"Conversing" with my Aunt Jeannie today via email, I realized how smitten I am with the white Saturn peaches. Really, you have try them. They are so sweet and ridiculously juicy. You'll need to have a paper towel under your chin to eat one because a napkin wouldn't be enough to catch the amount of juice that will surprise you on the first bite. They will be so fragrant when they're ripe, you won't have to guess. I got them at Whole Foods, so if you have one near you, now is the time to shop for them. My Aunt suggested juicing some for Bellinis. Can you imagine how wonderful that would be? I'm going to have to look into it. For today the egg at right is a turkey egg. Twice the size of chicken eggs with a pale background and zillions of tiny specks. Since I have the turkey eggs and you haven't seen one of them yet, I decided to introduce one in the ethereal mode. There are other ideas to present them in a lighter mood. Therefore, this one is "Ethereal Turkey Egg", 6"x8", oil ,on deep, gallery-wrapped canvas. $50. framed. Sold. I believe I like the square format better for this themed egg. To continue with last weekend, Saturday, Jeanie ran around like crazy and did all of the food shopping. Then we prepared for the Father's Day celebration, after which Jeanie and I watched "Because I Said So". No big deal. Jay Sr. had a 60th birthday gig. It was wonderful just to sit next to Jeanie and have quiet. That's rare with the children around. My brother Pat arrived around midnight and we sat and talked with him for a bit. It's always so comforting to have him here. It always feels like something big is missing when he's not.

It's hard to believe that I last posted a week ago. It's been a non-stop week and pretty great at that. First off I'd like to report that the Three Little Pigs reception was a success. I'm thrilled with the turnout--best ever. Thank you so much to everyone for your time, attendance and purchases. There were twelve paintings sold. I am very grateful to everyone; old and new patrons alike. And for all of you artists out there, the Three Little Pigs doesn't take a commission! Just contact Sheila at http://www.threelittlepigswc.com/ and tell her I sent you. It's a really nice venue and they're wonderful to work with, plus, they make terrific food. I had them cater the reception and not only did they save me a ton of stress and work, but they also made the egg-themed menu that I wanted. It was a delight to work with them. Another huge thanks goes out to Ron Parker, Vince Long and my lovable husband Jay, for the phenomenal performance and choice of music, which added the perfect touch to the reception....yes, of course they played "Soul Eyes" for me. The painting di giorno, or daily painting is titled "Welsummer Egg & White Saturn Peach", oil on 6"x4" , deep, gallery-wrapped canvas. SOLD. It was actually painted yesterday, but I needed to turn off the computer due to severe thunder storms. Since I never painted a peach before, about half way through, I didn't think I was going to be able to describe the peach fuzz look. I was so happy to see it finally develop. It was also absolutely delicious to eat the peach as a reward for persevering and finishing the painting. More tomorrow.

First I'd like to introduce you to the painting di giorno or painting of the day and another new type of egg. This egg is a Marans Egg. The chickens were developed in France. I've been on a mission to get some of this type of chicken. It's tough to get good ones that produce the desirable, really dark eggs.

This egg is almost chocolate brown and I got six of them from Will Morrow. They are speckled, but very finely, which is subtle on some eggs and barely visible on this egg. I love the shape of this egg as well. Far from perfect, which gives it character. I love it.

"Ethereal Marans Egg", 6"x6", oil on canvas, $50. framed.SOLD

I won't be able to paint until next week as the weekend is loaded with wonderful stuff. The plan is for Gabriel to stay after the weekend and spend some time with me next week. He likes to paint also, so I know we'll have fun.

I hope you enjoy your weekend. I'll give you the full report as soon as I can.

The big storm last night brought a perfectly beautiful day today. So nice not to have to water the plants.

The painting di giorno is of three quail eggs, titled "Ethereal Quail Eggs Ascending", 6"x6", oil on canvas, $50. SOLD. This will also go in the exhibit at The Three Little Pigs, in West Chester. The Friday night artist's reception (from 7 to 10 PM) is a couple of days away. I'm very excited about it. I definitely think the paintings look better in person. If you need directions or more info, just click on

http://www.thethreelittlepigswc.com/

We'll have some finger foods, wine, etc. and Jay Sr. is going to team up with Ron Parker and a bassist for some live music. If you need help shoot me an email.

Saturday when we went to Maryland, Krista and Carter took us to an Afghani restaurant near the Baltimore Club. My favorite dish was the baby pumpkin with a garlicky, mint, yogurt sauce. Really tasty.

We stayed at a gardener's cottage next door to Krista and Carter's cottage on Halcyon Farm, near Krista and Carter's house in Owings Mills. They're place is being renovated, so the owner of Halcyon Horse Farm, Stiles Colwill, is letting them use one of the cottages on the property. What an incredible place. I should have taken pictures of it. Just acres and acres of lush and beautifully fenced and maintained pastures with mature trees bordering it. Truly magnificent. The ride home on Sunday was brutal. There were four accidents on I-95. The reward was the sight of a handsome fox trotting along a fence line when we got off at the Devon Park exit of route 202.

