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Monday, March 31, 2008


Remembering.....Wye Mountain Daffodils





This is my daughter about 25 years ago. In a soft yellow sweater, in a field of daffodils. Both of us had to kneel down to be on "daffodil" level. Every March this field on a mountain in Arkansas is covered with daffodils. They were planted over the years by the couple who used to live there, and have muliplied as the years passed. What a golden gift for future generations!

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I have been posting some collage work here.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Sometimes I have to paint my food before I cook with it!




This one is of the lemons used in the lemon ricotta torte....I had a washy watercolor background, then painted in large yellow lemons and a lemon slice too! Topped off with a bright red geranium from the sunporch where I was working. The geranium had finally decided to bloom....its lower leaf is coming past the border...I love doing that!

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NOTE: I have chosen this new brighter whiter blog template for "Spring Cleaning". I like how the colors of my artwork show up more clearly!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

I think this will have to be cut and pasted into my "A FEW GOOD MEN" collage.



I just read a great interview and article about Colin Firth.


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This of course is Colin as Mr. Darcy in the BBC production of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"...to take a "quiz" and find out what Jane Austen character you are, go here.

Another altered book page..."A FEW GOOD MEN"

As I cut and paste, I look for mostly feminine images...so a lot of these were in the reject or "backside of the clipping". I can identify Hugh Jackman, St. John, Gregory Peck (I confess to adding him on purpose), and a greenman? Seems to me that most of the art and artists I see on blogs is very "girly" and men deserve a bit of time too!


....I left some of the original book text showing...it says, "Bless his heart"....and old saying which basically means they just can't help how they are!

Monday, March 24, 2008



A new book has just been published, "Seven Sacred Pauses", by Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr. Pausing to listen to our heart throughout the day, contemplative listening, is the subject of this beautiful book. Read more on Macrina's website. There is lovely CD to accompany the book, featuring songs using lyrics from Macrina's poetry.


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Today I am reading a wonderful contemplative book. "The Barn at the End of the World" by Mary Rose O'Reilley. O'Reilley writes of her experiences learning to be a shepherd after being a university literature professor, mother, wife, spiritual director...and more. I am really enjoying it; I come from a farm background, though I was always (and still am) the "house mouse". Mary Rose was born in Pampa, Texas in 1944....but her book is not just a biography, it is a careful look at life and what it means to be here struggling with moral and ethical decisions...




A photo from last spring...when Shadow had a glossy black coat. She is still growing that fur back after being shaved in late January.
I want to let friends know that my "Send" e-mail isn't working now...hopefully fixed by Wednesday noon. I can get your message, but can't answer!
Off to work on a quilt now.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Several photos of a wonderful (picture perfect) day!





































******************************Most photos taken by my brother who , along with his wife, joined us at Garvan Woodland Gardens on Lake Hamilton. We had so much fun!

Mom and I are off to see these botanical gardens!

The Full Moon bridge below is one feature of Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas which I have long wanted to visit.

Daffodils should be in bloom!












I'll be back later to telll you more about it!

Happy Easter weekend!




This tiny bunny is an antique card from Dover Publications...(you can send ecards from their webpages)

Thursday, March 20, 2008

New Baby Photos.....





*********************************************Just received yesterday. My grandson....I can hardly wait to go see him (and his sister) again!
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Now, a funny "kitty" story. Our cat, Shadow, was in here this morning as I was watching the Oprah broadcast of the Monday night Eckhart Tolle class. I was a few feet away from the computer desk, in a comfortable chair...and Shadow had settled attentively on the mouse pad.
I realized that she was watching Eckhart Tolle who looked about 4" tall, was wearing a soft gray sweater and moving a bit, gesturing with his hands.
She was captivated! Eventually she investigated the screen more closely with her paw and her nose, ...no luck! Then, clever old kitty that she is, she walked around to check out the backside of the screen. Of course this didn't yield the prey either....so she tried the front again....for her own sanity, I had to remove her to the great outdoors where she will find something else to pursue!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

ABC WEDNESDAY

"I" is for "INDIGO"....of course!

It is also for "Impermanent"......













And for "Infinity".....(collage by lila)




********************************And for "Inspire"....(collage by Gemma)


















Find more "ABC Wednesday" at Mrs. Nesbitt's!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008


















~~Torta Ricotta with Salsa al Limone ~~~~~~~~~
Torta
2 large eggs, room temperature
4 T. butter, room temperature
2/3 c. sugar
1 1/4 c. ricotta
3/4 c. finely ground almonds
Juice and zest of one lemon

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees. Place a circle of Parchment paper in the bottom of a springform pan. Grease the sides of the pan.
SEPARATE the eggs. Beat the whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
Using a mixer, combine butter, sugar and ricotta until smooth and fluffy. Add egg yolks, almonds, lemon juice and zest. Mix well.
FOLD the eggwhites into the ricotta mixture, carefully. Pour into the springform pan and bake 40-45 minutes until golden. Cool.

