May you always be blessed
With walls for the wind,
A roof for the rain,
A warm cup of tea by the fire,
Laughter to cheer you,
Those you love near you,
And all that your heart may desire.
Here's a mixed-media Angel I just painted as part of my journey of self-discovery. The last few months I've been learning new techniques, trying some new things, and going completely out of my comfort zone, and I plan to really throw myself into my transformation in 2009.
We all need our Angels to guide us on our way.
This little angel was my Christmas baby, who is now all grown up. Happy Birthday, my precious Angel!
The weather outside may be frightful (-4 degrees Farenheit for the daytime high here today, and a harsh wind blowing lots of snow around), but I wish you all Happy Solstice, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year! I hope to meet many, many new people in blogland next year. See you then!
I didn't get to see her very often since she lived in Germany, where my parents are from. I was born in Western Canada and had also lived in Toronto and Kitchener, Ontario, by the time I went to live with my Oma for a while when I was 6. She lived to be 96, but I only spent that one Christmas in 1963 with her, and it was magical.
That time is more vivid in my memory than almost any other time. I think it is because I was at that perfect age where I was starting to notice things outside of myself. It's as if all my senses were awakened during that winter. I especially remember how different everything smelled. For the first time I noticed the smell of coffee; I noticed the mouth-watering aroma of the hot crusty hard rolls that were delivered to everyone's door by the baker in time for breakfast every morning; and I noticed the smell of the few snow flakes that fell that year, only to melt soon after. It was so different from the cold, snowy winters I had loved in Canada!
Christmas was so simple that year. There was a small table-top tree with hand-blown glass ornaments and real wax candles which were lit at night. We sang German Christmas songs, and ate oranges and nuts fresh from the shell. I learned I loved hazelnuts that Christmas.
My Oma gave me a beautiful baby doll that Christmas. I remember how much I loved that doll, because I hadn't been able to bring any of my toys with me to Germany. Everything had been either thrown away or put in storage for our eventual move to the U.S. Receiving that doll meant I had something of my very own again, and it made me feel safe to be able to hold her tight.
Oma Mina lived in Neuss, a beautiful old city located along the Rhine River between Duesseldorf and Cologne.
This is the painted glass piece which I bought the last time I visited Germany and my Oma in 1988. Neuss is over 2000 years old and was an important settlement during the Roman occupation of Western Europe around the time of Christ. There are still many beautiful old buildings in the town, as well as some town gates dating from the Middle Ages. Everything about Neuss that Christmas seemed so strange and wonderful and exotic to me.
So much of what makes Christmas special to this day seems to revolve around the foods I encountered that Christmas long ago. For me it simply isn't Christmas without Lebkuchen (a type of gingerbread), marzipan, Spekulatius (windmill cookies), Domino Steine, and Stollen.
After that one Christmas with Oma Mina, my parents and I moved to the U.S., which has been my home ever since. I have tried to give my children a sense of their German heritage, as well as giving them the family Christmases I never had, with their Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and many cousins from my husband's side of the family. Will they have happy memories of Christmas to look back on when they are older? I really, really hope so.
By the way, this tablecloth was embroidered by one of Oma Mina's dearest friends, Frau Gerhards from Wevelinghoven. She made the most beautiful things just for the sheer pleasure of it. Her home was filled to the brim with things she had embroidered over many, many years.
I always loved to visit her with Oma Mina. Back then children had to sit still and listen while the adults talked - for hours. But I didn't mind, because she always had bought some delicious cookies or some other treat just for me. Sometimes while she was talking with Oma Mina, she would look over at me and give me a secret little wink. And if we were really lucky her sisters Billa and Zilla would be there, as well! Oh, they were characters! Billa had vertigo and could only go down the steep stairs in their house backwards! And Zilla was a short, round woman who rode a motorcycle to her job at the local sugar beet factory.
They are all gone now, but they live on in my memories and in the stories I tell my children. And someday, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to tell my grandchildren.
Figuring it out...
Getting the car done, which I dreaded. Never painted a car before...
and here it is framed!
It was gray and overcast this morning, but so warm that after brewing tea and seeing Joe off to work I took a walk in the backyard in my pajamas. There was a fog on the lake. I thought it might make a nice picture.
This is my rosemary plant still blooming.
Halfway to the lake I startled two white tailed deer in the woods. Too quick for me! I heard them rustle, lifted the camera, but by that time the two were nothing but white tails flying through trees and leaves that matched their colors perfectly.
tree tops...
Another tree down! This is the second in a month. Sawed off artfully by our friends the beavers.
And then, the very loud SQUAAAWK- Haaaank of a heron had me jumping out of my slippers. He must have been 15 feet from me, as he lifted his big wings and headed down the wooded shoreline. How wonderful! Some days I get lucky.
This young deer is one of the pair I saw this morning. I caught this shot of him in October. He was heading toward me, seemed very eager to meet me, but his mom had better ideas.
It seems the thing to do here in blogger land. So, here is the latest Big Biddy thing. It's painted on a 12x12" x 1 1/2 " gallery wrapped canvas. I had fun with this! I covered the canvas with an old vintage feedsack using matte vanish. Then, I painted my biddy and the words. To finish it off I added burnt umber and burnt sienna to give it that old rusty ad sign look.
We no longer put up a large Christmas tree, since the cat will climb it and the dog will "visit" it. So now I have three little artificial trees that I decorate with little ornaments.
And finally, fudge! Here's a fudge recipe that I've been making a loooooong time. (Since 1979 - can that be possible?) It's easy and delicious.
Butterscotch Fudge
2 cups (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch morsels
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts
Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch chips with milk on top of double boiler or in microwave. Stir occasionally until melted and thickened. Remove from heat if using double boiler. Mix in extract and nuts. Blend well. Pour into foil lined 8" square pan and chill.
Feast your eyes bloggers. I won this in B's giveaway last week. The purse. It arrived today and I want to leave no doubt how much I love this iddy biddy pink purse. It is more useful than a husband and prettier too.
It's really Wednesday. I have to post important items late the night before, because Shelagh Duffett gets up at the crack of dawn to read this stuff and I can't.
That's Andrew.
He asked to take the goose neck lamp I use in my painting room. I say, "I need it, but go ahead", realizing it's best to throw him a bone this morning. Rest assured he will be back this afternoon in time for Falcon's kickoff and all will be right with the world again.
Try not to be distracted by my crooked picture. It exemplifies my state of mind while building my blog.
prise.
