Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Howdy y'all from the great state of Texas and I don't take any credit for Rick Perry either, so don't judge me!!! LOL Just wanted to come by and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I really should be in my kitchen making Chocolate pies and Lemon Pound cake, but I just had to come by and say hello.

Last week I made the last of my Christmas ornies for 2011. Here's a sample:

Made these little guys for daughters of one of Ian's buddies...Monty. He's a sports trainer at one of the local high schools and has invested time and friendship with my son. He's one of those really nice guys, so thought I'd make his little girls, 5 and 3, some cutie ornies.



These little Santas I made for a friend of mine. I make her a homemade ornie every year. The other is going to a really sweet kid that runs this adorable shop...very girlie place. She rents my dad's old office space and she's always been a sweetheart, so giving her one of these and an Chocolate Pie!




This little plaque is for my hairdresser, or is it stylist now??? She's loves all that is Latino and Southwestern, so here's a little something for her kitchen wall.




I finally completed these little darlings. It was quite nostalgic to go through so many of my old designs from years ago...it was a time of great joy and sadness. But the one thing I can say is that due to my "art training" in college, I was able to tweak them a bit. Recall my blog about "prostitution," well, these are the results. LOL




And last but not least, is a little "dark" Christmas ornie I made for an exchange. I can't a be hundred percent"cutsie" all the time, ya know.


Well, my friends, it's time for me to hit the showers, then the kitchen and start that baking again. I've already made dozens upon, dozens of Mexican Wedding cookies or "Liar" cookies as they are known to my grandsons. One year they helped me make them and I told them that in Italy, they're called Liar cookies. When they inquired why that name, I told them to have a cookie, which they enthusiastically obliged. Then I told them that if they had snicked a cookie and "lied" about eating them, I'd know....the proof was on their shirts...they went to look in the mirror and saw the powdered sugar! I've also made many biscochos, the little Mexican cinnamon cookies, Rosettes, those little lovely fried pieces of heaven. My husband calls it a labor of love, I call it a pain in the arse...frying is not my thing, but oh well, it's once a year! Then the chocolate chip cookies, everyone's favorite...not mine, but every one else! For years I never liked the way they turned out, so my daughter took up the task when she was in high school and they turned out perfect. So I just passed that baton on to her. Well, when she moved to Austin, there was no else who'd make them, so I took it up again last year, reluctantly. Lo and behold, I discovered the high altitude directions and finally, after all these years, they turned out perfect. Of course, my daughter told me they had always been on the package, but sometimes I can be so linear, that I don't notice the obvious!

So it's good-bye for the rest of 2011 and to you all for now. I shall return, like General MacArthur, with hopefully some more ornies, dollies and paintings. Have a wonderful Christmas and don't forget to establish a designated driver for the New Year!! Peace out.

Forgotten

Good morning my bloggy buddies. Just to let you know I'm still here and been busier than a queen bee!! It looks as if there will be no respite till after the 25th, however, if I have a chance, I'll come back this week to show off some of the new stuff I've made and what I've been up to, which is no good for the most part.

Have a great week and again, "if it don't get done, it don't get done!" Peace out.

I'm A Prostitute

Ok, now that I have your attention, let me explain. Back when I was in school, the second time around...was called "a returning student," which means old fart. Anyway, many of my art professors advised us as to how make our art and make it our own, carefully making a rep for ourselves and being "recognized" for that work. Most of my profs followed their own advise, teaching what they knew best, except my ceramic prof...he got into all kinds of weird materials...no clay involves at all. I wonder if he was affected by one of his patrons who hung up one of his "donuts" in her black and white bathroom...the poor guy was really embarrassed during the tour of this pretentious bitty's house. However, his openness to other materials, made it easier for some of his students to work on other mediums, such as moi. He hated mixed media....don't know why, but didn't really care because I incorporated all kinds of stuff into my ceramic pieces.

