swiss chard

This painting is almost done. I've taken my time on this painting ,and I can tell. it's more detailed than alot of my paintings. I just need to add a little fun splatters and finish the detail in the leaves.
I can't say that I really love eating swiss Chard ,but it's so pretty I'm happy I planted it.












And this lovely picture is of Purl after a bath.She acquired
some unwanted visitors namely FLEAS!!!
and so she got a bath and a flea collar,and I got all wet and had to vacuum the whole house.But I am happy to say we are now flea free!
















So here's looking at you kid!
beautiful Fall weather is on it's way
and I'm soaking up the sun while I can.
Every season has it's unique specialness.but I love the fall it's crisp and busy , and cold and lazy.

A finished something

I wanted to tell you that I finished something............... yes it's true and here it is:

I also started something. Yes that is true you heard me right; I started a painting and it looks exactly like this:

pretty cool huh? yeah I love this part sometimes I wish I could just stop here ,sign it and frame it.
And become famous and rich ,and live in a little cottage with cute curtains and five cats.
I am tired today and feel like being random and weird . Do you ever feel like that?

And last but certainly not least My favorite flower arrangement I made today.
Flowers are a reminder of how short ,but beautiful our lives are. Here today and gone tomorrow.
That is my profound saying of the day .

My day at home

On my day off I made chocolate chip cookies with oatmeal and walnuts. They were pretty good if I do say so myself! ( I put the recipe below)
Chocolate chip cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teas. vanilla
1 1/8 cup flour
1/2 teas. baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup chopped walnuts ( or more!)
cream together butter and sugars.
Add the egg and vanilla and beat til combined.
Add wisked dry ingredients to the bowl and mix
stir in chocolate, oatmeal and walnuts.
Form into 24 cookies and bake for 10-15 min at 350 F


Eat these slightly warm with a cold glass of milk, or else...
You may feel like you worked all day on your day off ,and never got to enjoy the day.


















I also finished my tomato sauce . It's not quite as
flavorful as I would have hoped ,but it has the taste of Summer that will be heavenly in the middle of winter.
I've been waiting so long for fresh tomatoes . The taste is worth the wait.....what a simple and wonderful blessing!






And I'll leave you with a beautiful Iowa sunset.
Go make yourself some cookies, pour a big glass of milk
put your feet up and enjoy.
( No really! I mean it GO! you can thank me later)

WHen I came home.

This is 6:00 in the morning from my bike.( yes I have jet-lag.)

Tomatoes..... yes a lot of them ,big beautiful juicy tomatoes . These are going to be tomato sauce.

My first ever tomato sauce made entirely by myself . We'll see how this goes......

The reason

I went to Austria to help this lady cook for Christian English Camps.

Austria has some of the highest suicide rates in Europe ,and hope is hard to find especially among the teenagers and young adults.

So this camp gives the Kids in Austria a chance to hear about Jesus . I helped feed them so they could concentrate better. You can't think clearly on an empty stomach!

I learned a lot on this trip. It was beautiful ,but also meaningful and challenging
I hope to carry what I've learned into this extraordinary regular challenging everyday life.

Out of the country

Yes ,truly I have been out of the country , Austria to be exact.

The land of "the sound of music" , lovely apple strudel ,............

'

don't forget jumping off bridges and sitting on respectable cows with real life cow bells.

Ah.. yes now that I have that explained ,up next the real reason why I went to Austria.