, another thing I don't need, but I sure do like seeing people's faces and keeping up. My Aunt Jeanne has contacted our family in Italy. Sadly, they were some that lost everything when they were hit with the earthquake. They're alive though, thank God.

So today's painting is "Meyer Lemons, Key Limes and a Quail Egg", 10"x8", oil on linen, $250. framed. The bowl is glazed with blue. The Meyer lemons are really orange. I'm going to make lemon curd with them and also make lemonade on Saturday, since it's going to be in the 80's. Wow, hard to believe since it's 47 degrees and raining now. The Key limes will be for the Vodka tonics that my Aunt Jeanne got me thinking about, or maybe some caparinhas.

Danny had a big night last night down at the Crystal Tea Room. There was a fund raiser ( I want to say for the Liver Foundation, but can't remember) that he and Jay Jr. did last year with Joe Frost and Mayor Nutter. Last night one of the guests was Vince Papale. Danny said he's such a great guy and that his wife is really nice, which apparently is uncommon for wives of celebrities.

I must be going through a phase because the painting for today was another one that I found difficult to do. It's of star fruit and I found the nuances of the texture very challenging. Why, I don't really know. Maybe it's because I'm not feeling well (have a "cough in my mouth" as Isabella puts it) or maybe I'm out of practice. The interesting thing was that as soon as I got up and moved away from it I realized it didn't need anything else except for a few highlights. Maybe I was working too intently and close. In any case, here it is, "Star Fruit", 6"x6", oil on gessobord, $50., framed. sold I really like it.

I'm going to bed and try to sleep this bug off. 'Nite

To me it's still Tuesday, but the clock says it's almost one in the morning. Since I haven't been here since the 16th of last month, as usual there's a lot to tell. Most recently the snow storm that piled nine inches of snow on us yesterday. The beauty of it never gets old for me. Jay and I went outside on Sunday night while it was coming down heavy and danced in it for a few minutes. It was that sparkly kind of snow that looks like everything is being dusted with tiny diamonds. When I went to bed last night the icicles hanging from the roof over our bedroom windows were shimmering, but it was just from a single, very bright star in the western sky. It was weird but really lovely. Chix are popping out all over the place here. They make so much dust like snow inside the studio every day. Someone said it's their food that flies around and lands heavily on every single thing, every single day! Josie was here all last week while Krista and Carter were in Mexico. Boy, did we have fun. Last Tuesday we took Henri and my black Penedesenca hen up to Harrisburg to meet up with Betty and Butch, who live in Beaver Falls and are their new owners. Betty says Henri is enjoying his new home. We really miss him. For Valentine's Day Jay took me to "James". It's a very nice, cozy restaurant, with good food. The best thing I had was the Risotto with oysters. I thought it was nothing short of a religious experience. The next day we were given box seats at the Kimmel Center for The Philly Pops, Frank Sinatra Concert. What a phenomenal show! I always thought that like my parents, Frank Sinatra would live forever. We sat next to Selma and Sam Savitz and Selma and I played "Name that Tune". There was no one around us for us to annoy, so we really had fun. We've been spending a lot of time with the boys. Danny made dinner for us on Sunday night. He made lamb chops and a veal chop for me, along with risotto and really great sauteed asparagus. We had Ciao Bella gelato for dessert. I'm not a big fan of mint chocolate chip anything, but they make it so it tastes like fresh mint leaves are in there. It's all very good. My painting tonight has caused me much consternation and frustration. I've worked it and reworked it. It looks like it does in real life, but maybe that's the problem. The things I love about it are the seeds that look like caviar, and the color of the flesh. The skin just doesn't do it for me, but again, that's how it looked in real life. When I finally finished it, I cut it and ate some, it was nothing like I expected, almost tasteless. So that's it for now,"Red Papaya", oil on gessobord, 7"x5", $50., framed. Sorry about the glare on the right side.

There's so much going on that I almost didn't make it here again tonight. Last Monday, Jay Jr., Danny and Torrie, invited me to have dinner with them at "Blackfish" in Conshohocken. www.blackfishrestaurant.com Nina was our waitress and did such a great job. The food was everything I had hoped it would be after hearing Jay Jr., Celeste and Danny continually rave about it. It totally lived up to it's reputation. We ordered mostly for the table, so got to taste a good portion of the menu. Being a BYOB takes a little bit of the ouch out of the total. After we left there we went to Theresa's Next Door, which is a guaranteed good time. Jay Sr. joined us and took me home. The rest of the week was really busy with the weather warm-up. I was able to turn on the outside water and scrub out the waterers, etc. Then the 400 lb. feed delivery came and needed to be mixed up and put away. My muscles and joints were singin' all night after that. On a joyful note, our friends Gill and Ian welcomed their new granddaughter Leila into the world. I did a portrait of two of her brothers in 2003, I believe it was. Nicolas and Timothy are on the portrait page. Brother Ben wasn't born yet. Congratulations to the entire family! Today is Krista and Carter's wedding anniversary....I forget which one, maybe 7th? Happy Anniversary Kids! Chicks are still hatching. Two of my own Black Copper Marans chicks hatched. One of them is from my beheaded hen. I hope it's a little pullet. They're really cute. Jay and I took my exhibit down from Burlap and Bean. I sold six pieces which isn't much compared to the Gryphon, but I'm happy with that. The painting "Girls Gone Wild", which I retitled "Cowgirls Gone Wild" left on Friday afternoon. It was sold in December, but since it was an anniversary surprise, I got to keep it longer. I'll miss it, it was definitely one of my favorites. Sadly, our good friend John Lynch lost his Mother last week. She was 94 years old. The service is tomorrow. Finally, while staring at the painting of "Meyer Lemons and Paperwhites", I realized there wasn't enough contrast, so I reworked it. You compare, but I think the bottle needed to be a little more frosted and the flowers and a few more spots needed stronger highlights. I like it better. There's still a lot more to tell, but my brain is already dozing off without me. 'Nite.

I had another post planned for tonight, but Jay sent this video to me and I'm overcome with emotion. So I'll pass and give you something to really think about.

Have a great weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtweZxNGk1Y&NR=1

Five more chicks hatched between yesterday and today. The Black Copper Marans are really cute, one is black and white and the other two are the color of a sable mink, the rest of the chicks are Cuckoo Marans. I got a call from my friend Jim in Florida tonight. He was outside spraying water on his blueberry bushes to try to save the flowers from burning in the cold snap they're having down there. What a nightmare. He was up all night last night doing the same thing. It's scary when your livelihood depends on the weather. I remember when Jay used to plow snow and it didn't snow all winter. I'm glad he doesn't do that anymore.

The painting tonight is the same mango from yesterday and one of the avocados. The avocado was a little more difficult, because it's really ripe and not as smooth. I just turned the mango upside down for different colors. "Avocado and Mango", 7"x5", oil on Gessobord, $50.

Well I've gotta go candle some of the Black Copper Marans eggs. I'm praying that they're fertile, so that the poor hen that got killed on Saturday will live on through her chicks.

So we got at least eight inches of snow last night. It was sunny and bright this morning and breathtakingly beautiful. A friend was driving her grandson home from school yesterday and they were discussing how beautiful the snow was and Barbara mentioned how it reminded her of a snow globe when we shake it up. After a little while her grandson said that God probably shakes the world up for us to see it like a snow globe. Barbara reflected on that and decided to take his comment at face value, instead of thinking about earthquakes, etc. Just the beauty of drifting snow flakes, floating to the earth on a snowy day.

I was happy to get in from the bitter cold early tonight and warm up in front of the wood stove. I painted the mango that Jay brought home yesterday. Jay thinks it looks like an animal. "Mango", 6"x6", oil on Gessobord, $50. framed.

Patti La Belle is singing on the radio. Her music brings to mind Budd Ellison, her music director for many years and his wife Barbara. He passed away a few years ago. He was a good friend to Jay and an inspiration to all of us as he battled prostate cancer. Barbara deserves a medal for her dedication and devotion to Budd, not only through his illness, but throughout their lives together. I have to say that she definitely doesn't look any worse for the wear. The woman doesn't have a wrinkle on her face. She's amazing. We miss you Budd.

Well Glen "Hurricane" Schwartz got this one wrong and he was so certain on Sunday night that this snow wouldn't amount to anything. He actually said, "It's not gonna happen" in reference to accumulation. It's not a blizzard or anything, but we have at least four inches. It's gorgeous out there!

I got a phone call from a friend in Florida last night that stopped all painting. We had a lot of chicken stuff to discuss...for a few hours...part of the conversation was the incident on Saturday around noon when a fox came and pulled one of my hens' head off right through the cyclone fence pen. I can't figure out what this fox had to do to lure her, not only to the very front, up against the fence and the only six inch round spot that wasn't covered by net, but also what kept her from stepping back two inches where he couldn't reach her. It was horrific to find her that way. At least he didn't get to eat her. I found a dead fox in the creek yesterday, so I'm wondering if this is the same fox and if it is, could it have had rabies, which would explain it being out in the middle of the day, or for the same scenario, could it have died of starvation? We'll see if it is the same one that's been running all over the place here, marking it's territory and leaving tracks, tomorrow after the snow.

Saturday afternoon I met Mary in Quakertown as I mentioned on Friday. Wow, what an experience that was. I actually got in the trailer with the oxen. I was really scared....they were absolutely gargantuan! I mean the head of one was half the size of my car. Mary's husband, Abe is 5'4" and at least 74. He has these animals under such loving control. He told me to come over and pet the horns on one of the boys, I thought, "you pet his horns", but I did it. These animals are over 6' at the shoulder, the power they possess must be phenomenal. Mary and Abe took them to Quakertown for a lumberjack/logging event. I wished I had seen it, instead I was home shoving a chicken body and it's dismembered head from one of my favorite hens into a bag! Breaks my heart.

Sunday was so warm and beautiful, I went to Home Depot to get some cane fencing as a visual barrier for the pen. I put the headless hen's last eggs in the incubator yesterday with the strong hope that they hatch. We'll know in about three weeks.

Jay and I watched the Superbowl game on Sunday night. Really a great game. 

Jay went to the supermarket today and got some avocados and a mango for me to paint. Never did an avocado before and I enjoyed trying to capture the bumpy texture. "Three Avocados",

6"x6", oil on Gessobord, $50. framed.

Jay just got home. I'm going to go have a glass of wine with him. 

This won't be long, Jay is upstairs fixing dinner for me.

I did paint eggs. Quail eggs and it went pretty fast. I think painting all of those egg-shaped lemons helped. It felt good and the quail feather was fun too. I had a chick hatch today, but I hope it's not the only one. There are two more in there with him that should pop out as well. Tomorrow I go to Quakertown to hand over a couple dozen Cuckoo Marans eggs to Mary. Her husband is doing an old-fashioned lumberjack thing with oxen. I'll actually get to see them. The one is over six feet at the shoulder. I don't think I've ever seen a real ox before. I'm pretty excited about it. 

OK, I've got to go. The painting di giorno is "Quail Eggs and a Feather", oil on Gessobord, 6"x6", $50. framed. As you can see I painted the nest and eggs at a different angle on the board so that it's in a diamond shape. I also photographed it so you can see how it looks framed.

That's it, have a terrific weekend.

I did paint another Meyer lemon painting today, but I think this may be the last one for a while, although there are no promises about that. I think I need to paint some eggs again. I mean painting lemons in a nest is probably a good indication. It was fun to shake things up and let the painting just happen. I loved painting the lemons. "Nest of Meyer Lemons", 6"x6", oil on Gessobord, $50., framed.

The warm sun melted a lot of the ice today, which actually turned out to be a nightmare when it refroze. Even the leftover snow was treacherous. I like walking in relatively crunchy snow, you can get a good foothold and feel safe walking on it, but when it's too hard you may as well be walking on ice. I'm glad my work outside is finished. We're supposed to get some snow showers tomorrow. Hmm. 

We've had the snow, about 3 more inches of it, then the ice that magically cloaked everything it touched in crystal, then the rain. Now we have the wind and that has started the power outages. Thank God the power is back on. The ice, as beautiful as it was, made working outside really difficult today. I dress for the cold, wind and rain, but the ice on my head was really painful, even with a hood on. Now I know better. The chickens don't usually mind the weather, but I could see that they didn't like the ice either.

Tonight I finished another painting of paperwhites and Meyer lemons. "Paperwhites and Meyer Lemons", oil on Gessobord, 6"x6", framed, $50.

I was supposed to have dinner with Cine and Penny tonight, but Jay needed my car, so here I am.

He's upstairs playing "How Great Thou Art". I just love what he does with hymns. 

How many people do you think are using that phrase tonight? I'm dreading it. I have incubators going and heat pads, heat lamps and heated waterers for the animals, so the last thing I need is a power outage here. Please say a prayer for everyone dealing with this.

Jay Jr. and Danny went to a Bordeaux wine tasting in New York yesterday. They had a great time, with plenty of stories to share last night/this morning. I was envious of the places they stopped to have drinks and dinner, one of which was Babbo. Their descriptions of the food was torture. It sounded wonderful. My painting di giorno at right is titled "Meyer Lemons and Paperwhites", 5"x7",oil on Gessobord, $50., framed. The lemons are starting to shrink, but are getting more orangey. The paperwhites were a gift from Jay Sr. He bought the whole plant for me, but I cut this stem for the studio. The fragrance mixes with the aroma of the lemons and transports me into a sunshine-filled spring day. Great place to be during a snow storm.

Thursday night's post never happened because Isabella begged me to bake cookies for her. Now I haven't baked cookies for years, so it took so long that she lost interest and left me alone in the kitchen to finish baking while she left to go watch TV. Unfortunately for the cookies, I got a phone call from Dave, the friend in Ohio that I got Vincent from. So I burned a batch of the cookies and over baked another batch. One batch came out perfect. Isabella loved them. She went home on Friday. It feels strange without her here. She was so cute when she'd go out with me to "help" bring the roosters in at night. We'd hear the owls hooting and she'd try to imitate them. On the way in she made a "no"(snow) angel. It was so tiny it looked like one of the chickens made it. Josie will be coming to stay in a couple of weeks, she'll have this place hoppin'.

The weekend was full of small stuff. Mostly chicken related chores. The girls are laying big, beautiful, dark eggs, the chicks are hatching and it's like spring in here in the dead of winter.

My painting di giorno is titled "Meyer Lemons in a Treenware Egg Holder", 7"x5", oil on Gessobord, $50. framed.

Gotta' go, Danny and Jay Jr. just got home from New York and they have stories to tell.

I'm so happy to paint some Meyer lemons again. Of course they're from my friend Karen the Orchardess from Lemon Ladies in Emerald City, California  www.lemonladies.com It's been too long. I bought the little wooden bucket this past summer when we went to California. It was in a little shop in Petaluma. We got several nice things there. I wish I was there now. The cold never really bothered me that much. This year it feels like it's in my bones. Must be my aging. A new rooster came in from Ohio today to service my Black Copper Marans hens. He's only here on loan and for a short time, but is very handsome and very gentlemanly. Well Jay and Isabella are waiting for me to watch a movie with them.

"Meyer Lemons in a Little Wooden Bucket", oil on Gessobord, 6"x6", $50. framed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear friend Penny Bird. It was on December 27th. I knew her Father before I ever met her, which wasn't until high school. When I met her Dad, he said that I "had the devil in my eyes". I think I was about seven. He brought a mink coat for my Mother to approve before her initials were embroidered on the inside. After he left I went upstairs to look at my eyes and see if I could see the devil in them. I was happy that I couldn't see any devils, but looked for a sign of one for a few years after that. Snow in the trees today against the bright blue sky was inspirational. I went out to feed, water and collect the eggs, the sun felt warm. I thought about going out to paint en plein air, but my fingers don't work in the cold, they turn purple and yellow, yes, complementary colors, but too painful. The wind wasn't strong but blew most of the snow off of the tree limbs, leaving thousands of snow nests in the in the crevices of the branches. A really interesting effect. I try to go out hourly to get the eggs so they don't get chilled, so I was happy to finally be out of the weather tonight and went to the kitchen to gather some subjects for a still life. "Shallot, Garlic and Olive Oil", oil on Gessobord, 6"x6", $50. framed. I can't believe I've never painted garlic, as much as I love it.Enjoy the rest of your night. I need to go get under my blankets.

Yesterday I forgot to mention two events that coincide with each other, my brother Pat's birthday and the two year anniversary of my blog. Happy Birthday to Pat and also to Cine!

Isabella is here with me. She continues to paint the majority of her waking hours. I know I've said it before, but she really is something. Today we finally got a snowstorm that gave us more than a coating. Very beautiful and gratifying. So serene, I love it. 

My painting di giorno is of a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne in an ice jacket. I love the color they use for their label and the ice jacket, so since this is my first painting of 2009 I thought I would toast you with some champagne. To our mutual, health, joy, peace and prosperity. Cheers!

"New Year 2009", oil on Gessobord, 5"x7", framed, $50.

Gabriels' 9th birthday was December 21st and Danny's birthday was December 22. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUYS. We went to Maryland to celebrate. Christmas was almost a month ago and today I finally got everything Christmas put away.

My family didn't want to let it go this year. Our Christmas was more than wonderful and really huge. The grandchildren are getting older and aware of what's going on, so it's a delight introducing them to our traditions. We went to my Godson/cousin Nicky's and his wife Leann's for the Christmas Eve fishes. Again, Jay Jr., Danny and Nicky did a spectacular job with everything.

They went to the fish market and got our usual, traditional fish like, smelts, soft-shells, scallops, crabs, octopus, lobster, mussels, etc., but this year they added a gar and a frog. I didn't get to see or taste the frog and the gar was way too nasty to even cook, it actually had bad breath. Everything was fantastic. Poor Nicky had his wisdom teeth coming in. He was very uncomfortable.

Christmas day we had a very fun day. The best part being the grandchildren opening their gifts. Of course the food that Jay Jr. prepared was perfect. For New Year's Eve Jay Sr. and I took Gabriel to Georges' for an early dinner. It was just great. At midnight we went outside and banged pots and pans. I guess everybody else around here punked out because of the cold, because we were the only ones out there and Gabriel in his bare feet yet! 

My show at the Gryphon was very successful. I sold 20 paintings! I'm just so thrilled. Thank you to all that have added to their collections of my work and to my new patrons, I'm very grateful. My new exhibit is now at THE BURLAP AND BEAN in Newtown Square www.burlapandbean.com

It's a cozy cafe', very inviting, with good food and drinks. Please stop by and check it out. The image here is of my French Birchen Marans rooster "Henri", who is like a puppy, he follows us around and eats out of our hands. He was my Christmas card for 2008. "Henri, French Marans Rooster", oil on Gessobord, 5"x7", framed. $50.SOLD.

I'm happy to be back, enjoy your day.

This could be the last post until after the holidays. If I have time to get in here, I will, but I already feel like I'm light years from being ready for Christmas. 

