In the Garden February 2016

It appears that it is yet another Gray day here in Western New York.  THe days the sun actually shines and shows itself are few and far between.  Never the less nature and we people carry onward. This week we had some very mild days of 50/60 degrees F and now we are back to freezing temps and ice on the pond and in the bird bathes. They say next week that winter will return with sub zero wind chills and lake affect snow . . . . all this spring like weather has just been a tease.

Kauai Albatross Nesting with live Cam . . .

So I think on A wintry Sunday morning in Northeast USA it is a lovely time to see and hear the goodness of Tropical Hawaii,  These Albatross are nesting on Kauai and are wonderful to watch and just to see the greenry and hear all the lovely birdsong.  It is such a treat!!    Below are 2 links for the Live feed Cam that shows you the nesting area and a link to a blog that talks about the integration of the birds with the humans.   These are huge seabirds that spend all their days at sea, they fly thousands of miles for food.  They only come on land to nest.  There are different types of Albatrosses.  Most nest in HUGE beach colonies.  ( goggle Albatross nesting colonies for a looksy)  It is uncommon for this to be such a small colony but it is fun  all the same.

Enjoy the day!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMZseZWIIos



http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/41/Laysan_Albatross/


 Blog about the Albatross:
http://www.albatrosskauai.com/

Fridays Fun Food

 Bacon Delights

So these were a new discovery for us this Christmas.  Every  Christmas Eve 24th we have a gathering of family and friends late afternoon before church full of appetizers, light foods , warm candle light  and lots of love.   These are very simple to make and can be done way ahead frozen then reheated and serve.  My boys particularly thought they were the bomb as they like to say but then again any thing is better with bacon. 

So you need Club Crackers or something similar- they are a light butter cracker.  

Grated Parmesan Cheese  3/4 cup

Bacon  - any type will work, about 1 pound makes one sleeve of crackers

Brown Sugar  3/4 cup

Baking sheet, (Parchment, foil or silipat mat will make cleanup easier), Cooking rack

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F
2. Set up your baking sheet with cooling rack and surface to collect grease.
3. get all your crackers out
4. Cut your Bacon in 1/2 so the strips are short
5. Having grated cheese in shallow dish with a small teaspoon is handy
6. Same for Brown sugar
7. Grab a cracker and put either brown sugar or cheese on it, then wrap if with the slice of bacon and place it on your cooling rack.
8. Repeat until all are done.
9. Put in the 250 degree oven for 2 hours.
10.  I then froze them in double plastic bags to use whenever I want or need to.

Yes that is a long time but with the bacon cooking slowly all the ingredients in the middle  does not cook out.  the bacon shrinks around the cracker.  It works out really well.

*** Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond has  this in her  cook book Pioneer Woman cooks for the Holidays. 

January Winter

January is such a silent month.  Quite often the earth is blanketed in snow.  This always sets us for a  a cushion of calm.  The hustle and bustle of the Holidays is over and with snow and cold it is the perfect month to snuggle inside.  Yet with any opportunity I can get, I love to venture outside.  There is beauty to behold in the stillness, the barren.  Lots of tracks from those that carry on day to day.  One day I went for a walk on a trail I go on often but it was early in the morning about 15 degree F and the only others that had been out were the Coyotes.  It was fascinating following their tracks and imagining what they were up to . So stay in or go out but enjoy January- it is a fleeting.

February almost over . . . . . .

And so it goes in Western New York in late February.  The days are getting a little longer and there are a few but very few sunny days.  We are still at the wrath of MotherNature and Lake Effect snow.  Everyday it snows in Western NY and it is the 1-5 inches daily that pile up in combination of larger storms that just pass through.  While I am writing this - there is thumpin on the roof of snow removal.  It has blown and drifted quite significantly.  This makes me very nervous  to have my husband up there but what can one do?  To add to all the blustery weather we had a chimney fire about 2 weeks ago and our warm wood cook-stove is out of commission until we can give it a full spa treatment.   The house has been colder than usual and we are running the furnace low as we need an Oil tank refill life at Chestnut Hill is never dull. 
           On the bright side this time of year is really lovely in the woods- the fresh fallen snow blankets everything and makes everything new again.  It can be ever so quiet while out there. Love to here the silence.  The birds are very active at the feeders and this year with all the deep snow the deer are feasting on our Christmas tree cast off. Every season has its beauty and I enjoy them all.

International Postcard Swap Part 2

somewhere USA

" Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted" John Lennon Silver Gelatin test print with black and White India Inks the artist used.

