welcome 2012

morning walk 1.1.12

wishing you a 

happy, healthy & peaceful 

2012

♥

pumpkin heads

My husband Tom and I took a short trip up to the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire this past week.  We love visiting this area and have camped many times before in the areas surrounding the White Mountain National Forest.  This year we brought along our dog Mel and decided to rent a cabin at a local motel instead.  This worked out just fine for our few days of leaf looking, Mt. Washington Auto Road driving, trail hiking, and of course a little rainy day outlet shopping.  When we first arrived we were driving in the small town of Jackson, and noticed the above display of a bed on the side of the street.  With Halloween approaching, I thought it was a very clever and inventive decoration for the nearby inn to have to welcome their guests.  As we drove around Jackson, and the neighboring towns over the next few days, we began to notice what we coined "pumpkin heads", popping up all around, each with a unique theme or message.  Deciding it must be more than a coincidence that "everyone in the area was decorating with pumpkin heads"!....I did a little research to find out that indeed, it is a Jackson Chamber of Commerce sponsored event called, "Return of the Pumpkin People".  This event has been going on for 24 years in Jackson, NH and the surrounding area!  On our last day visiting, the weather was quite rainy, so after lunch, we decided to take a nice drive around and view as many of the Pumpkin People as we could find.  There is a map on the Jackson website, however we chose to make it more of a scavenger hunt, looking at the map quickly once, and then going off on our own to explore the area.  I photographed the ones we found and Tom, Mel, and I chose our favorites.  I noticed also on the website there is a ballot for a "People's Choice" award.  I think I will be printing that out and sending my vote in.  We had a great time checking out all the hard work that went into these creative, whimsical and inventive designs.  Just one more reason to head on up to NH!

Beetlejuice...a classic!

This boat named after Attitash Mountain Resort which is in Bartlett, NH...

I love how they used a tarp for the water!

 This was outside a restaurant we went in....I didn't even notice it at first!

Perfect advertisement for this cleaning service!

Who doesn't love Dr. Seuss?

more classics...

Go Patriots!  It is New England after all :)

LOVE all the mini pumpkin heads in this Gulliver's Travels re-creation!

Disney Princesses welcoming visitors at an Inn.

Out front at the Grammar School...art, music, sports & academics all represented!

The local Ski Club sends a very important message!

Tom's favorite!  Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash at an Inn in Jackson, NH

How appropriate!

Cinderella, out front at what used to be an educational theme park called Heritage New Hampshire.

Heritage is no longer open, but the building is still there.  It is right next to Storyland.

Mel thought maybe he could join this cast of characters.

I'm still not sure which one to mark down on my ballot.  Which one would you vote for?

the challenge

I shared this photo with Tom for his 1st photo...It 's a family portrait 9/25/11

There are many challenges in everyday life.  One I find I come across more often than not is the constant struggle to create art in my everyday life.  I consider myself a working artist, however most days I feel I work more than I make personal art.  Last year I did give myself the "challenge" of entering and completing The Sketchbook Project.  I had a great time participating and welcomed the challenge...however I have to be honest and admit, a little part of me has been missing my sketchbook.  I will definitely have to go visit it now that the books have returned to the Brooklyn Art Library's permanent collection.  While on vacation last week, my husband Tom was showing me one of  the latest i Phone apps he had downloaded called Photo365.  We are both photographers, he is as a professional photographer and I have a degree in photography where it has now become a favorite hobby more than a profession, but never the less, we are both usually snapping away with some kind of camera, and many times, it is with our i Phones.  So there we were looking at our i Phone photos of the day and decided, wouldn't it be a great challenge to do Photo365 together!  We decided to make the official "start" date our 7 year anniversary, and then go for a year and see what we each come up with.  I even added it to our "shared" calendar so each day at noon an alarm goes off  on our i Phones to remind us to take our daily photo.  Last night Tom told me it is much harder to "do this" now that we are no longer on vacation...I do agree.  However I feel that makes it even more of a challenge.  Maybe some days will not have a photo, and that is ok too. What I see is most important is to at least try to find some time where you can look, feel or find some inspiration to help create art for yourself, then the rest can all fall into place.  Sometimes just making the commitment is the challenge in itself.

This is my 1st photo...9/25/11

Katie, over at Adventures of an Art Teacher talks about setting goals in art as well and about the Project 365 in 2010.  I "googled" Project 365 and found that there are many photographers and Flickr sites out there where photographers have been taking daily photos and recording them, some better than others.  I think it is often a great idea for recording a pregnancy, aging of your children, progress of a garden,  or even the growth of animals. I am definitely looking forward to Tom's and mine.  

Has anyone else started a new and interesting challenge? 

i am 1,199,164,176 seconds old...and counting

My husband and I had brunch at the Bedford Post, in Bedford, NY.

I started the meal with a delicious cappuccino and warm cinnamon bun!

Last weekend was my birthday.  I had a great day spending it with my family.  Late in the afternoon it started to rain and storm pretty bad...however this weekend we are hunkering down in preparation for hurricane Irene to hit the East Coast, so I suppose last weekend's storm is not looking so awful after all.  These photos captured my latest birthday as seen through my i-phone....

We took our dog Mel for a hike at Mountain Lakes Park in North Salem, NY

On our hike I stumbled upon a red toadstool with white spots!  

I have never seen a real mushroom like this in person.

I really loved the vibrant red of these mushrooms too!

Seeing acorn caps scattered around reminded me I better get started on ornament making soon....

the craft sales and holidays will be here before you know it!

Mountain Lakes has a great sandy beach area where Mel took a little dip!  Here I caught him mid-shake!

