I snapped this photo last month on a morning walk. Look at the sunrise in the distance. This is near a shopping center that we live near. The trees, incredible light and clouds made for a stunning morning sky!
HAPPY SUNDAY!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
I took this photo a few days after Hurricane Matthew when we finally got out and took a walk in the neighborhood. This pine tree was standing tall and proud with the beautiful light shining on it – looking rather regal with other branches and trees down around it.
Enjoy your Saturday!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Bowens Island Restaurant. Always a favorite. Such fresh seafood with the most AH-mazing views ever! Sunset is not to be missed! What can be better than a fabulous dinner and a gorgeous sunset? If you visit the Charleston area (or live here), don’t miss checking it out!
After dinner we walked around and I snapped *a few* photos… such a cool place! The views offer such peace.
Catch you back here tomorrow!
My hope is that this may help some of you who will be making a big Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I created a template, and just change it up as necessary. We usually eat around 1PM, so I work back from that time. I am a well-oiled machine, but do not talk to me as I will get distracted and then what? 😳 Ha ha… In case you need a plan, you can change the times and it gives you something to go by. Note that the turkey roasts much faster when set to Convection (if you have it). I love it! I’ve added a link (🔗) to a few recipes provided… This may be a bit weird, but it’s how my brain functions best, ha ha… Happy prep day!
Thanksgiving Dinner 2016 – 1:00PM
Day Before
🔗Bean Salad: Mix up bean salad and refrigerate.
Pie Crust: Make pie crust, freeze one, Saran Wrap and fridge other
Dressing: cut up celery/onion cook with sausage
Day Of…
Turkey (6# bone in breast)
Set turkey on counter by 7:45AM, olive oil, S&P, onion in cavity.
Preheat oven to 350 (turn on at 8:15AM) – put turkey in oven at 8:30 AM on PURE CONVECTION. Should be done by 11AM. Let rest 15 minutes. Carve. (Pour fat in fat separator, wait 3 minutes then pour off fat, reserve a wee bit). (Convection may speed this turkey breast up, but then I can move everything up if needed).
Stuffing
Oven back on 350 at 11:50AM. At 11:30 heat cooked celery, onion, water or broth, sausage, add to bread mixture and sage. Put in BUTTERED 3qt casserole dish and cover with foil.
Put in oven at 12:00 (noon), back 45 minutes (25 covered, 20 uncovered) – should come out of oven by 12:45.
Mashed Potatoes
Peel potatoes at 12:00 (noon), put in cold water. Have water boiling.
At 12:30, drop the potatoes in the water. When done, mash, cover.
Bean Salad: Remove from fridge at 12:30
🔗Cranberry Sauce: Remove from fridge at 12:45
Gravy
Start gravy at 12:50. Pour into warmed container (or pot with lid).
🔗Chocolate pie with homemade crust
Get coffee ready to turn on after dinner
Turn on coffee, slice pie.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving tomorrow and don’t worry if something doesn’t turn out. Thanksgiving is a day to be with friends and family, so don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s all good!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Roasted Brussels Sprouts are quick to make and even those of you out there who don’t care for brussels sprouts on a typical day may find yourself loving them! Especially the outer crispy leaves – what a treat!!
Here’s how:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Wash and dry the brussels sprouts then toss in olive oil, salt and pepper. I take my hand with the leftover olive oil in the bowl and spread it on a cookie sheet. Then add the brussels sprouts, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
Roast them in your oven, I usually use confection, but it’s not necessary, if they get too brown too quickly just lower the heat.
They take about 30 minutes, but you can taste test or pierce with a fork to see if tender.
I them sprinkle them with Parmesan, because I love it and it goes so well with brussels sprouts.
Tada! You’re done!
You will be fighting over those crispy outer leaves that fall off – oh my!
There are different variations, some use lemon juice, some use a little red pepper flakes – you can’t go wrong, add what you like!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Alan Phillips. A man with wonderful paintings, an interesting history and the best attitude on the planet. From a quick few emails with Alan I definitely get the feeling that this man loves life, he loves what he does, and his paintings show just that. His paintings are of beautiful places, typically in or near the water. He paints from his soul.
I absolutely adore this painting – a watercolor on paper, it’s got such feeling. This was a painting that Alan did for Water’s Edge Magazine for an article about the weather turning cooler in Northern Florida – September… the time to have the beach to yourself! It’s like that here in Charleston as well. Those are the times we go to the beach. Heaven! This bird looks happy that the people are giving him back his space!
