You Can Call Me Gwen

Virtual Laryngitis

 

I seem to have lost my voice for awhile.

But I have pictures.

Well, some, anyway.

It's that time of year when a lot of the fun things I'm doing are related to gifts for my peeps for Christmas.

Unfortunately, that means I have to leave some of my inchies off this here blog until I actually give the gifts to the peeps.

Here are some 'safe' inchies from the past couple of weeks:

November 15:

Able Baker Dana called me before I was out of bed (ahhh...I slept until 8) to ask if I might have some time to play in the kitchen during the week.

She wanted to try her hand at my dinner roll recipe and, since NOW is the best time to do anything, we were proofing yeast an hour later.

I had to leave my rolls in the refrigerator for their second rising and scoot off to work.

They were at the perfect height when I got home, so I took them out of the fridge while the oven heated up and...

 

 

 

...guess what we had for dinner.

There is a saying in my family of origin which comes into play when I serve rolls fresh from the oven.

 

 

 

"The only reason Husseys eat bread is to keep their fingers from getting greasy when they eat their butter."

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November 20:

You can see on the inchie above that we bought the beadboard for the dining room.

Remember when I tore down the wallpaper in October?

 

 

 

I finally got the wall textured, painted, and ready for the wainscot, and Prince Charming and I (with some help from Cable Guy's awesome power tools) installed the beadboard.

 

 
 

For a couple of old people with no experience in this sort of thing, we were pretty happy with our work.

Of course, I had to paint it, and all the trim...

 

 

...a couple of times.

But in the end...

 

 

...it made the room look like it actually belonged to the rest of the house.

 

 

Now for furnishings.

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We'll just skip November 21 because it's gift-related.

November 22:

I got a text message from my Neester (my eldest neice, who is more like a seester) from way over yonder in California.

It included a picture and it read "I found a key charm while I was walking today, and I thought of you".

That made me very happy.

And when she told me she'd picked it up and was making a bookmark with it, well...

 

 

That just made my day.

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November 23:

I've probably mentioned my heart for the 'twenty-somethings' before; especially the 'single-looking-for-that-special-someone' twenty-somethings.

I've also probably mentioned our 'adopted' kids before.

On November 23, we had the pleasure of having dinner with one of our adopted twenty-somethings...

 

 

...and meeting the special someone he's found. 

What a blessing.

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November 24:

I spent the day (as is our tradition) baking pies with Miss Helping Hands.

Chocolate cream for the Shoots, blueberry for Prince Charming, custard for Me Darlin' Mither, and Nantucket cranberry just because I was bored with the same old recipes (Auntie Gail usually brings the pecan, cherry and pumpkin).

Miss Helping Hands is a master pie-maker now and doesn't really need me in the kitchen, but I don't think either of us would trade our time together for anything (okay, she's twenty-something, so she might trade it for that special someone if he happened along...).

Of course, in spite of careful planning and shopping, I had to make a run to the grocery store for a few things.

There is a new joy to shopping now, though, since it means I can prayerfully look for the person God wishes to bless, put a gift card in their hand and (sometimes) pray with them.

I've never liked shopping before, but being prepared in this way...

 

 

...has changed everything.

Painting

 

It's not my thing.

I mean, painting on canvas is not my thing.

But, copying the work of other artists was one of the recommended exercises in the book we've been working through in my D'Art group.

So, in a break from our standard meeting protocol, we got together last week and we each painted (as much as we could in one and half hour's time) a copy of Van Gogh's "Starry Night".

 

 

I'm so sorry I forgot to take my camera along (but so grateful for the cell phone camera and kindness of my friend who took, and emailed to me, the pictures below).

It was very interesting to see how differently each of us approached the project.

The two experienced painters in our group began mixing and applying paint almost immediately.

The two of us with no painting experience did a lot more pencil sketching first.

For me, it was a great lesson in art appreciation.

Until you try to do it yourself...

 

 

 

 

 

You just don't know.

Every year...

 

...I like to make a whole bunch of one special kind of Christmas ornament or decoration so I will have something to put into the hands of those who come into my home or life during the holiday season.

Last year I was rather taken with birds, and I crafted cardinals from both paper and fabric until we were pretty well living in an aviary.

