Well, it is clearly winter in Maine!   Now that Eli is in high school, wrestling begins around Thanksgiving and winds up in early February (in high school it began late January and ended the very end of March), just in time for the coldest and snowiest weather outside.  Currently we have warmed up to 21 F, with a wind chill of 7.  Hmmm.  Good day to stay indoors!

About 11 a.m. this morning. Notice the plow pile that is taller than the car and about 35 feet wide?  The snow on the walk is more than knee-deep!  When Eli shoveled them later, he measured:  24 inches deep in spots!  We didn’t get that much in snowfall, but it blows like crazy on our hill.

This is the view out the door this morning….that is hubby’s car and the snow plow pile.  We have received all that snow since the 26th!  Sheesh!  Snow is still coming down.  Well…coming down sideways with the wind!  Our drive wasn’t plowed when I got home last night and I slid sideways into the plow mess on the side, so will call AAA later this morning to pull me out!  Our wonderful neighbor and plow guy came when I called about 7:30 to plow and put down sand for me, but no luck getting out on my own.  So he drove me up to the house (a quarter mile from where I was stuck) and then finished plowing.  Then Paul got home several hours and inches of snow later, and he got stuck, too!  He got his car up this morning though, so only I need AAA!

So why were we out in this mess?  Well, this weekend was the Noble Tournament, the biggest, most competitive high school wrestling tournament in Maine.  There were 41 schools and over 400 wrestlers!  That’s a lot of sweating, mostly male, bodies <grin>! Eli did well for a Freshman, and came up against some serious competition.

The Meet is large: four mats going at once to get through the 400+ wrestlers on Day One.  PS:  Eli learned that Noble (the high school) is an acronym for North Berwick and Lebanon, the two towns!  Cool!

Eli’s first match again a kid from LaSalle in Rhode Island he lost by just two points.  He was seriously irked with himself, as he felt he could have wrestled better, but he worked hard and never gave up!  It was hard for Eli because in all of 7th and 8th grade, he lost a grand total of ONE match!  Welcome to high school and the big leagues and being the youngest again.

Eli is in red. The LaSalle boy has his arms in control, so Eli is arching up to keep from getting pinned. He managed that, losing only 5-7.

Alas, it ended this way, but still Eli didn’t let the kid pin him, despite being there:

Eli got out of this scrape…you can see the ref’s hand on the left where he is down on the mat looking to see if Eli’s shoulders are on the mat. Fortunately not!

On the way down to the meet earlier in the day, I pulled over in Appleton, about 3 miles from home, to snap this picture of the valley looking east–this is for Debby H. and all of you who prefer your snow vicariously:

The view from Route 131 over the valley; Sennebec Lake is down below the crest of the near hill.

Back to the meet:  Eli won his second match (also on day 1) handily:

Eli dominated in this match. Here he has his right are wrapped around and under the opponent’s right arm, with one hand on his neck to then lever and turn him over on his back.

And another move: grind your opponent into the mat so he can’t move. Erk! Here Eli is  doing that under-over-twist thing again.

For his third match on day 2, Eli  lost 11-0, his first shut-out in about three or four years!  They had removed one mat and opened up more bleachers, which made seating more spacious.

Despite the fact that the Massabesic kid (who was in the State finals last year, meaning one of the top two), Eli was able to be in control for a bit of the match, and there were several times where the ref called a “stalemate” and had them get up and return to starting position. On the lower left you can see Asst. Coach True Bragg in the black shirt.

Most of the match, though, the boy in green dominated.  He looks like a Junior or Senior.  My personal theory is that boys grow like dog years.  For every calendar year, they get 7 years of growth/strength.  If you take two boys of equal skill and weight, but one is two years older, the older boy will absolutely be stronger.  So Eli did a great job NOT getting pinned and taking him to stalemates.

About 2:20 pm after Eli was out of the matches, Paul came and suggested that, since Eli was out, I might want to head home as the storm was coming.  I decided that I could wait until it was all over at 8:30 and drive home tired, in the dark, in the driving snow, or I could be sensible.  For the first hour on the way home I regretted leaving, but the more I drove and the more it snowed, the happier I was that I was that much closer to home.  A two and a half hour drive turned into four hours.  The interstate speed limit is 65.  They had a storm speed limit up of 45.  Everyone was driving about 30 MPH!  At least here in Maine, folks are sensible and go only as fast as conditions allow even if the limit is higher.  I got to the bottom of the drive at 7.  Finally got to the house (3/10 a mile uphill) about 40 minutes later.  Thanks again to Alex!  Paul, Eli and the schoolbus got back to the high school after midnight and to the bottom of the drive at about 1 a.m.  I finally got back up and watched a Project Runway episode while I waited and worried.  It took them over half an hour to try to get up the driveway, then walk!

So that’s it for now!  I hope to finish a book about some people called the Red Paint People who lived in Maine 4000 (yes, four THOUSAND) years ago today and tomorrow, then start a quilt for a juried invitational exhibit.  It’ll be good to get back to fabric and thread!

