Snowy

Xoxoxxoo

things

we are officially buying our house and i have been spending a majority of my time painting the interior, thanks to the fact that my industrial sewing machine is giving me guff...

so i have been experimenting with things that do not require machine stitching...

and getting ready for our holidays trek to the east.

style

 
 i recently made some bag prototypes with hand-carved logos for my friends at Flagstaff Soap, and this oversize bag turned out pretty cute, although the photograph did not....

and, because my thoughts seem to be laden with fine art lately, i have to mention the Evelyn Ackerman article in the LA Times...

 image at great arts blog: huntersandgatherersathome

i love her style, RIP.

"Flower Pot," 1959

happy religious stamp time

so i was at the post office the other day and i had to step aside to fill out a customs form, so they let another woman come up to the register. loudly asked for "religious stamps" and kept finding reasons to say "religious stamps" like "are these the ONLY religious stamps you have?!?!" making it sound like stamps have some sort of redemption power and if you mail someone an envelope, it doesn't even have to have a letter, with a religious stamp, they will find salvation...

the holy family by el greco

i would have been so pleased if the postal worker had pulled out a fat Star of David stamp or something with a fatty Buddha, but no such luck. so being the smart ass that i am, i loudly asked for some non-religious stamps when the woman had finished up, to which the postal worker replied "non-religious holiday stamps or just regular stamps?" 

Segna di Buonaventura, c. 1310

i didn't really need stamps and i actually really like icon paintings with gold leaf in egg tempera hundreds of years old, but sometimes i just like to be contrary.  is that wrong?

Conspicuous Lesiure

i am enamored with the sandals in the paintings by John William Godward...

Expectations

i am not sure if the women with their flowing gowns and waist wraps are supposed to be in the modern times (turn of the century)...

the seamstress

  but they totally exemplify  The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)...

sweet nothings

i really mostly like the sandals...

The Toilers of the Sea

this painting by Albert Pinkham Ryder would be more likely to show up in my house (not the original), but i will wear those sandals any time...after i make some!

punkin' pie day

happy punkin' pie day, coolin' on the window sill old school style...

i just hope no lead paint flakes fall in it...

my punkin' pie recipie:

1. for the filling, buy a punkin (no processed and canned! make no waste!)
put it in the oven for about an hour at 350 until you can easily stick a knife into it
puree innards, minus seeds
add 3 eggs
1/2 cup goat cheese
1/4 c molasses
1/4 cup maple syrup 
sugar to taste (i just add a tbsp.)
salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger

2. cashew butter no-roll crust
 1/2 stick earth balance or ghee 
1/4 cup soaked cashews
1/8 cup flax meal
1/4 cup almond meal
1 tbsp water or something milky
fridge it for a few hours

3. preheat over 375
 push the crust into the pan and dehydrate it in oven for five min.
pour in the  filling
bake for an hour until its not wiggly anymore.

give thanks.

tags make everything fancy

got my tags just in time for the holidays...

 

 

green beans n'strings

and a bunch of new inventory...

send me a message if something on the blog catches your eye -- i don't put everything on etsy!

Artha

Diwali is now and yesterday was the Lakshmi day, Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and prosperity....

asia.si.edu

as a Westerner, Christian religion emphasizes poverty as being honorable way to live (maybe that was later influence in efforts to keep the lower classes accepting of their status?) and, to a Westerner, worshiping a goddess of wealth and prosperity seems vain and materialistic....

Johansen's Bridge House

but if you live in poverty, how can you be in a position to help those in need, for example, i would like a nice house some day so i can adopt, not so i can keep up with the Jones'... or the Johansen's...

etsy.com

i enjoy Swami Vivekananda's sentiments, that religion was not for those with empty stomachs, to be interesting--when a person is struggling to survive, he or she would hardly find any solace in religion...Soothing words would not comfort a hungry soul as much as a morsel of food. 

Gauguin

in order to share a part of yourself or what you believe in, you have had the luxury to come to know yourself and to have the clarity to and resources to help others, having abundance in your life is different than greed. 

bag for a vegan

a friend of mine gave me some really nice stuff because she was getting rid of everything she owned that had leather,  so i have been trying to make her a bag with some fake leather and this is my second attempt...

i kindof feel like it looks like something my crazy great grandma would have made, with bright crazy colors that don't quite match, but she is pretty much my idol so i guess its not so bad.

firewood carriers

now available on my Leathery etsy site...

Pomegranates and Zion

gathering pistachios and pomegranates (that is hard to spell!) in Hurricane, UT...

 

this should probably be two posts because the photos don't match, but i will just make this space give you a mental break...

much to my chagrin, the battery on my real camera was NOT charged so i wasn't able to capture the beautiful FALL colors in Zion...but they were beautiful.