This year, I found myself beginning to fret a little as it got closer to December and I hadn't yet found inspiration for the season's 'favor'.

When I finally became conscious of my fretting (last Wednesday during my morning prayers), I thanked God for revealing it to me and I gave the whole idea of finding (and doing) something special into His hands.

Because the remainder of the day took turns I hadn't expected, I did not get home early enough to begin the painting I had planned to do, so I found myself with one whole, entire, completely, free hour on my hands.

I gave myself the pleasure of some 'idle' time on this here computer.

I did a Google search for "Christmas crafts",  and within a few clicks I found myself looking at these adorable woodland elves on Martha's site.

I knew immediately that I was looking at an answer to prayer, because I had fallen in love with these little guys last year, had not had the time to make them, and had forgotten about them.

It was such a sweet thing to be directed to them again.

And it amazed me that I came upon them so quickly, considering there are "about 47,100,100 results" to a Google search for Christmas crafts!

 

 

 

I was excited, too, because I wanted to make something with supplies I already have in my studio.

Since I do have a nice pile of felt scraps, I got started on the little mittens, hats and shoes the very next day (just like I showed you in my last post).

 

 

 

Alas.

I have no pinecones.

The little pile of mittens, shoes, hats, scarves and heads and limbs lies motionless on the workdesk.

And when I do finally get some pinecones, I am going to set them next to all the other pieces of my little woodland elves and tell them...

"Now pull yourselves together!" 

"I can't come to the phone right now."

 

I'm having too much fun making...

 

 

 

...cookie dough?

Nope.

They're made from paper clay.

They will go with these...

 

 

 

...which is why my little lap tray looks like this:

 

 
 

And it's one of the reasons we have a messy house and lots of un-done laundry.

But, hey.

I know how to prioritize for happiness.

 

"Fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra."

I actually asked Prince Charming if we could just sit in front of the TV and watch a holiday movie on Sunday evening, and (though you may not know this about me) my middle name is Grinch.

After P.C. recovered from the shock, he said "I have one we've never watched. It's a Hallmark movie. It's clean and probably corny".

"The Christmas Card".

 

 

Yawn.

It's a good thing I was doing needlework while it was on.

And that I can still look forward to seeing some of my favorite holiday movies again this year.

"It's a Wonderful Life" (Zuzu's petals!).

"A Christmas Carol" (with George C. Scott as Scrooge).

And, in spite of all the cussing, "A Christmas Story", with good old Ralphie, Randy, Black Bart and Scott Farkus ("He had yellow eyes.").

But if I ever have to watch "The Christmas Card" again...

I'll shoot my eye out.

The Little Persimmon Tree

 

In my Seester's yard, in a small garden surrounded by a white picket fence, lives a little persimmon tree.

 

 

 

Each autumn, the leaves of the little persimmon tree turn beautiful shades of orange and gold, just as it's fruit begins to ripen to a glorious shade of orange-red.

Today I stood under the little persimmon tree and tried to capture a measure of it's beauty against the clear, blue, November sky.

 

  

I tried...

 

 

...and I tried...

 

 

 

...and I tried.

 

 

But my camera and I could not do justice to the sheer lusciousness...

 

 

 

...of the colors which surrounded us.

 

 

 

We tried shooting a single persimmon with the telephoto lens.

 

 

 

And we tried to capture the perfection of a matched pair, close up.

 

 

We photographed a persimmon which reminded us of a certain someone we love.

She, with the beauty mark on her lovely face (which we call her polka-dot).

 

 

 

We got just a little spooked to see a ghostie-looking shadow in the background of one of our photographs.

 

 
 

But, in sunshine or shadow, ...

 

 

...the tree was so glorious we finally ceased trying to capture it's beauty.

We took a long last look...

 

 

...and simply bowed our heads in gratitude to God.

 

 

For the little persimmon tree...

...and for the Seester who cares for it.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

 

And when it gets cold outside, I like to curl up and do needlework inside.

Saturday afternoon I got out the Christmas stocking I'd started working on after Christmas last year.

 

 

This one is for my second daughter-in-love.

I love working on these stockings.

There are about a million little hand-stitches that go into completing one of these kits...

 

 

...and I find hand sewing so comforting.  

