farewell, and thanks

"You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it."

~ Robin Williams ~

chef george, the father of our country?

late night hijinks

Idea for using those giant zucchinis your neighbor sneaks onto your porch in August:

what are YOU doing to celebrate?

Today is National Pie Day. What are you doing to celebrate?

Don't tell me you're going to eat 3.14159 pieces of pie, because then you would be confusing it with pi day, which is not until March 14th (3.14)

Personally, I plan to make a pie for dinner, and possibly even one for dessert...and who knows? If I'm up early enough, maybe even one for breakfast!

In honor of this most auspicious day, I'm re-posting my recipe for Veggie Pie, a favorite in my family.

~ Veggie Pie ~

(Recipe adapted a million years ago from the "Eat It" cookbook.

Written by Dana Crumb 
and illustrated by her husband, R. Crumb!)

1/2 onion, chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

2 carrots, thinly sliced

about 1 and 1/2 cups mushrooms, sliced

(I use cremini mushrooms, but you could experiment with any kind you like)

about 4 cups fresh spinach, chopped

1/2 cup each of two other veggies, like:

corn

peas

green beans

lima beans

zucchini

or whatever

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

2 TBS olive oil

2TBS butter

3-4 TBS soy sauce

freshly ground pepper

crust for a 2-crust pie

(I'm a terrible pie crust maker, so I use Pillsbury, but don't let me be a bad influence)

Preheat your oven to 400º

chop your celery, onions, garlic, carrots,

and any other veggies you like

heat olive oil in a large skillet and saute the veggies on medium heat until they're soft and fragrant and the onions are translucent

chop your mushrooms (halve or quarter them first if they're large)

Add the butter and throw in the mushrooms

While the mushrooms get all fragrant and start to soften and soak up all that lovely butter, chop 4 cups of spinach

throw the spinach in, too.

It will be a big pile, but stir and it will cook down to practically nothing in about 30 seconds.

see what I mean?

Add the soy sauce and freshly ground pepper to taste

(the whole 4 TBS of soy sauce might be too salty for some so take it easy and taste as you go)

then mix in the cheese until the whole mess melts into a mass of gooey goodness.

put your bottom crust into your pie pan, and fill with the veggie mixture.

put on the top crust, crimping the edges, and cut a few slits in the top to let steam escape

Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. (But don't do what I did

and take your dogs for a long walk while it's baking)

Let it cool for a few minutes, and Eat It!

Okay, now it's your turn...got a yummy pie recipe? Here are a couple of ways to share:

1. Post a comment with a link to the recipe on your blog, or
2. Post a link to someone else's recipe on their blog, or

If you don't have a blog, email it to me, and I'll post it here as soon as I get it.

Happy Pie Day!

parallels

Existing simultaneously, 

separately,

 alongside,

yet not touching:

parallel.

Yeah, I know: my poetry sucks. It's only a crow and a squirrel doing a high wire act. 

Click here to see this week's other submissions to Thematic Photographic, and feel free to leave a link to your own Parallels in the comments!

your friday inspiration

band: Porkka Playboys, Finland

video: Antti Koivisto

Go get creative this weekend!

strong lines

California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco   {click to enlarge}    

Shadows and light, curves and straight lines. I love the graphic nature of contrast, and the challenge of capturing the essence of a thing with as little information as possible...
Every week,  Carmi over at the blog Written Inc. posts a photographic theme, and invites everyone to join in. This week's theme is "Strong Lines". Click on over to Thematic Photographic  and see what's happening.

Check in here tomorrow for more Strong Lines, none of which are straight ones!

what are you waiting for?

and it seems like only yesterday his art was on my fridge...

Last week, Matt hung his work

 in a group photography show at

 Portland State University's Autzen Gallery.  

  

Instead of an opening, they had a closing reception.

Even though I had already seen all the works in progress,

 I was still impressed with how good they looked on those clean white walls.

Father and son shared a touching moment

(pay no attention to the body language - apparently, it's hereditary)

Here's a group portrait of all three talented artists.

We trooped upstairs to see an older installation 

of Matt's graffiti series in the stairwell gallery

Seeing his work hanging in public made
 us so proud and impressed

...and it's so much cooler than hanging on our refrigerator!

where do you think best?

For the last two weeks in December I avoided as many responsibilities as possible. I guess I needed a break from all the details and the multi-tasking and the planning and the money worries that filled my brain last year. Freelance work was on hiatus, so I put my brain on hold and tried to relax, and by the last day of my mental holiday, I thoroughly relished the rare experience of spending an entire day in my pajamas.

Now it's mid January already, and instantaneously the g-forces of all that deferred responsibility have slammed me back into my seat as 2011 shifts into high gear. All at once I have a million things to do, projects to complete and deadlines to meet, and thankfully, my freelance work has picked up (be careful what you wish for!). With all this energy flying around, I need solitude to organize my thoughts and make plans, and this is where I do it best:

At 5:45 am, the best place to think and ruminate on the day ahead is in the shower. Hot water running over my sleepy noggin and down my back washes all the sleep dust from my head, and for a few wonderful minutes my brain can wander aimlessly from one crazy idea to the next.

And while I'm on the subject of crazy ideas, you may have noticed I've started a few new projects. 

I've designed a new header and reorganized this blog by adding a new feature:

the daily photo, my a one year commitment to shoot a photo a day will now be located on its own page, which can be viewed by clicking on the photo in the sidebar. 

There are more things coming in the next day or so, including a new etsy shop and blog, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, where do you do your best thinking?

sunday still life

Three lovely plums from an orchard nearby. 

I'm thinking of painting them someday.

a page from my sketchbook

Way back in the Dark Ages when I was in high school, I was enamored of the fashion illustrations in the Sunday NY Times magazine. I thought I'd like to be a designer, or at least a fashion illustrator. Fast forward a *few* years, and here I am, designing haute couture for fairies...it just goes to show you that when you follow your dreams, you never know where exactly they might lead you!

Click here to see photos of the actual gown on the studio blog.

Have a lovely weekend!

"Even writers need relief from words."

~ sarah vowell ~

I'm coming up blank these days. I guess staying holed up in my studio, only venturing out on my twice-daily walks with the pups, or for quick trips to Trader Joe's for wine, doesn't make for very interesting stories. (Although, you should pop over to Mo's place...he can make an everyday bus commute sound like a scene in a Fellini movie.) I wish I had that guy's way with a story.

The good news is that I'm not blocked completely. I'm knee-deep in the creative process, it just doesn't involve writing at the moment. All my efforts are focused on things like this:

I honestly could not tell you why. It seems I have little control over the creative energy field that I'm channeling. I've just found it worthwhile to do what the voices tell me to. (I think they may be fairy voices, but that wouldn't exactly explain the other things I've been making...or would it?) Things like this:

or these:

Well, back to the studio. The fairies are waiting. Stay tuned for a giveaway soon!