Salsa al Limone
4 T. butter
1/3 c. sugar
Juice and zest of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1T. water
COMBINE first three ingredients in a small saucepan. STIR over medium heat, until butter is melted. WHISK in the cornstarch and water mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
Cook until clear, thicker and yellow. Serve warm over the cooled tart.

Sunshine on a rainy day.....

When Spring is beckoning, I find I am drawn t o all things yellow! This includes daffodils, forsythia and LEMONS. Above is a recipe scrap book page with a "Torta Ricotta with Salsa Limone" recipe cut and pasted.

My sister was here this weekend, and I felt that the occasion called for baking something special. I was able to use a wonderful new tool to grate the zest of the lemon, a microplane from Williams Sonoma. (photo by Mr. Pear...we are never safe from the lens of his camera!!!LOL!)



It was so fast and easy and NO skinned knuckles! [ I'll add a photo of my ricotta tart with lemon sauce and post the recipe later today.]
Monday was St. Patrick's day, but this year, I was still finding yellow....(not green)...

This is a hand-pieced "Grandmother's Flower Garden" quilt top which caught my eye yesterday. I "rescued" it from a flea market in Missouri. ( I accompanied my sister on a visit to her Lyme disease specialist in Springfield, MO)
I will love sitting and hand-quilting it, then will enjoy it for many years...even though I like art and inovation, I am still drawn to the classic patterns in quilting!

Friday, March 14, 2008


Finally, SPRING !






**************************Though it is not official until next Friday, Spring finally came to my yard yesterday!

Our daffodils popped overnight.

I found three for the table top and combined them with a German papermache nesting egg* and some tiny bunnies. Now we know it will soon be Easter!

(For even more springtime delights, visit Tasha Tudor!)
[* now that is an odd term...a nesting egg!]


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Here is an easy recipe for the perfect springtime dessert!

ANGEL FOOD PINEAPPLE CAKE

1 can of crushed pinapple in its own juice
1 box of 1 step angel food cake mix (1 step kind)

Mix these ingredients together and bake in an oblong cake pan at 325 degrees for about 25 to 30 min.
Honest, it is that easy, no fat, very low calories, and tastes great. For an extra treat sprinkle coconut flakes on top before baking. Serve with non-fat Cool Whip.
( or if you don't mind the fat, real whipped cream!)


Off to clean out those flower beds!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

It's ABC Wednesday......"H" is for hankies!






"H" is also for "hope". This is a photo of a young mother, Kimberly Kim. She has been diagnosed with ALS.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~ I read a recent update from Kim yesterday. The condition takes away muscle strength, even the effort used to feed herself is exhausting ( but she doesn't have to have a feeding tube yet). A machine helps her breathe at night. A full-time nanny helps with the toddler. The good news, they will be going to the Caribbean for Easter, while she can still travel!
Her family has started a foundation to help find ways to fight this debilitating condition. Please take a minute to visit and
"HELP" (H again) with the Healing!












Find links to more ABC posts at Mrs. Nesbitt's!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

A lovely surprise in the mailbox today!
This is a poetry booklet from Imelda of Greenishlady blogfame!
I left a comment a few weeks ago and Imelda sent this lovely booklet and card to me. When I picked it up, it opened to a poem in the center called "Seeing Dylan".
Imelda, you captured the experience very well....we saw Bob Dylan here a couple of years ago! I am going to take to book to my sunny backporch/sunroom and enjoy it!
Thank-you so much!



One way to find JOY....

do some collage art!*

I love this lady's smile!!!! ...... the crow is the Native American totem for my birth month.


Oranges, browns and blacks hold this all together. The art quilt designed by Susie Swan, is from a Matisse called "The Amber Necklace". Her quilts were featured in a recent Home Companion Magazine.


On the flip side of the quilt is a guide to doing a deep and healing "inner" smile from yogo teacher Lilias Folan. [ I remember the wise man in Bali telling the heroine of "Eat, Pray, Love" that the secret of meditation was easy, it was to "smile"...."smile with your liver", he said.]


* Just before bed last night I picked up a book I read from once in a while, "Spiritual Housecleaning" by Kathryn L Robyn. (subtitled, "Healing the Space Within by Beautifying the Space Around You"). The page I opened to (without "thinking") was a section called, "Alone, Not Lonely: Solitude".

