creative dandelion

Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera (Emma Kirby, Soprano) from the movie, Shine

2008-04-10T23:34:00.000-04:00

From Shaw Shank Redemption - Le nozze di Figaro -"Sull'aria"- W.A.Mozart

2008-04-10T23:15:00.002-04:00

Been thinking about music and movies that inspire me and this is definitely one of them!

"It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free."

Waiting for Baby

2007-11-26T18:06:00.001-05:00

Wow, I thought for sure that once I got off bed rest that Baby will come right away. Alas, I am still pregnant at 37 weeks, 4 days. But any day now, says the doctor! I am 4 cm dilated today and 80% effaced. Contractions are irregular and infrequent but I feel that Baby is coming this week, before the weekend. Started decorating for Christmas today and my bags are all in the car. I'm tying up lose ends here and there and later in a bit will do half of my Christmas shopping online.

So I guess for the most part I am ready but how ready can I really be?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T22:21:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Today is a very special Thanksgiving for me. After being on bed rest for two whole months, I am finally off my bed rest and thankfully got as far as 37 weeks into my pregnancy! I am truly grateful for my friends and family for helping us out during this rough time. I am overjoyed that my baby is finally full term and now it's just a matter of time before we finally get to meet our baby!

Warmest wishes to you all!

More Songs from my Art Days!

2007-11-19T23:09:00.000-05:00

Oh the memories! The Sundays just made me go through songs that gave me that "edge of the world" feeling. It's amazing how certain songs bring you back and stirs up memories. So here are a few more songs.....

The Cure's "Plainsong"
Hauntingly melancholy. Love the chimes in the beginning and the ethereal sound.

Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry"
1990, outside North Court - this big guy comes out and hums this song and slowly other kids got out their instruments and started playing this song. We all gathered around this big guy and he just belts out this song and the song seemed to last like forever.

The Cure's Just Like Heaven
I had 4 friends, Chris Taggart, Joon Nam, Grey (we called him heavy metal guy), and this other guy I can't remember his name at the moment (Jason?) but he sang the songs. These guys just decided to do cover songs of The Cure for the Talent Show. No music to go by and Chris and the lead singer guy taught Joon and Grey Just Like Heaven - Joon and Grey have never heard of the song, lol...not their type of song anyway, but Grey, though more into heavy metal, was this amazing bass player, they just had to have him play with them. So I was like a groupie and actually taped their rendition of Just Like Heaven. It's an amazing song that holds so many great memories for me.....I remember having to beg my mom and dad to let me stay up to watch videos on MTV's 120 minutes, LOL!

The Cure's Pictures of You
Yes, I was and still am a HUGE Cure fan..and this song was one of the songs my friends did a cover on too. This song reminds me so much of that one special someone from that summer....

That's it for now. I will add more later!

Remember The Sundays?

2007-11-19T21:31:00.000-05:00

I stumbled upon this song and it brought me back to high school when I spent a month away from home at a Governor's School summer camp for gifted art/music/dance kids. This guy named Chris Bauer introduced me to The Sundays and this song. The music just captured the feeling of that summer....we were literally let loose, creatively....and the arty nerds that we were, every wakeful moment was creative - all music, dance, or painting. Our free time wasn't idle free time - it was either building the biggest sculpture we could shape, while the music kids jammed to some music they made up along the way.

So for 16-17 year old kids it was the best summer......carefree, light, explosively creative, and it was the best feeling, being around kids like me, not feeling so much like a freak (LOL).

Anyways, here are The Sundays!

Thursday Thirteen #4: Baby Boy Names

2007-11-15T13:16:00.000-05:00

Thirteen Boys' Names for My Baby - Please help me pick one!

I am 36 weeks pregnant, on bed rest, hoping the baby will wait until next week to make his debut (so he will be full-term), and I (we) STILL have not decided on a name! Please comment on the names on my list below or perhaps you can suggest one?

Looking for:
- a biblical name first and middle name
- at the most, 2 syllables (we have a 3 syllable last name)
- no names starting with 'S'
- name that will go with his brothers' names: Noah Lucas and Caleb Thomas

1. Owen Jude
2. Jude Aaron
3. Aaron Jude
4. Jude Micah
5. Jude Michael
6. Jude Owen
7. Isaac Jude
8. Ethan Jude
9. Evan Jude
10. Jude Evan
11. Jude Elliott
12. Jude Matthew
13. Jude Isaac

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Going on 36 weeks tomorrow!

