Alter for the festival of the Virgin Mother.

In some places there in Watsonville, there are some beautifully decorated front porches with alters decorated to commemorate the day of the Virgin Mary. I had to take a pic of this one with the sweet little one looking on...

The Amazing first ever Christmas pagent

Yvonne Marie, deep in concentration singing along

...I wish this thing would stay on....

having an absolutely fabulous time.....

Such a cute event. My first time of being grandma in the audience. Its hard to believe that only the other day I was watching her dad. This performance was some Christmas songs and a prayer of thanks , also a happy birthday baby Jesus. So sweet, I'm glad that I got to see.

The high point of the pagent.

Negotiating with dad over weather or not were gonna take a pic with Santa this year.

Last year there was big drama,... this huge guy with bright red clothes and fuzzy beard . Yup it was big big drama, and most definably NOT going to happen. Much too scary. There was a chance, well a kind of small chance , well ok a glimmer of hope, that maybe, just maybe she was going to venture into the unknown. And after deep discussion,... not a snowballs chance,..... Perhaps next year.

The Christmas Card Project for creative everyday

This is the first proof of the drawing blelow before I settled on the layout.

This year I decided to do a card and use that project for my creative every day idea. I took more than one day and I was side tracted many other on going projects of the season. This year I actually managed to get them out in the mail by Christmas and not just continue on to becomming more of a holiday craft project. It was a bit hurried but Im happy with the results.

the drawing turned into this print.... its pictured here after many trials.

The print filled in with glitter and drawing ink,... its not a Christmassy card

without the glitter.

I painted the envelope with an irridescent glitter white before I added the golden

pear, but you cant see it that well from these pictures.

..... a view of the inside and the back of the card..

Here's how they turned out before mailing,......finally!

What Did I bring to Thanks Giving Dinner???

Just the lightest and crunchiest Aranchini ever, I only took a pic of a few of them
The picture doesn't do it Justus. These went rather fast...

There are never enough Crab cakes

I was quite happy with how well these turned out... Just the perfect crunch , light and flakey and so yummy.

I didnt make enough of these

These came out better than the picture did. They are stuffed Chicken wings. I disgarded
the secong joint but saved the meat, and opened them up . I then stuffed them and rolled
them tight wrapping the skin and securing it with a tooth pick , which I removed after I
took them out of the oven. The stuffing was a simple sausage corn bread with rasins. So so so
yummy.

Baked Squash yummy yummy

The baked Acorn Nut Squash started out with seeded and baked
squash.

I baked the squash with a little salt and pepper ,, no oil then cut and squash the flesh
add a few good handfuls of diced green onions.

I happen to like a lot of cheese so I do add a bunch. Its purley up to personal taste
but as far as Im conserned you can never have too much cheese. My personal favorite
for this dish is a mixture of half English sharp Cheddar Cheese, and Ney York ExtraSharp
Cheddar. Its got to be a strong flavor cheese to make the dish,

Everything in a bowl. AT this point you would be qute satisfied just having it
now but hang on. Mix well but dont over mix.

Put in a preped perferably glass baking dish.. and bake ..Bake it till you like
the shade of the crunchy golden topping.

Baked Acorn Nut Squash

Baked Melty Cheesy Goodness This was a sure fire favorite of mine back in the day when i used to be a vegan... It was a standard dish at every Thanksgiving. I learned it from another good vegan friend Jan,... its still a best of...

Rinse and empty the little pumpkins

Cooking down the cranberry mixture

Ill bring a little something....

This is the finished dish... A beautiful tiny pumpkin filled with cranberries, marmalade, broun sugar and honey.

The beautiful ladies in thier purple hats...

Ive always loved these flowers, and on my way to the fabric store I found these so I decided to capture some on camera,... I just love the mix of green purple and red anywhere I find it....

then, farther down the street there they were... at the same time , there was a red car and a red truck passing by, and a red sign on the shop next door, and a huge american flag, and these beautiful women... if you squinted the whole thing looked like some kind of exotic flower...

Theres a shot that I would love to get when the water has a beautiful cover of mist... perhaps next week

That bird....

Ive been trying to get a good picture of this guy but its kind of a hit or miss... Hes mostly by him self ,.....

A very Very long time.......

I know its been a very long time... and so many things have passed , and Ive been creating every day and giving thanks for my creative spirit,.. or I would not be able to cope sometimes...
Being creative saves my soul... even though I dont get on line and share the fruits of my creative process... Its kind of a personal chalengeat times as well... well enough of that.....