Category: Uncategorized

Maxfield Parrish

 While visiting with my artist cousin yesterday I asked him for tips with oil painting. We had an interesting discussion about light and dark and colors and shadows and the wide spectrum of hues… and then he told me about an artist named Maxfield Parrish.   Can’t believe I’ve never seen his work… I am in love with it… just WOW.  Notice the bold shades of color in his beautiful scenes, colors you might not equate with what they actually represent… just amazing.

 

I’m just in awe.  
His home in New Hampshire is pictured below… The Oaks
which was for sale in May 2013 for $475,000.
He lived here with his wife from the time he built it at the age of 28 until his death.
The house has an interesting history, however…and the reason it has been
on and off the market and at such a good deal of a price is because
the original burnt to the ground in the 1970’s. A replica (sort of) was put back
up in it’s place and the original outbuildings still grace the landscape. 

 For more information on the artist here

 * Update – I’ve just changed the way I posted the links… while I was able to
visit my blog and click on the link the way I had it, another reader
was not able to, saying the link as I had it was not active.

Let me know if the links work for you –

The Story of Lobo


  The story begins – a young male pitbull lives in an abusive home where drugs and alcohol play a role in the violence he witnesses on a regular basis. During an altercation between the male and female humans in the home, the dog bites the male as he is attacking the female. THE DOG.. is the one who is incarcerated. 
 Lobo at the Pound.
 
 
 Then.. this from Dog Days…  
  “A
call less than a week ago to ask if we could help a pit bull:   he bit
his caretaker but there were a few who believed he deserved a second
chance. Who is going to step in during the holidays to help a dog with a
bite record, sitting on a cold kennel floor next to a landfill?  *J   did, she went to visit him to see if he would be a good fit for her household,  *O  and  *N  visited him with food and treats, *T  went out to buy him a crate and  *P brought him treats and bones to keep him occupied in the pound while we were working on a solution.  Alex offered to adopt Lobo — not foster, adopt.   *K went out and bought Lobo a crate bed, training treats and toys and the Veterinary Hospital got him in for a neuter appointment with less than 12 hours notice.  *L   offered to donate money from her calendar sales to help pay for his vet bills and *J 
offered to send supplies from NJ. –Dog Days Village — you are an inspiration. 
Tomorrow the freedom ride pic and tonight Lobo sleeps peacefully at the
vet’s office, warm, well fed and dreaming of life with Alex!     Thank you
— Bless you! “
 
 
  A few of my blog buddies also stepped up to help in Lobo’s rehabilitation costs… and I want to thank you. You are part of my village, and you have stepped up for these dogs more than once.   I hate asking for money, even when it’s owed to me, but for causes like this, I will never have a problem sending the word out into the universe.  You never know where it lands, who it might stir, what might get accomplished with every small little contribution. 
  As of yesterday, thanks to the Dog Days Village –  Lobo was removed  after months of living on  the concrete slab, no bed- no toy- no other dog – type facility and is being neutered today as well as innoculations.. and he will go home with his ADOPTER!.. a woman carefully chosen who has experience with pitbulls and can give him the quiet, nurturing environment he needs to learn that not all humans are violent and abusive.   I’ll keep you posted. 
 And you know?…. It’s a beautiful thing. 
www.godogdays.org
 
 
 
 

Over it

  I’m one of those people who puts the christmas tree and decorations and outdoor lights up the weekend after Thanksgiving.  For me, it’s the weeks leading up to the holiday itself that speak of “the Holiday Season”. It’s the anticipation of the family gatherings and the giving of gifts that were chosen with love, the preparation and consuming of all those traditional foods that I cherish most.

   The day AFTER Christmas?… it’s over.  I’ve already put away the stockings and taken down the holiday cards taped to a wall in the kitchen. The  – Dear Santa, I can explain – kind of pillows I have tossed around the house are bagged and sitting on the cellar stairs waiting to be shelved.  All gifts have been put away and clothes that are too worn or too small (for various reasons, not just youthful growth)… are bagged or thrown out, replaced by the new stuff that was under the tree. All extra Christmas Candy and most of the leftover cookies were thrown out yesterday and I’m staring at that Christmas tree, trying to hold off until New Years.  I do love the look of an evening house with soft Christmas tree lights to illuminate a room –

  My neighbor across the street, an amazing woman of 93 years… begins her decorating on Christmas Eve. For the month of January she will enjoy her festive home and water the tree in her living room.  When my mother was very young, my grandparents also brought the tree in and decorated it on Christmas Eve after their three children were in bed.  I know that by the time I was born my grandmother put up the tree weeks before Christmas… but I’m curious as to when the majority of people begin their decking of halls, and then pack it away… what say you?

     

Why did the rooster cross the road?

To get to my hens on the other side…
much to my chagrin. 
 He’s a handsome boy, I’ll give him that. 
But there are several reasons we don’t have a rooster here at this old house.
1. They beat up on the hens and pluck their back feathers out.
2.  They demand sex all the time and I’m not subjecting my hens to that crap.
3. They’re noisy. 
4. Some are nasty and will chase you if they feel like you are invading their territory.
This guy lives across the street with two other roosters and his own flock of hens.
Until a few weeks ago he stayed on his side of the road. 
For some reason, he believes my flock is his now too, and he comes over frequently
to “claim” them.
I’ve  chased him back to his place several times, still waiting for him to get the message. 
He challenges me on occasion but knows I’m capable of a good drop kick
..so it’s become a stand-off kind of dance without physical confrontation,
then his reluctant retreat. 
Hmmm.. . Maybe it’s the red heat lamp in their coop he has mistaken
for a house of ill repute. 
ROOOOOOX anne…. you don’t have to put on the red light…
(did I get you to sing it again?) 
 
