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noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:38:00 +0000

This blog is now located at http://blog.jeaniechadwick.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://blog.jeaniechadwick.com/feeds/posts/default.

Aubergines and Sparkling Tasting

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:48:00 +0000

Saturday I went to the Upper Merion Farmer's Market, Meet the Farmers event. I was disappointed with only two real organic farmers, but hopefully they'll be more when the official opening happens. After that I went to The Wayne Art Center and renewed my membership and ran a few more errands, went home and had sushi. I spent the rest of the evening researching local art groups and joining. Sunday we went to Maryland because Jeanie and the kids came home for a couple of days. We all met at Krista's. It was so good to hug, kiss and squeeze them. The ride home was brutal, but worth it. Yesterday Danny bought 5 bottles of sparkling wine, two of which were French Champagne. He set up a blind tasting for us. I got the two bottles of French Champagne correct, but Jay Sr. and Jr. did better than me. It was really fun. I started the painting of Confetti Aubergines that I got at Whole Foods, but they're pretty challenging. The image is of them is about half way finished. Hopefully the painting will be completed tomorrow. Sleep tight.

Golden Beets and Tomato Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 03:58:00 +0000

My mouth is burning like crazy. I just had a tomato sandwich with hot peppers. We had some fresh, organic tomatoes from Whole Foods and I couldn't resist. I just couldn't wait for two or more months to get some from the garden. These tomatoes were very good and the peppers were dried and fried. Really crispy and hot, hot, hot.

Another painting of the beets tonight. Some of the leaf detail has been lost in glare, but I think you get the general idea. Jay and I did more cleaning out today. All of the overhead wire is off of the old chicken pen and in the dumpster.

The fox was around today at 2:30 p.m., yelling about something...probably the rabies that's taking over it's nervous system.

Karen, the lemons arrived today. THANK YOU!

Excellent news, Lemon Ladies made it on the Today Show as one of 15 great gifts to give for Mother's Day. So exciting. Congratulations Karen!

"Golden Beets", oil on linen, 10"x10" $250., framed.

'Nite>

A Tribute to Alice Waters--Golden Beets

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 03:10:00 +0000

Now that the painting I showed you last night is finished, let me tell you about it. When I was in California about a month ago. We went to Alice Waters' restaurant, Chez Panisse. It was worth the lifetime wait. I've been a fan of hers since I was a young woman. I believe she's about five years my senior. We have a lot in common, but $ isn't one of them and I don't possess the amazingly sharp palate that she does. Still, I do have an adventurous palate and love making and eating interesting and good food. I've always had or helped with our vegetable garden, it's always been organic, what we didn't raise ourselves, my father taught me to buy in season-- our meat, dairy, bread, eggs, etc. from local farmers. We went to a family in Conshohocken for our tomato pies and oregano bread on Sundays, another family made our hot and sweet Italian sausages. Sam Bono from Phoenixville, raised and processed the rabbits, pheasants, chickens and turkeys for us. My brother Danny and his late wife Shirley, raised organic, polled Herefords back in the 1970s. So we were pretty much covered.

Back to Chez Panisse--we had a salad that included golden beets. It was sublime. Visually lovely and the taste just perfect. The dressing was smooth, creamy and subtle over the fresh, beautiful golden beets and greens, along with the rest of the salad. A relatively simple, delicious salad, yet it inspired the painting above of golden beets. Thank you Alice!

"A Tribute to Alice Waters--Golden Beets", oil on linen, 10"x10", $250., framed.

Golden Beets

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:21:00 +0000

Tonight I'm posting the first go at my new painting. It's of beets and these to me are the most beautiful. It's larger than usual for a daily painting, 10"x10", so I didn't finish it yet. I thought it would be good to post it before I finish forming the beets themselves and the rest of the details. The glare on the left, hopefully won't be included in the next post.

Since I didn't get to sleep until 5am this morning. I'll keep this short and say goodnight.

Gnocchi Party and Heirloom Seedlings

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 06:54:00 +0000

Here it is almost 3 am and I'm finally getting around to doing this. I'm trying to post my painting but having trouble with blogger. I'll try again. Busy day varnishing the chicken painting and doing the new one, "Heirloom Beans--Seedlings", 6"x6", oil on board, $75., framed. This'll probably be it for the bean paintings until we actually get some beans. Maybe not. We went to the Picasso exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art yesterday--well actually Sunday now. It was wonderful and frustrating at the same time. Really crowded, which is inevitable, but my biggest gripe is the number of paintings that were not by Picasso. I didn't mind a few by his two closest friends, but really it's a Picasso exhibit. There were more than enough of his works for a full exhibit. It's just too much stimulation and unnecessary intensity. I started to zone out, lose focus and then the crowd started to get on my last nerve so I left before seeing all of it. I experienced the same thing with the Dali exhibit. It was way too warm and uncomfortable. The best part was the inspiration and excitement. I have a much better understanding of Cubism now. I am happy that I went. The hen that was mangled by the fox a little over a week ago appears to be recovering. She ate and drank on her own today and actually stood up and moved around for the first time since the attack. It's tough force feeding and keeping a chicken hydrated for that long. I'm thrilled she's going to make it. I made a new friend today. His name is Chuck. He was a little shy, but I gave him some nice steak and champagne and surprisingly he kissed me. He's a Cane Corso. Dave Bragg is fostering him and brought him here for us to see. Wonderful dog and beautiful breed. I really need to get to bed. Hopefully I'll have a painting to post for tonight.