Some wonderful things happening; paintings being sold at the cafe', my new rooster "Chanticleer" is getting the "job" done just in time. My black copper Marans are laying those very dark eggs and they seem to be getting darker by the day. Very exciting stuff. I finished painting the image for our Christmas card and got the order in today. I won't post it since I don't want you to see it until you get it in the mail.....if I don't have your address, and you want one, just email your address to me and I'll send one to you. I had dinner with my good friend Sue Silenzi tonight. We went to Christopher's for an easy dinner and lots of catching up. Felt good to see her.

The painting is of the vegetable and flower garden across the street from the French Laundry in the late afternoon. The bench was so inviting. I did take a photo of the fam on it, but didn't paint it that way. I haven't hung this painting at the cafe' yet. Hopefully tomorrow. "French Laundry Garden", oil on linen board, 10"x8", $250., framed.SOLD

If I don't get back before then, here's to your best holidays ever, despite the economy!

I pretty bummed tonight. Vincent is on his way to Arizona and I miss him already. I totally have seller's remorse. Maybe the woman who bought him won't like him and send him back. I hope so.

I was 3/4s of the way finished a painting of a cow and calf last night and Danny and Jay told me not to finish it, so I painted over it. My brother Pat told me it's called seeing the south side of a cow who's headed north. So it's history. I do have a sheep painting that's finished, but I redid it and didn't photograph it yet.

I've been working on family photos for Christmas gifts tonight and thought I'd show you this one. It's of (left to right) my son Jay, his wife Celeste, my grandson Gabriel and my son Danny. Just before this shot they were hand-feeding the chickens...."you can dress them up".....to add to the irony they were all decked out to go to Le Bec Fin for dinner. I love my family.

This was a wonderful Thanksgiving. Everything was without a hassle, the traffic to and from Maryland, dinner prep and the company. Krista and I laughed like fools over our "Goldfinger" turkey and Salvador Dali digital meat thermometer. The skin on the turkey went from a golden, Goldfinger crisp, to a George Hamilton very dark leather. Simply because she didn't take my advice and tent the turkey. But the best part was that Krista didn't know that you can't put a digital thermometer in the oven and let it stay in there while the bird cooks. It was great when we took it out and it looked like something Dali would have painted. Even with all of that, the food was just delicious and  we were ready two hours ahead of time. It was nice to relax before everyone arrived. Poor little Josie had an ear infection, but you'd never have known it. She was so happy when Isabella arrived. They looked precious.

Vincent my Welsummer rooster leaves for Arizona tomorrow. I'll miss him, but he'll be living the good life out there.

I finished two of the four paintings over the weekend. This one is titled "Chanticleer Lotus",

8"x10", oil on linen board, $250., framed. sold It's a new favorite. The very early morning sun is just magical. I love it.

The painting above is one of my favorites. I painted it last year and put it up in my exhibit at the Gryphon Cafe'. I forgot to photograph it and it got sold right away. It's back for a final varnish, so I took the opportunity to post it for you. "House by the Lane, Chester County, PA", 11"x14", oil on linen, sold. I went to Maryland on Thursday night and to Grandparent's Day at Gabriel and Jonah's school on Friday morning. Krista met me there and filled in as the other grandparent because I couldn't be in both places at once. It was really fun, I loved it. All three of the Johnson kids came home with me after that, so it's been really hopping here ever since. I'm finishing up a couple of paintings, one of which should be finished by tomorrow.

Then I need to get seriously busy and start shopping for and making the holiday soup for Thursday. I plan on having the kids help me prepare it. Isabella has been painting with watercolors almost non-stop. I think she has so much talent. She's an excellent colorist. I realize that I'm her grandmother, but I'm totally impressed. One of my little, Old English banty hens laid her first egg yesterday. Such a pretty little pearl-colored egg.

Jay Jr. cooked for us last night. Danny prepared the cheese course which was reminiscent of summer, with heirloom cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella with basil leaves and good bread and olive oil. Jay then made marrow bones on garlic bread with sea salt, gnocchi with a rabbit ragout and a roasted pork shoulder, brussel sprouts and cheese polenta. Then Celeste made a pumpkin bar dessert with whipped cream. The kids watched Jay cook and tasted everything.

We had plenty of leftovers as you can imagine, so it was great the second time around too.

It definitely got too cold too fast. Last week it was warm and humid in the 70s. This morning when I went out to get the roosters their water was frozen solid, not a crispy crust, solid ice. So I raced against time all day to get everybody's water heaters connected. Most of them were already positioned, but the cords weren't cooperating with the outside extension cords. Well, most everyone has heated water now. Today's PT for my shoulder went well with a new therapist "Toni". Believe it or not she's at least two inches shorter than I am! She's great. All of the exercise went really fast while we compared notes on our versions of the Holiday Soup/AKA Italian Wedding Soup. We had everyone there hungry by the time I was finished. 

I'm waiting for Derek to get here and we're taking Isabella for dinner, probably to Theresa's next Door. I love that place. 

The chicks are pretty much finished hatching, so I'll get a final count tonight. Very cute. It was wonderful watching Isabella's reaction to them hatching.

I'm giving you a photo tonight, since I didn't have time to finish a painting in the past few days and totally forgot to photograph one that I painted before, but never posted. This photo is of the cross on top of the Sonoma Mission, titled "Bird on a Mission", black and white photo, $100., framed

It was an eventful weekend, starting with a raccoon that was here in the middle of the day (definitely a bad sign) on Saturday trying to eat my Sicilian Buttercup chickens which are right outside of my studio. I'm very concerned and we're all on the lookout for it. Sunday, Jay and I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Craft Show. Really interesting and inspiring. Thank you Melissa! I was having trouble walking with my aching knee. I think the problem could be the deer tick that Danny pulled off of me on Saturday night. Not good. I have a call into the doctor. The boys went shopping for dinner and Jay Jr. made steamers for starters and then a rigatoni/duck/olive and tomato sauce main dish that really hit the spot. Just great. After that we played poker, Danny won as usual. I went to Maryland yesterday to read to Jonah's class today. I told Jeanie to have the kids wake me up this morning with kisses. what a way to start the day! Reading to Jonah's class was such a fun experience. I brought Isabella home with me. She already painted about four watercolors. Speaking of four, my Welsummer x Ameraucana chicks started hatching today. A very springtime thing to happen on probably our coldest day so far. There was even a snow shower on our drive home this afternoon. The chicks are precious.

The painting I posted tonight is of a vineyard in Napa Valley. I miss California. This painting was challenging, but extremely gratifying when it was finished. "Napa Valley Vineyard", 14"x11", oil on linen, mounted on board, $350., framed.SOLD

I admit it I hate my iMac. I realize that if I'd been using one since 1995 as I have a PC, that it would probably be a different story. But that's not the case and I despise this thing. Those weird A things that show up in my posts and emails, the way AOL, or the mouse, or my external hard drive or printer, or wmv files or try to save or find files, or my fonts, never work right. I can only take so much of it in the eight months that I've had it. AOL doesn't work at all now, thank God I have my back up PC. OK, enough moaning and groaning.

As much as I hate this Mac, is how much I love this painting of more Sonoma grapes. The grapes really do look like jewels in this one. "Sonoma Grapes #3", oil on linen, 11"x14", $350., framed. sold.

I won't go through the sad feelings about Ardrossan again, but here's a painting of the Black Angus cattle down by Saw Mill Road. I think it reflects some of the feelings I have going on about the sale of the property. I plan to do a similar painting of this, maybe bigger, but in any case it will be different.

I mentioned before that I started four new paintings. Hopefully they'll all be finished before the next first Friday. I'm starting to enjoy the process. The most difficult one being the French Laundry garden. Who knows why? I'll figure it out, I always do.

Here's "Ardrossan Cattle", oil on linen, 11"x14", $350. framed. sold.

Today's painting is actually the third in the series, but I wasn't paying attention when I titled them. "Sonoma Grapes #4", oil on linen, 11"x14", $350., framed. sold. I like the lighting in these paintings, the backlit grapes and the shade from the leaves with the luminous late afternoon sun peeking through is what attracted me to this vineyard.

Physical therapy for my shoulder is going very well, but I'm knocked out tonight, so I'm going to cut this short. Have a great night's sleep.

Heads up, for the first Friday of December, the 5th, as I'll be hosting another reception, again at the Gryphon Cafe' in Wayne, from 5pm to 8pm. Jay Jr. was scheduled to show his photography, but it looks like he's overwhelmed at work. So if you missed last week's reception, here's an opportunity to get in and see the brand new paintings just in time for the holidays. 

The painting to the right depicts the olives still on the tree in Sonoma. I'm loving the colors of warm and cool, although looking at it on my screen the colors are more vivid in person. Come out to the cafe' and get a better look. "Sonoma Olives #2", 10"x10", oil on linen, $250., framed.

My oldest Black Copper Marans pullet, "Mademoiselle Pertilote", laid her first egg today. Her new husband "Chanticleer" is still too young to do his "job". She is one of the chicks that I traveled to upstate New York for last February.The color of the egg is beautiful, a rich brown with no speckles, but it was the size of her egg that really surprised me. It was an extra large on my egg scale and weighed 69 grams or 2&3/8ths ounces. Now she's a big girl, but that's a big first egg. Anyway, I'm super excited about it. She's nine and a half months old, which is very late to start laying eggs, but she's the one that I rescued from the jaws of the raccoon a couple of months ago, so we've got to give her some understanding for the terror and trauma. She didn't have a scratch on her, but I can certainly forgive the delay. I'll be painting pictures of eggs again real soon.

My painting tonight is titled "Chester County Cow and Calf", 14"x11", oil on linen, $350., framed. SOLD Again you can see the crisscross grain of the linen and glare of the varnish which diffuses the colors and contrast of the painting. I still love the backlighting on it though.

We had great weather, food and music for a wonderful turnout on Friday night. Jay's students were terrific as usual. Such talent, Matt and Allison Tufano, Scott and Ethan Kripke, Eric Margolis, Olivia Mullen and Jay Sr., just made the entire night so special. Thanx to all of you for coming out and being the hit of the evening! If I spelled your name wrong, sorry, just shoot me an email and I'll fix it.

I need to go back to the cafe' and record the paintings that were sold, but would sincerely like to thank all of my friends and patrons for your

support. It's immensely encouraging to have you there, in addition to being a huge incentive to stay at the easel. Painting pictures is such a solitary practice, that when I get out into the public with my work, I'm really apprehensive and anxious. I realize that most people would say that artists should paint for themselves and while that's true for some, for me it partly is, but only to a small extent. The larger purpose of my work is done for God and for you. It's my attempt to share with you, my experience, i.e., the visual, emotional and even spiritual aspects of it. I love it, I hate it, it gives me fear, peace, joy, uncertainty and it gives me confidence and as always it defines one, albeit a huge one, aspect of me. I love my life.

 I'm not resistant to change, as long as I'm happy with and about what's changing.... I particularly dislike the "end of an era" changes. I'm not talking about the national, international or  global changes, although I could include many of those for sure. In this sense, I mean the "closer to home", personal, local ones that will never, ever be again. Like when the last person of the previous generation in the family passes away. Such a strange, scary feeling. Definitely a reality check. Anyway, that's what the painting above is about. After a few major losses and changes, occasionally, I've felt as if I needed to record a place--some I know, some random-- in my paintings. Photos are great, but I feel like I can capture the innocence and beauty of a place by painting it. I can paint it without prejudice and just simply take it at face value because it's there and I feel a connection to it. Several subjects of my paintings, human and otherwise, no longer exist. The fact that I painted them made me feel as though I've done my job. My tribute to them.OK, after all of that here is "Ardrossan Cornfield--View from Chanticleer",oil on deep, gallery-wrapped canvas,14"x11" $350. framed. Sold. 

I've been to Ardrossan many times and have passed this particular view countless times. Sadly it doesn't look like this anymore. The dirt road is now paved, so that trucks with building materials and construction crews can build houses in those fields. The end of another era.

I'm so sleepy I almost forgot to post tonight/this morning. I worked on many, many, family pix tonight and started four new paintings today. Also trying to wrap up some details for the reception tomorrow at the Gryphon, for First Friday. So I'll be speedy here.

The painting tonight is of olives, "Sonoma Olives #1", oil on linen, 10"x10", $250. framed. Again this painting presents so much better in person because of the glare on the linen. I doubt that I'll post tomorrow night after the reception, so if not, I'll be back soon. 

Last night I had the experience of a lifetime. Two of the people that I hold nearest and dearest to my heart brought something extremely rare and special to me. What they brought was some of Napoleon's personal Cognac. This magical elixir sells for $1000. that's right, a thousand dollars a shot. No, not the bottle, just a shot. When a bottle of it is sold, it's delivered in an armored truck! Unbelievable and unbelievably good. Very smooth and smoky with a lot of complexity...it stayed in my mouth for a good 15 minutes. I am blessed, not so much by the cognac, which I am extremely grateful for, but for the extreme consideration, time and just going out their way to bring this experience home to me.THANK YOU!

I had the first session of my life of physical therapy today. Everything was going great until a man that had just had his knees replaced got on the mat next to me and started moaning. That was all I needed to start crying and asked my therapist to turn me in the opposite direction. It just opened up all of the suffering Jay Sr. had gone through again, and I couldn't handle it. What a sissy I am. It's ridiculous. Anyway, I did a pretty good job with my range of motion and will go twice a week starting on Monday.

Tonight's painting is another one of grapes and it's dull in comparison to the actual painting. I believe it was glare from just having put a temporary protective varnish on them. In any case, it's "Sonoma Grapes #1, oil on linen, 11"x14", $350. framed.sold.

I am so happy that the political phone calls and ads will be over by tomorrow. I did my civic duty and I'm not going to stress about the outcome now. God will just have to take care of the rest of it.

I went to the shoulder doctor again today and start physical therapy tomorrow. He gave me an another injection--or I should say injections in the top of my shoulder joint. He couldn't get the needle in the right spot. I had to ask him to stop. It REALLY hurt. So he said he would try just once more and I could feel that one just slide right into the right place and the cool medicine go in. But man, it's really been screaming like crazy since then. He did say to ice it. I'm due for some Motrin when I finish this, so this won't be much longer.

Tonight's painting is of a quail at the Fedrick Ranch in California. They're all over the place there. Scurrying about all of the time, very busy. This particular little guy was perched upon a fence post, on the lookout, however I just can't take him all that seriously with that cute little topknot.  "California Quail on Guard", oil on canvas board, 11"x14", $350. framed.

Today was an extremely productive day. I moved three chickens into the garden, but except for adding willow fencing as a wind barrier, they're not winterized yet. I got the big pen of chickens ready for winter. When it starts freezing enough to make ice of their water, I'll plug their water heaters in. I moved their houses to face south instead of north and added more protection from the wind. They seemed to like the added room and brightness when I took down the shade cloths. They'll love all of the sun.

Tonight I edited Laurie Shipley and Winnie King's photos that I shot of their installation at "Two Paper Dolls", www.twopaperdolls.com

They moved from Louella Ave. in Wayne to West Wayne Ave. What a beautiful job they did with the lighting, colors and comfort. It feels like you've walked into a friend's house, not a shop. They have the letterpress there, which is one of my favorites when it comes to stationery. The above is the first oil painting that I did after our visit to California. The grapes in Sonoma County are ridiculously colorful. I was so amazed at all of the different colors on one bunch that I did four paintings of grapes. The rest will follow. The contrast doesn't look right, it's not that dull. There's more dimension to the actual painting. "Sonoma Grapes #2", oil on linen,11"x14", $350. framed. sold.

Be back tomorrow after my appointment with the shoulder doctor.

Jay Sr., Jay Jr., Celeste and I went to install my exhibit at the Gryphon Cafe' last night at 11PM.

You heard it right. We were there until about 1:15AM. THANK YOU Guys. They...I didn't hang anything because of my shoulder....did the hanging and the boards with the small paintings always present a huge problem.  Last year they were constantly crooked and swaying and the paintings continually fell off. So Krista found a way to mount the paintings so that they stayed put. THANK YOU Krista and Jeanie found a way to back the paintings more securely. THANK YOU Jeanie. 

The walls are full and it's a great relief to be done with it for now. We went to Christopher's afterwards and got some snacks and drinks. On our way, we bumped into Asser! Wow, how great that was. I really miss him. Felt like old times. By the way, remember, the reception for this exhibit on Friday from 5PM to 8PM. I'm really looking forward to the party.

How about those Phillies!? The boys went to the parade and there were about three million people there. Literally, the trains into the city were packed and delayed for hours. Danny being the tallest in the crowd immediately around him, couldn't see, but he kindly lifted up a 76 year old man so he could. Jay Sr. played (he was the musical entertainment in the tent for NBC) at the 1980 World Series game. The whole thing is such a boost for us. A great thing in these dreary economic and political times.

I finally had the nuclear stress test for my heart. The anticipation was a zillion times worse than the actual test. Thanks in big part to my dear friend Penny, who had me believing that my heart was going to explode and I was going to die on the spot if I took the Persantine. Just wait until she has to have some medical tests.....(me laughing fiendishly). It was actually for the best, because there was really no reason for me to take the Persantine. I did just fine without it. Well, that's an exaggeration. The treadmill was an ordeal that made me suspect that I was on Candid Camera, or it could have been an episode of I Love Lucy. I'm only about 5' tall. I definitely do not have a long stride. So everything was fine until they amped the treadmill up to the last segment. My heart and lungs weren't in distress, it was my arms and legs. My arms holding on for dear life and my legs trying to keep up. I felt like I was going to fly off of the thing and shoot across the room! Honest! In any case I did it and the best thing is that the results came back "perfectly normal". Just lovely, beautiful words. Thanx for the prayers everyone. I do want to say to anyone that needs to have this test, no biggie, even with the Persantine, Most of the people there did need to use it for their test and not one had an event of any kind. Asser, who is a heart doctor told me that they do get a better reading if you don't use the Persantine. So, thank God that's over. 

Now, starting tomorrow, I'll be posting again with photos of the last 10 or 11 paintings I've been working on and hopefully more in the meantime. I miss doing the small paintings, but love the 11"x14" size too. 

The garden is closed for the remaining fall and winter. I'm working on the top of it to keep the predators out so I can put the chickens and rabbits in there to weed and fertilize. I FINALLY got that damn raccoon! He's outta here, but my shoulder is still really hurting. I go to see the shoulder doctor on Tuesday. I'll vote on my way home. 

Still need to winterize for the chickens, quail and rabbits with water heaters and more protection from the cold. The weather will be relatively mild this week, so it'll be a good time for that. Well then, until tomorrow, stay cozy.

As usual, tons of stuff going on and plenty more to come. I might catch a break in January. Whew. I have nothing to show you tonight except for a youtube video Jay Sr. sent to me. Rick Miller....what a talent. Enjoy it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06mZvsWHs4M

The other thing I need to do is invite you to my next exhibit. Here's the info--

Where: Gryphon Cafe', 105 W. Lancaster Ave., Wayne, PA 19087, 610.964.1988

When: First Friday, November 7th, 5-8pm.