Alan has a fabulous bio, in it he mentions two things that I am familiar with, Gar Wood and Chris Craft mahogany boats. I grew up where they built them in Michigan. They are the most beautiful boats, so classy! When you’re done reading this fabulous bio, be sure to head to Alan’s website and check out his paintings!
Read a blip about Alan, from his website:
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“My source of inspiration is nature. Irresistible. I live to be outside in or near the water. My connection to the sea comes from my family roots. Three of my grandparents were born and raised on Prince Edward Island in Canada. My own immediate experiences came from summers on Lake Winnipesauke in New Hampshire and Thompson Lake in Maine, the shore in West Yarmouth and Dennis where we had a place down on Cape Cod Massachusetts. Lobster rolls and steamers were the foods that fueled my adventures up in Ogunquit, Kennebunkport and Portland Maine. These were the origins of my love for harbors and boats. Wooden Cat boats, Garwood and Chris Craft mahogany runabouts, Schooners, Yawls, Sloops, Tugboats and Lobster boats somehow called me to the water. I think they represent freedom. They are a metaphor as is the ocean, somehow tangible and imaginary of journeys taken and those yet to come. I am the harbor model of Huck Finn. My adventures have steered me to Kauai, Maui, Castine, St. Maarten, Camden, Lake Champlain, Vancouver, Quebec, Toronto, Thousand Islands, St. Augustine, Atlantic Beach, Mayport Fernandina, Long Island Sound, Newport Rhode Island and Newport Beach California, Laguna, Santa Monica and La Jolla always searching for the next surprise. The lakes, the ponds and rivers from the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania, ponds in London, Central Park New York, the Boston Public Gardens, the Tullieries Gardens in Paris and the children’s pond boats, the Charles River in Boston is where I learned to sail, the Mystic River in Connecticut, the St. Johns in Florida, the Hudson and St. Lawrence Rivers are all fodder for my vision on canvas. My art heroes are Manet, Degas, Velazquez, Monet, Sargent, Hopper, Wyeth, Sarolla, Chase, Hasaam, Dekooning, Motherwell, Diebenkorn, Thiebaud, Fischl, Hiendel, Fuchs, Schwartz, Vermeer, Saville and Homer just to name a few who have helped shape my voice. Thank you. It is my wish to keep the visceral impact of my initial reaction to a scene. The experience of turning a corner and being surprised by the lush brilliance of nature splashed brightly by a golden sun creating depth, shadows , curves and lines. In response I capture more than the jewel I see. I embrace that feeling where the air is breathable and the space has a lyrical poetry to it. These are paintings of a place where harmony rules. I choose selected moments of wellness, ease and sanctuary. I know that nature can also be a cruel mistress for the unprepared and I respect her power and this energy can be felt in my work as well as it is captured both with velocity and restrained exuberance. It is my intention to let it pulse beneath the lyricism. The journey has been good to me. I have been given privileges through my work far beyond my expectations that brought happiness, wellness, joy ease and comfort into my life. It is in sharing those feelings through my art where I hope it brings that moment into your life too.” |
All images via AlanPhillipStudio.com, used with permission…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Nothing like a photo from a parking lot mirror! My family was in Charleston and we were out and about, as we walked by this mirror I thought it was the perfect opportunity to catch all of us in a photo. Ha ha…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Walking around Charleston, SC there are so many things to take photos of. Charleston is a beautiful city, and sometimes you come upon a scene that looks as if it could be in a different country. That was the first thing I thought when I took this photo. I love the bits of light and the varying colors of the building – what a fabulous door!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Update: U n s o l v e d – but, here is the answer… Robert Joyner! I think his loose paintings are incredible! Be sure to check out his website!
Over the next few months (until I run out of paintings), I am posting one of our paintings and then seeing who can GUESS THE ARTIST. I have retouched this photo on the bottom left corner to remove the artist’s signature.
Do you know the name of this artist?
Comment on my Facebook page or on this blog…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Introducing the Bogue Chitto Cottage by Lake and Land Studio. This plan is only 789 square feet with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. If you add the wonderful front porch it bumps the living space (underneath the roof) to 1,155!
The porch on this house adds so much to the living space. At 26’9″ x 12’8″ makes the perfect spot to entertain, or to spend time when it’s beautiful outside! Can you imagine?