Years ago, in my previous life, I was a folk artist. I learned how to do folk painting when I lived in Germany. I took a Baum Maleri course from one of Southern Germany's masters, or that's what he told us. Anyway, I learned all kinds of folksy painting techniques and made all kinds of cutsie stuff. When I returned in 1979, there seemed to be a wave of this kind of painting found in many art shows. Well, I decided it was time for this gal to jump on the band wagon. So I made all kinds of wooden paintings, first straight Baum Maleri, then I branched out to other subjects. About 24 years ago, the local museum on campus at UTEP, the Centennial, had a great exhibition on retablos and ex-votos, religious paintings. I was hooked. This began my journey into iconic art, not the Russian or Greek, but my own.

When the Spaniards were exploring around these parts, they brought a lot of their talents with them, painters, silversmiths, etc. The silversmiths taught the indigenous folks how to make jewelry and other functional work and when the churches were going up, they painted these religious figures on wooden tablets, ya know, kind of like St. Francis of Assisi did...most people in the proto-Renaissance didn't read so he figured out a way for the village people to learn their Bible studies, by painting frescoes on the interior walls of churches. Anyway, the retablos have a very specific style...Google them and you can see what I mean and take a look at what the present day New Mexican artists are doing...many have maintained the old style, even making their own pigments out of the local flora and fauna and minerals. However, I love what the contemporary religious artists are doing and therefore, I set my course and veered into that direction.

I also began making cutsie Christmas ornaments out of wood, little brightly coloured angels, Santas, snowmen...you get my trend. I was invited to huge show in San Angelo, TX...it's right smack in the middle of TX and out in the middle of nowhere. I recall having to get of the Interstate and taking all these little back roads, passing one little pathetic town after another; they were once prosperous during the oil boom, but now just skeletal remains of mules and riggs dot the landscape. So we drive up into this little gem of a town, bustling with lots of action. We drove to Fort Concho, an old army post turned into a tourist spot, and I was very fortunate enough to be housed in one of the lovely little row houses that had once been occupied by the officers and their families. We set up, by we, I mean the ex and me, and were ready for the next few days of sells. The doors opened at high noon that Friday of Dec. 1, 1994 and I was overwhelmed by the attention my work received. I had people coming up to me telling me they "collected" my work...collected????? I was being collected?????!!! I had been discovered while selling my art at this little shop in Cloudcroft, NM, about 2 hours up the road and that's how I got the juried invite. So the whole experience was not only quite profitable, but very humbling. I made approximately $3K that weekend and was ready for the following year, which never happened. By 1995, my marriage was in the toilet, and I was being blamed for spending far too much time on my art work...suppose someone has to be blamed for others indiscretions, so I stopped doing art all together...he had stolen my joy. Of course after a few years of therapy, I realized I let him steal my joy!

So back to what I was explaining...I'm a prostitute, an art prostitute!!! While in school, I loved making all these really fun, whimsical things...wasn't going to waste my time or money on making ugly yard art, that's what I called it and told my profs I was to damn old for angst, so they left me alone!! LOL My ceramic prof kept telling me I was a folk artist...I told him politely he was full of it...was never going back there again...just too painful, and besides, I was being professionally trained....WHATEVER!! So what can I say, my prof was right and I've finally gotten over myself and have resumed making "cutsie" art. One reason being is that is sells, hence the prostitute aspect of all of this, and two, I actually have been enjoying it.

One reason for this sudden epiphany, is that I've got someone representing my work in a shop up in Ruidoso, NM. When I explained some of the work I do, she was interested in the folk art stuff, which I really hadn't made in a while, but I told her I used to do that. So she asked me to send her photos of some of my work, I did, and she fell in love with the red, chile ristra, of course she did!! Ruidoso and Cloudcroft are more geared towards, what I call, white bread art...they haven't gotten the word that there's lots more to NM than ristras, howling coyotes and Kokopeli...oy! Actually, they're quite passee, but they still love selling them to people from other parts of the country and foreigners who feel these symbols are representative of NM...dear lovely Linda, you know what I'm talking about???!!!??!?!????!!!

So I've been making ristras out of polymer clay and setting them on folk art inspired painted pieces of wood. Also made some little angels and Virgen de Guadalupe for another little shop. I know most of you know me for my dolls and Dia de los Muertos artwork, but it's time to expand, even if it's familiar. However, I do have some training under the belt now and the stuff I used to make all those years ago are different...same templates, but different chapter. So below are samples of what I've been making:


My little paintings, almost complete...have a bit more to do with them then add the wire hangers. (NO WIRE HANGERS!)


