Art in My World

One of the hardest things for me while painting is keeping my thoughts and then my painting in an orderly fashion. I begin well, or with good intentions, but somewhere in the process I get impatient with the way things are going and then...it all falls apart. My desk I fear is a portrait of how jumbled my brain is after I finish a painting. I always think: if I could just keep calm and think carefully with each stroke of the brush my painting will improve. This may come with time...but again the impatience sets in. My daughter is a total opposite of me. Her work is all about the patience and detail. She has practiced her craft and she can achieve what she sets out to do. I admire that. I loose patience and give into my frustrations. Then again, what artist is not frustrated?  This desk is a week of work. It was nice to concentrate for a week. Though I missed my husband, who was off on a business trip, is does provide a little more time to get some extra hours in. The house clea...

As a way to relax this past year, I spend a little time each evening working on a knitting project. There have been many dish clothes, one baby blanket, a scarf, several headbands and ear muffs, an afghan in progress (I might finish it this year) and lately my interests have been towards shawls and cowls. So you could say, that when many people are getting hooked on playing computer games I am a little obsessed with the knitting thing. It definitely is a whole new world out there full of yarn and colors and projects and gifts! Speaking of gifts, I found a book awhile back full of patterns for prayer shawls. What is the history behind those I wonder?

Squash Bisque w/Homemade Bread Cubes The hard part about trying to eat only fresh food is that all important meal in the middle of the day: lunch. Children are usually away from home along with the parents. Sandwiches are usually the mainstay, and they are not a bad choice if you use homemade bread and unprocessed meat. Cooking chicken or turkey breast, slicing them thin and keeping this on hand for those lunches is a start to getting ahead of the game. Another way is to provide a hearty soup, full of vegetables and stick to your ribs potatoes. Many people eat lots of salads for their vegetables and the lunch menu, and organic raw vegetables are full of live enzymes our digestion system needs, but late studies show that many people struggle to digest vegetables properly. Slightly cooking vegetables in soups makes them much more available and easily digestible. Soups are very diverse, there is one out there for every taste. Another wonderful thing about soups? The broth used in m...

Sometimes, just working with the colors of Spring can uplift your spirit. It does mine. Harrisville Designs creates these very large bags of seasonal colors for their potholders. At first the cost might put you off, they are 37.00 a bag, but I was able to make 10 potholders! Considering these make beautiful gifts that honestly last forever, not a bad deal at all. I purchased this bag midsummer on sale and am now just getting around to using it, but the wait was worth it. I dreamed of Spring with each one completed. And with a vase full of blooming narcissus, it was almost believable. Harrisville Designs

Who isn't looking for that nice hot beverage to cuddle up with on these cold, cold evenings? Here is an easy version that can be whipped up in a giffy. I make my own almond milk and am always wanting to find ways to use it and this drink, suggested by Dr. Oz on one of his shows several weeks back has become a favorite of mine. It includes turmeric: a wonderful anti-inflammatory along with cinnamon: a great sugar balancer if you are prone to crave sweets, and a pinch of ginger. Add some raw honey if you crave a sweeter drink, or just leave it out. All is needed is a good book and some quiet.... Fill a cup with almond milk Add: 1 tsp. of cinnamon      1/2 tsp. of powdered turmeric      1/8-1/4 tsp. of powdered ginger      honey to taste, start with 1-2 tsp Heat in microwave for 1 and 1/2 minutes, and then whisk to combine.

When you live down South, winter is a busy time for gardeners. After the busyness of the Holidays have past the seed catalogs start rolling in. I pile them up on my desk and try to get to them before all the specials expire. Gurneys and Gardens Alive always have 50% off sales and even free shipping. So, if I am ordering seeds, fertilizers and supplies, I spend a week about now trying to figure out what may be on my wish list.  This year, after seeing my sister's success with potatoes, I want to give them a try again. Gurneys has some wonderful upright containers to put them in to save space. There is also the lettuce, chard, kale and spinach seeds to order, along with some chile peppers and tomatoes. Of course not to be forgotten are the butternut squash, yellow squash, zucchini and cucumber seeds.  February is a good time to start the peppers and tomatoes from seed if you want large healthy plants ready to put in the ground by Easter time. If the weather warms up in la...

Swiss Chard Gardens have come a long way since I was a little girl. I grew up eating mostly canned and frozen vegetables. My mom didn't garden much, but when I grew up, moved into the country and the green bug bit then I started my first garden up a stairway into my apartment, then a few rows behind a rented house, and my largest garden: rows and rows and rows right beside our very first house. There are now so many varieties of seeds to choose from compared to 30 years ago and so keeping a garden not only saves a little money, but provides handy fresh vegetables for the table. One vegetable I did not know about, until my search for greens to grow in the South, was Swiss Chard. This plant is similar to spinach. It can be sauteed, added to salads and even wrapped around meats and rice. This vegetable is cold hardy and doesn't seem to mind the heat of the deep South. Unlike lettuce, it doesn't bolt and continues to produce for over a year if watered and fertilized. I gr...

Many people make New Year's resolutions. Here is a wonderful one for your family's health: Make a goal to get rid of all packaged foods from your diet, and eat only whole, unprocessed foods. With gastrointestinal diseases on the rise along with diabetes and obesity, this really is a wonderful gift to give your family. It is not easy. Many people have become so use to living with these boxed convenient foods that they cannot imagine how they can survive without them. New recipes will need to be searched out, maybe new places to buy groceries and those unused pots and pans will need to dusted off and put back into use. But the rewards are a healthier family, and that is priceless This can seem like a daunting task at first, so start slow. Begin with one mealtime a week. Breakfast is the easiest. Get rid of the boxed cereals, instant oatmeal, packaged frozen waffles and pancakes, Poptarts, prepackaged muffins...you get the idea. Think: eggs, homemade breads, waffles and muffi...