T By the Fire

 Happy T Day. I am glad to be back this week.

Last week I visited some friends in New Mexico. The mornings were pretty chilly and they have this wonderful traditional New Mexican kiva fireplace in their kitchen with a little sitting area around it. I think my favorite thing to do when I visit them is to sit next to the fire in the morning and enjoy several cups of tea along with some good conversation.

I thought you might enjoy having some tea by the kiva fireplace too.

Stop by     blog and link in your own T Stands for Tuesday. At least stop by and enjoy a bit of drink and sometimes even a yummy treat or two.

And can you believe it is March 1 already? 

Yahoo-that means winter is really in the wind down mode, but one thing that is for sure, here in New Hampshire we can still get a big snow storm or two.

I won't even think about that.

Happy Tuesday!

I'm Home from a Few Days on the Mesa

I got home last night after a day of traveling. Caught  a plane in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the morning and flew to Baltimore, Maryland.  That felt like a short flight  since I slept half of it. Then from Baltimore we caught a flight back to New Hampshire. My husband met us at the airport with the dogs. They were ALL so excited to have us back home.

So I just unloaded all my photos  off my phone and my camera this evening, but thought I would share a few with you.

My friends who live in Taos, New Mexico live up on the mesa. It is flat and pretty treeless, but that means you can see for miles in all directions.

 Sunset off the back of the house.

 The Sangre de Cristo mountains off the front of the house. They get this red/purple color at sunset.

 Their dog walking herself home after our morning stroll one morning.

 The treeless mesa.

Now that I am home  I am readjusting to life in a hilly, heavily treed environment. Totally different from the mesa.

Funny how at first the mesa seems so bare but after a day I like the wide open space.  We had one cold and very windy day when we didn't want to be outside but the other days the sky was blue and cloudless. We took a leisurely hike one day and went and soaked in the pools at Ojo Caliente, a spa, another day. 

It was fantastic to get outside and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.

And in the morning its back to work. I am not upset, but it would be nice to have another day off. I still have suitcase to unpack and a 2 hours time change to adjust to.

Actually, it would be really  nice if I was still on vacation another few days. 

Ha-Ha!

But who's complaining? I will say the vacation has refreshed me and I m really ready to think spring.

Plus I am glad to be back to the blogging life. It will be good to catch up with all you. I never unpacked my computer once I got to my friend's home, but I did stop by a few blogs on my phone when I had a few minutes of quiet time.

Have a great start to your week.

A Few Day One Photos

 Had a few minutes as my daughter and I are being lazy at the hotel, so I thought I would post a few photos from our exploring yesterday.

Our selfies of where we went.

It was  spring warm outside and the sun was bright. There was a little breeze but it was a great day to outside walking. So that's what we did. Explore and walk. Outside in the sun.

I needed some outside walking in the sun after the last couple of months of snow, ice, mud, short days inside.

Today we are off to do a little more exploring and have some little adventures before we head north to our friend's home. Good thing our plan is to drive north today, they are saying the bad word for tomorrow. Snow!

Oh my.

If I get a chance I will post some more photos.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. 

Thanks for visiting!

See You Soon

This is a pre-post because by the time this comes on up on my blog my daughter and I will be arriving at the airport for an early flight.

On New Years Eve we had some take out Chinese food ( it was a wild night at home having take for dinner and watching some movies on the tv). But look at the fortune that was in my fortune cookie. It was telling me I needed to buy my ticket and go.
So I am.

So we are heading west to New Mexico. We're spending a couple of nights in Santa Fe and then we'll be driving north to visit some friends in Taos until the end of next week.

 We'll be out on the Mesa with Sangre de Cristo mountains in the background.

Very different from here in the heavily forest New Hampshire where I live.
I love this big open space. It freeing in a weird sort of way.
It makes those mountains look a lot closer than they are. I bet they are 10-15 miles away.