More little chiles ready for the oven....

And here are the wooden boards...still have to paint them before adding the ristra.





Also, my niece strongly advised me not to post her lovely face on FB, so instead, I'm posting it here. Actually, I want to show you an example of a chili infused abode, my brother, Fred's house...he lives in Las Cruces, NM and he loves all that is "chile", looks great too!! Also, my brother, Fred, both photos taken at Thanksgiving.


Also, can you guess what this is???



Talking about artwork....look what God left me this morning on the back window of my car...had to hurry up and take this pic since the sun was coming up.


Well, folks, it's time to take it to the couch, as the late, great Dean Martin used to say at the end of his show. Have lots to do and already scheduling my month...the Diaz Bake-o-Rama begins in two weeks...looking forward to making my bischochitos and Mexican Wedding cookies or as my grandson call them, liar cookies. Two years ago, Ian and I spent Christmas in Austin with my daughter. I made the Mexican Wedding cookies, but told my boys that in Italy they're called Liar Cookies...when asked why, I told them to eat one, then if anyone asked if they had eaten any and they denied it, the proof was on their shirts...told them to go to the bathroom and look in the mirror at their shirts...powdered sugar...they thought that was hilarious and they've called them by that name since. Have a great weekend, don't stress so much about the coming season, just enjoy....my motto, "If it don't get don't, it don't get done!" Peace out.

Today and Always...Well, Almost Always.

One of my favorite people I've met via another mutual fav person, made a comment about enjoying the holidays or rather, how she has lost that ability to enjoy them. Personally, I've been enjoying them for years, but when I was younger, that wasn't the case. The holidays always represented time of severe stress and attempts to put on that "joyful" face. I knew I didn't like feeling that way, but I did and never really did anything about it since I'd always felt like that. Flash back into my mid 40's which was a time of great sadness, stress and emotional turmoil. I decided to get some counseling, ya know, the shrinking kind. Thankfully, through my sessions, I learned quite a bit about myself and how events in my childhood affected my adult life, even the simplest of things.

My wonderful belated Pop was in the liquor bidness. It was a family thing, which I think I've mentioned in a past blog. My grandfather started the business, selling it in Mexico where he lived, but also made big bucks selling to the creme d' la creme of El Paso, during Prohibition. My dad told me the revenuers would wait on the banks of the Rio Grande, shooting at the carriers who were hauling these barrels across the river and quite a few made it to their destinations, the elite of El Paso. So as usual, I digress. Well, my dad got into the business because of his father and older brothers. My uncle that lived here owned bars, which I would go sometimes with my dad...he had business with his brother, so I would sit at the bar and eat pickled eggs and pigs feet...ugh, can't even imagine consuming anything so awful now!!

As you can imagine, the holidays were my Pop's biggest time of the year...he made his bucks selling wholesale, so there were many private parties, organizations, businesses, country clubs, etc. that ordered their liquor from him. Of course, this came with a great amount of stress, stress that he brought home. Without going into any specific details, this time of year could get a bit testy. So without realizing it, I carried this into my adult life and forced this legacy onto my own family.

I had to be Super-Christmas Mom!! The house had to be decorated just so...I never wanted the kids to decorate the tree or have anything to do with that. I did ALL the baking, again, not including anyone else. I bought ALL the Christmas gifts for both my family and my ex's. Well, at the end of all this, I was exhausted and resentful! While I did all the work, everyone else enjoyed the holidays...WTF!!! Right??? Wrong!!! This is a case of "quien te manda?" or loosely translated, "who commands you?" Who said I had to do all the work, take on all the responsibilities, all the stress???? There laid the conundrum!! Who "said??"

During my sessions, I learned that I was the one who made those choices, I was the one who for some reason, felt I had to take it ALL on. I recall one Christmas Eve, which is the night we celebrate, my sister, who is not a cook or baker, made a comment about all my baking achievements for that evening. I told her since the birth of my youngest, Ian, who is autistic, I got real smart and didn't do as much (cough, cough, like hell, but again, I was clueless), she said kidingly that she was REAL smart...I then turned around and in a very sarcastic tone, told her she was an "f'n genius!!"

