Alpine Christmas

Outdoor beer garden... Edelweiss flowers painted to the right!

Town Christmas tree... sorry for the blur

Nordic skier of times past

We took a quick jaunt to a lovely little town called Leavenworth, WA. It was in the height of Christmas and oh so beautiful. It was patterned after a Bavarian Alps village in the 1960s and has a few ski areas close by.

I'll share more night scenes soon... not sure if I'll be posting here before the new year or not. Either way, have a wonderful holiday! (I'm off to plan my Christmas dinner shopping list- an old fashioned English Christmas this year... roast beef with Yorkshire pudding... trimmings and trifle for dessert! - with the help of my mom, of course - she's the real cook around here.)

Marley's Laurel

This is about as Christmas-y as I'm getting this year in my art!

Here are a few new woodblocks that have just landed in the shop this evening. It's been a long time between updates over there!

I've been carving a lot the past few weeks and stayed home from yoga this morning after pre-school drop off just to stay home and print. Sweet moments of art and silence!!! (besides listening to NPR's On Point) I'll be sharing the fruits of this morning just as soon as the ink dries. (and then I can paint 'em)

It has been bitter cold around here - but there's an air inversion and therefore, a burn ban. How I'd love to sit in front of a cozy fire right now. Hope you are warm and happy where ever you are tonight.

Celebrate the Solstice!

We are getting ready for Christmas at our house... and taking in all the sights around town. The Christmas lights are at the Geyser Conservatory at Manito Gardens - an annual must see if you are near Spokane. This year they were handing out free banana splits to eat inside! We have plenty of snow - it's clear and cold. Should be good viewing of the LUNAR ECLIPSE tonight! (we are so excited to see this - and the fact it's on winter solstice makes it all the more magical).

Last night was the school Santa story time event where the school logo Christmas ornaments I made were sold... next year we'll have to start selling them around black Friday! But, we did sell a lot and it all goes to the school. Glad to be done with that project... it was a bigger one than I had imagined - but well worth it :)

The cinnamon buns are my first attempt... I'm so excited to have made a successful batch. We'll be eating them on Christmas morning. (fresh, of course:) Just a little more wrapping to do - in secret, some baking and we'll be all set. The girls in the family are making homemade lip gloss for the first time (we have some serious lip gloss users around here) just as soon as the mail man brings us the little tins! Tonight we're having a Solstice party with a big fire, pizza and chocolate chip cookie dough pie. Yum.

Have a great day and enjoy... whatever you are celebrating :)

Merry Christmas to All!

Here, have a cookie! Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas today... we have lots of sunshine and no snow, hooray! Have a blessed night.

Holidays at Geyser Conservatory

A lovely sight at the Geyser Conservatory in Manito park. Every holiday season they deck the plants with zillions of lights and keep the doors open late into the night. It is the stuff dreams and memories are made of. The photos don't really do the place justice but here are a few I'd like to share with you. Hope your Holidays are happily underway. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas... Happy Hanukkah

Our neighborhood is under a blanket of snow... here are a few scenes with some beautiful sunlight. Hope you are all having a great holiday, however and what ever you may be celebrating. We are all happily together, playing with new toys and hanging out together in our cozy house... Happy Christmas night.