Having a lovely post-Christmas lull, painting and enjoying being holed up in the house!

Winter blew in on a Nor-easter today. Currently it is 27 degrees, we have inches of snow, it is still coming down and, as it has most of the day, the snow is blowing past the snow sideways.

This house is so cozy and snug… perfect for staying inside and catching up on art.  I recently shared two in progress pieces for my watercolor lettering class with Val Webb.  Here they are, colored in:

The interlaced knotwork, watercolored. I need more practice, but I’ve learned so much including how to make it look like the center bit is rounded!

And here is the “S”:

Part-way there. I’d love to have a plum colored background, but my skills aren’t quite up to that yet. I want to practice more then see if I can put deep plum around the “S” and outside the yellow border.

I’m pleased with the shading on the yellow knotwork (my own design!), but the turquoise is a bit overworked.

Today I did this scroll. Getting better, bit by bit!

And just because I couldn’t resist….

Showing Pigwidgeon the pug ornament he, Eli and Paul gave me for Christmas. Can you say CUTE? PUG-LOVE!

And we’ll end where we began…with the snow blowing sideways!

Off the side of the living room porch.

The oldest ornaments go up near the top of the tree, safe from cats, dogs and my own general klutziness.  The little dog and blonde angel (just left of the balalaika) were present decorations from my cousin Anne when I was about 6.  The clear glass snowman (left of dog, hard to see) is even older.  The reindeer on the far left is also from Anne.  The two round crystal were ridiculously expensive; purchased when I was in my mid-20s and are Lalique crystal and BEAUTIFUL.  Plus I love cardinals; bought this one in Kalispell, Montana, on a trip to take a class with Hollis Chatelain in 2002.

Another tradition that goes back almost as long as I can remember is listening to this recording of The Night the Animals Talked.

Mom gave me a record when I was a girl…probably when I was about 8 or 9, that included the story “The Night the Animals Talked.” She gave me a small record player, pink with white, with a gray fuzzy turntable the size of a dessert or salad plate.  And every Christmas Eve, I would listen to this story and the soothing voice of the cow.

As vinyl records gave way to cassette tapes, I recorded it from album to tape, and  continued to listen to it every single Christmas Eve without fail.  Then CDs arrived, but no CD version of it, so I kept up with my cassette.  Finally, the last boom box with a cassette player died, and I could only sit in my cold car in the garage and listen to it there.  Then I sold that car and (duh) my new car plays my iPod, not cassettes.  2010 was the first year I couldn’t listen to this version.  I googled it up again this year, and lo and behold, I found it!  So in 45+ years I’ve only missed once.  I’ve now got it on my iPod, but thought I’d share with you here.

Found at: FilesTube

(NOTE…DRAT!  They appear to have changed the way the website works and now want you to create a free account.  Hmmm.  NOT.  Thank heavens I have my copy on my laptop.  You can find the later, 1970 ish, TV version on YouTube.  Part 1 is here and part 2 is here.  Sorry about that.  Same story, but the voices just aren’t the same.)

Grab a cuppa cocoa or cheer, close your eyes, settle back for a few minutes, and listen to the gentle voice of the cow as she narrates the story ….

Another very oldie but goodie is my now-one-eyed Santy Claus, who is tucked in behind a small blown-glass chipmunk. S. Claus is at least 45 years old. The squirrel is from a set Eli and I bought at LL Bean in Freeport about 6 years ago.

And some of the newest ornaments: Eli (I’ve taught him well!) came home from Australia in 2011 with an ornament of the Sydney Opera House. In the upper left corner is the tip of a ferry from when we lived on San Juan Island, ditto for the bald eagle on its nest in the lower right corner. The tall white hat is a Sucre woman’s hat from Bolivia, and the pink flamingo I couldn’t resist when we visited Key West this past summer, and the dog on the right was for our dearly departed Yeti, the ginormous dog-beast.

May Peace and Love, Good Health and Joy

be with you and yours through the coming years. 

The stockings aren’t far from the hearth, which is decked out with things that have moved with us from pillar to post. Even is our spot on the globe has changed every so often, there is continuity in Christmas. The tic-toc Santa on the shelf to the left of the hearth I’ve had (at least) since I was 6, which means he’s been around the world. The copper and brass things on the heart are from Argentina (where I lived when I was 4-5) and Peru (where mom lived before she met dad). 

Gosh it has been busy!  Is it as insane at your house as at mine?  At long last the tree is trimmed, almost all of the gifts are wrapped, in a minute I’ll start the rum cake and stuffing for tomorrow, and then I can breathe.  In the meantime, this is what I’ve been doing the past few weeks, including a FABULOUS online class with watercolorist Val Webb.  If you feel the urge to try something new, she’s starting another class on painting culinary herbs in early January and I highly recommend her…details below!

The tree is finally trimmed!

I do believe we have just about hit maximum capacity on our tree.  I’ve collected ornaments since my late teens, with a set for my parents and a set for me.  Now I have all of them.  Even leaving off the duplicates, we’re a bit full!  The good news is that I have duplicates, so both boys will eventually have a set of family memories to get them started.

