Day Twenty (or Thanksgiving Wrap-up)

I took some pictures today, hoping for my next large scale project. I think I am going to do a 6'x4' painting of some of these tulips for my new and improved exercise room. I love working on the large scale, and I'm learning so many things by doing it myself - no art classes.

As for the wrap-up... the BBS and family were here and I don't know about them, but I had a blast. We ended up at Yosemite and the Monterey Aquarium as "events" and had a couple of nothing but play days. I took over 8G in pictures, and the food, well, the food left something to be desired. I get teased all the time for scheduling my Thanksgiving day - when I need to cook something, do I have the oven/stove space, what serving dishes will I use - that I decided to fly by the seat of my pants. After all, I've been doing this for 15 years or so, I should know what I am doing. Turns out, the schedule is my lifesaver. The food was all good, just not done when it needed to be done. It was more like a traveling feast. I am definitly going to try and brine a chicken sometime in the next twelve months and see if that will make a difference.

Day Nineteen (or Back again...)

Here I am, wishing I was back at the beach again. I think it's time for some wave therapy. I'm going to make sure that I get my butt down to the ocean this weekend and sit for a while. I'm feeling out of sorts and I need some time to regroup. I have too many things to do on my list of lists and taking some time out for me is not on them. I'd rather be at home, working on the house, than sitting in a hotel here in Austin. But here is the perfect time for some self inspection, retrospection, and creative noodling. No demands on my time or my person except for those that I create. I should be glad for this time away. And I am, just not today.

Day Eighteen (or Hooray! It's a Floor!!)

AFTER

Well, it would be a floor if I could get blogger to upload the pictures. I've finally gotten to the point in my studio that I can steam clean the carpets and move the daybed back in. Once I do that, then it's just down to some straightening and some editing of "stuff" I'm so excited you just don't know. And thank goodness, it'll be done before the kiddos get here. I've got a list a mile long to get finished, but I know that I can do it, I just gotta stick to it. But one room (almost!) down, 20 more to go.

BEFORE

Day Seventeen (or Lemonade )

When Life hands you lemons, make lemonade ~ well that's the proverb anyway. I'd rather make something more refreshing and adult in nature. We have about half a dozen citrus trees on the deck - hanging out until they are big enough to survive the attentions of the multitude of deer that roam the property. Each one of these trees doesn't realize that it is less than 5 feet tall, and root bound in a pot. They produce the sweetest smelling blooms in the spring time and drive the bees and birds mad with the sweet nectar. As a result, we end up with over a hundred fruit set on each tree. I can't bear to see the branches overloaded, so I end up culling them down to about a third of the final set. That's still a lot of lemons and limes (only a few oranges). The limes go into Mark's Magic Margaritas, and the lemons go into:

Lorili's Luscious Lemonade

1 part Citrus Vodka

1 part Peach Schnapps

1 1/2 parts fresh squeezed lemon juice

Super Fine Sugar to taste (usually for me, that's about 1 T)

Treat as if it's a margarita - ice in the cocktail shaker, a nice cold glass frosty from the freezer. Pour the liquids over the ice in the shaker, add the sugar. Shake until well blended, taste, adjust as needed (sugar, peach, lemon), shake again, then pour into a lemon/sugar rimmed glass. Garnish with a fresh peach slice if you have it.

I've tried this with prepared lemonade, and lemon juice from a bottle, it doesn't work. Don't do it if you don't have the fresh lemons to juice.

Day Sixteen (or Home)

Home.

Where the trees reach for the sky and the sky meets the sea.

Home.

Where the birds cry and the wind answers.

Home.

Where the rain falls and the earth moves.

Home.

Where the stars shine and the moon follows.

Home.

Where my love waits for me.

Home.