Re-homed two more adult chickens today. My handsome splash roo and a black hen. Bye kids, I'll miss you.

I made ham and cabbage for dinner tonight. I got the ham from Forks Farm. Really tasty, but really fatty, so I cooked off all of the fat, which left about a pound of ham. I have always hated ham and cabbage, but this was so good that I ate it. Very flavorful.

I went to the Mennonite farm this afternoon after packing off the two chickens. I picked up 23 bagged chickens....uh oh, not enough room in the freezer, so Jay and I went to Home Depot tonight to buy a chest freezer. Looks like we'll be able to fill it in no time.

I have another emu painting to post, but I'm trying to find a way to photograph it without any glare. Guess I'll try again tomorrow, but for now, it's bedtime. Sleep tight.

We had a great weekend with friends. The Murrays came with the kids, Krisitn's famous peanut butter fudge and some venison. Danny made fois gras mashed potatoes, Jay and Danny both made the venison and I made the blood-orange salad. All of it was just fantastic. Zachary the new bread guy at Georges', came and brought wonderful cognac brioche. My nephew Pat and his wife Jessica were also here and left an antique, personal- sized, wine-press. I love it, thanx kids! So last night Danny, Bailey Hale and I met up to trade chickens. The interesting part is that we did it at Le Bec Fin. Inside we did the Grande Degustation. What can I say? I do need to say congratulations to Bailey Hale and the MODA Botanica team for getting Best in Show at the Philadelphia Flower Show, along with four other awards. How terrific is that? Way to go! I took 23 cockerels to the Mennonite farm today. Now I'm going to have to get a freezer. There will be a lot of chicken pot pie, cacciatore, chicken and pastry, Italian Wedding or Holiday soup, with lots and lots and lots of other chicken dinners. Raising your own, makes such a difference. I have to say, I've seen that Italian email going around about the wedding soup and how there are no Italians in it, etc. Let me just say this, ever since I can remember, everyone in my family called it Italian Wedding Soup. Really, who cares what it's called, it's so good. OK, so here is another emu egg painting. It's called "Tipping the Scale--Emu Egg on an Antique Egg Scale", 5"x7", oil on gessobord, $50. framed. Another busy one tomorrow. 'Nite.

The snow only amounted to somewhere between 6 to 8 inches. Compared to the last storm, very doable.

Tonight with the bright moonlight, it certainly is lovely, casting tree shadows on the snow.

We watched regular TV tonight, instead of On Demand. There were two commercials in favor of high fructose corn syrup. How crazy is that? The actors tried to make the people saying that the corn syrup is not good for us look like extremists and stupid. They're saying that it's fine in moderation, I wonder what defines "moderation" to them and how much is OK with them, like a cc? Must be Monsanto making those commercials. Do they really think we're that naive.

I've painted three emu egg paintings so far, but I'm having trouble with the glare on the photos of them. I'm even using a diffuser over the light.

Here is "Emu Egg in an Antique Tea Strainer", 5"x7", oil on gessobord, $50. framed.

Have a great weekend.

It's been snowing since last night. The wind has started, which is causing down drafts in the wood stove. Brutal. I'm hoping we don't lose power. The painting above is the rose that I got as one in a dozen for Valentine's Day from Jay Sr. "Valentine Rose", 5"x7", oil on gessobord, $50. framed. I'm going to bed while I can still put my warming blanket on. Be safe and warm.

This storm coming up any minute now is being called a "snowicane" because we'll be getting very high winds along with a foot of heavy snow. I do feel weird complaining about it, but honestly, if I wanted Alaskan weather, I would have moved there. I'm dreading more snow. I'm really aching tonight because of working in it all day and because another foot of it will just complicate caring for the chickens even more. I took seven hens to my friend Kristin in Spring City today. What a fabulous place. Just beautiful. Gabriel is running for vice-president of student council. His speech was so great. I'll have to see if I can get a copy of it for the blog. Something I wanted to tell you yesterday was that when we were at the Brandywine River Museum on Monday, and Victoria, Andy Wyeth's granddaughter was giving us a tour of his work, there was a girl, about high-school age, I'm guessing, that was there for a paper she had to write. Victoria asked her about her schooling and told her that she and her grandfather didn't condone art school. They feel that she would be taught that it's OK to draw or paint from pictures and that it's not OK with them and that Wyeth never did that. I loved hearing that because when I started to draw and paint again after 25 years, my next door neighbor, Rich Alliger, who I consider to be a truly outstanding artist said the same thing to me. Way to go Rich. Good night, stay cozy.

Being pretty excited about Danny and Torri's return trip from Chicago, I forgot to post. Sadly, I fell asleep before they got home, but this morning he said he had a great time. We decided to meet Krista, to hand over Josie at The Brandywine River Museum yesterday a little after lunch. Since Krista called ahead to tell us she would be late, we decided to take a tour of some of "Andy" Wyeth's work, with our granddaughter, given by his granddaughter, Victoria. It was the best tour we've ever had in this country. The only one better was with John in the UK, where they have the ravens. I think it's the Tower of London, right? Anyway, Victoria was really wonderful. She was concerned about what would be appropriate, or not, for Josie to hear. She was very animated, extremely down-to-earth and friendly. She was also incredibly engaging. She sincerely wanted us to understand her grandfather "Andy", as she referred to him. The 30 minute tour just flew by. I can't wait to go back for her tour of Jamie's work. Krista got there and we spent a few more minutes looking at some of the other works, gave Josie to Krista and came home. Josie had me awake at 6 a.m. so I went to bed early. Today it just poured rain all day, non-stop. I worked on a new painting, since I finished the other three, but spent the majority of my day on the phone and computer. Tomorrow I'll be outside working on the chicken pens and delivering chickens, in preparation for the next snow storm. I'm exhausted just thinking about it, so I'm going to bed. Good night.

I'm totally wiped out tonight. My shoulders are aching and I'm ready for bed, so I'll make this short.

I met Krista at Terrain today to get Josie for the weekend. With the bright sun pouring in through the greenhouse roof, and all of the brilliant, spring flowers they have blooming, it was almost ethereal when we walked in. Very soothing--just what Krista and I both needed.

We called my brother Pat when we got home because he is the official, family, telephone Santa Claus. Josie was totally thrilled. She had a sandwich for dinner, an ice cream sandwich!....take that, Food, Inc., just kidding about Food, Inc., not Josie having ice cream for dinner. After that, not surprisingly, she was super-ready to entertain us with her dancing, while Jay Sr. played the piano. This kid has some serious moves. Continuing with the dancing theme, we watched "Gypsy Ballerina" with her. It was just terrible, but Josie liked it.

Happy Anniversary on the 16th to Krista and Carter.

Enjoy your weekend everyone. Paintings are still not ready, but I'll post one on Monday, no matter what. That's if I don't forget.

I said I'd tell you about Valentine's Day--

Jay bought me a bunch of gorgeous roses. They're pink, shaded with green. And as usual a lovely card. I am a lucky woman and am still crazy in love with him, crazy being the operative here.

We started off by going to Terrain in Glenn Mills. I had some money left on my gift card that Krista and Carter gave me for Christmas. They have wonderful sea salt caramels and their indoor plants were on sale. I picked up a plant that's in the Gloxinia family, with deep, flaming orange/red, bell-shaped flowers.

After that we came home and got ready to go to dinner. On the way, we stopped by Nectar in Berwyn, where Torri works, for a drink. Jay had white wine and I had one of their signature blood orange martinis. It was perfecto! Torri also made a pear drink for me that I really liked. It would be just the refreshing thing to have all summer long.

So then we went to Alba in Malvern for dinner. I could go on and on about the place, but I'll give you the link to check out instead. Needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed it. Everything was just impeccable. www.restaurantalba.com We were thrilled.

We came home and decided to watch a movie, but I couldn't find the remote control, so we had to watch some lame documentaries, which I thankfully fell asleep during. I won't go into detail, but my reaction about the lost remote control wasn't pretty.

