It's the real thing

Announcement, apologies, explanations, a quiz, and a promise

Did you already get a chance to order your copy of the holiday Pasticcio - Issue 8? The pages above are sneak peeks from Palais d'Art, the gallery section. Aren't they beauts? I'm positive you'll love this issue, highlighting everything from Pets to Plaid. While you're at it, you might want to consider giving yourself the gift of any back issues you may have missed!

Sorry I had to turn on word verification and comment moderation - I HATE both, but I keep getting spammed. ERGH! Just can't deal with it anymore...sigh...At the moment it feels like maybe spammers are the only people reading my blog. I realize I have been neglectful of it, along with most everything else in my life. The year swept by so quickly and my best intentions were left behind.

Also, I still intend to draw a name however belatedly for my October giveaway to get people to sign up in droves for my canceled class at KC's - clearly a marketing technique which did not do the trick - I will do it later this week - have a LOT of catching up to do -

Here's a quick quiz for fun. Identify this photo - where or what it is -
and I will do another drawing for an additional prize:

New Year's Ragtags

Happy 2008 to ya! I have been having a spate of nosebleeds that has kept me away from the keyboard - can not let it get all over that! - let alone everywhere in Art (my go-to room for making it). . .but have a few loose ends to tie up/tell you about. . .need to get back to my emails, too. . .
First, the winner of the calendar is Jolene! Yay, Jolene, hope you'll love it - it's on its way.
Secondly, today is my little mum's birthday; she would have been 76 - Happy Birthday, Little Mummy, wherever you are. Hope you're having fun.
Next, a couple of excellent Christmas gifts I received to show off.

This darling little ornament just arrived from my trés arty AND artistic friend
Tawnya in Denver - yes! we need to get together, woman. . .

Chai - the real deal - Silver and Heather remembered and brought me this
pretty little bag of it from Adivasi in Brattleboro, Vermont. . .

Went shopping at the M.A.C. store in Cherry Creek where
Corina got me Viva Glam VI -
"In the spirit of all Viva Glam, every cent raised goes to the M·A·C AIDS Fund
to support the fight against HIV/AIDS."

Another tiny treat from Tawnya:

Got lucky (again!) from Lisa with Taco Pups:

Santa left one of these (with a note) cool gifts for each and everyone who celebrated Christmas at our house. It's a 'green' To-Go-Box, with a movable divider, so we no longer have to be environmentally care less when we eat out:

On New Year's Eve, I went to First Night with September and the boys (Colin was home a little under the weather and it was oh so freezing out). First we watched some film shorts made for kids, then a magic show and finally, Bella Luna, a French -style (Italian name) cirque. They were just grand.

Also went to a matinee with my girlfriend Monica; we saw Juno and absolutely relished it!


I am going to be reviewing Links, the new book by the lovely and witty (and generous) jewelry designer Jean Yates on Amazon in the next few days, so be sure to log on to see what I have to say!

Finally, if you haven't yet ordered your copy of Pasticcio 2,
well, what are you waiting for?
Get it here!

Flashback - Hanukkah Plates

Even with the reflection, you can see how pretty these two little plates are.

They were some of the Hanukkah bootie I received from Lisa.
At our recent Holiday Soirée, they held the Rugelach, but not for very long-alach.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

We had our holiday party last Saturday night (the 8th); our little house was comfy and cozy, filled with candlelight and the sweet smell of hot cider. Snow fell thick and fast all day and throughout the night - no one much made it in from Boulder, Denver, Hygiene, or Loveland. Even a few friends in town decided they would curl up at home rather than venture out. Those who did brave the elements all seemed to have a good time. We had retro green and turquoise lights (the big ones) in the little aspen copse in the SE corner of the yard, and glitter light snowflakes artfully "fallen" onto the pretty cotton-batting "snow" filling the clawfoot bathtub. This will be our last year to create that particular effect - we kinda decided it might really be a fire hazard - don't ask! - but it was pretty while it lasted. Caterina's Lakshmi (not quite paid for) hung above the cd player and received well-deserved attention. There was wine, cider, soda, tea, hard berry, and swamp rockets to drink, lots of nuts, tangerines, chocolate, rugalach (3 kinds) and even more delicious treats. A few of Colin's friends from swimming were here, and a few artist types, and neighbors and friends and family.

I really looked forward to and enjoyed the party, especially after the troubles we had that week with our little old border collie, Josie. She had a rapid onset of idiopathic vestibular disease and we didn't think (at 14) she would survive. She did though, but now has a peculiar head tilt and a seemingly permanent list.

Then, there's the weather. Bad enough to worry over one's kids who live nearby, but now Silver and Heather in Vermont, and Sierra-Marie, Gina and the kids back in Massachusetts are being inundated with blizzard conditions, too. Silver called this morning to ask me to look up the weather in the Brattleboro area on the computer, I said, "Baby, look out your window!" He said, "Everything's white." I said Heather had better take a Snow Day. (When my kids were in school we had a family tradition of Snow Days called by - well, me.) Then SM called to say Gina and Kayla were stuck somewhere between their house and Gina's mummy's rather than at the airport or on their way to Seattle, and that she (SM) had locked herself and Marcus out of the car, they had no food in the house and she had never made it into work, so had to get there tonight to pick up things she needed to work from home. Oy. No wonder I am looking so aged these days. No wonder people move to - well I'm not sure where - maybe Over The Rainbow. . .

Here it is less than two weeks until Christmas and I have yet to finish much of anything on my list. I have been feeling rather like crrrrap for the past few days, just when I really need a burst of energy to finish out the year. Haven't yet made good on more than one promise, and have a feeling my name is going to show up multiple times on a certain Naughty List for laying on the couch looking pale, alternating with flushed and feverish. But as Scarlet said, Tomorrow's a Brand New Day, and though I may not be a Brand New Girl, I bet the world will still be waiting for me to make good!

Until then, here are some more pics you might want to borrow from my vast
Image Resource library! More images can be found here. You'll be able to find the original photographs and postcards of some of them in my etsy shop in the next few days.