This will be a very casual event, please bring the kids and anyone else you'd care to invite. We're working on having some live music. There will be finger foods, beer and wine and the menu that the cafe' serves--hot and cold drinks and desserts. I would be so thrilled to see you there.

So that's the main reason I haven't been posting. I'm painting like crazy, but I'm not going to let you see any of them just yet. In addition, there's been the myriad of medical tests, with the next two being nuclear stress tests coming up on Tuesday and Thursday. Then there are the injuries I constantly inflict on myself now that I'm fiftyfine, and, as my doctor told me, "wearing out". The nerve of him! He's the shoulder doctor. I got the MRI results and I tore the tendons on my bicep, rotator cuff, and the one down my back by my shoulder blade that I can't remember the name of, which also leaves me with fluid on my shoulder, tendonitis and bursitis. I'm a mess! Actually I'm feeling much better since he gave me a shot in the back of my shoulder. When I saw the needle I cried like a little girl. The doctor got pretty annoyed with me, so I took the shot and wow, the pain was gone in ten minutes. I'm supposed to be going for physical therapy, but they can't fit me in at the rehab. Everyone else must be wearing out too. The neck MRI was excellent. My lymph nodes are fine. TYG! I still haven't been able to catch that raccoon, but I don't think he's been coming around anymore. I just keep the traps ready for him. Two of my Cuckoo Marans pullets have started laying eggs. Their eggs are small and not real dark, but dark enough to qualify as Marans eggs. Very exciting. My nephew Pat and his fiance' Jessica were married on October 4th. Wonderful, lovely wedding. Happy Marriage Kids! Last Sunday we celebrated Derek and Pat's birthdays. Happy Birthday Guys. I made the braciola and fusilis. Pat and Jess brought the salad, the boys got the bread and wine and Jeanie made the desserts. Dark and white chocolate bread pudding with a brandy sauce and a grape cheesecake.BTW, she made a chocolate, caramel, fleur de sel cake for me for my birthday. Really, really delicious.

That reminds me, I made a mistake on the 24th of September. My sister Amy's birthday is not on the 24th, it's the 25th. Sorry Amy, duh. That's it for tonight. I'm going to paint some more and then go up and watch Saturday Night Live with Jay. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

I was able to get my card reader working again, so here is my painting di giorno, "Window Box Study", watercolor on Moleskine paper, $25. SOLD This is the painting that I did with Josie, Krista and Celeste. What a fun time that was. Josie's got the bug. She loves to paint and is great with color.

Well Vincent isn't going anywhere right now. The gentleman that was buying him back had his hen die on him. That's a bite. I can't catch that raccoon. I have two new, bigger traps, but didn't set them tonight. Maybe tomorrow if it's not raining. It sure is quiet around here. I had a very peaceful day of painting after all of the animals were taken care of. I've got Chet singing "I Fall in Love too Easily", which makes for a good vibe while I paint. Very relaxing, maybe a little too. I'm going to go to bed and start "The Shack" that Jeanie and Derek gave me for my birthday.

Sleep snug. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SON JAY AND TO MY SISTER AMY. Happy 2nd Anniversary Jay and Celeste. Jay worked a double for his birthday, which was on Sunday, so Krista took all of us to dinner at Le Virtu on Monday. It was a great time. Today is my sister Amy's birthday. Amy, I hope it's been your best birthday ever.As I said when I last posted, Jeanie and the gang were coming up to spend the weekend for my birthday. Derek went to California to surprise his Mom for her birthday, but he called to wish me a happy birthday and told me that I was "50-fine". I'll accept that...just wish it were so. Anyway, it was a great weekend all around. We had some serious QT and I had a great birthday on Saturday. Jeanie left on Sunday afternoon and Krista and Josie came on Sunday night. They didn't leave until this afternoon. Josie was extremely entertaining. She is obsessed with Senor, or, as she calls him "Enyork". He actually allows her to carry him around and walk him on a leash. He took naps with her and slept with her at night. Josie, Krista, Cine and I went to Georges' for dinner last night....the veal cheek cannelloni was extraordinary....and Josie put on a show for us in one of the windows. Dancing and shouting "shoot it out", as she shot her arm out in front of her. Good thing the restaurant wasn't crowded.

She and I planted lettuce yesterday and she helped with the rabbits and chickens. All of us sat outside and painted with watercolors, even Celeste, but I can't show the painting to you because my card reader won't work. So frustrating. I don't know anyone who has more trouble with computers than me. Looks like I'll have to go out and buy a new reader tomorrow.

I finished an 11"x14" oil today, the first of California. The other four are still in progress.

I'm thrilled to say that the needle biopsy of my lymph nodes was negative. Once again, thank you God! I still need to get an MRI of my neck and shoulder. I was bending a metal bar and did something bad to my upper arm and it really hurts, still. I've been living on Motrin, so I need to have a more serious look at it. If I can get a card reader tomorrow I'll be back then. If not, probably not until next week, since all of the kids will be here at the same time to celebrate Jay Jr.'s and my birthdays and I've got plenty to do to get ready, as usual. Can't wait.

Before I do anything else, I'd like to thank all of you for the phone calls and emails of encouragement and support regarding my last post. Thank you very much, I take it very seriously and it means a lot.

Isabella is still here with me and we're having so much fun that I'm not getting much done, but hey, she's a priority. I'm constantly reminded of how quickly they grow, not only with my four children, but now with my four grandchildren as well. And let me tell you, I'm not happy about it. I'm spending as much time as I can with her because like her brothers and Josie, she'll be in school and then I'll never have enough time with her again. It may seem like they spend a lot of time here to their mother's, but trust me on this one girls, it's not.

I read somewhere that caring for grandchildren ups a person's risk of a heart attack, well, I don't believe it for a nano-second. Having my grandkids around brings back memories of when my kids were little and makes me feel young again. 

So here's my two cents...and with the economy and inflation it's at least minus two dollars, please, savor every second of their baby and childhood and don't blink, 'cause it'll be gone. This is one piece of advice that I have total confidence in  and would guarantee agreement from every other parent that has teen-aged on up children. I remember being in the midst of four babies/kids thinking that I'd always be dealing with little kids. Man was I wrong! It sure feels that way at the time, but I will admit, it was difficult trying to adjust to the empty house, not having to cook, grocery shop, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love this time in my life, but I'd give it back in a heartbeat to live even the tiniest moment that I missed while struggling with all of the small stuff.

I am working on five paintings right now. I can't do the paintings di giorno  because of upcoming exhibits. I'm loving how I can go from one to another when the paint is still too wet on one to get the clean colors I love. I doubt that I'll be back before next week. Jeanie's coming up for the weekend with the boys and I'm going to take my own advice and put everything on hold so that I can spend precious time with them.

The photo above is of my Dutch, Welsummer rooster, Vincent, named after the redheaded artist Van Gogh. Since the raccoon got all of my Welsummer girls, Vincent is going home again to Ohio, where he is originally from. My heart is broken, I will miss him more than I can put into words.

My son-in-law Derek's mom, Kristy, is also my dear friend and it was her 59th birthday yesterday. She is exactly five days older than I am and damn, she looks good! Happy Birthday Kristy, from all of us here on the east coast that have been the recipients of your graciousness and generosity. 

Speaking of Derek, I didn't post last night because he and Isabella drove up, so that he could watch the Eagles vs. Cowboys game with Jay and Danny. Naturally, Derek is the Cowboys fan. It was a great game, even though the Eagles lost. The boys did the cooking, Jay fixed fabulous mussels and Danny made delicious soft-shelled crabs. I did the tomato salad and my orchardess friend Karen's, cold cucumber soup. Modi made the bread...mmmm.

My doctor called with my test results on Saturday, as promised. What a terrifying experience. I was so afraid to pick up the phone. It was a CA125 blood test, which is for ovarian cancer. I won't go into all of the reasons (I'll leave that in my memoirs) that the test was necessary, but it makes me sweat just thinking about it. Well, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU GOD, that the test was normal. 

The three days that I waited for the outcome seemed like an eternity. The first day I just felt like there was no problem. Then when things got quiet, I started thinking about the reasons for the test and on the second day I had serious doubts. By the third day, I was angry and could have told you why I was the poster woman for ovarian cancer. I believe my dread was exacerbated by having witnessed a family member go through it. My sister-in-law Shirley, died at the age of 54. She fought hard and lived longer that expected, but it was hell. On the other side of that coin is, that in addition to thinking about the horror that could be ahead, I thought about my family and friends. There was so much to consider, but suffice it to say, I don't have to deal with it at this point, so please allow me to remind you to count your blessings, every day, I definitely will. Right now, to my family and friends, I love you...know it, no matter what, I do.

That leaves the painting di giorno, of a watercolor of a flower pot in my yard. "Flower Pot by the Pond, watercolor on Strathmore, cold press paper, $25.SOLD

Isabella's here for a few days, so I need to go cuddle with her. P.S., I still haven't caught that raccoon.

Well I tried to trap the raccoon with a Hav-A-Hart last night and the trap was tripped this morning, but no raccoon inside. I set it again tonight. I'm already weary of this. It's so stressful and breaks my heart for the chickens. I checked the pen for entry points yesterday and reinforced anything even slightly suspicious, but there was definite evidence that it was inside the pen again last night. The chickens are safely barricaded in their hutches and Gussie, our Muscovy duck is locked in a dog pen--not an easy task and he's not happy about it. Even still, they must be terrified at seeing this monster in there trying to get at them. Hopefully tonight he won't be able to resist the trap. Since I can't find the entry or exit points, it looks like I'll have to rebuild the entire top. That'll set me back a few days, but at least I'll be able to sleep at night.

I came very close to posting last night, but couldn't get the photos to upload, so I just went to bed since I had another doctor's appointment this morning for more blood work. Got some good and possibly not so good news, but I'll just have to wait until the results come back on Saturday. I'll let you know what happens. After the doctor, Jay and I went for a walk at Chanticleer, where we're working on walking up a hill without having out chests blow out. Today was day two. 

All of my tax stuff is finished and I'm already starting to feel freer and unburdened by it. I still can't upload any images, must be that time of the month for Blogger. Oh well, I'll try again tomorrow. Good night.

It's just about 5:30 am and I'll finally be going to bed after I post this. When I went out this morning to let the roosters out, there were feathers all over the place and I immediately knew that my last Welsummer hen was gone. That's four hens in two nights, so I decided to wait up and sit with the chickens to see what I'm dealing with. I went out at 8 pm, covered myself with a blanket and sat still. It was chilly, but bearable. Jay came out at 9:30 to say goodnight. I fell asleep right after that. About 10 pm I heard something whining and it woke me up with a start, it was the fox and I really scared her when I lifted my head. She snarled and screeched and ran away. I went back to sleep. Danny came home at 2:30 am and went inside after a few minutes of conversation. Within no time I heard some chattering off in the distance and knew my predator was on it's way. It took about 20 more minutes for me to have to change my position and uncover my head. When I opened my eyes, I saw it and I thought it was an opossum at first, but realized that it was a raccoon. I wanted to see how it was getting into the pen, but it was already in the other side of the pen and had my best hen in it's claws. I jumped up and turned on the flashlight and yelled at it to leave my hen alone and then yelled for Danny. It stopped, turned around and tried to get out of the pen and somehow it did, but I didn't see how. I barricaded the chicken hutches. Danny stood guard for a while, but then had to go help a friend who was on the blue route with a flat tire. I kept watch until now. It came back one more time, but left in a hurry without coming back, when I shined the flashlight on it. My hen seems to be fine. It's a huge raccoon and stinks like a male. I'll put a Hav-a-Hart trap out tomorrow night and that'll be that. Good morning and have a great day.

Hard to believe that September is not only here, but almost halfway gone. Crazy busy for us as usual. We've been to North Carolina and back since my last post, which was very pleasant. Last week we went to Maryland to go to Krista and Carter's for the Sunday before Labor Day. Jay Jr. made a fabulous dinner here for Labor Day. The food was terrific at both events. This weekend my brother Pat came up from Florida. I don't know how much better the weather was here though. I've been running around to different doctors scheduling ultrasounds, EKGs, nuclear stress tests, MRIs, biopsies, blood work, etc. It's no wonder I dread going to the doctor. I always feel like I'm going to get more than I bargained for. No matter, I'm keeping my attitude positive. On the plus side, I'm going to propose keeping chickens as a way to be healthier. I just had blood work done and my hba1c was 6.1, cholesterol was 163. Liver and kidney functions were great and all of my other levels were great. Blood pressure was 112/78. This is a dramatic improvement since I started keeping chickens again. My stress levels would be better if it weren't for that damn fox and her bratty kids. I've lost five hens over the past month. I can't let any of the chickens out if I'm not right next to them. The fox is now coming before they are locked up for the night. She must have brought her kids with her last night because three Welsummer hens were gone before I got down to the pen to see what they were fussing about. That won't happen again.With all of this and some unfinished tax stuff, I haven't picked up a brush, except to varnish some previously sold paintings. So I need to get back to work.I'll leave you with an adorable, photo that my daughter Jeanie sent to me of her three kids saying their prayers. Goodnight, remember to say yours and include one for me. Thanx.

Well, obviously the image from yesterday didn't come through, but I was able to get Josie's birthday party shot uploaded for tonight. As you can see from the state of her hair that she was having a really good time. She was very concerned that hers was the only breath that blew out her birthday candles. 

Tonight we did S'mores outside with all of the kids. After that Jay played super heros with them. He was "Super Wash Rag", because that's what they needed after the sticky mess they were. He was hysterical with them. I'm sure the neighbors thought they were being murdered, the way all three of them were screaming. Needless to say Jay and his new knees are doing great. No more cane or prescription painkillers. He's teaching and even back to landscaping, part-time. He still has his rehab for regaining full range of motion, three days a week and a regimen of exercises. We've even started our walks again. Dr. Booth did a wonderful job, but he has a terrific patient working with him. These kids have me wiped out, between them and the chilly weather, which I totally love, I'm going to hit the sack early tonight. Can't believe I can say this in the middle of August, but, stay cozy!

My precious little Josie has turned three years old on the 14th. She 's the youngest of my four grandchildren. I went to Maryland on Thursday for her cowgirl-themed birthday party. There were pony rides and ponies on a stick, along with tattoos and yummy cupcakes. So much fun. I came home with three party favors--Gabriel, Jonah and Isabella. Josie is in Wyoming at a dude ranch. For real! Apparently it's an amazing place and I'll hear all about it when she returns.

The Johnson kids are keeping me hopping. We've had a great time with them here. Picnics, campfires, S'mores, movies, Gameboys, swimming in the "wimming pool, with her wimming suit", as Isabella says. I'm lovin' it. Josie's birthday pix are on my other camera, so I'll leave you with another image from California. It's of one the little quail that run all over the place on the Fedrick Ranch. "Lookout", 8"x10" photo--color or black and white, $75., framed.Sorry, I can't get this image to upload.

Cine, Penny and I went to see "Mama Mia"tonight.While it's a feel good movie, it made me feel like I was 100 hundred years old the way Merle Streep was running, jumping and bouncing around. Maybe if I took 50 Motrin I could do a little bit of her acrobatics,I'm just jealous. We really enjoyed the movie. After we went to Theresa's Next Door to see Cine's son Brian and to be one of the first to wish him Happy 21st Birthday! Whew, even I remember what a huge deal turning 21 is. Happy Birthday Brian.

OK, I have no idea why everything is underlined here. There is no underline option, so I can't figure it out. It must be related to that weird A thing that occasionally happens. Anyway, after that, I called Jay and asked him to join me for a drink at Georges' to see what the boys were up to. I knew that a form of Absinthe was available again, so in the tradition of Modigliani and so many other artists, I decided to try it. It's not like the original that is green, aka "The Green Fairy", nor is it derived from wormwood, but it was delicious. It goes down much easier than Sambuca, because it's much smoother. I got a tour of the kitchen, prep kitchen and bakery by Jay Jr. Rest assured that everything is immaculate. I was very impressed.

The image tonight is from the first morning on the Fedrick Ranch. This was the view from the guest quarters where we stayed. I'd like to do a painting of this someday.

We had a busy, but enjoyable weekend. Saturday, Celeste and I went to Jessica and Pat's wedding shower. Jessica's friends, Kim and Megan did an outstanding job of putting it all together. It was great to meet Jessica's family as well. After, Jay Sr., Celeste, Pat, Jessica and I all met up at Georges'. The food was really wonderful. The specials were just so good.

Yesterday Jay and I went to the Brandywine River Museum and saw the Alfred Munnings exhibit. I was totally taken with his work. I love his brushstrokes and colors. Jay didn't like his watercolors, but I sure did. I thought that he handled his watercolors like oils, in that he not only used a lot of white paint, but he also used it on top of his darks. In any case, I liked the way he handled it. To me it was very effective and moody.

The painting above is of the Agapanthus by the pool at Kristy and Ron Fedrick's house, where we stayed while in California. Agapanthus grows everywhere out there and is so strikingly beautiful. I saw it in several shades of blue and also in white.

"Kristy and Ron's Agapanthus", 9"x12"pastel on Canson Mi-Tientes paper. Not for sale, I left it as a token of our gratitude for their graciousness and hospitality.

This image is pretty typical of the vineyards you would see in California. Misty mountains in the background with a bright, sunny, comfortable day. Amazingly like the weather we're having here in Wayne, PA. This is wonderful weather for the "dog days of August". I'm lovin' it. 

Tomorrow will be a busy day, my nephew Pat and his fiance', Jessica's wedding shower will be held in the afternoon, so I probably won't get home until late, which means that I need to wish my Aunt Jeannie a very Happy Birthday! Hope your day is all that you could want. We love you and miss you. With that, I'll say goodnight and wish all of you a fabulous weekend.

Tonight I had dinner at Georges' with Cine and Penny. It was great to be with them and also to be back at Georges'. They changed the menu and the food was really good. Cine and I had the duck duo which we loved and Penny had the burger which is usually excellent as it was tonight. We just about closed the place. We had tons to catch up on. Cine has never been to California, so I was telling her about the landscape etc., and we got on to last night's blog about Trinity Road. I was saying that it was so high up that you could see the vultures flying around below. That's when Penny chimed in, "that's right, they're waiting for you to fly off the road and get killed!". I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Good one Penny. Above is a photo of Jay at Quarry Hill Botanical Gardens. It was pleasant, but it was the last thing we did before we got on Trinity Road, so now I associate it with the sadistic bitch who told us that we could take that shortcut. Just kidding. She was very nice and stressed caution on the hairpin turns and curves. I guess I need to let the Trinity Road thing go.

Ok, tomorrow I won't mention it.

'Nite.

Tuesday was my 200th post. It's been a great time sharing with people from all over the world. In that time, there have been 45,587 hits. Being that it's just me, that amazes me.

