Pies and Pumpkin Cookies

I know thanksgiving has passed, but it is still November, and I'm not quite ready for the official beginning of the holiday season. I was home at my parents place for thanksgiving, and these were the pies my mom and I made. My mom always makes the pie dough, and the pumpkin filling, and my job is to make the cherry filling on the stove top, and decorate the crusts, which is my favorite part. I'm never quite sure what each year's design will be, so as they say on Project Runway it all comes together 'organically'. This year we added some wheat flour to the pumpkin crust hence the darker color. I used a maple leaf cookie cutter for the border. For the yummy cherry I went with a cherry tree of life sort of design with my traditional pinched crust border.
The pies were disappearing, so on Saturday I made a recipe that was printed in the Chicago Tribune, Mimi's Pumpkin Cookies. They were easy to make, and soooo delicious with their spicy pumpkiny goodness, and their brown sugar icing. I did make one change to the recipe. I substituted 1 cup of coconut oil for the 1 cup shortening. Everybody said 'Mmmm'..... I'll definitely make them again some day.

Illustration Friday: Superstition

The Golden Compass hits theaters December 7, 2007, and already there are groups urging a ban of the movie. I haven't read the book, but I read about some of the controversy over the themes of past myths and superstitions on a forum that was linked to my Borders newsletter. I've never understood the banning of works of fiction. If one has a strong faith, than why is there so much fear of words?

I'm looking forward to the movie. The trailer looks amazing! I've always liked the idea of polar bears, or ice bears, as modes of transportation. Over at the Golden Compass website you can discover your daemon which is your animal spirit that accompanies you throughout your life, and represents a person's soul. After taking the quiz I met my daemon Remis the lion. I tend to identify with the cat family, so I think we are well matched. We're going to go watch some tv now. Heroes is starting to get good again :)

Illustration Friday: Scale

During this last week we've had some large scale blustery autumn winds that have blown most of the beautifully colored leaves off the trees. The view out my window was so magnificent last weekend with the grandest maple tree in a full rainbow of color. But alas, now only a few leaves are still hanging on. It makes me want to go out, and hot glue them all back up there! :)

I started this gouache painting last week for the IF hats topic, but some other work became a priority, so I racked my brain to find a way to stretch the topic to fit this week.

The colors have gone, but are not forgotten.

Speaking of trees, so many were lost in the recent California fires. American Forests Organization wants to raise money to replace the trees. To donate, call 800-545-8733, or go to www.americanforests.org, and click on "Global ReLeaf", or the Plant Trees menu button. Each $1 donation plants one tree. I like knowing what exact benefit my donation can provide.

Illustration Friday: Grow

Frankie is hoping that his gift will help their friendship grow.

I'll also be submitting this to Penelope's Monster Mash contest.

Illustration Friday: Extremes

Ever since the new Tweet Shoppe opened the locals have been flocking to try out all the new gelato flavors. Flavors such as Sunflower Crunch, Very Berry Birdseed, Mealworm Mocha, and Slithering Earthworm Swirl would be considered extreme by our standards, but these feathered friends just call them yummy! :)

Blog Action Day

Today is Blog Action Day when 'bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment.' I find the idea that so many voices are focusing on one topic, especially one this important to be really amazing.

Sometimes I think it's funny how we say that environmentalists are fighting for the planet when in reality this planet doesn't care if it's too hot or if it's a solid ball of ice. It's been around for billions of trillions of years, and it will still be here in one form or another when we're gone.

When there's smog in our cities the Earth doesn't cough....we do. Trees supply oxygen to our planet, but when acres of forest are cut down, and countless plant species are lost, and yet another animal goes extinct, the Earth doesn't shed a tear, but I do.

Quite frankly, I'm saddened every time we lose a bit of nature because I selfishly like breathing fresh unfiltered air, and every plant lost may mean the loss of a potential cure to one of our human diseases.

Sometimes I think we should stop kidding ourselves that we're worried about this big rock we call a the planet. Being an environmentalist is all about our own survival, and wanting to live on a planet that's sky blue and grass green with splashes of the most amazing colors we've ever seen. Somewhere that's not filled with indecomposable trash. It's about wanting to live in a place where we're happy and surrounded by beauty. And for me, that's something worth fighting for. :)

Illustration Friday: Open

Poor Bridget! She was so busy talking on her cell phone
that she stepped back without noticing the open manhole.

This is an exciting week over at Illustration Friday with the first ever gallery contest.
You can vote for your 5 favorite illustrations here.

Illustration Friday: The Blues

Last weekend the weather was beautiful so I went out and found a very nice forest preserve, and walked the tree-lined paths for a few miles. It was a perfect day except I noticed that others must have thought the woodland floor was for disposing their plastic bottles and other assorted trash. It got me thinking that living with all that litter must give the woodland creatures the blues.

Illustration Friday: Wedding

Her wedding day is a bride's happiest moment....or sometimes not.

I'll let you come up with the story for this one.

This week I was determined to attempt traditional painting again. My dependence on the computer has turned the paint brush into a foreign tool to me. I had fun working with my limited supply of acrylics (which is supplemented with clearance folk art craft paints), but I'm going to need so much more practice to better know what I'm doing.
The scan made some of the colors funny.

Illustration Friday: Momentum

A few weeks ago we had major flooding after thunderstorms tore through the area. I like to walk along the river, so I'm used to seeing the changes in the water level, but had never seen it spill over that much land. The river usually has a gentle flow over the dam, but after the storm it turned into raging rapids over the rocks. As it gained momentum it carried off anything in its path. Now that the waters have receded a bit I was exploring some of what had washed up on the banks. I found an area where black rocks and snail shells had been deposited. I collected some of the shells which had previously been hidden under the water, and imagined their wild river journey. I was planning on doing an ambitious painting to represent this story, but ended up with this more graphic approach. I had a lot of fun with this drawing.

Illustration Friday: Alphabet

Oliver is an obstetrician hence the baby octos.

Oh, I almost didn't have anything for this week. It was a busy labor day weekend of rest, relaxation, and good times followed by a week of catching up with work stress.
Thank goodness the new weekend is almost here.

Illustration Friday: Visitors + Captain

Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit and gang were frequent visitors to ol' Mr. McGregor's garden, but they might have found even greater adventures if they'd taken to the high seas. They could have found gardens on every shore to plunder, and been up to their knees in cabbage while drinking pints of carrot juice ale.
As you can see this was started for last week's topic, but it didn't come together in time, so I tried to stretch the idea around to fit this week.