santa, reindeer, the whole hog and the man in the moon.

Santa, reindeer, the whole hog and the man in the moon.

Nope, not characters from a spicy pizza induced dream. Just the sporadic ramblings of my pre-holiday morning.

Ok, let me backtrack to where this twisted tale started.

I was arranging my vintage light bulb santa heads gazing at my well placed mantle reindeer...when ...ah ha! I, in a moment of grandiose brainstorms...and feeling a little moxie I decided to saunter a mile and a half down the road to the reindeer farm ...on a mission for spectacular photos of antlered beauties.

Cold was I.....but I pressed on....knowing what a feather in my cap these images would be on next years Christmas cards.

Thou shy and unassuming....(As you can't tell by the photos)...these deer don't disappoint.

What dazzling ,velvet-rubbed branched crowns they don!

Onward and homeward I set my path. A silly grin pasted on my face...or be it frozen on?

Anywho, As I neared home and easily distracted by pretty things.....I snapped a spectacular side portraiture of one of our mammoth piggies.

The whole hog as you will.

And as in any true Simpsons or Seinfeld episode....stories never end where they started.

So , famished as I was and realized I should have carb-loaded before this workout...I headed straight for one (ok, maybe 2) Man in the Moon cookies.

I love life's little journeys...the things you see beyond your four walls and p.c.

As a little treat....here's the world's best(self annointed by moi...yeah , that's right) Cookie Recipe.

If you haven't a Man in the Moon cutter...you're on your own! Any will work....

The Cookie

cream togeter:

1cup butter
2/3 cup sugar

beat in:

one egg

combine and add:

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups sifted flour

mix until ingredients are well blended

Chill dough 3-4 hours

before rolling.

Preheat oven to 350

Roll out and cut

Bake for about 8-10 minutes each

or slightly browned

The Frosting

3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

1 tbl butter

1 tbl milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp lemon juice

melt butter, combine all ingredients

beat until smooth

SLATHER on cooled cookies!

Enjoy...and no, you don't have to share.

creature comforts

Creature comforts.....we all have them. Whether you're an Ugg junkie (thanks for getting me hooked Jen)... mani-pedi fanatic...tabloid devotee.... have a chocolate fetish(sometimes that cookie at the end of the day makes everything ok)or crazed for cashmere.

Now, I am not necessarily copping to all or any of the above. Merely examples of course.

Thou I will admit that my true blue creature comfort is just that......creatures.

Animals, big and small...real or decorative. Love them all....with a few slithering exceptions.

I didn't realize my "problem" until it was mentioned sweetly by a good friend..."gee, everywhere I look ....I see animals".

Ok, it's been a while since I dressed up my cat for a tea party....so, I don't think this critical.

I often wondered how those old women in the news end up in squallor with 100 cats.

Just surrounding herself with what she loves.

So I emplore...please, oh please....feel free too intervene if I get to that point.

Give 'em the bird

Ok , don't take that the wrong way.... Thou I am sure there are a few unsavory people in your life that the sentiment and gesture may be entirely appropriate and just....in or out of context.

I know I could point out a few nervy drivers on the highway just today.As in an effort to be lady-like I just gave them my surliest look, a real mean stink eye.

(Just ask my hubby, he's seen it plenty before).

But truly what I had in mind was presenting someone with a sweet fine feathered friend of the painted variety.

I've been swishing and swooping with my brush an array of painted birdies just in the nick of time for the holidays...and as a treat they are at a special price.

Now before you can say "goody goody gumdrops" ...I only have a limited amount.

So if you're looking to pass the bird along to a loved one for the holidays....act fast.

As it better to give the bird rather than receive.

http://jenniferlanne.com/ for availability and special pricing

shines makes me good natured

Kitty Babendrier shoadowbox tag a Cheryl Kuhn piece (love his piercing eyes) Why is it?

The more you are told not to do something...the more you must?

Moth to a flame syndrome, I suppose.

Warn a sassy child not to touch an electric fence and certain screeching will occur.

A"watch your step" warning equates to an assured trip and a fall.

Speed limit 30...an inevitable speeding ticket.

Pinch your pennies, tighten your wallet means I am destined to want!

Well, that's how I feel lately. I know I should show some self control on this economic roller coaster...but that's like telling a unruly chocoholic they cannot partake in sweet treats at a chocolate factory.

Sometimes the pleasure is worth the pain.

So lately I've had addiction shakes for shines,baubles and little pretties .

Fancy little tin types, overly played with metal farm animals. I have no choice you see.

So I must tame the inner beast and throw a sacrificial lamb (or dollar) to the God of Want and Need.

haytime...sissys no need apply

yep, even wrangled this table into the truck...couldn't leave without it!

So it's the time of year to stock the barn up with hay. This is the crucial time as hay right now is like penny candy...plentiful and sweet. Wait a few months and it's slim pickin's for sure.

Today was two loads from my favorite picture-perfect 1700's local farm. One load of a dozen bales at a time as that's all hubby's sad pick up will hold. 80 lb. double bales that is. Surely a work out for the old gal. (that'd be me)

Funny, today reminded me of the summer my sister worked on a horse farm....her body formed with freakish, steroidish muscles from hefting the bales.

This was the summer she retained the nickname "Androgynous Pat" (vintage SNL)...as she blurred the gender lines with her bulging physique.

