This Good Day

I scored some wonderful veggies today at the Farmer's Market. Sometimes I think I buy them just for the pretty colors to put on my kitchen counter for the week. I decided to get beets from Bob and Lisa who had the booth next to me at market this week. They put extra in the bag before they handed it over. It's a fun feature of market that we pass our products around to each other, sometimes bartering and sometimes just being neighborly.
Dinner when cooking for color...
I've never cooked beets before, never had the urge, never found them anything of interest until I saw them at market today and decided to try them myself. Maybe it was the salesmanship, I don't know, but they made them sound delicious. They told me how to cook them and I followed the instructions mostly, except for the bacon. =) I thought it needed bacon. Hubby didn't like the greens but approved of the beets.
Fresh Basil and mayo are wonderful on good tomatoes and I purchased a loaf of wonderful bread at market and melted some fresh motz over it. Yummm...
I roasted a few heads of garlic and a number of jalapeños in olive oil for flavoring this and that over the next few months. I wonder if that will have the "depth of flavor" (a phrase used by Barefoot Contessa on The Food Network) that I hope, we'll see.
This spring I planted this little bird bath full of goodies and I must have been doing something right. The plants are growing and so are the golf balls. There are now 17 of them. We find them regularly since we live on a golf course. It's only natural since our home is located right on the curve of a 90 degree angle green so that the golfers are aiming directly for our house when they tee off. =)
It’s been a lovely day - in spite of the alarm going off at 5:00 am to get up for farmer’s market. It was a fun market day, the temperatures were perfection. I wore a jacket most of the morning, just can’t believe this is July! And it never did actually get hot, just perfection all day. Even though the vender on one side seemed very grumpy, the lovely couple on the other side of me made up for it by being good company. I borrowed two books on felting from another vender and flipped through them in between customers. Talk about inspiration! Yay!

This afternoon I saw that a friend of mine is having a sale in her lovely art supply store which is close by. So instead of catching a nap, I headed over to pick out a lovely collection of colors and canvas. Buying colors is such a delight and it's a treat to pet the puppy and Leslie is very cool!

And when I came home I still wasn’t ready to succumb to a nap so I pulled out a box of llama fuzz a friend had given me and tried out a very basic felting technique. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do but just haven’t gotten accomplished. The results are rather weird. I also dyed up some wool roving in a variety of colors, so once that color is properly set I’ll play with adding some color to the strange experiment and see what happens. I blame it on the books lent me by another vender, they had such inspiring photographs!

We’ve been working on another bathroom facelift this week. It takes time but the work is rewarding and I’m pleased with how it looks so far. We’ve hung a new light and med cabinet; I painted and installed a new vinyl tile floor. It’s cheap and fast and will hold us over until we’re ready to rip out and install some exotic glass or hand painted tile or something. Hubby put the baseboard back down and I have a little touch up painting to do. There are other details that need to be finished up and I’ll post photos when I get the chance.

We’ve had a lovely evening here and I’m grateful for these days that feel so right. This year has brought more than its share of grieving, and these days of grace are good for the spirit. I am grateful. It reminds me of a Fernando Ortega song called “This good day.” And if I could have found a youtube video of it that was decent, I would have included it.

Here is the chorus:

“This good day, it is a gift from You
The world is turning in its place because You made it to.
I lift my voice to sing a song of praise
On this good day."

Website Design Plus Plus

The show last weekend went nicely. I made some art glass that was very well received. It inspired me to get back into that media again and so I’ll take art glass to a gallery jury meeting scheduled for June 23rd. I’ve had art glass there in the past and it was very profitable for the gallery and for me. I’d be very surprised if my work was not juried in again.

Yesterday I had lunch with a friend from High School who currently lives in Florida but is visiting VA. It was a nice time of catching up on *gulp* twenty one years *gulp* of post H.S. life. Then we visited the Verona farmer’s market where I’ll be selling soap next week. It was a lovely venue with a large roof providing plenty of shade and open air. It was a beautiful day with lots of poofy clouds and the tables were piled high with lettuce, onions, potatoes as well as baked goods. There was only one other seller there with soap and mine is very different from his so I think I’ll be a nice compliment to that group. Plus I’ll get to pick up something lovely for supper each Wednesday. I am looking forward to that.