Danny woke me up when he came home and gave me a bouquet of antique-type roses, so beautiful that they totally made up for the remote control fiasco.

Since the two paintings that I told you about yesterday still need to cure for at least another day, I started another one tonight. Hopefully at least one of them will be finished tomorrow.

I'm going to pick up Josie tomorrow. We have family stuff going on all weekend.

Danny and Torri are going to Chicago to have dinner at Alinea www.alinea-restaurant.com/ I am so envious.

Even with Josie being here I should be back tomorrow night with a report.

It's embarrassing, but I keep forgetting to post at night. I usually remember when I'm falling asleep and too tired to get back up. In any case, the first blizzard was wondrous and exciting. The last one, not so much. It has certainly rocked my world and big changes will occur here because of it. We'll be re-homing the chickens, rabbits and quail. I can no longer care for them properly with this kind of weather and the predators. I'm five feet tall and trying to walk through four feet of snow is brutal. I just can't physically do it anymore. So it'll be goodbye to the animals except for my new canary--gratis Bailey Hale--and my tree frog. The canary sings all day and is such a joy. His name is Valentino and I love him, but after these decades of raising chickens and rabbits, it's breaking my heart to see them go. I'll miss them so much. On a happier note, we really had a lot of fun being snowed in during the first snow storm with Celeste, Jay Jr., Danny and Torri. Then Bailey and the Murrays came on Sunday to pick up the Ninja turtles and some chickens and stayed for dinner. It was Super Bowl Sunday. I didn't watch even a second of it, but we had a great time. We killed a magnum of Gloria Ferrar sparkling wine from Carneros, CA and Bailey made blood orange gimlets and of course we had some Dark and Stormys. The Murray kids were adorable as usual. The second storm was no fun and everything started collapsing outside. The pictures are pretty descriptive. The snow looks so beautiful and peaceful, but is sinister in the danger it presents to the animals. I am so ready for spring. I have two paintings in the works; one is of the emu egg and pomelo that Danny bought for me and the other is of one of the roses out of the dozen that Jay Sr. gave to me for Valentines Day. Which is another story for tomorrow.

I'm home and grateful to be here having a Gimlet in honor of Bailey Hale. Maryland snow starts early tomorrow morning and as much as I would like to spend the night and be there to wake up with and hang with Josie all day, I need to be here to get the final feed and water out to the animals before the snowstorm. Jay and Celeste are planning to be snowed in here, which will be fun. I spent all day out on the road doing the food shopping first, so other than a few things that I forgot, which Jay and Celeste will pick up, I feel secure even if we lose power. Wood stoves are a wonderful thing. If we don't lose power I'll try to post tomorrow night, otherwise I'll be back on Monday. Either way, enjoy the snow and your weekend.

I took Finn's finished portrait for his "mom" to view this afternoon. It gave me extreme joy to see and pet Finn once again. He is so stinkin' cute. Pam loved his portrait, but when I showed it to Finn, it immediately got his attention and he also approved. He really looked it over and then wagged his tail. Thank you Finn. It doesn't look nearly as good on here as it does in person. There's a lot of glare on the left that I darkened and the detail is lost in the white. After it dries some and I put a temporary varnish on it, I'll take a picture of it again and post it. I believe it'll look much better. I'm pretty wiped out after a lot of stuff today, but before I go, I need to wish my beautiful and brilliant niece Lauren, a Happy 21st Birthday! It was on the 24th. All my best wishes honey. I love you. Good night.

This snowfall feels nice. Almost insulating, even though I'm indoors. The enveloping silence is magical. I like it.

This morning I went to a different local post office. It was like going to a different planet. Seriously, my usual post office has employees that are as difficult and miserable as they come. It's a dark, depressing place, although the outside is kind of quaint.

Now picture someone's house that was converted into a post office and the host is there to greet and help you with actually packing your package, not only that, he does it with a grateful smile.

Then there's the addition of bright, cheerful light from curtained windows and table lamps and then there's beautiful, classical music playing and whimsical, witty signs that make you laugh, or think. So imagine my shock today when I went into the alternative post office and a woman with a baby in a car seat was at the counter and the gentleman--in the true sense of the word-- was helping her pack up two packages to ship. Not in any hurry or annoyance. Truly helpful.

Then I step up to the desk to hand over my 20lb. package. No, wait, "Mr. Lee" comes out from behind the desk to help me. Honest! I've already made a shipping label, so all that needs to be done is place the package in the cart, but I'm so thankful for this experience that I ran out to the car to grab a dozen eggs for Mr. Lee. I hand them to him and he becomes emotional and can't thank me enough for the eggs, like they were gold! I am so totally impressed that I can't wait to go back. Mr. Lee, where have you been all of my life? I love this place, but I am really pissed off that I've had to put up with so much crap from the employees from the other post office for all of these years. Oh well, I'm so happy that I now have a choice to go to Mr. Lee's post office.

Krista , Jeanie and I discovered Skype today. Boy, we're really having a lot of fun with it. Krista has me conversing with Josie's Barbie and Ken dolls. Trying to trick me into thinking that Barbie is really her. Krista, here are two hints, 1. you have to find a way to make her lips move and 2. since I'm your mother, I know you don't have blue eyes. Then the Johnson kids answered when we called Jeanie's house. All three of them talking to us at once. Jonah telling us his jokes from the joke book that he wrote, Isabella singing something and Gabriel being Ninja, or was that Isabella?

OK, my work here is finished for tonight. Enjoy the snow.

Bill Keim was 30 years old and a friend to Jeanie and Danny. He died about two weeks ago. A tragic, accidental shooting. He was smart and I always enjoyed his many times here. He was the kind of kid that was comfortable with people of all ages, so he and I talked a lot about photography and how to solve the world's problems. I went to high school with his mom, Peggy. She was always laughing, bright and cheerful. She still has that same sparkling smile. It just broke my heart when I saw her at Bill's memorial service. Jeanie came home way in advance of the services, so I spent a lot of time with her. As much as I love and miss her kids, we got so much accomplished and were able to yak it up without interruption. She left early yesterday morning. I'm already missing her. Last night Jay and I went to my friend Peter's house for a great party. The food was terrific, but the people were so much fun. I love being this age, so much of the bs is gone and the genuine in most people prevails. We laughed a lot. I really needed it. I'm pretty much finished Finn's portrait, but I don't want to post it yet until his mom Pam sees it. He's such a cute little dog. I also finished reading "Still Life With a Woodpecker". Once I understood the language Tom Robbins wrote in, I could finally begin to enjoy the book. I still think he's nothing short of a lunatic (must be why he's so into lunaception, he's most likely strongly affected by the moon) or he was just doing too many drugs at the time. Whatever. So that's it for tonight. Stay warm.

My nephew Patrick turned 21 today. Wow! Happy Birthday big guy.

I've been a fan of John William Waterhouse for as long as I can remember. Probably because my maiden name is Narcisi and I find his works of Narcissus so moving and emotional. To me they are beautiful beyond belief. I would have trouble choosing a favorite from his array of paintings.

I was prompted to think about him today from a link on Facebook. Thank you for sharing it Nadeen. If you belong to Facebook, go and look on my page, I posted it tonight. If I can figure out how to put it on here for you, I will.

Since I'm still working on Finn, I have no image for you tonight, but I'm really excited to show you my latest. I took photos of it the other day, but the surface paint needs to be coated with retouch so it's even and not so blotchy. I'll try again after Finn is finished, or maybe sooner. I'm going to bed now. Sleep tight.