I hope every father had the kind of day he wanted. It was weird not having to worry about what I was going to get for, or do with my father. We're celebrating Father's Day this Sunday for Jay Sr., my brother Pat, who is coming up from Florida, as well as Carter and Derek. All of them wonderful fathers.

Time to go lock up the chickens.

Enjoy your night.

We've got a bad thunderstorm going on, but the rain is really needed. The painting di giorno at right is of another Welsummer egg, titled "Ethereal Welsummer Egg", 6"x6", oil on canvas, $50. framed. SOLD. This series will continue for awhile as it's comforting and also as I mentioned with the first one, it feels spiritual to me.

I have family and friends that are suffering.

My Uncle Nickie is gravely ill. My heart is so heavy for him, my aunt and cousins.

Friends, Pam and Rob Davis from Myrtle Beach, SC, lost two of their older dogs within a couple of days of each other. Both from natural causes, but unexpected and so sad. Please remember all of them in your prayers.

We went to Erica Brown's opening at the Barnstone Gallery in Phoenixville on Friday night. It was great and Erica's work, as always was amazing. No wonder it was chosen for this impressive juried exhibit. She had three pieces up and sold one while I was there. No surprise. I also got to finally meet her parents. She has her mother's incredible eyes. Get in to see the work if possible. It's very varied and of the highest caliber. Click on the link for more info. http://www.barnstonegallery.com/ I'm actually going back to look at the work again. I didn't get to see as much as I wanted. It's such a beautiful space. I bought some earrings that I love.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about the weekend.

The painting di giorno, "ACROBATIC WELSUMMER EGGS", 6"x8" oil on deep, gallery-wrapped canvas, $75. framed, at right, is something different in a few

ways. First these are eggs that I've never painted before. They're Welsummer eggs. The Welsummer, is a large chicken originally from Holland and they lay darker brown, speckled eggs. Darker brown meaning darker than regular store bought brown eggs. They are also more orange colored. The freckles vary a lot from egg to egg. These eggs also came from Will Morrow of Whitmore Farms in Maryland.

Secondly, this is the first painting of suspended eggs.

I wanted to paint them in all different positions, but not on their side as usual. So I just imagined them suspended and painted them that way. I initially thought they started to look like they were all falling out of the carton and going to crash, but then I just decided that they were acrobatic since I have no intention of letting them break. The light reminds me of spotlights, like a circus................................

Danny, Laura and Enrico came in over an hour ago and I got distracted talking to them, so now we're going to have some tomato salad.

'Nite.

Since I've been out today and tonight, the final details on my painting di giorno have

not been added, so I'll tell you a Florida

story.

On our last morning there, we decided to check out Honeymoon Beach in Dunedin.

Apparently it's the 2nd highest rated beach in the US, with only Hawaii having better beaches. Why? I don't know. I thought Caladesi was much better, but that's not relevant.

Jay did a very short term rental on a beach umbrella and and chairs. So he sat and watched me shelling at the water's edge. About 20 feet from me, were two children in the water--a boy and a girl about 7 and 10 respectively, they started screaming, "what is that-what is that"? It was fairly big, I could only see a shadow, but it wasn't streamlined like a shark or dolphin. I didn't know what to do. Drop my camera? Run into the water with it and beat the shark in the face? Thankfully their grandfather ran into the water to save them. He thought it was a dolphin, the kids thought it was a shark. Then the boy shouted "it's a manatee"! He was right, it was. Then the little girl yelled, "it's touching my foot"! Can you imagine? That is truly one of the most exciting things that I've seen happen in a long time. Apparently it was a young manatee that wanted to play. How wonderful. It never really surfaced out of the water, but you can see it's shadow in the lower right portion of the photo above.

What a blessing.

Tomorrow. another finished daily painting.

The painting at right is of an Ameraucana egg. It's one from Will Morrow. Now I have eggs this color from my own hens, but this one got my attention for no reason.

Painting again was a spiritual experience, so here is "Ethereal Ameraucana Egg", 6"x6", oil on canvas, $50. Lots of symbolism here. SOLD

It's great to be back at it with John Coltrane keeping me company tonight.

The photo at right is of Jay while we waited for the ferry to take us from Caladesi Island back to Dunedin. Doesn't he look so cool and relaxed?

I'm surprised you can't see the Lovebugs all over the place. Unfortunately, we were there for their spring flight. What a mess! By the time we drove from Fort Meyers to Dunedin we could barely see through the windshield. It sure gives everyone something to talk about. At least they don't bite or sting.

Today I picked enough snow peas to make a salad of just them for the main ingredient. They're tender and sweet. I mixed in some mint and baby scallions. Very refreshing. I released about 4500 ladybugs last night before dark. They look like they're marching to war when they're released and on their way to seeking food. I saw some of them doing their job among the roses, basil and Swiss chard that the bad bugs are chewing up. They methodically search leaves up, down and around looking for aphids and other pests. It's a wonderful sight.

