Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

Its official, we've had more snow here in Boston this month than all of last year. Its a struggle to figure out where to put all the snow but BOY OH BOY its beautiful.

Last night we celebrated the Winter Solstice with our Emerson Garden Club community (basically the houses and families that surround a small park here in Brookline). We had a Solstice Crawl and moved to three different houses throughout the evening. And we were the first house! Yeah! Party at the Mason's.

Truthfully, for Matt and I, its another opportunity to show off our handy work. We are really enjoying giving everyone the grand tour. Most people can't believe we did it all without an architect. Our real estate agent finally got to see the finished product and we were pleasantly surprised with his new assesment of the house. Woo Hoo...(Although it doesn't matter because I NEVER want to move again!)

The Picture here is actually from our trip to NYC earlier this year. Somewhere in the picture are the girls, Matt and my father-in-law, Jeff. This is at the Womack (sp?) rink in Central Park.

It was just lovely!

I got the rough drafts of my new product packaging for Creative Imaginations and I really like what they came up with! And I can't wait until I can give you more details.

Hope you're all enjoying your holiday's!

And now for something completely different...

I'll have to get my NYC pics from last week posted here later this week. We had a heck of a weekend in the city and finished with a trip to see Golden Compass. Now that I'm back in the studio I'm plugging away at my book which is due next week. Matt and I are trying to decide if we are sending out our annual Christmas Movie or if we are going to try and do a New Years Movie/card instead.

This painting is called Lollipop Forest in Blue No. 1. I painted it during Thanksgiving vacation when I secluded myself from all outside influences and overdosed on parades and the Miracle on 34th street reshowings. I'm really happy with this new direction and plan on trying out some other variations of this theme. They are definitely more painterly and at the same time more abstract--an interesting combination.

I also got this done in time for my show at the Coldwell Banker on Beacon in Brookline. What a success! I sold 6 pieces on the first night! definitely blew me away. I guess that means I'm going to have to paint a lot more for the Brookline Open Studios in April.

The best part of the night was watching Abby and Becky (all dressed up) greeting everyone who came in. So very professional. Some times it really rocks being and artist AND their mom!

Kitchens and Christmas

So, here it is...The Kitchen finished. Well, just about finished, I still have to finish painting the walls. But here it is all cleaned up. Note the Pot Filler faucet over the stove, the Hot water dispenser at the farm house sink, the open shelving for plates and glasses. The cabinets are KraftMaid, semi custom cabinets from Home Depot. It takes a lot of work to make that kind of cabinet look like this! The cabinets are a good quality but to tell the truth, the staff at home depot aren't that used to creating custom kitchens like this, especially in this area where they are usually trying to fit small kitchens into houses turned condo or basements turned apartment. My Home Depot kitchen designer, Aimee Zaslaw is quite a different story. I sketched up this design (generally) and she really made it work with what KraftMaid had to offer. She actually took this picture too when I had her out for lunch to see her work first hand. This is by far my biggest art project--the all consuming task of working on this gut renovation has been outrageously tiresome, worrisome and FABULOUS! If I had the time and the money I would so flip houses. What a rush. I love the house--every inch of it. My mum asked me for some ideas of what I want for Christmas and I couldn't think of anything! I feel so incredibly blessed/lucky this year to have such a wonderful place to live and raise my girls that I couldn't ask for much more! Ok, to be honest I'd like to be able to afford a cleaning lady but its hard to ask your mum for that!

I was listening to the radio a couple weeks ago--must have been npr and I heard a lady talking about a Christmas when her whole family (like 6 kids) decided they would only spend a total of $100 that year. She said it was the best Christmas ever and that they really got creative with their gift giving. Personally I think the whole idea is fun but being the oldest of 6 kids myself, I don't know how they all managed to agree on anything!

I'm knee deep working on my next article for Parts and Parcels on making attachments in mixed media art. If you have any questions on how to attach two things together feel free to email me and I'll try to cover your question in my article.

The other big news is my art show opening at Coldwell Banker Brookline Offices this Thursday night. I hung the show on Saturday and I have to say that my collages look wonder next to Rania's black and white photographs. If you're in the area please stop by and say hi!

