the diet is not going so well

but seriously, who could resist a cute little cupcake store with these lovely things??
there was lemon ("pucker up"!), vanilla bean, chocolate mocha, and cinnamon sugar
no preservatives, just yummy real ingredients

pretty and practical

... my favourite combination! why can't everything functional also be lovely? here are evian bottles with a couture name: christian lacroix. over the top? maybe. pretty in my kitchen? definitely.

sick day

the boy has had a fever for a couple of days and so I kept him home again today.... unbeknownst to me, he apparently became well in the night, and so the day turned from having to nurse a sick boy to what he called a "mummy and me" day. And so it was. We made the best chocolate chip cookies ever, and he tried a peanut butter and banana sandwich for the first time, and we read books, and wrote to grandma and had cuddles. Yes, I had to take the day off work, but I got a day ON with a sweet 9 year old - that was the best thing ever.

aujourd'hui

my mom's birthday

1. worked today
had some really great lessons
the best part was when I brought in a giant stack of books on animals and the kids went crazy - it was so fun to see them getting super excited about animals and books and thinking about what their very first research projects are going to be on...

2.played pictionary after supper
we are getting really good
... well sort of.... although Jonah's weeping willow WAS very good...




3. piano practice too


4. and of course I had to play around with ShakeIt a bit more, plus CameraBag
I used them on this old photo of Elijah and me at Long Beach

shake it baby

ooh, here I go again... how much fun is this??
There is some info about this iphone app at http://shuttersisters.com/home/2010/1/11/iphone-photography-intrigue.html
and link to itunes from here http://shakeitphoto.com/

so here are my photos from today so far

I stopped at the bookstore to pick upa book for Book club

This beautiful tree is from a walk on New Years Day at my parents' place - so very "in the country", wouldn't you say?


The ancient village is Les Baux, from our trip to France in 2008

These wooden stamps are on a shelf in my studio

my red hi-tops from a week or two ago
..... addicted......yum!

99 cents of fun

this is so cool!
here are some photos of ours that I played with using ShakeIt, an iphone app... the only problem is that I am now addicted and am not getting anything done besides making a lot of photos look this funky!!

the Pont du Gard, France 2008

Cassis, France, 2008

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, 2008

My all time favourite photo that I have ever taken
Amsterdam 2005

my water bottle on the table at dinner

the view from here...

Just after Christmas we had this beautiful foggy morning - the sun was out above and the mist was rolling up the hill toward us


this is completely un-retouched - this was the actual colour of the sunrise

a noisy neighbour in the woods

Our pond is going to be a recurring photo subject, I think. It's just so photogenic...


These trees are still thin and delicate; I think they look ethereal in this misty morning, don't you?

(click on each photo to see much larger)

Reine de Saba

The Queen of Sheba cake

Julia Child wrote in her introduction to Mastering the Art of French Cooking that this was her favourite cake. So in her honour, I made it for a Julia-inspired dinner we went to a few weeks ago.

lazy day pursuits

Still in my pj's... eating leftover turkey and sneaking pieces of cinnamon buns... curled up next to the fireplace, with some inspiration at hand. And guess who is on TV today? Julia Child... I've watched her make Salade Nicoise, a gigot of lamb, debone some anchovies (who knew it could even be done??), and hack into the most giant fish I've ever seen on a counter. Aaah, what a great day....

Nieuw tyde, nieuw dingen

Not sure I spelled that correctly... my father grew up across the street from this iron scroll work sign over the little footbridge on the canal on the Bleekersvart in Heemstede, Holland. It means New Times, New Things.
Since we've moved, it is the same for us. In spite of progress, though, I like to get out my favourite things and make them work in new ways.
Here are some of my favourite things and how I used them this year.

in the kitchen

It's that time of year...
lot's of little cooking projects going on.

the roasting pan is getting a workout lately... most recently it has seen a beef tenderloin and a few turkeys... I can't imagine being without it!

We made zebra cookies and ginger cookies... but who ends up eating them all? yep, moi...

a few more

nice light the other day, so here are some more photos
The painting is an original by Andrea Kennedy

finally

Time flies when you are out-of-your-mind busy building a house and trying to renovate/sell another one...
However, it's all in the past now, as we moved just before Halloween and even though there is a storage room full of boxes all the critical stuff (more or less) has been located and we are settling in a little bit more each week.
Here are some recent photos...
planning to post some Christmas decorating photos soon... if I can find the decorations....