Happy New Years Eve

It's New Years Eve and one should be thinking ahead...Or behind...or sideways perhaps?

Backwards it was a good year, with some ups and downs...the biggest down is aging aunt and uncle and watching them through this end of life process...big emotions for me. Also a down was saying goodbye to my MIL really the very end of last year, but the emotions spilling into the beginning of this year.

Ups were the joys of watching my youngest grandchildren turn five years old...having a culmination of five years of sheer joy interacting them with, more sleep overs, more art making together...

Ups also were the connections with my grown children; holidays/dinners together...

Ups were my art in art shows and friends accolades and the year ending with a commissioned wall hanging!

Ups was getting through a year with both of us (DH and me) pretty darn healthy!

Grateful for a note from my grand daughter (age 16) for Chanukah art journal sent:

"Grandma Lynn I have been meaning to email you but haven't been online this week. THE GIFTS WERE SPECTACULAR! wow I am so impressed by both of them. Thank you soooo much. I can't wait to sit down with the book and really read it. Much love! (it just snowed like four inches so I'm going to go and play :))" (both meant the art journal I made her and the "Simply Dreadful" wall hanging I made her brother).

Grateful too for art on cards sent from blog friends all year long and this week from Kathy W., Teri C, Yoon See and Mim! Thanks so much.

Grateful for Blog Friends made and kept and held dear to my heart this year and for many years to come...

Grateful for friends closer to home, who I see and enjoy!

Looking forward to beading/jewelry making classes with Patty; working on the new commissioned wall hanging; the next art quilt challenge in Quilts Around The World blog group; more traveling sketchbook pages; more ATC trades; more creative art endeavors and maybe an art retreat...there I said it out loud...

Hoping for continued good health; a continued thriving business; more day/weekend trips with DH; more time with grand kids; more art making/creating; more time with friends and family;

Getting and keeping my weight down; keeping a sound mind and heart; being a better person...

Okay, enough...no not done yet, prayers for world peace and good health for all my family and friends...and all humanity! (and animals too!)

Happy New Year Everyone Everywhere!

And Happy Birthday Patty!!!!

Animal Wednesday And Gluttony ReVisited!

On the night before Christmas we arrived in Mendocino! We walked the quiet streets and came across this lovely Christmas Tree all lite up...only to discover the next day in daylight that it wasn't a tree at all, but lights strung up over a water tower! These birds are really at Pt Arena, a small town south of Mendocino, where we stopped to stretch our legs on our way up north. If we had listened carefully we would have gotten the message "eat like birds"...however:

We were faced each morning with a breakfast high in sugar, cholesterol and calories...

like this French Toast oven baked with custard between the layers...

And nothing learned or entirely walked off by dinner time when we ate gourmet meals at various lovely local eateries...DH enjoyed braised chicken and I braised duck...this meal.

The night before I had seared Arctic char and he braised scallops...both mouth watering dishes, followed by desserts that were to die FROM...(notice I did not say to die FOR!) Face facts we both came home three pounds heavier than we left home!

Frankie's offered lighter fair for lunch and our last dinner there...

Matzo ball soup for day one lunch was delicious (funny them serving this special on Christmas day) served with a small Challah roll...their baked falafel was very good topped with homemade humus and lots and lots of chopped tomatoes and cucumbers for next days lunch...and the last evenings dinner of tomato, Canadian bacon and fresh basil pizza was good too. A size small just hit the spot.

A special thanks to the help at Frankie's, as I noticed they saved their beer bottle caps. I had seen a work of art in a gallery earlier in the day using them and wondered if they would give me the cup full I saw there. The young wait person said "Sure, and bent down to retrieve three bags full...did I want them all?" O...K... I am sure they will all make it into some art pieces sooner or later!

BTW they also have very very good homemade ice cream there too. I became partial to the raspberry chocolate chunk~ by Cowlick~

Here you can see us getting fatter and fatter as we rested between meals! Yes, someone please

us from ourselves!!!!

Happy Animal Wednesday

B & Bs on Blooming Tuesday!

A Mendocino Bloom for you on bloomin' Tuesday!

Pretty huh? DH and I realized that over the past thirty years plus we have stayed at a total of ten B & Bs in Mendocino. Some I've pictured here.

This first one is not one of them. LOL

It's The Blair House and the B & B where the TV series: "Murder She Wrote" was filmed!

(This is for Cris, as she asked me to take a photo of it for her)

This trip we stayed at The Headlands Inn and this bag of goodies

greeted us upon our arrival. Also a coupon for a free ice cream at Frankie's a little

restaurant around the corner for DH's birthday!

