Have a Heart.............

............or at least a part of it! Our friend Troy is the best cake baker we know, and yesterday we were the proud recipients of one of his yummilicious strawberry Valentine cakes. As you can see, we couldn't wait and dove right in before I could photograph it. (It's even smaller now!) Thanks Troy! You're the best!!!!!



I've spent every free minute over the past two days reading, digesting, and enjoying the wonderful images in this book by Sherrill Kahn:

Thanks to Linda for recommending it to me!

Many of you recall that about a year ago I had surgery to remove a malignant melanoma. So, now I visit my lovely Dermatological Plastic Surgeon every six months for a full body check. She is adorable, witty, extremely wise, and a very talented surgeon, so I rather enjoy our little visits. Today she found another suspicious spot:

If you are young and you are reading this: use sunscreen and stay out of the sun!!!

So, for most of the day 'my public' has viewed me as you have now! C makes light of it, in order to get me through the day, which is both aggravating and most appreciated. We went to see "Frozen River" this evening, and then ate dinner at The Majestic, a wonderful old Atlanta dining institution.

Which reminds me, I really want to thank Elizabeth B for her wonderful and thoughtful comment on yesterday's blog. It's so nice to 'know' some of the folks who drop by to read my blog. And yes, Elizabeth, I did know about the new Georgia SDA blog! Isn't it great!!! Are you going to the conference in Kansas City in May? I'm going and am very excited about it!

YES WE CAN!!!

Dinner and a Movie

What does one do with an over abundance of ripe juicy tomatoes, beautiful basil and a lovely loaf of Ciabatta? Well, I for one decided to make some Bruschetta. MMMMMM! We had picked up some very fresh and pungent garlic at our local farmers market last weekend, and also had a bit of the chevre remaining, so we were in business!

C was doing some grocery shopping yesterday at Whole Foods, where we happen to adore their very fresh fish, so he picked up some Halibut and I made Halibut Provencal. Another winner!

Recipes for both of these tasty treats can be found here.

And for after dinner entertainment, now that the Democratic National Convention is history, we watched
If you enjoy animation and are captivated by color and creativity, this is a must see! We turned on the commentary while the shorts were playing (because I thought I was going to knit and listen....NOT: the eye candy was too tempting!) and I highly recommend you do the same. There is so much to learn from these incredibly gifted designers. We got our dvd from Netflix, but I happen to know that Amazon also has it.

I am very hopeful that the Obama/Biden ticket will be victorious, but if not and, God forbid, something should happen to McCain, would our country be run like a small town in Alaska or like the state itself? I applaud Sen McCain for choosing a woman as his running mate, but someone with a bit more experience might be in order (I have a lot more issues with Ms Palin, but I won't delve into them here).

PEACE & HOPE

Takin' A Break

"Losing Track" has become an obsession, so I am taking a break from it for the weekend. Well, it's a physical break, as mentally and emotionally I'm still under its spell. Here is how I left it yesterday:


I have made a few more minor adjustments since I snapped this last pic, but I'm tellin' you, this art quilt business does not come easily to me right now! All that said, I find that photographing the piece makes it easier to step back and critique it. Already I can see another spot where the placement needs changing!

I took about a half hour out of my day on Thursday to stick a couple of pieces of charmeuse in the dye pot. It was such a good feeling, after being away from the dye studio for a few weeks. This is a part of one of the large pieces I dyed:

It almost looks like sky, doesn't it?

I really love this piece:

Here is another one:

I don't know how those little wavey lines on the right happened. They weren't there when I left the piece to dry, and I didn't return to it for over 24 hours, so the little elves must have been tampering with my goods!

Here's another part of the same piece:

I just love this one.....very exciting piece!

It's a lovely day here in Atlanta. We walked Barker early when the temps were still in the mid 60s.......I almost wanted a light jacket! We ran into our friend John and his two Standard Poodles Luna and Hillary, over on Myrtle, and then Bobbie met up with us for coffee at Caribou after which we went to the Saturday Soup Sale at MetroFresh. MMMMMMM! We also did some much-needed shopping at Trader Joes, went to a birthday brunch for our friend Ashley, and soon we'll be off to see Up the Yangtze at Midtown Arts.

Have a great day!

PEACE

The Promise of Spring

One of my favorite things to do in the Spring is to take my morning cup of coffee and wander through my flower garden, checking out what new things have sprouted overnight, the progress of buds spotted the previous day, and new buds on perennials that had only popped up a few days earlier. This morning was no exception, with temps in the mid 50s and a gloriously clear blue sky! Barker and Elsie joined me on my little adventure:

I just love foxgloves, and it never ceases to amaze me that even mine return year after year!

My peonies are looking good. I'm so fortunate that Ineke and Martin had established this beautiful bed when they first built our home.


Out with the old and in with the new:


What a difference a day makes:
Yesterday:

Today:


I've been playing around with more Complexitees, and I'll share a few with you:




This is just a piece of complex cloth that I have some plans for:


And last, but not least, if I haven't already put you to sleep, C and I finished watching a fabulous movie last night (between Braves games and a performance by our local theater group, we cannot get through a movie in one night anymore!). Check out Lars and the Real Woman when you have a chance. It's very interesting: funny, even hilarious at times, but also very poignant.

Take care, and don't forget to stop and smell the roses!

PEACE