She talked about spending quiet time on READING....literary novels which will help "grow" your
heart...not newspapers and magazines, technical manuals or professional journals. She also said,
"People used to make art to call upon the sacred self...Sitting alone, or even quietly in a group, carving, sculpting, painting, sewing, weaving, quilting, etc., is often the best way to take yourself to the inner place of connection.......try making a collage, cut out pictures that represent who you are deep inside. Or who you once were or dream of yet becoming. Glue them on a sheet of poster board and hang it in your bedroom. Rekindle your sacred spark!"

That was synchronicity for me! I had thought the book would say something like, "clean out the basement", organize your linen closet... ( she does indeed cover these things in the book and goes much deeper into the depths of cleaning than most of us are aware of! LOL!) but the page that opened for me last night said to make collages! So I am affirmed in my cut and paste journey!

Monday, March 10, 2008

A lovely afternoon for a tea.....(yesterday)







*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~The table is set with Laura Ashely's Hazelbury teaset...a gift from friends for one special birthday.
The flowers are a new (to me) variety of primrose. This one is a grandiflora!
We served Girl Scout "lemonade" cookies and the tea is Lady Grey!


Lady Grey is a loose aromatic tea which comes in a box. It has black tea, lemon peel,orange peel, and CORNFLOWER petals (the blue!) and bergamot flavoring.


One of our group was accompanied by her 4 year old granddaughter. It was such fun to see her stirring sugar into her tea cup (filled only half full!) ...and watching all of us. I'm sure she will have some memories of a real tea party with her grand mother!

Just so you know....I have changed the layout and tried to persuade "Blogger" to start the text under the photo instead of cryptically on the side, stringing out letters rather than words. No matter what I have tried, the problem remains....[It's a good thing I am used to collage and visual elements being a bit "off" and "creative" or I would get frustrated!!!!]


How to quilt with a kitty!

(action shots taken last week on a cold winter night by Mr. Pear!)







You must of course use a wooden hoop to secure the quilt and a thimble to protect your finger. Get into the wonderful rhythm of making the hand-quilting stitches, Breathe, Relax....only to have the resident pet crawl up to cuddle and investigate!
























....Then, decide that there will be other times to quilt, so try to read a book....seems like Shadow* wants to be in on this too! (I really don't think one can quilt with a kitty!)





* Shadow is almost 14 years old. She was a beautiful solid black cat, we thought. I was gone a lot this fall...she was a bit neglected, and her fur which is a nightmare to keep free of mats, was beyond the groomers help. So she had to be shaved....and in the cold month of January! She stays inside now awaiting the growth of her new coat and warmer weather! (Will the fur come back in as black, or will she now be an "old gray kitty"?...time will tell!)

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Another snowy forecast and more art journal pages

This is a fictional nostalgic page about a French follies bergere dancer who has memories from the past as rare as pearls! -Life is the dancer and you are the dance. (Eckhart Tolle)


This is a dreamy "sleeping beauty" called "Luna", she is waiting for some important romance in her life! It has something to do with being awakened with a kiss...otherwise, she will just sit in that chair and pine away!

Here is a romantic memory....on the blog of the photographer of a wedding last summer. Yes, it was my son's wedding day!

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

The Pirate's Daughter


I'm doing some arm-chair traveling today courtesy of a library book.
The novel is about Jamaica from the 1940's to the 70's. I've been to this beautiful island for a wedding....now I will visit again through the pages of this book. It was published last year and is the second novel by Margaret Cezair-Thompson, a native of Jamaica.

The story is set near Port Antonio, Jamaica. This is the area where my daughter's family will be going to spend Easter very soon! I'm off to the tropics....goodbye cold weather!

Tuesday, March 04, 2008


It is one of those "Magic Days" here in Northwest Arkansas....





a few inches of snow and everything stops!

I get to stay home and read, the things I had on my schedule have all closed today!

My friend Gayle (who didn't have to go to work today because of the snow) e-mailed me about the "Creme Bartlett" quilt which was on HGTV this morning. I love the photos of it! It is in a book by Jayme Crow and she offers kits too!

(I won't be making it....I'm still behind on making an airplane crib quilt for my grandson!!!)



Another quilt I like is this one with the "snowflake man". [I know I posted him earlier but he is perfect for today!]

Monday, March 03, 2008

Miss Indigo Pears is now an avatar!

Yahoo! Avatars

She really looks like me and my world and how I dress....I could have chosen many different looks including being on a motorcycle, LOL!

Create your own avatar at avatars.yahoo.com (you will need to get a yahoo ID first....I had one from my Flickr account)

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