Honey in the Sun

Little Honey enjoying a patch of warm sunshine

Sun and warmth have been scarce around here lately...and another Winter storm is on it's way...

Treasure in the mailbox

Look what i found in the mailbox this morning! Getting a letter from ChildFund is always a treat for me. This means i have a letter from one of my sponsored children! This letter came from Sri Lanka, and was sent to me from my sweet girl, Nisansala

She is an amazing artist. She drew this picture of Santa for me, with little stars and snowflakes falling all around him

and inside is this special message of love...

I have been worried about this sweet girl. Her country was recently deluged with floods, and before that, war. Her brother had written to me to tell me that Nisan was having trouble sleeping at night because of the sounds of gunfire at night in the jungle behind her house. And yet, she thrives...The longer i am Blessed to live, the more i realize that ALL children are My Children and i am their Mother, Father, Grandmother...And that tho i live a world away, i am a part of her true Family...

On the phone with Aunt Sandy

Ice Palace 2

Today it is just plain old "freezing" out, and with a bit of sun we have some melting going on

Yep...still frozen....

Frozen

Frigid cold

i worry about the Homeless and the little animals out there

How do they keep warm? How will they survive?

Still, this frozen moment in time is beautiful... I am thankful for my nice warm home...

New Year, New Paintings

The first time i saw this painting was like this - in a photograph online, from The Marketplace Gallery. Now, i had been to this show where the painting was exhibited, but for some strange reason, i never saw it! It could be that i was paying so much attention to Miss Lola who went to the show with me, that i missed quite a lot...When i asked Samson Contompasis, my friend and the owner of The Marketplace Gallery if this painting was still for sale, he not only said yes, but it was his Mother, Jackie Brickman, who was the artist! Now, i have a history for loving paintings by Jackie. I first fell in love with a painting she did of a flock of canaries, and before i got a chance to buy it from her, it perished in the fire at The Marketplace Gallery. That taught me a BIG lesson. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today! So after contacting Jackie, the painting now resides in my bedroom

When i learned a little more about this painting, it added new meaning to my love for it. Jackie's painting is of a local apple orchard in the Spring. When she told me it was Indian Ladder Farm, i nearly cried. Bill and i had been taking Lola to visit Indian Ladder Farm several times last year so that she could experience a working farm for herself. It has become a place that we all have come to love, with orchards, and walking trails, and farm animals you can pet and feed, and lots of love all around. (There will be another post about our adventures at Indian Ladder Farm to come) Thank you Jackie. As you can see we ALL enjoy this painting every day here....

I do own another painting that Jackie Brickman painted. During the fund raisers for the rebuilding of the Marketplace Gallery, i came across this portrait of Mary and Jesus, and immediately fell in love. Again, i had no idea Jackie had painted this . It was hung up on a fence for sale and i was attracted to it like metal to a magnet.

Here is a close up of the detail. The border frame that Jackie put around the painting is made of halved pistachio shells painted in metallic gold. So now we lovingly refer to the painting as "Pistachio Mary". Up until this week she resided in the sun room, but by chance i moved her into our bedroom and hung her above the table lamp on the dresser and she took on a whole new energy....

Jackie used a lot of metallic paint and glitter in her work, and the light from the lamp brings it all to life and makes it look quite mystical...

I love having these paintings in my home. I love knowing the artist personally, and knowing that a very sweet and loving person painted these pieces from her heart. They mean so much to me and add to the cozy loving vibration i want my home to emanate...Thank You Jackie...

Sleepy girl

Little Stella is doing just fine here at the Robinson house. Every day she seems more and more comfortable with us all. She has had a bit of trouble with a partially collapsed trachea, but hopefully we are on the right track with that. The pace here is pretty fast tho, and she gets really tuckered out

as you can see in this picture...
Going...

...going...

...Gone...

Rosie is featured in an Etsy Treasury!

Thank you Paperponies, for including Rosie is such a beautiful Etsy Treasury, called "Love comes in all colors" Please check out Paperponies shop by clicking here

Ready to Go

I finally finished the Jelly Bean Bunny and Jelly Bean Piggy i've been working on. I have no problem knitting them up, but it seems to take me forever to sew the seams and put them together! These little guys need buttons or bows for embellishments...

Here's a backside view...And they are standing on Lola's new Dolly blanket. She has since asked for another one in red.

And these Teddy Bear Beanies are ready to go to The Anchor 5 Boutique in Downtown Troy. They are a cute way to keep those little fuzzy heads warm in this freezing weather we are having! More Valentine Hats to come!

My Old Man

Gipetto has been wearing an old sweater constantly now. This cold Winter weather is pretty rough on an old man of 18 years. He's been sleeping a lot more lately too. I'm sure he is dreaming of his younger days...

He was always the "lover boy" of the three brothers who used to live here together. Now he is the only brother left. He is still my old lover boy, and always will be...

The Nativity, Lola Style, Part 2

What an imagination...Lola dressed herself as Mary (with my kitchen towel over her head) and she has a little baby Jesus doll clasped in her hand. She asked Poppy to be Joseph, and asked if i would take their picture. When i asked her who i was going to be, she said i was the picture taker....
of course!

Lola's Manger

Ever since i put up my Manger and Nativity set for Christmas, Lola has been fascinated with the figures and the story of Jesus birth. So, right after Christmas i saw this little Nativity set on sale and bought it for her to play with. Right away she was concerned that there was no "Manger" for the baby Jesus to be born in, so, we made one out of a cardboard box.

We needed to decorate the roof with the sun and the moon and stars and snowflakes and big clouds for the Angel to stand on

and since the set came without some of the animals she is used to seeing in my set, we drew a donkey and a camel and a cow

Then we had to cut windows in the sides and a "back door" so the Wise Men could get out without waking up the baby...

and then one by one, they all moved into place...

There...better than store bought!

Another Etsy Treasury addition!

My painting, "Gram's Geraniums" was included in the Treasury called
"Paintings Yellow and Orange" by curator GoodClayWorks. Thank you GoodClayWorks! To check out her Etsy shop, click here.

Another Etsy Treasury Honor

My watercolor, "Snowdrops" was included in the Etsy Treasury called
"Home in the Woods" , Curated by Paperponies. Thank you Paperponies for this honor! Please stop by and check out Paperponies shop. It is wonderful...

Noreaster

Just now, outside the front door

across the street

the bird feeders

our front door

down the street to the right

and to the left. We got about a foot of snow and still counting. I love it!
Read about our snow totals here!

"Bestest Friends"

All you need is love...no other words needed...