Well I put the night camera out again last night. The raccoon showed up first, then the fox a couple of hours later. Then they both were here at all different times with the raccoon ending about 5:30 this morning. This is really fun. The painting is of one of the frogs in my pond. He wasn't as hard as I thought he'd be to paint. "Frog in My Pond", 6"x6", oil on board, $50., framed. Sold More chix are hatching and they're really growing fast. Jay and I watched KULTURE'S "Rossetti" last night what a talent and what a waste. He died young because he was an alcoholic and drug addict, so was his wife, well, she was a drug addict. His paintings are incredible. Tonight we're going to watch another movie about a sculptor. I'll let you know how I liked it.

Click on the link before you read the rest of my post. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=124945&id=623327037 Someone on FaceBook posted this link, but it's not what I want you to see. You may have to be a member of FaceBook to view it. When you click on the link it'll take you to Ute's page. Scroll down a bit 'til you come to a link and click on that. Hopefully you'll see the video. If that doesn't work, go to my FaceBook page and scroll down 'til you get to posts from this morning. You'll see the square/rectangle for the video. Let me know if you need help. Being 60 and only knowing the Black Eyed Peas from the "Boom Boom" song and that, only because Isabella loves to dance to it. I've never seen what they look like, so when I watched the video this morning I thought it was ridiculous that a band that looked like they do, would be singing that lame song. Then when girl in the purple shirt started the annoying dance, I rolled my eyes and was about to turn it off. Just goes to show you what I know. Tonight I made rabbit, which I do a lot. I haven't made this recipe for many years. It has a tarragon mustard cream sauce. I also used wild mushrooms, pinot grigio and sparkling wine. I'm glad there are leftovers. I'm going up to watch an art documentary with Jay. Blogger won't let me upload images tonight...it is that time of the month for Blogger. I see a pattern/cycle here. Anyone else have this problem?

My sister Amy's birthday was on Friday. Yes, she's younger than me. Hope your birthday was wonderful Amy, many more. Jay sent this link in an email to me http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaf03z_dating-montage_creation what can I say? The weekend went fast with Jeanie and the kids. We went to Chanticleer, but mostly hung out here. Jay and I watched movies with the kids. It was a good time. We didn't want them to leave and they didn't want to leave, sniff... Yesterday morning when I went to let the chickens out, I noticed a lot of things out of order, that and the missing pig head concerned me, so I set up the night camera. The photo above is of our resident female fox. The aluminum pan held lobster and prawn shells from a delicious seafood pasta dinner that Danny made last night. I love the fact that the camera tells me what time the shot was taken the date, time and the temperature. I have a couple of paintings finished, but I'll post one tomorrow night.

Early in the spring, Jonah and I went to Pickering Valley Feed and Seed to get feed and water plants for the pond. They have a great selection so we got what they called "Salad" for the fish, which took them all summer to eat. Jonah spotted some tadpoles so we got three and put them in the pond. They slowly developed their arms and legs as their tails shrunk. Jay Sr. stepped on one in the path. It couldn't get away fast enough with it's newly emerged limbs, but the other two are doing great and have gotten really big. The watercolor above was painted over two months ago while we sat outdoors by the pond. I'm also working on an oil of one of the frogs. This one is titled "Frogs in My Pond", watercolor on Moleskine watercolor paper, apprx. 6"x8", $50. framed. Sold. Jeanie drove up from Maryland with her three kids and Josie to stay the weekend. The kids are all sleeping. One of the children in Gabriel's grade has been officially diagnosed with the Swine Flu. I think I'm going to go to bed to keep my resistance up.