Absolutely Unexcusable but I suppose Understandable

Ok, so it's been a little while since I last posted. BUT I've really been busy! I finished up The Cardmaker's Workbook that I've been writing for Quarry. If you like making cards, you're going to love this book! (If I do say so myself). It's not just another book filled with pretty cards, it is a designers workbook and covers all aspects of design from, composition to color, construction to supply inspiration.

My other big project is the carriage house. All 2400 feet of it. And we're finally done. Ok, mostly done. I suppose there will always be somthing left to do. This is a shot of Bec and I in the studio. I was having Matt shoot some pics for the Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine special studio issue and Bec interrupted us. (oh, did I mention that I'm writing a column now for CPS??? Check them out--coming soon is an article on gelatin printing. WHat's that? Guess you'll have to run out and get a copy to see. )

Other big news is a new show opening that I'm in starting this weekend at a branch of the Boston Public Library. See the flyer above.

I've also been busy working on the samples for the packaging of my new product that comes out in February at CHA. Talk about burning the candles at both ends!

I wouldn't say I'm the kind of person who can keep up with a blog. But I endeavor to be that person any way. I think that is probably the reason I have been putting it off (that and being so busy!) But I'm newly committed. Especially since I have so many cool new things coming on the horizon and I don't want you to miss anything!

Now, back to the studio table....

He was nothing if not predictable

Love this piece. Made it with Matt in mind but I'm pretty sure that it speaks to a lot of people. Matt is the ultimate employee. He's been with the same company since he graduated from college even though the company has gone through three (or four) different names. He works well past closing time and is always looking for something new and exciting to bring to the line up. Having said all that, he's not perfect either. Thank God, cause I wouldn't be able to live up to that standard. Even when I'm disappointed by one of his actions, or in actions as the case may be, I'm still comforted by the fact that he is, indeed, predictable. on July 8th, we celebrate our 12th anniversary and I'm quite positive I love him 12x more than I ever did. I love that our relationship is also one of the things that inspires my art.

Today I'm working on finishing up some designs for the new Card Maker's workbook in Illustrator in between watching my nieces and playing with their new puppy. Ah the life. Tomorrow I will be gathering info and writing a really dymystifing piece on working with acrylic glazes for an upcoming issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors. No rest for the weary artist! (I'm really only weary because the puppy keeps waking up the house at 5:15 every morning!)

Four Pretty Blue Eggs

Back in New Hampshire after a lovely trip to Bread Loaf in Middlebury, Vermont. I would complain about the two wrong turns I made that lead me 20 minutes out of the way but I won't because the views were too breath takingly gorgeous to have any reason to be upset. Every minute of the four and 1/2 hour drive was lovely although I'm not sure I could ever live in such a remote area.

I was visiting with my college roommate and favorite poet, Heather Fee while she is in New England attending Bread Loaf. We spent the days catching up (Heather's teaching ESL at Benjamin Franklin International School in Spain) and shopping at barn sales and little art gallerys. I found some more GREAT wooden boxes for my assemblages like the one pictured here. This piece is called Four Pretty Blue Birds and was a hit at the Brookline Open Studios. It was great to have such a great reception for these little story boxes that I created and I look forward to making more. We also came across some new wines that I had never seen. Because I judge a bottle of wine by its label I was entranced by a line of Sideshow wines. I tried to find the link to their website but no luck. But I highly reccomend them as a fun, inexpesive glass of wine for lady's night out.

After long late night talks and multiple bottles of wines we have decided that we'd like to work together some more in the future-her poetry my art.

All-in-all, a lovely weekend with a rarely seen friend who has known me longer than anyone else--even Matt. What a treasure!

Summer Time and the Living is eeeeaaaasy...

Becky's jumping, and the water is cold...

Here we are working from the remote home office on Squam Lake where the hardest decisions to make are whether to jump in the water off the dock or walk in gradually from the beach.

My brother-in-law has it a little harder as he plays single parent for a few days to his 5 year old, potty training 2 year old and a new chocolate lab puppy named Sancho.

Despite all this I am working on new and interesting projects. I just finished the manuscript and art for The Card Makers Workbook (april 2008) and we did our first photo shoot. I'm absolutely loving the shots we got and look forward to teasing you with the new cover once its ready to show off. Now I have to sit in front of the computer and finish the last 30 templates and icons that should be downloadable for the book.

Looks like I may have work as a columnist for one of my favorite magazines real soon as well.

