Fostering a new renaissance through creativity, authenticity, spirituality, and art
Polly Castor 
This is a big deal for me! We really didn’t have this in the budget, and it is both a true indulgence and a show of commitment to this medium for us to over extend ourselves in this direction! The box came from Heilman Designs (see here) and will keep the pastels from crumbling … Read more
We enjoyed this production of Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit immensely, watching it in series on Sunday evenings on PBS Masterpiece Theater. We give it five stars. Amy Dorrit, brought up her whole life in debtor’s prison, where she cared for her father who has been the longest inmate there, was played exceptionally well by … Read more
Forsythia is always such a delight to see. I think it was one of the first things my kids could identify out of the car window, since we always enjoyed spotting that luscious color after months of winter. That cadmium yellow can be almost intoxicating after one has been living among muted neutrals! Enjoy the … Read more
St. John’s College is the school my oldest daughter is interested in attending, that I mentioned in a previous post.
Today was a full day of walking and sightseeing. The first three photos were taken in Quiet Waters Park which is a wonderful place I will return to. I spent the early morning there. I wish I had my bike! Then I had a serendipitous thing happen as I was driving down Bay Ridge Drive … Read more
This is the first book I’ve ever read of Anthony Trollope. I liked it well enough to add it’s sequel, Barchester Towers to my reading list. I give it four stars. It took a while to get into it, and the warm-up and detailed description at points seemed quite drawn out, but the character development … Read more
On Earth Day Often we think of earth’s jaggedly impassable, impressive mountain precipices, or a raging volcano’s seething lava, surging mercilessly down hill, or the intensely glaring heat waves shrouding remote, windswept deserts, or hulking blue ice sheets crashing precipitously into chill Arctic oceans, or the devastating … Read more
This page represents April 9, 2009 through April 20, 2009. See below for some close up photos. Enjoy!
Above is the first of two paintings my 12 year old daughter made in my adult pastel class. I love it and we will frame it for our upstairs hall. It looks particularly good from far away, and this way we’ll see it down the hall every time we come out of the upstairs bathroom. … Read more
There is a bonanza of daffodils right now here in Connecticut. We have a lot of them because they are one of the few bulbs that the deer won’t eat. They are always welcome since they are so cheerful and vivid, as well as one of our first signs that spring is on its way … Read more
My 12 year old daughter has read this book by Trenton Lee Stewart so many times, I finally succumbed to seeing what it was all about, and we listened to it in the car together. Recently, we made more progress on it than usual when we were caught in a colossal traffic jam as we … Read more
I made these bowls on the wheel in pottery and glazed them in periwinkle (with green at the rim). The larger bowl is glazed in orchid. The half price Easter candy went fast…
Well, I didn’t think about taking this picture until after I had started eating… In the middle of the plate is Texas cousin Lillie’s Corn Cheese Pudding. I just loved it. She got the recipe from her sister-in-law’s family cookbook, so Sunny deserves some credit too. Lillie says this is an easy staple in her … Read more
The Palo Duro Club is where several of my husband’s relatives have cabins. It is about twenty minutes out of Amarillo near Canyon, Texas. While we were out there it hailed, which accounts for the strange light. We were pleased to tease my husband about the size of the hail since it was exactly the … Read more
These photos are taken on the airplane during landing, and from the Amarillo Club which is a nice restaurant on the top of Amarillo’s tallest building.
A couple days ago I posted pictures of the Palo Duro Canyon (see here), and I wanted to share some close-ups of the same areas today. All the different colors of earth are striking.
We had a wonderful Easter celebration with my husband’s family in Texas. Here are some vignettes of the trimmings. There was an Easter Egg Hunt for 14 kids who searched for plastic eggs filled with chocolate and money (my youngest found the most: $18.30, which was comprised of 11 dollar coins and change!). The youngest … Read more