Buon Compleanno Lucca Antonio !!

About a year ago now, we went on a trip to Italy and brought home our Wee Italian. Blessed with wonderful friends, a loving family and all of the seafood pasta he can eat, Lucca is thriving in his new country.
He was the very best souvenir since time began!

DOUBLE-BUBBLE, Toil and Trouble.....

When I get really stressed out I chew gum. LOTS of gum.
Chew! Chew! Chew! CHEW! CHOMP! NOM! NOM!
Dozens of sticks at once...(sugar-free of course, otherwise I'd be able to drive my chair to St. John's fueled by the sweety high). I blow huge, terrific bubbles the size of basketballs and love it when they pop. POP! SHE gets very annoyed when I do this as I have caused a fair bit of gummy destruction....I once ruined a lovely sky I was working on by attacking it with a giant bubble...often times the cats attack my terrific bubbles and end up covered in gum themselves. Today I raided the bubble gum jar and while toiling away at my painting, blew the biggest bubble since time began. IT WAS HUGE!
I ended up wearing a bubble gum balaclava.
I  have always wanted to know what I would look like with bangs and if the peanut butter doesn't work, I guess I'll know by noon!

Would you like some soup with your wine?

Poor Wee Blanche is highly offended that she was not included in our recent piece featuring Rose. I tried to appease her by putting her in the photograph but she is still quite grumpy. Stanley has promised to run her a warm bath and make her a hot chocolate this evening to cheer her up. Rose was mostly pleased with her portrait but thought  I was a bit heavy on the ears. It is impossible to please all of the hairy creatures all of the time.
Speaking of which, I was chatting on the telephone while making Tuscan Bean soup and poured an entire bottle of white wine into the pot instead of just a cup. SHE might complain during the first bowl but after seconds and thirds I imagine she'll feel quite relaxed. She might even think it is divine! She MAY even end up dancing on the table with a lampshade on Her head. Good soup will do that to you.

Snap! CHEESE! ARGHHHH!

Special Edition Hand-Painted Fishbowl Ornamentlies by Cara for Christmas 2011
Here WE  are, busy getting ready for Christmas gallery shows and Rose Nylund is in meetings concerning Halloween. I am not sure what the goat and her posse have planned, but I have a feeling it will be something spectacular. Only two weeks away!

Rose Takes a Meeting

This week, in the car: I have a new hat that I am quite impressed with. I would like a photograph.

CAMERA ":  "SNAP!"
ME: "AHHRG! I WASN'T READY! "
I look at the photo: " UGH! It's horrible!"
HER: "BUT YOU TOOK THE PICTURE!!!!!"

Soc-rafice Your Sole

                     Image: "Francine the Fish"  by Cara Kansala                                                                    
We are getting ready for our solo gallery show at the Historic Sites gallery on Water Street. I am working on so many different things at once, I don't know where my head is.....and Christmas commissions to, yahoo! Sock it to me, "To Do" list, I can take it!

Rose Nylund had a stellar week at the post office. Packages and treats from Taiwan and postcards from Ontario and Vancouver. She has decided to start a scrapbook that she will keep in her cottage (really, she just likes licking the glue stick) but she SO appreciates the letters and cards that people are sending. You are shining stars!

This morning I opened the sock drawer and looked at my holey, frizzle-frazzled, mismatched woolies and my feet sighed. Then I looked at HER shiny, smooth, conceited socks from Italy. They were giving me very snide looks and dared me to touch them. I did. Then I unrolled one pair and smoothed the two beauties out on the bed. They looked so lovely. I took out another pair. Stunning. Gingerly, I put on one of each. My heart was beating fast and my feet were egging me on. Not only am I not allowed to wear HER Italian socks, I am not allowed to wash them or put them away. EVER. They felt so amazing and my toes were singing for more time.
Just 5 more minutes. My feet were drunk on the Italian lovelies. I spent a few minutes admiring my toes, wiggling them around and doing little tap dances. I was going to put them back....Then the phone rang.
About and hour later She came into the kitchen and looked at my feet. I looked at them too. I WAS STILL WEARING THE DRUG SOCKS! I had been distracted by the phone and hadn't taken them off!!
Silently, I sat on a kitchen chair and lifted up my feet. She came over, and very carefully removed each sock. She didn't say a word - just removed them and disappeared into the laundry room. It is now 3 hours later and still not a word has been spoken about the "The Great Sock Debauchery of 2011".  Maybe She is going to bide Her time and get me back when I least expect it.....or maybe, the sheer audacity of the act itself, knocked HER socks off and She will never speak of it again........

Isn't it Important to Keep Ones Horns Warm?

Rose is quite pleased with her new winter hat. She insisted it be pink, even though it clashes with Blanche's ear-muffins. I made it largish, so her horns would have room to grow. Not easy making up a goat hat that needs 2 ear holes, 2 horn warmers and side flaps that won't hide said goats sideways eyes. I can only imagine the stress that will befall me when she decides on her Halloween costume.

This morning......................
RING!RING! Telephone is RINGING!
HER: HELLO?
Lovely Lady: Hello, is this the Grumpy Goat?
HER: No, just a minute please.
,,,,,,,and She passes me the phone.

What's Cookin', Good Lookin'?

This is my lovely, old, red kitchen. I miss it. I miss the writing on the walls, the red-weathered cupboards and the colourful door handles.I am contemplating painting the new, crispy-white kitchen RED. Yummy Red Red.... maybe on a day when SHE has gone to town. I have already thought of what I can say when She walks in and sees it for the first time...."Hi, there! Are you seeing RED? You sort of look like Yosemite Sam when he gets mad!"

 I will make sure to have on my sneakers, so I can say it while running for the hills. 

Yes, I shall do it and it will be Red-iculously Red! 

On Sunday night we had a small dinner party (in the crispy-white kitchen...ooh,everything would have tasted better in red).

I made:* Toasted Peppered Crisps with Crab Souffle, * Salad of Lambs Lettuce with Grilled Pear, Dried Coppa, Parmesan Chips, Toasted pine Nuts and Honey-Balsamic Reduction, * Roasted Vegetable Harvest Rigatoni, * Zabaglione with Marsala Soaked Lady Fingers and Drunken Peaches

Lambs lettuce/Grilled Pear/Coppa Salad

SHE made: *Amaretto Chicken

Once a year She cooks. This is Her dish.

It IS gorgeous, but only takes 15 minutes. The talk and drama leading up to the great event is almost more entertaining than the chicken itself. It is such a massive gesture on her part, to cook this  dish, that I have to ignore the flour-covered rug and floor, the 7 dirty pots and pans She somehow ravages and the butter stains on the ceiling from the eruption that takes place when She sets the whole thing aflame before serving. I can NOT make suggestions, go within 5 feet of her or make eye contact. It is HER main event.

This once a year fowl-lapaooza is Her saving grace. If ever you ask us about the daily chores, She'll say, "OH, we share in the the cooking."  It is sweet and I am thinking that maybe next year I will sell tickets to her Chicken Eve. Maybe next year She can make Amaretto Goose......though I somehow imagine that after She reads this blog, MY goose will be cooked!