We Three French

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 02:31:00 +0000

I know I rarely post on Saturdays, but I wanted to get this painting up right away. "We Three French", oil, 8"x 10", framed, commissioned, nfs. This original painting looks much better than this image. It's lacking some contrast and clarity. Started another bean painting today. Really chilly all day. I think I have PTSD from this winter. I saw some cherry blossoms flying around outside and thought it was snow! Tomorrow I'm hoping to see the Picasso exhibit at the PMA. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Heirloom Seeds Sprouting and Millions Against Monsanto

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 02:39:00 +0000

So here are the bean seeds sprouting. I find them to be beautiful and kind of reptilian in their patterns. I love reptiles too. "Heirloom Seeds--Sprouting", 6"x6", oil on board, $75. Danny and I drove down to Roxborough today to get the organic grains that I feed to the chickens and rabbits. Even though the rabbits no longer live here, my friend Alison has them and I provide the feed for them. Anyway, it's a nice ride via the Harts Lane detour. Great little houses along the way. I watched the GMO Trilogy today. It's really upsetting. Made me want to cry for the situation that our farmer's are in. How in the world did we ever let it get this way. Even certified organic farmers in Canada are affected because their neighbors that do plant GMO seeds have plants that blow onto the organic farms and pollute their land by way of GMO seeds that germinate and grow. Now the organic farms are totally polluted and those farmers are screwed, big time. They usually have to go out of business after the huge expense and all of the work that it takes to become certified. How heartbreaking. Speaking of gardening--'cause we don't have enough land to consider it farming--the boys started turning the soil in the garden today. It's supposed to rain for the next couple of days, so it looks like we're going to roto-till on Monday. The wounded hen is still alive, but not eating or drinking. I keep dipping her beak in water and am giving her supplements, I feel so sorry for her. I examined her today for the first time because it was obvious that she was in pain. She's moving around a little, so I took a look. She has a big chunk out of her back, but it appears to be healing. I'm reading "Villa Incognito" and it is so on my nerves, but every once in a while he (Tom Robbins, the author) makes sense, or I start to understand his writing and I laugh. I read "The Help" before the Robbins book and really liked it. Anyone need eggs or have good egg recipes? The girls are laying up a storm and I stopped selling them before I went to CA. I had one for dinner tonight. They're really good. That's all for now. 'Nite.

Heirloom Seeds Emerging

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 05:07:00 +0000

I'm really enjoying this series of the heirloom beans. Tonight's painting is of the seeds as they break the soil and emerge. "Heirloom Beans--Emerging", 6"x6", oil on board, $75. framed. I worked outside again today. It was beautiful. As an experiment, I'm doing a few straw-bales as the base for some of my vegetables this year. The spot where we have the garden is surrounded by big trees, two maples and a mulberry. The snow knocked down the mulberry tree, so we'll get more sun, but all of the tree roots are really invasive, so I'm excited to try this. The mulberry tree is OK and I'm happy it's down, because now I'll be able to reach the berries to pick them. Today is day 1 of manuring and watering the bale. More tomorrow. 'Nite.

Chanticleer Koi and Staying Busy

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 03:40:00 +0000

I went to Maryland on Thursday night so I could be at Josie's Grandparent's Day on Friday morning. Mary Charlotte and I went together. It was so much fun. Great school.

Friday night was the reception at Church of the Saviour for our art group. We had a nice turn out and as usual, Jay played the piano. We went to Georges' afterwards for some dinner.

On Saturday I sat at church for a couple of hours to babysit the art work and greet anyone that came to see it. We had dinner at the Mainland Inn after that. It was really good.

Sunday morning a mangy fox came and took three of my chickens and one is still hanging on. She stood up today but is pretty thin. This all happened in broad daylight. I'm pretty certain that it's rabid.

Sunday was also baby Alexander's christening. He's my second cousin--Larry and Marilena's son. Such a precious little boy. The affair was so nice. Very special.

I worked outside all day yesterday and last night finished two paintings. I was so sore and had an awful headache so I went to bed early.

Today I started a commissioned painting for the mother of a dear friend. It's of chickens. I'll post it when it's finished.

