T Stands for Tuesday The Snow Moon and Sunrise

 Our first Tuesday of the month, I am happy to see January behind us-it was a rough one with the bitter cold. I am linking up with Bleubeard and Elizabeth T party where we share our week with a drink related photo-find link in my sidebar.

  Hoping those of you on the east coast have warmed up a bit now. I saw some unbelievable wind chill temps of minus 108 F and more-I don't think I have ever seen that cold of a temperature before. Brrr  Here in the ozarks we are finally enjoying a bit of warm up. Still very cold in the early mornings but today it warms up to the 60's F with sunshine and then will drop down again. Missouri in this area is known for these huge weather swings.

  The full moon-the snow moon-was February 5th and it was glorious here. Still amazing this morning as well. I grabbed the camera as I saw it over in the area looking out the front door up where the eagle pair sits. I caught it just before it sunk into the trees  

and last night over the lake

 I was pleased I was able to capture the moon photos with my old camera

and this  morning's sunrise (Monday)

   Last night I was cold so I made another mug of hot chocolate with  mini marshmallows Behind my mug you will find the 4th edition of the Yellowstone wolves by Mcintyre.  I have been wanting to buy this book since it was released last year but the price of the book has been high-at least for me too expensive. Every few weeks or so I check online, and last week I found a copy that was like new for a reasonable price with the option to submit a lower price.  I put in $15.00 including his shipping price and the seller took it.  I am very happy to finally get this book.

  I couldn't believe that Amazon Fedex is now delivering on Sundays. Surprise-my KC Chiefs blanket arrived this past Sunday. Here is a photo from the site  Do you like to buy blankets of your favorite teams? Over the years I almost always make my own blankets for the teams I follow. Fabric.com is a great site for buying the fleece.  My Green Bay Packers blankets finally bit the dust, and I wanted one for the Chiefs this year, so I decided to purchase one instead of making one. This blanket is very very soft and large 60x80 inches. So I am ready for the Super Bowl haha

Speaking of the Super Bowl, I may post on Friday or Saturday links to super bowl foods. You are most welcome to share your foods in comments.

   Do you have a super bowl party?  My husband does Not watch any sports at all especially with the past political nonsense  that occurred, so it's just me and the tv but I may just make pizzas that day, maybe chocolate popcorn not sure yet.

  I have been saving up the mandarin orange peels to make ink-inspired by Elizabeth's last T post.  I should have enough soon. Hoping to get a pretty yellow.

 Happy T and new week-from the Lake

Day 5 New Year's Challenge Plus Another Ink & Watercolor & Moon over the Lake

  Today's challenge was totally out of my comfort zone. 

    We were to use the shape given (below) and paint an animal/fantasy. Suggested  medium was ink and watercolor

With these challenges I did not want to over think anything, just do what came to mind. This actually turned out better as it evolved. I used watercolor paints and my black walnut ink and the eye and mouth is iron gall ink

Late yesterday afternoon, I grabbed the Chinese Brush Painting book I worked with last year for a little motivation. I was pleased with the top part especially, and late last night I painted the bird (mockingbird) and added more leaves and flowers. I didn't care for bottom section of flowers-but overall I felt more confident with this piece.

  I used watercolors and the iron gall ink (the black) I think this is my medium to work with-inks and watercolors. I am pretty pleased with my bird and really like the top portion of the leaves and flowers allot.

We are enjoying the gorgeous moon over the lake this week-last night's view

Happy Friday and Weekend

T Stands for Tuesday-Voting Day

  Hello Friends,

    Not sure why but this last week has gone by pretty fast. I think sometimes when you have allot to accomplish and still more to do it just feels like time is flying by.

  We have enjoyed more beautiful weather with a few cold nights and storms in the mix. Same this week fall weather and then two days of 70's f-loving that especially for November. and Here in the States we have a huge mid term election on Tuesday-this one is more important than most so hoping the polls are flooded with Americans voting.

  I finally spent some time in my craft room these past few days. I have been intrigued with Bleubeard and Elizabeth's challenge for Art Journal Journey this month, I needed to ask her what collage fodder was-I am liking this and I think I will enjoy this month's challenge.

   I did make up eight Thanksgiving cards over several days last week. Totally different than what I have made before. These took more time so I only made the eight. They are already in their envelopes for mailing-and then I realized this morning I totally forgot to take any photos. Oh well

  We are enjoying lovely sunrises early every morning

This one taken from indoors

This one was interesting looks like two photos overlapped

 

One day I washed the large windows and kept seeing my reflection in the glass so took a photo You can see reflections from inside the house too-This photo makes me look way overweight-ugh-I am wearing super baggy jeans Interesting this photo shows the front door in the house too

I have been drinking lots of teas the last few weeks. This up and down weather really brings out the asthma symptoms This cup has a decaf green tea and also constant comment  green tea bags-I needed something different besides the herbal teas

I was messaging with a friend and we were saying remember when we use to iron the leaves to preserve them for awhile? I did some this last week as I have an idea for using them as a stamp-will see how that works

  Last night (Sunday) while watching the Kansas City Chiefs play (awesome game and win)  I smiled to see the moon I usually can not capture a good night photo- this one not too bad

Happy T and new week

Lovely Huge Moon Tonight

  I grabbed my old camera, the moon was huge just over the lake early tongiht. This time I got a soso photo.

