Edgar Sawtelle, Not Ordinary

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a wonderfully written book but very perplexing until you find out that it is a retelling of Shakespeare's play Hamlet, a fact which escaped me entirely until I read a review of the book after I had already finished it. That explains the supernatural elements the author uses to advance the story and the ending that leaves you thinking, "what on earth?" There are not too many books that I continue to think about long after I have read them, but this is one of them. The characters are richly drawn and compelling, even the dogs. Edgar Sawtelle is a dog story and I am a sucker for dog stories. Old Yeller. Big Red. Call of the Wild. Just to name a few. The element that makes a dog story great is the relationship between the dog and the human. Because Edgar is mute and communicates with his dogs through sign makes the relationships even more poignant. This is not an ordinary book.

Snow Day and Monday

It is a beautiful snowy morning in the Rocky Mountains. I wanted to follow up on some previous posts. First, the refried bean failure turned out to be the best soup I have ever eaten. No kidding. I don't think I would be able to duplicate the process but even if it was close it would be worth it. If anyone wants to try the refried bean recipe, it can be found at www.cooking-mexican-recipes.com/pinto_bean_recipes.html. If those beans are as good as the soup it would be worth the trouble. I have to eat my words. Do not try the crockpot scenario like I did unless you are trying to make the accidental soup. I also used the roasted garlic chopped up in some homemade guacamole and it was great as well.

Next, I finished the aspen stand watercolor. I ended up using pastels to get the look I wanted which changes this to the mixed media aspen stand. I like this but don't love it. I think I will do it over in acrylics to try and get the concept I originally was after.

Knitting and Beans

I have been trying to keep my knitting projects small in light of the fact that I have two half done afghans that need to be completed. Above is a scarf that I hoped to have done for my daughter for Christmas. Now I'm shooting for before spring. I love the bright colors in this yarn. I wanted the scarf to be on the chunky side so I am knitting with two strands held together using the garter stitch. Previously I had only knit scarves using LionBrand homespun yarn which is so bulky it takes no time at all to knit up a great scarf, especially if you are using big needles. This is a less bulky yarn so the knitting process has been much longer. I'm going to add fringe and maybe look around for some sort of mother of pearlish looking sequins to sew on. Below is a scarf I am working on for myself. You can click on these images to get a better view. This yarn has pretty gray and cream tones in it and is super soft. I thought it would feel good wrapped around my head and neck, which is how I prefer to wear scarves much to my family's embarrassment, especially on days like today when the wind is scourging the mountains at gusts of up to 75 mph. There is nothing more aggravating to me than wearing something itchy around my neck.

The innocent looking legumes up there have been my nemesis for the last couple of days. Driven by the prospect of having the smell of good food bubbling on the stove all day I decided to try my hand at making my own refried beans. I roasted bulbs of garlic, soaked the pinto beans, bought a fresh bay leaf at the supermarket, and stood at the stove adding hot water as it boiled down. After a full day and the beans weren't done, I put them away for the night and then the next morning poured it all into the crockpot so I wouldn't be tied to the stove for another day. Every time I passed the pantry and saw cans of refried beans I would wonder why am I doing this? Long story short, apparently I had added too much water so I gave up on the idea of refried beans, and my husband threw in chunks of the leftover Christmas ham we had thawed out for sandwiches. This new and improved mixture we stored away again last night, and finally will be having ham and pinto bean soup for dinner tonight. As they say in Spain, "no vale la pena", which means making my own refried beans was not worth the trouble.

The World is My Oyster

Oysters are a revered food at our house. I am still basking in the culinary afterglow of our new year's day oyster pie. Years ago I worked at the restaurant Harpoon Louie's in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Their specialty was an oyster pie which I had never heard of before I worked there. Man, was that good. I googled a recipe and after sorting through a bunch found the one that seemed most like I remembered. It is the recipe of the Waterman House & Gardens in Rockland, Maine and can be found at About.com where I got it. The recipe calls for a single pie crust baked over the filling which is placed in a 2 quart dish. I felt like my 2 quart pyrex baking dish wasn't dignified enough for the pie so I searched and found the deep pie dish by Emile Henry pictured here at the local kitchen store. I altered the recipe in one way and that was by using a bottom crust as well as a top. I am a big fan of pie crust. I bake the bottom crust first, then add the cooked filling and bake with the top crust. This is a really delicious meal. We ate all but one piece, which was still delicious the next day when we divvied it up as an appetizer before dinner. It will be hard to wait another year to have this again.

Aspen Stand Watercolor

I'm working on a full sheet watercolor of a stand of aspens. I took this photograph last October. It was early evening and very overcast which is why the light is so flat, but I like the subdued, peaceful look and was inspired to paint it. Below the photograph is the beginning painting. I like the composition but am at an impasse in terms of how I want to bring the color forward. The background has been painted with a beautiful Daniel Smith watercolor called moonglow. It is a dark grayish purple color that has a lovely granular look when it dries. I used new gamboge for the yellow because it is so vibrant. I would like to try to work in some lavender, maybe in the grass and tree trunks. I'll keep you posted as the painting progresses; right now it's time to paint.

New Year. New Blog.

Well it's the first day of 2009 so thought I would give this a shot. I have been trying to figure out how to create the blog page and it looks like it will be a work in progress. The photograph in the header is of the view from my window. I am very fortunate to live surrounded by such beauty. Below is one of the paintings from my 2008 collection. The original is hanging in Pinewood Cabin, our little guest cottage. My intent is to use this blog as an outlet for my thoughts and creations. My house is overrun with paintings I can't let go of, books I'd like to talk about, and half done knitting projects among other things. Additional hobbies include traveling with my rugged outdoorsman husband and kids, gardening, my three cats, and tennis. All of these topics, and I'm sure I'll come up with more. will be up for discussion. Because I have run out of wall space in my house and the cabin, it is time to try to find a market for my paintings. Look for features associated with that endeavor as well. Happy new year everyone.