It's Time to Say:

May we be wise, healthy, joyous and generous in the coming year!
May we endeavor to be instruments of peace around us always.

Last Christmas Post....before New Year!

Some of our favorite ornaments

Diablo "himself" on the tree


In memory of our dearest Hercule




We are all tired as we sit down to dinner. The opening of the presents lasted some hours




I had made some stuffed dates

They were not bad:)

Piles, mountains....

After dinner we celebrated David's birthday, more fun!
It feels like this was as long time ago.....not even a week.

Noel Pictures

Em's deft fingers placing marzipan filling on dough in our kitchen on Christmas day for her world famous oh-so-yummy 10hr sweet bread.

Then she rolls and closes the thin 26 inch or so rectangles so we can't see the filling now!

Braiding, btw, she is fast!

And attaching the 2 ends to form the "couronne"

And voila! You can't believe the sweet smell...As you can guess it is a thing of the past by now...sigh....
Just posting these pics today, sorry for the delay. I am home with a cold, not bad, luckily:) Will post more tomorrow.

To All ....

known and loved and unknown visitors, well as I said, to all!
Above all, peace.

A Little Bit of Paris With Us....On the Tree

Faded but...

.....still beautiful! These were given to us by a friend for our anniversary November 26. They totally dried up and I left them in the vase until now, could not bear to discard them.

Update on Work in Studio

Last picture taken before Thanksgiving...very frustrated...haven't stepped in my studio since but I am wondering when I will do so since I am so busy before Christmas.
Who knows where I am going with this, I certainly do not: all chopped up, no unity....bla...bla...bla...(I am interested in critiques)
BTW I am very excited these days because I am going to take an online class from very talented DJPettitt titled "Online Photoshop Class". I strongly encourage you to check it out! And of course go check DJ's blog.

What is This?

Beautiful "mold" growing on apples slices....no, I did not make an apple tarte

On our kitchen floor, a group of exhausted ants dragging away a piece of bacon hoping we would not notice...
PS: I seem to be hearing some "disgusting....yuck!"...chuckling away...

Finally.....I'm Back!

The master of the house...

Oh, baby! Finally I was not short any more!....If only for a few hours!

Back at home more pictures before I throw away those cruel shoes!

Oh, so sweet, no?

Ted, David and our very own Marilyn.....Emily!

David and Franswazz, the latter looking like birds have been flying in and out of her hair. If so I did not notice! BTW, very natural pose for me.....:(

These are pictures taken Saturday December 15 during and after the MZA Christmas party at Los Poblanos Inn
I am still laughing about these shoes, they were a hit! I called them "killer" shoes, both because you can actually kill someone with these and they can kill your feet!
Here are a few pictures that I am throwing together, as I have picked them from my stash, not necessarily in sequence: too much time!

Steve's Birthday

Starting to assemble the ingredients for the cake. I made it last year and blogged about it. Called Teddie's Cake I got the recipe from the New York Times, 1973) And of course I had to add my little touch....calvados!

Look how cute the marks left by the glass pebbles at the bottom of my quiche. That's what I use during the pre-baking so that the dough remains nice and flat.

So yummy, escargots en brioche (Trader Joe's)

It was last Friday....but better late than never, right?

Are My New Girls Being Lazy? The Answer is no!

That was my question to myself lately...They had started beautifully a few weeks ago and then....no green/blue eggs in the nests any more.....bad girls:(
Well, I had been looking and looking all over in their yard but nothing until today: a precious cache of 8 eggs behind some old wrought iron gates that had been left against the fence years ago. So many leaves had fallen that I had not seen or perhaps had not looked there. Oh joy! One was cracked and therefore discarded.

Moving Right Along in the Studio

In progress....

Quote for Today

If you refuse to be made straight when you are green, you will not be made straight when you are dry.

African Proverb

Adding a Little Color

These faces are very quick sketches

Moving ever so slowly...I am at a point where I need to add some color to define areas but the shape of this girl is not ok...trying some hair (she needs a haircut, badly!), trying a variety of faces (this one is just sitting on top). There are certain spots where I have no idea of what to do...blanking out.
Since I am shooting from above, there are shiny spots and unevenness here and there. What is fun is trying some totally new techniques and that was the goal of this exercise in black and white.

Fall Beauty

A sea of gold

On my way to church this morning I stopped to look at this little tree , one of a trio next to the wall and then I saw these leaves....I could not believe my eyes...the absolute indisputable proof of the existence of God, there for all to see...yeah, I know I am a simple creature. People asked me after mass and I showed them. Their eyes opened wide "oh, how beautiful, I had not noticed"

For fun I displayed them on a paper napkin that was right there on the kitchen counter