While I am working on a stocking for someone I love, I like to think about them and pray for them.

And that's pretty comforting, too.

At the time I started this stocking, I thought finishing it before Christmas would mean everyone in the family would have one hanging above the hearth this year.

But now we have Baby Girl.

So I need another stocking kit.

 

 

And lots more cold weather.

The Game With No Name

 

Have you ever played The Game With No Name (and I don't mean the horror-survivor-electronic game)?

Creative Genius hosted his wife's birthday party here on Friday night and we laughed ourselves silly playing this game.

The only supplies needed to play the game are a pencil and a stack of scrap paper for each player.

Each player needs to have as many small pieces of scrap paper in his stack as there are players (12 players=12 pieces of paper for each person).

On the first round, each player chooses a word to write on the top piece of paper in his stack; any word he prefers, but usually a noun, because the player on his right is going to have to represent it with a picture.

After each player has written a word on his top sheet, he passes his entire stack to the player on his right.

Now each player reads the word written on the top sheet of the stack he's just been handed, places the top sheet at the bottom of the stack, and draws a picture to represent the word on the new top sheet.

Again, each player passes his entire stack - now with a picture on the top sheet - to the player on his right.

Each player then looks at the picture on the top sheet of the stack he's just been handed, places it at the bottom of the stack, and writes (on the new top sheet) the word he thinks the picture represents.

The stacks continue to be passed in this fashion - word, picture, word, picture,etc. - until each player's original stack is returned to him.

Then, one at a time, each person shows how his original word fared as it made it's way through the various interpretations.

Sometimes, if the word is fairly simple to depict with a drawing, the stack makes it back with very little, or no, change in the original word.

As was the case with "moustache" during our game on Friday night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When this happens, it's just the variety of the drawings themselves which make us laugh.

Occasionally, a word will make it around the circle with just a small shift in meaning.

As was the case in Friday's game, when 'nerd'...

 

 

 

 

  

 
 

...morphed into simply "little boy".

 

 

The real fun, though, comes when something changes drastically during interpretation, and we finish with a whole stack of words and drawings which are far removed from the original.

I didn't manage to save the entire series of words and drawings which had us in stitches Friday, but one of the stacks started with the word "schnauzer".

And the first person to draw it did a fine job.

But the person who looked at the drawing thought it was a "terrier".

And the person who saw the word "terrier" isn't a dog-lover...so their drawing looked like "wolfman" (or at least that's how it was interpreted by the next player).

Things deteriorated pretty rapidly from there, and the second-to-last word on the stack was "devil".

The last artist, however, did not know quite how to go about drawing a picture of the devil.

So...

 

 

We got ourselves a "devil bunny".

 

 

And that was the last word on that.

Can you come up with a creative title for this post? I can't.

 

Last Monday,  after putting a second coat of paint on the dining room wall, and before going to work at noon, I forced myself to go clothes shopping .

For one hour.

That's how much I like to shop.

Thankfully, it was a productive hour and I was able to find (on sale!) several things I needed.

 

 

I wear mostly black and white clothes (with the occasional exception of something white and black).

But I do love color, and it makes me happy when I look down at my lap and see the pretty blues and greens mixed in with the black and white of my new frilly little skirt. 

 

 

I had to spend money on some unmentionables, too, and it's a fact that my new underwear cost more than this skirt (there aren't any boys reading this are there?).

So...

Either I spent way too much for my underwear, or I got a smashing good deal on this skirt.

I'll let you decide.

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Tuesday evening I came home from work to find some  very cheerful mail in my letterbox.

I received an envelope from the Van Camp(ers) which contained a note from each of the young friends I made while camping in Colorado last August.

(I have some more to share with you about that lovely family, but it deserves a post of it's own.)

I also recieved a thank you note for some paper dolls I had mailed to my little great-neice .

 

 

This little girlie hasn't started school yet, but she's learned to copy out the letters of the alphabet and to write her own name.

No one knows why, but when she started signing her name at 4 years old, she always added the letters C O P.

 

 

 I made sure to include the C O P when I addressed my envelope to her, too.

I find things like this wonderfully fascinating.

One of my own girlies kept journals almost from the day she learned to write.

In one of those journals, all of the entries begin "Dear Incorporated".

