Had a wonderful weekend with my brother Pat. It always feels so good to have him here. Jay and I went to Chanticleer on Sunday to appreciate the beautiful weather, especially before Chanticleer closes for the season, at the end of the day on November the 4th.

Then we took a ride out to Chester County for some resource material for paintings. Jay drives and I take photos, along with color notes and sketches. It was a wonderful day.

So Pat left last night and I miss him already, hopefully he'll be back soon.

Yesterday was my grandmother's birthday. She'd be well over a hundred now, I think she was 97 when she passed away, but I can't remember exactly how old she would be. Her portrait is on the Portraits page, "Jeanette at 90". I really miss her.

Today's painting is of one of the Meyer lemons from another case I just got from Lemon Ladies...Karen Morss. http://www.lemonladies.com/

They are more beautiful with each case I get. Some of these were really big with stems and leaves. I'm gearing up to make limoncello for thanksgiving with this case.

I've had the flicker feather for a while, Flickers are in the woodpecker family. The underside of this feather is bright yellow. I'm sure I'll paint it again.

"MEYER LEMON AND FLICKER FEATHER", 7"x5", oil on gallery-wrapped linen. $50. SOLD.

Since I have an exhibit and the holidays coming up and need to work on some larger paintings, the Paintings di Giorno will probably be even more sporadic for a while.

I'm listening to Chet Baker tonight. He's got a very interesting story. Definitely worth a listen. Here's a link. http://youtube.com/watch?v=1gIwjRqB248

I love it when I spot unusual produce in the supermarket. When I saw the Pepino melons in Genuardi's exotic fruit and vegetable section last week, I brought three home. Not knowing anything about them, I cut one open right away to check out the inside and taste it. It reminded me of a very mild cantaloupe/honeydew, along with some apple and pear, followed by a slight musky taste...not my favorite, but at least interesting. Then I read up on them and realized it wasn't ripe yet. The one I painted today is ripe, we'll have it for dessert tonight. They come in other shapes and color variations. When the color became yellow enough and was ready to paint, I went looking for something the same color as the stripes to go along with it, but without it being another eggplant. I went outside to get the mail and saw the hyacinth beans. I think they're perfect. I like the way the reflection of the melon balances out the composition and the color bounces off of the closest bean. This was one of those paintings that came easily off of the brushes.

"PEPINO MELON and HYACINTH BEANS", 6"x6", oil on gallery-wrapped linen, $50. SOLD--thank you Peter.

I'm expecting my brother Pat, from Florida for dinner tonight. Hoping maybe to go to Chanticleer today and get in some walking and fresh air. It's beautiful and bright here today.

A huge Thank You to two new collectors for purchasing my paintings, "96 Degrees in the Shade" and "Philadelphia Skyline #1". I deeply appreciate your patronage.

Celeste and I went to Georges' on Wednesday night and heard that Chef Joe Frost came in first for the second year at another big cookoff. Way to go Joe! Congratulations. Of course it's no surprise to all of us that enjoy his outstanding cooking.

Then had dinner with Cine and Penny there on Thursday, again, it was fabulous. Penny's side started to bother her after dinner...she thought it was from the rich food...I think it was from her laughing so much and so hard.

Enjoy your weekend.

To start, I need to wish two very important men in my life Happy Birthday. My nephew Pat's was on the 13th and my son-in-law Derek's was on the 14th. Happy Birthday guys, I love both of you very much.

Life sure has been busy since my last post. The fun part was having dinner with my friend Gill Blair on Thursday. We went to Savona for our birthdays. Hers is in August.

Well, it was sure worth the wait. Truly outstanding. I won't make your mouth water with what we had, all of it was, as Gill says, "to die for"! Her new office is in a building called The Bridge. It's in Narberth... a very well thought out and inviting space. I haven't been to that part of Narberth in many years. It's really charming, so one day when I go for one of my treatments at Dr. Lipton's, I'm going to meet Gill for lunch.

When I went for my first peroxide and UV treatments last week, I passed a building that looked familiar. I realized it used to be a gas station and that when my father was a bookie, it was one of the places he worked out of. Wow, what memories.

After Gill's reception, I met Jay at Georges' and Chef Joe Frost made the Cote du Boeuf for us. Let me tell you, at my age I'm no longer a big fan of red meat, but this was so delicious. I highly recommend it. It was prepared perfectly.

A lot of exciting art-related action that I keep forgetting to tell you about, with two of my paintings getting the TOP TEN of the DAY award last week. Also, I received a wonderful email from an adult education, art teacher near Annapolis, Maryland...a fellow artist of Italian heritage, Dee Dee, is using my paintings to teach the class a concept about primary colors. Thank you for your kind words Dee Dee.

While I'm thinking of it, I have another exhibit coming up in December at the Gryphon Cafe' in Wayne. I'll post the date and time for the opening ASAP.