Last November, when our dog tore his CCL (like an ACL in a human) and had surgery, we were confined to our small kitchen/living area for months. Do you know what we learned? We can live in a small space. Maybe not tiny-house small, but where we actually LIVE is a fairly small area. This plan is perfect for a single person or a couple that doesn’t need so much extra space. Lake and Land Studio has a fabulous group of residential designers that can take a plan and tweak it to fit your needs. They think outside the box and their plans, well, they show it!
The people at Lake + Land are brilliant and creative, so if you’re thinking about a house plan, you may want to check them out!
Click HERE to see more views of this plan, from Lake + Land Studio’s website! Also find them on Facebook!
All images via LakeAndLandStudio.com, used with permission…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Michael Vermette has his own style. I am personally drawn to the paintings that have a good bit of dark and light – so dramatic, and clean – crisp with wonderful shadows, but truly, I love them all. This painting of the Monhegan fisherman waiting on the market is breathtaking! This painting is available at Gleason Fine Art in Booth Bay Harbor, Maine.
Take a peek at Michael’s website as well as the gallery websites, including the Lupine Gallery, they have some wonderful pieces!
Read a bit about Michael, from his website:
“Michael E. Vermette double majored in Painting and Printmaking at the Maine College of Art, receiving his B.F.A Painting degree in 1980. He received his Certification in K-12 Art Education in 1986 through the University of Maine at Orono. A full-time artist and part-time teacher, Michael has been painting in oil, watercolor, and pastel for over forty years and has won numerous awards for his work, including the Laura Coleman and the Beverly Awards at the 12th and 13th Biennial North American Open Shows of the New England Watercolor Society. Most recently, Michael was the 2011 Baxter State Park Artist-in-Residence. Michael leads several plein air painting workshops in Maine and New Hampshire in watercolor and oil painting throughout the year. He is a Monhegan Artists’ Residency Fellow and was twice an Artist-in-Residence at Acadia National Park. His watercolors, oils, and pastels are in private collections throughout the country and internationally. In Maine, his works have been shown in various galleries, including the North Light Gallery in Millinocket, the Lupine Gallery on Monhegan Island, the Elizabeth Moss Gallery in Falmouth, The Lupin Gallery on Monhegan Island, and The Courthouse Gallery in Ellsworth.
All images via MichaelEVermette.com, used with permission…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
I ran across this recipe for “Burger Steaks with Mushroom Gravy, Sweet Potatoes and Haricots Verts” in Cooking Light magazine. It looked like pure comfort food. It was a quick and easy dish to prepare. I had a few Yukon Gold potatoes, so I opted for mashed potatoes, and we had a bag of Trader Joe’s Haricots Verts in the freezer (our dogs favorite snack of all time, he loves them frozen).
Decadent and delightful! Give it a whirl, this recipe serves 4. You used to be able to click to go to the myrecipes.com website where you could view/print this Cooking Light recipe! Unfortunately they broke the link, so I’m on a quest to see if I can find a paper version and I will update this post.
If you are one of the few who hasn’t perused Cooking Light magazine, check it out! I’ve subscribed for around 20 years now – I look forward to that magazine each and every month! Update: they only do special feature magazines now, no longer the wonderful magazine that I looked so forward to, ugh.
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Claudia Hershman has interesting abstracts, they’re fun and different. The featured painting, Ghost Boat, has that lovely pop of orange against that wonderful blue green. Lots of little interesting things thrown into the mix. Take a look at Claudia’s paintings, they’re sure to bring a smile to your face.
Read a bit about Claudia, from her website:
“I have been making art, in one way or another, for most of my life. I feel fortunate to be able to experience the joy that comes from being creative. After studying art for many years, learning about different techniques and a variety of media, I decided to forget the rules and experiment. Observing how children make art with no parameters, I was inspired to explore my creative process with such freedom.
I work intuitively with each piece. I have some overall themes in mind when I begin, but once the first few strokes are on the canvas, the painting takes over and decides my next step. My interest in abstraction, geometric shapes, color, and line, greatly influence the construction of each painting. The work of Paul Klee, Romare Bearden, Cy Twombly, Hundertwasser and Charles McGee, have been my inspirations.”
All images via ClaudiaHershman.com, used with permission…
Thank you Claudia for submitting your website! It’s how I find out about artists that I may not have run across!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Sullivan’s Island is such a beautiful place to visit. Wonderful beaches and restaurants, what a great combination! Today’s image is just a photo of the surf – don’t you just love to hear the wonderful sound of waves crashing on the beach? It can make your shoulders drop from around your ears – pure relaxation!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
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