New Year 2022

Happy New Year 

Wishing you and all your family a better and healthier 

New Year. 

Gina

Merry Christmas

 Wishing you the merriest of Christmases 

May 2022 be the year where everything goes your way. 

Gina 

Downhill Racers, and Polar Bear Express

Ready, Go. 

Polar Bear Express.

 Plaques which have been added to my ever growing collection of Christmas tree ornaments.  

Painted by my talented friend Sophie Soprano,

Also known as Lynn Farrar of Spring City, Utah.

The Honeymooners.

These charming Christmas plaques are details from Lynn's large oil painting.

Downhill Racers. 

Lynn paints in 2 different styles.  When her paintings are signed by

Sophie Soprano  you know that you will enter a fairy tale world. 

There is another side to Lynn, the serious painter who signs her work.  "Lynn Farrar". 

Come visit her at "Sophie's Black Sheep Gallery" on Main Street in Spring City, Central Utah, 

Did you go sledding when you were young?

Are you ready for Christmas?  

Gina

For the Holidays

Shiny copper pots for the holidays.

Maybe you use your copper pots every day, as I do, or you like to have them sparkle for the holidays. 

There is a painless and quick way to make them shine. 

All you need is CLR (available in every hardware store) 
coarse salt, a lemon, a sponge and gloves. 

No need to scrub,

just glide a corner of your CLR soaked sponge over pot.

Dip a lemon, cut in half, into coarse salt

 and rub a little over tough spots. 

Let rest a minute. 

Wash with soap and water.  

Dry immediately or it leaves streaks. 

I use my copper pots every day. 

They hang from bicycle hooks. 

More friendly than metal hooks. 

Unlike copper polish,  
CLR rinses clean and does not leave a residue. 

(CLR meets U.S. EPA Safer Product Standards).

Have a great week and stay safe.

Gina  

The First Advent

The First Advent is always the fourth Sunday BEFORE Christmas Day. 

How excited we were.

Running up four flights of stairs to wake up the first Räuchermann (incense smoker).

Impatiently waiting for grown ups to catch up.

German ebay

 Gently taking him out of his box, gently carrying him down to the Gute Stube (the best room of the house).  Only good little girls and good little boys are allowed to carry him. 

  

Placing  him on the fireplace mantle where he fills the air with exotic incense. And where soon he will be joined by three more Räuchermänchen, the next three Sundays.

Christmas Season had officially begun.

German ebay

Cone incense is placed inside and lit.

German ebay

We were spellbound, waiting for the smoke to come out of their mouths.

The tradition is observed in many parts of Germany and other central European countries. But nowhere more celebrated than in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) central Europe near the Saxony/Bohemia border. 

Ore Mountain Folk Art, in the form of Smoking Figures (Räuchermänchen), Christmas Pyramids, Nutcrackers and many other colorful and hand carved ornaments are known the world over.

Wishing you a very happy week,

Gina

Where is he?

Can you spot Clyde?

He is in his element.

Clyde is the one who "took up" 

with a wild Canada Goose.

And then he insistet that the goslings were his.

As the goslings grew

 it was obvious that they were not his. 

And then they all flew away. 

Clyde was left without a friend because he can't fly. 

Throughout the summer they would come for a visit.

Clyde would call his family out of the sky. 

Clyde is in the middle of them, somewhere. 

There he is, I see him.

For now all is well. 

Have a great week dear friends, 

Gina

      

Celebrating

 Time to celebrate Thanksgiving AND my Birthday!

Wishing you an extra special day,  

A day shared with those you love.

Happy Thanksgiving dear friends,

Gina

Thanksgiving

Just in time for Thanksgiving, a recipe for Apple Pie. 

more than any other dessert.

I love Apple Pie.

Ready to go into the oven.
(Recipes follows)

It's especially good when served hot.

I ate most of it.  

Recipe

2 cups of unbleached flour

1 tsp  Salt

1/2 stick of UNSALTED butter
3/4 cup of Crisco

1/2 to 3/4 cup of cold milk (yes milk not water)

Mix together flour and salt.  With pastry knife cut unsalted butter and Crisco into flour mixture. Sprinkle milk over mixture and mix ingredients until it forms into a ball. Let rest while you peel apples. Roll out dough onto floured surface. 

Apple Pie Filling

Into a bowl peel and slice 7 to 8 apples  Sprinkle with 2 TB of flour,

3 Tb of sugar,

1 Tb of fresh lemon juice and cinnamon to taste. 

Mix together and pour into pie dish, dot with 1/4 stick of butter.  Cover with unbaked pie crust.  Cut a few vent holes, sprinkle with sugar and bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees and another 40 to 50 minutes (or until golden brown) at 350 degrees.

If you must, have a dollop of ice cream on top

or whipped cream laced with Goldwasser

Gina 

Forgotten

 

Only a very short walk from my house

an old farmstead has lost its owner.

Only a few months ago cattle were fed from this big haystack.

A bachelor farmer lived here.

Look at the size of this saw blade.

He said he didn't need a wife 

"because he had a woman (that's me) running through his fields every morning." 

Will someone take over this farm? 

Probably not.  Farming is hard and has few rewards. 

This fertilizer spreader shows how many years it has been dragged through the fields...it has picked up bailing twine that will never come off.  

And the water tank will never be moved to a pasture.  

 The Danes knew how to build fine cabins.  Cabins which have stood straight and proud for more than a hundred years. 

This one probably built by the same Man.  

The granary is still full of barley.

It takes a lot of equipment to run a farm. 

There is order in a forgotten corner.

He will not leave his owner's house.  

I have known  him since he was a puppy, now he barks at me.  

Not to worry, a neighbor is taking care of him.  His brother has already moved over. 

Have a great weekend dear Friends, 

Gina 

Repost from 2015

It's getting crowded on my Pond

Important decisions are being made. 

Should we fly South or should we fly North. 

Time to make decisions.

(They won't tell me).

Have a great weekend, dear friends. 

Gina 

I can't decide

 I always thought that I like Spring the best.

And then the leaves begin to turn.

And clouds fill the sky.

And soon the snow will cover it all. 

Wishing you health and wealth

Gina

My hand painted ceramics

 I paint

More specifically, I hand paint ceramics.

The kind of ceramics which have been painted in Europe for more than 600 years. 

I paint because I have always admired Italian ceramics.

I paint whatever makes me happy.

Lots of tiles for kitchens and fireplaces.  
Tiles I will never see again.

I get to keep the rejects.
They are valuable, but only to me.  
I can learn from them. 

These little jewels I paint just for myself.

I paint a lot of practical ceramics just as long as they are also pretty. 

Some large murals take many weeks to finish.

Flowers and hand painted ceramics are a natural pairing.

An urn elevates and makes everything special. 

New but painted to look old.

A little gold makes it extra special.

A "Tondino"  is a very practical and large dish.  

Bowls are always the first to go.  
So why don't I paint more of them?  

You will see this happy bird all over Italy.

So many tiles I have stopped counting.

Still a favorite.

Frost has come, more time to paint.

Gina