She let me read the journal years after it had been written (nope, I never sneaked a peek beforehand) and I asked her why the entries for that particular journal started this way.

She just said she'd seen the word 'incorporated' somewhere and thought it was a neat word.

Looooove it.

-------

Wednesday, in spite of my feelings, I got up and got myself dressed and ready to go to meet with my Bible study group.

I'd been walking through the 'fall blues' for several days and was about to walk out the door with a bit of a lump still in my throat when I remembered something.

So I went back into my closet, shifted the stack of shoe boxes around, and changed...

 

 

...into some of my happy shoes.

 

 

Yep.

It helped.

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I missed my book club meeting Thursday night because I was just flat worn out from fighting allergy related headaches for several days.

I spent the evening curled up with Prince Charming.

And I treated myself to a nice long browse through some magazines.

When I saw the little bird stick pins which had been made by decaflatte, I just fell in love with them.

You can look at some of her things on her Etsy site, or just buy the Somerset Life Autumn 2010 magazine.

 

 

I guarantee that they are miles sweeter than my poor drawing of them, and you are probably going to want one (some).

And if you read the article, your fingers will most likely itch to start messing around with some paper clay.

Not that I ran out and bought some or anything.

 

 

But you might have to.

Picking up things. And picking up on things.

 

I'm convinced that the economy really is in trouble.

Interesting, that on the day I voted, my five mile walk on the mean streets yielded only one and a half cents.

Again.

 

 

 

Truly, people just can't seem to afford to put in their two cents worth anymore.
 
It's a good thing walking pays off in less tangible ways.

And I'm not saying that one and a half cents is all I got.

I also picked up this cool piece of painted/rusted metal.

 

 

 

I had it in my hand when I stopped at the polling place to vote on the way home.

And it was...

 

 

...well...

...kind of awkward.

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Sunday morning, on the way into church, I found two  inexpensive little charms laying on the sidewalk.

Everyone else had walked right on by them.

 

 

 

So I assume God was just wanting to make sure I know how He feels about me personally.

Bread and Muffins and Girls and Boys.

 

It's a nice thing when I get a strong desire to bake at the same time that my co-workers get a strong desire to buy what I bake.

When my D'Art group meeting was cancelled last Friday, I spent the morning making lots of bread.

English muffin bread, tomato bread, and dill bread.

 

 

 

The dill bread is from the recipe found here.

It's really loaded with dill (seed and weed), and it makes an ordinary sandwich taste like something special.

 
 

 

 

But it's really fabulous toasted and topped with cream cheese and some of Seester Julie's homemade jalapeno jelly.

Seriously fabulous.

I'm, like, drooling.

And I'm all out of Julie's homemade jalapeno jelly.

Which is okay, I guess, because I bagged up most of this bread...

 

 

 

...and sold it down the river.

Not to worry though, because when Friday arrived it brought Miss Helping Hands Hannah home for our "Baking, Boggling, Blabbing Weekend".

And we started Saturday by making some scrumptious pumpkin cream cheese muffins from this recipe.

I tweaked the recipe just the tiniest bit and made a steusel-type topping with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped nuts.

Many of them also got packaged in 'to go' bags.

 

 

But they weren't sold down the river; they went home with Miss Helping Hands.

I did manage to save this one for you:

 

 

 

Miss Helping Hands and I also made a batch of granola (something we do regularly), but we tried a new recipe this time around.

Of course, we didn't have any pistachios or maple syrup on hand, so we substituted pecans/walnuts and molasses.

It was quite scrumptious anyway.

And it's all gone.

The dishpan (or cowboy) cookies we made are not all gone (though I wish they were, because they make a lot of noise calling out to me every time I walk through the kitchen).

There are lots of variations of this recipe out there in web land, and we do it a little differently each time we make them.

This was the best batch yet, but I don't think it was the ingredients that made the difference.

I think it was the special technique we used to soften the butter.

You probably won't be able to try this at home, kids.

 

 

Unless you, too, have a Little Man sitting nearby with his Uncle Sam while you are baking.

And, of course, your Little Man will have to be diligent about building upper body strength.

Ours uses our big empty room for regular workouts.

 

 

 

We had someone else nearby while we were baking, too, but she hasn't been working out, which means her muscles are still too weak to do much helping.

