THE COLOR OF LOVE

RED is the color of Love. In Chinese tradition, red is believed to bring good fortune. The Chinese Wedding Chair is filled with auspicious symbols and the bride wears the color red.
"There is not a moment of stillness in all creation. If we understand the changelessness of things, then all things, including ourselves, have no end." (Su Shih)

THE EXQUISITE ART OF HAITI

Haiti's complex history, traditions and
culture are represented in the genius
and spirit of Haitian art. The Ritual Flag commemorates a specific saint or spirit. It is composed of 20,000 sequins and beads on a satin background and took over two weeks to complete.

The narrative painting by Haitian Artist, J. Durosaire depicts everyday life in the mountain village. It is exquisite in color and detail, a joyful story of community.

FEBRUARY STYLE

Hot tubs can be brutal on bathing suits, mine were so embarrassingly faded, so I decided to invest in several new ones today. I love the sarong type leopard print, it looks great on and I also chose a basic black to go with my yoga pants. Both were on sale, everything seems to be on sale for Valentine's Day. I couldn't resist buying earrings and sunglasses to go with them, pearls in pastel shades of pink to smokey grey and rhinestones in crystal blue, purple, pink and white.

GARDEN OF LOVE - FEBRUARY

February, the Month of Love, will be dedicated to loved ones, special times, places and objects of affection. After all, "Love Conquers All!"

Garden of Love. Engraving, 1450, France.
The scene is the garden of love, a man offers his lady a goblet of wine, other young couples play cards, make music or caress. It is a perfect landscape of woods, meadows and fairy-tale castles. Bottles of wine are cooling in the brook and a meal is being served.

GROUNDHOG DAY

I am sure those little guys will not venture out tomorrow, it is thick hard snow, and nothing green for them to eat, let them rest, see you in the Spring!

VISIT TO THE FEED STORE

With another winter storm in the forecast, it was time for a trip to the local feed store to stock up on chicken pellets, black oil sunflower seeds, cat food and straw for bedding. With all this snow and cold weather no one wants to leave the cozy barn accomodations and all of the foraging is going on inside. Frosty, the barn cat waited for Fred to bring in the 50 lb. bags, and the chickens appreciated having their feeders refilled and another warm layer of straw.

NEW ORLEANS, LA

Thinking of my children in New Orleans, how warm and balmy the weather must be, but missing them the most.











Art Deco footbridge over the pond at The Sculpture Gardens in City Park. New Orleans.

SATURDAY AT RUTGERS GEOLOGY OPEN HOUSE AND ROCK ID

We managed to dig the car out to go up to New Brunswick for the Geology Open House. Grandson Chris and I had rocks that we wanted help identifying. Chris has bought his at a thrift shop last year and I had several from the beach at Gorleston, England. First stop was the Geology Building on Old Queens campus, it features a mastodon, Egyptian mummy, and a wonderful display of rocks, minerals and prehistoric stone tools from NJ and NY. At Scott Hall next door, we waited in line for Professor Muller, a retired teacher from Rutgers (45 years of teaching!) examine our stones. Chris's sculpture turned out to be made from obsidian from Mexico, taken from an Olmec design and mine were quartz, the material from which our Paleolithic ancestors made tools and fire. Chris bought a jasper rock from China, nicely polished at the rock sale in the auditorium, it is mounted for a nice display.

PEACOCKS

Theatre mailer, yoga mat design, silkscreen on paper, theatre poster for Brookdale, newspaper ad for Harbor Island Spa, blue peacock sketch

THE SOUND MACHINE

My Sound Machine has finally arrived. It is a compact machine with 8 soothing nature sounds that put you to sleep. With 4 timer settings and a volume control it has such relaxing sounds as Rain, Thunder, Stream, Ocean, Woods, White Noise, Birds and Heartbeat. It really does work, I put the Ocean sound (waves crashing and pounding to wash tensions away) on last night, put it on the 15 minute setting, and I was fast asleep. You can also use it for yoga practice, (Forest, White Noise, to screen out distractions) the sounds are a bit repetitive, but that's what makes it work!

SNOW DAY - SCHOOL CLOSED

It looks like shoveling is on the agenda again today. This time I think we will wait until afternoon when the plows have finished, no sense having to reshovel. I am making a large batch of chili in the crockpot and then I'll venture out to the barn and bird feeders. Looking forward to playing checkers with Chris and getting caught up on cleaning the studio.

MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY

It is a quiet day of contemplation, remembering my mother. The beautiful things that she loved - the color blue, Gainsborough, white azaleas, good coffee, Walt Whitman, Wagner, always evoke perfect memories of her.

SOUP'S ON!

With everyone in the family sick with a winter virus, we decided to go shopping for chicken soup ingredients. After purchasing the fresh onions, garlic, and live thyme in a cute container, I noticed the packaged dry soups and decided to try one of them. Time was a factor and I knew it would be ready same day with the soup mix and seasoned chicken. So home we went and the soup was ready for dinner, everyone loved it, it was quite tasty and soothing, and the large batch will last a few days.

BARNHEART CONTINUED...JERUSALEM, NY

"Make hay while the sun shines" Beautiful Penn Yan, vineyards long gone, rustic barn with sliding doors, a refuge now for the beautiful birds of summer and winter, waterfall walks up the hill, giving back to nature.

SATURDAY MORNING BEIGNETS & DAYDREAMING

I have never made Beignets, those little square doughnuts. I never thought they would ever taste like the ones at The Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans. But the beignets that I made from the mix actually do have that wonderful flavor. Marie's friend Pia brought the mix from New Orleans when she visited our house for Thanksgiving. Served super warm with powdered sugar and hot steamy coffee, I felt like I was sitting in the French Quarter mapping out my day's destinations in the Crescent City.