The image that I chose for you tonight is of a place close to the top of Trinity Road. We took it as a shortcut to Napa. I personally believe that the reason that it's named Trinity Road is because whether you are Catholic or not, you are constantly praying to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost while you are ascending into the heavens and melting your brakes on the way down into hell, that you'll be alive at the end of it. The trees in the foreground are higher than where the vultures fly. It's one of those California roads that goes over an entire mountain, where there are no guard rails and the drop goes for miles over the side of extreme narrowness with a zillion, hairpin turns to keep you awake, a wreck and nauseous. What sick, disturbed creature designed something like this for people to travel on? I had Jay pullover at one point because my lips were sweating and I felt like I was going to lose the lunch that I hadn't eaten yet! Anyway, as you can see, the view is spectacular. The lunch we had at the Rutherford Grill was delicious. A glass of wine never tasted better, was more deserved or needed. We visited Silver Oaks Vineyards after that for a tasting. We enjoyed their wine, the staff was very friendly and gracious. I'd go back for sure, but not via Trinity Road.

Enjoy the rest of your night.

Today is Jonah's 6th birthday.....really hard to believe. I was in the delivery room when he was born and cut the cord. He even smiled at me. Wow, six years ago.

I just got back from Maryland to help celebrate. Krista and Josie were there too. What a great day. Sunday was Carter's birthday, Happy Birthday guys, I love you.

I'm really wiped out, but I promised the story about Celeste, Jay and Danny in California. Totally unbeknownst to Jay Sr. and I, the kids have been planning a surprise attack on us while we were in California for the past six months. During that entire time, both boys have done nothing but moan and groan about us going to California without them. Well, on the Sunday after our arrival, Jeanie drove us out to where we had dinner reservations at Bouchon in Yountville. We checked in at the desk and went outside to wait for our table. Shortly after I saw something coming around the corner, moving fast---people don't move fast in California---and wearing suits---something else people in California don't do. You guessed it, it was Jay, Danny and Celeste (sans suit, but with a pretty dress on) crashing the party!!! They had just flown in from Philly to surprise us and boy did they ever! They had all of the staff at the Bouchon Restaurant and Bakery in on it. The staff at both places which are next door to each other, were hiding them and cued them to come out. Jay Sr. saw my expression of shock and awe and wondered who I could possibly know in California. It was truly a highlight of my life. Jay Sr. and I didn't have the slightest inkling. My kids are such great actors. Danny even called me when he was actually in California telling me how he, Jay and Celeste had been sitting around at the pool at Jay and Celeste's apartment complex in Malvern all day, since it was so stinkin' hot and humid in Wayne---another thing California doesn't have, humidity --- and that they were on their way to Theresa's next Door for dinner, but they were stuck in traffic because there was a peace demonstration on the corner not far from our house. I also spoke with Krista and she didn't give me a clue either.

We were so shocked, so surprised, so happy, so emotional and so embarrassed because I was blubbering like a fool and didn't have waterproof mascara on, but it was so worth it. Thank you Kids, for making our 30th anniversary the best yet. After the big scene, the general manager of Bouchon brought out sparkling wine--they don't call it champagne in California, because if it's made there and not France, it's technically not champagne, but it tastes just as good. We had a phenomenal dinner to follow all of the excitement. The service was impeccable. The night was just awesome. I still get teary every time I tell the story, so that's it for tonight, I really need to go to bed. Good night.

We're home from California, but not loving that fact. We've been there a few times before, but saw it in a totally new way this time. The people were so friendly and generous. "Attitude" just didn't exist. The landscape and views were more than spectacular. At one point Celeste and I (more about her and the boys tomorrow) were standing in front of the "French Laundry's" vegetable garden, which is across the street from the restaurant. It was early evening and the sun was low with it's rays slanting across the valley, rim lighting the garden in a golden, hazy halo, with the mist on the mountains in the background. We looked at each other and just knew that this is what we are all about. This kind of California embodies who we are. It was so moving that we stood on the spot and prayed. I'll be sharing more about it all week. Instead of paintings I'll be posting photos, as I need to start California vineyard and landscape paintings while the emotion is still so strong in my heart.

The painting di giorno was started before we left, but I couldn't finish it because someone ate the fruit....no, it wasn't me. The style is much more loose and impressionistic than usual, but I suppose that's a consequence of a renewed spirit. It definitely looks better in person. Better clarity and contrast."Regal Moth and Peaches", 6"x6", oil over egg tempera on gessobord, $50. framed.SOLD

We've been watching a lot of movies during Jay's recovery and tonight we watched "Disturbia". I loved Alfred Hitchcock when I was growing up. Those ironic, weird, twists and turns his stories took always caught my imagination. So while I thought the acting was great, the modern version had a little too much junk in it for my taste, but I still liked it.

The painting di giorno is another of Penny's hydrangeas, this time with a bite out of one of the plums. I needed it for the complement and it was tasty. Again, on my computer screen, the flowers are a little too blue. It must be something with the digital camera and the way it reads color. "Complementary Bite to Penny's Purple Hydrangea", 7"x5", oil over egg tempera on gessobord, $50., framed.SOLD I'm wiped out from working in the heat today. Jay's playing Chopin's "Valse" (Waltz) and it's lulling me to sleep. Just beautiful. Goodnight.

We watched "Modigliani" tonight after another hot and busy day. The movie was interesting, but annoying because of the lack of attention to blatantly obvious details, like the baby being the same age, in the same outfit, throughout the entire movie. I like Andy Garcia in just about anything. The disclaimer in the beginning was also a bummer because supposedly, even though it was titled "Modigliani" and loosely based on him, none of it was true. Jay is upstairs on the computer finding out the truth. In any case it was inspirational.

My painting di giorno is of one of the mop heads from the purple hydrangea bouquet Penny and David brought the other night. This bloom, while definitely having more blue in it than the last one, according to my computer screen, has too much of a blue cast and not enough purple hues. The Key limes were so cute and tiny. I've never painted limes before, so I put them in as a complement.

"Penny's Purple Hydrangea and Key Limes", oil over egg tempera on gessobord, 7"x5", $50., framed.SOLD

Well we're coming down the home stretch for our trip to California. I spent a good part of the day getting the chickens situated so that the person caring for them will have everything they need on hand and conveniently located. I still have plenty of work ahead of me.

The painting di giorno is of a moth that I found dying outside of the drugstore while getting Jay's prescriptions. It's a Regal moth and they're enormous. Her body is at least 6 inches long. They don't eat and only live for a few days, but she laid eggs before she died. She still is so beautiful and her colors were even more vibrant when she was alive. I think we found a Regal moth caterpillar about 10 years ago, but I've never seen this kind of moth before.

"Regal Moth", 7"x5", oil over egg tempera on gessobord, $50. framed.Sold.

The weekend came and went. Here it is Monday again. We had a very productive weekend. Friday night we were invited to a concert at the Woodmere Gallery in Chestnut Hill. It was hosted by Estonia Piano Company, www.estoniapiano.com and started with a young man of 10 years old, who has been taking lessons for all of four years. This child has the makings of a prodigy, with the moves of a concert pianist. I kept looking around at the rest of the audience to see if they were also picking up their jaw from the floor. This kid was fantastic! So was the next performer, an "older" boy of 12, who was really not so much a pianist, (could have fooled me) but a composer, very impressive. Then there was Dr. Laul, the 38 year old owner of Estonia. Wow, is all I can say! I was transported.The combination of music and art was a heavenly evening for me. I wanted to go upstairs to the balcony where they keep the Delaware Valley Legacy exhibit, but never got there, so we went back yesterday. While I looked at the paintings, Jay serenaded me on the pianos that were left there from Friday night. What a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon. It was the best exhibit experience I've ever had.In between those two events, we shopped and ran errands and I put together some chicken houses. It was miserably hot and humid on Saturday, so I had to take many breaks and check out gardening stuff on eBay.Last night we watched "Love Song for Bobby Long", which we really enjoyed. I think John Travolta gets better with age. All of the acting was good. Speaking of which, our next door neighbor Rich Alliger is doing a commercial these days to encourage Pennsylvanians to quit smoking without a bad attitude. He's the grump in the second skit. I love this guy. He's got panache! We had a busy morning and afternoon today, which means I started painting late, but was close to finishing when Penny and David dropped by with a gorgeous bouquet of mixed hydrangeas and Vitex. They haven't popped in like that for a very long time. We hung out and talked for hours. It was terrific. I really miss that. Just us, without distractions.

So that means that the painting for today will have to wait until tomorrow to be posted. I'll think you'll find it interesting.

We sure got a lot of rain today. I thought the storm we had would bring in some cooler, less humid air, but when I went out tonight to bring the roosters in, it was like someone had been making soup out there all day. Brutal, but at least I don't have to water everything.

Jay started back teaching today for the first time since his surgery. Both students came here and I could see how much he enjoys his job.We've been watching a lot of movies while Jay has been recovering and I'm still fascinated with Javier Bardem. He's so versatile and his characters are so different in every movie. Last night we watched "Death at a Funeral" and the night before "Atonement", both recommended by our British friend Gill Blair. The photography and costumes in "Atonement" were just beautiful, while we got plenty of laughs out of "Death at a Funeral".

As promised, above is the painting of Penny's hydrangea from our anniversary bouquet. The purple plums had the similar colors so I included them. "Penny's Purple Hydrangea and Plums", 7"x5",oil over egg tempera, on gessobord, $50., framed. SOLD--thank you Penny and David.

Wow, this past month flew by fast. Jay's surgery went very well. Both knees are working, even though he still has considerable pain. It amazes me that he can walk up the stairs, sometimes without his cane, or holding on to the railing. I can't even do that! He's such a show off ; ))

We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary on the 1st of July, but had a big party on the 29th of June. Chef Kenny, did some wonderfully delicious stuff with the rabbit. Jay Jr. made the best quail I've ever had and Tom Wolters did a really tasty, grass-fed poussin. Chef Joe Frost sent some rabbit confit with pappardelle that he prepared--not a drop was left. Joe and Ashley couldn't be here because Joe's grandfather was in the hospital. We're thinking of you and praying for your Grandfather, Joe. Lenny and Cine did fabulous desserts. Cine's son Brian brought great wine and he and his friend Lauren were a pleasure to finally have here. Our neighbors Pat and Rich gave us a beautiful Lenox Anniversary plate. My cousin Larry and Marilena brought a very nice bottle of wine and a gorgeous bouquet of roses that I would love to paint. The guys from Theresa's Next Door came with a terrific assortment of beer and my godson Nicky hauled a cake that must have weighed 50lbs and it was all good! He and Leanne also gave us an over the top present of a big, cobalt blue Kosta Boda bottle that is just incredible. Really. My Aunt Jeannie also went all out and gave us a magnificent and really heavy, cut crystal Orrefors vase that was perfect for the perfect, white gladiolas that my nephew Pat and his fiance' Jessica gave us. Peter Maggio came after work and brought some good laughs with him and laughed with us at Danny's crazy stories. It was a very good time. There was more wine brought and great food that Jay and Celeste prepared. We also got to tell everyone about Josh and Lauren's "bun in the oven". Congratulations kids! Rich and Dee Mattis came with a serious bottle of champagne and Lillian predicted that her very soon to be, if not already born, sibling, would be a girl, named Rose Red, but if a boy, Rose Blue. She's truly an amazing child who at two years old can tell you about lightning bugs and why they glow and taste bitter.

Penny and David brought a shrimp appetizer and flowers as usual. Penny's hydrangeas are always so beautiful and inspiring, so they were my first painting after being away from the easel for so long. They'll be featured tomorrow, since I finished the painting today. I felt rusty, but am looking forward to another painting tomorrow. I have been doing some sketching, which I haven't done for years. Since I've been taking Jay to Chanticleer daily for the past week for his walk, I figured it would be a good time to get some practice in.

Asser moved to Boston and we really miss him.

Today I picked my first tomatoes and peppers. The photo above shows my harvest. No great shakes, but it sure makes me happy. The raspberries grow wild here, but most of my strawberries were a little slimy from all of the rain and humidity, so I gave them to the chickens. We've already been eating a lot of them, along with the blueberries, but the good ones looked nice in the basket even if there were only a few of them. The eggs from the Ameraucanas look white, but they're actually light blue. The quail are all grown up and laying eggs as you can see. The brown eggs are from my Welsumers and are darker than the photo shows. Lots of new chickens here, but that's a another story for another day.

Sorry for not having posted, but the strep throat went into bronchitis, blah, blah, that I'm still not over, along with business travel, grandchildren here, still here, family here and now preparing for Jay's double knee replacement surgery, hasn't left me with time to get to the brushes and paint. That doesn't mean that there's a lack of inspiration. I have three gorgeous colors of bearded irises calling to me, as well as many other beautiful flowers and animals at this time of year. As always lots of excitement, the fox was just outside my studio door this morning when I went out at 10 a.m. That really shook the both of us up. Jay Jr. has officially been promoted to sous chef at Georges'. Congratulations Jay! We're extremely proud of him. We did get a day off on the 25th of May to go to Patricia and Adam's for a cookout and some of the best home-cooked food that I've had anywhere. Adam, who cooks for our chef's dinners here, was really in his element cooking at his and Patricia's home. Everything was outstanding. Such a hospitable couple...I should say family, because their five year old daughter Anastasia loves to have guests. We closed the place, leaving at 1:30 a.m., but you wouldn't want to leave either. It was a fantastic party. Thank you Patricia, Adam and Anastasia. I will try to get some paintings, or at least some photos posted ASAP. In the meantime, say a prayer for Jay on Thursday as he has his surgery.

I don't have a painting for you tonight because I've been sick in bed with a fever and brutally sore throat. I have a doctor's appointment in the morning. I know that you hear it all the time, but it's true, it really is a small world. During my last exhibit at the Gryphon Cafe', my painting with the Pepino melon and Hyacinth bean got sold by one of the staff. It always saddens me when they don't keep a record of who buys the paintings, because I get an empty feeling not knowing where the paintings went. Without going into a bunch of psychological self-examination, I'm sure you can understand how every painting I do, no matter the size or subject, is naturally an extension of myself and I'll always have an attachment to it. So, when I got a call from a gentleman saying that he had bought the painting and was interested in one on my website, it tucked that anxiety away. Now the small world part...Peter came to the studio tonight and before he bought not one, but three paintings, we shared our backgrounds, not knowing that they'd be so connected. We grew up only blocks away from each other. Probably only separated by the fact that we went to different schools. The recollections were warm, bittersweet and sometimes hilarious. We're already kindred spirits, our lives running parallel all of these years and now, bam, we finally meet and become instant friends. Don't you love it when that happens? I often say that "I'm living the dream", and on days like today, when I feel like shutting the world out, but let someone in, more of that dream becomes reality. I've gotta go, I can't wait to call my brother and tell him all of the good stories. I'll try to paint tomorrow with the doctor's appointment, etc. Good night and thank you for everything Peter .

I contacted Blogger for help on posting photos, since now I can't post older photos that have already been published without problems. Sorry again. I'll try back tomorrow.

I don't know who's responsible for fixing the problems with uploading and publishing, but thank you very much. I've tried for over an hour to publish the photo of the painting that I did today. Last night I had problems publishing yesterday's post, but I was able to get it on here even though Blogger said that it hadn't been posted. Today it's the image. So until I can figure it out or Blogger gets it corrected, I'll just keep trying and save the images for you. Say a prayer that it gets fixed by tomorrow. Sorry. 'Til then.....Marans chickens and their eggs are amazing to me. They are French chickens. I've been fascinated with them for a long time and painting them for about a year. I've learned quite a bit about them in that time and especially now that I have a small flock of them. The chickens are so nice and easy. They're calm and friendly and really big. The eggs feed into my "egg thing", big time. They really do look like milk chocolate eggs. Some have freckles and specks on them, like one of them in today's painting, but most I've seen have even color. The darkness of the eggs, is due to the eggs spending more time in the hen's body, where the application of pigment is applied to the egg. This means that the longer the egg is in there, the darker it will be, it also means that the color can be scratched off. There is actually a chart for egg color that runs from 1 to 9. With 9 being the darkest and most desirable. The black copper variety of Marans (there are several colors and patterns of Marans chickens) are said to lay the darkest eggs. The thing is, the hen usually doesn't lay consistently dark eggs throughout the season. Usually her darkest eggs are laid in the beginning of the egg-laying season. The hens that consistently lay the darkest eggs, for the longest period are the most desirable and their fertile eggs bring big $$$.

So, having said all of that, mypainting di giorno is of three, of the four eggs that my black copper chicks hatched from. "Three French Eggs--Hatched", 7"x5", oil over egg tempera on gessobord, $50., framed.

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back here. I can't promise it won't happen again, but I have missed being here.As always, so much going on, we've had adorable little chicks hatching, but they sure do stink up the joint! They're a lot of work but very enjoyable. Princess Leia/Senor went to be with her new husband since she turned out to be a girl and laid two eggs. She has been replaced by Frankie, a beautiful, singing canary.

I've spent a lot of time having all kinds of medical tests for the issues with Lyme disease. I'm back on antibiotics. I really like my new rheumatologist, Dr. Jennifer Kwan-Morley. She's really a blessing and I feel like she'll be able to help me. Isabella was here again for a week. She's my big helper with the chickens and the bunnies. When I took her home, it was the night for Gabriel and Jonah's Spring Program. I loved it. I got to see Krista and Josie also. We all had dinner together and Josie was very concerned about Isabella getting the correct beverage. She made it her job to keep the server on his toes. She'll be in upper management for sure. I predict Isabella will have a very bright future as an artist. Seriously, this child uses color and pattern in a way I've never seen. I know I sound like a doting grandmother, but honestly, she's got something special. I should mention here that I realize that my punctuation is all wrong, but if I make indentations, paragraphs or spaces, those weird "A" things show up. But the PITA part is that it doesn't happen until I'm finished and I publish the post.Mike Selverian turned 50 years old. Happy, happy birthday Mike! We love you. My Mother's Day was awesome. Jay Sr. and I went to the Italian Market and got Italian meats and cheeses, olives and tomatoes. We already had some special olive oil from Le Virtue, when we had dinner there a couple of weeks previous. Modi sent the bread, the prosecco and wine made it complete. We sat around the table and ate and talked for a few hours while we listened to Julius LaRosa, Frank, Dean and Louis Prima, then watched a movie. After that Jay Jr. made a delicious dinner of spaghetti and "gravy", seasoned with pork jowls. Very relaxing, just the way I wanted it.I sold a few paintings last week, which is always a shot in the arm. Thank you to my buyers. We had the first of our big chef's dinners on the 27th of April. There were several chefs preparing all kinds of rabbit, chicken and venison dishes. Jay Jr. did most of the sides and everyone else brought wine or desserts. Modi (sp?) made the bread. Oh man, what a fabulous kick off to the season. I can't wait for the next one. Penny, Cine and I had dinner at Georges' last week. We closed the place as usual. The food was wonderful. Jay had his student's recital yesterday, which is always a treat. We went to Maia in Villanova after. It was very good. He has to have both knees replaced and the date has been set for early next month. We've been watching movies on the weekends when we get a chance. "No Country for Old Men" left me with the need to see Javier Bardem in every movie he's ever been in. I'm so fascinated with his diversity as an actor. It's not a physical attraction, I just can't get over how he can play so many extremely, opposite parts, so well. It was Asser's birthday on April 30th. Happy birthday with our love, handsome!  