So Miss Helping Hands just held her and told her about all the good times to come in the kitchen.

 

 

 

I'm afraid it didn't inspire her at all.

She spent the next four hours asleep on Miss Mary Mack's chest.

You know, this was one of those days so rich in family...

 

 

 

 ...mere teaspoons could never serve to takes it measure.

I need more projects. Not.

 

But, hey, what's one more?

Especially if it's for Me Darlin' Mither.

We went shopping last Thursday for a piece of fabric to recover the seat cushion of a small (and unusual) chair which belonged to my grandmother.

Neither of us had a clear idea of what we wanted, so I suggested we just go out looking and see if anything grabbed us.

This is what grabbed her:

 

 

I couldn't seem to get a good photograph of it (probably because I didn't finish the assignments in my photography class), but it's a deep brown synthetic leather marked off in diamonds with a creamy-gold thread.

The chair, which is cream color, is part of the guest room furniture now, so I think this will suit to a tee.

I've never sewn on this type of fabric, and I'll have to put a zipper and piping on the cushion cover.

Mom wants me to wait until after the holidays to start working on this, because she fears it's going to be a real challenge.

It might.

But every time I walk by that fabric now, it seems to say "Wanna fight?"

 

 

 

And I don't know if I can make it through two whole months of that kind of taunting.

I just don't know.

Slurp

 

One of the things I like best about fall is that it brings back soup weather.

There is something especially homey about making a big pot of soup...

 

 

 

...for your homies.

Here is one of my homies' favorite soup recipes (which I got from Southern Living magazine many years ago):

 

 

 

 

I hope you'll try it some time.

Because when you sauté those tortillas with that fresh cilantro and garlic, I'll be able to smell that wonderful aroma from here.

And I can be there in time for dinner.

Einie and Me

 

Have I ever mentioned my love for Mr. Einstein?

I've never really understood all the E=MC2 business (science + math = notmyfavoritesubjects), but I do understand many of his quotes, and I completely agree with him about power napping.

However, what I really love about him is his face and...

...his hair.

Yep.

I'm that shallow.

My good friends know about me and Einie.

I own two coffee mugs and a large poster with Einie's face on them which were all given to me by friends.

I also have Einie greeting cards and several different kinds of Einie stickers.

And now I have a photocopy of a picture of Einie (and "Party") taken when he visited Yerkes Observatory in 1921.

 

 

And the reason I own this picture is because my friend, Patti-is-Fun, gave it to me.

I call her Patti-is-Fun because that is how she 'signs in' on our blackboard when she visits. She writes it right next to her 'signature picture'.  Just like this:

 

Patti-is-fun has wanted to go inside this observatory for the many years she has vacationed in Chicago, and this year she finally got her wish.

In the form of a private, after-hours tour -  which included viewing the original photograph.

A copy of which she requested and received just for moi.

 

 

I think everything really does depend on 'who you know'.

Patti knows God.

And He arranged for that private tour for His beloved daughter.

I know Patti.

And she arranged for me to have this picture.

The Inchie Project 2010 - October

 

Good-bye, October.

 

  

You've been wonderful.

The Last Five Inches of October

 

October 27 -

After Bible study Wednesday, I went out to see Baby Girl and her Momma, and to pick up Little Man.

I didn't hold Baby Girl very much because I'm so sensitive to Little Man's feelings of 'displacement'.

I know I'll have time to bond with her, but I'm kind of concentrating on numero uno during his adjustment period.

I brought him home and we played soccer, rolled around on the grass, and played basketball until my arms ached from holding him up to 'put one in'.

Then we explored the untold wonders of the garage.

The big signal head, the croquet set, the mini-Frisbee, the bike helmets, the metal baseball bat, and...

 

 

 

...Papa's wheelbarrow.

I gave Little Man a riding tour of the back yard and garden, and it brought back lovely memories of the wheelbarrow rides my Daddy had given me.

Childhood.

It's a good thing.

-------

October 28 -

I was so careful to keep the "hideous" (per Beeg Seester) brass chandelier that was hanging in my dining room out of the photos of the room re-do, that now I can't show you a before-and-after.