Happy Birthday wishes to my brother Pat and dear friend Cine Braxton. Danny and Torri came home from CA. last Wednesday, we had so much to catch up on, I didn't post, then on Thursday I had dinner with Sue Silenzi at Georges', got home late and didn't post. I can't remember what happened on Friday, but Bailey Hale came up from the city for a chicken visit and we had a Vietnamese dinner along with plenty of Dark and Stormys (ginger beer, dark rum and lime) beforehand. We stopped for another drink at Georges' on the way home. A great night. Sunday we went for a belated birthday dinner at Village Whiskey. Every good thing they say about it is true. We went to Tinto's for a drink while we waited for our table. That was also very enjoyable. After dinner we headed a couple of blocks away to The Franklin Mortgage and Investment Co. for really unique and fabulous drinks. We laughed so much my jaws started to ache. So it was a party all weekend. Danny, Torri and I went for more Vietnamese on Washington Street tonight. It was much better than what we had on Friday night. I hope to go back soon. Jay Sr. and I went for a walk today to try to burn off some of the damage from the weekend. I think it'll take many more miles to make a dent in all of it. It was a wonderful day to work outside. The sun felt so good on my face. Danny and torri went grocery shopping at the new Whole Foods in Plymouth Meeting today and brought the egg pictured above home for me with the intention for me to paint a picture of it. I can't wait. It's an emu egg and it's huge. It's actually a dark green. I'm still working on Finn's portrait. Hopefully by the end of this week he'll be finished. I'm beat, so that 's it for tonight.

My sister-in-law Josie Chadwick sent us a big Starbucks gift card for Christmas, so I drew the coffee Thank You card pictured above for her and her husband Ken. Very generous, thank you Josie and Ken.

I'm still working hard on Finn, but he's really coming together now. I totally reworked the painting and feel much better about it now.

Celeste and I were going to make Fleur de Sel caramels today, but instead Celeste picked up some hours nursing and I worked on Finn and made chili for dinner. Sharon and Eric brought a bottle of wine down at 9pm, so we sat and drank and conversed for an hour and a half. Nice way to spend a chilly night.

The boys and Torri return home tomorrow. I can't wait to hear all of the stories.

Jeanie and her family are enjoying all of the good stuff that California is about. She found a sweet little organic grocery store close to her house.

The roofing guys came here today to figure out why the studio roof is leaking so bad. Oh man, it's really a mess. I haven't figured out how we're going to handle it yet.

Eric and I traded books to read, I loaned him "Duma Key" and in return got "Still Life With a Woodpecker", by Tom Robbins. It's very interesting so far, but extremely scattered. I'm sure Tom Robbins must be crazy with a thought process like that, albeit very clever and witty.

It's time for me to go up to bed and read some more of it. Sleep tight.

The night camera didn't capture anything and there haven't been anymore of the weird tracks out in the snow. I'm amazed that the chickens are surviving this frigid weather. They all have heat lamps, but still, the wind chill has been just brutal. Danny stayed at Saintsbury for a couple of nights. He's in a cabin on top of a mountain and Saturday morning a hummingbird flew into his window, looked at him as if to say "hi" and then flew back out. Pretty great. Took the Christmas decorations down yesterday while Jay was taking a nap, then he, Celeste and myself took a ride up to the Michener Museum. There is an Edward Weston exhibit that was wonderful. I'm especially loving his early work from 1911, along with the shell and rocks, and the tomato field. The peppers are still amazing. We also reviewed the New Hope artists that we've seen many times before, but each time I see them, they look better and different to me, all at the same time. I have a painting to show you, but I forgot to take a photo of it, so I'll do that tomorrow. I broke the window in the living room and then the glass door on the woodstove. I must be regaining my strength. Tonight we had salmon for dinner. It was wild-caught in Alaska. We joined an organic meat, fish, dairy and bread, buying club at Forks Farm, www.forksfarmmarket.com, so after watching FOOD, Inc. I'm feeling good about this salmon. It was just delicious. An enormous difference. Tomorrow Celeste is coming over and we're supposed to make Fleur de Sel caramels. That'll be interesting. That's it for tonight. Stay warm.

This morning's entry was my 300th. I believe the 18th will be my three year anniversary with this blog.

Danny and Torri have left for California. I'll miss them, but wish I was also going. Soon, I hope.

I did a lot of work on Finn's oil portrait today. It still needs much more, but has to dry to keep the colors clean before I add the next layer. I found this photo of Jay and I from my birthday party in September. John Novelli took it. Still crazy about my man.

The Cooper's hawk now waits for me to go out to feed and then lands on the net to scare the chickens. So I yelled at it and it just flew onto a branch which was close by. All chickens are in lockdown 24/7 now so it can't get them, but it's really stubborn.

I found some really weird prints in the snow today. I can't figure out what kind of animal or maybe a bird it is, so I put the night camera out. Hopefully we'll see tomorrow.

Since I was up at 5am, it's time for bed.

Good night and have a terrific weekend.

It's not even the middle of the month and I can't post an image. I don't think it's Blogger's fault this time. My computer has been giving me trouble for a couple of weeks and I can't figure out what the problem is.

Anyway, I finished reading "Duma Key", by Stephen King last night. It's long, but the last half of it is riveting. Thank you Sherry Bell for sharing it with me. I won't tell you what it's about but there's an artist involved. I don't believe I've ever read any of Stephen King's books before. I'm not a big horror fan, so I skimmed over those parts quickly since I was reading the book before I went to sleep. I could easily imagine it as a movie.

The snow that fell during the night is beautiful. maybe an inch. It's still dark, but with the sky starting to lighten, the effect is so lovely and peaceful.

I'm going to try the upstairs computer tonight to see if I will have better luck posting an image here.

In the meantime, enjoy your day.

We finally got to finish watching FOOD, Inc. and I have a lot of mixed feelings about it. It's disgusting what we feed ourselves and our children. Especially the meat and milk. I had no idea that a lot of the meat in most supermarkets isn't grown in the US. The animal protein by-products in your pet's food or if you have chickens, etc., is pretty much manure, unless you feed them organically. I don't want to get up on a soapbox here, so watch the movie and decide for yourself. Let me know what you think. One thing that you can do is to sign the online petition to have the government use our tax dollars to feed our kids healthy lunches at least five days a week. Use the link below. After you enter the website click on "take action". It literally takes less than a minute to sign. www.foodincmovie.com/

My painting tonight is from Chanticleer. They have quite a few groupings of co-ordinated chairs and trees. What a clever idea. There will be more to come. "Matching Chairs and Tree--Chanticleer", 11"x 14", oil on canvas board, $350.

I was posting some photos of my paintings today and found one that I think I never posted. It's of the ewe and her lambs that I painted a couple of years ago. This one is different, so I figured I'd post it tonight. "Fall Lambs #2", oil on canvas, 10"x8", sold. Jay Jr. just called from Lone Pine, California. He's driving Jeanie's car out to Petaluma for her. All he can talk about is how gorgeous New Mexico is....someday. The bitter cold is making my bones ache. I'm ready to move to warmer climes, like maybe Petaluma? I wish. Anyway, stay warm and take care, it's going to get worse as the week progresses.