The "painting di giorno" or my painting of the day, is of the lovely, dark brown eggs that my black Penedesenca hen has been laying. She is the most difficult chicken I have ever owned. She just wants to be wild. After a month, I gave her the option to free-range with the rest of the flock. She decided to roam away all by herself to the neighbor's house...of course it's the only neighbor that would complain, so I had to go round her up and chase her home through a field of brambles and poison oak. She's lucky I love to paint her eggs.

"Penedesenca Eggs and Egg Cup", oil on gessobord, 6"x6", $50., framed.SOLD

I finished putting my garden in tonight, so I'll be back tomorrow.

The quail started hatching on Tuesday, but they weren't supposed to until today. Once a few started hatching they were all popping out like popcorn. I couldn't stop watching them. I didn't even start a painting that day. The rest of them finished hatching yesterday, so I got them all set up in their little brooder box, with a heat lamp, etc. After that, I put a chair next to them and watched them, teaching them how to drink and sprinkling food around so they'd learn how to eat it...on and off all day. There are about 25 of them, I lost count when I was transferring them out of the incubator and they're so tiny and fragile that I didn't want to start over, so I'll do it again in a day or so when I put them in a bigger box. They are so stinkin' cute! They're about the size of a big bumblebee. They run around in their box, very busy eating and drinking. They're amazingly quiet, which is a good sign, because it means that they're content. I worked outside all day today. Cutting the forsythia back from around the old chicken pen. It's time to get the girls out of the garden. Just a gorgeous day here. The painting above was finished last night, but it was after midnight, so I figured I'd post it tonight. When I put the hatched eggs on the table, the egg cup was already there and it kind of reminded me of the eggs, so I included it in the painting. "Sure Sign of Spring--Hatched Quail Eggs", 6"x6", oil on gessobord, $50. framed. SOLD- thank you Cine.

We made it out to Vetri on Saturday night for our belated Valentine's dinner.Now I could sit here for a week and glorify our experience and it would be well- deserved. But I won't. I will say that it was one of the best dinners that I have ever had and I'll never forget it. I hope. We did the chef's grand tasting menu, with the wine pairings. We'll be talking about it for a long time. I took a dozen of our blue and green Ameraucana eggs for the chef, Marc Vetri, so he came out to meet us. Such a down-to-earth guy. We also met the nicest couple, Michelle and John. It was a pleasure to share the experience with them. Boy, would I love to eat there once a week. One of my favorite things about having dinner there is that they send you home with a goodie bag. The menu that Chef Vetri hand paints that day, the wine list of the pairings, some biscotti, a Zagat guide and our desserts that we couldn't finish were all included in a nicely designed bag. An Italian touch for sure. I never went home empty handed from my Grandmother's house. Here's a link, check it out. The photography is beautifulwww.vetriristorante.com

Yesterday we went to NYC. It was a wonderful time. We tried going to the Frick Museum, but everything was blocked off due to the Greek parade, so we went to the St. Regis Hotel, to the King Cole Bar for a snack and a Bloody Mary. It's where the drink was invented. The mural of "Old King Cole" by Maxfield Parrish is there behind the bar. It's always fun to hear Bob, the bartender retell the story about it. We left there and went to Les Halles on Park Avenue. It's the restaurant where Anthony Bordain worked for so many years. We were all really pleased with our food. After that we took a walk through Soho and wound up at Lupa, where we had phenomenal food and wine. We'll be going back there for sure. Then we walked some more and went to Vintage to try some flights of NY wines and their home made ice creams for dessert. Finally, Celeste drove us home. It was a happy and memorable day. Happy Birthday Jay.

I love pansies, so today I painted one that Jay Sr. gave me for Easter. The lesser celandine, which is a very invasive bulb that grows wild everywhere, was a good match for the pansy in the mini arrangement. "Pansy in an Antique Eggcup", 5"x7", oil on gessobord, $50., framed. sold

By now you may have heard the news on channel 6 last night. Georges Perrier has given back his Mobil 5 Stars and is transforming Le Bec Fin from very formal, white glove service, (which it has been for the past 38 years) to a more casual restaurant where you can wear jeans. He was very emotional about it, which made me feel sad for him. He was 26 when he opened Le Bec Fin. That's Danny's age. Wow! The news said he had to call his 97 year old mother to tell her. The interview showed him having some regrets about being so consumed with work. At 64, he's obviously rethinking the rest of his life. He said he wants to have fun. Good for him. Good luck Chef.

Last night and all of today so far, I've had nothing but aggravation with our computers. We couldn't get online. It's amazing to me how when there is trouble with them, the hours dissolve away. Dissolve seems too nice a word. Like it's happening peacefully. If you've had this experience, you know that peaceful, it's not, when you're ready to rip all of the wires out and smash everything with a sledgehammer, so that it all dissolves that way.For some reason, the clouds in the sky just cleared, it's sunny and we can get online again. No thanks to me and all of my efforts at all. Well, thank you Jesus!

Since I couldn't post last night, Jay and I watched "No Country for Old Men". The acting is just awesome, in the literal sense of the word. That Javier is indescribable. Where did he come from? How bizarre is he? I had listened to the book last fall on my trips back and forth to Maryland. I really liked it. I didn't even know that they made a movie out of it. The book helped my understanding of the movie. So read the book first if you can.My "yesterday's" painting....hmm, I may be onto something here, anyway, it's of Glory of the Snow flowers, which I saw on my way in from getting the mail. I planted them about 25 years ago. They're one of my favorite spring bulbs. They're a little bluer in the image than in the actual painting. I love them in the antique, enamelware, egg cup. "Glory of the Snow", 5"x7", oil over egg tempera, on gessobord, $50., framed.Sold--thank you Peter.Enjoy your weekend.

Spring is now official for me. Jay and I took our walk at Chanticleer this afternoon. Even though it's still pretty chilly, there are zillions of flowers up to inspire me, so I'm going to paint flowers for awhile. I'll include eggs here and there as well. Speaking of which, the first batch of quail eggs are due to hatch on the 10th. When I candle them (hold a concentrated source of light, like a mini Maglite against them in a dark room) I can see the veins developing and the chicks bouncing around. It is so amazing. I can't remember what else I had to tell you, so I'll close for tonight. Chet Baker is singing to me with his soft, soothing voice and it's making me sleepy. It could also be that I was up until 4:30 this morning reading "Soul of a Chef" and it's to the part about Thomas Keller and The French Laundry. I can't stop reading it.

"Purple Tulips", 5"x7", oil on gessobord, $50., framed.Sold...thank you Peter.

A week ago yesterday, was my Aunt Jeannie's retirement party. She seems too young to be retired. She looked better than some half her age at the party. The whole scene was impressive, but really different for me to see her in that light and interacting with so many people that weren't related to her. We always have the "fam" experience when we're together. I think the only other time I saw her in a similar situation was when she graduated from college, with the departmental award for economics. She made a speech, kissed the bishop's ring, etc. The difference this time was that she wasn't sharing the gathering with the rest of her class, it was all about, and only for her. She's worked for the government for about 30 years. It must have been a high security job, because I never actually knew what she did, but as she said, she made a lot of money and "it wasn't for making cupcakes". She received tons of serious awards, including having the flag flown over the capital and the St. Martin's. In any case, I was so proud and honored to be there. Now that she's retired she can go to Chanticleer with me. You ready Aunt Jean?

Chanticleer opened today. I was there in my heart, but our electricity went out and I panicked since I have incubators with eggs in them. It came back on in a little while but I decided to stay home just in case. Maybe tomorrow.

My UPS guy Ron, made a delivery yesterday and we were discussing what we ate for Easter. I asked him if he had spidzod for Easter breakfast and he said no, that they have it on other occasions, but not Easter. That's when I shared with him my dilemma about how to spell it and that I couldn't find anyone who knew and how we had the same discussion on Easter. Everyone tried googling it and no one could find it. Well Ron knew...almost. He said it was spezzado. When I typed it into google it asked, "do you mean spezzato"? I thought, wow, yes I do, this really is a word, this could be it. It was! There was a recipe for it and all. You're the man Ron! Thanx.

Today's daily painting was finished last night, but it needed to be photographed in daylight. Another welcome to spring, with the flicker feather turned upside down to see more of the color. "Flicker Feather and Quail Eggs", 7"x5", oil over egg tempera on gessobord, $50., framed.Sold--thank you Penny.

As you can see, March is really a big month for our family. Many important birthdays to celebrate. The past two weeks, since Isabella's 3rd birthday on the 16th have included--in chronological order--the following birthdays; my daughter Krista, who turned 35 on the 22nd, my husband Jay, who was 57 on the 26th, along with my little cousin Gabriella, who turned 3 on the 26th also, and today my daughter Jeanie is 29. Whew, they're getting old. Happy birthday to all!We'll be celebrating Jay Sr.'s birthday this weekend at Les Halles in NYC. Can't wait for that, or finally, for our belated Valentine's Day dinner on Saturday at Vetri.

I'm so happy to welcome Ann as a collector of my work. After you have two or more of my paintings, you're officially a collector. Thank you so much Ann! Our visit was so nice.

Easter was a treat with a full house for dinner. The Easter bread and spidzod were good and we now have plenty of limon/blood orangecello to last for a long time. Nicky brought his blood orangecello that was beautiful to look at and taste. Very smooth and flowery.Jay and Celeste really worked hard to put out a fabulous dinner of roasted lamb, pork and potatoes, along with ratatouille, polenta and gravies. Jeanie brought the desserts, Krista brought the appetizer, Nicky brought the homemade wine, Danny Kane brought the champagne, my brother brought the Remy, I am adding this later than this post because I didn't mention that Joe Frost and Ashley brought the bread, (I was distracted by the beautiful heather plant) so you know it was something else and almost everyone brought beautiful plants and flowers. Everything was just outstanding. We ate, drank, talked, laughed, had an Easter egg hunt, played cards and generally just had a great time.Finally, my daily painting is a welcome to spring. It was raining and chilly today, but my quail finally started laying eggs again on Saturday. Here, in this painting is the first one of the season, along with a quail feather and a crocus. I was able to adjust the color of the image. Now it's more accurate.

"Welcome Spring 2008", oil on gessobord, 6"x6", $50. framed. Sold...thank you Peter.

Happy birthday to Super Bella!

Isabella turned three years old yesterday, so we drove to Maryland for her birthday party. It was wonderful. Jeanie made a terrific meal and desserts, as usual. Isabella knew it was her special day and was ready for it. Just precious.We drove back and met Danny, Jay Jr., Celeste and Jeanne and Dan Welch at Georges'. The Welches are awesome people. It always does my heart good to see them.I don't see how I can get painting time in this week. But I'm so happy to say that I can't because my brother Pat is coming to town to stay for Easter and I'm going to have an extremely full house, especially for Easter Sunday dinner. In addition, I'll need to clean, shop and then make the Easter bread and spidzod...I have no idea how to really spell that and I can't find anyone who does. I tried to google it, but that didn't work either. It's like so many other Italian words, the spelling isn't even close to the way the word sounds, e.g.: pasta y fagioli, soppresata, aceto, etc. It's probably our dialect. If you know, please clue me in. Anyway, it's a dish of veal cubes stewed in a tomato sauce. I poach eggs in it and we eat it with Easter bread for breakfast on Easter morning. My father didn't do the poached eggs with his. He ate it with the traditional hard-boiled egg. I will also make little men (bigger than gingerbread men) out of the bread dough with a hard-boiled egg on their belly. The grandchildren will have one baked for each of them. My shortcut will be, that with the Ameraucana eggs, I won't have to dye them, since they're already green or blue.

Then there's the homemade limoncello and blood orangecello to finish and bottle. I'm going to try to get out of making the holiday soup, unless my brother really wants it. So that's my story.Happy Easter.

Danny's knees are healing and Jay's mouth is still tender, but they're on the mend.

Getting ready for the art show coming up at Church of the Saviour. That and having the whole gang here for Easter is already crunching my time, but today was beautiful, warm and sunny, so I worked outside in addition to everything else. My remaining Penedesenca hen has been getting picked on by the Ameraucanas, so I started playing a switching game with her and them to get them to stop. I put her in the garden, which is a big space, with just one of the Ameracaunas. That worked, since they're so social, so today I put all of them together. It was OK, but she (the Penedesenca hen) is so nervetic that she jumps at every little movement they make, which breaks my heart. I decided to try her with the chicks, supervised, and put her with the little Welsummer and Marans six weeks old chicks. They're pretty much feathered out. She was so happy when I put her in with them, she started clucking like a mother hen. So now we're all happy.Jay bought three flats of pansies for me, which he usually does for Easter. I got all of them in the window boxes and a few planters. They're beautiful.

My daily painting is of an heirloom pear, Meyer lemon and my old flicker feather. When I was arranging this composition, I knew I had to include the pear before it went bad like the other two Jay bought with it. I played around with an egg and the lemon, back and forth. The lemon enhanced the pear, but I felt it needed something else. The feather did it for me.

"Meyer Lemon, Heirloom Pear and Flicker Feather", 6"x4", watercolor, $25., framed.sold

Have a great weekend.

The grandchildren sadly....for all of us...left Sunday night. It was really quiet around here except for Monday morning when Danny fell running on the stairs and sprained both knees and tore some ligaments. So we spent Monday in the emergency room. At the same time Jay Sr. was having a tooth extracted. They're both OK, but whew! Danny's still supposed to be bedridden, but he's incorrigible. Jay Sr. is a much better patient.

In any case, I'm back to painting. The daily painting is of an Ameraucana egg that I broke immediately upon completing the painting.

I got the antique enamelware egg cup on eBay. I love it with these eggs. More tomorrow, gotta go...Danny's calling me.

I'm back sooner than I thought. The painting of the day is on Ampersand's Claybord. It's the first watercolor I've done on this surface. I do and don't like it. It looks dull to me and it's difficult to get good highlights, even when they're reserved. I think acrylic would be better suited for it. I'll varnish this one. I believe that will enhance the colors and clarity."Antique Enamelware Egg Cup and Ameraucana Egg", 5"x7", watercolor on Claybord, $35., framed.SOLD

I tried posting earlier but couldn't get through. This painting of a Meyer lemon and grape happened because I took the grandchildren to Costco yesterday and bought grapes. When I washed them there was a grape with a tendril of a vine still attached. Now I have some unusual dark pears that I had planned on painting today with a lemon, but if you've seen the first "Shrek" movie on DVD where the characters are jumping up and down saying "pick me, pick me", that's what this grape seemed to be saying, so I did. This week in watercolors has taught me a lot. I'm pleased that I didn't have to cheat once and use any white paint. I feel as though I effectively reserved the whites. In all of my still lifes and almost all of my paintings, except for portraits, or work that needs to be exact, I never do preliminary sketches, on the canvas, or paper. I like that exercise and challenge, therefore, as usual, I didn't do any drawing with these watercolors. Having never painting a grape, lemon or plum in transparent watercolor, I'm fairly satisfied with today's and this week's work. "Grape and Meyer Lemon", 6"x4", watercolor, $25., framed.SOLD-thanx Penny & David.

Enjoy your weekend.

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. Jeanie, Derek and the kids arrived right in the middle of my painting and I had to stop. The kids are here for the rest of the week/end, which is a joy. Jeanie and Derek are in the Bahamas.

Happy Birthday to David Bird...yesterday andcongratulations to my Aunt Jeannie, in celebration of Women's History Month, for being nominatedWoman of the Year for the DSCP Federal Women's Program.Her category, is Supervisor/ Manager. Wow, what a huge deal this is! Aditi Roy from NBC 10 News Team will be the keynote speaker at the awards luncheon. Best of luck with this Aunt Jean, the nomination is great, but you deserve the award. It would certainly be the apropos way to cap off your retirement party the next day.The last plum appears above. It was interesting to watch the color of their ripeness develop and intensify over the past few days. The green totally disappeared by today.

"Red and Yellow Plum", 6"x4", watercolor, $25., framed.SOLD--thanx David.

I am really having fun with these watercolors. They're really a stretch for me, but I know that's always a good thing. To be truthful, I wouldn't be doing them if I hadn't run out of the little canvases and gessobord. I promised myself that I wouldn't buy anymore canvases of any size (unless commissioned) because I have so many, in so many sizes and I have to use them up. Anyway, I ate one of the plums last night when I was finished. They're really good. Here are two of them that were in a setup of three, but the two of them seemed like they were having a very serious private discussion and wanted to be alone in the composition so we have "Very Serious Red and Yellow Plums", 6"x4", watercolor, $25., framed. sold

Before I go tonight, I wanted to send my gratitude to David in Glasgow, UK, for his purchase of two "Yellow Dahlia" prints. Also to Penny Bird, my very dear, old friend and collector--wait, I should clarify that, the friendship is old, not Penny-- who bought "White Rose, It Is What It Is". And finally to a new collector, Chris from New Mexico, who already feels like a friend of many years, for her purchase of two paintings, "For the Love of Lemons" which I just finished last week and "Art Glass and Quail Eggs with Milk Glass Stone". Karen I sent her three lemons since she's never had a Meyer Lemon. I am very grateful to all of you and truly appreciate your support. THANK YOU!

Jay Sr. got these plums for me today. So different. I've got to dash, but will be back tomorrow."RED AND YELLOW PLUMS", 6"x4", watercolor, $25. framed.SOLD

On my screen, the painting at right is way too light and bright and there's no reflection of the yellow in the shadows around the lemons. This is the pair of Meyer lemons that I started yesterday. Now finished, it's titled "For the Love of Lemons", 6"x6", oil on linen, $50., framed. Sold--thank you Chris.

Karen, the orchardess from www.lemonladies.com would like everyone to know that she's got loads of beautiful, organic, big, ripe, juicy lemons. Treat yourself. You'll love them as I do.

Valerie Knight from WOGL FM, Oldies 98, dubbed Danny, "Champagne Danny" this morning on the "Breakfast Club"radio show. The tickets for the Georges' "Restaurant Deal" set a sales record on the show. I believe all 160+ tickets were sold within minutes. If you heard the show, you can tell that Joe Frost, Danny and the Breakfast Club hosts had a really good time. My favorite part was Danny's remark about not getting "a hat and t-shirt for finishing the 32 ounce cote de boeuf at Georges' ". It was fun to listen to for the few minutes that it was on.

I took Isabella to Maryland this morning and my day hasn't been quite as bright as when it started out this morning. That's when she told me that she didn't go poop in her night night. Which was a surprising statement because she's been using the potty for a really long time. Her night night is her bed. So that remark totally caught me off-guard before my eyes were fully opened. Then it struck me funny, so I couldn't stop laughing. I'm really missing her. 

Before I go, here's the SNOW CREAM recipe that I promised Karen.

Put a clean, large, bowl outside before it snows or as soon as you can after it starts. Place it out in the open away from trees, power lines, etc.

