Busy Few Days

Let’s start with this…I was not going to bother this year since Christmas has been missed the last two years.

A bit on the minimalist side but I like it.  So does Dilly.

And before that I was taking a walk near the gym and my new house site. Love this little creek going past an Indian mound.

 

The bridge going over to the mound and where my house is being built in the background.

And an interesting tree with a door at the bottom.

On the way back through town I stopped at the building site and picked up some of the soil from the footings. After a couple of days’ drying I turned it into watercolor.

I ended up with five and a half pans about one and a quarter inches wide. Plenty for my new project.

Then I pulled out the other book that is colored with local pigments embedded in gesso. It is about seven inches by 9 1/2 inches by more than an inch thick. Coptic bound like the Bird Stories book.

And the first few pages. Graphite and watercolor.

The book has enough pages to get all the building stages and the moved in look. I want to use the watercolor on each page.

Family arrives tomorrow evening. They requested Lee’s mushroom soup for when they arrive. I have not made it in a long time but it was a favorite at our impromptu dinner parties.

I just looked out the window and the juncos have arrived. So now it is officially winter. They are so fat with backs and heads of the nicest graphite color set off by their snow white tummies.

This week I am going to make a fruitcake, one that looks like it came from an English woman’s oven. It should be round and full of fruit but certainly not that dreadful candied cherry of red and green for heaven’s sake, and not candied pineapple!  No, figs, dates, sour cherries, raisons (golden and dark brown), lots of pecans, all in a dark molasses flavored cake dough. It is a fruitcake that you can eat right away. No waiting months until it either gains some flavor or turns to dust. Americans are lousy at making and appreciating fruitcake.

And the only reason I am doing it is because Kim in Ireland posted a picture of one a friend gave her a year ago and she had to freeze due to covid restrictions. Her’s looked moist and delicious. She eats it with cheddar cheese, so I bought a good English sharp. Madeira will finish it off as a dessert.

I might be able to post again before Christmas.

Have a wonderful holiday season and stay safe. There are still so many who are thoughtless in their desire to stay unvaccinated.

Til later…..