So now I don't do as much. I still have the bake-o-rama, but not because I have to, but because I want to and am good at it and love doing it. Gifts are still very creative and unique, or as creative and unique as I can get them, but I don't do the crazy shopping sprees anymore. I haven't done a Black Friday in years...I don't even go to the grocery store during that weekend. My funds are meager, but I make the best of it and my family knows that. About the only thing I really concentrate on now are gifts for my grandsons...they love Legos, so I got what they wanted already back in Sept./Oct. I already have some things made for other family members and even bought my mother her gift. She mentioned once that she wanted to read the Bible, but had trouble reading the version she has...it's the family bible and weighs more than she!! So I went to Barnes & Nobles and found a student version, meaning simple English, so she could start reading it.

In my forthcoming "old age," I'm doing less but enjoying more. So my feelings on what my friend posted today, "Our attitude towards life determines life's attitude towards us." ~ Earl Nightengale. So I choose happiness, every chance I get; I like what the Universe sends back to me. So there will be some dark days, of course, but there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel, so cut the crap, have fun and laugh...a lot. Peace out.

Nuthin' Much

I don't even know why I'm posting today...maybe it's out of a little extra energy and time I have at this moment. First of all, I want to thank you, my friends, for all your prayers for my lovely friend, Anne. I will say this much, they're working, so keep them coming!

My honey surprised me with a weekend getaway, starting tomorrow. We're driving up to Ruidoso, NM and staying at the Mescalero Indian resort, Inn of the Mountain Gods. We're leaving tomorrow morning and will return Tues. I mentioned to him earlier in the summer that we both have taken many trips, usually to visit kids and grandkids, him to Houston, and me in Austin. We hadn't taken any trips together since Sept. of '10 when we went to Chicago to visit his daughter and her family; again, kids and grandkids. So I asked him when we could get out together, just the two of us, no kids, no grandkids, no relatives at all!! Since money is tight, and when isn't it, he made reservations at the Inn for weekdays, better prices.

I then received an email from my bud in Austin that she and her hubby were coming to El Paso and then going to Ruidoso at the same time we would be. It's her hubby's birthday and he wants to celebrate it at the Inn. Today, she and her hubby, cousin, cousin's hubby and best buddy took off and will be staying at the Holiday Inn this evening. Tomorrow, the buddy and relatives will be returning to El Paso, but they will be checking in at the Inn Sunday afternoon; we'll probably meet up with the whole gang for lunch somewhere in town tomorrow and do a bit of shopping, or in my case, lots of window shopping. Personally, I would love to have lunch in Alamagordo, NM, on the way up, at Blakes...chile cheeseburger and fries....oh hell, just yummers!! Chile in these parts aren't the stew, with hamburger meat and beans, but beautiful NM long greens, roasted and served with just about everything. Anyway, later on we're planning on having drinks, dinner, drinks, do a little gambling, drinks, chatting, drinks, well, ya get the picture.

The first time I went to the Inn, I was pregnant with my first child, Joel, who is now 35...do the math. I was about 7 months along and my sister had come in from CA and spent almost a month with us. My parents, 2 brothers, sister and I went up for a nice weekend. That first night, the electricity died and they were serving all kinds of free goodies downstairs in the dining room....I recall sending my little brother several times for some desserts...well, lots of desserts. The next day, they all went on a canoe ride...my dad didn't let me go along due to my condition...like I couldn't swim in my condition?? LOL He was just concerned....that was my Pops. The second evening, I asked my sister, who I was rooming with, why she was sleeping with her camera tripod...she said it was to protect us from Sasquatch!!!! We were on the 3rd floor...unless Sasquatch was half-spider or fly, don't think we had much to worry about!!