Because I am still 'distilling' ideas for the use of the space, I don't want to spend money on a replacement fixture just yet.

So, Thursday after work, I took the hideous chandelier out to the garage, hung it up, got out my stash of spray paint...

 

 

...et voila!

 

 

Hideousness banished.

-------

October 29 -

Maybe it was because we were worried that we were losing our regular Friday night get-together to a busier season of life.

Maybe it was because I'd worked so hard all day getting ready to host Saturday's Zentangle class.

Or maybe it was because I was very hungry.

But, whatever the reason...

 

 
    

...Friday night dinner at 'our place' with Beeg Seester and Bro was extra nice.

And then we came home, finished our chores, and spent the rest of the evening with Miss Mary Mack and one of our adopted kids.

Curled up on the big red sofas.

Talking.

Just like the old days.

-------

October 30 -

The Zentangle class was a great success.

All that creative energy in one room...

It set my hair on fire.

And while it was still burning, I had the pleasure of having a friend sit in my studio (for the first time) while I sewed some puffed sleeves for her Goldilocks costume.

I got out a small suitcase which holds many of my 'old' art projects, and while I sewed she pored over each one as though it were a treasure.

It was unique privilege to see them again for the first time through her eyes.

But it was like adding kerosene to the fire.

And I can only burn like that for so long before I shut down completely.

So, somewhere between finishing up Goldie's sleeves and greeting the first trick-or-treaters, Miss Mary Mack, Prince Charming and I went out to set a spell on the front porch.

We talked a little.

We tangled a little.

We laughed a little.

And we relaxed a lot.

Then a wonderful thing happened.

A flock of geese flew over us...so low we felt we could reach out and touch them.

They were honking quite loudly.

They were absolutely beautiful.

 

 

 

And I was blessed speechless.

-------

October 31 -

We had the unexpected pleasure of seeing Miss Helping Hands briefly on Sunday.

Since we had to have her signature on some insurance papers, and since none of us felt like making the two-hour round trip, we took Miss Mary Mack and drove up to Guthrie to meet her half way.

A little dinner.

A little ice cream.

And a lot of talking and laughing.





It was a lovely note to end on.

Tangling the Zen

 

The Zen Master came to Gwen's place Saturday morning.

And the 14 eager pupils came, too.

It was the first class.

And they were first class all the way!

 

 

The Zen Master shared a lot of the background and benefits of 'tangling' with us.

And she shared a lot of practical ways to use Zentangle patterns in our daily lives.

She shared so much exciting stuff, that we were about to explode with creative energy when we actually started working on our first tiles.

And then.

It got VERY QUIET. 

Everyone was so focused...

 

...I think we stopped breathing for awhile.

As things progressed, our sheets for note-taking got more and more interesting.

 

 

And the Master had to turn on some soft background music to soothe the silence.

 

 

Everyone was concentrating. 

 

 

 

I wondered if Able Baker Dana wore these Zentangled eyeglasses on purpose?

 

 

 

As our first Zentagle tiles began to come together, we started breathing again.

And then the excitement really ramped up, as the Zen Master started demonstrating some of the more intricate-looking patterns.

She even got on her knees so everyone could see the examples at the same time.

 

'

When class time was over, Zen Master had us lay all our tiles in one place.

She wanted us to see that though we had all been given the same instructions and patterns, our tangles were each unique.

Tiles were divided differently, patterns were placed in differing locations on the tile, and some had more shading and "enhancing" than others.

 (My apology for the poor photo.)

We spent some time appreciating all the amazing differences until, one by one, the students picked their tiles up and packed up to leave.

 

  

And then we discovered something which, for lack of a better expression, just really kind of freaked me out.

Miss Mary Mack had been in the class, sitting at some distance from me at another table

But when ours were the only two tiles left on the table, look what we discovered:

 

    

Zen Master said she'd never seen anything like it.

I'm still trying to process this.

Now, in the day which has passed since we had class, I have heard from several of the students.

They say they have become obessessed with Zentangle on some level and seem to be seeing tangle patterns everywhere.

And, somehow, a new tangle pattern involving paint brushes was sketched on my church bulletin this morning.

Tangle patterns have taken over my mind.

I'm having a hard time thinking about anything else.

 

 

I hope it doesn't show.