More on all this very soon. Right now I need to go apply sunscreen on the wee ones!

Before...

This is a panorama stitch that Matt took of the new carriage house. if you look straight back, you can see little white rectangles along the back wall. Those were the windows in each of the 6 hours stalls. They used to wash the horses down by the mirror on the left hand side. What does this have to do with my creative work and this blog?? Well, besides taking up a ton of time checking and re-checking my drawings, this is the before picture of my studio! The studio will be on the back left corner of this floor. It will open up to the kitchen on the right side of the studio which will be perfect for art parties and the like.

Yesterday was my birthday and I FINALLY had a chance to go see the Joseph Cornell exhibit in Salem. WOW! It was wonderfully huge and although the lighting was a little dark and a little congested with visitors it still filled me with the desire to get some painting done.

I spent and hour pulling apart on of the old stable walls to use in my art on Friday. It felt good to be destructive. I wasn't sure that I wanted to save it but I did and after going to the Cornell exhibit, I'm glad I did. I think it will end up being both wooden boxes and surfaces to paint. Once the basement is done I'll be able to set up my compound miter saw and get busy constructing!

I really can't wait to try it out.

It will be nice to have a workshop again too. I feel like I've had my hands tied behind my back without all my tools. Did I mention that I'll have a sink in my studio too? and for my birthday, my very favorite "in-laws" have offered to get me an easel! Which I will love and adore but my favorite present was my order by post-it note to STAY IN BED MOM, and my breakfast in bed.

It's good to be the queen.

(at least for a day!)

Time Flies!

I can't believe I haven't blogged in over a month. My sincere appologies. I am still walking Tigger but we are looking for a middle schooler who can eventually take over. I do love walking him though.
School is coming to a close very quickly and it seems that there is some sort of a picnic planned for every day of the next two weeks!

The other big news is that we have finally closed on the carriage house we were planning on buying a couple streets away. We had a big Deconstructionist party and let the kids knock down walls (with safety goggles and masks on). I promise to post some of those pictures when I get them from Matt. We passed papers on June 1st and the entire upstairs was already demoed by yesterday the 4th! The guys on the crew are amazing and we are working on a house blog so that you can follow along with the progress if you're interested. More on that tomorrow.

I am just about done with The Card Maker's Workbook that I'm writing and I must say that I'm pretty happy with it. I'm also happy that the powers that be at Quarry books aren't making me change my whole entire artlog which I had completed before they remembered to tell me that they changed the procedure! YIKES! There are over 150 cards packed into this book and that would have been a lot of renumbering.

I also had a chance to hit the New York Stationery Show for the first time ever and I came across some really great products out there. It makes me want to open a store! I'm spending my time now considering setting up a Designer booth at CHA this year. We'll see how things go this summer and whether or not I can swing it.

Now I'm off to work on a new project and a demo tape...more to follow on that soon, hopefully!

The Wonderful Thing about Tiggers

Meet my new friend Tigger! He is a bundle of joy! Tigger is not mine but once a day I'm lucky enough to get to walk him. He is a helper dog for another new friend of mine and he is very well trained as you can imagine.

Tigg and I go for walks in the morning after I drop off the girls for school and before I get to work.

Speaking of work...I've been busy! I got the new contract from Xyron this week and will be designing new shapes for their Totally Awesome Wishblade system. They have their new designs on-line now. They are working on the basic designs right now but STAY TUNED, the new stuff will knock your socks off.

Also, I'm working against deadlines for my new book on Card Design. More on that in the near future.

And finally, in work mode, I've been getting ready for the very exciting Brookline Artists' Open Studios. I have everything framed and my price list typed up. Just have to get it over to 25 Stanton Road tomorrow afternoon for set up. IF you happen to be in Brookline, be sure to stop by and say hi! If all works out as planned I will be doing some demo's throughout both days as well.

Wondering about the carriage house? We're progressing. Just met this morning (and into the afternoon) with our wonderful Contractor Rob at Stealth Construction. The budget was swirling out of control but together I think the three of us have come up with a very good plan. The excitement is definitely building. We took the girls to go see Are We Done Yet at the movie theater last weekend to give them a sense of what the construction will look like. They were definitely amazed. Abby is looking forward to taking down walls!