2007-11-15T01:19:00.000-05:00

I've been on a strict bed rest for about 2 months now and tomorrow I will be 36 weeks along! YAY for me! One more week of strict bed rest which means I get to get up from this couch and dance a little! And I realized earlier today that that would be on Thanksgiving Day! How convenient is that?

It's getting late so I'm going to wait until tomorrow to do my Thursday Thirteen.

Thursday Thirteen #3

2007-11-08T11:06:00.000-05:00

Thirteen ThingsThat Sadly Kept Me Away From My Art Blog for 2 Months! LOL!

Yes, I've been MIA for 2 months now. Nothing serious, life just got...... busy. I'm back and hopefully on a more regular basis as I miss my blog!

1. My first baby went to Kindergarten! I was one of those moms that followed the school bus all the way to school, crying my eyeballs out! My baby's not a baby anymore!!!

2. With my first baby in full day Kindergarten, I was able to spend some quality one-on-one time with my second baby. We made crafts, went to playdates, made smoothies, and spent a lot of time outdoors playing and laughing!

3. I started working part-time from home! Yes, I actually have a job promoting and establishing a very artsy enrichment after-school class for kids. So far I love it! Very flexible! I don't own the company, but check out their website: www.noodleclass.com

4. I got roped into organizing another Holiday Bazaar. I had a lot of fun, though, working together with a good friend, but then I started to feel a little over-extended...(why do I have this need to do a lot of things?)

5. I started volunteering for my son's Kindergarten class......

6. I decided to be active in my son's school's PTA ......YA!!!!

7. Oh and then I was put on bed rest because to put it simply, the baby could come out too early if I stay on my feet. Totally turned my life upside down!

8. I had to adjust to my new situation - tried to run the ship with a 5 year old and a 2 1/2 year old from the couch - not easy.

9. Despite the bed rest, I was crazy enough to continue planning and organizing the Holiday Bazaar from the couch.

10. I was even more crazy to organize and host a Halloween Party for the kids and their friends on our street. Fall is my favorite season and I didn't want to be indoors for most of it!!!

11. I had to give up my craving for sweets because I found out I had gestational diabetes! If anything, it made me eat healthier.....I guess....

12. What's crazier, I decided to continue with an older blog (please check it out: www.thewahmspot.com) but I'm having fun!

13. And on top of all this I decided to start up my holiday biz, Sprout Mail (go check it out too: www.sproutmail.com), sending letters from Santa.

Who said bed rest was boring? Lol.....so I've been on bed rest for 2 months now and I have 2 more weeks until my baby is considered full term! In two weeks I'm going to get off this couch and dance! LOL!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen #2

2007-08-30T09:06:00.000-04:00

Thirteen Things I've been craving in this pregnancy

Oh so I'm pregnant with #3 and all I can say is that the cravings this time around seems stranger to most people, especially to my husband, but doesn't seem too strange to me. Anyone guess what I'm having? lol..

1. hamburger sandwiches (in the beginning of the pregnancy
2. Cap N Crunch Cereal (I would go through boxes of these, lol)

3. Breadsticks dipped in applesauce (YUM)
4. Applesauce on top of cheese pizza (I know...)
5. Dark Chocolate chocolate chips (the baking chips)
6. Nutella on bread, on cake (can't get enough of these)
7. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
8. Mashed potatoes and gravy
9. sweet bell peppers - red and yellow ones - dipped in hummus
10.strawberry cream cheese
11.fudge brownies
12.cherry chocolate chip ice cream
13.ice cream laced with anything fudge or chocolate

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Inspire Me Thursday #2 - watercolors

2007-08-29T08:40:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy week of getting ready for Kindergarten which will start in just a few days, taking in of what's remaining of the summer, taking the kids to the pool, scheduling our last summer playdates.....when I stumbled upon this watercolor of Villa Giustinian and felt the longing to go back and just draw and paint all day.