I hope your holidays were the best and that this New Year brings all of us health, wealth, joy and the "peace that surpasses all understanding". I know I need it. Our Christmas and New Year celebrations were just wonderful. We went to my cousin Nicky and his gracious wife Leanne's for "the fishes" on Christmas Eve. Danny made the bacala, it was the first time ever that I actually liked it. Sorry Grandmom. We also had the usual suspects, smelts, linguine and clams, plus Nicky made an amazing seafood cocktail with polenta, two kinds of calamari, as well as eel, really delicious raw oysters with cantaloupe and prosciutto. They were my downfall. I ate too many and didn't leave enough room for the grilled Branzino and Cioppino. I did have the Cioppino, but I wanted more. My nephew Pat made a Caesar salad that I now crave everyday. It was so garlicky that I had aceto for the rest of the night, but it was so worth it. The entire night was very enjoyable and fun to see the littles who are now old enough to be able to understand and appreciate all of it. Thank you Lea and Nicky for your hospitality. Our new, three week old baby cousin was there and I got to give him his bottle. It's been years since we had a newborn in the family. Welcome Alexander and congratulations on your beautiful boy Marilena and Larry! God bless all of you. Christmas Day was the biggest treat for the adults, because the Johnson kids were living with us and we got to share Christmas morning with them. It's been a long time since Jeanie's been home on Christmas morning. We had a great dinner, including the Italian Wedding/Holiday soup. It was really, really good if I do say so myself. Jay Jr. made a timpano. Wow, what a feat! Watch "Big Night", it'll give you an idea of what it's all about. Krista, Carter and Josie came for dinner on Saturday and we did Christmas all over again. Double the joy. We spent early New Year's Eve having dinner at Georges'. The food was just terrific. I'm sad that chef Jeremy Duclut has left, but ever since he won "CHOPPED" he just got too many offers he couldn't refuse. I loved his food. For New Year's Day, Danny made the foie with a rose petal jam and Jay Jr. made pork belly, Gordon Ramsay-style. As usual it was fantastic! The cabbage and mashed potatoes that accompanied it were so good, even the next day. The belly was perfectly crisp on top and succulent on the bottom. The mashed potatoes just kept surprising me with every bite. I kept saying to jay Sr., "this is SO good" because it was. I ate most of the cabbage with caramelized onions and bacon. I can't wait to do it again next year. So now the sad part is that Jeanie, Derek and the kids moved to California. I don't even want to get started. My eyes are still puffy and at my age, I can certainly do without that. It's so quiet here...I'm not a fan. Danny and Gabriel had birthdays in December. Gabriel the 21st (10 years old) and Danny the 22nd (28 years old). HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUYS! The hawks are still coming around and the chickens can no longer free-range. In addition to the female red-tail, there's a Cooper's Hawk (photo above) that swoops down while I'm feeding the juveniles. It got one of my bantams. I've lost too many in the past couple of weeks, so I'm going to downsize big time. Between the weather and predators, I've had it. If the chickens aren't happy, I'm not happy. I took down my exhibit this past weekend. I sold 18 pieces. I need to recount, but it's very close to that. Thank you to everyone once again for their support and for coming out in the brutal weather. I am very grateful and appreciative. I've started back on Finn's final oil portrait. I hope to have it finished by the end of the week. One of my New Year's resolutions is to be more consistent with keeping this blog and painting. I resolve to be more serious and more in touch, so stay with me and send me some comments once in a while. It gets lonely in the studio with just the Ninja turtles and the tree frog.

Just wanted to get in here real quick and wish everyone a wonderful holiday season. May you have all of the peace, hope and joy your heart can stand. The image today is the one on my Christmas card for this year. "Three French Hens, Again", oil on linen, 10"x10", $250. sold. xo, Jeanie

As always tons of stuff going on here. I was away for three days last week to do grandparent stuff at Gabriel and Jonah's school. Reading to their classes. Really a lot of fun. I read Tomie DePaola's, "THE ART LESSON". We have much in common. Sadly, I won't be doing that anymore, because Jeanie, Derek and the kids will be moving to California right after Christmas, for a few years. So it'll be Kristie's (Derek's Mom) turn to do it for a while. Derek will be attending seminary there--I know, I know, he could do it closer, but he's got some deal there because of his home church in Severn, plus some other thing with the GI bill. Anyway, it's got me pretty miserable, but Isabella is here with me keeping my days joyful. Jonah as usual, being the character that he is, wants a moustache for Christmas, so he can "be a man and not have to work". Nice. Our turkeys are being raised free-range and organically, by my friend and feed guy, John Fiorella. We get them next week. I saw them a few weeks ago and they were enormous then. I am so ready for Thanksgiving. Last week I had a weekend art show at the UM Library. It turned out to be very rewarding. I made a lot of good connections and sold a painting. After the reception on Friday, we went to Georges' for dinner. I must say the Chef Jeremy is really doing a fabulous job. His food hits the spot and you don't need to spend a fortune. We really enjoyed it. BTW, if you didn't know it, Jeremy was the winner on "CHOPPED"! He deserved it. Honest, his food is very good. Speaking of art shows, I have an exhibit with Jay Jr. and hopefully our friend Ute Arnold in December. We hang on the 6th of December and the reception is December 13th from 4pm to 7pm. This is my annual exhibit at the Gryphon Cafe', 105 W. Lancaster Ave., Wayne, PA 19087, Phone:610.688.1988 and YOU are invited. We'll be serving food/beer/wine. Children, friends and family are welcome to come along with you. I probably won't be posting much...not that I have been lately...until after the holidays. My plate is overflowing already. The exciting part is that Jeanie and her family will be living here for awhile before they leave for CA. I can't wait. The sun was so welcome yesterday and today. Jay and I took Isabella to a playground for a couple of hours yesterday. It felt tropical. She and I worked outside in the chicken pen/ swamps today. The sun felt so good. Jeanie, Krista and Josie have all had the flu. I'm desperately trying to avoid it. I'm outside working every day, rain--mostly rain-- or shine and drinking a lot of flu-fighter tea. Jay got it for me last year when I was coming down with something and it knocked it right out! Seriously, it did. Chickens are all doing OK. Some of the girls that hatched last spring are starting to lay their eggs. Very exciting. The boys are doing their jobs and chix are hatching out regularly. The fox still visits every night. She looks good and is getting her winter coat. My friend Eric, up the road, is the master raccoon, Hav-a-Hart trapper. He's caught two recently. That is two less I have coming here now. Thank God. His girlfriend Sharon is bringing treats for the chickens almost everyday. They're like junkies now for the whole-grain oat bread she brings for them. I let the Splash, Blue and Black Copper Marans out today to free-range. It's the first time in weeks. They were just yipee yiaying it up! The hawk still passes overhead, but up very high. I don't think she was looking for them today, since it's been so long since they've been out. I'm going to visit my friend Bailey tomorrow on a chicken mission, it'll be on my way to or from Pearl for my art supplies. Last week Danny took Jay and I to Nectar for dinner. Torri was working, so we sat at the bar. Man, was it terrific! I can't give you a blow by blow, you just need to go and try it for yourself. Chef Patrick came out and talked with us for a while. Such a great, down-to-earth guy. No pretense, just real. The restaurant atmosphere is fabulous in the sense that it is very open and spacious, but with a cocoon-like sense of coziness. Krista took me for Mother's Day about five years ago and we sat upstairs. Looking down on the room and the bar, the big candles give you a Zen/John Singer Sargent/Maxfield Parrish, feeling all at the same time. I had my first foie gras sushi there. I'm reading "The Woman in White", at bedtime and just finished "The Careful Use of Compliments" in the car. I really enjoyed "The Careful Use of Compliments", but am really struggling through "The Woman in White". It's like reading "Lady Chatterly's Lover". The same point, being painfully made, over and over and over. So that's it for now. Enjoy this fine weather while we have it. The dreariness will be here soon. I'll pop in now and again. Be well and be in touch.

It was a good, busy weekend. We went to Eric Barbuscia's gig at the Gryphon. His main squeeze Karen, was there. Great show. John Galla opened for him, which was also very enjoyable. We all went to Christopher's after and that's always fun, especially if my boy Dan Kane is there. I love that kid! Yesterday Jay and I both worked outside since it was a gorgeous day. Then we went to pick up feed at the Fiorella's. I love going to their farm. So much room. They are growing our organic, Thanksgiving turkeys for us. I saw them a couple of months ago when they were babies, now they're already enormous and they still have a few more weeks to go. Last night we went to Eric and Sharon's for dinner and had some comfort food, it started with a great dip, but Eric had soaked some pineapple cubes in vodka which was a great warm up. Dinner started with a nice spinach salad with Eric's pickled eggs in it, followed by rolled meat loaf, stuffed with prosciutto, provolone and arugala, then some mac n' cheese with broccoli. The dessert was Sharon's famous flourless chocolate cake, just wonderful. A really good time. Today was another terrific day to be outside. Danny made dinner and wow, was it good. He made angel hair and clams. I have to say that I haven't had any that good in years. Just perfectly done. I think I need to go up and get some more, not before I tell you about Finn's color study. I'm waiting on more instruction for the background, but it's pretty much finished. I have added some other touches to it since I took this photo, so maybe I'll show you that tomorrow night, but maybe not. Again, this is just a pastel study, so his fur looks a little more wiry than the oil painting will describe it.