The bag of goodies held both Christmas candies and Chanukah gelt.

This was our very well appointed bathroom just outside our bedroom,

within a small entry way all in our private area!

It had a nice wall heater that when turned on warmed our bath towels for us,

and two bathrobes hung on the door for us to use.

And this is where we laid our weary heads after a day of over eating,

walking, shopping, hanging out at the beach etc.

The mattress was a little high in the middle and DH said he

had difficulty staying in the bed. I did just fine.

;-)

Must have been the pretty quilt on the bed!

We both enjoyed the hosts and their hospitality; and the upstairs parlor we visited in the evenings after dinner out. We could sit and put our feet up, read, or draw or embroider.

They served hot apple cider and tea/coffee...and cookies.

There was also an ice box there with cold drinks we could just take.

A big bowl of candy DH liked a lot!

And a snifter of brandy if you were so inclined. We ate Christmas Dinner here at The Mc Callum House.

I had duck, he had braised chicken.

Very yummy.

Very expensive.

We once stayed here at Sweetwater Gardens and I had the best massage I'd ever had in my life! We stayed here the weekend before we got married on April 1st (Monday) at the court house in nearby Fort Bragg. We shot this view, as the ladder went to the attic room we stayed in. It's called The Sea Gull Inn. This is DHs favorite where we have stayed several times called Mc Elroy's Inn. The ownership has changed and is now called something French and is owned by the same people who own another across the street. They were not open over Christmas weekend. He liked it because it had a bedroom and another room with a fire place, which we used in the winter time stays. It felt like having a little house to yourself. They only had coffee and banana nut bread for breakfast in the little office. And it was inexpensive compared to all the others. Oops, another shot of Blair House! We've also stayed at The Blackberry Inn, John Grindles House, Agate Inn... I do not recall all the other names right now, but you get the picture!

I LOVE Mendocino, CA...

The town of Mendocino's main street is literally across the street from the beach and headlands...and it's the latter that I come to see first and foremost. We were so lucky to have a warm Christmas day to walk on the beach and we kept having to peel off layers of clothing worn, as the more we walked the warmer we became... This is the McCullum House where we ate Christmas dinner. The food was rich and having eaten out the night before too, at the Moose Cafe, both offering gourmet meals, our tummies were full and aching from our gluttony.

The few streets of the town are loaded with art galleries...DH loved the art by this artist best.

He liked the picture within the picture.

I loved the found art on the beach like this sea weed!

Christmas day we could walk the full length of the beach.

It rained that night and the next day so today we could not walk down

on the beach at all as the tide was covering it completely!

But the sun was out again and we could walk the headlands over looking

the beach and did.

You might recognize some of the town from movies made there in years past such as

East of Eden, Hitchcock's Birds; The Russians Are Coming; and all of Murder She Wrote

(the TV series)...

This wooden pier is about to fall into the sea.

That loving couple? That's us in shadow!

And me, enjoying the view.

Literally I could not take enough in.

Just wanted to sit there forever breathing in the fresh air,

seeing the waves crashing on the rocks,

higher and higher!!!

What a feeling!

I wish I could bottle it and send you some.

Four wonderful days...

more photos to follow

I assure you!

Suki's Page for Arty Soul Sisters Traveling Art Book on Animal Wednesday

Henry got into his presents with gusto. Actually he just likes the wrapping paper so he gets all of it. He joins me in wishing you a happy Solstice, Holiday, and New Year!

Happy Animal WednesdaySuki's Art Journal is Completed When ever I receive one of these traveling art journals in the mail I am always blown away by the quality of the art they contain. I have usually already seen the art on a blog, and always liked it then, but it never ever shows the depth of the work, the richness of color, texture, etc. that I see when I hold it in my hand. And it is the same with my photos of my page for Suki's book. Just trust me when I say the colors are brighter, the fabrics shinier, the beads with more sparkle, the threads and candy wrappers adding more texture than is possible to see here. this piece contains three fabrics, silver and blue candy wrappers, wrinkled papers (I found today at the thrift store) and beads. Actually every part of this page was gleaned from thrift store finds. I brag about that because I feel really good when my pieces are GREEN/earth friendly. The base is a grocery brown bag. And the crinkly paper you see on the ends wraps around the back.

It is machine sewn and then hand embroidered and beaded.

I find both the latter to be incredibly relaxing. It's a beach scene for Suki...her footsteps in the sand...taking her where ever she wants to go. But we know she loves Cape Cod.

I have not yet done the back...and I will wait until my return next week to do so.

I will not stand another half hour in line at the post office BEFORE Christmas!

