Fruits and Frogs and Pollywogs

 You are probably wondering about the title to my blog post - it's one whole nickname we call Scotty, our family miniature schnauzer.  There's even more to that nickname but it's embarrassing to finish it out loud or on "paper" - only family and true Scotty lovers can sing the refrain.  I painted Scotty.  He is my first true portrait and I painted him for my son Heath's birthday.  He will receive the portrait today.  Here below is the rest of the portrait and then I'll explain the story.

 Below is the picture I painted from.

I didn't want it to be an perfect copy but rather a close representation of one of my favorite pictures of Scotty.  I changed the carpet and made the box a tad shorter.  A couple years ago, Heath and Emma were getting rid of some stuff in their apartment and they put Scotty in a box and told him they were taking him to the Salvation Army with all the other boxes.  That's how they labeled the picture when they texted it to me.  I titled the painting "Yard Sale Pup".  I will miss that painting when it leaves today as I have loved placing every brush stroke and then talking to the finished painting the whole week it has leaned against the wall in our kitchen.  Happy Birthday Heath! (next week anyway).  I've finished three other paintings since my last post that I'll show here as I go along and wrap up another month of fun-ness.

We had a great time in Tulum Mexico ( Riviera Maya area).  The weather was flawless - sunny and mid to high 80s everyday and we followed a schedule we kept on our last two beachy trips - breakfast, long morning beach walk, bake in the sun and read and drink diet coke until lunch time, eat lunch at a different place each day, go on an adventure all afternoon until dinner time and then pick out a different place to eat each night.  We stayed at a place called Viento de Mar along the jungle road where eco-hotels are built cheek by jowl on the ocean side of the narrow road and shops and restaurants line the other side.  I say they are cheek by jowl close but they don't feel that way because each boutique hotel is quite small, 8-20 rooms, most with thatched palapa style roofs, and open floor restaurants and bars.  We loved it.  Here are some pics of that trip.

 This is the view from our balcony.

 This is the beach side of our hotel.

 Our room was like being in a white washed tree house - it was great!

 The maids designed dolls with our fresh towels every day.

 I'm starting to turn really brown here.

At home I got back to painting.  Here are two 8x10 ones I did of scenes from Turks and Caicos (the girl is not me - it could be if I quit eating cake - ha!  It's from someone else's photo).

 This one is an impressionist style of our beach one late afternoon as the sun was going down.

This one is abstract expressionism except for the girl - I kept her somewhat realistic.
Below are both of them hanging in the hall way on the second floor.

The painting below is large - 36 x 36 - Dan and I saw one similar at a gallery in Connecticut and we both liked it for its fresh, fun, nautical vibe and it was priced at $2000!  I said that I would paint something like it for under $100 and I did and we love it - it's cheery and cheer for sure and here it is below in my studio drying and then we hung it in the second floor hall outside of Dan's office.

 I love the look of fresh and modern in a 217 year old hallway.

Last Wednesday, for the 175th anniversary of the Relief Society, my church's women's organization, we put together a "birthday party" with cake, ice cream, a "let's make a deal" game and a service project.  My second counselor and I each made a few homemade cakes, different kinds, and homemade ice cream.  My first counselor went out and bought a bunch of fun and silly prizes for the game.  My secretary put together a beautiful flower arrangement and our friend Bobby H emceed the game.  Each woman from our congregation/ward was asked to bring two purses - a used one to give away (don't we all have old purses we'll never use again?) and to be filled with items to donate to a local shelter for abused women and children and then our own purse to be filled with a bunch of non pursey objects found around one's house for the game.  We had a great turnout with dozens of donated, filled purses and the game was a blast.  The cakes were yummy too.

 These were items I put in my own purse.  None of them were called out.  I did win one prize for having an address book in my purse, a real one, not the one on my phone.

 Here's an old purse of mine washed and in great shape to be donated to the shelter filled with personal items and art supplies for kids.