So I'm taking advantage of another week of watercolors at Inspire Me Thursday to share this one. I have yet to pick up my old set of watercolors to paint something new. Perhaps I can paint what remains of summer and long for those days when snow is falling softly out my window.

Studio Friday #1 - summer afternoons

2007-08-24T00:15:00.000-04:00

What does a "summer afternoon" mean or feel like to you....?

A summer afternoon feels like warm layers of long hair on the back of your neck which you try to pull away so you run to stir the air, to awaken the breeze that starts to feel cool on the back of your neck.

This hat with the long orange and yellow streamers sits on top of my easel. My husband bought it years ago in Italy during the summer, and he recalls wearing it, like any tourist would, one hot afternoon, when the sun blinded him. He remembers those orange and yellow streamers sticking to the back of his neck and all he could think of was just running to get the streamers off his neck. Why didn't you just take the silly hat off, I asked. I don't know, he said. He couldn't remember why.

So now my kids take turns wearing it, running out to the afternoon sun with sun-kissed red cheeks, orange and yellow streamers trailing off behind them, not caring whether the streamers stick to the backs of their necks or not.

Thursday Thirteen #1

2007-08-23T14:17:00.001-04:00

Thirteen Things I should be doing right now instead of blogging

It's been an off-week for me. Getting back from vacation just puts me off the groove. There is nothing like the power of feeling ever so guilty about what one should be doing instead, so here is my first Thursday Thirteen.

1. Doing the dishes
2. Unpack stuff from vacation
3. Think about what to do for dinner
4. See what the kids are up to in the basement.
5. Clean the house
6. Cut my kids' fingernails so they don't scratch each other
7. Cut my fingernails.
8. Did I mention clean the house?
9. Do the bills
10.Pack for next trip (ugh. yes. another trip)
11.Do laundry (again)
12.Stop being a lazy butt
13.Start doing something NOW!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. Jehara
2. Any Apples
3. Here Comes A Storm

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

More Watercolors from Venice Travel Journal

2007-08-22T00:15:00.000-04:00

I love the immediacy of watercolors and how all you need is a little bit of water in a 35mm film container, some paint, a versatile brush, and a little room to sit on - the curb or a corner. It's not a huge set up at all which is what I love about it.

I found some scans of more watercolor sketches from my trip to Venice.

Watercolor plan of Venice, Italy

Looking at the Arsenale

Looking at Giudecca from the Arsenale bridge

Studying light and color as the day passes across the Grand Canal. Pencil with watercolors.

Redentore from Salute. Pencil with watercolors

Salute from Giudecca. Pen and watercolors

Venice from Lido

Self Portrait Challenge - patterns

2007-08-21T09:26:00.000-04:00

Self Portrait Challenge - patterns
Originally uploaded by creative dandelion

I awoke to the sound of my 2 year old son scurrying to my room. I opened my eyes and discovered my feet dangling off the bed, draped in stripes. My mind raced to the memory of wearing black and white striped tights in 1992, my first year in college when all of life for me was whimsical and frivolous.

My 2 year old dissolved the stripes on my feet as he came between the blinds on my window and my feet, and declared, "Mommy? Eeeeaaat!!!"

Inspire Me Thursday - watercolors

2007-08-18T00:56:00.001-04:00

I came across "Inspire Me Thursday" today and just had to post one of my watercolor sketches from Venice. Ok, I cheated a little by using something I had done 8 years ago (wow, has it been that long?)! Anyways, the little painting is of a typical little courtyard in Giudecca, Corte dei Cordami, where I wandered into after meandering through a maze of Giudecca's streets. It was a hot September afternoon, no one in sight except for the laundry line flapping in the wind.

The plan of the Corte dei Cordami is illustrated above, and the little watercolor sketch to the left was my attempt at capturing the tactile qualities of the surrounding walls of the streets. I wish to go back there again someday....

Why Dandelions?

2007-08-15T22:30:00.000-04:00

Why did I pick a pesky garden weed for a name? I didn't pay much attention to dandelions until my 2 sons, ages 3 and 1 at the time, started picking them off my lawn and surprising me with bouquets of them. "Look, Mommy! I got flowers for you!"

At first the "gifts" reminded me of my poor neglected lawn, but after many many bright yellow bouquets from my boys each spring, dandelions became one of my favorite flowers.

