First Snow

We had the most amazing storm last night. The rain started all at once, just a down pour, followed by hail, then the lightening so bright I had to put on my sleep mask to protect my eyes. The thunder that followed shook the whole house. The girls ended up running upstairs and climbing into bed (been a while since that happened). Some time in all of this it turned to snow - about eight or nine inches.

The bunnies love it! I have not seen Hamish this excited since before we took away his manhood. They are building tunnels under the chairs and into the big burm created by the snow that slid off of the metal roof - landing with another house shuddering thud.

I'm not sure I understand Franz's need to shovel the street. Who knows? So, guess we will not be going anywhere. Of course I am craving Thai noodles and we don't have the fixns. Oh well.

I hope this is not the start to a long winter. I know we need it, but I'm not excited to drive in it and I understand the good tires we bought five months ago are ready to be replaced. Always something.

Happy post Thanksgiving.

A Full Thanksgiving!

Mason de-cloves Addy's orange.

Cassie gives me the look.

Huh, Eloise also gives me the look.

Does MaCall look a little green? She lost her stuffing later last night.

Hunters take time to wii.

Lori and Martin spend some time with Elias.

Heidi, Darin, Luke, Franz and Mason watch the gaming - and playing.

Michele and Heidi put together the pieces, Lori takes time to put her feet up.

All in all it was a very nice Thanksgiving and birthday. I love being able to entertain. I have had a request from Nikki to post the vegan menu. I made cranberry sauce that was yummy! I made an olive oil and oregano potato cake and roasted root vegetables with thyme and marjoram vinaigrette. Both were very tasty. I also sauteed asparagus in margarine and lemon. Michele brought rolls, green salad and cheese cake (not vegan). Heidi brought a small ham and turkey breast, potatoes gratin and raspberry jello salad for the non vegans. We had pumpkin pie, apple cranberry something or other and a chocolate almond torte (vegan) with raspberries. It would seem that everyone really enjoyed themselves.

I took a break to take a bag of empty bottles out the the recycling bin and as I turned back to the house and saw the lights and heard the laughter from inside I suddenly remembered a prayer I made last year asking that someday we would have a house big enough to have people come for holidays. My prayer was answered - not in a process I would have considered, but we were blessed none the less.

Thank you to all who helped us on our journey this year. Thank you for my improved health, Franz and the girls. The health is top right now, as it has really helped to give me life again and to be a better wife and mother.

Hope you all had a good day!

A Day in the Studio

Kate, Kate, and Mike on bagel break.

The model.

Bagel Break - Carrie actually brought a toaster!

Leanne makes the model work for his money.

Here we have Nate, Kate U, Kate S, and Mike. We have a final project that involved a portrait mainly from life - we need to put in at least 12 hours, have a hand in there somewhere - so we decided to hire a model and put in five hours on Saturday. The rest will have to be done with photos at home. I'll post the final results when I have them. The great thing is that we all get along so well and really have a good time.

No school this week! For me that is. I have lots of painting to do but am looking forward to family coming and doing some holiday prep.

I am Thankful for increased health, a husband who supports me in all my endeavors, girls who make me smile, family who love me, a nice home to live in, new friends and new thoughts!

A Little Update

MaCall with the Redland's University Symphony.

My big furry boy - one of them...

Snickers and Hamish enjoy radish tops.

I know it has been ages and I really don't have time to be doing this. Homework is never done!
That is the thing with painting. It never ends. A painting always seems to need tweaking and there is always another three to work on. I am making good progress though.

MaCall has enjoyed playing with the Redland's University Symphony this semester. They had a concert the other night - played Quiet City by Aaron Copland - the trumpet and oboe were fantastic - Concerto for Two Horns and Orchestra by Bohrnstedt and Leonore Overture No. 3 op 72 by Beethoven. There was one other that was not on the program and I don't recall what it was. Ask MaCall. All in all it sounded great and MaCall felt good about her performance.

Fall has been lovely here. The bunnies are getting fat. Last night Franz and I were up at 1.10 in the morning to watch the Leonis Meteor Shower. I saw three meteors and went back to bed. The best one was viewed through the living room window. Fantastic.

Thanksgiving and my birthday are around to corner. I confess I have not had anytime to do preparation, but look forward to spending the day with family. I supposed it will go well, prepared for or not. We are though in need of a good jigsaw puzzle. Which makes Thanksgiving for me.

Hope you are all having a good autumn. I understand that we can no longer call it fall, as research now shows that leaves to not fall, they are pushed. So happy Pushed!

