Que Sera, Sera...

Sitting and sewing my painting (Rest #10)next to our propane heater that glows red~ pretending it is a roaring fire...and daydreaming of all sorts of things. One being the closing of 2008 and the opening of the year 2009... I heard a funky remake of that 50's song Que Sera, Sera today and it made me smile...

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother, what will I be
Will I be pretty, will I be rich
Here's what she said to me.

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

When I was young, I fell in love
I asked my sweetheart what lies ahead
Will we have rainbows, day after day
Here's what my sweetheart said.

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

Now I have children of my own
They ask their mother, what will I be
Will I be handsome, will I be rich
I tell them tenderly.

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

Because I've been wondering what will 2009 hold for us???
of course.
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

One More for Rest

Just finished up this piece for my "Rest" series. I feel pleased with how it turned out. I am starting to really enjoy the challenge of a series. I was daydreaming while I was painting... How many chairs can I paint? 100? 500? What would the 500th chair look like?... would it even look like a chair by that point? Would I go crazy?

Christmas day

It was a wonderful holiday for us. Christmas morning Alex, Lili and I woke up and drove down to Becca's house to meet Becca, my Mom and Paul, and my Dad and Amy. I am still in awe that my divorced parents and their respective partners can not only co-exist in the same room, but be friends and share holidays together. All the tumultuous high school years during their divorce I NEVER would have imagined us all in the same room laughing over the presents we got each other. That is the truest testament to healing and forgiveness I have in my life.
Anyways. It was such a warm (emotionally and weather-wise)day together. Breakfast, stockings, big dinner that took a good amount of the day to cook... We waited a little too late in the pre-nap day to open presents and Lili was a little fussier than I wish, but it was still fun. She is enjoying her new books and toys now. Being a parent and grandparent just keeps getting better and better it seems.

(If you look at the first picture you will see that Lili befriended a red pepper on Christmas. She carried it around and kissed it for hours. One of those completely random things that leaves you mystified!)

Wishing you all a very joyous and love-filled holiday week...

and the stockings were all hung from the unsanded post with care...

Lili didn't have a stocking so I decided to make her one. I used a cute striped sweater I got at the pay-per-pound goodwill. I made the inside layered with a soft blue sweater material. I just cut it all out, pinned it together, did one line stitch around the edge, a blanket stitch in red string around the edge after I turned it right side out, and then sewed a top out of gray wool. All in all it was a super easy and fun little project. And I am so excited to see Lili reaching into it to find surprises tomorrow.

Velija

Our dear friends Jason and Michelle have included us in their traditional holiday ceremonial dinner for the last few years. The 9 course meal starts at sundown on Solstice. This Slovakian tradition was a beloved part of Michelle's childhood, and she has brought the tradition into our circle of friends. I went searching the internet for a more definitive definition to give you of this tradition and quickly realized the way we are celebrating varies dramatically from the "traditional" Velija celebration. The closest thing I discovered was this pertinent sentence: "As is true with all countries, customs and traditions vary from region to region and family to family." The way we do it is this:
The day begins with each family making a part of the feast. Alex and I make the bread and help Jason, Michelle, and Anne roll the bebikies (baa-bike-ies: a boiled dough that is served with oil, salt and pepper)Here Jason is rolling the dough. The next photo is of them cooking.


The breads Alex made: whole wheat walnut, olive, honey french, and foccicia.

The meal is served in courses. Any food or crumbs that are dropped on the table are to be pushed to the center for our ancestors. You are served in groupings, sharing a bowl or plate with about 4 or 5 other people. Now this is a germ-a-phobes nightmare, but the first two courses of the meal counter attack this problem.

To begin: A hearty toast of grattitude and coming blessings.
Course #1: A shot of good whiskey. (apple juice for the kids)
Course #2: Cloves of raw garlic and chunks of bread.
Course #3: Smoked Salmon (traditionally pickled herring).
Courses#4&5: Sauerkraut soup with a scoop of mashed potatoes in it.
Course #6: Babikies
Course #7: Split Pea soup
Course #8: Sauteed Shitake Mushrooms.
Course #9: Stewed Prunes.

As you can see, this is not your typical holiday feast. As weird as it all sounds, it is delicious. I love eating in courses, I find that I pay more attention to what I am eating. It is refreshing to experience sharing a bowl of soup, or breaking bread with your friend so intimatly. I love the few older family traditions I have, and it has been fun to create our own traditions as a family as well.

I hope the shift to a white is okay... I always knew that someday I would change it because I would want to post a painting and wouldn't like the background color next to it. I feel torn about it though as I liked the color... I will see how it goes this way.

I got a scanner off craigslist. I won't bore you with my story of the headache of trying to figure out what scanner to buy and from where. It was painful... What I have right now is an Epson perfection 1660 Photo I am crossing my fingers that this series is as it proclaims: perfection. This journal page is the first trial using it. Now that it seemed to go pretty well I am off to scan and get some decent images of my smaller paintings for my Etsy site. Finally. YAY!!!

Happy Winter Solstice!

The word solstice derives from Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).

The shortest day or the longest night of the year. The winter solstice occurs at the instant when the Sun's position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane from the observers hemisphere.
This is a special salt dough ornament that our friend Katie made for us last year. It is two sided with the sun on one side and a dark spiral on the other side. You keep the dark side facing out until Solstice and then you flip it around. Symbolic of the light returning, and the gratitude for both the darkness and the light on this sacred turning day.

