We had the dryest March ever !!

I am posting this wonderful photograph taken by Frank Cianciole.  It is in the Davis Mountains and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope dome is in the right side of it.  The fires combined with our terrible winds, it and the fires are  just playing havoc with our wonderful state. 

 I didn't want to be very wordy with this blog I thing the photographs certainly speak for themselves.   Our nephew and his friend sent these to me.  I will not say enjoy but just wanted you to see what is going on here in our state.  We live in Lubbock Texas and in our backyard the other day there was smoke and the smell of it when the wind shifted.   We give thanks for all of the volunteer firemen, firemen and firemen from all over the country risking their lives to help these fires go by the wayside.   Thank you so much you brave guys.

We also have a link for more photographs of several fires in our wonderful state.
It is  

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/04/texas-wildfires/100050/

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world. 

Potatoes falling from a Wagon

My mother had a saying when it thundered that potatoes were falling out of God's wagon.   We were very young and the loud noises thunder made would scare us. That was a fun way to calm down the fears a child would have of the noices of thunder.  Now thinking today, wonder what kind of wagon would it have been and those had to be some big potatoes to make some noises like that.    

I just like to think of laying on your back and looking at the clouds imagining what shapes were in them.  A dog, a rocket ship a kitty or a bear ?  Maybe even a clown with a big and fluffy round nose.    They were just so fluffy and soft looking.  Like cotton candy even.   Today when Eldon and I are on a driving trip, our favorite kind, I look out the window and see shapes and image all kinds of stories about the clouds.  I see the shapes and then in a few seconds they have changed into something else. 

It is coming to the time of year when we have thunder heads. I mean some big and fluffy clouds that say I AM A CLOUD.  You have no doubt what they are, not the little wispy "scouts" as I call them   The little ones that seem to be out looking for other clouds and then they all gather together and tada ---- a thunder head. 

                     So here you go a couple of picture of West Texas thunder heads  

Now this cloud says I AM A CLOUD, no doubt in your mind that it means business

There you go I just wanted to share some of our clouds with you.      I do have one more saying mother use to say.    You know when it rains, it will one day, and the sun is shining?  Well that is the devil beating his wife.  Just thought you might like to know that little tidbit of info there.

  Thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today.

Spring Feelings

Spring always means freshness and revival to me.  What is the new year bringing and just trying new things and adventures. 

Blooms from our Bradford Pear tree, so fresh and the bees really love it .

I have several friends that are eating healthy for various reasons and I thought maybe we should, well to a point you know.   Eldon is definitely a meat and potatoes man and he is not eating very many potatoes but the meat ?  I just cooked a brisket  yesterday and it was yummy even if I do say so myself.    Marilyn and Mikey are one couple that first come to mind about eating well and healthy.  So I wanted to share this recipe with you all, it is a salad and very good.  Sometimes when you try a new recipe you have to make it a couple of times and tweak it to your liking but this one was pretty well right on.   I did half it, there are only two of us.  Well, the furbabies but they didn't get to share with us.

                                       Artichoke and asparagus salad 

2 bunches asparagus, ( I snapped the bottoms off of them )
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar   ( I used rasberry balsamic vinegar)
1 teaspoon of  lemon zest  ( did't have it so used some orange zest )
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup olive oil
two 14 oz cans drained artichoke hearts ( I cut them up)
1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Set a large bowl of ice water next to the stove.  No, not to put out the fire you might start, it does have a good purpose.

Place the asparagus in the boiling water and blanch until bright gree and just tender, about 4 minutes.  Transfer the asparagus to the ice water to cool and stop the cooking .   Drain well.

In a large bowl, whisk together the mustard, sal, pepper, lemon juice, vinegar, lemon zest, thyme and oil.  Gently toss the drained asparagus spears and the artichoke hearts in the dressing.  Serve sprinkled with the feta cheese.

There you go, I think a healty dish.   Well, it is more healthy than potato salad but I love that also, a good southern dish.

That is it for today.  Thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today. 

A Make Believe World~sometimes

Sometimes you just need to live in a make believe world.  When you were a youngster, we all were at one time if you remember, and played Cowboys and Indians or the Queen and your sister had to hold an umbrella over your head so all the make believe flowers people were throwing to you wouldn't mess up your hair?  You know that kind of make believe. Making mud pies and pretending they were the best in the world.  

This sweet little fairy is one of the make believes.   I painted her in Painter and just played and had the best time, no pressure just paint.  It was for a  digital class and was so easy breezy.  I did add clothes though, you know my southern upbringing sometimes pops up.   I call myself southern, I did get to Texas as soon as I could. 