 Here are three cakes I made -  angel food with fresh raspberry sauce, flourless chocolate souffle cake with berries and whipped cream, and a white chocolate 3 layer cake with white chocolate curls on top.  And a gravy boat full of warm ganache for the ice cream and any thing else you want to pour it on.

Taryn made a killer chocolate mousse cake in the back there next to a delicious carrot cake.  We were all in a cake coma afterwards (Taryn's words).  

A couple days ago, Dan and I went to NYC to see a play and peruse more bakeries.  We also met up with our friends Carly and Jesse for lunch.  Details below.

 We saw "Waitress".  Music by Sarah Bareilles.  It was enjoyable and I loved the songs.

 You probably won't care about this news but to me it was a monumental find.  We passed by a french cafe on our way to our hotel and I looked at the menu and it offered Valrhona hot chocolate on the breakfast menu UNSWEETENED!  I  was so excited I exclaimed that we had to eat breakfast there the next day.  I have said to Dan so many times that I wished a restaurant would made unsweetened hot chocolate, good hot chocolate, with no sugar added so a person could drink it straight or sweeten it with whatever they wanted.  Wish granted.  It was really really good! It could have been hotter - I like it burning hot and it rarely comes hot enough anywhere, but it was so delicious (they make a paste from melted 100% cocoa bar chocolate and add it to hot steamed whole milk).  I drank most of it unsweetened and then added a bit of truvia for the last couple swallows (and to dunk my baguette).
Here's a painted rendering of the place that was near our table - you can see its names and address - the corner of 9th and 21st in the Chelsea neighborhood.

 Every time we go to NYC we try to explore a different area.  This time we chose Chelsea.  We stayed at a lovely hotel called the High Line on 10th Ave and 20th St.  It's a 1863 former seminary turned boutique hotel.  Here are a couple pics of our room - it was new and old fashioned at the same time.

 Some of our activities besides the play were walking the High Line Park (I went from end to end - so fun and much to look at), bakeries of course (Amy's Bread, Billy's, Daily Provisions, Aux Merveilleux, Maison Erik Kayser), Chelsea Market, the Whitney Museum, Le Labo (for perfume - the best!) lunch with the Smith's at Buvette (right out of Paris), dinners at Bobby Van's Grill and Bottino - both really good!  And lots and lots of walking - Dan did great on his new knees; better than we both thought he would.

Smelling all the offerings at Le Labo.  They make your perfume right there in their little lab.

 Billy's Bakery across the street from La Grainne.  I liked their cupcakes better than Magnolia.

 Walking on the High Line (an ancient, unused, once an eyesore, elevated railway that has been converted into an elevated garden/park/walkway).  Someone installed a very realistic zombie along the path.

 Buvette at 42 Grove St in Greenwich Village.  Very tiny, very french, delicious.

 Modern art at the Whitney - this is a huge painting - acrylic on twin sized bed sheet.

Super super tender and delicious crullers from Daily Provisions at 103 E. 19th St. in the "furniture store district".  The hot chocolate was fabulous too - very very rich and not too sweet.  

On the train ride home from NYC to Boston, Dan and I ate from our bakery purchases the whole way. We felt pretty sick by the time we got home.  Next week I am going to be in a bathing suit for most of the time and it's not gonna be pretty.  Well, I think that's the last few weeks in the life of cheery and cheer.  We have another blizzard coming on Tuesday and Wednesday here in New England which we are going to miss but I wouldn't complain at all if I were here for it.  I love snow!  I am not tired of winter by any means because we have barely had one - maybe two weeks worth if you add all the snowy and cold days together.  And spring is always sitting on the kitchen counter no matter what. 

Oh!  And I'm going to be a Gran!  My daughter is pregnant with the first grandchild of my three kids.  Here she is with her teeny tiny baby bump.  Hooray!!!

One more thing - Heath was just here and received his Scotty portrait!