Found Art

Horrible Day outside today but I'm sunny inside. Sold one of my old favorite paintings last night. About 6 hours after I hung it in the window of the corner Doc's office to advertise the upcoming Brookline Open Studios Tour at the end of April, I received a lovely email and a request to buy it. This picture here is actually in the Tiemann family collection in Fort Worth, Texas. Just thought I'd post this one. I'm hoping to fill you all in and get you excited about visiting the Open Studio Tours. If you're not near Brookline, MA then I encourage you to check out the Open Studio availability in your town. You never know the great stuff you might see. Its also fun to meet the artist and ask questions.

ENJOY THE ART~

Of Illnesses and deadlines

Wow, it's been a little while eh? Well, my littlest one and I both got a nice case of "maybe" strep. For a week it was a lot of, "ok I feel better!" followed by, "rats my fever is back". I don't know if you'd call that quality time that Abby and I spent together but we watched a lot of home improvement shows! She's already to try her hand at demoing. In the middle of all this Matt had two trips to take and I had some serious deadlines and we had our offer accepted on the little carriage house here in Brookline. Still waiting to finalize the details on the carriage house but Abby and I are better, Matt is home and my deadline was reached! (Ok, I have to ship it out today but it will get there on time!)
Now I have to finish my article for Cloth, Paper, Scissors and then get my butt moving on the new book. Got a lot of stuff bouncing around in my head and now its time to get it all on paper.
Will do my best to blog more often now that I'm not coughin' or contagious!
Oh, and Happy April! (for April Fools day Becky took all the underware out of her daddy's drawer and hid it on her bed under her covers--pretty tricky!)

Spring Fever

Is it too early to have spring fever in Boston? I think not! Some people might point out that I'd already be enjoying this temperature weather if I were still in Texas but what they don't realize is how glorious this weather is to me in stark contrast to the bloody cold days! No offense to the Texans but you just sort of blennnnd into Spring. One day its all brown and mooshy and then one day its not. Here in New England you see the beautiful struggle of life. (I saw this in Michigan too, of course) You see the early bulbs of spring bravely, or maybe foolishly poke their heads out of the frozen tundra to take a deep breath and start their show. The kids are giddy that they can take their coats off at the park. Like their skin has been waiting all these months to breathe!

This painting is 24 x 24 and is aptly titled for this blog The Sound of Spring. I particularly love the old victorian catalog add for flowers peaking thru the layers of glazes like the crocus at my neighbor's house.

Bone Folder vs. Bone folder

So while mum was sitting in my studio yesterday she reminded me of my memorable experience of teaching her friends an art project on one of my last trips to Michigan.

For a mother's day present I offered to teach mum and a room full of her friends a paper craft class. I sent each of the attendees a list of supplies to bring to class like scissors, Pencil, ruler and a bone folder.

As we were starting class I asked everyone to get out their supplies and set them next to their work space. As they started to get set up, one woman said, "I couldn't find a bone folder so I hope this blue folder would do?" The woman next to her handed her a manilla folder and said, "Don't worry, I brought extra bone colored folders, you can have one of mine." And so it went... one by one the women all admitted to thinking that the bone folder on the list referred to a manilla folder, and not a folding tool.

It makes me wonder how many students who are new to the world of paper craft might silently make this innocent mistake.

There may be no stupid questions but there sure are some relatively funny ones!

Thanks to the Michigan ladies for a good laugh and a sincere effort.

It's All Mom's Fault

Well, its not really her fault but its easy to blame her for keeping me busy and away from the computer and my studio. I've parked her in the studio with a pile of fun supplies and we'll see what she comes up with. I'm going to be working on both a new book that has been approved for Quarry books as well as working on a proposal for yet another one!

The other big news is that I've signed a contract with Creative Imaginations for a brand-spankin-new product that I'm licensing! How exciting. It will be ready to go to market at CHA Winter. It sounds like they have some really great new products in the works over there at CI. What I really love is that they are really trying to bridge the Paper gap by catering to both the scrapbooker and the paper artist. Good job guys!

Mum and I went to see Because I Said So yesterday during the day. Funny movie, a little hokey, but funny. Just try to imagine Diane Keaton having sex in a polka dot wedding dress! Mum kept saying that Diane looked so old (in the movie she is turning 60) and she guessed that she must be 75. I guessed 62. I was closer...she's 61. And in my opinion, one classy lady. And an absolutely stunning dresser in this movie. I was definitely inspired by the amazing cakes she bakes in the movie. I'm hoping to pull off some kind of circus tent cake for Abby's 6th birthday this weekend. We'll see.