These adobe buildings that a are also nothing like we have in white clapboarded New Hampshire.
I love the lines on this building. This is actually a beautiful church that was painted by Georgia O'Keefe and photographed by Ansel Adams.
San Francisco De Asis.

 (above-one of Ansel Adams photograph and below, the Geogia O'Keefe painting)

This is actually the back side of the building.
I plan on seeing lots of art in all kinds of various forms. 

 And Mexican colorful inspiration.

Once again so different from back home.

 This will be my third trip out there, so these photos are just a few views from my visits in 2013 and 2014. This fence is on my friend's property and this is their road rambling over the Mesa.

I love coming here because it does feel like I am so far far away. (Technically I am, even though I am still in the US) And I love writing this post because it gets me really excited for my adventure.

 I'm not sure if I will get a chance to post any photos next week or not, but if not, I will return with lots of photos and stories.

Have a great week!

Paintings in the Rough

Yahoo it is Friday!!!! I am very glad this work week is winding down. It has been too busy. Just 8 hours of work to before I get a little down time!

Big smile on my face.

So a couple of weekends ago I started 2 new paintings. They are still unfinished, in need a lot of work, but here they are. This top painting needs some more details added to it. I love adding details. I think the couch needs a messed up blanket and a cat on the back. The big thing behind the couch is going to be a painting within a painting, and that needs to be done. The basket needs yarn. Maybe there should be a dog on the couch. 

But I like my couch. I'm not crazy about the bookshelves though. Or the tall silver floor lamp.

But I can always paint over it-that is what I love about paint.

Time will tell what happens here.

And this is the old red chair painting. The light is so bad on this you can't see the old fabric details that are in it, but as this is painting in the rough, you get the rough form, sorry about that.

I painted this because I really wanted to try painting a chair, and wanted to see in particular if I could paint a chair and have people recognize what kind of chair it is.  I asked my daughter and the hubby and they both guessed it exactly, so I am proud of myself for getting that down.

Since it is Friday, and time for a party, I am linking up to Paint Party Friday. Thanks to Kristen and Eva for hosting. If you aren't a regular, stop by the site for a visit.

I won't be partying with the Paint Party Friday folks next week as I will be away, but I will be back in March.

Now that sounds really good to me-March. I love the feeling we are really moving closer to spring here in New Hampshire, even though March can be a real bear some years. At least after March comes April and that means winter is behind us. (Usually that is).

That's all for today.  Thanks for stopping by.

Heart Flowers

Can you see the hearts in these flowers?

This is a journal page I doodled and painted. I started with hearts and then turned them into flowers. I was really playing around with paints, trying to shade different colors into the flowers and I can't say this is one of my best journal pages, and I can't say the shading came out like I wanted.
I do like my background though.
But it is my page to show you today.

I am linking up to Moo Mania because the theme this fortnight is hearts.

I am also linking to Art Journal Journey. Hazel is hosting and the theme is "If Music is the Food of Love, Play On".
So I am starting to get excited about my vacation. Just 2 more days of work. I'm taking off this Saturday with my daughter for some change of scenery and hopefully warmer weather. Plus I am excited I'll get to spend a week with my daughter having fun.
But first- 2 more days of work. Even my school principal said to me the other day that she couldn't wait for this week to be over. It doesn't seem like we should need a vacation, but I think we all do. Tonight I need to finish up my packing, which is always a little stressful I think after a busy day at work. I know that if I forget anything I can just buy what I need there, but for some reason I still worry I am going to forget something I really need.
I'm off and running.
Have a wonderful Thursday!

Eternally Two

Here's another journal page for  both Art Journal Journey and Moo Mania. February's theme at AJJ is "If Music is the Food of Love, then play on" hosted by Hazel, and the latest theme at Moo Mania is hearts.

This page uses a piece of tiger stripe paper which I Gelli printed on. Then I stamped the dancers and the Ballet of Monte Carlo phrase. I also stamped the eternally word and added a plastic dimensional two sticker, and I put a little heart sticker inside the o in the two word. Then I added some music pieces to the 2 corners and some silver paint along the edges. Finally I drew the big heart with a Stabilo pencil, and then with a wet paint brush I smeared that heart a bit.