Busy

My mom came for a visit then we took off for Zion....

without the dog, but she still loves us when we dump her at people's houses.

Year-round tropical

i just got back from a conference in Palm Springs...i had visions of the terrible places in Florida i used to have to visit as a kid with the word "Palm" in them, but it acutally had historic buildings and was a hang out to the likes of Ms. Monroe, Lucy and Desi, Liberace(most people probably know all this but my friends and i had no idea) with a "desert oasis in the mountains" thing going on...

palmspringsarchitecture.blogspot.com

maybe it was the massive amount of palm trees i experienced, but i have been craving fluffy tropical-ish treats  and wanted to incorporate the omega seeds i am eating this time of the month, so i invented a recipe...

just a warning, i am not a meticulous measurer and i am also baking at high altitude, but never-the-less, these turned our pretty darn good if you want something not super sweet but yummy because its not quite time to bake my favorite pumpkin spice muffins...

Palm Springs Muffins 
Either blueberry - lemon OR coconut - lime flavors
2 tbsp molasses (iron!) or honey (allergies!)
1 c. flavored organic yogurt (i used blueberry or coconut - these usually are sweetened, which is why i didn't add more sweetener)
1 egg (organic)
1/4 stick butter (goat milk)
        mix those
1 1/4 c. almond flour (naturally sweet)
1/4 c. GF flour mix (or just rice flour for a really soft texture)
2 tbs. flax (Omega 3)
1tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
salt to taste (i like lots of pink salt)
chia seeds
       mix those
if you used blueberry yogurt, squeeze 3 tbsp lemon juice into mixture OR lime if you used coconut

of course, add sweetener if you like it sweeter

bake 350F for 25-30 min. 

Grand Canyon anniversary

2 years of marriage in 75 million years of geological history....

thanks, North Rim, for the good time...

maybe i will call you later?

changing day

Its a weird stormy, chilly, snow on the mountain day in Flagstaff...

via the Zephyr

but i am hoping it goes away this Sunday because we are headed to the North Rim and i am no good camping in the cold and end up looking like that kid in Christmas Story who can barely walk he is so bundled...

TRADLANDS

i wish i had some tomboy clothes from  Tradlands and i could pose for some 50's ish camping photos with my plaid, ankle pants, and ballet flats... 

i mean, how else can i compete with the bounty of nature!!! and before i convert into my favorite nature time, Fall, i need to thank the Summer for the fruit and vegetables and nights sitting outside in flip flops and shorts.

'While we measure our own success in terms of personal comfort and security, the universe measures our success by how much we have learned.' Caroline Myss

BEWARE AVOCADO SPIDERS!!!

i found my Halloween decorations, which included lots of that fake spiderweb stuff, but no spiders! i needed spiders, fast. i got out my glue and paper and cardboard and made a spider that would have been frowned upon in any kindergarten class, then i scanned the room for something, anything, to make into a respectable spider...then i saw the avocado pit i had been unsuccessfully trying to sprout in a jar and EUREKA!, thus was born the avocado spider:

Step 1: gather materials...

• wire (i used rusty wire to give it an element of danger...just kidding, tetanus is a serious infection and it was the only wire we had around...i just wont stab anyone with my spiders) 
• very tiny drill bit to match the gage wire you choose
• wire clippers
• clean avocado pits (because we compost, i was able to find quite a few around the pile)
• optional paint and brush

Step 2:  clip pieces of wire for legs and drill holes in sides of avocado pits for the wire legs--you don't have to drill too far because the wire squishes in there, unless the pit is really old and hard...

Step 3: some of the avocado pits were shedding their seed coats exposing the light tan seed, in which case i painted them black with acrylic paint, 2 coats

Step 3: bend the legs and insert them 

Step 4: add eyes if so desired...India Ink looked better for eyes on the ones with their seed coat

Step 5: if you want to hang it, drill holes through the top and, using a needle, insert thread through the holes and hang that dang spider up...

did i waste a whole day making avocado spiders for everyone i know? maybe. 
did i waste money on a crappy plastic spider made half way around the world? hell no! 
happy OCTOBER

Phoenix town

so...i always thought this place was a heat bowl waste of resources...and i still pretty much do...but that doesn't mean there's not lots of cool stuff here...

i went in search of food, wandered down Roosevelt St. and ventured into Green Haus, which was way way cool (the kind of place i would like to do consignment!), and the owner suggested a good place to eat, which was very good....

 

Roosevelt St. had so much going on, and, after eating, I walked to a gallery opening and got a free beer and then walked back to my hotel...to relax. 

but i am a little mad at Phoenix....

and the company of some friends distracted me more... 

because i totally forgot to go to the leather store!

next time.