  Early this morning just after sunrise when the sun was very very bright-lots of birds. Ducks swimming to the left of the dock and to the right on our grass a group of Canada geese Now and early spring they love to do this.

  This is the only photo I captured today, but we enjoyed a large flock of crows, and watched a pair of eagles flying all over the lake just past the above neighbors dock-probably fishing.  We have heard them singing most mornings now this week-such a joy and a blessing. I missed them this summer when they were raising their family. 

   

  Another fun thing before sunrise is to see and here and the fish jumping out of the water catching food. Some of them are very large.

  At the beginning of lawn cutting season, we bought a battery operated weed eater with wheels-light weight for me. I thought I would cut grass with it instead of dealing with a lawn mower on these hills in our yard. We ended up with someone cutting it for us most of the summer-and then he just quit, along with not completing the dock project with Larry-sigh. Too many these days are so irresponsible.  Sooo the past two days I have been working on getting the grass cut. Works pretty well until I get into a thick patch of grass when it uses up allot of battery life. We do have three batteries we can charge up-so that helps. So far I have about half done. Hope to get more done tomorrow. After this will cut before the grass gets too high. We had allot of off and on rain before Labor Day week.

  I see September will move fast-we have much to do with appointments and working at the woods house.

  I won't be around for link ups for awhile, but will be popping in to see what you are up to.

   The Queen was such a special lady and leader, I found these quotes by her  (just click in the middle of page and video will come on)

  Happy weekend.

T Stands for Tuesday & More Out of Boxes

   Hi Everyone, Tuesdays brings us to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T where we share a drink related photo and gather with friends.

   Thought I would share more items that are out of boxes and out to enjoy. One box had several plates-Native American and also gnomes-my Mom loved plate collections and decided for Christmas and Birthdays to surprise me with gnome plates. I do love them, and this is the first I have ever hung them up to enjoy. 

  These Native American plates are hung above the two Native American pieces in frames. Our old bedroom was full of these and mountain man era items.

 

Next up in the computer room/weaving/spinning, library of cookbooks, herbs, etc I hung and set out allot of items. I am in this room allot so will enjoy seeing these pieces

   I had made a video but decided I liked the photos better. This wall I hung the gnome plates, there is a little painting from a blog friend-my Harley Bear, and little Ty black bear (more later about the goose painting)

Moving further down this wall-More gnome plates, I moved Barbara's painting to this wall, also my sister had started this wool embroidery piece, when she passed in an auto. accident (back in the early 80's) I asked my Mom to finish this piece for me. The frame with plaque is our first world bird breeding award from the American  Federation of Aviculture

The painting from Debra also moved to this wall. The tiger plate was a gift from friends that were tiger and lion trainers in Holland. They moved to the states for several years because in his country he was "too old" to continue that work. They didn't want us to forget them when they moved back home.

    The painting framed in lower right corner is from Agnes-a long time blog friend before Facebook came along. She lived in Paris and we swapped several art pieces over the years

   The painting to the left was also a piece from Agnes. Those of you that know Paris may recognize this spot.  The other piece is a cross stitch piece that I fell in love with-I don't do this form of needlework so my neighbor at the time stitched it for me-I really love it

Same room-we added drapes to this sliding door, my warping board now hung

Larry had a better idea for the trunk's placements in this room. Gave me better access around the room, and more floor space. This is the last of my cookbooks, herbs, preservation, essential oil aromatherapy and more books. Of course I could not leave behind all of my vintage farm pieces-allot of these pieces were my farm girl Grandmas

  I always loved that old copper piece, the bottom is split but it still works for storing weaving items That old rusty sign Larry salvaged from his Grandfather's farm

a better view of this trunk The mini trunk and basket hold spinning items

Lastly the double vintage dressers, my loom and bench. a friend gave me that spinning wheel light-he saved it from the trash. The mini trunk holds family bibles The big box is saved recipes from years old magazines. I had my Mom's clippings too and got rid of over half of it that I know I wouldn't use. Now I can easily get to it.-under my sun printed pillows and bison toy I picked up in Yellowstone Park

      Did any of you know blog friend Shroo?  I bought one of her handmade books and then we spent a year swapping and sharing things over that year. She lived in England. I knew she was ill, and that she needed to move from where she was living after her mother passed-but I never heard from her again. I still miss her. I learned a new to me technique on how to turn a book into a journal-I had  allot of fun with that project.  From one of my photos she surprised me with this painting

Remember when I had a returning Canada goose pair that nested in our ponds? One year they were successful with hatching babies and keeping them alive from predators. This pair migrated for several years.  Shroo sent me this painting as well. I just bought this frame so I could put this out to enjoy

Shroo had also sent me several different line drawings and told me to go ahead and have fun coloring them. This one is perfect just the way it is so I got a frame for this piece too

  I hope I haven't bored you too much with the look into this room.