When the bowl is piled high, full of snow, bring it back into the kitchen and pour in two, 15.25 oz. cans of fruit cocktail in heavy syrup and one, 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk. I use Santini's organic, that I order from amazon.com. Stir gently just to barely combine the ingredients and serve immediately. Now this is Ernestine's recipe, you can be creative with the fruit, but I don't think you can skip the sweetened condensed milk. Of course you can double and triple the recipe if you've got a big crowd. It's always good to experiment. Let me know if you come up with something good or have another version. Karen, what's your recipe for snow pudding?Well, have a terrific weekend.

Danny and Joe Frost will be on OLDIES 98, WOGL FM RADIO'S BREAKFAST CLUB, tomorrow morning. The show runs from 5:30 am to 9 am. They do a half-price promo on tickets for dinners at featured restaurants and you guessed it, "Georges" is the featured place tomorrow. They start the ticket sales online at 8:45 am. I will be on it. I'll save a bundle, that's for sure. This is the link for the breakfast club and you can click on the restaurant deals to buy tickets.http://www.wogl.com/pages/76470.phpThe painting above is not finished, but I posted it anyway. It was just taking too long for the layers to dry. The colors start to look muddy if they're over mixed. When it comes to painting lemons, I really like the colors to be clean. I got my new box of them today. They're really big, like oranges and a warm, golden orange color as well. I'll finish the painting when I get back from Maryland. Isabella goes home tomorrow.

Well the fever, chills, aches, pains congestion and cough definitely got the better of me yesterday.I was a mess. Isabella would come over to the sofa, kiss me and say "I love you Mom Mom, you're my best friend". If that's not a good reason to get better fast, I don't know what is. When I got up this morning and was fixing breakfast for her, I was wondering how I would get through the day. I was barely able to hold a conversation with Jay when he came home around noon. He got a loose tea called "Flu Fighter", and brewed some for me. About half an hour later I started feeling better. Not drowsy and drugged, like a cold and flu medication, but more clear-headed (that alone is a miracle) and functional. My wonderful daughter-in-law Celeste, came by later this afternoon with flowers for me and candy for 'Bella. I still have a bad cold, but I made a strong homemade broth with ditalini for dinner. I used some beef bones that Jay Jr. had roasted to make marrow on crostini. I froze the bones, for just this kind of soup. It was perfect for tonight. Since I couldn't even focus enough to paint today, the photo above is of Gabriel, Isabella and Jonah on the 18th, when we went to Valley forge Park for President's Day. It was really windy, but unseasonably warm and sunny. I'm looking forward to painting tomorrow. I'm going up to the kitchen now for some flu fighter tea.

Goodnight.

Chef Joe Frost was on 10!, which is an NBC tv magazine on channel 10 in Philadelphia, this morning. He prepared a shrimp ceviche that looked really good. Easy and quick. Jay Jr. was there with him, but he was backstage. Jay said that the football player that was on, John, is it Runyon? I forget his name, is the biggest human being he's ever seen, but also a really great guy. Here's the link to the show. Once you click on it, click on "behind the scenes" and you'll see different scenes from the show. http://www.nbc10.com/10/index.htmlToday's painting is one that I had started from the last box of lemons. "Zested and Juiced Meyer Lemons", 7"x5", oil over egg tempera, on gessobord, $50. framed. sold--thank you Ann.

I'm going to bed, I have the chills and my head hurts so much from coughing, I've had it.

Shortly after the snow started last night it stopped and I was disappointed. Jay and Danny said they didn't think it would amount to much. It did start up again during the night. I don't know how much we got, but it was at least three inches, and that's good enough for me, simply because I wanted to make Snow Cream for Isabella. If you've never had it and would like the recipe, just ask. It's really good and my mother-in-law, Ernestine, taught me how to make it. So since we had a snow day, I made pumpkin pancakes for Isabella. She loved them. The chickens weren't thrilled about the snow, but they ventured out. I have a small-pet, heating pad in their house to keep their water from freezing, but the Penedesencas, pushed the bowl out of the way and sat on it. The Ameraucanas didn't mind the snow at all. Today was the chicken introduction day. I've kept the Penedesencas isolated just in case there were any health or parasite issues. Last night after they fell asleep, I put them all together in a new house so that they would all wake up on new turf. They got along without any problems. Yesterday, one of the Penedesencas laid an egg. I was going to do a painting of  it and then put it in the incubator, but we needed it to make the pancakes this morning. The color is lighter than the Welsummers and Marans eggs, but still darker and without the warm, orangey color of regular brown eggs. Today's pear painting is the last of the series, "Red Unpaired Pear", 5"x7", oil over egg tempera on gessobord, $50. framed.SOLD Isabella and I are going to spend the weekend trying to get rid of these "coughs in our mouths"...and especially in our chests. Enjoy your weekend.

Isabella and I took the roosters out to the Komorowski's today. They just can't be quiet. I love the sound of a rooster, but the incessant crowing was just too much. It's not fair to subject neighbors to that. So, I'm pretty bummed, but they will definitely be happier having the freedom there. It's a beautiful old farm and I can see them anytime I want.

The pears needed to be painted again, so today I painted two. "Red Paired Pears", oil over egg tempera, 5"x7", $50., framed. sold

We're expecting three to six inches of snow overnight.I can't wait.

It snowed tonight, just a coating, but when I went out to lock up the chickens, it looked like a scene from "Edward Scissors Hands". The snow was sparkling like zillions of little diamonds. So lovely.

I asked Jay to get some fruit that I could do a painting of. He chose these three pears. I think they're perfect, even with the few blemishes."Three Red Pears" 7"x5", oil over egg tempera on Gessobord, $50. framed. sold--thank you Ann

Jeanie and the kids came up on Sunday. She and Danny went out to celebrate Jeanie's birthday, so Jay and I stayed home with the kids. They're so cute and funny. Before they left on Monday we went to Valley Forge Park for President's Day. They had a wonderful program. The kids loved it. After they left, we settled in with Isabella. The day was so incredibly beautiful and warm that I got another pen set up for the new chickens. It was such a pleasure to be able to work outside.

Isabella and I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening playing.

We were supposed to have dinner with Penny and Cine tonight, but Isabella has a fever, headache and "cough in her mouth", so we're home.

Danny gave me a small box of champagne truffles from Teuscher Chocolates of Switzerland. They're made with Dom Perignon Champagne and Zagat rated them "the best truffle on the planet". I painted them along with a glass of champagne and ate one as soon as I was sure the painting was finished, I'm saving the other one for Jay. That's true love, they are so hard to resist. Wow! If you've never had one, go to www.teuscher.comand get some online, or locally at their shop at the Bellevue in downtown Philadelphia. You'll want to savor each one. They're really special."Champagne and Champagne Truffles", oil over egg tempera, on gessobord, 5"x7", $50. framed.SOLD The background in the painting is a deep, indigo blue that looks almost black, not brown and the truffles are darker too.

How was your Valentine's Day?Jay didn't get home 'til late, but we had a nice romantic dinner and good champagne. A 1988 vintage, that was different. Mellow, smooth with a honey finish...nice. The best Valentine's Day cards ever and beautiful flowers.I'm really looking forward to the long weekend. Jeanie and the kids will be visiting. I miss them so much. Isabella will stay for the week. We'll be very busy I'm sure.I finally finished the sheep painting. I worked with the background and foreground and then, as I will often do, I just de-emphasized them. Then I focused on the fence and the sheep and the way the light touched them, without overworking them.  It's a pretty dark painting, but that's the way the light is sometimes when the sun is so low at the end of the day. Unfortunately, you can't see how nice the painting really looks, which honestly is much better than this image. It's darker and the warm color and contrast is off. Maybe it's my screen.

"Chester County Sheep at Day's End". 14"x11", oil on gallery-wrapped linen, $350. framed. sold--thank you Ann.

Have a relaxing, long weekend. I'll won't be back until Tuesday since the kids will be here until then.

Here it is, Thursday already and I'm still talking about Sunday, but it was good.

After being entertained by Nestor Torres, with Latin music at the Kimmel Center,and since we were already in town, we decided we were in the mood for Latin food for dinner, so we went to Alma de Cuba at 1623 Walnut Street.www.almadecubarestaurant.comWe weren't disappointed. The food was great. The atmosphere was actually a little too cool and refreshing after coming in out of the 45 mph winds and plummeting temperatures. It looks like the kind of place where you'd see Ricardo Montalban smoothly walking around. It is the perfect place to be on a hot, July night.In any case, the service was outstanding, just the right degree of attentiveness.For starters, of course no matter how cold it was, I had to have their signature Cuban drink, a Caipirinha, which was worth the chill. Jay had the Chupe de Mariscos, a Peruvian seafood chowder with a poached egg. It was incredible, really. I had the Oysters Rodriguez,crispy fried over fufu (mashed sweet plantains with bacon) sauteed with spinach and a horseradish sauce.They were very good, but I wouldn't get them again. I'm not a horseradish sauce fan and I'd want to try something else. For our mains Jay had the Vaca Frita, "Fried Cow", crispy skirt steak, which again was exceptional, but I dislike that strong beef taste. Jay liked it, but he liked my Lechon Asado more and so did I. Crispy skinned pork with garlic/oregano mojo, black bean broth and marinated cabbage with a creamy yucca. I don't have the words to describe how delicious this dish was. It reminded me of the pork belly Jay Jr. made for new Year's Day. So incredibly good. The portions are big, so we sampled our food and had the rest packed for Jay Jr. and Danny to taste. We shared a couple of bites of the chocolate cigar for dessert. Very clever with their Alma de Cuba cigar band on it and the sugar matches next to it, that they light when they present it. It was beautiful eye candy, as well as rich and tasty.Today's daily painting is the last of the truffle series. It's dark chocolate. Maybe we'll have the truffles for dessert tonight. Since Jay has to teach, we're saving our Valentine's dinner for April 5th. We've got a dinner reservation at Vetri, for the tasting menu. I can't wait.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Appreciate the love you've been blessed with, it's a gift that needs to be nourished and cherished.

"Dark Chocolate Truffle", 6"x6", oil on linen, $50. framed. Sorry the image is blurry. I think it's my lens.

Today's truffle is milk chocolate with a dark chocolate swirl. It must have been all of the egg paintings that made this series easier than most. I've really been enjoying them,without having eaten one of the truffles...yet.

So back to Sunday--our very kind and dear friend, Mike Selverian got box seat tickets for us to see Nestor Torres perform with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops. Torres was born in Puerto Rico. He's a flautist beyond compare. He mixes, Latino, jazz, pop and classical music and he does all of this with great style and humor. His rendition of "Beseme' Mucho" was beautiful and soulful, it won out over "Sketches of Spain" as my favorite, but all of it was outstanding. His talent is so over the top. He is very humble, emotional and dramatic. He's also got that kind of "The Sexy" from Saturday Night Live thing going on. It was a phenomenal performance with the "Pops" at their best as well. We really enjoyed it. Thank you very much Mike.

Tomorrow, I'll take you through part 2. I've got to get working on some of the bigger paintings.

"Milk Chocolate Truffle", 6"x6", oil on linen, $50. framed.

We had a nice weekend. Saturday, I drove the three hours up and three hours back to New York to get my new chickens and hatching eggs. It snowed the entire way up and back. I don't think I would have gone if I knew I was going to be driving that far in the snow. It was good for me though. The scenery was breathtaking in the true sense of the word. The mountains looked like God came along and dusted them with powdered sugar. The effect was even more spectacular with the heavy fog and intense contrast against the black rock formations.

I got a trio of a Spanish chicken called Pendesenca. They're black and the rooster is enormous, he must be three times the size of my Ameraucana rooster, Diego. He sounds like a moose when he crows. Not that he's so loud, it's just that his crow is so deep and almost bellowing. He's a sweetheart though and allows me to put him to bed every night so he doesn't wake the neighbors. I don't think we'll be able to keep him since Diego wouldn't stand a chance near him and the two of them try to outcrow each other, all...day...long!The hens are a little skittish compared to Frida, Flavia and Leenda. Hopefully we'll become friends and they'll calm down.I finally got some Marans...which are the French chickens. These are black copper and have feathered legs. The males are gorgeous and the hens are black. Since mine are only chicks and chicks in progress (eggs in the incubator) I don't know if they will be hens or roosters. Roosters will have to go to new homes. Lastly, there are the Welsummers, which are Dutch...chicks and eggs as well. They'll be brown and a partridge pattern, which is very pleasing.

The chicks and eggs are here with me in the studio.I enjoy the peeping of the chicks. 

I'll finish telling about the weekend throughout the week. There's just too much for now.

The snow today is a nice change from rain, especially since I don't have to drive in it.

I didn't post yesterday because my old computer had finally had it. My son Jay took me out and I got an iMac and set it up last night. Then I broke my left forefinger loading the woodstove. I did finish a truffle painting despite that. Being left-handed, it's actually harder to type, pecking with my middle finger, than it is to paint.Finally, Tim sent me a link for the dead bear, but none of his photos.http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readcollierarticle.asp?articleid=17318&z=13

If the link doesn't work just copy and paste it into your browser.

Today's daily painting is in keeping with the Valentine's Day theme, titled "Vanilla Truffle", oil on linen, 6"x6", $50. framed.

I think Jay and Tim are living a little too close to the edge down there in Florida. Yesterday Jay told me about all of the snakes that they were seeing. I asked him if he could identify them, but he said no. They did try to rattle their tail, except there was no rattle. He said he would get online and look them up when they got back to my brother's house. Well Pat has a book on Florida snakes and most of them they identified as juvenile cottonmouths! Very venomous and aggrevsive. Some were adults and others were black racers or black rat snakes. They saw even more today. They're having a bad drought there, which maybe why they're seeing so many turtles and snakes.

Nothing new with the bear story. Tim leaves tomorrow. Maybe I'll get some photos soon.

Tomorrow I go to get my chickens and hatching eggs. I'm real excited about that. I will take pix of them for you to see.

My painting of the day is of a raspberry truffle. It's hard to resist not eating them when I'm finished their portraits.

"Raspberry Truffle", 6"x6", oil on linen. $50. framed.

Have a great weekend.

I'm sick and tired of being sick...and tired. This cold is getting worse. Now I have a fever. My brother Pat told me to get some resistant microbes. I don't know what they are, but I'll get some. I hate having to breathe out of my mouth. It could be worse, Jay has to have a tooth extracted tomorrow. Yuck. I'll consider myself lucky. The story of the bear was on the Florida news last night, but Jay and Tim got no credit at all. They said that a park ranger found the bear. That's not true. Tim called the newspaper and asked them if they would be interested in buying his photos of the dead bear. They said no, that they don't pay for photos. Do you think if they were photos of Elvis they'd pay for them? You're right, Elvis is much more important. Just the same, I don't believe them. Celeste's brother, Tim, graduates from the Marines' boot camp tomorrow. Congratulations Tim! We're very proud of him. Celeste left yesterday to drive to Parris Island, SC to attend his graduation....and doing that after taking a nursing test, on which she scored a 90. That's my girl, way to go Celeste. My daily painting is of a beautiful, milk chocolate truffle, dusted with ground hazelnuts. Yes, it's part of the Valentine series. I would have eaten it as a reward, but I wouldn't be able to taste it. Maybe I'll use it in another painting. Better yet, I'll give it to Celeste when she gets back. "Nutty Truffle", oil on linen, 6"x6", $50. framed.

I think the warm weather set a record today. What a joy, even without the sun. The cool, humid air made it easier to breathe. I spent the afternoon putting netting over my garden. I'll be getting some new chickens on Saturday, so I'll put all of them to bed in a coop in the garden on Saturday night and they can all wake up together on new turf on Sunday morning. They'll be able to run around, eat the weeds, bugs and fertilize, all while being safe from the hawks. Still on my Valentine's Day theme, here is my daily painting. "White Rose--It Is What It Is", 6"x6", oil on linen, $50. framed.SOLD--thank you Penny & David.

To continue with Jay and Tim in Florida, they'll be on the news down there tonight because of the black bear that they found dead. Apparently it had been shot, which is a huge offense in a preserve. They had to go in and sign a sworn statement which interfered with their day of photography in the cypress swamps. Actually, that didn't bother them as much as being kicked out of the park by a ranger and given a warning for being commercial photographers...which of course they're not. The ranger was new and didn't know the difference. He did however call them later to apologize! Now tell me, where do you ever find a situation like that? Good man, I'm really impressed. I'm still trying to get photos of the bear, but they only have them in raw files which are enormous and they don't have a program on my brother's computer to convert them to JPEG. So we'll just have to wait.

My painting of the day is another in the Valentine theme. It's of a heart-shaped topiary at Ladew Gardens in Maryland. We went a few months ago on a 90 degree, indian summer day. The strange looking thing in it is the topiary arrow.

"Heart Topiary at Ladew Gardens", 4"x6", watercolor, on Moulin de Larrouque Aquarelle paper.

It's not for sale because I'm going to use it for a thank you note to Mary Charlotte Parr, Krista's mom-in-law. She sent a wonderful book about Ladew Gardens to me for Christmas.

I got the watercolor paper from Sennelier, in Paris when we were there five years ago. It's very heavily textured, which allowed me to pretty much scumble the paint across in many layers, using a dry brush technique. I took my time and really enjoyed the process.

I'm still feeling miserable, so I'm going to bed early.

'Nite.

I was able to paint some more on the sheep painting on Saturday, but not much.

Saturday night a really sore, scratchy throat started just when I was almost better from the last upper respiratory infection.

Sunday it was hard to keep awake because my head really hurt.

I had planned to go to Maryland to surprise Jeanie and the kids on Saturday and go to a friend's photography reception on Sunday, but I barely got out of bed.

We turned on the Super Bowl during the 3rd quarter. Honestly, not only didn't I know who was playing, but I didn't know and still don't know where they played.

Jay asked me who I wanted to win, so I said NY, just because I like NYC and because it's closer to home. Jay said it would be a huge upset if they won. Well you know the rest. I have to admit, we both got teary when they won.

We're ridiculous, I know it.

Jay Jr. called today to tell me that he was in the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve and that they found a freshly-dead, black bear! I promised that I'd post any exciting photos from them, but he hasn't sent them yet. So more news about it tomorrow after Jay has a "talk" with the forest rangers. It's a good story.

How today's painting ever made it to this point is almost miraculous. I finished it and put it against a box to look at it one last time and it fell forward into my palette of paints. So, I fixed it as best I could, but it honestly didn't look as good as it did originally. So I hung it to photograph it. Danny accidentally knocked it down. I tried fixing it again. I'm now at the point where I don't know if it's better or worse, but by any other name it's a rose and it's now titled---

" A Rose, It Is What It Is", 7"x5", oil on canvas, $50., framed.

This painting starts my Valentine's Day series.

I thought that by painting in watercolor today, I'd save some time. I was wrong. I need more practice. I think that part of it was the paint. The binder was kind of gooey, so that when I applied a new layer, the previous layer of green on the eggs, lifted off, even though the first layer was dry. Frustrating at best, but I persisted. The other challenge was that I was determined not to use any white paint. That meant that I had to be more careful and reserve the parts that I wanted to be white or very light. I would have liked more highlight on the unbroken egg, like in my oil paintings. Oh well. So here is my painting of the day, "Watercolor Eggs", 7"x5", watercolor on Moleskine watercolor paper, $35. framed. sold--thank you Ann.

