prospero año nuevo 

my pretty busy life

                                                             busy busy Christmas busy

sewing project 1

card art converted to fabric!

I also made little matchbook covers from old Christmas cards 

people seem to like them and they are great little gifts

Rosie
new addition to the family, she's 14 and prefers sleeping more than anything

my first tree in about 4 years
I just go outside my door, turn right, and cut one

there's the Christmas tree field to the left

just like Mom used to make every Christmas

yum! some of these are from the frozen cookie party dough

a hit at the Jensen family Christmas

sewing project 2 

fun fabric

artist apron for Linsey, in this case, a cocktail artisan

sewing project 3 for my sushi loving girlfriend

little sour cream coffee cakes in cute baking jackets found at the beach 

great brunch on Christmas day with Erik and Annie
aebleskiver with apricot jam, hash with tomato jam, seeded biscuits, shitake mushroom gravy,
deviled eggs, crockpot applesauce with cranberries and giant raisins, and orange julius
and that was just to kick-start the day :)

I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as mine was, filled with family and friendship,
and that 2012, at the very least, fulfills your best expectations...Happy New Year

we had our annual Christmas cookie party at the beach this year

with walks on the beach

                                     
                                                                   and some dwarves

and some owls

and some pookies

                 

we discovered a spooky beach house

                                                                             
 

we cozied up and read

we drank too much wine

                                        

                                                     and  we played the coveted ornament wars game

                                                                             
                                                                           

                                    

                                                forming pathetic attachments
                                                  breaking one of the top 3 ornament war game rules

                                                   

                                             and we topped it off with exchanged cookie doughs
                                   to make into amazing cookies this Christmas

                                                     

                                          well done, girls

                                                     

Tricks and Treats

trick or treat

smell my feet

give me something

good to eat!

                                                              Happy Halloween!

Genealogy

ge·ne·al·o·gy    (jn-l-j, -l-, jn-) 

NOUN:

pl. ge·ne·al·o·gies

    .  A record or table of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or ancestors; a family tree.

    .  Direct descent from an ancestor; lineage or pedigree.

    .  The study or investigation of ancestry and family histories.

Grace Kearny

ETYMOLOGY:

Middle English genealogie, from Old French, from Late Latin genelogia, from Greek genelogi : gene, family; see gen- in Indo-European roots + -logi,-logy

               While in Wisconsin, I got to spend a little time re-connecting with some family history:

identifying the family tree file



I also got to see the house my grandma and grandpa lived in for as long as I could remember.

It has been refurbished and is a beautiful example of so many victorian homes in this area
made with the yellow brick from the local factory.

the white house on the right, now a separate residence, was originally the carriage house

 the vintage fence was found in the basement by the new owners and re-installed

my maternal grandparents
Grace and George Buzzell

Thanks Big Brother!

  Fall is in the air...        

                              

boo bird

boo bat

home-made bread

veggie corn chowder
still using up summer's "bounty"
pretty light bounty here in the northwest where we had a very short summer

here's a take on a favorite tailgate item Noni brought to the UW game:
 jalapenos stuffed with creamcheese/bluecheese mix and wrapped in turkey bacon.

Noni's tailgate'n' jalapeno boats

Noni's had regular cream cheese topped with a salami strip and wrapped in regular bacon,
 and there were none left when it was over...
roasting actually removes much of the heat from the peppers- roast at 350˚ for about 20 minutes
be sure to use rubber gloves when cutting up the jalapenos or you'll be sorry, believe me

menagerie