Anyway, I've been working on this painting off and on...more off than on...since last week. I'm glad to finally get it posted. Our friend Enrico gave me some more eggplants and at the same time, customers of my son Danny, gave him some yellow peppers that I've never seen before. There they were, together, complementary colors...so now that I am no longer intimidated by eggplants, I painted them.

"AUBERGINES AND PEPPERS", 10"x8", oil on deep, gallery-wrapped linen. $250. SOLD.

Before I go, please say a prayer for our friend Gwen Burgess, an oncology nurse who is recovering from some emergency health problems.

And thanx to Handsome Jay, who has been outdoing himself with the beautiful piano music he's been playing for me.

After my last painting I got hit with a virus and "hit the mattress", so to speak. Fortunately I felt much better by the weekend, so we went to visit the girls and their families in Maryland. It was warm, but very pleasant. We stayed with Krista, Carter and Josie, in their newly renovated house. Her kitchen looks like a celebrity chef will appear any second. It's the kitchen of our dreams. Enormous, six-burner stove and a refrigerator that has a motorized shelf that goes up and down so she can reach stuff, it just goes on and on. We went to Ladew Topiary Gardens (compliments of Mary Charlotte Parr, Krista's mom-in-law--thanx MC) on Sunday before it got too hot. It was a fun place and a really nice time.

Jeanie, Derek and the kids came to Krista's later in the afternoon, which was just wonderful.

We had to take an alternate route home because the traffic was horrendous on I-95. The trip was very pleasant.

Yesterday, I saw a new doctor for Lyme disease. I feel really fatigued, but very positive about my visit.

The flowers here are from a plant that my husband Jay got me for my birthday. I love this plant. It's a pretty weird-looking plant, but that's just the kind I really like. The lesson I learned from this painting is that sometimes it's not worth trying to paint something realistically that doesn't look real. I think the same thing also applies to the birthday pastry that Danny gave to me. Still, it is such a cool-looking plant, that I felt like I needed to paint it. I'm happy that I did it. It's all good exercise.

"Burgundy Birthday Callas", 5"x7", oil on linen, $50. SOLD.

I had a wonderful weekend. Jeanie came up early on Saturday and she, Isabella and I spent the day together. We took Isabella for her first full, afternoon tea. She was really cute and loved it.

Jeanie gave me a great pair of gardening gloves that are butterscotch suede with red monogrammed gauntlets, for my birthday...I will be looking like a million bucks out there in the garden...well... at least my hands will.

After Jeanie and Isabella went home, Jay and I got ready to go to dinner, again for my birthday. We went to Gilmore's in West Chester and I got to wear the beautiful new shawl that my friend Gill gave to me. It's so me. A soft, luscious, gauzy, warm garnet-red to brown, wool ombre. Just what I needed for a cool September night out on the town.

I was disappointed with the foie gras appetizer at Gilmores. It was more of a terrine-- cold, bland and it just didn't do it for me. I know I'm spoiled by Joe Frost's, Adam's and Danny's foie gras. I mean they are a really tough act to follow. Jay had the lobster bisque, which was presented very uniquely, but had a strong fishy smell and can't hold a candle to Georges'.

On the other hand, I have never had a better, sweeter, more well-prepared lobster, ever. The leek mashed potatoes it was on were so delicious too. It was truly outstanding. Jay's veal chop was a little chewy, but had good flavor. I also thought the raspberry creme brulee was very good, but Georges' is definitely better.

We stopped off at Georges' after and had a glass of champagne. We came home and Jay played the piano for me and I had a shot of Johnny Walker Gold and that about did me in for my 58th birthday. It was memorable.

On Sunday we went to Chanticleer and sat in the sun and rocked on the chairs on the terrace, up at the mansion. We just talked and relaxed. It was blissful, the only thing missing was music. Another gorgeous day.

I was thrilled when I came home on Friday and was walking into the studio, when I smelled the unmistakable fragrance of a gardenia. I stopped midway in the door, turned around and saw a single blossom hidden among the leaves. I've been wanting to paint another one since the last time my little tree bloomed and finding this one made me so happy. Before I picked it, I thought about how I wanted to paint it. I decided that I wanted to float it in clear glass, so I started searching for a bowl...then I spotted the pair of Riedel burgundy glasses that Danny bought for me for Mother's Day. They hold 37 ounces each, so I knew one would be perfect, to hold the right amount of water in which the gardenia could be viewed above and below.

Since I just bought a whole drawerful of acrylic paints that I've been wanting to try, I did my painting of the day in acrylics. The above is, "Gardenia Floated in a Wine Glass", 8"x10", acrylic on Belgian linen board, $250., framed.SOLD

Since this flower is fading now, I think the next time my gardenia blooms, I'll try it in oils.