I'm working on small Valentine and Easter paintings, along with the larger sheep painting. Hopefully I'll get a lot done on the larger painting tomorrow.

Jay Jr. is away visiting my brother Pat. He's combining this visit with a photo shoot of the Everglades, etc. His friend and fellow photographer Tim Albertson is joining him. If they send something exciting I'll post it.

Have a great weekend and may your Superbowl team win!

I was reading an art magazine last night and they had an article about internet scams. To reiterate, there will never be a valid reason for anyone to send you more money than the cost of the item/s you're selling. No matter what they say, don't do it. The article said that it could take weeks and even months for out-of-state and overseas checks to really clear. U.S. banks are now being criticized for allowing us to use money from checks that have been deposited in our accounts, but haven't cleared. They give us the money in advance, but we're responsible for the bad/fake checks or money orders, when they don't clear weeks or months later. Please be careful.

Tonight's "daily painting". again, is of a blood orange and kumquats. It'll probably be the last one for awhile since the orange and kumquats are starting to shrivel up. I originally set up this still life with an egg in the glass, but I liked the color of the orange better. Next week I need to order more Meyer lemons.

"Blood Orange in a Glass and Kumquats", 6"x6", oil on linen, $50.

I'm going to leave you with a link to help autistic children. It's heartwrenching. All you need to do is click on the link and click the play (>)

button. The band that is singing will contribute $0.49 to research for autism every time it is played. Thanx in advance.

Here's the info:

What Kind of WorldDo You Want? The band, Five for Fighting, is generously donating $0.49 to Autism Speaks each time this video is viewed. The funding goes toward research studies to help find a cure. When you have a moment, please visit the link below to watch the video and pass it along. They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully we can help them to surpass this goal. Click Here!

I met with a couple tonight that were married eight years ago. I was the photographer that shot their wedding. A beautiful bride and handsome groom. So much in love. They still are, and also still beautiful and handsome. Gabriel was just born. I had just given Jay Jr. , his first SLR camera. Look at how far he's come.

http://jrcphotography.com/

After my appointment with the couple ordering their wedding photos, I met Jay Jr. for dinner, you guessed it, at Georges'. It was good, being with Jay and the dinner. We actually got to really talk without all of the distractions that we usually have.

He loves working at Georges'. The new menu comes out soon...maybe tomorrow and Jay had some input into it.

My wonderful husband is upstairs playing "Soul Eyes", that's my cue to quit.

I'll leave you with a photo of Diane, the beautiful bride.

Our art group meeting at Church of the Savior went well last night. We're planning a group art show from the 28th to the 30th of March, 2008. I'll include more details later. I'm really looking forward to it. Deb Sarles and I did meet for dinner and then went to the meeting. She's a potter and also makes soy candles. Sometimes she puts the candles in her pottery, which I really like. She's custom-making something for me. I'll have to get a link to her website for you. She does beautiful work. Tonight's painting di giorno, or daily painting, is of the blue and green eggs from my girls, along with the kumquats that I bought last week. I like this color palette much more than I thought I would. I've done the eggs with this lighting and color background before, but I wasn't sure if the orange would work as well. I think it's because I'm using a new brand of indigo oil paint and also the orange and yellow is subtly spread around for color harmony and that appeals to me. "Ameraucana Eggs and Kumquats", 7"x5", oil on linen, $50. framed.

I have an art meeting at Church of the Savior tonight, but I'm going to meet Deb Sarles for dinner in an hour and a half. I'm working on a painting of sheep from Chester County. It's 14"x11" and I'll probably take the rest of the week to finish it. At some point I'll photograph it so you can see the progression. Last night we met Jay Jr. and Celeste in Chinatown for a duck dinner. I thought the wonton soup was the best, the wontons more thin-skinned and like shumai dumplings. Lots of fresh vegetables too. I also discovered how much I love the vinegared chili paste in the bottle. That stuff is great. I've seen it many times, but now I'll have to buy some. We left there and went to "World Cafe' Live" to see Jay Jr.'s long-time friend Mark Redding and his band "The Shackeltons" perform there. "Skeleton Breath" opened for them. I've never experienced anything like Skeleton Breath. http://www.myspace.com/skeletonbreath I can't tell you how much I enjoyed them. A sort of older, frumpy and weird looking guy came on with a Bill Cosby type sweater and messy hair. When he tool the sweater off, he transformed into an amazing, very lean and trim, albeit, spastically jumping all over the stage, with wild hair, musician! I was totally fascinated with his gestures, movement and facial structure. His bow took on a puppet-like persona, also frantically jumping on his violin, the strings breaking and looking like the hair the puppeteer's head. All of this aside from excellent musicianship. The Shackeltons, http://www.myspace.com/theshackeltons were better than I've ever seen them. I like the story behind their name. The band was very tight. Mark's movements were restrained, fine-tuned and original for this genre of music, partly because of the space restrictions. His lyrics are very emotional, even though they're comical at times. I know how sensitive he is and the pain in his experience is real. There's really brilliance in all of it. Gotta' go--I'll be back tomorrow.

I tried to post yesterday, but this computer is on it's last leg and wouldn't cooperate. That reminded me that I've been meaning to warn you about Internet scams. I belong to several artist's sites and have been contacted at least seven times by supposedly interested buyers. The thing that they all have in common is that they want to send you more money than the amount of the sale. This could be for shipping costs which are to be paid to their shipping company, or for the price they will sell the painting for and you have to send back their commission. The bogus "shipping coordinator" that contacted me, said he was from Global Pacific, but he had a Yahoo account. That's a warning right there, even if it did have Global Pacific in the email address, it wouldn't be through Yahoo. The clever thing that he did was to have a link to Global Pacific in all of his emails. Of course when I contacted Global Pacific, they didn't know who he was and said the address in his email was a residence. A good source for help with this kind of info is "Scam Busters". They have a free newsletter that they'll email to you. The outcome of a couple of these scams with Jay and I was that with mine, the person sent an order form for a check, it looked like a check, but it was not an actual check. There was no account number or routing number on it. It was mailed from the Ukraine, but the "check" was from a bank in Vancouver, BC. The "client" was supposedly from the UK, with an estate in S. Africa, where the paintings would go. The sale was for $2300., she sent me $4350. Of course the balance was to be paid in cash to the "shipping coordinator". Jay had someone who wanted piano lessons for his son who would be moving here from the UK. The father was going to send money in advance for his lessons and a flight for Jay to go to the UK to meet him, as well as money for accommodations. We got four fake money orders in the amount of $950. each from a woman in New York. When Jay told him not to contact him again, he tried a different approach, with a bleeding heart message that his mother was sick and that if he got the money to her, God would bless Jay. Fortunately, being my father's daughter, the only negative thing that happened was the delay of sales on a couple of paintings. So, with all of that said, be careful, especially if you do anything on Craig's List, or other, items for sale sites.

I went grocery shopping on Thursday and found kumquats with stripes on them in the exotic produce aisle. I thought they'd look nice against a blood orange, so the daily painting is,

"Blood Orange and Kumquats", 7"x5", oil on linen. $50. framed.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

I'm embarrassed that I forgot to publicly wish my brother Pat and his daughter, my beautiful niece Lauren, enormous HAPPY BIRTHDAYS, especially on the one year anniversary of this blog. I apologize Pat and Lauren, I love you nonetheless and you know it. January 18th is his birthday and Lauren's is the day after. I know they had a nice lunch together with Nick. Wish I could have been there.

It must have been this cold coming on that did it. I spent the past two days in bed, barely able to hold my head up. One of those sinus infections that worked it's way to laryngitis and bronchitis, or as Isabella would say, "a cough in my mouth". Man do we miss her like crazy. I'm feeling so much better today.

Speaking of which, the very exciting news. This year on July 1st, Jay and I will be married for 30 years. OK, so, on Sunday, Derek gave me a card. In it...I'm so excited I can hardly type....really, my hands are shaking...anyway, it read that for our anniversary, Jeanie and Derek are sending us on an all-expense, paid trip, out to California, to stay in Sonoma....and are you ready...have dinner at THE FRENCH LAUNDRY!!! Honest, can you believe it?! We can stay out there for as long as we want with Derek's family who has guest quarters on their property, and we get a guided tour of the valley by our very special tour guide, our daughter Jeanie, and...we also will be going to "ad hoc" and "Bouchon", which are two of Thomas Keller's other restaurants and chances are excellent that we'll actually get to meet Thomas Keller himself, because he's usually at the French Laundry, cooking everyday that it's open! Here's a link if you want to know more about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Keller#Other_restaurants_and_pursuits

I am so impressed and grateful and excited! It makes being married for 30 year worth it....just kidding. Well, what I mean is, I'm thrilled to be married to Jay for 30 years. I'm so blessed. I'm living the dream and that's the truth.

The painting of the day, is of some more blood oranges. The colors are not exaggerated. I couldn't wait to finish this painting, knowing how sweet and juicy the cut half of the orange would be. Right after I photographed it I ate the cut half. It was just as I anticipated. Perfect.

"Cut Blood Orange", 6"x6", oil on linen. $50. framed.

We had a great weekend. We did go to Krista and Carter's on Saturday. Josie's sitter came and we went to dinner at the hot spot place in Baltimore, Woodberry Kitchen. It's in John Waters' neck of the woods and is a very cool, industrial-style, revamped mill.

We had a 9:00 pm reservation, but since there was no hope for us getting seated at 10:00 pm, the hostess said that if we sit at the bar for dinner, they would pick up our dinner tab.

Since there were people there who had waited to be seated for two hours--now this is with a reservation-- we sat at the bar.

The menu is interesting, but the food was generally disappointing. I think that if they got Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen he'd straighten it all out. I suspected that it was chef-owned and it is. The chef is co-owner Spike Gjerde. He and his wife Amy, along with Nelson Carey are the proprietors.

There were bowls of popcorn around and it is very, very buttery, which equals delicious, but greasy, especially since they don't give you napkins with it. It's also just there on benches, etc. with anyone and everyone grabbing handfuls. Not very sanitary.

Krista and I ordered small plates--deviled eggs, which we never got, chicken liver parfait, which was served in something that looked like a candle jar. It was smooth and creamy, but so bland and the green gelatin on top literally had no taste at all. We ordered a dozen various Chesapeake oysters on the half shell that were outstanding. Fresh, briny and had that delightful taste of the ocean. We ordered oven roasted oysters, which we never got. The crab pot was a dip, which was tasty. We also ordered the pork belly which was barely the size of two pieces of bacon in a can of baked beans. That was on top of cheese fries....really lacking. I mean pork belly isn't an expensive cut of meat. What I could taste of it was like the soggy bacon in the can of beans. The pepper gravy that came with it tasted like gelatinous fat-free vinaigrette. It was cold and nasty.

Carter ordered the pork buns for starters, but didn't say how they were. He also ordered a burger for his main and said it was overcooked. Jay ordered the whole sea bass at the bartender's recommendation. It was overcooked to burned. The salsa verde that came with it was lumpy and gelatinous and tasted like fat-free vinaigrette dressing with non-descript green herbs in it.

The wine was good, the apple martinis were made from house-made, apple-infused vodka. Good and reasonably priced.

The desserts were terrific. Jay had the pumpkin cake, Krista had an apple dumpling and I had the sticky toffee pudding. All tasted fresh and homemade. Their absolute strongest point.

We tried to pay, but they really did cover our dinners and even our drinks, which redeemed them enough that we'd give them another chance.

Yesterday, Krista had a nice, kosher fish brunch. Jeanie brought her wonderful apple dumplings. All of the kids and some friends were there. It was cozy and relaxed. We hung around for a while and left around 2:30 pm, we took the scenic route home, which was a real pleasure.

We drove straight to George's for dinner. The lobster bisque was better than ever! The new bartender Jose' has been coming up with some very innovative drinks. Jay also had the Tilapia, with lobster mashed potatoes, which he said was great.

We left, came home and since we were in John Waters neighborhood, watched "Hairspray". John Travolta and Christopher Walken were hilarious.

Finally, the painting of the day is of another blood orange and the first eggs of our Araucana/Ameraucana hens. The green one is the first egg ever, from the little hen Linda, laid on Christmas Day and the bluer one is the first of this season from the hawk- attacked, but fully recovered, Flavia.

"Blood Orange and Araucana Eggs", 7"x5", oil on linen. $50. framed.

Tomorrow some really exciting news.

It's no wonder that citrus fruits, especially oranges are associated with the morning, they're such happy colors and energizing to look at and smell, not to mention the taste.

My first project today, after Isabella's breakfast, was to zest the blood oranges and Meyer lemons for orange and limoncello. Such a pleasant experience. The oranges fill the entire house with their fragrance, then the lemons back them up with their floral perfume.

The oranges from http://theorangestore.com/ were darker red on the outside this time. Very beautiful.

The lemons from http://lemonladies.com/ were a gift from Karen the orchardess. They arrived with a jar of Meyer lemon marmalade. I hate orange marmalade, but the Meyer lemon marmalade that Karen made is so delicious. Smooth, not too sweet and so lemony. The lemons were more beautiful than ever. I don't know what makes the skin so silky smooth and that warm, golden color, but these were perfect. Someone walked through my dining room and was wondering what smelled like flowers since there weren't any around. It was the lemons. Thanx Karen!

So, the painting di giorno is "BLOOD ORANGES & MEYER LEMON", 6"x6", oil on linen, $50. framed.SOLD.The bowl in the painting is actually a darker, cobalt blue.

Tomorrow we take Isabella back to Maryland and visit with Krista, Carter, Josie and Angus.

Krista and Carter decided to take Josie to the Baltimore Aquarium for the dolphin show last week. They went in to the arena and got their seats. Krista was talking with Carter and when she turned back to Josie, she (Josie that is) had taken off all of her clothes. Apparently she thought she was going swimming!

I'll leave you with that. Enjoy your weekend.

OK, what have I been doing for the past three weeks since I last posted?...here goes:

Penny's birthday was on the 27th of December. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PENNY -- a wonderful friend of many years.

We went to Georges' for New Year's Eve...it was over the top--veal cheek ravioli topped with sweetbreads--the lobster bisque is back!...we had that too, then shared the cote du boeuf entree.

Danny paired great champagne and wine.

New Year's Day, Flavia, the hen that was attacked by the hawk, laid her first egg since October. It's a sign for a good year.

Then, as is the tradition for I don't know how many years, we went to Rich, Dee and Lillian Mattis' house for brunch..you won't find any better. Just fantastic. I'll spare you the drool, but for instance there was homemade creme brulee french toast. Exactly...oh, and the hand/homemade chocolates they make with caramel and fleur de sel. I'll stop there... well I should mention Verna from Eye Q, shucking oysters and then the champagne. I know I need not say more.

After that Jay Jr. and Celeste came over to finish preparing the pork belly, Gordon Ramsay style...unbelievable, really. Although, Chef Frost also did one with an amazing sauce that could be eaten by itself and make us all happy.

We watched movies after. A great day.

The following week I finally got out to the Art Group meeting at Church of the Savior. We have a group show coming up at the end of March.

Then Tuesday, the book cover design at the Gryphon. I'm going to redo my cover since my hand looks like a foot with an egg on it. It was really fun and helpful.

Jay Sr. met up with us and we went up to Teresa's Next Door with Sean, Matt and Rich. The hot pepper chocolate ice cream was better than usual. My Aunt Jeannie used to make something similar for my Uncle Nickie called "Heaven and Hell".

Saturday, the 6th I took my exhibit at the Gryphon down. I'm just thrilled. I sold 35 plus paintings! Really terrific. I'm still trying to mark all of the sold paintings on this site. I'll get to it.

Sunday I took Danny and Laura to the airport, then took a nap and Jay took "Land for Sale" back up to the Gryphon because a couple came back to buy it. Thank you Lord!

Wednesday I had dinner with Penny and Cine at Georges'. The Veal Osso Bucco was just outstanding, but the lobster bisque cappucino is beyond words. I left early to get Danny and Laura from the airport.

Friday Danny and I had dinner at Susannah Foo's. It was pretty empty, but the food was enjoyable, not amazing.

Jeanie Derek and the kids came for "Christmas" on Saturday...that's right, my decorations are still up. We had a really wonderful day. We took the kids to Pat's Steaks, 9th Street and Termini's Bakery. Since Gabriel wasn't here for his birthday, we got him and Danny their birthday cake and cannolis, etc. What an experience! I love tradition.

We got to keep Isabella for the week since Jeanie had school stuff to do with the boys.

On Sunday, I had an art project for our church's prayer week, so I finished that and played with Isabella.

Monday was Cine Braxton's birthday---HAPPY BIRTHDAY CINE!

I started organizing paintings and the blog.

The rest of the week I've spent playing with Isabella, who is so stinkin' funny and cute. She goes back on Saturday, if we don't convince Jeanie and Derek to let us keep her.

Yesterday and today I painted. I finished one tonight. I'll post it tomorrow.

If I forgot anything...well, if I remember, I'll post it.

Above is a photo of Danny and Isabella at Termini's. Isabella is holding her cupcake in that bag. They must give hundreds away to all of the children. It's a joy to go in there. You can't beat the live music (accordian players) which kids never see anymore. Danny and Isabella, the long and the short of it.

My Son Jay, is now officially working at Georges' Restaurant in Wayne, along with his younger brother Danny, who is the bar manager.

Jay is living the dream, working in the kitchen with Chef Joe Frost. He has been hired as a saucier, which means that he'll be working along side of Chef Perrier, who is the master of all master sauciers.

How exciting, we're so proud of him--congratulations Jay!

The image above is of my sons Jay and Danny, (Jay is on the left) that I took two years ago. Both sporting their whites, Jay with the All-Clad pan and Danny with the Kershaw knife. Adorable aren't they?

Sean Akers has started a "book cover club" of sorts, where we meet and design book covers of books we've read, want to read, or even write. It's a real stretch and very intimidating for me, mainly because I have no real interest in it and have more than enough stuff on my plate already. I'm more about images on a book cover, not the details that go into putting one together. However, I really enjoyed my first meeting. What I find most fascinating is seeing how others handle this aspect of the creative process. There's real value in it for me, because it takes me out of my comfort zone, both physically and mentally and puts me in an extremely challenging area where I have no experience whatsoever. Sean gave us an assignment to consider three different books that we would like to design covers for.

Mine were "Watership Down", which I always thought was a military story, but it's a book about rabbits that I'm reading now. The other two are "The Memory Keepers Daughter", which has a strong photography content and I just finished it and finally "The Egg and I" which I've never read, but for obvious reasons would love to illustrate. While doing some research today on the book, I found an article from "Food and Wine" magazine entitled "The Egg & I". Here's the link for it http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/the-egg-and-i

Amazingly, it's about one of my most-admired chefs, Thomas Keller and how one of his favorite things to cook is an egg. That, along with the fact that he uses the same kind of eggs that my chickens lay, which are known as Easter Eggs, because they come in pastel colors, settled my choice for the book cover, so I ordered the movie to crash course the story since the cover is due soon. If you have any ideas you'd like to share, I'm all about it. I'll post the cover when I'm finished.