I mentioned before that my Aunt Jeannie gave me the book "Julie and Julia" and that I was surprised that it was made into a movie. I didn't feel that it was a strong enough story. I realize that the actual blog/cooking thing got a lot of coverage from the media, which I thought it deserved, but I felt a movie was stretching it. The movie however, is more about Julia and I loved it. It intrigued me so much that I bought the book "My Life in France", by Julia Child and her husband's nephew, whose name escapes me right now, but the last name is the same as the Cajun chef, Paul Prud...something or other. I'm only a little into it, but I'm impressed with her writing and really enjoying the book. It's a fun, easy read. Just so you know, I actually am constructing paragraphs on this blog, but blogger just runs everything together. At least it's not inserting those weird A things anymore. The painting above is of white Saturn peaches. They were a pleasure to paint and to eat. "Two Saturn Peaches", 6"x6", oil on board, $50., framed. SOLD I have several pieces that I'm working on, including a pet portrait. There will be my usual exhibit at The Gryphon Cafe' in December and hopefully something in November. When we get a pig for porchetta from Esposito's they always bring the head with it. The head has a cross cut on the forehead between the eyes. They actually bless the pig before cooking it. Well, after the party it was left out and something took it. The head was pretty big, so I'm trying to imagine what could have carried it away.....scary. I hope whatever it was it didn't drop it and leave it in someone's yard!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER, MY SON JAY. He was born the day after my birthday in 1977. It was a brutal labor and delivery. During labor I asked for drugs and they wouldn't give me any because of some complications that the doctor wouldn't tell me about, so I told Jay Sr. to go out and get me some drugs. When he was down the hall I started yelling for him to "get back here"! I was slightly conflicted. They knocked me out right before Jay was born and when I woke up I was still on the delivery table. Jay Sr. had his head on me and was crying. He told me we had a son and I was so elated that I was trying to shout it out to the world, but from moaning for so many hours in labor, I couldn't get any sound out. That hospital was really creepy. While I was there, I woke up in the middle of the night and there were women of all ages, but mostly teenagers, standing in line out in the hallway with hospital gowns on whispering to each other. The staff was moving them along. It didn't take long to realize that the woman were mentally challenged. What was worse was that they were from a nearby institution and at the hospital for abortions. I try not to think about it, but it still haunts me. Anyway, the happiest part was when I woke up in my room after Jay was born and the nurse was at the foot of my bed holding a baby. I didn't realize that he was mine, but thought he was so beautiful and asked her if she didn't think so too. She said yes, then told me he was mine. I really felt like I won the prize. I still feel that way, but even more so 32 years later. Happy Birthday Jay, I'm so proud of you and I love you. We've had a lot of stuff transpire in the past month. I wouldn't say we're the better for it though. Dolores' mother passed away a week after Lisa's death. Then a friend Bobby Wolter died a few days later. He was 28 and Jay played music with him. Bobby was a drummer. He died from Cystic Fibrosis. I can't even go there except to say that there was a blog that he and another Cystic Fibrosis victim Brian had, called "Bobby and Brian Speak". So incredibly sad. I haven't had any revelations that make any sense of all of this. Sorry, no answers. I've spent a lot of evenings with Jay watching movies, it's a good escape for me and a luxury for us. Now that teaching is getting back into gear, I see much less of him. I read until the book falls out of my hand at bedtime. I can't stand to be still and awake enough to think. I pray, but eventually the horrors, both real and exaggerated, come seeping in and then I can't sleep until the sun starts coming up. Plenty of chicken stuff going on, new chix hatching, big chix going to new homes. Another raccoon has been around stealing chix and Chanticleer. I think I've gotten the pens covered securely, but he must have gotten them before they went to bed and were out unprotected. I went searching for Chanticleer at bedtime, but never found him. Such a heartbreak, he was a very sweet boy. New, local chicken friends are making the whole chicken adventure so much more fun. I'm a big fan of the urban chicken movement. I hear thunder, more rain. It pretty much wrecked the vegetable and flower gardens this year. The tomatoes rotted, the hot peppers were barely there. We got a few okra and cucumbers. All of it tasted delicious, but the combination of too little sun and too much rain, just messed it all up. I am grateful for what we had/have. Those tomato sandwich lunches are still tasty. We haven't been out to dinner too much. Trying to save for the big 6-0 birthday party. It was on Sunday. We had over a hundred friends and relatives come to share in the celebration. What a great time, it definitely made turning 60 worth it. We did our traditional porchetta/pig roast which we always get from Esposito's. We've never been disappointed. My neighbor Sharon works for Elegance Bakery and she made the buttercream cake. It had little rabbits, chickens and eggs on it. My next door neighbor took her cue from my email signature, which is a quote from N.C. Wyeth, "If you can draw an egg, you can draw anything". So she was dressed as a Victorian artist and was walking around drawing on an egg. I haven't even opened my cards and presents yet. I'm still putting stuff back where it belongs. I think one more day and it will be done and then I'll have to clean again. Isabella stayed and we had to paint, play and shop for toys, so that was an excuse, but I took her back to Maryland today. Marie and Steve Martorano came to the party and Marie took pictures. Jeanie decided that she needed to sit on my lap and Marie got the photo. So for tonight, I'll leave you with that. My eye is red because I was putting up screening on the chicken pen and I pulled on the reed fence and it hit me in the eye. It's much better now.