We had a very nice Christmas holiday,
time well spent with family on both sides, cousins getting together
 The older folks reminiscing, siblings catching up. 
Those are the most important gifts – 

I hope you were able to catch some Christmas joy in whatever way 
holds meaning to you – 
As my husband says lately when he ends a call
… (and it’s kinda hilarious if you know him well)
*Peace* 

Antipasto Squares

I’ve been making these for years 
and we’ll take them to my sisters house on Christmas Day – 
always a hit at a family party and they are delicious and 
not very hard to make…

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays
 Happy, Healthy 2014 to all –
and…
Thank you for stopping by This Old House 2 
now and then and joining in on the conversations.
 

If it looks like a Duck…

 By now if you pay any attention at all to the media in it’s various forms, you’ve seen the sh*t hitting the fan over the Duck Dynasty Debacle. Maybe you’ve managed to avoid it, and if you want to continue avoiding it… move on to your next blog  now.

  If you’re still reading, to recap very briefly,  the Patriarch of the now very wealthy Duck Decoy making family, Phil Robertson, spewed off his appalling opinions regarding homosexuality in an interview and A & E suspended him from the show.  People are clamoring… Hey, what about freedom of speech??… others, like myself, are cheering.  First of all this whole deal has nothing to do with Freedom Of Speech.  Secondly, in my opinion there is a difference between freedom of speech and freedom to criticize people (and his particular criticism was VILE)  simply because they are different than you.  There’s no specific law telling you you can’t go pee on your neighbors geranium pot, but you wouldn’t do it out of decency, would you.   

I found this on another website and I say.. BRAVO.

 So…. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH?!”
I can’t count how
many times I’ve explained this, but I’m going to keep doing it. Was Phil
Robertson put in jail or fined by the government? Then his freedom of
speech is fully intact. That said, should A&E actually be suspending
him for his comments that in no way shape, or form should’ve surprised
them, it’s in his contract that they can. A&E is Phil’s private
employer, and at some point during negotiations
for the show, his lawyers were given a contract that included a clause
saying A&E can terminate him at any point if he does anything that
negatively affects the network or Duck Dynasty. That is standard,
perfectly constitutional procedure, and something Phil agreed to in
exchange for $200,000 an episode. And if he suddenly doesn’t agree with
those conditions, then he’s a sinner who gave false testimony.

Good Morning!

This was my view this morning at 7am as I did my feeding rounds…
the sun peeking through the clouds on a chilly morning – 
Fresh snow crunching under foot.. the crisp smell of snow mingling with
wood burning in someones stove…
and the sound of munching hay – even I can hear it, they are so enthusiastic.

I may have grumbled a little at 6:30 am as I put on the layers
and turned my face out  into the cold. 
But then I – see  – what I see out there.. and it’s all worth it.

Finding your Bliss

I finished the old red barn painting recently
and while my work will never grace the great galleries,
I am loving the process…. and isn’t that the point?

When I was young and picked up a brush, I was so self conscious
about  the mistakes I was making and the lack of quality in what I was putting on the
canvas compared to the true artists work I had been admiring. 
That’s such a silly notion when you take that thought apart and analyze it.
Anything you imagine, work on, build, create… is a 
work of art.   It is your individual expression, unique to you.
The process in itself is rewarding as long as you are not
a harsh critic to yourself.  And why would we ever want to
criticize ourselves for the act of creative expression. 
Who needs another judge, anyway? 

Our “self” is kinda like that canvas. 
Don’t hold your personal self up to someone elses life or expectations.
Oh boy, I am guilty of that.
Don’t be afraid to express your own style – be the true you -and embrace it. 
 Now that I’m older (and wiser!  Hey, there are benefits!)  and don’t give a flying F 
what someone else might think is poor work on my easel, 
I am loving every minute of it. 
It’s not just the gift of being able to put a picture on canvas…
 it’s most importantly the gift of allowing myself the  freedom to do it.. and enjoy it. 
 
So the red barn is done, and I came across a photo on the internet of this
snow scene in Vermont.  The photo is a black & white, but I’m attempting
to put color in mine.
 I’ll let you now how it goes. 

A Sand Tart by any other name

…wouldn’t be a Sand Tart.
However… all Sand Tarts are not the same, I have discovered. 
When our friend Tim G. gave us his mothers personal recipe
for Sand Tart cookies last year,  I think it was my favorite gift. 
This is definitely an heirloom cookie. 
It’s like no other recipe I have googled… and I did some googling because
I had never heard of “sand tarts” before….and OOOH MAN
the ones he brought over for us to sample were out of this world. 
What I found on the internet were recipes like this…

and they tend to look like this…

All, I’m sure, are delicious.  But none are quite like Mrs. G.’s 
Yesterday we got that lovely snow/slush/rain storm and the dogs and I
spent the day in the kitchen making Mrs. G.’s Sand tarts. 
There are no nuts in this recipe…
a whole lot of butter, sugar, flour – 
and a whole lot of steps to get there. 
I tripled the batch and it took me four and a half hours from the mixing of dough,
 to the chilling, rolling, cutting out, baking cooling, making the icing and dipping in sugar.
Ah,  those final steps are the secret to these particular Sand Tarts…
 and I’d give you the recipe, but then I’d have to kill you.

Frasiers already had too many cookies, wouldn’t ya say? 
The men are all out shoveling and plowing…
The girlchild and I just came in from barn and coop chores and it sure is messy out there. 
One more batch of cookies today and we’ll have a really nice mix
 to put together for friends.  
Are you a christmas cookie baker?
What’s your favorite kind?  Feel free to share a link to a recipe in the comments section below. 
 It’s a new day, All – Stay warm and make it a good one –