With all of the holiday craziness I've been wanting to tell you this story, but I keep getting distracted. It was a few weeks ago, actually, the first week in December when the weather was sunny and warmer. I let the chickens out for their daily exercise and foraging and left to go to the hardware store. When I came home, our rooster was squawking and very upset. He was sounding his alarm noise, so I started looking around for trouble and the hens, while I was still in the car. I couldn't see any of the hens. Finally, I looked to my left and saw our youngest hen there in the driveway and so continued to scan for Frida and Flavia, our older Ameraucana hens...but still couldn't find them. Something registered in my brain at that point and I realized that the little hen looked strange, when I did my double take on her, I realized that it wasn't her, but a male red-tailed hawk! Not only that, he had Flavia pinned down, with his talons wrapped around her throat and there was a pool of blood under and around her. For sure she was dead. I was so shocked, and he didn't even budge. Then I saw her wing try to flap and I got out of the car and yelled at the hawk and he flew off of her, but she didn't move. I got her, she was still alive, but barely, so I put her in a warm, safe place to let her die in peace. Next I went searching for the other two hens. I circled the property twice and looked under every shrub and tree. I called them, but they didn't come out or even make a sound. On the third time around I was calling to them and heard a tiny cluck... they were both hiding in a bucket. They were squeezed in so tight that they couldn't get out. To make an even longer story not so long, an hour later Flavia was standing, so I brought her into the studio. We babied her for over a week and now she's fully recovered and back out with the other chickens. They're all confined now 24/7. They'd be happier if they could get out and about to scratch, but they'll have to wait until the new portable pen arrives. I've never had a hawk attack a full-grown chicken. He must have been trying to impress the female that was waiting in a nearby tree. It's great to be able to say that it was such a joyful ending. Events like that rarely end that way. Yesterday I made a batch of homemade, blood orange cello. They are so beautiful and delicious. The color and flavor of the juice is just incredible. The oranges are easier to peel than the lemons and they also go a lot further since they're bigger. You could smell the fragrance all over the house by the time I was finished. I got them from http://www.theorangestore.com/ and I'm very happy with them. If you'd like my recipe for orange or limoncello, just ask. I only use Meyer lemons or blood oranges. Karen the orchardess from http://www.lemonladies.com/ sent us a case of Meyer lemons at Thanksgiving. When I opened the box it was just like the diner scene from "Pulp Fiction", where they open up the briefcase. The glowing, golden lemons, the sweet fragrance, like flowers...I think I heard the heavenly hosts singing. Thank you once again Karen. I have a few paintings started, but far from finished, so tonight I'll share with you something that my friend Wendy Paul sent to me from "Youtube" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5lN96dgt_Y It's truly amazing...

My oldest grandchild Gabriel, turned 8 years old on the 21st of December and my youngest child/son Danny, turned 26 on the 22nd of December.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUYS! I love both of you so much.

Gabriel was just amazing in his school play. He did a terrific job as the Angel Gabriel, very authoritative, but with a smile in his voice. He had an X-Men/Wolverine birthday party. Wolverine is our favorite superhero. Jonah, as one of the "Heavenly Hosts", was just too cute for words, with his crooked halo and yawns.

We had Danny's favorite birthday dinner; soft-shelled crabs with a side of spaghetti and proscuitto and a side of brocoli rabe. His dinner was on the 23rd. He and Jay Jr. went to Termini's Bakery to get an Italian Rum birthday cake. Some things never change and that cake is one of them. Thank God. It was a great night. I made Limoncello that morning. It's already beautiful, steeping in the bottle.

On Christmas Eve we went to my cousin Nicky's, his wife Leanne's and their gorgeous daughter Gabriella's house for the fishes. I believe we had 12 or 13 different choices. My favorite was the linguine and clams on the half shell. It was a very good time. We got home around 3:30 am if that's any indication. Nicky's homemade Limoncello and port were outstanding. We went to bed about 5 am.

It's a good thing our kids are grown, because there was no early morning, opening presents. I was the first one up at noon to get the the Italian wedding/holiday soup and the meatballs going, so that Jay Jr. could get in the kitchen and start the "gravy" and manicotti.

When I went out to give the chickens and rabbits their special Christmas treats, I found a little pullet egg from the Ameraucana hen that I hatched out in the incubator late last May or early June. A beautiful elongated, light olive green egg. I plan on it being included in my next painting.

Asser and Laura came early for dinner and Said and Hadidja stopped in later for dessert. It was a very casual, relaxed (probably because we were so overly tired), day with everything you could want for Christmas. Fantastic food, family and friends. The calls from my brother Pat, his son, Jeanie, Derek and the kids from California, along with Krista and Josie (who was so excited about getting a play kitchen) made the day complete. I'm so blessed. Thank you God.

I hope that your Christmas, or the holiday that you celebrate, was also truly meaningful with all of the richest blessings you could want. Remember to share with someone less fortunate.

The image today is of the Christmas card that I painted and sent out this year. It's titled "THREE FRENCH HENS", and is 7"x5", oil on linen, framed. $50. SOLD--thank you Betty.

There is no text on the actual painting.

The show is still going on at the Gryphon Cafe' in Wayne, PA. I'm just thrilled with the outcome so far, since I'm pretty sure that more than 30 paintings have already been sold. I'll have to get to work on marking them here on the blog and site after the show ends on the 5th of January. Enjoy your night.

You're right, I forgot to continue with the "Outsider Art" last post.

So, as I said, I submitted a couple of paintings to-

http://www.outsiderart.info/

a few days later I got an email from John...here it is, edited:

"Jeanie, Sorry for the delay. Thanks for your interest in my site and for showing me your work. I've tried to ignore your art but can't. And it's odd that the image you sent was of the ethereal eggs because they caught me when I first looked at your page ..... But the flowers and vegetables had a sinister motive...I'm not sure if its the colors you punch together or your chunks of paint arranged softly or what, but I keep looking at them. And now I've discovered what an amazing draftswoman you are in the landscapes and nature work. I'm writing way too much here but that sometimes happens. Clearly, there is an unforgiving quality to your art that pulls from you most of what you see but keeps from us some of what you think.

Like I said, thanks for showing me the art. I'd be honored to exhibit your work on my site. John........

P.S. Hope to hear back but if not....keep up what you do."

How great is that? I love this guy, I think...after all, he did try to ignore my art....(I'm smiling)...that's OK, he's not the first. At least he saw the error of his ways and reconsidered. I have to get some of the work that's not already sold from the cafe' and send it to him. It's a very interesting site and I'm excited about my work being shown there.

I finished another painting today, but it's for my Christmas card and you can't see it until after I send the cards out. If I don't have your address and you'd like one, send it to me in an email and I'll send one to you.

The painting for today's post was finished on Monday. It's from Chester County. My son Jay, another artist and I were talking at the reception on Sunday night about our favorite paintings. We all agreed that our latest work was usually our favorite and that holds true for this painting. "Autumn Pasture", Chester County, 14"x11", oil on deep, gallery-wrapped linen, $350., framed. SOLD.

I hope you like it too. Let me know what you think.

When Jay was driving I spotted these longhorns in the pasture with the maple tree ablaze behind them. The warm, golden, late

afternoon sun was rim-lighting them. This made the cow's belly on the right luminous like it was lit from within. It's one of the things that I love that about this painting.

I'll be going to Maryland tomorrow, for Gabriel and Jonah's Christmas program, in which Gabriel has the lead part as the Angel Gabriel. I doubt that I'll be able to post. Be careful driving with the icy weather that's predicted.

Yesterday was my artist's reception at the Gryphon Cafe' in Wayne. The exhibit will remain up until January 5th, 2008.

I am very pleased with yesterday's outcome. The majority of the paintings di giorno have already been sold. The turnout was very impressive despite the torrential rain. I am very grateful for the show of support with the attendance. I know how busy everyone is this time of year, especially on a Sunday evening when there's work and school the next day. The purchases are a real shot in the arm. Your affirmation is a big deal. Thank you so much to everyone for sharing a very important evening with me.

I can't forget to mention the outstanding music that Jay and his students provided. Thank you also for making the event even more special with your gifts of musical talent. Everyone just raved about it.

Jay and Celeste, you did me proud with the amazing food that you prepared and served. It was a huge relief for me not to have to deal with it. Thank you very much.

I have three paintings of Chester County that I've just finished but haven't posted yet. I'm thrilled with them.

One was completed tonight and I took the other two

to the cafe' last night. I'll need to go photograph them.

I'll get them on here as soon as I can.

While Jay and I were out driving through Chester County, collecting reference material for paintings, a strange thing happened. We drove into thousands of blackbirds. They just covered the area all around us. I took several photos of them. This one I converted to black and white. It seemed more effective this way.

"Blackbird Swarm", black and white photograph, 12"x8", $100.

I'll try to keep posting, but I'm way behind on all of my Christmas preparations.

Stay tuned for my Christmas card painting.

It's late, but I did get the kids delivered to their parents tonight. I could hear Isabella protesting for at least a few miles after I left her...meaning when I called Jeanie after I got back on the road. I miss them already, but am grateful for the time to concentrate on two new paintings that I started and the layout for this year's Christmas card. It's kind of weird not hearing Dora or Diego rescuing someone or something in the background. A couple of weeks ago, another artist sent me an email and called me an "Outsider Artist". Since it didn't sound like a nice thing to say, I asked him to explain himself. This is what he wrote. "Jeanie, To be brief an Outsider Artist is one who has matured to the level of expertise and knowledge to stand equal to those who have followed the institutional path of art education. Just Google Outsider Artist and I think you'll be surprised and pleased to be able to qualify as an Outsider because of all the new galleries selling only Outsider Art and new museums dedicated to the same.... The history starts a long time ago and I think it's time to blossom. Jerry" So I went ahead and googled it and found several sites, galleries and museums dedicated to it. It's very diverse, a lot of folk art would be considered "Outsider". The dark side of it would be art produced from those who are institutionalized, where art is used as therapy. Then there are those who are considered "Visionary". An Outsider like Minnie Evans from Airlee Gardens in North Carolina would fit that description. She drew pictures on notebook paper with colored pencils and crayons of the visions she saw. Just beginning my research into this, I haven't found anyone that really does work like mine, so I thought that I was outside of the "Outsiders". However, the next time I post, I'll fill you in on the exciting news.

Jay and I hung the exhibit on Sunday morning. It was tough, with the 30 plus paintings di giorno presenting the biggest challenge, but it's up. We got some breakfast after at Pattymac's in Berwyn...that's right, the place with the best ever creamed, dried beef....then came home. I worked until about 1 pm and then started to feel like I was coming down with "something", so I hit the mattress. I slept for six hours! I was supposed to go to the Clarke's holiday party. Obviously, I never made it. Not even in my dreams. I had a long dream that I was deleting "stuff" from my computer and just letting it float away into the trash can. It was a very pleasant and unburdening dream. It's a pretty safe bet that the recent deaths, stress and whatever the bug was, had gotten to me. I couldn't keep my eyes from slamming shut again at 10:30 pm so I went right back to bed. The artist's reception is this Sunday from 5:30 pm to 8 pm at the Gryphon Cafe', in Wayne. For more info just click on http://www.gryphoncafe.com There is a link for directions, or you can contact me through this site. Please feel free to bring the kids, friends and family. Jay Jr. is doing the catering and Jay Sr. and company will be providing live music. I'm really looking forward to it. I finished another Chester County painting yesterday, but didn't photograph it yet. I'll have it ready for the reception on Sunday. I've already started another. I appreciate painting more than ever during and right after a big project that keeps me from it. I'm taking the kids home tomorrow if it all works out. So, I'll fill you in on some more new happenings. If not, I'll catch you later.

During the night after Thanksgiving dinner, my cousin Bobby suddenly died. Apparently he had a reaction to a medication he was taking. He had been struggling with type I diabetes since he was 13 years old. We were three months apart and our families used to call us "the twins". I spent a lot of time at his house. He lived in northeast Philadelphia, near Pennypack Park. We spent most of our time there fishing. He actually taught me to fish for "Sunnies". We really had great times together. He was a wonderful man. Then one week later, this past Friday, my son-in-law Derek's father, Wayne, very suddenly passed away. It's just so sad. He lived in Utah, so Jeanie and Derek are there for the services. The kids are here now. Krista took care of them for the weekend, so I met up with Krista and Josie to get them this morning at the Brandywine River Museum. It was such a treat. They had a great train exhibit that brought back so many memories. The kids had a wonderful time too. The most exciting part for me was that I got to meet Victoria Wyeth. She's Andrew's granddaughter. She's very young and gives a terrific, animated, guided tour of her family's works. The article I read about her in an art magazine last spring, is where I found the quote that I use in my emails. "If you can paint an egg, you can paint anything". This was said to Andrew by his father, N.C. Wyeth. My youngest grandson Jonah, lost his sweatshirt during our visit to the gallery where Victoria was giving a guided tour. When I went back to look for it, Victoria had it. She was very gracious as I introduced myself. It was definitely a highlight. Here's a video clip of one of her guided tours. http://www.brandywinemuseum.org/video.pop.html More about happy art stuff tomorrow, if Isabella ever goes to sleep. Goodnite.

I'm getting tired of the dark, gloomy and wet weather, It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow. I am getting excited about Thanksgiving day. I spoke with Jonah, Isabella and Josie today. They're all getting happy about it also.

My own grandmother came to mind after I spoke with them. I don't remember talking that much on the phone with her when I was a child. We always had plenty to say when we were together and I do remember her calling often after I was married. I never once, doubted her love. There aren't too many people that you, or at least I, can say that about, whether it was real or imagined.

She was never mean to me, or even short-tempered with me. I was a non-stop talker as a kid. She never teased me about it, or told me that I "sound like a broken record", or ever seemed annoyed with me. It strikes me as so funny...literally... that I remember stuff like that. I must have really been a piece of work. Anyway, I found a photo that I took of her, I believe it was on her 90th birthday. It brings to mind that she was a piece of work too!

I guess the message here is, this Thanksgiving, when the bratty kids are getting on your last nerve, measure your words and give some thought to what you say, before you say it. You never know who's going to be tattling on you, on their blog, or whatever they have in the future, when they're 58 years old and reminiscing.

I probably won't be back until next week, since I'll start cooking the Italian holiday soup, "gravy" and meatballs, etc. tomorrow. Then spending time with the kids.

So, count your blessings, take lots of pictures and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Friday and Saturday nights were good nights for a movie. Friday we watched " Deja Vu", with Denzel Washington and Saturday we watched "Perfume, Story of a Murderer". We really liked both for very different reasons. Deja Vu, was surprising and the acting was great. Perfume was strange, but fascinating and disturbing. The acting was also terrific. Last night we watched "Knocked Up", which was funny and made us emotional....newborn babies can do that.

The "Taste of Radnor" yesterday, was a fun event. Danny and Laura and Celeste and Asser all went with Jay and I, since the prize for first place was six tickets to the event and a blue-ribbon. I got to meet some of the other award-winning photographers there. The various restaurants had samplings of their food, which we really enjoyed.

After, we stopped at Christopher's in Wayne for a drink and then headed home.

A new painting is in the works, so tonight I leave you with my other entry from the photo competition.

It's titled "Fearless Geese in a Fog". It was also shot in Radnor.

Jay is playing one of my favorite pieces tonight. It's Pat Metheny's "Letter from Home". Just beautiful. I've included a link to YouTube for you, so that you can hear it for yourself. Just don't get too distracted by the outfits, enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5-pBkwyUxc

I got started painting last night and totally forgot to sign onto my blog. The good news is that I finally finished the painting that I've been working on for so long....well actually not working on consistenly, for so long. In any case it's here now.

"FALL LAMBS, CHESTER COUNTY, PA.", 14"X11", oil on deep, gallery-wrapped canvas, $350. framed. SOLD.

Sunday is the "Taste of Radnor" event where all of the winning photos from the recent competition will be featured and area restaurants, cafe's, etc. will be offering tastings. It's from 4P to 7P at the Connelly Center in Villanova. The link is below if you're interested in attending. I can't wait, I believe it will be a great time. After you click on the link below, click on the "Taste of Radnor" on the menu bar on the left. Hope to see you there, if not I'll have a full report on Monday. Have a terrific weekend.

http://www.tasteofradnor.com/

For directions: http://www.googlemaps.com/

First off I want to apologize for that terrible, giant font in the past couple of posts. I hope it doesn't happen to this post too. I think I corrected it. Cine Braxton, Penny Bird and I had our girl's night out tonight and of course, had dinner at Georges'. You are in luck if you get in there soon. The lobster bisque was on the menu again, apparently prepared by Chef Perrier himself. To say it was fantastic is an understatement. Don't expect it to be thick and starchy...you just have to try it. The other thing is the mushroom bisque that chef extraordinaire, Joe Frost makes. It's on the tasting menu that Cine had. The guys are even talking about it on 610 sports radio! I mean it's that good. When you get it, take a couple of tastes with your spoon. Then switch to sipping from the cup, like coffee. It becomes transformed and you will be transported. Wow, is all I will say. Since I don't have a painting for you to see tonight, I'll post a photo. I used to be a wedding photographer. One of my clients that was married six years ago called for some prints. I was going through the photos and came across some pictures from a different wedding. We were shooting post-wedding formals in a beautiful park in West Chester and the bride put her bouquet on the bench to fix her veil and train for a pose. A mother, her son and dog were walking through the park and her son came over to us, picked up the bride's bouquet and presented it to his Mom! That's your treat for tonight. 'Til tomorrow...

Well, you really must have crossed your fingers tight, because I was notified late last night

that the photo, "LITTLE BOY UNDER A BIG TREE" that I submitted for the "Taste of Radnor" photo competition won FIRST PLACE in the PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS category!

You're right, between that news and the Moet that Jay brought home tonight to celebrate, my head will be in the clouds indefinitely.

This photo is of my oldest grandson, Gabriel. I took it four years ago, when he was three. Krista my oldest daughter, was home visiting from England and Gabriel was here for one of his numerous extended visits. After going to so many of the fantastic gardens in England with Krista, I couldn't wait to show her Chanticleer, the pleasure garden close by in Radnor, PA. I knew it was so totally different than anything she'd ever seen and with her great sense of style, she'd really appreciate it. I derive so much happiness from showing people all of the wonderful secrets and hidden nuances of the place. I also planned to get a shot of Gabriel under the enormous copper beach tree, which is totally inconspicuous. I had spotted this ethereal space under this tree before when Gabriel and I were there without the right camera and noticed the way the late afternoon sun just magically glowed and wrapped it's arms around this giant tree. I knew Gabriel would be the perfect little accent.

There aren't too many shots that I have a vision for, at least that are so successful and result in more than I had hoped for. Serendipity has always played a big part in my photography. When m