We had a nice slow day today.
Last night was the Carmona's Cheesy Holiday Party in which everyone was decked out in gaudy Christmas gear. Lots of Holiday sweaters, appliqued shirts, and general cheesiness all around. David did his facial hair up special for the event of course. This party was also Ema's birthday party and this was a dream of hers, so she was in heaven.

This morning we squeezed in our little house to do a brunch (puffy pancakes, homemade biscuits and sausage gravy, navel oranges, scrambled eggs and coffee)with some friends and afterward Alex and I took a nap with Lili in the middle of the day! Later I made some soft ginger cookies with real shredded ginger in them and we walked around our neighborhood and delivered some plates of cookies and some ornaments we made. When we got back it was dark and we ate leftover homemade gypsy soup.
Everyone should take days like these. I wish I did more often too.

molar

This morning I was goofing off with Lil and holding her upside down and I caught a glimpse of white far back in her upper gums. I tickled her softly and craned in to see... Yep, a molar was half in already. How did I miss that? Looking back now I see some restless nights sleep last week, and there was some excess drooling. I feel a little guilty that I didn't see it before... not that I could have done much for her. But, it feels strange to feel out of touch with her even this small amount. A small sign she is growing up and is less of a baby. And once more I am reminded of the slow process of letting her go that began with her birth.

*sigh*

snail mail!

The obvious way into my heart?
Snail mail.

As I mentioned before, I won Daisie's giveaway recently, and today was the day it came in the mail. It was chock full of handmade little goodies like little crocheted flower hair clips, and the skate ornament, and a little bracelet for Lili, some cards, and more. I was SO touched. Thank you SOOOO much my friend across the sea!

very dark, sweet, and very creamy.

and sometimes with eggnog in it. do you think that is gross?

Laura Ingalls Wilder

I picked up an old softcover version of Laura Ingalls Wilder's book "Farmer Boy" a few months ago at the thrift store. The book is divided into seasons, and I have been ripping out pages from the winter section to use as the underpinnings for many of my paintings. I loved these books as a child but can barely remember any of the details. I didn't reread this book before I started cutting from it, but now I am skipping around reading it one page at a time. The sentences are like gold and I have reawakened to her beautiful and simple writing all over again. I searched for images of her today and found this picture of her which I thought was beautiful. I also found a gingerbread recipe that I want to try, and this letter that she had written in which she tells of Almanzo dieing (Almanzo is the farmer boy and a prominent figure in the book I am "reading"). I was struck with a wave of sadness when I read it. Then I quickly realized that everyone in the story has passed on. Laura herself passed in 1957.

LAURA'S GINGERBREAD

1 cup brown sugar blended with 1/2 cup lard or other shortening. 1 cup molasses mixed well with this. 2 teaspoons baking soda in 1 cup boiling water (Be sure cup is full of water after foam is run off into cake mixture). Mix all well. To 3 cups of flour have added one teaspoon each of the following spices: ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Sift all into cake mixture and mix well. Add lastly 2 well-beaten eggs. The mixture should be quite thin. Bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes. Raisins and, or, candied fruit may be added and a chocolate frosting adds to the goodness. Well I am going to go back to spending the day with Lilikoi, listening to Pandora's holiday stations (So far my favorites are the Ella Fitzgerald holiday and Bare Naked Ladies holiday) and making snowflakes for our windows (in honor of the snow everyone else got!).

hey baby hey baby hey...

...you get to me like old time religion did

in my heart when i was a kid
you're sweet gospel music to my ears
you know how to ease all my fears
and from my heart to yours all i can say is
hey baby hey baby hey baby hey

and as we go On through the deal i
i know that we won't always feel
real wonderful
life ain't like that

but I want to stay right by your side
check Out The view enjoy the ride
together
with all our loved ones

i want To plant a little garden with you now
take care of a piece of the earth somehow
and tend it when we're old and gray and
try to straighten up and say, well,
i'm so glad to See you today
hey baby hey baby hey baby hey.

~Greg Brown

O Christmas Tree

We set up our Christmas tree today. Last year we foraged a very Charlie Brown tree from the woods, and this year we bought one. (Less likely to tip over on Lili)
I love this time of year, and I love having a decorated tree inside our house. I can't stop staring at it although Lili hardly seems phased by it at all. We got home late last night so the tree spent it's first night in our shower and when she passed it by she looked at it mildly curious, but not even enough so to bother pointing at it. And now that it is set up she has tried to rip a couple ornaments off, but mostly she stumbles by it as if were just another random thing piled up by the front door.

Growing up my family had the big opaque colored light bulbs. When we went light shopping last year my desire was to recreate that in my own home. Alex and I spent forever in the Christmas light isle of Target weighing the options. Basically aesthetics vs. morals. The horrible/wonderful fact is that they now make LED lights that waste almost zero electricity compared to the regular Christmas lights that suck LOTS. It is these wonderful, energy happy lights that go against the foundation of my lighting aesthetic. I like my lights to be colorful and soft. A warm yellow and a pinkish red. These LED lights are glaringly bold and primary. They make me feel like I am at a Phish concert right in my own living room. *sigh*
Oh well. I will just pray that someday I will get the best of both worlds with my lights. In the meantime I will just light a few candles around the room...