Now to see if I can focus with mum in the room...wish me luck!

What am I thinking?

Can you imagine this as a family room? Might we be nuts for even considering this place? We traipsed around in the rain and snow today to look at this "carriage house" one more time. The water was pouring into the basement a lot! and a little into the first floor. We might be crazy. The contractor and appraiser came with us so we can see how the numbers look.

Well, thats silly to say because we already know the numbers will look bad...its HOW bad they look as a measure of HOW crazy we are! We definitely aren't having a housewarming party anytime soon~! If not this house, then another one will find us--right??

I've got lots of big things in the works that I want to share but my lips are sealed for a few more days while I wait for contracts to go here and there in the mail. I promise to let you know about them as soon as I can! Mostly because I can't hold in the excitement.

My closing wish for you is to Stay dry! (Which is more than I can say cause my landlords basement has 3 inches of water in it thru which I must traipse if I want to have clean clothes before you know who's plane lands tomorrow! I'm not complaining! We realized that there was water just minutes after she lent me the keys to the spare car. What a landlord!)

Living a Lie

Tuesday is "clean the house mom is coming day".

Wednesday is "clean the house mom is coming and Tuesday was not the day it was supposed to be day."

Thursday (today) is "clean the house cause you never got to it Tuesday or Wednesday and you only really have one more day to procrastinate before mom comes day"

so, guess what I'm doing now? Yep, working in the studio. Not even CLEANING the studio. I am basking in my creative filth. Starting a new project while three others stare at me in disbelief...

I spent the morning cutting unknown men into little pieces so I could put them back together again. Ya know what I'm finding? I am NOT all the kings horses NOR all the kings men. But not to worry, my gel medium and I will put them together again.

I'm just following a creative gut feeling that told me to go cut up pictures and now I'm searching for my muse who MUST be hiding under the pile of dirt that I swept into a pile but not into a dustpan. Maybe if I sit quietly I will be able to hear her cries for help or sneezing from the dust.

I really love the creative process, I really don't like cleaning the house. When people come over (announced) I make an effort to clean the house so that they might THINK that I like to clean. What a Lie! A wise person once told me that when you are really bad at one aspect of life it usually means you really excel at another aspect. I'd like to think that I'm really bad at housecleaning so I must be really exceptional at all things creative. But what I worry about is that I am really bad at housecleaning and I excel at not getting any better at it!

Ok, I think I hear museykins...must go dust her off (and make the guest bed)

Snowmen and Sunshine!

Have you ever had just a glorious day even though you didn't really get anything on your to-do list done?

Today was one of those days for me. Karin, one of my new Brookline friends sent me this picture of her family's first snowman using a snowman making kit I gave her family this Christmas. Very dapper don't you think??

The sun was shinning today in a way that made us just stop and look up and bask in it...fully clothed in boots, neck warmer, gloves and ear muffs of course!

I played hookey from the studio for a little and had a lovely breakfast with my dear friend Martha who is still recovering from an awesome job as co-director of our elementary school's auction and teacher appreciation dinner. I think she should be back to normal soon.

My mum is coming on Saturday so I feel like I should be taking before and after pictures of my dirty house. I try to reassure my friends when they have jealous pangs in regards to my artistic skills and I tell them that I am REALLY bad at keeping a clean house! Off to sweep and dust!

Power Surge

Have you had one of those days where it felt like even the power company was working against you? Today I had to make two important business calls to California but because I'm on the east coast I had to wait until after noonish to call. When did the power go out at our house?? a little after noonish. When did the power go back on??? just minutes before I had to go pick up the kids!

I'm not REALLY complaining though. I did get to spend some time working on three different pieces consecutively! When I get them done I will post them here. One involves a fig and another drinking straws....are you curious!?

This piece is called "the three year itch". A family member who shall remain nameless is the inspiration for this piece. In the upper left corner it says... "she moved every three years so that she didn't have to clean the oven". I know it seems like "I" might be the inspiration for this since I seem to move every 2 or 3 years but I don't really use my oven so I can go a full 5 or 6 years! This is one in a series of "house therapy" pieces that I'm working on while we search for affordable housing here in Brookline. I may have to resort to shoveling snow for old widows or widowers in hopes of getting them to leave me their house in their will!

