There's so much going on that I almost didn't make it here again tonight. Last Monday, Jay Jr., Danny and Torrie, invited me to have dinner with them at "Blackfish" in Conshohocken. www.blackfishrestaurant.com Nina was our waitress and did such a great job. The food was everything I had hoped it would be after hearing Jay Jr., Celeste and Danny continually rave about it. It totally lived up to it's reputation. We ordered mostly for the table, so got to taste a good portion of the menu. Being a BYOB takes a little bit of the ouch out of the total. After we left there we went to Theresa's Next Door, which is a guaranteed good time. Jay Sr. joined us and took me home. The rest of the week was really busy with the weather warm-up. I was able to turn on the outside water and scrub out the waterers, etc. Then the 400 lb. feed delivery came and needed to be mixed up and put away. My muscles and joints were singin' all night after that. On a joyful note, our friends Gill and Ian welcomed their new granddaughter Leila into the world. I did a portrait of two of her brothers in 2003, I believe it was. Nicolas and Timothy are on the portrait page. Brother Ben wasn't born yet. Congratulations to the entire family! Today is Krista and Carter's wedding anniversary....I forget which one, maybe 7th? Happy Anniversary Kids! Chicks are still hatching. Two of my own Black Copper Marans chicks hatched. One of them is from my beheaded hen. I hope it's a little pullet. They're really cute. Jay and I took my exhibit down from Burlap and Bean. I sold six pieces which isn't much compared to the Gryphon, but I'm happy with that. The painting "Girls Gone Wild", which I retitled "Cowgirls Gone Wild" left on Friday afternoon. It was sold in December, but since it was an anniversary surprise, I got to keep it longer. I'll miss it, it was definitely one of my favorites. Sadly, our good friend John Lynch lost his Mother last week. She was 94 years old. The service is tomorrow. Finally, while staring at the painting of "Meyer Lemons and Paperwhites", SOLD I realized there wasn't enough contrast, so I reworked it. You compare, but I think the bottle needed to be a little more frosted and the flowers and a few more spots needed stronger highlights. I like it better. There's still a lot more to tell, but my brain is already dozing off without me. 'Nite.

I had another post planned for tonight, but Jay sent this video to me and I'm overcome with emotion. So I'll pass and give you something to really think about.

Have a great weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtweZxNGk1Y&NR=1

Five more chicks hatched between yesterday and today. The Black Copper Marans are really cute, one is black and white and the other two are the color of a sable mink, the rest of the chicks are Cuckoo Marans. I got a call from my friend Jim in Florida tonight. He was outside spraying water on his blueberry bushes to try to save the flowers from burning in the cold snap they're having down there. What a nightmare. He was up all night last night doing the same thing. It's scary when your livelihood depends on the weather. I remember when Jay used to plow snow and it didn't snow all winter. I'm glad he doesn't do that anymore.

The painting tonight is the same mango from yesterday and one of the avocados. The avocado was a little more difficult, because it's really ripe and not as smooth. I just turned the mango upside down for different colors. "Avocado and Mango", 7"x5", oil on Gessobord, $50. Sold.

Well I've gotta go candle some of the Black Copper Marans eggs. I'm praying that they're fertile, so that the poor hen that got killed on Saturday will live on through her chicks.

So we got at least eight inches of snow last night. It was sunny and bright this morning and breathtakingly beautiful. A friend was driving her grandson home from school yesterday and they were discussing how beautiful the snow was and Barbara mentioned how it reminded her of a snow globe when we shake it up. After a little while her grandson said that God probably shakes the world up for us to see it like a snow globe. Barbara reflected on that and decided to take his comment at face value, instead of thinking about earthquakes, etc. Just the beauty of drifting snow flakes, floating to the earth on a snowy day.

I was happy to get in from the bitter cold early tonight and warm up in front of the wood stove. I painted the mango that Jay brought home yesterday. Jay thinks it looks like an animal. "Mango", 6"x6", oil on Gessobord, $75. framed.

Patti La Belle is singing on the radio. Her music brings to mind Budd Ellison, her music director for many years and his wife Barbara. He passed away a few years ago. He was a good friend to Jay and an inspiration to all of us as he battled prostate cancer. Barbara deserves a medal for her dedication and devotion to Budd, not only through his illness, but throughout their lives together. I have to say that she definitely doesn't look any worse for the wear. The woman doesn't have a wrinkle on her face. She's amazing. We miss you Budd.

Well Glen "Hurricane" Schwartz got this one wrong and he was so certain on Sunday night that this snow wouldn't amount to anything. He actually said, "It's not gonna happen" in reference to accumulation. It's not a blizzard or anything, but we have at least four inches. It's gorgeous out there!

I got a phone call from a friend in Florida last night that stopped all painting. We had a lot of chicken stuff to discuss...for a few hours...part of the conversation was the incident on Saturday around noon when a fox came and pulled one of my hens' head off right through the cyclone fence pen. I can't figure out what this fox had to do to lure her, not only to the very front, up against the fence and the only six inch round spot that wasn't covered by net, but also what kept her from stepping back two inches where he couldn't reach her. It was horrific to find her that way. At least he didn't get to eat her. I found a dead fox in the creek yesterday, so I'm wondering if this is the same fox and if it is, could it have had rabies, which would explain it being out in the middle of the day, or for the same scenario, could it have died of starvation? We'll see if it is the same one that's been running all over the place here, marking it's territory and leaving tracks, tomorrow after the snow.

Saturday afternoon I met Mary in Quakertown as I mentioned on Friday. Wow, what an experience that was. I actually got in the trailer with the oxen. I was really scared....they were absolutely gargantuan! I mean the head of one was half the size of my car. Mary's husband, Abe is 5'4" and at least 74. He has these animals under such loving control. He told me to come over and pet the horns on one of the boys, I thought, "you pet his horns", but I did it. These animals are over 6' at the shoulder, the power they possess must be phenomenal. Mary and Abe took them to Quakertown for a lumberjack/logging event. I wished I had seen it, instead I was home shoving a chicken body and it's dismembered head from one of my favorite hens into a bag! Breaks my heart.

Sunday was so warm and beautiful, I went to Home Depot to get some cane fencing as a visual barrier for the pen. I put the headless hen's last eggs in the incubator yesterday with the strong hope that they hatch. We'll know in about three weeks.

Jay and I watched the Superbowl game on Sunday night. Really a great game.

Jay went to the supermarket today and got some avocados and a mango for me to paint. Never did an avocado before and I enjoyed trying to capture the bumpy texture. "Three Avocados",

6"x6", oil on Gessobord, $50. framed. Sold.

Jay just got home. I'm going to go have a glass of wine with him.