Art of the hodgepodge

 

 Well, it's Wednesday again, and that means it's time for the Hodgepodge -- the linkup where Joyce, at  From This Side of the Pond, asks the questions and bloggers provide the answers on their own blogs.   I've missed getting in on the Hodgepodge for some time -- in fact, for 6 weeks or so -- but today's questions are doable, so here we go!

1. October 25th is International Artists Day ... do you have a favorite artist? If so tell us who and why. 

I have many favorites -- you can see some on my Art that Inspires Me Pinterest board -- but probably my absolute favorite artist would be Fred Swan.  I love his work because he paints Vermont so accurately and (although I live in New Hampshire and the two states are not at all the same) the scenes he paints are those I have seen and savored all my life.  I also love that he is self-taught, and that way, way back in the day he was my friend's math teacher.  You can read a bit more about Fred Swan here.  We have had many calendars featuring his work, several Christmas card designs, and a number of jigsaw puzzles.  You can look here to see one of our completed puzzles.  The two scenes below are Christmas cards.

2. Would you describe yourself as artistic? Elaborate. 

People have told me I am,  but I think what they really mean is creative.  I guess I have somewhat of an artistic eye; certain types of beauty, and even colors just speak to me.  And it's almost a physical ache sometimes that I can't capture that beauty in some way.

I do love making things, especially for gifts or for our home,  and have created lots of fun projects over the years.  You can see many gifts I've made (and some that others have made for me) here in the label cloud: handmade gifts.  Or maybe look under sewing, embroidery, cross stitch, crochet, etc. also in the label cloud.

A hand-sewed felt tea wallet

Crocheted hot mats

Embroidered pillow cases

Counted cross-stitch piece

3. What's a skill, task, hobby, or job you've done so often you now have it 'down to a fine art'? 

Really, I'm not sure there is anything in my life I would put in that category. I might say baking cookies, for example, or writing a blog post, or preparing a Sunday School lesson -- but I have snags come up often enough in every area to keep me humble.

The delightful Scripture card above is an antique, from the collection of my Great-Aunt Sadie.

4. How often do you dine out? Fast food, fine dining, or somewhere in between? Tell us about a less than stellar restaurant experience you've had recently (or not so recently if that's easier).  

We might eat out once or twice a month.  Almost never could it be characterized as "fine dining", but we seldom eat fast food either.  We are much more diner type people, enjoying comfort food in comfortable surroundings.  I can't even remember the last bad restaurant meal we had.  Fish and chips (below) is definitely one of our favorite restaurant meals.

5. Do you celebrate Halloween? To what extent? Are there trick or treaters where you live? 

We really don't celebrate Halloween.  The closest I might come would be a pumpkin on the doorstep.  Every year it becomes more appalling to me that people think gigantic skeletons are a fun way to decorate.  Nothing funny about death, people.  We have not had trick or treaters in our neighborhood in years.

My fall decor tends much more toward harvest-y than Halloween-y.

 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

It's been a really odd foliage season here.  It began (if one could call this a beginning) with leaves turning yellow and brown on many of the maples and just dropping off.  Some people were saying there would be no real foliage season, others saying it would be "muted", and others were saying it would still be beautiful, just that it would be later than usual.

It seems the "later than usual" prediction was the right one.  It has been a good 2 weeks, maybe more, behind schedule.  But it was definitely here, just later than usual.  And the maple leaves that remained on the trees turned their usual brilliant colors.

There's the Hodgepodge for this week.  So happy I could join in this time!

February Favorites from the archives

Photo from Baptist Bible Hour

Since my mind is a blank right now (too much gazing at the white and snowy landscape, no doubt), I am going to link to a few posts from the archives that might be of interest to someone today.  Quick and simple, but hopefully one or more of them will be just what some reader is looking for!

First, from 2006 (my first February as a blogger!), Entries from my Journal.   This was just thoughts and ideas from my journal, just as it said.  I was surprised by how it encouraged people!

A Winter Afternoon’s Excursion tells about a sleigh ride in 2007 when my daughter and son-in-law and little one visited here following several months of ministry in Antigua.  If you've been wanting to go on a sleigh ride, you can read about this one.  I was certain I had more photos, but can't find them even after a rigorous search of my older computer.

If you want a soup that will really warm you up in this frigid weather we've been having, take a look at this Cheeseburger Soup which I posted in February 2008.  This is a huge favorite in our family.