(I did that twice this week already, and enough is enough)

I also think it will have a better chance of getting to Suki just before the new year!

This book IS SUKI'S BOOK and I send to Suki so the book is finished

with my page!

It started in September 2009 and just a short four months later it will be in Suki's hands.

Suki: I adhered as closely as I could to the measurements of your book.

However, you know me, my page is just a tad taller than the rest.

If it bothers you you may cut it to fit,

but I hope you'll be okay with a little bit of my style

that is outside the box.

;-)

See you next Monday!

;-)

Hiatus from blogging planned on Bloomin' Tuesday!

I've made a decision! I am going to take a four day holiday from blogging! I imagine many of you will be busy with families and the holidays yourselves, so I will stop blogging after a Wednesday posting this week and probably return late on Sunday of next week. (Oh, that is only a three day holiday! LOL)

This is where I have been hanging out the past week, making my holiday cards...and now

starting on a page in a traveling art journal for Suki that arrived in todays

mail from Mim.

The art in it is mind blowingly

wonderful! I feel humbled adding my page. Suki named no theme,

but the book has a bit of a theme anyway...I'd like to think

we have all put a little bit of Suki, as we know her, into our pages.

One more holiday card to all of you with

good wishes for the spirit of the season!

And my heartfelt appreciation for another year of blogging

friendship, art, sharing, inspiration, and love.

See you tomorrow!

;-)

More Holiday Cards

I really enjoyed my Sunday yesterday. It was a stay at home day...made a pot of chicken soup in the slow cooker, the aroma filled the house...as I stood at my design table laying out more hand made cards to send to friends...and then sitting at the sewing machine putting them all together...

I finally found a use for lots of candy wrappers I had been saving... Some were pretty simple... just using fabric and threads... some a mixture of fabrics and paper, and extra embellishments like these large white sequins... and some a hodge podge of everything I could get my hands on...wrapping paper, candy wrappers, threads, glue, and sparkles... and felt, fabric and marking pens... I felt just like one of Santa's helpers...working away in my little elf shop! Such fun!!!!!

For someone who does not celebrate Christmas

I certainly got into the spirit of it all!

;-)

Oh dear, no cactus' got photographed or drawn today though.

HCM anyway~

I hope I don't get expelled from that group.

;-0

A Huge Surprise!

Last night my cousin called to WARN US that his parents were not doing so well...that they were far worse than how they'd been when I saw them two weeks ago. So all the way there I was preparing myself for sitting by their bedsides, holding their hands, being quiet with them. I was literally writing eulogies in my head, the words I would say at their memorial services. How surprised was I to find them not in their beds when we got there, in fact not in their room at all. We were told they were in the dining room. We nearly ran down the hall to find them eating lunch at a table.

They looked alert, well, almost as good as they had been before Uncle Harry's fall and fractured hip and surgery. We sat and talked and they were able to carry on a conversation...Harry lost his train of thought maybe twice...but he was in good humor, able to tell us stories from their past. Mimi had a good appetite and was busy eating her lunch with gusto. Harry said that when he left there he was going to write a letter to the head honcho to let them know the food was terrible! He asked me to please not tell him to eat it. I didn't. (Or I stopped).

I can't help but see my mother in my aunts face at times (her eldest sister) and myself too I think in a few years time. Especially how she held her hands. Just like mom and me. DH brought Harry a CD player with headphones and a Yiddish music CD. He loves the Yiddish language and music. We lost him for a while then as he listened with beatific smiles on his face and his hands strumming an imaginary guitar. We left it there for him to continue to enjoy.

Aunt Mimi enjoyed looking at family photos. She didn't know the names of all her great grandchildren, had to be reminded who was who (she has quite a flock of them) and her dementia was apparent, but she remained in good humor and in fact had us in stitches laughing

a good part of the time there.

Harry said they were old now, and that life had gone by so quickly.

We assured him we'd be back soon for another visit. I sure hope we get more of this. It was such a wonderful blessing all the way around.

Thank You for Chanukah Gifts!

A scrappy Chanukah Card was made from grocery store bag paper for the menorah/candle holder; shiny fabric cut on the selvage edge, which made for awesome flames!

Sewn with gold metallic thread.A card with pictures helps the kids read it themselves, or at least

read along!

Sometimes my thread tension gets all loose like this and it used to make me scream, but sometimes like on the backside of this card I think it looks cool. Almost like Hebrew writing, especially if you don't know Hebrew!

;-)

I had such fun making this card I went ahead and

made a bunch more like it to send as Chanukah cards to my

family and Jewish Friends.

Shabbat Shalom

Happy Saturday!