Many years of gifts from my Frayed Edges friends are in this zone of the tree. I may have enough to eventually do an entire small tree the way we are going!  I can also spot ornaments from D.C., Moscow, Bolivia, the Oregon Trail, Mount Washington, Maine, and a friend in grade school!

This year I used the owl ribbon from Renaissance Ribbons as my starting point. He’s hanging next to Kathy’s bird!

My foot is doing well!  I got the stitches out last Friday, and on Wednesday I get to see if I can get my foot into a sneaker!  That’s less than 3 weeks after surgery!  This time has gone even better than the other foot, and that one went great!

Air-cast comes off in 48 hours!  And I LOVE the lime green stretch velvet leggings I found on sale at Macy’s (needed to make a quick trip to the Maine Mall when I was down for my appointment…and got sidetracked walking through Macy’s)

Getting downstairs in an air-boot is do-able but awkward, so I’ve not been sewing or quilting, but doing things upstairs instead:  watercolors!   One of the ladies in my small online sketching group found Val Webb’s website.  GOOD JOB!  I love calligraphy, fonts and all sorts of lettering, and this one is just up my alley:  the intersection of lettering and watercolors.  I have learned SO MUCH!  The price of the class, $50, is unbelievably reasonable for the 10 weekly sessions.  You’ve got 4 months in which to do them:  there are several pages of downloads, instruction on a closed web page, and two videos (usually about 30 minutes) in each lesson!  Literally I learned something not 2 minutes into the first video.  Being able to see how liquid to make your paint (I’ve been working too dry) and how to hold your brush… I can’t tell you how many great tips I’ve picked up. PLUS if you wish, Val will critique your work either in a private email or on the closed online group.

Here’s part of the third lesson, which focuses on things Celtic including Uncial letters. I made up the S, and am thrilled that I actually did it. Next: watercolor it.

Since I learn so much from critiques, I was the first to volunteer to have Val critique my pieces in the group setting.  Many others have followed suit, and I am learning from each and every set of suggestions.  Val’s manner of speaking (writing) is so gentle, encouraging and kind, yet she points out where you can work on things to make them even better.  Students range from rank beginner to professional artist, but we are ALL learning.  WONDERFUL!

Celtic knotwork from the lesson, with just the outer edge painted in a yellow-new Gamboge color. Will finish maybe tonight?

And talk about being HAPPY!   I pulled out some of my celtic books for ideas, sketched out an S and some designs, listened to Val’s great video (that the outline on the letter is what creates the “cords” that feed into the design), modified slightly so that my knotwork wasn’t a free-standing design inside the wide parts of the S but instead connected to the outlining, and WOW am I happy!  So happy that instead of painting this in my class sketchbook which has 90-wt mixed media paper, that I got out PROPER watercolor paper (I have 5×7 size).  My drawing was a tad too big, so I  reduced it on my printer/copier to fit, and now it awaits me having time to paint it well.  The color swatches on the full page are me testing out colors to use.  Val said it looks best if you use a light color for the outlining, so I’m trying the warm yellow with a blue for the main part of the interlace (photo above) and probably a deep reddish purple for the dark bits (the background).  If I can manage the colors well on the knotwork, I’ll repeat them for the S.

S is for Smith. Or Sarah. Or whatever. I like it!

So you ask, is Sarah leaving quilting?  Heavens, NO!  I like taking classes in other media just to freshen myself up–good design is good design, whether architecture, landscape, tea kettles, calligraphy, painting, quilting.  It all reinforces my learning which I can then apply to my quilting and I feel more excited about the process.

Val’s next class is Culinary Herbs.  If you click on this link, scroll down to the 3rd of October for details!

I’ll pop back later with a Christmas Eve update.  MERRY CHRISTMAS–no matter what your faith, let us celebrate friendship, community, learning, art, all together!

There area few things that are essential to the holidays, no matter what your faith.  First and foremost is family, friends and love.  Then there are a few things that I do or listen to that are required for it to really feel like the holiday season.  Peter, Paul and Mary’s Holiday Concert is at the top of that list.  I first saw it on PBS.  I bought the VHS tape.  Then I bought the DVD.  Then I bought the music on iTunes.  I love almost every song on the show, and this is one of my favorites, The Magi.  I love poetry and the beauty of the lyrics… I hope you will enjoy this performance.

Listen with a sense of wonder…. “as an eagle flying higher…”

For the heart of man’s a palace
And his dreams are as the sunlight
They burn away the darkness, as they warm the freezing cold
As an eagle flying higher, as a river through the canyon
The diamond star shines down upon, a pathway to the soul

And the wisemen spoke of peace on earth,
Of harmony and struggle
Now you know a cycle’s gone and a new one is revealed.
In the weaving of your fingers
In the whisper of a love that’s born again
In the weaving of your fingers
In a promise that we made that never ends.

Song by Peter Yarrow and Joe Henry; copyright of both the song and the performance is to Peter, Paul and Mary.

All faiths are simply different pathways to the same holy place.  Enjoy and peace be with you.