Old shingle houses on the way to the shore.
Paned-glass windows and white trim.
Little rivers in the sand.
Beach grass and black hills.
And sky that never ends.
Conversations in the wind.
A beach house kitchen.
And handmade milkshakes.
Games by the fireplace.
And bittersweet goodbyes.
Like I've said before, Miss A may no longer be obsessed with real horses but her love of model horses (and what she can do with them) is still alive and well. This horse is from a Breyer Custom Horse Kit and she researched different ways to paint it so that it looked as realistic as possible.
Here's what it looked like before--bald, pale, and slightly alien-like. To paint it, she ground up different colors of chalk pastels and dabbed them onto the horse with a dry paint brush. Between each layer of pastels, she sprayed it with a matte fixative.
When she was done with the pastels, she used acrylic paint for the hooves, face, and eyes. Then she carefully sprayed the whole thing again with matte fixative. After that was good and dry, she painstakingly trimmed, shaped, and applied the mohair mane and tail with clear craft glue.
Just in case you're wondering what breed this is, it's an Akhal-Teke. Don't worry, I'd never heard of that breed before either.
- Watching these blooms turn from bare stems to flowers in a matter of hours.
- Listening to my little guy practice his book report.
- Listening to my girl practice her speech.
- Turning up the heat on a stormy afternoon and taking an indulgent (though much needed) nap under a blanket.
- Bringing our ten-year-old family station wagon into the shop for an extraordinarily thorough cleaning, inside and out. Tremendous.
- Getting to the middle of Harry Potter, Book Six. Brilliant.
- Listening to my little guy practice the piano. One of my favorite sounds in the entire world.
- Planning the veggie garden. It's almost time!
- My hubby making me laugh.
- Watching the National Geographic special on their Top Ten Best Photos.
- Snow.
- Smiling at how my little guy tries to take care of me.
- Smiling at how my girl takes care of herself.
- Looking at how beautiful this town is, even on gray, misty days.
- Seeing the buds on all the trees and knowing spring is almost here.
It was a rainy, windy, blustery day. School was out and we decided to meet the mister downtown. We had a bite to eat and toured some new art. It was wonderful to see him, in his element, in the middle of the afternoon.
Must do it again soon...
This kid does it to me every time.
A simple Dutch Baby Pancake, made by my hubby...
And a new iron skillet, given to us by my sis...
Have changed the way our family does Saturday morning breakfast.
Instead of the kids racing back and forth to the table to finish their pancakes,
We eat together, all together. Rather indulgent for a Saturday morning, but scrumptious all the same.
Dutch Baby Pancake
1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups milk
6 eggs
1 tsp. salt
Approx. 1/3 stick butter
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, with skillet in oven. Mix all ingredients except butter in a bowl.
2. Take skillet out and coat with butter. Add mixture to skillet.
3. Bake for 20 min. or until slightly brown on top. Top with confectioner's sugar if you're feeling fancy. Serve warm.
Lately we've been...
Watching the rain, working on book reports, reading tons of old comic books, working on greeting card assignments, messing up the kitchen, and driving each other just a little bit batty.
That's life in a small house.
