It's cold in this house but we're warmly wishing you a merry and a happy. I'll share my favorite old xmas-y picture...a snowfamily in a truck in little five points in Atlanta a bunch a years ago.

You prob'ly will also enjoy Keri's guerrilla Xmas ideasAnd how
Anna's post gives great insight on how a group of artists look at political art. All sorts of good stuff lurks on the web, and more is in my attic studio and in little conversations with all sorts of people. So, I'll share more soon, when it's warmer.
Make good, work for peace, be nice and have a wonderful holiday,
love,
Rachael

Happy winter, happy cold, happy re-growth, happy keeping warm. It's been a while since I posted a painting and even though this is an oldie, it seems to fit as I see snowflakes falling and I am still reading about gardens...

You can look at the weeds in New Jersey here. Botanical illustrations abound here and here.
I have more stories to tell, more pictures to post (and yes, an attack teapot), more wishes for you but the bread needs to bake and I have more paperdolls to joint before I sleep.
take good care,
Rachael

Any writer who can use the work "quacksomely" to describe a duck is a delight, and having discovered what everybody else discovered years ago, I'm getting me some Diane Ackerman. I'm reading her book about her garden. I love the language, the play, the oberservation, the joy, the silly. This interview is nice too. My husband doesn't call me swan. But then he doesn't call me duck or ostrich either so I guess I'm OK.

And apparently I jinxed it. the minute I told you we were warm our old furnace got finicky. It sometimes heats, it sometimes smells, it certainly will keep us busy but that's the fun of home-ownership I suppose and we do own the house (well, yes, the bank owns the house but they let us live in it). I call the bank swan.

Oh and there's this big buy-a-lot crazy out-of-control holiday looming over us. I simply wish you a merry one with more homemade than store-bought, more family than frantic, more friends than financing, and more hope and peace than anything else. Bye swan.

take care,
Rachael


(ps. Ciao Cristina! )

Our hot water is back. I have a warm handspun (though not currently spinning)scarf around my neck (a lovely trade from Julie who now has paper dolls dancing around her office) and I simply don't care that it is 3 degrees out or that Christmas is twenty minutes away or that I have my eye on a grant application I oughtta write out or that I have more paper dolls to make, more books to read, more bread to bake, more friends to write to, more things to do than hours to do them.

oh well. I'm warm, healthy and alive.

I'm OK with that. You?

love,

Rachael

I just handed in my visioning (daydream) paper in the school counseling class I've been taking to test the premise that the more I learn the better I feel. Worked this time. Good class, good environment and this bunch of people is gung ho about helping kids. We all view school counseling as a way to listen to, advocate for, and be an ally to kids. There is so much need out there, it's nice to see people working towards solution.

And then the other day I had a crazy inspiring conversation with my friend Carol that made me want to draw, draw and draw some more. She's headed to Italy for two weeks to teach sketching and she and I traded inspirations and talked excitedly about ink and paper and pencils and how the sketchbook opens. I'm going to be stepping away from wet clay for a bit, so I can jump right back into my old faithful sketchbook. We talked Danny and Keri and I wish I'd remebered to tell her about Katie . Carol told me about the concertina queen Hedi Kyle. And even though I haven't been able to successfully download my pocketmod, I am going to make one of these pronto.

Our hot water heater is kaput. Well maybe it's a fuse. It's OK because greasy hair looks good on me and who needs a hot shower at home when one has friends and family who offer. We'll figure it out but the "you never know until you buy one" story about how houses fall apart when you move in is slightly resounding with us. We still love the house, of course, but we can't call the landlord when it's ours.

may you enjoy life and hot water,
Rachael