Picture the night glow on her flowing hair with fairy dust sprinkled around her.   Now there is a wonderful brush in painter called -fairy dust.  Now isn't that the coolest name ?  In my make believe world, it just rocks.   I painted layers and layers on this little fairy, to make the wings sheer and sketched and as you can see just had some fun.   I can almost bet that I used pastels, seems to be my media of choice on the digi paintings. 

There you go and thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today.  

Our Metal Stalion

 Living in Texas I know it is thought we have horses and cows and six shooters.   In the wild west days I bet we would have but today,  we only have a 400 horse power wild metal stalion that is red and will run like the wind.   When our red metal stalion was new he smelt like the new car smell they have but  only lasts a short while.  That is not the same as the wonderful smell of a tried and true horse.  The kind with 4 legs and that are such magnificant animals with swishy tails and ears that never stand up when you want to take a photo of them. 

I was not raised with horses  in my life growing up, but my Daddy raised Alpaloosas and my half sister was quite a horsewoman in her younger days.  I know I would have been just like she was with the horses all the outfits adorned with  bling and riding like the wind on her beautiful horse.   The wind blowing her hair back as she rode with such confidence looking majestic as her four legged friend.

We and our daughter went together and bought our grandaughter a red horse.  Not sure what he is called in horse colors but red to me.  We got go baby sit him for a little over a year and it was wonderful.  I got to love on him and watch him graze on our "back 2 .  Actually it was our back two acres but we called it our back 2.  The tail swishing and just watching him run with the neighboring horses and the sun shining on his coat.   That was a treat for us to be able to do that.  He later was sold but the memory of him was great for me.  

I do like to paint them though so here are a couple of paintings I have done of these magical animals.

 This beautiful paint was at a horse show we went to a couple of years back, he was tied to a trailer all by himself and I just had to paint him.  His ears perked up so pretty when I walked up to him and just talked and talked to him.  He made the wonderful sound they make when talking back to you.  Like hello Annette thanks for taking time to come and see me.

This handsome fellow is my rendition of an indian horse of sorts.  Just had to give him a little paint and some fancey feathers.   A tad make believe here but it could have happened at least in my world.

There you go, thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today..

The Taffeta skirt

Sometimes you just feel like swishing and swirling with your colors and your brushes.   You know like when you would wear a taffeta skirt and it made the swishie noise when you walked.  You either hated it or thought here I come world watch out.   This is what this little painting made me feel like when I painted it.  The colors and just the shapes were fun and I culd have been wearing that taffeta skirt when I was painting it.  It felt that good.  Now I am sorry to the guys reading this, I now you never wore a skirt that gave you confidence like that but I am sure you had a shirt or some new tennis shoes or that one special thing you wore that made you feel pretty good or to use an old word ~ Dapper. 

I know this is a little different from what I usually paint but just had to throw some spice in here every once in a while.   Please enjoy the colors and the movenment.  

Thanks for stopping in Annette's world today and seeing what is going on.

My Paper Dolls

I wonder if girls play with paper dolls anymore?  You know the kind that you cut out so patiently around the little white tabs that hold the clothes onto the paper dolls ?  Their paper shoes, dresses, hats and scarves?   I use to love cutting out all the high fashion clothes and using my imagination and seeing what kind of lives my dolls would lead.   I remember having an Elizabeth Taylor set and a Doris Day set of paper dolls.  We would play with them for hours and having their imaginary boyfriends and dressing up these little pieces  of paper dolls.  I do wish I had those dolls now, but alas they  probably got torn and wrinkled and tossed away in the trash.  Maybe even one of their arms got torn off when we were dressing them in a hurry to go on a paper doll date.

On my art journal journey with Zinnia, on Roses on my Table, we are doing paper dolls.  Yep you read right.  Well not exactly like Elizabeth and Doris but still dolls.  We are making queens but my dolls just sort of wander and not sure what they are.   I have one set that are kind of frumpy and the other set I am pretending they are the daughters or grandaughters of the frumpy ones. 

 I am having fun with the art journaling and learning lots everytime I play with it.  Of course buying new supplies certainly does not hurt my feelings.  I am surprised how many of the supplies I already have though with scrapbooking and my photography supplies and the art supplies I had from years ago.  

Here you go the frumpy ones.  Now the sweet ladies here are not the frumpy part, I do believe it is their clothing.  My fashion of lace and paper I suppose.   Still they are paper dolls and had so much fun playing with them.

Here are their daughters or grandaughters, beautiful lawn gowns for the garden tea party made out of fashionable tissue paper and a tiny bit of lace.  Something every young lady needs in their closet for the garden party. 

There you go,  Annette's paper dolls of 2011.   I am fixing to start on a larger version of these little treasures soon.  So will see how much I have progressed with them. 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world.