wintry tea

I am taking my tea today at my desk

mandarin orange spice tea with cerulean blue hue water

a tasty combo for the senses

senses that are dulled in winter by an everlasting oystershell sky

paynes grey hue

but with a little photo editing I have a change in latitude

cerulean blue hue

***

how are things at your latitude?

I think it's thrilling to share tea with the far reaches of the world

I imagine us all under the same sky - varying degrees - different hues

stuff and sky

I've stuffed 6 matchboxes

I like to make these with a theme in mind

such as:

(top row)

time for love, ocean memory, heartland

(bottom row)

spring fever, journey, a stitch in time

I like to think of these as the contents of an 8 year old child's pockets

emptied out before wash day

my next task is creating the outer sleeve

(a future post)

*

my sky picture today is taken from the car at dusk

matchbox stuffing

... well, getting ready to that is ...

(previous posts: matchbox stuffing)

isn't it pretty?

all this fairy treasure sparkling in the sunlight?

Tomorrow:

creating the matchbox

my sky

I have no art to brag about today

just this beautiful sky not made by human hands

(see Jill Ruth for her sky)

we are all under the same and different sky

xoxo

snow water

Snow Water

a poem

-by Michael Longley

A fastidious brewer of tea, a tea

Connoisseur as well as a poet,

I modestly request on my sixtieth

Birthday a gift of snow water.

Tea steam and ink stains. Single-

Mindedly I scald my tea pot and

Measure out some Silver Needles Tea,

Enough for a second steeping.

Other favorites include Clear

Distance and Eyebrows of Longevity

Or, from precarious mountain peaks,

Cloud Mist Tea (quite delectable)

Which competent monkeys harvest

Filling their baskets with choice leaves

And bringing them down to where I wait

With my crock of snow water.

our snow is melting now

and our weather forecast is back to it's rainy self portrait

either way is fine

we like it damp around here

good weather for ducks, mushrooms and trees

... and tea!

*

are you taking tea?

... perhaps you have some snow water to brew it in ...

I'm curious about Silver Needles Tea

or Clear Distance Tea

are they real or poetic?

walking in a winter wonderland

some photos from a walk with my love today

studying

with all of this snow I have been rather house bound

(7 and a half inches so far)

a good time to "study"

these are my attempts at a "naturalist study" type of painting

(what I learned in watercolor class from high school is slowly coming back to me)

I had a classical watercolor artist (Ross Shellenberger) as a teacher

... I wish I could call him up with a question or two!

I am finding this to be a good escape right now

(all 5 of us are housebound)

but when I get into a painting I lose track of place and time and find quiet amid the commotion

... exactly what got me through the high school years ...

snowy day tea

we have a lot of snow right now

and it's a big deal

(it's hit or miss from year to year whether we'll get a big snow or not)

(bengal spice tea again)

we had 6 inches on Sunday

school has been cancelled

and more snow (they say 6 more inches??) is in the forecast for Wednesday

definitely something to smile about

:)

*

how about you?

what is putting a smile on your face today?

voice

"find a voice in a whisper"

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can't Wait

mindless

meditative?

or

mindless repetition?

however you look at it ...

as mandala

or

simple pattern in the round

the brain finds relief

getting out

I've been getting out and doing some painting from my car

no more excuses

maybe my word for the year is:

justdoit

january 5th

january 6th

january 10th

january 11th

I'm getting into the swing of it

it's about an hour of my time in the morning

and I can feel my brain loosening up

... my eyes opening

it's a difficult time of year up here 

(translate: d e p r e s s i n g)

and if you're not looking for the beauty it's just gloomy and gray

but honestly,

it's amazing how much color there is lurking in the gray

" j u s t d o i t "

2 0 1 2

wag the dog

today, I took my tea with me on the dog walk (or dog pull)

our dog is a puller

he's a bouvier and they are used for pulling carts in belgium

in fact, they pulled the stretchers of wounded soldiers off the battle field in WWI 

and because of that dangerous duty, they were nearly wiped out as a breed

I was walking him myself for a daily 3 mile walk until I wrenched my ankle

I think it was all his pulling that did it

now the child walks him and I follow along

*

"wag the dog"

Meaning:

An item of minor importance dominating a situation.

Origin:

This expression probably originated in the USA. There isn't a specific incident that it refers to that can be located there but there are many instances of it in print in US publications from the 1870s onwards, whereas there are none that come from any other country until well into the 20th century.

The earliest citation that I can find is from The Daily Republican, April 1872:

"Calling to mind Lord Dundreary's conundrum, the Baltimore American thinks that for the Cincinnati Convention to control the Democratic party would be the tail wagging the dog."

Dundreary is a character of Tom Taylor's play Our American Cousin. He was an amiable but dim nobleman, who frequently coined nonsensical riddles and twisted metaphors. These 'Dundrearyisms' were similar to Malapropisms and were briefly in vogue amongst US theatre-going circles in the 1850s; for example, 'a stitch in time never boils', 'better late than sorry'.

- phrases.org.uk

*

I don't know if it's my dog who has dominated the situation

or my ankle

... trying not to let it get me down at any rate ...

*

how are you having your tea today?

on the go?

kicking back?

wagging the dog?

inspiration

I have been inspired by the "on the go" sketching and painting (plein air) done by

Steph

and

Lynn

I usually comment on their blogs something along these lines,

"wow! thanks for sharing your sketchbook! you have inspired me to get out and paint something!"

but do I?

... no ...

I have the best excuse:

rain

oh, and cold too

today I did it!

from inside the car

hey, it works for me

:)

it's all in how you look at it

this is a piece I was working on before the holidays

(you can read more about it here)

I finally completed it and put it in my Etsy shop yesterday

but the point of this post is to share something about placement and photography

(especially for showcasing a piece)

when I photographed it yesterday, I used my old painted cabinet as a backdrop

it looks good in person

but didn't photograph well for the little thumbnail sizes you get on Etsy

*

after sleeping on it

I remembered how great these linens look with light coming through them

so, today, I re-shot the piece after hanging it in a window

I think it shows more detail this way and is much more striking

in fact, I like it so much,

I may just keep this piece in the window

(until it, hopefully, sells)

thank you

for coming to tea

2011

was a very good year for tea

I raise my teacup to you in 2012

cheers!

xoxo

kimmie