I saw my first lightning bugs/fireflies on Friday night. They're way up high in the trees, not near the ground yet. In about a month they'll make the trees look like they have little white twinkling lights all over them.

I have a painting started of an egg from Will Morrow of Whitmore Farm-- www.whitmorefarm.com in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He sent me an assortment of 22 incredibly beautiful and unique eggs. The feeling of getting brushes ready and putting paint on a palette has such a quiet thrill to it. Just the same it's almost electrical. I was so happy to get started again.

Well Jay's home, so I'll work on the painting again tomorrow.

Sleep tight.

The grandchildren are gone, it's chilly and rainy. It's Monday night and as the professor said in "Moonstruck", this week "holds as much promise as moonlight in a martini". For me, that means since my life will calm down, only by very little, for the next few days, I will get to paint and that is always promising. This past week I worked on the vegetable garden and it's beautiful. I don't get full sun so my plants are smaller, less productive and mature much later, but I'll take what I can get. I like to add flowers all summer,but most are in and they are lovely. The pond is finished and the three new koi, one little calico comet and two big goldfish with the addition of the four minnows that I got for the tree frog to eat, are all thriving and happy. The chicks and little quail are now living outside--boy are they messy! Two new litters-10 total--of bunnies are here. Josh Komorowski--formerly the lead singer of "Love Syndicate"--got married to a wonderful girl, Lauren Younger this past Saturday. Great wedding and reception. Isabella and Jonah went with us, while their mom, my daughter Jeanie and their brother Gabriel went to visit my brother Pat in Florida. We didn't stay at the wedding reception too long since we had them with us and also because I got bit by another tick, but got back on antibiotics immediately. Still I'm having bad joint pain again. In any case the Komorowski Silent Auction Benefit came down early yesterday morning. I don't know the numbers yet, but it looks promising. Yesterday afternoon we did a last minute, "Last" supper for the Sopranos last show. There were about 20 of us and we did a very Italian menu,down to the desserts from Termini's Bakery. I won't even get into the show, but we really had fun. Our neighbors (Pat Jordan and Rich Alliger) are both actors and Joey Perillo, who played John Stefano in the series is their friend. They tried to get him to make a surprise appearance, but I'm sure on the night of the last show he had other, more important places to be. We did get a lot of mileage out of the almost happening though. At least Pat and Rich were there to verify our story. At midnight, a good friend and great guy, Enrico Gammalinda turned 47. He looks at least 10 years younger. We sang Happy Birthday and toasted with an outstanding cognac that he brought. Jay played some Beatles for him and of course "Soul Eyes" for me. At 2am, with people still in the kitchen, Jay and I hit the sheets. I finally got a card reader for my digital film, consequently, above is a photo from Florida. We took a ferry from Dunedin over to Caladesi Island and this is one of the signs that greets you when you arrive. We still went to the beach and encountered the absolutely, most crystal clear water I've ever seen. You can actually shell in the water with no problem. Did you see the clouds today? While driving to the airport to get Jeanie and Gabriel, I saw what looked like clouds from some of the Hudson River School paintings. Misty, moody and brilliant all at the same time. I believe they'll be like that the rest of the week. Take time to notice them. You'll be impressed.

How did you like the video from yesterday? Click on the link in yesterday's blog to view it. It's haunting me. I know I really need to get back to painting ASAP when something moves me like that video. It provoked such strong emotions. First I was so struck at the seamless, technical mastery and beauty of it. Then just the true appreciation of each piece of work. The expressions of the sitters--cool, aloof, staid, poised, formal, proud, sincere, haughty, innocent, flirtatious, kind, all so lovely. I caught myself smiling and watched it over and over, during which I was humbled, almost saddened. Then the realization that I have hope in the time that I have left, to do my work, masterpiece or not. I need to get busy and paint the visions in my head.

It is SO good to be home. We returned late on Monday after an easy flight out of Tampa. I've spent the week trying to catch up on getting the animals back to normal, shopping for plants and putting the rest of my vegetable garden in and planting flowers that have been sitting patiently in their pots. Even in the heat it feels wonderful to be able to work hard at gardening. I used to be able to lift 50 lb. feed bags easily and 100 lb. bags with difficulty, now I'm really struggling with the 50 lb. bags. I think by the end of the summer I'll be able to lift them easily again. I had to come in early tonight because it's raining and getting dark early. I can't take another mosquito bite or I'll need a blood transfusion! I have a great story from my trip to Florida, but it'll have to wait until I get a new card reader for my digital compact flash cards. I hope to be painting again next week. Jeanie and her kids are coming to spend the night tomorrow. Her grade-school friend Amne Shipley is also coming to visit with her baby Taylor Grace. Can't wait. I do have a special treat for you to see. My next door neighbor, Pat Jordan sent it to me. It's just amazing, enjoy it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUDIoN-_Hxs