Christmas Flowers from Virginia

It's always a treat to get flowers, especially from Virginia B Grabbe, because she sends great bouquets....they are complete centerpieces for festive holiday meals.

I really enjoyed the ones I got this year, and did start my thank you card painting while they were fresh.  Life got busy, though, and I had to finish from a photo.  They did last over a week.  I opened the card and painted front and back to make this painting.  It is fun that way.  This is how the card looks when it is closed:

Thanks, Virginia, for those beautiful flowers and for the other gifts you send.  The card is on the way!

'Lady Carolyn" mug

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Here's something else that is very much fun.  My friend Nancy found the perfect mug for me.  It is so elegant, with a subtle design in bone china.   The most fun about it is that, on the bottom, it says "Lady Carolyn" in fancy script.  It makes me feel special to use it!  and "demand' to be called Lady Carolyn!

Thanks, Nancy...this is who I wish to be!

Graziella

During my recent trip to California, I had the good fortune to stay a few nights in Sacramento with my friend Kathy Jensen.  Kathy and I have known each other since high school and so it is a special friendship.  I usually don't have the opportunity to stay with her when I visit, so this was a real treat. We had breakfast together, re-connected later in the day, and generally just enjoyed our time together.

Kathy had recently adopted Graziella, who is a very interesting cat.  She is a rescue cat and was thought to be a male because most tabby cats are male.  When Kathy first got her, and took her to the vet, Grazie was determined to be female.  She is very beautiful, and knows it.  My little painting does not do her justice.

I made this little cat painting for my thank you note to Kathy.

Moravian Cookies

Every year I get Moravian cookies for Christmas to share with my family.  My sister-in-law Katharine Woodwell (AKA Bobbie) and Howard were raised as Moravians.  The cookies kind of strengthen "the ties that bind."  Since I started painting the gifts sent to me, I have painted the cookies, cookie tins and a Moravian star.  This year, I decided my thank you card should have a Moravian church.  I went on-line and found one in the town of Clemmons, North Carolina, where Katharine and Howard grew up.  That church is not particularly attractive to me, so I made a painting of Hope Moravian Church, in Winston-Salem.

The cookies are very thin and always come from Mrs. Travis Hanes, who does live in Clemmons.  Her cookies are hand-rolled, hand-cut, and hand packed.  I might add that they are also very delicious.

A Little Fun with Sheryl and a Blue Dish

As part of my recent trip to California, I visited with my friend Sheryl in Mill Valley.  We had a really nice visit and stayed with her a couple of nights.  Alas, I did not bring a present even though she was a great hostess and recently had a birthday.  I decided to send her a blue glass bowl that I bought at Saint Coletta School.  It was made by developmentally disabled young adults who are at the School.  It is a really lovely cobalt blue.  Before sending it, I thought it would be fun to fill it with clementines and make a little painting on a card.  That painting is above.

When Sheryl got it, she sent me a photo of the bowl, again with clementines (or maybe oranges) on her windowsill...with the little painting and a matching blue goblet.

That made it a little more fun!