Photo from Taste of Home

In February 2009 I posted about The Completed Puzzle. This is a gorgeous White Mountain Puzzle given me by my dear friend J.  The image is the Fred Swan painting Walking to Town, one of my very favorite scenes.

If you are looking for a simple but very gratifying sewing project for winter, take a look at my Pillowcase Grocery Totes which I shared in 2010.

Speaking of gratification, if you need something warm and chocolate and you need it right away, this recipe for Chocolate Pudding for One, which I posted about in 2011, will change your life.

Photo from Taste of Home

Have a stash of vintage hankies you don't know what to do with?  Here's some inspiration from 2012: Teatime Table Runners.  I had loads of fun making these.
 
Lastly, a random post from 2013 -- Random Thoughts, Links, and Recipes.  I love reading other bloggers' random posts, and it seems that many others do as well.  So if you like random, this one's for you.

So there you have it ... a few February favorites which may make for interesting (if not riveting😊) reading on a snowy day.

Coastal getaway, part 3

I took this on Friday morning after breakfast.

As promised, here's the third installment of our "coastal getaway" posts.  This one will detail Friday morning and our trip back.  Early in the morning, Mr. T took the camera and went out to get some photos.   He just snapped whatever he found interesting.

On a railing at Harbour Towne Inn

 Then I took a few pictures of the room so I wouldn't forget.  These ground-floor rooms are decorated in a really nice coastal style that we enjoyed so much, with a touch of shabby chic here and there.  The patio colors echo those in the room for a nice coordinating effect.

I apologize that this is so blurry.  You can't tell in this photo, but the pillowcases in back are pure white, dripping with pretty lace. 

Loved this little bird lamp

Postcards on a tray.  Again, blurry, but the lace on the tray is part of it and is three-dimensional.

The sink.  Gorgeous, but again, blurry. so I will show a better pic below.

The floors in this room are done with a unique surface that looks like sand (and feels a bit like it, too).  Perfect for these rooms, and I loved the colors in the area rugs.

When breakfast was ready, we enjoyed a sumptuous meal prepared by our hostess Stefanie and her aunt Mabel. It included a fruit crumble, several different types of quiche, home fries which included sweet potatoes, fresh fruit, marvelous English muffin bread made by Aunt Mabel, and much more.  I neglected to take a picture of our meal, which we ate outdoors under the trees, surrounded by flowers.  Stefanie came out with a silver coffee pot for refills.  So elegant!

There were others eating out there, and I just didn't think to take a picture until afterward, so I did snap some of the trees and flowers.

After breakfast we headed home, but first we made a quick stop at a place that had been intriguing us from across the water: Head of the Harbor Gallery.  Ever since our previous visit here in 2014 we had been noticing this building that has the words "Art Gallery" visible from the water. Sorry the pictures are so small.  I  cropped them out of some larger ones we had taken.

The gallery is the brown building at the left with the American-flag buntings on the railing.

This year my friend Lynne (who is also an artist) suggested a quick visit to this gallery on our way out of town.  Were we glad we had stopped!  We were able to meet the owner and artist, Roger Milinowski, and we became instant admirers of his work.  Below is a screen shot of his site.  I regret that I didn't get a picture of the front of the gallery (on the street, rather than the water, side).

We will definitely return to Head of the Harbor Gallery next time we are in Boothbay Harbor. Mr. Milinowski is a talented and prolific artist and my hubby and I would love to buy one of his prints.  The hard part will be deciding which one!

We had a nice trip home and stopped at Bay Haven Lobster Pound in Cornish for a late lunch. Mr. T and I shared a fishermen's platter.  In my limited experience, many restaurants do not allow sharing of a platter, but this one is very accommodating.  One can choose two sides as well, and those servings were both plenty large for us to share.

This picture does not do the serving size justice.  The fries were on a separate platter and the coleslaw in a separate bowl. 

It was fantastic and we finished the coleslaw and fries at the restaurant, but had enough haddock, clams, scallops and shrimp to bring home for supper on another day.  Scrumptious!

We got home around five in the afternoon, thoroughly refreshed.    We had fresh air, lots of walking, fantastic food, a good night's rest and some serious pampering at breakfast, as well as some good downtime.  Even though we were gone less than thirty-six hours, we felt relaxed and ready to tackle the next things on our schedules.  We are so thankful that God gave us this good time away!