This is a photo of the sculpture in the front of the Inn...it's a group of Katchinas or as my daughter said when she was a little thang, cochinos...means, "dirty or pigs" in Spanish. We were at the gift shop in the Grand Canyon when she was about 20 months, remembering freezing are areses off because we camped it. Anyway, I had spotted some beautiful Hopi Indian Katchina Dolls, the real deal, and they were still at very affordable prices back in 1980, so I asked her if she wanted one for her doll collection...her reply was, "No, I don't like those cochino dolls!" My daughter began walking and talking at nine months and hasn't shut up since!! A year before, we were traveling back to El Paso after spending 3 years in Stuttgart, W. Germany, it was still West back in those days. We were at the Cracker Barrel, or something like it, in GA, and I she had just turned a year. I was carrying her on my back in a baby back pack and I showed her what is now the original Cabbage Patch dolls, hand-made. She said they were ugly, and I had to agree, but it was an original, hand-made and only for a few dollars....OY....pulling my hair out. Why I gave the 4 thousand year midget so many choices is beyond me!!

This is a photo of the large water fountain at the Inn. Wish I could find a photo of the fireplace...it's gorgeous! In the background are the Sacramento Mountains and Sierra Blanca, meaning "white mountain"...beautiful.


Below is a crappy picture of Burro Street in Cloudcroft, NM. I know the orgiginal structures burned down a couple of years ago, but the whole area was rebuilt. Cloudcroft, which I truly love more than Ruidoso, is a very quiet, quaint little town also nestled in the Sacramentos and just about an hour away from Ruidoso. We'll take the old road from Ruidoso and travel to Cloudcroft for an afternoon...maybe stop by the local grocery store for freshly made bread and pies and stop and do a bit of shopping or window shopping...lots of artists live in the area and have set up shops up there.



One of the other spectacular areas in NM is the White Sands National Park. It was always a destination for us as children, but only in the Spring, Fall and Winter...the sand is too hot to walk on during the summer. Unfortunately, the dessert is encroaching on it, so the dunes are slowly disappearing. I won't see that in my lifetime, but perhaps my great-grands.



Another spectacular view is the one from White Sands up towards Sierra Blanca in Ruidoso.

That's the snow covered peak, and the other white stuff below is the gypsum sand from the park. As you travel up the mountains to either Cloudcroft or Ruidoso, the view below is amazing...you're in this beautiful pine forest and just a few feet below, is the desert and the view of White Sands.

Ok, folks, hope you enjoyed my mini-tour of one of the most beautiful places in this country....world! I love NM and wish I lived there, but I'll settle for far West TX, almost in NM, since it is where I was born and lay my head each night. Peace out.

Prayers

Good morning friends. Today, I'm asking you to pray for someone. I really am not at liberty to reveal this person's name or location since she is still trying to cope with the news of her medical condition, but I'm asking you to pray for her, please, please, pray. The good Lord knows who she is, so the prayers will find their way to her.

I've known this wonderful woman for about 3 years now. We met, as I have met many of you lovelies, in Blogandia. She has a cutting wit and sense of humour that rivals only a few. Every time we have had our "marathon" phone calls, we laugh till we almost pee in our pants!!


My heart is heavy, sadden and I feel so helpless at this moment. Friendships are so precious and for many of us, we have plenty of acquaintances, but friends, few and far between. So please say a prayer for your buddies today and always. Pick up the phone and call them...or send them an email and tell them you love them. Friends, as life, are so precious...I said that already, but I can't reiterate enough how important this is. I know we get all wrapped up, especially lately with Halloween and now the coming big-ass season, and it's not fair to beat ourselves up, let's face it, life gets in the way and the distractions don't allow us time to do much but carry on our everyday and dem sum.

So today or when you read this post, please think of your friends and let them know you carry them everyday in your heart, regardless where your brain might be. Again, please pray for this wonderful woman and know that I love you, my precious friends. Peace out.

And They Still Keep Coming

Good Morning all you wonderful Bloggy buddies. Hope everyone is well and looking forward to the upcoming seasonal events which will be upon us very soon. Tomorrow, we'll be heading out to Mesilla, NM for their annual Dia de los Muertos fair. I love going there every year and seeing all that is "skelly!" Also, if I get a chance, I might head out early tomorrow morning (early...hmmm) and visit the local artist fair in Downtown El Paso. Might have time to visit the Occupy Wall Streeters who are also there till Nov.