Jonah was allowed to take a book to school the other day. He asked if he could take "The Restaurant Guide to Baltimore". He's 7 years old, maybe he's spending too much time here? Nah. When we were getting ready to leave there last Sunday, he wanted to come home with me , but Jeanie said no. So he turned to me and asked since I was her mom, could I please force her to let him go home with me. Just two more reasons why I think Jonah should come and live with us. Honestly, I am just so sick of all of this rain. It's just too much. Tonight's portrait of Finn is the third sketch. His owner asked if we could do the vertical portrait, the head shot, with "his tree" in with him, so I tried this composition, which I think was hard to imagine. I'm really tired and getting cranky, so I'm going to bed and read "The Woman in White", not my favorite. Have a great weekend.

The next sketch of Finn is of him sitting next to his favorite tree, surveying all that he owns. If you met this dog, you'd know that he is king.

I'm working on a pet portrait of an adorable guy named "Finn". I'm painting him from photos. This is pretty much my process when painting any type of portrait, so you can watch me as I go. I started with a very rough pencil sketch of Finn, to place his pose, features and expression, as well as getting a general value study. I hope you're enjoying this wonderful weather. Jeanie's starting to feel better. Whew!

We went to Jeanie's on Sunday for Derek's birthday. I made Lasagna for the first time in years. It coincided with probably the worst stretch of memory impairment I've experienced since it all started about two years ago. It was the worst lasagna I've ever made, let's face it, it's pretty hard to mess up, but when you forget to add the layers that are right there in front of you, that's when it becomes awful. I was able to make it just OK. Gabriel, one of my biggest fans thought it was terrific. I love that kid. So we brought Isabella home with us and joy has reigned here for two days. Now she's having her piano lesson with Pop-Pop and she wants everyone to know that she played the piano all by herself and sang too. We worked outside, went to the toy store as promised, had dinner with Aunt Celeste and after dinner we sketched and painted. Jeanie called me today to let me know she has the flu. So that means that Isabella gets to stay. Tonight's painting is of a coral-colored dahlia from Mrs. Gammalinda. I painted it on the day Senor died. "For Senor", 6"x6", oil on gessobord, $50. framed.

I'm still not really satisfied with the quality or color of this egg demo photo, but here it is. So to sum up: my goal was to model an egg, by using value. Color wasn't really important to me, but since I was painting a Marans egg, which is pretty dark brown, I used browns. I started with the dark background at home and took the small panel to church to paint the egg from life. I painted the egg shape with the darkest darks and the slight reflection on the bottom of the egg, along with the shadow, then I started layering lighter values with the four highlights. It was at this point that I took the painting home. During the demo and at home the painting fell a few times and the paint got damaged. Now at home, I decided to change the composition to a more diagonal one, by changing the light source and shadow. I started the repair, changed the shadow, which meant I mentally changed the light source. The florescent light just wouldn't do. I no longer painted the egg from life at home, just from memory of paintings from the past. The next day I finished repairing the back ground, reshaped the egg slightly and started losing the back edge of the egg. I lightened the table and added a ledge. Next I completed the egg by again by adding successive and smaller layers of lighter values until it was time to add the diffused, final highlight. That's it. If I missed something, or if you have a question feel free to ask. "If You Can Paint an Egg", 7"x5", oil on gessobord, $50., framed.

Even though the painting of the egg is finished, the photo of it leaves a lot to be desired, so until I can shoot it outside, when it stops raining, this one will give you an idea of what it looks like. I think the thing that's most distracting is the glare on the left, but you can see how the egg has developed. The way I did that was to paint successive layers of lighter values until I painted the highlight on the egg. Notice that I changed the position of the shadow and made a ledge on the table. I also smoothed out the dark bands of color where the damage occurred on the background. If you're just tuning into this blog, this egg is a lot darker than you're used to seeing and certainly a lot darker than a store bought egg. If you follow this blog at all you'll recognize this egg as a Marans egg, which is the darkest egg laid by a chicken. Marans are French chickens. The Marans eggs do come darker than this. Some ducks lay almost black eggs and I believe emus lay a very dark, almost black/ green egg. So if everything goes according to plan, I'll post this painting again on Monday. In the meantime have a terrific weekend.

Back to the painting from Monday night's demo at church. I quoted N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth's father and art instructor. N.C. told Andrew that "If you can draw an egg, you can draw anything". I don't know if I totally agree with that, but then who am I to argue with N.C.? It has certainly helped me with my inclination to paint egg-shaped objects like lemons and fruit. So, in the painting above I've covered over the boo boos with a very dark brown, because they kept showing through, leaving the the fingerprints at the top left after swiping them a few times with a brush. I also took away some color away from the table with turpenoid, which I'll redo later. Not only did this help remove some fuzz and dings in the paint, but I wanted to change the shape and size of the shadow, which I will do more of to change the light source. Those overhead florescent lights at church won't do. I also reworked the back, behind the egg, to make it darker so I can begin losing that edge so that the egg emerges from the darkness. I may be able to finish this by tomorrow night, especially with all of this rain and cold making me want to stay indoors.

Huge Happy Birthday wishes going out to my nephew Pat (10/13) on his 30th birthday! I was in the labor room with his mom, pushing my knuckles into her back until I got blisters, because she had back labor and then in the delivery room taking pictures of him being born. I was such a wreck that I dropped the camera on the floor and the batteries rolled all over the place. I thought for sure one of the assistant nurses would step on them and roll and drop onto the floor, but they didn't. They did give me some dirty looks, but didn't kick me out of there. Then I got to go out to my brother and tell him he had a son. Wow, what a memory. Geez, 30 years ago, wow. And then there's my wonderful son-in-law Derek's birthday (10/14). I won't reveal his age but he's certainly getting better with age, like a fine wine. Happy Birthday again guys. On Monday night I did a demo for my art group at my church which is Church of the Saviour. I didn't finish it then, so I took it home, planning on finishing it last night and posting it, but I suddenly got really tired with terrible pain in my head and then the chills, so I went right to bed and woke up this morning feeling much better. Tonight I'll post the painting as I left it with a few more scars on it from the wind blowing it onto the ground when I was photographing it yesterday. So this will put it back a couple of stages and be officially stage two. Tomorrow will be stage three. Jay has been sick with an ear infection for over a week, has finished a Z-Pack and now is on another, stronger antibiotic. It seems to be working better. The chickens are all in lockdown and have been so since last Thursday when the local female hawk swooped over me when I let them out in the morning and then later in the afternoon, with Danny, Torri and myself standing right there, she flew into the forsythia and grabbed a olive-egger pullet. The pullet is fine, she just lost a few feathers and almost had the life scared out of her. It took her a couple of hours to come out from under the bushes. On Saturday, the hawk was swooping over the chicken pen in an effort to frighten the chickens and have them fly upward to escape, so she could bite their heads off or grab them. The net on the pen was too high and that didn't work. So she flew over to the maple tree near the pen and sat there. I ran outside and picked up a small stone and threw it at her and missed her by about four feet, but it landed under her. She didn't move. She looked at the stone, looked at me then pooped on the stone. Like she was laughing at me. Well she can laugh all she wants. She's not getting these chickens. I hope they laugh at her when she tries to scare them.