Our House in the middle of our street

Okay, finally, a few pictures of our new place. I had put if off thinking eventually it would be tidier, but today decided that would not happen. I took some very incriminating photos of the girl's bedrooms but am hoping by the end of day I can take before and afters. We are settling in and are very grateful to have such a nifty place to live - complete with vintage 1950's flying saucer lamp shade.

Question? How can I keep the area rugs from walking on the carpet? Would those rubber mat things work when it is carpet on carpet?

School is going well. I am really enjoying meeting new people - have made good friends and am making great progress on concepts and drawings for my project. I am tired and need to recovery days in between.

School is going well for the girls. MaCall seems to be enjoying Redlands University Symphony though not so sure about AP History. Eloise continues to be tormented by Zac - the know it all show off in her class - who just got 999 extra points for putting his report on a shower curtain.

Franz is always working in one way or another -but did go to a zombie movie last night.

Now we are off to Pasadena where the closest Dick Blick Art Supply is and the Hunters.

Happy Autumn!

Talk about Quinoa

Yesterday I went swimming with a friend who owns a time share in Arrowhead - for the express purpose of having year round access to the pool. In the locker room I met a woman from Venezuela who told me about a quinoa soup her mother used to make and how wonderful it was. She was going to go home and try to remember how to make it. I did some searching online and found several recipes for Ecuadorian quinoa soup - perhaps the same sort of thing? Sounds good - though I personally would leave out the guinea pig for guests - I am vegan after all.

Quinoa is actually a seed, not a grain, but cooks much the same as a grain and can be used in place of other grains, like rice. Not only is quinoa high in protein, but the protein it supplies is complete protein, meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids. Not only is quinoa’s amino acid profile well balanced, making it a good choice for vegans concerned about adequate protein intake, but quinoa is especially well-endowed with the amino acid lysine, which is essential for tissue growth and repair. In addition to protein, quinoa features a host of other health-building nutrients. Because quinoa is a very good source of manganese as well as a good source of magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus, this “grain” may be especially valuable for persons with migraine headaches, diabetes and atherosclerosis.

In comparison with wheat, barley and yellow corn, quinoa was found to be higher in calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, iron, copper, manganese and, zinc and was lower in sodium than the other grains.

Here is the link to the soup http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200211/kummer

I understand there is a red quinoa, though I have only found the white. Do you have any good quinoa recipes? Yesterday I topped mine with a corn and green pepper salsa, home made tomato salsa and greens. It was yummy!

New Routines

So, life for the Potter is anything but dull. We have moved into our new house - in Lake Arrowhead - but are still trickling over things from the other house and we wait for the bank to finalize the sale. We are trying to keep up on watering and general maintenance while we wait as we have a very nice lady who is anxious to move in, work in the garden and spend her retirement years there. It still makes me sad to be there, but this is all for the best and our new house meets our needs so much better. In time Franz will have new gardening beds in. Now I have lots of room for painting projects. The girls have their own rooms and bathroom and we have a Finnish Helo sauna which I have to say feels really good.

Things have been crazy though. I now go down to Laguna on Thursday mornings and Friday afternoons, however there was also an MFA critique last Wednesday night, so I was home by ten thirty then turned around and drove back at eight the next morning. I was brain dead for that class. I will need to sort out a place to sleep down there for the next one - if I have hopes of being alert the next day. I really enjoy my classes. My Thursday class is really a critical look at figuration vrs. Modernism. We are reading some tough essays but I enjoy the discussion in class. The Friday class is a six hour figure painting course with Joseph Todorovich - who is an amazing painter (his painting at the top). We are working on the Zorn palette this week - you use four colors, cadmium red, black, white and yellow ochre. The second painting above is by Zorn - all those greens, everything you see is created with those four colors. It is really amazing. I will upload my figure painting done last week tomorrow. My home work is to copy a master painting using this palette. I think I am settled on a painting by Sargent. I'll let you know.

This is all great and love being at school. I am making good friends and thriving on the dialogue. However, when at home I am finding it difficult to balance school and home life - girl's schedules. We have been working on getting MaCall and her two friends down to Redland's twice a week for Redland's Symphony practice www.redlandssymphony.com and I confess Eloise is missing out so far as I have not arranged for her lessons yet - trying to sort out when we have a car etc. Health wise I have had some tough days with all of the driving then having to study and paint on my days at home. I get overwhelmed and cry, then Franz works hard to make everything okay. He did drive me down the Friday before last and then he and the girls picked me up at seven and went to dinner at the beach. That was nice. We will do what it takes to make things work.

School seems to be going well for the girls and for Franz. We will settle in. It takes time, new place, new routine. I think I have finally stopped looking up to the ceiling for the pots and pans - now in a drawer instead of in the hanging rack.

The raccoons are another story...