Last Sunday, I was sitting in our living room reading the paper and enjoying my first cup of coffee when it happened....JEHOVAH'S WITNESS'! Are you kidding me...Sunday morning...why aren't they in church?? Around here, the JW's usually speak "English very few," so I was prepared. As soon as I answered the door, they smiled and began talking...I immediately told them in Spanish, "Soy Judia," "I'm Jewish." The said "oh" then asked if they could leave their literature anyway...I said no gracias.

Now I'm not completely telling a little white lie, my great-great grandmother was a Jew, an Irish Jew...didn't know they existed, but apparently so. My dad thought maybe that part of the family, my maternal, was a result of the sinking of the Spanish Armada off the Irish coast circa, 1588. So some ol' relative, who was a sailor on one of those vessels, swam his way to the beach, and was absorbed by the Irish culture. Now my question was how in the hell was he able to practice his religion since the Spanish weren't particularly tolerant of Jews and the Moors??? He, like so many Sephardic Jews, hid their religious practices and attended Mass like good Catholics, did all the Catholic stuff but come the Sabbath evening, Friday, they did their Jewish stuff on the sly. A few years ago, there was a surge of local Mexican-Americans who realized they were descended from these Jews who jumped ship, or so we think. They realized that even though they had been reared Catholic, there were some unusual traditions within their Christian festivities, so they officially became Jews. I can't recall any kind of Jewish traditions intermixed with our Catholic ones, so I suppose my great-great grandmother left all that in Europe when she married my great-great grandfather in Paris and then immigrated to Mexico...go figure. However, I grew up in predominantly Jewish neighborhood, Catholic school girl by day, Jewish pal by...well, after school. All my friends in my 'hood were Jewish, and I always felt very comfortable...part of the family...their "Bubies" (grandmothers) were great cooks, always feeding us kids and they were very much like my Mexican family, very festive, loud and lots of laughter!

Now going back to the JW's. I do have a very funny story concerning these very charismatic, religious, hard-working people. This happened many years ago in my previous life, when I was married to the dentist, the father of my 3 children. It was one early summer day and I decided I needed to clean out the garage, which had accumulated much junk, as many of you are aware of garages doing....it's as if the junk lays eggs, they hatch, making more junk!! Anywhoo, I found this nasty, very stinky rams skull that my brother-in-law had given his brother, my ex, after he hunted, killed and ate the beatsie. There was still down on the horns and fur on the head and it had been bagged up in a garbage bag in that hot garage for who knows how long. So I decided I was going to throw that nasty thing away. I went out into the driveway and there, up the street, I spotted a group JW's. It was then I was hit with a very bad, but absolutely wonderful idea...wickedly wonderful. I closed the garage door, took the skull, inserted it into an old broom stick, went to the hallway closet where I had my grandfather's black, wool, cape with a maroon velvet lining.

A side story here, my grandfather grew up in a small town in Northern Mexico in the state of Sonora. When he was a boy, the wealthiest man in town wore a little black beret and a black cape which he had purchased in Paris. My grandfather thought that this was just too cool, so when my "Pachito" became a successful bidness man, he did the same. He and my grandmother went to Europe on the QE II and when he was in Paris, he bought the cape, however, he got the little beret in Barcelona, Spain which was more symbolic of the Basques than Spaniards...my grandfather's family were descended from the Basques, so it just made sense for him to honour that part of his heritage by wearing the beret. Well, when I was a kid, I loved that whole ensemble. Every Saturday when they came over to visit, I would don his cape and walk around the house in it, acting like I was Dracula's offspring or something. When he passed away in June of 1972, 6 months before I married the a-hole. My mother came home from taking care of things at the funeral home in Juarez, Mexico, which is right across the river from us, and she brought with her the cape and beret. For some odd reason, my brother, Fred, got the beret, but I got the cape! I still have that wonderful piece of black wool hanging in my closet right here in my office. Don't know who will inherit it since none of my children have shown any interest.