Senor was our Chihuahua. He was very old, totally blind, deaf and appeared to have cancer. For the past two years he has laid beside me in his heated bed here in "our" studio. He used to love to go outside and most times stayed close by and when he became blind he could hear me call him when he started to wander too far. Deafness changed all of that and so we used a leash to take him out. It scared him too much, so he went out with me when I could sit with him in the sun and hold him, or if Josie and I took him out. Josie loved him, she still does. He loved her, which is very unusual, because like some Chihuahuas, Senor hated everybody, except Jeanie, Danny, Josie and I. People would think they could pick him up because he was so small, but he'd poop on them. He was the big boss. He just appeared to be tiny. Danny put a huge rock on his grave yesterday when he buried him. He said it was because Senor always perceived himself much larger than he actually was. Your typical big dog in a little dog body. He definitely had a "Napoleon Complex". When Jay and Celeste got married, the tent rental company sent four Hispanic men to erect the tents and Senor ran outside to growl, bark and bite them. I followed him and was shouting at him in a very stern voice, "Senor, come here". "Senor, get over here right now!" Of course you guessed it, all four of the men stopped what they were doing and were heading my way, when I realized they all thought I was hollering at them I started laughing and really had them confused. I feel like we should have put him down-- "to sleep" sooner, but he wasn't obviously suffering, so we didn't. The boys would argue with me about his "quality of life", but I didn't want to hear it. Senor weighed less than four pounds, so when he did start to suffer, it was terribly pathetic. I would like to believe that our pets go to heaven. I know it talks about Jesus coming back on a white horse, so there must be animals up there. I also wonder if there are animal ghosts, because if you've had a pet for a while and they die, don't you sometimes think you still hear them in the house? I do think I hear Senor. A couple of times it has felt like he brushed up against my leg while I'm here at the computer. I look down out of habit to see him, but he's not there. I don't know what that is. I wonder and then I cry. The drawing above is of Senor 12 years ago. "Senor as a Young Man", graphite on paper. I thought Senor was 17, but the vet says he was older. That was a couple of years ago. I just can't remember. His portrait hangs in Josie's bedroom. She asked me last winter, when she was three, if she could have it. As I said, she really loves him, so do I.

Sharon and Eric from up the road stopped in, so I never finished my painting. It's of a dahlia from Mrs. Gammalinda's garden, courtesy of Enrico. Busy chicken day. More rain...the tarp is caving in on the chicken pen, so it looks like a busy chicken day tomorrow as well, only in the rain. yuck. Have a great weekend.

You know how you have a friend that is your heart? I have several friends like that. One is Susan Silenzi. She's just there with you, through the good, the bad, the ugly, beautiful, happy, joyous and all of the rest. She's trustworthy, real, low maintenance, can keep a secret and can bake like nobody's business. Before I get even more carried away, suffice it to say, she's an outstanding friend. She and her multi-talented, artistic son Chris, took me to Georges' tonight for my birthday dinner. Ah, 60, the gift that keeps on giving. Anyway, it was great as usual, well really, it was better than usual. Jeremy is getting the job done, but I miss Chef "Frosty". Thank you Susan and Chris! I love spending time with you. We never got around to watching the sculptor movie last night because our neighbors Sharon and Eric dropped by. After a glass of wine, they left and we just watched "Three Sheets" on FLN, which was pretty entertaining. Maybe we'll get to the movie tomorrow night. The painting above is an example of my thank you notes. This one is on ecru, fine watercolor paper. Others are on watercolor postcards. All painted with walnut ink, except for one that I did for Dan Kane. It was done with the really cool piece of graphite that Dan gave to me for my birthday, (along with a bottle of Veuve) shaped into a grapevine with grapes. It's going to take me years to wear it out. These walnut ink paintings aren't for sale, but if you want one let me know and I'll paint it for you.

Well I put the night camera out again last night. The raccoon showed up first, then the fox a couple of hours later. Then they both were here at all different times with the raccoon ending about 5:30 this morning. This is really fun. The painting is of one of the frogs in my pond. He wasn't as hard as I thought he'd be to paint. "Frog in My Pond", 6"x6", oil on board, $50., framed. Sold More chix are hatching and they're really growing fast. Jay and I watched KULTURE'S "Rossetti" last night what a talent and what a waste. He died young because he was an alcoholic and drug addict, so was his wife, well, she was a drug addict. His paintings are incredible. Tonight we're going to watch another movie about a sculptor. I'll let you know how I liked it.

Click on the link before you read the rest of my post. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=124945&id=623327037 Someone on FaceBook posted this link, but it's not what I want you to see. You may have to be a member of FaceBook to view it. When you click on the link it'll take you to Ute's page. Scroll down a bit 'til you come to a link and click on that. Hopefully you'll see the video. If that doesn't work, go to my FaceBook page and scroll down 'til you get to posts from this morning. You'll see the square/rectangle for the video. Let me know if you need help. Being 60 and only knowing the Black Eyed Peas from the "Boom Boom" song and that, only because Isabella loves to dance to it. I've never seen what they look like, so when I watched the video this morning I thought it was ridiculous that a band that looked like they do, would be singing that lame song. Then when girl in the purple shirt started the annoying dance, I rolled my eyes and was about to turn it off. Just goes to show you what I know. Tonight I made rabbit, which I do a lot. I haven't made this recipe for many years. It has a tarragon mustard cream sauce. I also used wild mushrooms, pinot grigio and sparkling wine. I'm glad there are leftovers. I'm going up to watch an art documentary with Jay. Blogger won't let me upload images tonight...it is that time of the month for Blogger. I see a pattern/cycle here. Anyone else have this problem?

My sister Amy's birthday was on Friday. Yes, she's younger than me. Hope your birthday was wonderful Amy, many more. Jay sent this link in an email to me http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaf03z_dating-montage_creation what can I say? The weekend went fast with Jeanie and the kids. We went to Chanticleer, but mostly hung out here. Jay and I watched movies with the kids. It was a good time. We didn't want them to leave and they didn't want to leave, sniff... Yesterday morning when I went to let the chickens out, I noticed a lot of things out of order, that and the missing pig head concerned me, so I set up the night camera. The photo above is of our resident female fox. The aluminum pan held lobster and prawn shells from a delicious seafood pasta dinner that Danny made last night. I love the fact that the camera tells me what time the shot was taken the date, time and the temperature. I have a couple of paintings finished, but I'll post one tomorrow night.

Early in the spring, Jonah and I went to Pickering Valley Feed and Seed to get feed and water plants for the pond. They have a great selection so we got what they called "Salad" for the fish, which took them all summer to eat. Jonah spotted some tadpoles so we got three and put them in the pond. They slowly developed their arms and legs as their tails shrunk. Jay Sr. stepped on one in the path. It couldn't get away fast enough with it's newly emerged limbs, but the other two are doing great and have gotten really big. The watercolor above was painted over two months ago while we sat outdoors by the pond. I'm also working on an oil of one of the frogs. This one is titled "Frogs in My Pond", watercolor on Moleskine watercolor paper, apprx. 6"x8", $50. framed. Sold. Jeanie drove up from Maryland with her three kids and Josie to stay the weekend. The kids are all sleeping. One of the children in Gabriel's grade has been officially diagnosed with the Swine Flu. I think I'm going to go to bed to keep my resistance up.

