Mar 30, 2009

Down But Not Out --

Hello Everyone!

Neighbour John down the road lost one of his gorgeous dogwoods to the recent snow storm. Funny that the tree was indeed down, but as you can see from the photo, not out. Still blooming its beautiful heart out... even as the labourers came in for the coup de grace and the task of hauling it away. There's a story in there, I'm sure, if not a lesson.


Now, while I am not the cook that Sarah at Circles of Rain is, T could possibly throw down with the best of 'em. Voila! To wit, homemade baklava for a potluck this past Sunday and a -- what else? -- Georgia Peach cobbler, also homemade, for a couple of dear friends.


Those two forks in those fixings that did not make it into the dish for our friends can be traced directly to T and Very Truly Yours. Well, come on... we had to give it the Classic City Taste Test. Dee-lish!


Beautiful weather late yesterday and then today after four days of the wet stuff. The rest of this week? Rain and then some. Another sunny day. More rain. And then some rain. Yep, a typical April here in Athens, Georgia. However, in some places, it's coming on monsoon season. It couldn't be that much worse than what we've had here. Could it? Well, yes, it could and probably will be.

Whatever YOUR weather, may your trees and hearts stand.
Get More of What You Love.
Candace

Mar 27, 2009

Good Friday --

sort of.

LOTS of rain. BUCKETSSSS of rain. well, we do need it so I should not and am not (really) complaining...

Hello everyone.

More line drawings, some in black and white, some in colour. I seem to be on a new expedition, a creative explosion, a new obsession grounded in an old one... my journals are happy. Or will be.





Transformation. Going from winter into spring, dry to wet (still in the grip of a serious drought here), life to death... a lot to ponder, a lot to think about, wonder about, consider, mull over, but not to worry over, thankfully, and finally, blissfully ... let go.


Take care.
Candace

Mar 26, 2009

TRANSFORMATION

Hello Everyone.
Pen and coloured pencils, my all time favourites. A work in progress to go on the front of a journal, titled Transformation. Look close, you'll see the very word itself.


Signs of another type transformation, hard at work in this world around me, this lovely piece of land called home.


I too am hard at work on – guess what? Rendezvous! Oh dear, like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, “I’m late, I’m late,” blubbers from my lips. But, better late than never. Thank you, dear Jeanne, for this wonderful bit of fun and hijinks. Where will the Baby take us on this leg of the journey?

Take care and get more of everything you love.
Candace

Mar 17, 2009

SPRING FORWARD!

Hello Everyone!

Yes, I have really missed all of you. Work has taken a more relaxed attitude now as earnings season is “over” for now. It all starts again soon enough after March 31. So let’s not waste any time. (I admit, I lurked about all your sites a few minutes here and there when I could actually do something on the computer other than just work nonstop.)




Fortunately I did not forget to spring forward last week and thus, set my clock forward an hour … and was treated Sunday AM to a fantastic moment in my garden as a reward. Hard to believe this was all covered with nearly a foot of snow a week prior and then, 80F temps three or four days... it was fabulosa!

And, does this rock not look like a person? Sort of? Complete with “mineral makeup”... badabing! Instead of a vacation, I had a bit of a “staycation” part of last and this week. I am changing a lot of things in my personal life and for the better, I might add, starting with the external -- More Naps, Better Food (homecooked Indian meals like the one below can be as good as that found in restaurants if one just follows real Indian recipes and has authentic ingredients),

Less Stress -- a daily 30-minute walk instead of a walk only two or three times a week and as always, More Art Shenanigans. Some folks work from the internal to the external.

It has been My Experience that if I work on the outer shell, the mind and spirit follow happily along. And Art agrees with me, so there you are. That’s My Story and I’m sticking to it.
Check back this weekend for some fun pieces as well as the Spring '09 Fashion Show, straight from The Classic City here in Jawja. Yep, I have those dresses on those little darlings, finally.

Everyone has been and is so busy... how will I ever catch up? Why springing forward, of course.

Take care!
Candace

Mar 4, 2009

Line Up, Please

Hello Everyone!

Tonight Art Shenanigans is taking us on a tour from the recent and not so recent past.... back when I was only 2-D and often times not even in colour. Yep, plain old flat line drawings that will soon be off their flats and dolled up (oh haha! rich, isn't it?) to go into journals, cards, letters and on to pillows for little presents when I visit friends and family...

