A General Accounting

I know little about the artist Tsilli Pines but I do know I love her work. I love these pieces from her collection called "the figures". The artist combines what she calls the feminine aspects of sewing, rubber stamping and crafting with the masculine features of accounting. I particularly like this piece called "Annual Report" as I am involved in an annual report project right now.

And this piece "Fruits of Our Labor" is one of my favorites.

How clever to use these materials to
produce something so visually appealing.

Flat Biscuit Society

I am a charter member of the Flat Biscuit Society. This evening I tried Martha's Buttermilk Biscuit recipe. Now, I am generally a good soldier in the kitchen (I follow recipe directions pretty precisely) and tonight was no exception. I sifted, cut in, chilled, rolled and parchment-papered. And this is what I got.

The Mr. called them "flat Stanleys" after the cartoon character. Very funny. They ended up to be very delicious and we spread them with a little soft butter and drizzled with wildflower honey. They tasted like crispy biscuit tops.


Anyone have any biscuit making secrets this kitchen soldier can try?

Pantry Perfection At Last!

A big thank you to Lydia at The Perfect Pantry for featuring my pantry----its one of my most favorite areas of our home. If you are visiting my blog from Lydia's site, thank you for coming over and please take a look around...leave a comment or two---I love to read what you have to say.



Here's a photo I took the other day---as I was walking down the hallway into our living room, the sun was coming through the plantation shutters and left these sun streaks on the wall---I think they look like brush strokes of an abstract painting...Free art appearing on our walls every morning! What a deal!

Color Theory

All this right in my backyard. A few clicks in Photoshop and an aging concrete fountain looks like blue Delft pottery.

Big Shoes in a Little World

The Wudgie loves shoes. "Shewwwz" was one of her very first words. I am afraid she is destined for the size 10 rack if genetics come in to play for her feet. I remember when her mother fretted over having substantial feet as a young girl. I would tell her that it "takes strong and sizeable feet to hold up all of the wonderful woman that you will be" and I was right about that.

By Bread Alone

I recently went here and bought one of these and now I have a lot of this in the kitchen. Homemade bread is a wonderful thing. It is wonderful many times a day in many different ways. Toasted. Buttered with cinnamon sugar. Buttered with four fruits preserves. Dipped in homemade soup. And as a late night snack.

Its amazing how just a few ingredients and a bit of time can turn in to something so wonderful. Unbleached flour, active yeast, salt, a bit of butter and some cold water. A few pulses and a whirl with the dough blade, into a zip lock on top of the running dryer, shaped into a pan and slipped into the oven. I may never buy bread again.

Redecorating the Beach

The Wudgie seems to have some obsessions about neatness and organization and is showing some decorating skills at an early age (I wonder where she got that from?). She even redecorated the beach and added some sand-pile embellishments to a beach chair during our last visit. Having sand on her feet and bottom really bothered her though and someone had to be at the ready with a small bucket of water to rinse them off on command. And we did. While there is nothing worse than an 18 month old diva, there is also nothing cuter.