Step into My Parlor



Step into my parlor (if you dare) and please have a seat ...



 

You say it was a short visit?  Maybe you won't be

in such a hurry next time. 

 

☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☻

 

This spectacle, captured a few miles from
our house, is down right spooky to me.

I can't help but think it is
reminiscent of a giant
prehistoric tarantula.

Fear of spiders, anyone?

This scene behind our house is revealing the
starkness of winter can't be far behind.



Recently I came into possession of some of
my aunt's vintage Halloween decorations.

This Party Lite black ceramic cat is from
the 1960s.  Clint has become fond of this cat.



A funky looking black cat that I also inherited
from my aunt.  She had a real cat named Misty
so I can understand how she collected cats,
especially black cats.

A more modern piece I got not long ago
that belonged to my aunt.  I mixed up the candles
 because I had only two tea light candles
but it ended up being okay after all.

I had fun with my latest profile picture on Facebook.
I adore this photo of Margaret Hamilton.

This morning Clint and I were eating breakfast and he said to me, "Would you look up on the mantel at that cat."  I laughed when I saw what he was seeing.  Yesterday when I was making a photo of the silhouette Halloween decoration,  I slid

over the white horse and the black cat behind

 it, not even thinking how funny it appeared.

We both had a laugh at the following scene on our mantel:

 

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The Best Way



The best way to start the day.


It's funny how we seem to get attached to our coffee cups or mugs.  They do have some sentimental meaning to many of us. This plain old white coffee mug came from Deadwood, South Dakota, where it was -5 degrees one morning. As I have mentioned before, Clint and I had one of our most memorable trips there in December 2009.  Blizzard conditions, yes ... driving in it too, but it was one of our best trips ever.  Perhaps it was so memorable because it was fraught with danger.

It's also what is inside our beloved coffee mugs that is important to us, too.  We now have a new coffee ritual in our lives here because Clint and I can't drink "black hot water" as he calls it.  We like our coffee STRONG.  Sometime I may write about our "method".

Have any of you ever had a Tyler Candle?  This Tyler Candle shown in the photo is in the "High Maintenance" scent and it is heavenly. This one is my favorite right now. I bought it for myself on my birthday. :-)

We are still working on house and party projects around here. By party projects, I am referring to a big party we are having here in November. Yesterday I finally decided on how I am going to finish a little accent table I had bought several months ago. I am excited about it and of course will have to unveil it on my blog. 

Here's hoping everyone out there begins the day in their best way. ♥


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Wednesday Wisdom

“Everyone said to Vincent van Gogh, "You can't be a great painter, you only have one ear." And you know what he said? "I can't hear you.”




― Steve Carell     .

The New Dining Room Mural

The fun and easy part, signing my name!

 The dining room mural is completed!  The design appeared so simple but I have to

say it was quite detailed and labor intensive.  I had to have new paint mixed for the

night sky, the first color was too dark.




This photo was the inspiration for my painting of
the mural on one wall of our dining room. 

 It's from the book
"How to Paint Murals & Trompel L' oeil" by Victoria Ellerton
with Simon Brady.

 The nocturnal twinkling skyline of Rome at night was designed using actual  and made up silhouettes from the Rome city skyline.  I used some permanent gold paint for the moon and stars. The lights are pale yellow. 




Thank you, each and everyone of you for your visit.

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Ghoulish Fun on Friday Morning

It takes so little to make me happy. This morning

I was actually having fun playing around with a photo I made last January in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

This scene greeted us after we left a hotel, it was right beside the hotel ... the hotel we plan on staying in during Christmas this year. It has always been a fantasy of mine to spend Christmas in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Clint is excited about it, too. Last year we spent most of a day walking the streets and inquiring about rooms. We found a perfect room for us, in town and over a rushing stream. The sounds of a rushing stream were important, we are both Cancers. :-) I even have plans on having a Christmas tree in our room.

Back to today's reality. Lots to do around here. I did get the mural finished and need to work on a blog draft about it. We are very busy planning our BIG family party coming up next month. Sunday we are planning on attending church and in the afternoon attending an orientation class for prospective new members. 

Hope everyone else is having a ghoulishly fun Friday! 

Key Lime Pie

A short and sweet post today.  Sunday I made the Key Lime Pie that had

been on my mind.  It was delicious!  I think the only change I 

would make the next time is a meringue topping.

The Key Lime Pie recipe. 

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Serenity on Saturday



The Georgia sky one summer day in 2012.



Clint is now in the living room working on his diary.  I just told him I needed some serenity today.  He agreed I was in dire need of serenity.  I know I bring a lot of things on myself and am my own worst enemy like many of us.

We both worked so hard yesterday at the gym.  As I had planned, I worked out and then went shopping at Walmart.  Got the ingredients for Lucinda's birthday dessert which was to be Key Lime Pie.  As expected, my energy level did not remain as high as I would have liked.  Her pie turned into mini chocolate cup cakes and ice cream.  We had several kinds of ice creams with different toppings and it was all good.  The King Ranch Casserole turned out perfectly and we were all looking forward to it.  She liked her little gifts and it was so good for all of us to be together.