So I'm trying to cultivate a small section in our backyard just for dandelions. Is she crazy? Raising dandelions? Well if you had a kid who mourned the loss of "his garden" after daddy mowed it down and applied the chemicals, it's hard to explain that all this time he was giving his mommy "weeds" not really flowers.

So I'm going to raise dandelions in my backyard so I can have bouquets of yellow flowers everyday (ok, I'm being a bit selfish, I guess - I like getting flowers everyday!). No, really, I've grown to love them and through my children's eyes, I've found that dandelions are beautiful, send warm yellow sunshines and are magical. When the flower turns to seed, you can blow them off the stem, sending those little helicopters flying and you get your wish.

In Defense of Dandelions
Now I know not everybody likes dandelions. Almost all kids love dandelions. I found out that there are other adults like me who like them just as much, so here are some things I found on the web, simply, in defense of dandelions:

"Fulghum, Washington, and Dandelions"
from p. 65-67 of All I Ever Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
by Robert Fulghum

Mr. Washington was a hard-core lawn freak. His yard an my yard blended together in an ambiguous fashion. Every year he was seized by a kind of herbicidal mania. He started fondling his weed-eater and mixing up vile potions in vats in his garage. It usually added up to trouble.

Sure enough, one morning I caught him over in my yard spraying dandelions.

"Didn't really think you'd mind," says he, righteously.

"Mind, mind!--you just killed my flowers," says I, with guarded contempt.

"Flowers?" he ripostes. "Those are weeds!" He points at my dandelions with utter disdain.

"Weeds," says I, "are plants growing where people don't want them. In other words," says I, "weeds are in the eye of the beholder. And as far as I am concerned, dandelions are not weeds--they are flowers!"

"Horse manure," says he, and stomps off home to avoid any taint of lunacy.

Now I happen to like dandelions a lot. They cover my yard each spring with fine yellow flowers, with no help from me at all. They mind their business and I mind mine. The young leaves make a spicy salad. The flowers add fine flavor and elegant color to a classic light wine. Toast the roots, grind and brew, and you have a palatable coffee. The tenderest shoots make a tonic tea. The dried mature leaves are high in iron, vitamins A and C, and make a good laxative. Bees favor dandelions, and the cooperative result is high-class honey.

Dandelions have been around for about thirty million years; there are fossils. The nearest relatives are lettuce and chicory. Formally classed as perennial herbs of the genus Taraxacum of the family aster-aceae. The name comes from the French for lion's tooth, dent de lion. Distributed all over Europe, Asia, and North America, they got there on their own. Resistant to disease, bugs, heat, cold, wind, rain, and human beings.

If dandelions were rare and fragile, people would knock themselves out to pay $14.95 a plant, raise them by hand in greenhouses, and form dandelion societies and all that. But they are everywhere and don't need us and kind of do what they please. So we call them "weeds," and murder them at every opportunity.

Well, I say they are flowers, by God, and pretty damn fine flowers at that. And I am honored to have them in my yard, where I want them. Besides, in addition to every other good thing about them, they are magic. When the flower turns to seed you can blow them off the stem, and if you blow just right and all those little helicopters fly away, you get your wish. Magic. Or if you are a lover, they twine nicely into a wreath for your friends hair.

"In Defense of the Dandelion"
by Samuel Pickering, Jr.

I have decided that the real American Beauty isn't the rose but the dandelion. The common dandelion is not a native American. Like most of our ancestors, it didn't travel first class, and there is no record of its arrival on our shores. All we know is that it seems to have come from Europe, and like those "huddled masses" who sought a better life in a newer world, the dandelion put down roots and thrived.

Grateful for the opportunity to settle, it was content to make wayside and wasteland bloom. Unlike the cultivated rose, the dandelion is, in its stem of stems, a Populist. It generally prefers hard homesteading on barren ground to pampered living in potting soil. The dandelion smiles just as brightly amid backyard tenement clutter as it does beneath the boxwood border of an English garden. In contrast to the formal rose, which makes a sticking point of ceremony and can be prickly with those who do not show proper deference, the dandelion is friendly. It even enjoys the company of children as they weave it into garlands.