Yesterday and today I am working on building a website for a friend. It’s an interesting process. He gave me the link to a website that he really likes the look of and wanted something similar. It has been very interesting to see it begin with just the basics and then plug in the material and continue to develop it. I think it would be very interesting to watch another programmer work and see how the project takes shape for them. I’m sure there would be some similarities and also major differences. Since I am self-taught I imagine there are plenty of differences in the way I work from the way others work. The idea of watching the development reminds me of time lapse photography where you get the see the movement of the clouds or stars in the night sky. It would be interesting to watch the development of a website in the same way.

If you’d like to take a look, here is the link: http://pastorstevepaulus.com/index.htm And I especially like this page: http://pastorstevepaulus.com/links.htm where the colors seemed to connect and blend in a way that makes me happy. I haven’t heard from Steve since yesterday afternoon very early in the development so I don’t know what he thinks of the progress. I hope to see what he thinks of things soon. I’ll include a link to another website I designed as well: http://www.stauntongrace.org/

I want to start production today and tomorrow on a line of soaps that are completely natural from the oils to the colorants used. I’m looking forward to getting into that and would like to have some ready for the weekend Farmer’s Market in Staunton. That could take some doin though, so we’ll see. I have plenty of inventory without that, it would be fun though.

Just a few items from the flurry

I have been very busy since my last post. And there is almost too much water under the bridge to fit in one post. I’ve posted my line of Garnished Poems on Etsy and also on my website. Going back through these was an interesting exercise since I haven’t looked at them since early this year. And some of them still feel very fresh to me. As always there are some I like better than others. Here is one favorite.

I’ve also posted my black and white alphabet photography series on Etsy and also on my website. I really love how graphic and quirky these alphabet photographs are when made into words. It is so fun to choose the letters that fit best from a visual perspective. It took quite some time to get all those photographs resized down to little tiny internet files but I’m happy with how things look. I had to add copyright protection information which I found rather annoying but it’s wise to protect the investment from those who would just save and print out my work as if it were their own. Anyone coming from my website can get to the Etsy page to make the purchase. I hope it’s an easy interface for most folks. I love the whole idea of these photographs. Actually, this has really led me to fall in love with the alphabet all over again. Seems strange, I know, but I love the simple graphic elements of the alphabet. It has me transfixed and I have projects waiting in the wings for a little time to complete them. More alphabet photography! Yes! I’ll be having more of that!



All the work on Etsy and my website has led to a complete overhaul of the site. An completely new look and I’ve tried some things I’ve left alone in the past. Surf on over and let me know what you think. CarmenRoseStudio.com

I’ve also been busy in the studio making soap. And I have a major event this weekend or else I’d spend some time making photos of the latest soaps and post them. I want to get that product line posted on Etsy and my website as soon as I can but it won’t be this week. I’ve gotten some reactions to the soaps now and am delighted to see that they go over beautifully. I’ll be selling soap and mineral makeup at the local Farmer’s Market. I wouldn’t have considered that a year ago but now it seems like it may be a good way to meet people in the town I call home these days.

Yeah, I make the mineral makeup that I wear but am still in the beginning stages of making a product line. I gotta tell ya, I love the products that I’ve made so far! I’ve made a skin care (not a cosmetic) combination of minerals, green tea and vitamin E that I wear under my makeup and at night. I’m completely amazed by what the simple combination has been able to do for my skin. Plus… since all mineral makeup is NOT created equal and there are a lot of products out there touting “Mineral Makeup” that actually have ingredients that are HARMFUL and known irritants… well, let’s just say I’m delighted to be making a product that I know is good for my skin and just happens to look great on me. Plus, I managed an exact match to my skin tone. You can’t say that everyday… my makeup matches me! Yay! Anyway, how did I get on that tangent?

I have a big event this weekend that has completely hijacked my schedule and I don’t mind a bit. It will be a great opportunity to share my work with a diverse group of people and support a great cause.

A thunder storm is blowing up and I must get home and let the border collies inside so they don't freak out completely.
ta ta