The dining room table was a mess from all the painting paraphernalia on it, I had to clean it all up so we could all be seated at this larger table.  I am glad it is cleaned up, another job behind me. There was some house cleaning to do yesterday and whole lot more that needs to be done around here.  Clint does his share, he is a good helper. :)

Yesterday I talked on the phone with a possible client about a large painting commission.  He is to come by the house tomorrow afternoon. I have to remember sometimes I have to say no if I feel I possibly can't do a job that I feel is not right..  From past experience, some of the times I have said "yes"  going into a job has not been worth it.  I have to use some good discernment tomorrow afternoon.

This morning I did say "no" to a meeting regarding a legal matter, my sister was in agreement and she said "no", too.  Ahhh ... it felt so good.  Sometimes there is nothing like saying "no". The meeting was to have taken place this morning.  Clint has said the past year has probably shortened my life.  A "sigh" is in order on this one. It was a case this morning of turning it over to God.  Clint answered "yes" to me when I said I suppose that God handled legal matters, too. :-)  Painful matters I might add.

On a brighter note, I am looking forward to church tomorrow.  We are going on a tour to view and learn about the church's beautiful stained glass windows.  The windows were designed by Charles Connick.  There was a nice article featuring the windows in today's local news paper, The Knoxville News Sentinel. One quote from the article about Connick::  ...the work of the man once called by The New York Times as "the world's greatest artisan on stained glass windows."

May everyone have a serene Saturday.

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A Day in The Life

Baked eggplant that we had Tuesday evening.  This recipe
came from an old cookbook from the 1970s.

No fancy "food styling" going on in this picture!



It is rather comforting to see a red spot
in the thicket behind our house.

A spot of red means it is Chirpee,
"our" little cardinal who lives out back.
 in the fence line thicket behind our house.

Last night I was reading one of those little
devotional books called  Our Daily Bread.
The devotional was about childrens' prayers.

One entry was "I didn't think orange went with purple until
I saw the sunset You made on Tuesday.  That was cool. "

I told Clint I was using that child's prayer in my caption for
the sunset photo from our sky this past Tuesday.


(Please beware, there is strange spacing below...
could not help it ... blame blogger)

It is now 6:48 am and still dark outside.  In a few minutes I am going to get ready to head off for Walmart and then to work out at the gym. This evening my daughter, son-in-law and grandson are coming over for King Ranch Casserole.  Clint and my daughter

both love this dish.  Last week in North Myrtle Beach I had a piece of Key Lime Pie. 

I can't describe how delicious this pie was, the store employee told us a local woman

made these pies for the store.  Today this woman, me, is going to make one for dessert for the dinner. I thought it would be rather cool and refreshing after King Ranch Casserole.

Note I said I am going to work out after shopping at Walmart, I am surely going to need to work out and walk today.  It is so tough trying to lose weight. It is tough when one wants (DESIRES) such things such as Key Lime Pie. 

Yesterday I made some major progress on painting our wall.  I hope to get another major portion painted before tonight.  I want my grandson to be impressed with the idea of doing a painting on a wall.  Also, I may have an upcoming portrait commission, I hope it works out.

A little more coffee and then rechecking my grocery list.  I think I am going to enjoy getting these chores behind me as the sun is rising.  It is rare for me to go to the gym at

such an early hour, one plus is you get to see new people who are on an earlier schedule.  Clint will probably go later.  Good gracious, we have been up since 4 am!  Hope I can keep up this level of energy through out the day and evening.

Well, dear diary ... that's it until tomorrow.

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A Little Paragraph or Two

Only a paragraph or two to write today.  Just a few things to jot down on this post.  Yesterday I worked on the mural again.  Whew!  For such a simple design, it is taking a while.

Yesterday we literally had to force ourselves to go to the gym.  We had missed twelve days and that is an eternity for missing working outs.  Our old tired bodies knew they had been away from it for several days. We sure felt better walking out than we did walking into the gym.  Things could have been worse as they were last year after our vacation.  We went back a time or two in October and did not return until about 4 or 5 months later!  We vowed to never do that again, it was extremely hard to regain what we had lost.  We both have accepted this has to be a permanent part of our lives.

Just a little notation for today in my diary of a blog post.

Back to Reality



Fun and games at the beach!





We stopped in Florence, SC,  the morning we
left, for a cup of coffee.  We did this last
year, looks like we are starting a tradition.



Think I could use a little organization in my life?  :-D

I am going to surprise myself and hopefully
in  few days I will have my pens, pencils,
brushes, markers organized.

Our beach vacation is over and now it is back to reality, whatever that is. I am making an effort to have a good "reality" since we have returned home. I don't like the word "dieting" so I am going to say we both are working on life style changes regarding what we eat.

There's so much that needs to be done around here. As I wrote about not long ago, there are many house projects I need to complete.

Lately I have been feeling poorly because I have neglected commenting on my dear friends' blogs. I think I will make this post a "no comment" blog. My email address is right under my blog profile picture.

Thank you, readers! Now it is time to get some paint on my brush and get to work!

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