I'd Love to Try 'Em

Photo courtesy http://pdphoto.org/  Thanks, Jon!

Today, the last day of March, is NATIONAL CLAMS ON A HALF SHELL DAY. I’ve never had clams on a half shell, and I’d love to educate my palate by trying them. But since I can’t think of any restaurant in town that serves this dish, I borrowed a luscious-looking photo from Jon. These are Baked Clams with champagne sauce and pancetta. I can almost taste them!

I Am In Control

I may not be in control of my studio, but rest assured, Beary is!

 I AM IN CONTROL DAY

          First, a little history: In 1981, on this day, President Ronald Reagan (who had just been in office a little over two months) was wounded by deranged gunman John Hinckley, Jr. in assassination attempt as he left the Washington Hilton Hotel after a luncheon speaking engagement. He was rushed to the George Washington University Hospital for surgery to remove of a bullet in his lung. In the chaos that followed Secretary of State Alexander Haig, in a press briefing at the White House, stated: “As of now, I am in control here, in the White House, pending the return of the Vice President [George H.W. Bush, who was in-flight aboard Air Force Two, from Texas] and in close touch with him.” His words “I AM IN CONTROL” was taken out of context and made a big deal of by the public and press.     

          So today is now known as I AM IN CONTROL DAY.  The questions for you and me are: What is out of control in MY life? And what can I do to BE in control today? And let’s take it even further and remember that we’re in control every day from here on out.

Hope

Tiny detail in one of the walls at the Dickeyville Grotto in SW Wisconsin

Hope is that thing with feathers 

that perches in the soul 

and sings the tune without the words 

and never stops... at all.  

~Emily Dickinson~

Celebrate - Every Day!

I was just looking on the Internet at all the goofy and not-so-goofy things that people celebrate.  It seems like someone is celebrating something every day of the year.  And really --- that's how it should be!

Today is Something On a Stick Day.  Now when I think of something on a stick, I think of State Fair food, like corn dogs, alligator-on-a-stick and deep-fried Twinkie-on-a-stick.  Other foods that come to mind are popsicles and caramel apples.  Gee, I'd love to celebrate this day with good old shish-kabobs, but my husband will be working late and I don't know how to work the gas grill.

I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with something (anything!) on a stick so I could join the celebration. And then I remembered!  Out in the woods this winter, I'd found several lost items along the trails and hung them up on sticks.  So I traipsed out there with my camera, which is quite a hike now that the underbrush is leafed out, and I took pictures of those two things on a stick.  I even took pictures of the beautiful greening trails.

Got home and excitedly opened my camera to take out the card: NO CARD!!! Dammitall!  How many times has this happened to me?  I should remember to put the card back in the camera just as soon as I off-load my pix!

Well, I'm not going back out there. It's too hot and sticky and I've had my exercise for the day, thank you. If those items are still on their sticks next year on Something On a Stick Day, fine.  For this year, I have a photo from my files I can use:

LET'S CELEBRATE

MOTH ON A BROOMSTICK!

Here is a website to check out if you want to see some of the unusual things people are celebrating on a stick:

 http://somethingonastick.com/

I loved "Snowman on a Stick!" And don't miss "Tax Return on Fire on a Stick."

New Painting - Sunset Series

"Sunset #1" acrylic 7"x14"

I've begun a new series of sunset paintings.  I love the endless variations of sunsets, but photographing them can be tricky.  Getting the right exposure from the camera is usually disappointing.  The photo rarely comes out as dazzling as the actual scene was. The painter is able to enrich the colors to a closer approximation of what was observed in nature.

This small painting is based on a sunset seen from my backyard. I've decided to make these small studies: 7"x14".  I love to paint large, but find the pricing larger paintings is usually beyond the budget of many potential collectors.  I'm planning a series of six different sunsets of this size, which will encompass a wide range of landscape settings.

M-m-m! Morels!

It's that time of the year again. Time to go mushroom hunting! Spring is about two weeks early this year, and already people are finding the "little grays." I plan to go out this afternoon and try to find me some. The morel pictured is one of the larger, yellow ones that I found last year. They come later in the season and are much easier to find.


In a good year, we've found grocery sacks full and have gone in to town to a store parking lot, set the bags of surplus mushrooms on the tailgate of our truck and sold out literally in minutes (before the store even knows you're out there). We almost always have enough to dry and they are yummy later in soups and casseroles.  But the best way to eat them is fresh: floured and sauteed in butter.  Can't get enough of them!


For some reason, the past two or three years they've been scarce. Maybe the weather conditions haven't been right. Here's hoping for a bumper crop of the magnificent munchables!

I Almost Cut It Down!

This lilac bush has been in our back yard since we moved here almost 24 years ago.  It was never more than a stick and never had more than one blossom on it. This winter, when we cut down the two old trees next to the house, it must have opened up a whole new world of sunshine for the puny little bush. This spring it actually looks healthy and at last, it has some decent blooms on it.  I guess all it needed was a little more sunshine. And to think, I almost cut it down!

A Sunny Spring Day

Science has never drummed up 

quite as effective a tranquilizing agent 

as a sunny spring day. 

~W. Earl Hall

For Shame!

Country Club Road, Jacksonville, IL

And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can 

and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, 

and this was good because Man could then 

take his automobile and buy all his food in one place 

and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator 

and throw away that which had no further use.  

And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags 

and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles 

and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, 

and Man shook his head and cried:  

"Look at this Godawful mess!"  

~Art Buchwald, 1970

            This, my friends, is what I saw when I took a scenic drive on the first morning of spring along the eastern edge of Lake Mauvaiseterre.  

            Country Club Road serenely winds its way along the lakeshore and its woodsy backwaters. Closer to town are the magnificent homes of Jacksonville's wealthier citizens, with immaculately cared-for lawns and the beautiful greens of the Jacksonville Country Club. But just down the road to the south is one of the city's most disgusting, unofficial and illegal landfills --- where the dregs of the human race dump their refuse along the road in the ditches.

           The City of Jacksonville (or the County of Morgan, whichever is responsible for the maintenance of this road) must be proud of the "scenic beauty" of this stretch of roadway, because any time I've ever driven through here, this is what I've observed. Might they not invest in some surveillance cameras to conceal in the trees to catch these lawbreakers in action? Taxpayer money that is (occasionally?) invested in cleaning up the mess might be better spent in preventing it in the first place.

A Get Well Card for Ed

This Redbud's for You, Ed ---Get well soon!

On the morning of the First Day of Spring, our good friend Ed, who's my age, went out to his garden to plant some potatoes and had a heart attack instead.

Details have been sketchy for the past two days. He had what the doctor's call "The Widow Maker," with 100% blockage of the main artery. They had to use the paddles on him six times to bring him back, and then rush him by helicopter to a hospital in south St. Louis.

Ed and his wife Deb have been our best friends forever. I've known them for over 30 years and my husband for even longer. We've had so many good times with them, and we hope to have many more!

Our love and prayers go out to Ed, Debbie, their children Josh and Jessie and the grandkiddies.

HANG IN THERE, MAN! 

WE LOVE YA!

The Purpose of Life...

 

“The purpose of life is not to be happy.

It is to be useful,

to be honorable,

to be compassionate,

to have it make some difference

that you have lived and lived well.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Welcome Spring with Open Arms!

According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, 

the word equinox is derived 

from the Latin words meaning “equal night.” 

The spring and fall equinoxes are the only dates 

with equal daylight and dark 

as the Sun crosses the celestial equator.

BROUGHT TO YOU

BY MOTHER NATURE!