I am hoping today will be a  mellow and uneventful  day. I need to catch up on some school work, don't want any meetings, and would love a nice relaxing arty evening. The week has started off with too much deep cold, snow and ice and too many big meetings at work. I just need some time to do what I need to do, like catch up on some grading, play in my studio and get a few little piles organized in my classroom and at home. Sometimes you would think that is too much to ask for.

HA-HA! Must mean I am ready for that vacation next week.

Have a great day everyone. I hope yours is mellow and uneventful, unless of course you want wild and eventful, or fun  or crazy or something other than mellow and uneventful....

Thanks for visiting.

Hot Coco Anyone?

This past Saturday morning the hubby and I went out to breakfast. The little local restaurant we went to makes the most delicious homemade hot coco, with a scoop of rich whipped cream. Thought I would share with you a photo of my cup of coco, since it is Tuesday, which means it is:

You can check out and participate in this fun challenge by popping on over to  .Elizabeth'sblog.

After breakfast we drove to Boston for the boat show, and there I had a little light lunch snack.

New England style clam chowder and cold beer. It was particularly good beer, a Sam Adam brick red. The chowder was good for mass produced chowder but not as good as homemade chowder.

So today we have cold precipitation turning over to rain. I have a 2 hour delay- which meant I could go back to sleep for a little bit!

Good bye frigid polar vortex cold and hello back to temperatures right around freezing.

And what's better with a nice warm cup of coco, tea or coffee than a good read. I am really enjoying my latest book.

I like it because it is history and travel woven together. Anything with Julia Child in it is interesting to me. She had a fascinating life as an American celebrity and an interesting life before that. If you don't know anything about her, she was a spy during World War II, moved to Paris with her husband after war and not only learned French but went to cooking school, wrote 2 cookbooks along with 2 other French women (Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle) , went on to become a TV celebrity with her own Public Television cooking show, and then went on to write other cookbooks. 

I didn't know anything about MK Fisher except she wrote many books related to food and James Beard I knew wrote cookbooks but I knew nothing about him. I love how this book has tied them all together in a place and time that we can't go back to other than through a book or film.  

I've also been reading a new art technique book  too.

Which I also recommend. It is really directed towards still life styles. But since I've been into playing around with that type of painting lately, its been a really good choice.

So no new art for me today. I am off in the wet weather going to work. Counting down until Friday when my vacation begins after school lets out.

Big Smile for me.

Hope your day is one that makes you smile too.

How to Stay Warm on a Cold Sunday

Monday is here. It is a very chilly start for me, -11 degrees Fahrenheit, but it is suppose to warm up a little bit today  and not be as frigid as it was all day like yesterday. And this morning I have to scoot out early for a 7 AM meeting before the kids arrive.  Nothing worst than racing into a very cold car on a Monday morning.

For many of you here in the US you have a long weekend for President's Day.  I am OK going to work (as we don't get today off) but I would just love to have today off to stay home inside my warm bed.

Tomorrow it is suppose to be warmer, I keep consoling myself with that thought.

 Yesterday I hung out around my kitchen near my wood stove because that bitter cold and the wind outside made inside the house feel chilly once you moved out away from that heat source.

 A strawberry cream cake was a good project. I made it a heart for Valentine's Day.

 Oh yes, and cupcakes.  I never frosted them and put them in the freezer for another day.

 I wanted to try out the origami looking little thing in the cupcake/ muffin tins. 

You put a cupcake paper over them and then stick something yummy on the piece that sticks up. I had these Lindt chocolate balls in the house from Christmas so I figured I'd try those. Then you put in your cupcake batter.

Since I haven't finished the cupcakes I can't tell you how they taste, but once I finish them and I try one I will let you know.

Count down to Friday has begun.

Happy Monday. Thanks for coming by!