The last 10%

Sometimes I struggle with the last 10% of whatever needs to be done. Take these pieces to the left here. I finished them at the end of last year (2006). I had the frames and everything but I could never seem to find the time to put them INTO the frames.

First I couldn't find space on my desk, then I couldn't find my windex wipes to clean the glass, then I couldn't remember where I put my studio hammer to hammer the hanger in the back...and so on.

I'm working on getting that big old scary 10% done this month and the beginning of next so that I'm all ready for my first "Open Studios". I'll be exhibiting with 3 other artists in one of their HUGE houses because I'm not quite sure where I may be at the end of April, house-wise that is.

These little collages are little gems with the frames measuring about 5" x 5". I loved working at this size but now I'm trying to work on the opposite end of the spectrum thinking big, like 24" or 36". Maybe one day I'll have the guts to work even bigger but the challenge there is finding found objects that work at that scale. My new mixed media friend John (aka fred) is struggling with the same issues. His work is terrific and he lives right around the bend in the road.

I'm playing with the thought of gathering a bunch of mixed media artists for an exhibit called "mixed messages" or something like that. It would be a compilation of mixed media art with some interesting questions and answers, interactive elements and a guide for families and children. Yeah right, in my free time.

Until then I need to fix the little ones some lunch before we drag them to yet another open house. Going to open houses seems to be a sort of sport for the people of Brookline, MA. Even the people who own houses and have no intention of moving go to them! What a weird set up!

she paid her dues

Ahhhh, to be home again....

And see? I'm still blogging! Two days in a row!

I'm working on adding a Cafe Press link on my website right now (or should I say my loverly husband is working on it for me??-I always struggle with the fine line between interesting information and TMI!) Once its up you will be able to order actual art work on actual items but I vow, right here and now, you WILL NOT be able to order my art on a "classic thong"--at least not until pigs fly.

I love this piece and when I don't have something important to say here on my blog I'll share some recent artwork instead. I'd love to know what you think? It measures 5" x 5" and is a lino-print/mixed media collage. It is titled "she paid her dues."

I love that we came home one and a half days early from vacation. Don't you hate having coming home from vacation transition immediately back into realty?

Tomorrow I'm going to have an interesting walk to the grocery store. Poor Matt ruined his perfect driving record and got in an accident on Valentines day in the first storm of the season so we are currently without transportation. I think I will only buy light things on this trip since I have to lug them all home.

Family anecdote: While my husband and I were sharing a hot tub soak with my littlest one (almost 6 yrs) I told her she could have a sip of my cold drink if she served as our marriage counselor. (I know, what a weird request but you have to know Abby to understand).

Abby: Ok mom, what is one of your complaints about daddy.

Me: Well, I don't like it that Daddy doesn't get me flowers that much and when I buy flowers for myself Daddy always says "Oh, I was going to get you flowers today but you already got yourself some"

Abby: Ok, mom, here is the trick...Daddy, cover your ears and sing something so you can't hear me.... Ok, mom, you use your confidence AND sound a little sad, even if you're not and you trick him and say: Today is our anniversary and I really wish you had gotten me some flowers.

Me: but it isn't our anniversary

Abby: I know, that is the TRICK!

Smart girl, eh?

I'm back, AGAIN!

You may notice that it's been about a year since my last post. My alert MIL noticed too! I'd like to state that I started my first blog before it was hip and before anyone knew what a blog was, but I digress.

I am back and rededicated to bloging--at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Of course today was the one day that we didn't check the weather so we were on the slopes for a brief time and had to have multiple stops for hot chocolate to warm back up with the 40 mph winds trying to defeat our winter spirit!

Today was the last day on the slopes at Okemo, VT and tomorrow it's back to Brookline and my studio. I've had a little time to sketch and I have some fun pieces I'm looking forward to painting once I get back including using a new (old) wooden box that I found at a local antique store.

The picture above is one of my girls with my MIL on a snowshoe expedition that led us to a mostly frozen waterfall. We shoveled away the snow from the icy pour-over and when we stood very quietly we could still here the water rushing over the waterfall safely encased in the icy blanket. So tranquil that even Becky thought it was a good reason to just sit still for a moment.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love being back where the seasons are so beautiful?