I mentioned before that my Aunt Jeannie gave me the book "Julie and Julia" and that I was surprised that it was made into a movie. I didn't feel that it was a strong enough story. I realize that the actual blog/cooking thing got a lot of coverage from the media, which I thought it deserved, but I felt a movie was stretching it. The movie however, is more about Julia and I loved it. It intrigued me so much that I bought the book "My Life in France", by Julia Child and her husband's nephew, whose name escapes me right now, but the last name is the same as the Cajun chef, Paul Prud...something or other. I'm only a little into it, but I'm impressed with her writing and really enjoying the book. It's a fun, easy read. Just so you know, I actually am constructing paragraphs on this blog, but blogger just runs everything together. At least it's not inserting those weird A things anymore. The painting above is of white Saturn peaches. They were a pleasure to paint and to eat. "Two Saturn Peaches", 6"x6", oil on board, $50., framed. I have several pieces that I'm working on, including a pet portrait. There will be my usual exhibit at The Gryphon Cafe' in December and hopefully something in November. When we get a pig for porchetta from Esposito's they always bring the head with it. The head has a cross cut on the forehead between the eyes. They actually bless the pig before cooking it. Well, after the party it was left out and something took it. The head was pretty big, so I'm trying to imagine what could have carried it away.....scary. I hope whatever it was it didn't drop it and leave it in someone's yard!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER, MY SON JAY. He was born the day after my birthday in 1977. It was a brutal labor and delivery. During labor I asked for drugs and they wouldn't give me any because of some complications that the doctor wouldn't tell me about, so I told Jay Sr. to go out and get me some drugs. When he was down the hall I started yelling for him to "get back here"! I was slightly conflicted. They knocked me out right before Jay was born and when I woke up I was still on the delivery table. Jay Sr. had his head on me and was crying. He told me we had a son and I was so elated that I was trying to shout it out to the world, but from moaning for so many hours in labor, I couldn't get any sound out. That hospital was really creepy. While I was there, I woke up in the middle of the night and there were women of all ages, but mostly teenagers, standing in line out in the hallway with hospital gowns on whispering to each other. The staff was moving them along. It didn't take long to realize that the woman were mentally challenged. What was worse was that they were from a nearby institution and at the hospital for abortions. I try not to think about it, but it still haunts me. Anyway, the happiest part was when I woke up in my room after Jay was born and the nurse was at the foot of my bed holding a baby. I didn't realize that he was mine, but thought he was so beautiful and asked her if she didn't think so too. She said yes, then told me he was mine. I really felt like I won the prize. I still feel that way, but even more so 32 years later. Happy Birthday Jay, I'm so proud of you and I love you. We've had a lot of stuff transpire in the past month. I wouldn't say we're the better for it though. Dolores' mother passed away a week after Lisa's death. Then a friend Bobby Wolter died a few days later. He was 28 and Jay played music with him. Bobby was a drummer. He died from Cystic Fibrosis. I can't even go there except to say that there was a blog that he and another Cystic Fibrosis victim Brian had, called "Bobby and Brian Speak". So incredibly sad. I haven't had any revelations that make any sense of all of this. Sorry, no answers. I've spent a lot of evenings with Jay watching movies, it's a good escape for me and a luxury for us. Now that teaching is getting back into gear, I see much less of him. I read until the book falls out of my hand at bedtime. I can't stand to be still and awake enough to think. I pray, but eventually the horrors, both real and exaggerated, come seeping in and then I can't sleep until the sun starts coming up. Plenty of chicken stuff going on, new chix hatching, big chix going to new homes. Another raccoon has been around stealing chix and Chanticleer. I think I've gotten the pens covered securely, but he must have gotten them before they went to bed and were out unprotected. I went searching for Chanticleer at bedtime, but never found him. Such a heartbreak, he was a very sweet boy. New, local chicken friends are making the whole chicken adventure so much more fun. I'm a big fan of the urban chicken movement. I hear thunder, more rain. It pretty much wrecked the vegetable and flower gardens this year. The tomatoes rotted, the hot peppers were barely there. We got a few okra and cucumbers. All of it tasted delicious, but the combination of too little sun and too much rain, just messed it all up. I am grateful for what we had/have. Those tomato sandwich lunches are still tasty. We haven't been out to dinner too much. Trying to save for the big 6-0 birthday party. It was on Sunday. We had over a hundred friends and relatives come to share in the celebration. What a great time, it definitely made turning 60 worth it. We did our traditional porchetta/pig roast which we always get from Esposito's. We've never been disappointed. My neighbor Sharon works for Elegance Bakery and she made the buttercream cake. It had little rabbits, chickens and eggs on it. My next door neighbor took her cue from my email signature, which is a quote from N.C. Wyeth, "If you can draw an egg, you can draw anything". So she was dressed as a Victorian artist and was walking around drawing on an egg. I haven't even opened my cards and presents yet. I'm still putting stuff back where it belongs. I think one more day and it will be done and then I'll have to clean again. Isabella stayed and we had to paint, play and shop for toys, so that was an excuse, but I took her back to Maryland today. Marie and Steve Martorano came to the party and Marie took pictures. Jeanie decided that she needed to sit on my lap and Marie got the photo. So for tonight, I'll leave you with that. My eye is red because I was putting up screening on the chicken pen and I pulled on the reed fence and it hit me in the eye. It's much better now.

I have a painting tonight. I had to do it today for some comfort. It has a ton of hidden meaning and emotion on many levels, although I don't think that it really shows, especially if you don't know it's there. For safety's sake it's titled "Hatched Black Copper Marans' Eggs", 6"x6", oil on gessobord, $50. framed. Sold. I hope that apostrophe is correct. Lisa's funeral was just tragic. I can't fathom Dolores's pain. She's such a strong woman. My cousin Mimi spoke during the service and really touched my heart. The crowd was overflowing. I'm going to go to the dark side for a little while and try to process all of this. I know that God will guide me through it and I'll come out on the other side a better person. It's so frustrating to not know the whys and hows of this. I always feel like I need to understand and know so that I can protect my family, but because the murderer also killed himself, I'll never truly have the answers. I pray that God will give me the peace I need. Here's a link for you about restraining orders, with other links, there's a lot of the information about the murder-suicide.

http://www.app.com/article/200908171720/OPINION01/908180306

When unexpected death in the family happens it is so devastating, but when murder happens to a young, bright and beautiful 30 year old woman, it's absolutely horrific. Response to the situation seems so trivial. Almost ridiculous. Honestly, what can you say that will make the mother of the victim feel better--not a damn thing. Nothing. If I could make it better, I would. I'm helpless, hopeless and still horrified. God, please give comfort to Dolores, Lisa's mother. Lisa was her long-awaited daughter and her only child. Her life was taken by her ex-fiance', who just couldn't get past himself. A truly selfish and derranged person, not good enough to be called a man. He hung himself after he killed Lisa. He left three little boys and their mother, plus the rest of his family and ours to deal with his mess.The funeral is tomorrow, so I won't be posting, but would appreciate your prayers.

Last night I fell asleep watching TV. The heat and humidity really wiped me out. The kids made it to California OK and they were so pleased with their dinner at Bouchon last night, they went back for lunch today. After that they went to Honig Winery, which is a place we went to last year. They were so kind in addition to the wine being so good, but the part that I remember is driving down a road to exit from there and doing a u-turn with the trunk open and flopping up and down and passing a police car. Celeste and I had the load, but fortunately Jay didn't and he was driving.Celeste and I thought it was hilarious. Jay Sr. and I went to Stargazers Vineyards in Chester County today on some chicken business. What a beautiful place. I heard a woman saying how much it looked like Napa. Not even close to me. Yes, it looked like a vineyard, but it also looked so much like Chester County, Pennsylvania. We had a nice visit. Thanx Alice and John. I was taking photos of the chickens again out in the front yard yesterday, when my nemesis popped her head up about 10 feet from me. She just won't take the hint.

I'm so depressed. The boys and Celeste are leaving for California tomorrow morning. The good news is that Torri will be taking them to the airport at 5am. Thank you Torri! They'll be there in time to go wine tasting and I believe they're doing Bouchon for dinner. I don't want to think about when they'll be going to the French Laundry and Chez Panisse. Oh, never mind, I just found their itinerary. Yep, Bouchon is tomorrow night, Saturday is Dolce, Sunday they're cooking at the Fedrick Ranch, Monday is Dry Creek Kitchen, so I guess they're not doing the Monday night special at Chez Panisse, Tuesday is the French Laundry and Redd, Wednesday is A16 and Thursday is Bistro Jeanty. I'm not even going to get into all of the vineyards they'll be visiting. Oh well, next year. The photo is of the French Laundry vegetable garden, which is across the street from the restaurant. Perfection.