This one was inspired by a person I saw a few weeks ago.


Inspired by a book Kitten suggested I read...


Just a line up, please...

Taken from a remark from someone ...


Just A Line Up, Please...

Visiting The Loft this weekend for some special "fabricky" papers for a couple of projects while I hang out for a Rendezvous...

and say, I received a Tea Party invite from a rather new friend. Steampunk Victorian fashions will be de rigeur. Since it's all the way down the road toward the end of June, I will have plenty of time to fashion an outfit. I already have a top hat (yeah, a real one!) and a fantastic magnifying glass pendant... mmm... let's cross our fingers, shall we? Enjoy those links. Yes, I am a little different, I freely admit.
Next post -- COLOUR and how she is spoken. smirk...
Do More Of What You Love.
Candace

Mar 2, 2009

Snow Day and We Have A Winner -- !

Hello Everyone!

We were without power from around 4PM Sunday until almost 6PM today -- 26 hours! -- so I held off on drawing the name out of the hat for the March Hare Giveaway until tonight. T did the honours as usual and here is the recipient of the giveaway. Congrats, Hali!
And I need an addy to send that along the hiphop trail this Saturday, 7 March.
No art tour tonight. We had Shenanigans of another sort going on. These simple photos and expository captions should do the trick for anyone needing self-deprecating, cornpone humour.
This bunch of photos is from Sunday, 1st March from around 11:30AM until well after 4PM which is when the tree fell on the house... yes, you read that right.
11:30AM and we think, "This is it, a little snowy mix, no big deal. Should we call off having friends come over? Some live a little bit out in the country." A couple of folks have already let us know they won't be seeing us today. Totally understandable. And then, I hear, "Hey, why don't you take some pictures just in case you want to prove we really do get snow in the South?"
Say, T, what a good idea!

Next, we lost most of this lovely flowering bush -- home to my darling little finches -- due to the sheer weight of the snow and ice. This is around 12 noon or so. The snowy mix is still going but now we're getting much more snow than rain.


If you look downwards in the next pic and see Molly's dog house, you'll also see the tree which grows up into that crookedy trunk with the old brown leaves on it... yes. That's the one that will soon fall on the house. Just a little cameo here before its dazzling star turn towards the end of our production here at 235.

This next one was taken around 12:30 or 1 and "Say, it's still snowing."

This is around 2:30. Oh yeah and it's STILL SNOWING. The flakes are simply incredible. Huge and fluffy. They looked more like snow plates instead of snow flakes. This is the back yard and the rest of our land. It looks like a Currier & Ives card, doesn't it?

Remember that lovely flowering bush I mentioned earlier? Yep.

The cars no longer have mix on them. They are under four inches or so of the real stuff now.


Thar she blows -- oh wait, wrong story! I felt a very deep shudder as I stood in the dining room, talking to T and a couple of friends who had braved the weather to visit and have a potluck lunch with us.

I played the part of the Heroine, the only one who sees what's happening, as the tree is about to crash -- well, that's what it was doing, really, although slowly like in a horror movie -- onto us, knocking our brains out. I grabbed everyone, insisting, "Move, move, the tree, the tree!"

Did they? Well... no. Like myself, they stood and just watched the festivities -- rather calmly, I might add. We're the type folks who would watch tornadoes setting down in the back yard, no doubt! (Addendum: T says, "I've done that. Twice." What a daredevil!)


From the back yard around 5:30.


Thankfully, the deck and the two trees beside the deck took the real brunt or, as I told a couple of friends today, that tree would be in the dining room now. And, so would Fat Frank!

It could have been so much worse. And it has been for others here and elsewhere, to be honest. Here's a photo of Yours Truly as I count myself more than lucky and happy to be along on this adventure as T cooks up some hot chocolate on the gas stove's one working burner.


No TV, No Telephone, No Internet, Nothing but making a pocket of heat on the couch with the animals, a shared throw, and relaxing, talking, philosophizing, and later, playing the piano in the dark... now THAT was a challenge.
Isn't it funny how I was just talking about getting overwrought about and overly tired from work and then I had a Snow Day, all courtesy of Mother Nature, eh? That's My Gal!
Get More of What You Love.
The Weather Girl