  My drink share this week is a mug of hot cocoa. I will be sharing the recipe on my launch tomorrow for Food Wednesdays. Which will be all about the Food-you are most welcome to stop by and/or participate.

  The moon has been a joy to see every evening this past week. This one was really special with the reflection in the water.

Happy T and new week ahead

Food Wednesdays-About & The Wolf Moon

 Hello everyone,

     I thought I would pop in and write up a little about my newest weekly food post I want to launch next week.

    If you are not familiar, I have been posting for about a year now for Cast Iron Saturdays. I love using my cast iron and reading about cast iron, so once a week I search online for recipes to share using cast iron pieces.

  Years before Facebook came along on the scene, I enjoyed reading food posts. I am someone that loves to read cookbooks too, I have always made everything we eat from scratch-well until recently I started using good quality gluten free mixes for breads mostly. I just never grasped making an edible gluten free bread. I wasted money on books and ingredients on this. I do feel guilty about using a mix too, but I don't eat that much bread anyways and if I want a little for a treat I want it to bake up right.  Other than that most everything is made from scratch in my kitchen with now mostly purchased ingredients (instead of all farm raised) and we don't eat out-haven't for at least 5 years now. I have always enjoyed working in my kitchen. Before really downsizing and moving to the lake I always put in a huge garden and froze, canned, and dried lots of fruits and veggies. Hoping this year to use the Amish farmer's market more to do that again. 

  I decided to post for Food Wednesdays. I know there are many link ups for art during the week, so hoping this day will work out for visiting or sharing a food post as well.

  I did figure out Mr Linky so you will be able to add your post if you would like to join in.

                  DETAILS:     Name of the event will be Food Wednesdays

                 TOPIC-anything you would like to share about Food. 

                         I don't want to narrow down the topic about foods either. 

   So this can be recipes for gluten free, or vegetarian, or low fat or low carbs, or keto, or paleo, and can also be full of sugars and carbs and fats, Anything about food that you would like to share. A new cookbook you just bought, or a favorite cookbook. Even history of foods can be shared if you wish. I love 17th and 18th century cooking, so I may share some James Townsend's videos  This can also be a favorite recipe, a new recipe that looks and sounds delicious, or can just be photos of a meal you shared at a restaurant or in your home.

   Hoping we can share and learn from each other. So not much in rules here-it's all about the food. 

                    (and being kind to one another)

I welcome any thoughts or suggestions before we get started next week as well.

Tuesday evening the moon was gorgeous over the lake

and this morning early in front of the house

A Journal Page for AJJ-My Favorite Color is October

   Hi everyone,  today has been a gloomy rainy cold October day. Can not complain too much though, as October has been really nice here in  SW Missouri

  I decided I wanted to make another page for this month's theme over at Art Journal Journey.  Tracey is the hostess this month and her theme is My Favorite Color is October.

  I am not as artistic as most of the paper artists there, but I do have fun trying to make a page to share-and use allot of saved cut out papers in a collage type page.

  My materials were construction paper, saved papers from mail advertisements, shiny stickers, stamps and ink.

  I just started with the construction papers and then began layering things. October is a great time to be out in the woods, so one might hear and see owls, perhaps a bear. (at our Missouri woods home we had the small black bears in our woods) Spiders and their webs are beautiful this month too-especially with the dew on the webs early mornings. October is also fall colors, Halloween colors-orange and black and we celebrate here in the states Halloween and trick or treaters

  I had this package of stickers in my stash for a very long time-Figured good time to open this up and use them. They were really different stickers for me. On thick paper and these were a very thin shiny foil.  I think I took at least a dozen photos but couldn't get one without the flash showing.

I am using a very old German cookbook for these AJJ challenges now

The three owls came from a StJude's advertisement in the mail-and there is actually that thin film under the pumpkin-kitty stamp that was used over the mailing address 

The bear cut out was from a Ranger Rick's mail advertisement, I stamped the autumn leaf, and added stickers-owl on the left, ghost, spider and web, and pumpkins

Looking at my page from these photos-I can see now that a better composition would have been to move the right corner of black construction paper, pumpkins and spider over a bit to the left.

    If that empty space bugs me enough I will go back and add a little something-maybe more pumpkins-smiles.

Below photo you can see the reflection of the film over the pumpkin-kitty stamp

I thought I would add the left over torn construction paper and the cat sticker to recipe page above the main page.

 Yes much better now-I need to remember to take a photo and then check the composition-a photo always points out things to me

The harvest moon I was able to capture this week

Thanks for stopping by-Happy October