This was also the summer she really grew to despise her younger sister (that'd be me again) for the taunting names of the boyish persuasion.

So in my consorted effort to maintain my puny Olive Oyle-ish muscle tone I will not be hoisting any more bales than needed. I am not nor ever will be above playing the weak girl card.

Decision '08

The debates are over...the campaign trail cold....the vote cast.

Yep, it's sadly been decided. I concede.

I will be postponing this year's Holiday Open House....until next year.

I'm sorry to say there will be no recount....with all this barnstorming and appearances I'm swamped and mired in a sea of commitments.... Appearances in November in Warwick, NY (to be decided) and an Artifacts Shop Open House appearnce on December 6th (watch for details)

Now before the mudslinging and hurling of rotten tomatoes...I promise to the public to throw an even more elaborate event (as time permits) next year!!!.....my mind's wheels are already creaking and turning....OH, just you wait!

So in the meanwhile check out my site for new works as they crop up....as well http://www.earthangelstoys.com/...

blow yer hair back!

Me and good friend "Earthgirl" Jill

a few displaysMe and pal Jen O'Connor having fun with pumpkins(notice the looters in the background!)
And blow your hair back it did! Thanks to all who made the voyage to the Country Living Fair in Ohio. Brave souls you are to endure the elements....rain, heat, humidity and the 60mph wind gusts!

I myself have even been a whirling dervish since I got back. Evidence being my half unpacked suitcase leering at me from the bedroom floor. Oh, how I despise that job.

I swear the seemingly lifeless bag reaches up to grab my ankle as I walk pass ....and with the faint, last dying words of a fallen victim says "please, please unpack me".

Eventually I will need those clothes and will give in to that last dying request....or perhaps just toss some more back into it for my trip back to the Country Living Fair next year!

barnstorm....Ohio or bust!

Westward ho!

I will be traveling over hill and dale, mountains and yonder, fording streams passing through valleys. No, I am not Sacagawea blazing a trail with the manly duo Lewis and Clark.

This is a trip of greater proportions....a trip of monumental importance....a voyage worth rewriting the history books for.

A journey to the Buckeye State for the 2008 Country Living Fair!

Artwork has been seeded, sown and harvested and enroute.

I will be siding with a wonderful group of women artists heading to Ohio for this extraordinary event.

Navigate your way by bus, train or plane, caravan, covoy or just hitchike.

Join in and mollycoddle yourself with fripperies and artistic gems.

Look for me and all the other Earth Angels in the Artists tent.

2008 Country Living Fair

Sept. 12-14th

10am-5pm

rain or shine

Columbus, Ohio

lil' miss red...vixen or victim?

So what is it about this little red -cloaked vixen? Lately I'm obsessed with all things red and hooded. Maybe it's the color...scarlet, blood, crimson,vermilion. It's so fetching.

After all, don't we all want rosier cheeks? redder lips? Marilyn Monroe's nail polish?

Maybe it's the story of Red Riding Hood? How pretty little girls should look out for the dangers and perils of unsavory characters? (wolves=men) As not to be traipsing around just "asking for it".

Oh how these children's stories are really just torrid fables and gory, dark, tawdry lessons to be learned.

And lately wolves are so beguiling. Have I fallen under a spell? Have I been hoodwinked? Usually they scare the bejesus out of me. As of right now I could be easily lured to the Black Forest hoping to run in to Aesop himself.

So as with anything else this treacherous theme has bled over into my artwork.

Hooded gals, wolves, darkness befalling....

I suppose this is just a phase.

Call me crazy....but I kinda like it.

barn revival

a few befores and afters

view from the top We're often referred to as "lucky" that we can do all the work ourselves.

I strongly disagree.

Lucky would be having such deep pockets that we could hire the most exorbitant, extravagant contractor from Dubai.

Thou...even if I were the wealthy love child of Donald Trump or Bill Gates...I still wouldn't change a thing.

There is nothing as satisfying as seeing your hard efforts and lofty ideas take a permanent form.

To look at the stones and know that my hands were the very ones to press them together.

Gawk at the hardy beams and know your shoulder pressed against them until they were fixed in place.

Poor hubby is the unsung hero...like the writer of a song sitting silently in the wings as someone else gives it voice. All his tiresome work lies behind the walls or under the earth. He sets the footings, structures the walls.....all his toils entombed behind the aesthetics of paint and stone.

On numerous occasion I did notice him archiving his name and date in pencil in hidden nooks...I suppose in high hopes to someday be revealed again on the next centuries restoration.

Dedicated we were.

Aching backs and all....even if it meant one held the chainsaw down as the other pulled the starter cord....a sad yet, humorous sight.

And no room scardy-cats here. You quickly learn to master your fear of heights. White-knuckeled, no-nonsense , dizzying, drunken heights.

So stone for walls and floors was delivered from Champlain ...or plucked and from the yard...old beams recyled...discarded telephone poles hoarded...new doors constructed..windows replaced...paint slathered by the gallon...the icing on the country cake.

So enough of the fanfare and ode to me.

The real warriors are the ones who grew this relic out of real sweat. No electric tools, no hardware stores no cheating. Real craftmen.

There names and stories are lost in the dirt and shavings.

We are just a couple of Johnny-come-latelys. The least we can do is maintain and honor what they started... if not for our own selfish love of barns...