The painting above is titled "Chanticleer Koi", 36"x30", oil on Belgian linen. $1500. framed.

I showed it at the church art show. I was pleased that I received so many positive comments.

That's it for now. 'Nite.

Seeds the New Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 01:46:00 +0000

I really dislike the heat. The older I get, the more it bothers me. I say that after the high today of about, or at 90 degrees. That's crazy for the beginning of April. I said I wouldn't go outside to work today, but I got up early enough to do just that. The joy I felt at witnessing the new life bursting forth so soon in the season and with such power, was exhilarating. It was almost like seeing it in time-lapse photography. Sort of like the energy coursing through everything around me, was also including me. Must have been the gratitude I was experiencing due to the very miserable winter. After I returned from California, I started a painting of heirloom bean seeds. Jay Jr. posted on Facebook "Seeds the New Eggs", because of the painting and my excitement with the seeds. It was an inside joke, but thought provoking. There certainly is a strong connection between seeds and eggs. Maybe I'll paint some more. Tonight's image, "Heirloom Beans--Before", 6"x6", oil on gessobord, $75. framed.

San Francisco

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 02:02:00 +0000

We went to San Francisco with all of the kids on Sunday the 14th of March. I was tired and pretty cranky and felt like I was losing the kids because of all of the people. It was a beautiful day and really mobbed. We had lunch in the big market at Taylor's. It was great. I was getting napkins for 7 people, four of them kids and a middle-aged woman in a biking outfit came up to me and asked me "what the heck are you doing"? If I hadn't been so tired, I would have told her,"certainly not minding your business", but sadly my snappy comeback didn't occur to me until I sat down at our table. We ate outside and it was just delightful after leaving the weather here. After that we went to the Golden Gate Park playground, which was great, hence the photo for today. It's a cement slide, so the kids use a piece of cardboard to sit on. Sand helps to keep it slippery. Obviously, Josie loved it. After that we went to the botanical garden, just amazing as you can see by the other photo of Krista and Jeanie. At the end of the day we went to a Chinese Restaurant, very authentic and the food was terrific. We worked in the shed again today, assembling shelves and organizing stuff as we put it back. Then I started taking apart the old chicken pens, so far just some of the bamboo fencing. The heat just knocked it out of me, so I'm ready for bed. 'Nite.

Happy 5th Birthday Isabella!

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:40:00 +0000

How about this weather? I leave for California and there's snow on the ground and the weather is so mizzy. I flew out with Krista and Josie and arrived in California and it was spring there. So beautiful and just what I needed. Jeanie and I got some walking in, I planted her beans, watermelon and pumpkins. We made Isabella's birthday, princess cupcakes, which took days! What a great mother Jeanie is. So devoted to her kids. March has four birthdays for our immediate family. Isabella's is on the 16th, Krista's is on the 22nd, Jay Sr.'s is on the 26th and Jeanie's is on the 31st. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all. I love you. The weekend before this last one I made Jay's birthday dinner. It really was a tribute to Ernestine, because it was all of the foods that she used to make for him when she was alive and able. I just remembered that today is her birthday. Happy Birthday Ernestine, I really miss you. Anyway, Jay Jr. and I fried chicken, hush puppies and oysters. We also made buttermilk gravy, potato salad, shad roe and I made a German Chocolate cake for dessert. I forgot to cook the asparagus. Bailey Hale and the Murrays came by to celebrate with us. It was a good time. I'll add more tomorrow. We cleared out the shed today and I'm wiped out. I've got the windows open in the bedroom. Sleep tight.

HAPPY EASTER!

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 16:23:00 +0000

There's so much to tell you about my trip to California, but it's just going to have to wait. I wanted to get this painting posted for your Easter greeting. Have a very happy one. I have an art show next weekend at Church of the Savior on North Wayne Avenue, Wayne, PA The reception starts on Friday evening at 7PM and continues all weekend. Please come out. It would be wonderful to see you. "Chocolate Hen and Kristin's Marans Eggs", 7"x5", oil on gessobord, nfs.

Busy Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:40:00 +0000

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.

Great Weekend-Congratulations MODA Botanica--Dinner at Le Bec Fin

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:53:00 +0000

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.

Emu Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:16:00 +0000

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.

And More Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:58:00 +0000

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.

More Snow---the Snowicane

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:04:00 +0000

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.

Yesterday and Today

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:16:00 +0000

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.

Making it Short--Happy Anniversary Krista and Carter

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 03:01:00 +0000

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.

Valentine's Day and Three Paintings

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:01:00 +0000

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.

Forgetful, Snow and Goodbye

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:03:00 +0000

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.

Batten Down the Hatches

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:57:00 +0000

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.

Finn is Fini and Happy Birthday Dear Lauren!

noreply@blogger.com (Mamarazzi) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:40:00 +0000

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.