Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE- !!!!!!!

now I am going to bed- at least put my P.J.s on!

Pictures from Christmas Night

Lights on the sheds

Cornices still haven't fallen

Cross at church in red garland

Christmas Eve service

Children tucked in bed and

gift out on Christmas night

Merry Christmas!!

A Holiday Train Ride~

The  POLAR EXPRESS.

( the award wining childen's book written by Chris Van Allsburg , published by Houghton Mifflin and designed by Susan Sherman, who taught two great workshops at the SCBWI conference this summer in LA)

comes alive in Durango Colorado every Christmas at the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Depot-

The Dancing Chefs are there to help you board...

And keep you in line while everyone sings Christmas Carols and has hot chocolate and cookies

waiting to arrive at the North Pole....

Where Santa boards the train...

And gives everyone a silver bell( can you still hear it ring?)

We return to the station in a Winter Wonderland.....

And of course walk the street of Durango....

Before heading home....

Merry Christmas!

IF-"Undone"

What makes me "Undone"?

On a clear winter night- looking up and being reminded that

there is a God and He created this wonderful world and

brought His son, as a baby to save it!

Merry Christmas!!

"Riding Yellow Jacket" honored!

Check out the online gallery of Creative Quarterly, where you will find "Riding Yellow Jacket" which was a runner up in the CQ17 competition!

Christmas in the West

Inspired by Karen Davis' description of her Christmas near Bath , UK- on her blog Moonlight and Hares and Tommie Depaola  Christmas preparations on the East Coast featured on his official blog, I wanted to show you a little of what Christmas look like in the Four Corners.

Snow cornices form on our propanel roof after snow storms and take their own sweet time to fall- so sometime soon there will sound like there a bomb hitting the ground, when the blocks of snow finally decide to slid down, watch out dogs and small children- who were trained to never be under them!

Went to the BRB last night

Was at the The Dolores River Brewery last night with friends- nice place to be on a wintery snowy night. We have had so much snow, the crews are making piles of it on the side streets and through the winter it can be an adventure to get into the brew pub.
But once in, it is a warm cheery place- I think in England, they call their pubs- their regular hangouts- their "local" and the DRB is definitely ours. Great pizza, salads, soups in the winter and of course micro beers- though I don't drink 'em- kind of a teatotaller- but Jon likes them- especially their speciality beers- think the one right now is called "Mammoth something" and they only will sell it in the small glasses- because it's proof-  can't see through it- it looks like slug to me.

Yak or Highland Cow?

A family bet is riding on this and I won't say which way I am commiting to- but can you comment on this blog and vote what you think these animals are- Yaks or Highland Cows?

They were spotted when we were going "over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go" for Thanksgiving- the _______ were in a ranchers field near Mancos Colorado and the yellow circle on some of their behinds are sale barn stickers.

It should NOT influence you that near Alamosa Colorado there were the same looking animals and a spray painted sign selling YAK meat-  or that the one of the people on the other side of the bet, miss identified goslings for baby ducks at the feed store- thinking them to be "really healthy duck" awhile back and wouldn't believe anyone the long beaked fowl until they started to honk instead of quack!

Please note that there has been NO Photoshop or "Trickiery" going on in  Professional Photo Editing these are "virgin" images.

Luminarias @ Mesa Verde

Each Year, one night in December, the Mesa Verde Park Service light the paths around the Spruce Tree House Museum and Ruin with luminarias ( little candles pushed down in sand in paper bags) and invites the public to come up ( about a seventeen mile drive up to the Mesa and this year it was snowy) and walk down to the cliff dwellings and listen to local choirs and singing groups.

the path was cold and icy this year...

winding down on switch backs to get to the bottom of the canyon, but then you see the ruin, peeking through the trees...

The Rangers use lanterns hidden in the rooms to illuminate the ruins, it is very pretty but  you can't help but feel the "ghosts" that lived there before and wonder if they want to be disturbed by us "uninvited guests"

 or if they like the Christmas Carols, and did  they listen to their children sing, in the long winter nights?

 Thank you Mesa Verde Park Rangers for lighting our way and for the warm and yummy chili and cookies in the Snack Bar, when we had made it back up to the rim of the canyon!

Merry Christmas!!

"The Zen of Messy" Challenge

Inspired by the photos on the bog of  Richard Jesse Watson ( a wonderful author/illustrator and a very nice man) studio- in what he thinks is a messy state- I am posting the "after the storm" picture of my studio- i.e.- I just finished a big project and have not cleaned up- as much as any artist cleans up- but I do like to ceremonially straighten things up before starting my next project.

note the little scrappy on the floor, the stacks of fabric and the lack of usable space on the tables- yup- it is the end of a project! I am not even going to turn around and show you the other side- that would show cardboard boxes waiting for me to organize my family photos- yikes!!