Another mosquito-happy day today with all of the rain, heat and humidity. Pretty quiet around here except for the electric sander, sanding the floors. I think the stain goes on tomorrow and tomorrow night we start sleeping in the studio. That should be really interesting. I'm laughing to myself as I type it, but I know it's not going to be fun. I'll be taking the kids to the airport at 4am on Friday, so I'm going to try to get to sleep earlier tonight and tomorrow night, in the hope that it'll be easier to get up on Friday morning. Right. Here's another photo from last year of the guys posing for me after a game of croquette. We were at Krista and Carter's house to celebrate the August birthdays.

We had guys moving furniture last night, getting ready to have the floors refinished in the dining room. Everything seems to take longer in the heat. We've just been spoiled by the cool, albeit wet weather. My garden is not very productive, the peppers are a joke, barely any. We've gotten about 5 tomatoes and 5 cucumbers so far. What we have gotten have been outsatnding though. Lots of green tomatoes, it's just taking them so long to get red. Right now, none are even pink. I put four okra plants in this year. There are two okra out there. One is ready to pick, but what do I do with one? I'll put some butter on it and shoot it in the microwave and give it to Jay. The hens have mostly stopped laying. Just getting a few eggs a day. The broody hen is still sitting on her eggs. They're due to hatch on Friday. Can't wait. On Sunday I went to trade chix with Bailey Hale. I got a Buckeye from him and gave him a little Cuckoo Marans pullet. When she knows this is her home and doesn't try to take off, I'll post a photo of her. Saturday we went to pick up feed at John Fiorella's. Such nice people. I love their farm. It looks like we're going to get a turkey or two from him. Saturday night we went to Enrico Gamalinda's parent's 50th anniversary. We had a really great time. They are 74 and just dancin' machines! They did a wonderful job of raising their sons. So many beautiful people in one room. Everybody certainly knows how to have fun. We were honored to be invited. Today I was out taking pictures of the chickens, so here's a photo of one of my speckled Cuckoo Marans pullets. She's about 10 weeks old.

I was very grateful for the sun today. I was planning to pick up feed in Roxborough, but Jay needed the truck so I just worked around here. I'm experimenting with giving the rabbits more unprocessed foods, fresh foods like plants, herbs, leaves, grasses, etc. The organic rabbit pellets are so ridiculously expensive, especially after shipping is added on, and the worst part of it is that they love to dig into their feed hopper and scratch the food out all over the ground. Fortunately the chickens will eat some of it, but a lot still goes to waste. The chickens don't need it, they have their own food. So this will help. It got me thinking of some cost effective alternatives, at least for the summer, which was pretty much the highlight of my day after I made tomato sandwiches for lunch. Jay and I have been watching "Kitchen Nightmares". The European episodes are good, but there's nothing like an arrogant, egotistical, Italian-American son, that can't get out of the way of his own, super-inflated ego to seriously run a business. You've got to watch the one titled "Sabastian's". Talk about dillusional on so many different levels! He was so irritatingly comical, trying to be very serious and angry. Gordon Ramsay had to practically bitch slap him back to reality! It was very gratifying. "Peter's" is another good one. The photo here is almost a year old. It's from the party celebrating August birthdays and Josie is the birthday fairy. Now she's the rainforest fairy zipping through the forest canopy. Can't wait 'til she gets home.

I didn't get to sleep until after 5 this morning. Jay stopped and got me a small milkshake on his way home last night. It must have had caffeine in it, because about an hour into laying there with my eyes wide open, I realized my heart was racing and I was having anxiety about not taking my vitamin E and Co-enzyme Q10! I should have read, but I was so tired, but not able to sleep. I just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Gill Blair gave it to me for my birthday last year. I really enjoyed it, but the humor and clever way it was written, distracted me from the horror that the story was really about. Thank you Gill. Heavy rain for most of the day threw my schedule out the window. So my day started by prepping rabbit for the freezer, cleaning the kitchen and then making dinner, mixed in with working outside when it wasn't pouring. I baked a couple of small chickens and fixed some potatoes with the purple and green beans that Mikey Hess's mom, Jo brought over on Saturday night, to trade for eggs. I was going to do the potatoes and string beans the way my mother made them, however, I'm embarrassed to say that I ran out of olive oil. I used butter instead which added a whole new thing to something already great. Man it was good. The chickens while small and not very fleshy--truly free-range chickens can be like that--were very tasty and tender. They're more like pheasant or a game bird, although not at all gamey. When Jay came home late from teaching we watched the Australian No Reservations which was fun, but made me crave Chinese food. The photo above is of Isabella a couple of summers ago at Chanticleer. I really miss the kids....they're not even gone a week.

Made it in late tonight. The day just flew by and I feel like I didn't get a thing done. But I actually did. I picked tomatoes and cucumbers and some herbs and sliced the tomato and sprinkled it with a chiffonade of garlic chives and basil, fleur de sel, pepper and the olive oil that we had imported from Italy. Jay Jr. and Danny are having a weight loss competition so after I tasted it I gave it to Danny for lunch. Then I made a cucumber salad, the first one of the summer. Danny, Torri and I finished that. After that I started dinner and made a healthy Quinoa, tuna, zucchini, onion, garlic chive, buttercrunch lettuce and sugarsnap pea salad. Jay looked at it when he came home for dinner and put a tiny bit on his plate. Well we both really liked it, 'cause there wasn't any left. It feels so good to eat fresh and healthy. I hate the heat, but just love this time of year for the garden. I don't know what we'll do about the garden next year. We're losing it to the shade and the tree roots invading the beds. Two Cuckoo Marans chix hatched today and I have two hens that are broody now. I have eggs in the incubator that I'm going to put under the Olive-egger tomorrow and they'll hatch next week. I'll leave the eggs that the Cuckoo is sitting on, under her, to hatch out in three weeks. My hens haven't been broody in years. I love watching the mother hen show the chix how to find food and how protective she is of them. I should be able to get lots of great photos of them. Tonight's photo is of one of my Cuckoo Marans hens.

We spent much of the day moving stuff out of the dining room to make way for the floors to be refinished. Later in the afternoon I had some chicken business, which I always love. It's wonderful meeting new people that have chickens. After dinner...I had a tomato sandwich from my garden and the tomatoes are really good this year....Jay and I watched a movie "Perfect Stranger". We both thought it was a good movie, but the ending was weak. Several weeks ago, Melissa and David Clark invited us to see Diana Krall. Apparently, a bunch of our friends went to see her "Quiet Nights" concert as well. Don't you just love it when you see people you know in a big crowd of strangers? Anyway, Diana Krall was just amazing and I really appreciated her sense of humor. I have many of her cds, but was shocked at how they don't do her voice justice. Seriously, it may be sultry, but it is big! There's so much depth and power in it. Also, as Jay will testify, she is an amazing pianist. If you get the chance to see her, do it. We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the show and the company. Thank you Melissa and David. Tonight's photo is a head shot of my Cuckoo Marans rooster, "Elvis". He is of Cottage Hill lines, which is owned by Ron Presley. He's the father of many, many chix. 'Nite.

We had plans to go to Pat Jordan's art reception at the cafe' on Friday night, but something tried to get a hold of me and my lymph nodes, neck and head started aching so we stayed home. Saturday we went to Ray's Greenhouses in Earlington, PA and got some chicken, plants and vegetables. We then went to Merrimead Farms for lunch. We sat at a picnic table in the gorgeous weather and relived the times we took the kids there. On our way home we stopped by Eve's and got zeps for dinner. After dinner, one of Jay's students and his father stopped by for a visit and then when they left, Mikey Hess's parents brought heirloom green and purple beans from their garden We trade eggs for veggies with them. So we broke out a couple of bottles of wine and sat around the table outside and told stories. Really fun. Yesterday we went to Maryland to surprise Jeanie and the kids with a visit before they leave tomorrow for Utah, Idaho, then California for almost a month. that's going to be weird. I don't think I ever showed you the actual eggs from my Black Copper Marans hens. Now that the girls are hens and not pullets, their eggs are even darker. Today I worked outside all day. I picked tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley and basil and now I'm ready for bed. sleep tight.