a good snack

Here's a good, quick snack idea in case you're in need of one:   A whole grain WASA cracker, a slice of brie... heated in the oven until the cheese begins to melt... then add a spoonful of fig jam and a few sprigs of fresh lemon thyme.  MMM!

Lately...

 A spider in its web on the rosemary....

 Chives in bloom....

 My mom's beloved, sweet smelling Chinese Fringe tree...

 Waking up to raucous bird song and eating fresh strawberries for breakfast...

The beautiful box a watercolor student named Laurel surprised me with last night... she is such a talented needle artist, and said she got inspired by the feathers we were painting in watercolor class!  This is one of the most special presents I've ever gotten!

 New pillows I'm about to load into my bike baskets and take to Shabby Love!

Wondering how people will feel about the black slugs creeping through the background... 

Might not go over so well?  ;)

chronology in old pictures

 I accidentally left my camera at my parents' house, so I decided rather than not writing at all,  that maybe I could dredge up some old pictures from my hodgepodge computer archive.  This is a picture from the Charles Bridge in Prague on the morning of my 25th birthday.  I stayed up all night with friends the night before and our last hurrah was to wait for the sun to rise.

This was the sky over Dalkey on one of my last evenings there.

These pictures are of sweet little Lucy.  I baby-sat her and her brother when I lived in Fredericksburg and I was so lucky that during the time we were together I got to witness her transition into becoming steady on her feet.  

This was the first watercolor I did in Italy, which is where I was when my fabric pattern making idea really began brewing.

France in May two years ago where I got to be a full time painter and reveler.

And home - where wonderful things always begin and end and begin again.