The dandelion lives a clean and simple life. It opens and blooms at sunrise and, closing up tightly, goes to bed at sunset. It keeps healthy and respectable hours because it is a family flower. One hundred to 200 florets compose its yellow blossom. As the florets mature and are finally pollinated, the dandelion's stem lengthens. Sacrificing its position in the world, the dandelion now lives for its children, closing one last time until the florets have grown into seeds and are ready to leave home. Then the gray globe expands so the seeds can catch a breeze and start out well in life.

No other flower embodies the American spirit as well as the dandelion. When the going gets tough, pansies and petunias wilt. Neither the strong winds nor heavy rains can break the dandelion. When the petals of the dogwood blossoms are scattered and the peony is beaten to the ground, the dandelion still holds its head up bravely.

Unlike the southern Magnolia or sagebrush, the dandelion is not tied to a particular region of the country. It is truly a National flower. Moreover, it is a flower for all months and all climates; from January to December, the dandelion blossoms somewhere. It may be found in Arizona under the shadow of the saguaro cactus, in Florida's orange groves or on a ledge in Colorado's mountains.

Such a flower is a bright sign of hope, and when winter comes and days and nights seem black, remember that somewhere in America, the dandelion is blooming.

More About Dandelions!

Interesting Historical Information:
The first mention of the dandelion as a medicine was in Chinese herbals around the 7th century. By the 10th and 11th centuries, Arabian physicians spoke of it as a sort of wild endive, under the name of Taraxacon. It was also mentioned in Welsh medicine of the 13th century. Dandelion was first spoken of in Europe around 1485. Its common name is attributed to a 15th century surgeon who compared the shape of the leaves to the teeth of a lion. Native Americans used dandelions for food, as an aid for dermatological and gastrointestinal problems, a cure for sore throats, as an analgesic, a sedative, a laxative, a love potion, and a general tonic for good health.

Folklore:
To find out how long you will live, blow the seeds off the head of a dandelion. You will live as many years as there are seeds left on the head.

To tell time: blow three times at the seed head. The number of seeds left is the hour.

Dandelion Recipes! (Note: I have not tried them (yet) so cannot guarantee that they're good)

Dandelion Salad

4 cups dandelion leaves
3 eggs
3 slices of bacon

Wash the leaves thoroughly and chop them into bite sized pieces. Boil the egg and fry the bacon. Chop the egg and crumble the bacon. Mix together and add dressing. Recipe below.

Dressing

1 1/2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
2 cups water
Mix ingredients thoroughly then pour on salad. Enjoy!

Dandelion Jelly

4 cups yellow parts of dandelion blossoms
3 cups boiling water
4 1/2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 pkg powdered pectin

Pull the yellow blossoms apart from the green parts. Get lots of blossoms. While you're collecting them you can freeze what you already have. Make sure there are no green parts since the green parts have a bitter flavor. Pack the blossoms into a 4 cup measure. More blossoms mean more flavor for the jelly. Bring the water to a boil and fill with blossom shreds. Simmer over gentle heat about 10 minutes. Pour the water and the blossoms through a strainer. Press blossoms as dry as possible to extract maximum amount of water. Add more blossoms and simmer for about 10 minutes. Continue simmering and straining until all the blossoms are used up. Add more water to make 3 cups. Strain the water very well using a coffee filter. Combine water with lemon juice, sugar, and pectin. Bring to a rolling boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. Boil hard for one minute. Skim. Pour into hot jars and seal.

Dandelion Wine
Yields about 1 gallon

1 gallon dandelion blossoms
1 gallon hot water
juice of 1 lemon
3 oranges peeled and sliced
4 lbs sugar
1 cake yeast

Combine water and blossoms in a crock. Let stand for 24 hours then strain. Add rest of ingredients. Let mixture set for 3 weeks then bottle. Age bottles for at least 2 months.

Right Brain Blogging

2007-08-13T20:27:00.000-04:00

I don't know how many blogs I've started since I first discovered Blogger. Still finding "the right" blog that fits me. So I started this one, in hopes that once it takes shape, it will resonate all the twenty million things that make me - me - mommy, wife, artist, designer, writer, dreamer, a wannabe (on some days), just to name a few....

So I'm letting my dandelion wishes take flight to see where this all goes.....