Theresa · Mather

No fall colors yet, but I can see them higher up on the mountainside. It may be time for a fall color viewing drive. Summer is exiting like it entered- cool, and with frequent clouds and rain. We didn't really have much of a summer- I didn't take the lighter winter blankets off the bed until June and I'm thinking about putting them back on already.

I baked a loaf of brown potato bread, it just came out of the oven, so the house smells like baking bread. I had to call Barry to corral dumb kitty who seemed intent on jumping into the hot lower oven when I tried to take it out. Silly cat! Since she has had cancer and needs to eat, I've been sharing people food with her and now she knows it tastes better than cat food. So she's way too interested in anything connected to people food. I thought when she had the tumors removed in January, she wouldn't live very long after that. But it's getting to be fall and she's still here, now with a huge appetite for lunch meat, steak, pork chops, pudding, cheese, mayo, roast beef, salad dressing, cake and chicken. And she's pushy and whiny about it too! The interest in bread seems to come from the newly acquired knowledge that lunch meat and bread are often connected, so if you're handling bread kitty starts to get in front of your feet to force you to pay attention while she says MAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUU over and over.

Cat wrangling isn't all there is on my to-do list today. I'm reframing some pieces for a friend, finishing the small originals for October and getting a commission ready to send today.

Yesterday I got a large frame order in, so sorting and putting away things was the order of the day. I selected a few to reframe some paintings I think would look better framed differently. So I intend to clean up loose ends today and tomorrow so I can forge ahead finishing the year's work. I think dinner at Ninja Japanese Steakhouse would be a good way to celebrate finishing 2009! Of course it's just a symbolic goal, because I'll begin work for 2010 the very next day.

The leaves all fell from the cottonwoods, opening up the view on the North side of the house so I can see out over the valley to the mountains. It's so much lighter in the house when the cottonwoods don't have their leaves. I really don't feel ready for winter- it seems like spring and summer just flew by but that's probably because I was hardly home. I hope to get in a bit more hiking in the higher areas like Bryce and Cedar Breaks before the weather really changes for the year. Taking my grandmother to Bryce and peering over the edge made me want to get down in the canyon at least once more before the snow comes. I usually take the Wall Street/Queen's Garden trail but I might try the Fairyland trail instead. Once the trails are covered with snow, even partially, they're just too slippery to safely navigate (I know, I've slid onto my butt a number of times proving the point).
I've been busy painting. I finished this piece yesterday and I'm quite pleased with it. I'll probably send it to LosCon's art show. I've been on a dragon-and-phoenix kick lately, and the last one I did was mostly silver and white so this time I decided to use silver, black and white.




It's acrylic on stone (black and white jasper). The challenges involved with this painting included posing the beasties around druzy areas in the stone filled with tiny crystals. It came together in fits and starts during stolen moments when I had company last week. It's about 10 inches high.

Today I am working on the last piece for LosCon, and I'm going to make pane bigio crusty Italian bread using my fermented starter, which now smells deliciously like beer. I think the starter's nearing the end of its little yeasty life, so I need to use it up. Next I am planning on venturing into the world of sourdough. That's all for today, time to go make the bread and have some more chai tea before going back out to my studio.

My bread making experiments are continuing at a slow pace so as not to interfere with recent weight loss. My first ever loaf was okay, it just rose a bit much and pressed against the top of the bread machine during baking. For the second loaf,I made some adjustments to compensate for the high altitude including adding more gluten and the bread dough was so strong it attached to the paddle and wouldn't let go. The top formed a giant bubble under it, wrecking the crust. I had to destroy the loaf to get it out and to disengage it from the paddle in the pan. It tasted fine but it was largely in crumb format, disappointing my hopes of having delicious toast. So for the third loaf I tried using the machine to make the dough and then took it out to bake in the oven. I topped it with salt, olive oil and rosemary and got my first almost pretty loaf of bread! I think taking it out of the machine for baking will be the solution to some of the altitude issues.


In other news, I finally moved my paint and supplies out into the studio for the summer. Working outside of the house will keep me from wasting time on the computer...which is good since I have a lot to get done. The local news forum I sometimes post to was "upgraded" into a labyrinthine time waster complete with blogging features for the nutty posters and I let my Phil Hendrie Show subscription expire, so it's a good time to pull away from the internet a bit.

Next week, I take the first of many convention related trips this year when I go to Salt Lake City to be artist guest of honor at Conduit. It's been nice being home so much, but it will be fun going to the convention and I'm looking forward to it. :)

Spring is bustin' out all over- my apple tree is blooming today! Leaves are starting to appear on the cottonwoods and squirrels are out of hibernation and were even busily trying to get into the lunch cooler of the man working on my neighbor's buried electrical line. I really should move my stuff back into the studio and be working out there. There are garish pink blooming Thomas Kinkade trees all around town.

I've located a gently used Epson 2200 and purchased it. I'll probably eventually get the newer model, but I'm in mid stocking up for summer of prints and have lots of ink for the 2200, so this seemed like the best thing to do for now. It should get here next week. I really wish there were more repair shops for electronics- it seems like such a waste to just throw things out every time they stop working for a minor reason if you're happy with the item.

I made my first loaf of bread in the bread machine, and thanks to reading up on high altitude baking, it turned out fairly well, considering. It rose a bit too much before baking, but not enough to wreck it. I need to cut back on the yeast a little more for my next attempt. The down side is that I ate too much of it because it tasted so good. I'll have to switch to whole grains as soon as I feel like I know what I'm doing so as not to undo recent weight loss progress. The smell of fresh baking bread really does wonders for the soul.