Ok, so back to the JW's....I waited patiently for the bell to ring and it finally did!! I answered it, wearing the cape and holding the rams head on a stick!! I also applied red lipstick (when I was teaching Vacation Bible school one summer in that other life, I heard one of the Baptist ladies say I was one of Satan's minion since I wore red lipstick, nails and my hair was tied up in a bun and I made scarves into partial turbans for my head and wore big earrings...yea, I really stuck out among those ladies). Damn, I wish I had a camera, because it was a mongo Kodak moment!!! My daughter, Andria, was watching this from her bedroom window which was adjacent to the front door. I thought she was choking, but was actually in hysterical laughter. So I asked them with this rather large, Cheshire Cat smile if they would like to come in since they might be thirsty...they politely refused. They asked if they could tell me about their faith and I told them only if they would take a minute to listen to mine!! One woman screamed out, "Es bruja, es bruja," "She's a witch, a witch!" You have no idea how I had to maintain my composure because I wanted to do exactly what Andria was doing, go into total hysterics!! I've never seen a group of people run down my walkway as fast as these people. Needless to say, I was never, EVER visited by them again at that address.

I really don't know which was funnier, the ram thing or the nanist thing. Oh well, I'm condemned no matter what, but I think I'll be in good company!! LOL Quite frankly, I believe God has a wonderful sense of humour, just consider the penguins and orangutans....and lest we not forget the sloths!!

Before I hang it up for the day, I wanted to show you some of my new little ladies. I was never much into the images of Frida Kahlo since she's been done soooo much. I had a drawing prof that always said she was so over-rated and had become cliche. I think she was just jealous especially after seeing her work hanging up during one of the faculty shows...oy!! Now I have loved Frida since I was a child. Once while visiting my grandparents across the river, I noticed a magazine in my grand's living room. It was like Mexico's version of Life magazine and they had a full article about Frida and Diego. I was about 8 years old, so that would have been 1960, some years since they had both passed; she died in '54 and he, in '57. Anyway, they had photos of their work, of them, their home in Mexico City....it all was intriguing. I asked my grandmother is she had known them, typical for a kid to ask that. Of course she hadn't and called her, "Esa Comunista y su sapo!" Which translates to, "That Communist and her toad!" I guess my "Machita" wasn't a fan, but I was, immediately. When I was in Mexico City back in '69, my friend and I went to her house...wasn't ready for the public, but we got to see it from the street. When I returned for my honeymoon with the ex in '73, we were planning on going, but I had drunk the water the night before at a 4 star eatery and the water wasn't 4 star...Moctezuma found me!! So anyway, here are a collection of my little Frida Christmas ornies that can be purchased through moi, if anyone is interested. My Etsy shop needs a mega overhauled so they won't be there.


I'm planning on making more...just had too much fun making them. The one on the far left has a new owner, my dear friend, Judy, who was my partner in crime back in high school. She's the one I wrote about in an earlier blog about our adventures in Mexico City back in '69. Her birthday was in Sept., but last night was the first time either of us could get together, so I gave her one of my Fridas. We celebrated at Chili's, her pick. I told her last night I hadn't been to Chili's in a few years since every time I ate there, I'd get food poisoning. I told her that whatever I ordered was going to be deep-fat fried to insure that nothing lived on!! I ordered little sliders and they came with a side salad but Judy told the waitress about my experiences there and they brought her the side salad instead...she passed!!! LOL

Also, wanted to show you my little pumpkins I made for my grandsons. The one of the left went to Aiden in Chicago and the one on the right to Austin. Now my guys in Austin feel I should send them one every year....maybe I better stock up on those fake pumpkins at Michaels right now while they're at 50% off.


I also got my paper mache masks from my buddy, Judah. He's such a sweetheart...said he wants to be paid in a decorated mask...going to gesso it today!! My daughter also found some of those coffins at her Michaels near her house in Austin, so I should be ready for more Halloween fun early on next year then I'll invade Michaels in August for my paper mache stuff...sigh, Halloween in August, or is it July??

Well, my friends, as always, I got a bit mouthy or fingery, but hope you all have a wonderful weekend and have lots of fun...love this time of year!! Peace out and Nano-Nano.