Kincardine, Ontario Canada

Aloha From Hawaii

So these are the remaining 4 that arrived to make 10 from the swap, so much fun mail in the mailbox!!
Now I need to get 10 fabric postcards ready by April 1st for my quilt Guild Challenge. Theme for that is 1975 the year the Guild was founded. 

Seeds of Love . . . .

First Collage layer and light color

Cover with Gesso - next layer

Add Stamps and light color again

Sketch out design in pencil then go over it with black marker

Add colors and thin out with water /gesso to get color value, then add details with black  marker or white paint pen

This was a fun one to do.  I grew up with a mom who used seed pods, weeds and pine-cones in her creations so I was really used to the asymmetry of seedpods that was requested in creating this.  Trying to get the colors to go from dark to light value was a good challenge, mine in the end are mostly medium value.  I have Jacaranda pods, Milkweed, sweet-gum ball, teasel, Eucalyptus, Chinese lanterns depicted here.   I could not seem to post the black and white photo of it but that was part of the process to check and see how your balance of light/dark was going.   Good Process.  Collaged in the centers of the pods were people or places that you love or are meaningful to you!

      Well back to the work of snow removal driveway , roof and any where else. Cold here again- that is the February Mantra - deep freeze and subzero!!!  Stay warm and hoping there is sun shine wherever you are.

International Postcard Exchange the Recieved Part 1

South Carolina

Washington State

Canada

California

USA

Melbourne, Australia

These are part of the postcards that I have received. They are all different and beautiful  The postcards are mixed Media which means that more then 1-2 art supplies or techniques are used to create them. Collage, watercolor, stamping all composed together in to a miniature work of art. This si great fun to create and to send out as well as receive.

Advice from a Cardinal . . .

Stand out in a crowd.

Go out on a limb.

Be a bright spot in others lives.

Speak up.

Be home before dark.

Add color to your life.

Its ok to be a little Flashy.

Ilan Shamin  

( I could not clearly read the correct person to give credit to)

The Feather . . .

I am taking an online class with friends- called Lifebook 2015.  This is week 5 project- the only one I have been able to complete unlike my friends. I did really enjoy it and am looking forward to starting week 6- even if this is now week 7.  I do not know if I will get back to week 1-4 or not.  It is unrealistic to think that I will get them all done- my life is way to crazy busy for that.
 This was fun to do, I would have liked to have done it more all in one setting but it was piece by piece.

International Post Card Swap Jan. 2015 - the sent cards

So every year for a while I have participated in 2 different International  Mixed Media Post Card Swaps.  This one  right now is through Shannon Ganshorn from Musings on Reality    from Canada
These are the postcards that I made to send out.   I send out 10 and in return I receive 10.  I will show what I have received  so far over  the weekend.

                 It always seems that what I envision making and what I actually make are 2 very different things.  In the end what I make is similar to what I make other years-  First I start with a Masterboard, that I add base layers of paint to, maybe collage some papers onto it, add some stamps, at some point I cut it up into  4x6 size cards and then add more to them individually.   I started with acrylic paints light teal, dark teal and a salmon color.  Then later I used Pan Pastel in a mustard yellow that really brought warmth and tied it all together.  I also used some Liquid Pearls by Ranger that make a few things pop and some glitter Modge Podge which was because I could not find the plain Modge Podge.   I added a quote that spoke to me at that moment.  Then address them, write a note and stamps and out to the mailbox on the Tundra - that is what it looks like right now.   The last 2 have magazine cuttings from Swansons Broth ad/   " Why do I cook?"   So maybe you will want to try this some day, lots of fun and lots of good mail days!

Snowstorm Linus . . . . .

  With a name like Linus this storm just conjurs up images of wrapped up in quilts reading books and drinking tea or cocoa.  Although the thoughts danced through my head . . . the driveway was calling to be shoveled and the dinner made . . .  I love the night or day immediately following a big storm.  It is very quiet outside and the earth is blanketed in such thick white downy snow.  Often there are not any animal tracks yet and it is pristine.  This was definitely the case with this storm.  I only wished I had more time to be out in it but work was calling early the next morning . . .   all said and done I think we got about 18 inches, then we keep getting 2-3 inches each day on top of it.  The piles are getting pretty big.  The wood pile is bigger still though so we are in good shape.   We do not have a snow blower so we shovel the old fashioned way, a little at a time and the it is all done. 
Hoping everyone is snug and safe for a 3 dog night-  the opposite of the dog days of Summer I think .