After a family dinner with my husband, parents, sister and her family...we ATE CAKE!

I love cake...all kinds of sweets really!  

This year my sister made a "funfetti" cake and iced it with a swirly pattern that resembled tye dye.  

Very fun and festive, not to mention delicious!

My niece Casidy and Mel watching the festivities. 

 Her birthday is 5 days later so we actually celebrated together and shared birthday wishes.

Till next year...

 ♥

valentine labyrinth

This past Valentine's Day I walked a labyrinth for the first time.  I have always been intrigued by them and what made this one even more special is it's unique location of Playa Chiquita, Costa Rica, which means "Rich Coast".  We (my husband and I), just spent the past week on the Caribbean Coast of one of the most peaceful, serene, and picturesque countries.  We were lured in for an early afternoon snack of fish tacos at a sweet little eco-lodge called Miraflores.  While we were waiting for our food, Pamela, the owner and builder of Miraflores, invited us to walk her labyrinth.  It is nestled in the back of the property and "was placed in the medicinal and sustainable organic vegetable and fruit garden, complimenting the 12 year old Heliconia gardens, which Pamela collected from all over the tropical rainforest world."  The Labyrinth Society says "A labyrinth is a single path or unicursal tool for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation. Labyrinths are thought to enhance right brain activity."  It's very informative to read more about them on their website.  Check out this link for a research study I thought was interesting and perhaps worth further investigation.  It also reminds me a lot of mandala study one of my professors was working on in graduate school.  I am very grateful we stumbled upon Pamela's labyrinth...it is a true treasure.

view from afar of the Pamela's labyrinth...up above was a sloth looking down on us!

coral with moss...everything was so lush

close up of ferns growing in the labyrinth

Tom dreaming of fish tacos in Miraflores Rainforest Cafe :)

wish we had some now...we never made it back for a second serving, 

will just have to plan for our next trip!

my beach valentine on Playa Manzanillo...how did you spend your special day?

a little bit of snow

So we finally got some snow here on the east coast...a blizzard in fact.  The airports were closed, trains were delayed, roads were treacherous and well, basically we are covered with about a foot and a half of that fluffy white stuff.  Good thing we had no where to go.  Our new dog Mel was not so happy at first...but after a path was carved for him, he started to find the joy in the powder below his feet.  He is all white however, so we put on a bright red fleecy jacket to make sure we didn't loose him out there.  In case you don't have any snow where you are...I'll share some of mine...I have more than enough :)

very thankful for the snow blower

Mel checking out the drifts

buried garden gnome

my husband finished with the dig out  & taking a break with Mel

I hope you are enjoying your holidays...We spent our day digging out and frolicking in the snowdrifts!  How did you spend yours?

Getting Organized

I can be very organized.  Can...being the operative word.  In the past, I have best used my organizational skills professionally.  I love to have everything over organized; really I feel it's the only way to work and jobs just get done better that way.  When I am at home however, I tend to forget some of my own advise and slightly fall down on the job.  I have been crafting a lot lately.  I do not have a studio at the moment, however I do have a large dining room table that serves as a great work space (I only need to move off when we are entertaining).  With the holidays approaching, I have been very busy making items for my Etsy site, as well as a few craft sales.  It has been great, but my supplies are getting a little out of hand.  This weekend I took some time to straighten up and put to use my organizational skills.  Now that I look back at how messy, disorganized, and chaotic my workspace was, I have no idea how I was getting anything accomplished.  A clean, tidy, and organized space not only looks good, but it makes working much more efficient and pleasurable.  

Acorn Tops - I sorted through them and removed the ones that were not best for the crafts I am working on at the moment (I saved them for use on other projects).  I also made a separate container with ones that were smaller,  this way like size caps are kept together.

Felted Balls - Arranged by color scheme and size

Wool Roving - Separated by colors in low baskets to be easily viewed

Product for Etsy - Items listed, to be listed, special orders, etc.  This can get very confusing.  I have each item layed out with a notation and try to make shipments as soon as possible!

Needle Felted Pins - New products I am developing!

Lions and Tigers and Pumpkins...oh my!

Last year I made a trip to Jones Tree Farm, in Shelton, CT.  They have one of the best selections of pumpkins I have ever seen.  They also have acres and acres of Christmas trees...so if you do not have a chance to make it there for a pumpkin, you can try to get to the farm for a fresh cut tree!  The farm is over 150 years old, family owned and definitely worth the drive. In the "spirit" of Halloween, I wanted to share some of my photographs from last year.  Enjoy...and have a safe and Happy Halloween!

What are your plans for a spooky Halloween?

Fruits of the Season

march farms, bethlehem, ct

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween.  I do appreciate the holiday and I do love all the beautiful sights and smells of autumn...it's just the actual day I am not all that big on.  This year we went apple picking instead of pumpkin picking, which I was perfectly happy with.  We visited a farm not too far from us in Connecticut that we had been to in the past, March Farms.  We drove off into the fields (they also offer hay rides!) and followed all the well marked signs and filled our bags to the brim with apples.  The orchard is well layed out and the staff is really helpful in noting which apples are best for cooking and which ones are best for eating.  After, we visited the corn maze, which is fun and educational!  To get through the maze, you need to answer a series of questions where you learn about composting along the way.  On the way out, it is a must to stop by the store to pick up some fresh baked apple cider doughnuts.  We barely made it out of the shop before our bag was opened.  

March Farms does have a pumpkin patch.  We were a little early this year...so I ended up getting my pumpkins a few weeks later at the local market.

Any pumpkin carving plans in your future?