Painting has always been on my list of ‘things I wish I could do’. 

I KNOW I will never , EVER possess the natural, God-given talent that she and many others have been blessed with, but I decided to check out a local painting class last week just for kicks and giggles.

I had seen photos of Kelly Walker’s children’s classes and they produced some pretty darned good paintings! When I heard she was having a morning class for adults I signed up… It was fun!

Click here to see my very first attempt!

I’ll post a better photo when I bring it home on Wednesday.

I’m still under no illusions that I will ever be anything but a ‘dabbler’ but I might just keep at it for awhile to see what I can do.

Rustic stairs

Cool tree

Lots of rock piles

A cemetery

An old grindstone

I want it!

We hoped to check out some more trails up on ‘the drive’ this weekend, but it looks like an ice storm might be blowing through tonight.

Ice+ hills= couch and a warm fire!

We usually do our neighborhood roads while doing trash pick-ups. But we’ve also headed up on Skyline Drive to do a few of the short hikes up there.

A couple of weekends ago we decided to check out the Snead Farm trail.

As the sign states, it was an easy hike to a really cool old barn in surprisingly good shape

with an old root cellar

and an old well

stairs to no where

Lots and lots of rocks around here

I can’t imagine trying to plant apple trees in this kind of ground!

Mr.C. was far more interested in the buck-signs

I liked discovering artifacts

Last weekend we tried out the Fox Hollow trail, pics soon!

New Years Eve day was warm and wonderful. We stayed close to home, only heading out to gather supplies for the evenings festivities. Well, MOST of us stayed home, Nurse Jackie and Kevin had to drive all the way back to Alexandria to collect her phone that she left at the restaurant!

As the sun began to go down I headed out to start the bonfire and soon we were gathered around playing ‘What’s Your’s Like’ and getting silly in our finery

Pie-irons were put to use making pizza, blueberry  and cherry pies.

This was the story hat… passed around to each person to wear while they told about their favorite New Years Eve memories.

I’m not sure about everyone else, but I know for ME, the next time the story hat comes out I’ll be telling the story about THIS New Years Eve!

It was a wonderfully warm day so we sat outside on the back of the boat.

We were able to glimpse the Capitol building and Washington monument once we got on the water

Pulling into the dock we could see ‘The Awakening’, a sculpture of a giant emerging from the earth.

It serves as a playground for the youngins

Loved these cool sculptures

There were beautiful mosaics to enjoy

And another Life Is Good store!

Capri D and I both loved the name of this place

The sun began to get low in the sky so we headed back to the dock to await the water taxi and enjoy the views along with this guy

We enjoyed the sunset cruise back to Alexandria

Once back on land we stopped at another little museum where I forced Nurse Jackie and Kevin to provide us these amusing photos. They were good sports!

We made one more stop at the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop…

we HAD to because we had coo-pins!

It was really a wonderful day.

Next up… New Years Eve!

C.D. and B.F.G. both enjoyed the walk.

After our walk we met the kids back at the caverns

The next day we did a road trip to Alexandria Virginia to check out the Torpedo Factory.

It is exactly that… an old torpedo factory which has been converted into many different art studios.

Three floors of art in many mediums… paint, fiber, clay, metal, glass, and…. gum?

Yes, GUM!  I had to sneak this picture especially for Mrs. Schmenkman.

I was especially excited to find this store

It’s always fun to go someplace with a water front

THIS, is a Coot Schmenky…

Loved the architecture and the old town feel

Also loved the apothecary museum

Way cool stuff in there!

From Alexandria we took the water taxi over to National Harbor, more on that another day…

It was a great time here on The Hill!

The house was full of family for the week between Christmas and New Year’s day and we loved it!

BFG, Capri D, Niece Nurse Jackie and her friend Kevin, Niece Itty Bitty, and on either end of the week her new hubby Ryan. And we can’t forget dog Marlo and Kitty EEEK!

They came bearing gifts!

The weather was wonderful and other than one rainy day we took full advantage of the 50 degree days.

Laps were everywhere for Miss Poppet and also for Casey!

Loved it when we all got tatered up and packed the living room! (can you find Poppet?)

We spent one somewhat chilly day checking out the shops and sights on Main St. and the visitors center

We also explored that overgrown boxwood garden the I had discovered early last Fall.

I certainly hope we weren’t trespassing! There were no signs anywhere and it looked to be a part of one of the places that are on the town’s walking tour of the Civil War sights so we took a chance. It was cool, but it certainly needs some serious tending to!

There’s more… stay tuned!

All I can say… WOW! They do know how to FEAST over at that house!

This was the first course…

crab stuffed mushrooms and ceviche, assorted crudities, antipasto…

Please take note of the candles and also that cute Christmas elf in the background.

I meant to get pictures of each course, but when he brought out the LOBSTER, I got a bit distracted and forgot.

We had wonderful scallops and clams too.

And here are some of the other delicacies we enjoyed…

steamed shrimp and scampi … candles are getting pretty short there!

King crab legs… yum!

In between courses we played with Mr.Nico and the present we brought was quite the success!

Don’t worry, the pups got attention too!

Somehow I didn’t get a pic of Cali-Bear, but this is Phoenix…

And Zona…

I have to say, this lil munchkin just might be my new favorite chin disguiser!

Mr. C was smitten with him too!

Another new favorite chin disguise is this cool rooster they gave us!

The end of the feast and the cake was a hit, thankfully I remembered to take a picture before the first slice was cut!

Check those candles out!

Wait, what candles?

We ate until the burned themselves out!

We managed to roll ourselves back down the road to our house after a full 8 hours of feasting!

Thank you Nick, Jill, Nico, Cali, Zona, and Phoenix for a wonderful evening!

And Kismet loves the rooster too!

But, I’m thankful that we’ll be spending Christmas Eve with the Crazy Dog Family for the Feast of Seven Fishes.

There is no way I could stay sad when they have the happiest, smiliest baby in the entire world!

Mr.C went last year and he said the food is not to be believed!

My contribution will be dessert, a tiramisu layer cake… yum!

I also have a house full of company to look forward to! They are coming the day after Christmas until New Years Day! Woot! Woot!!

I wish you all a wonderful and joy-filled Christmas and a very blessed New Year.  XOXOXOX

Naturally we chose the Beaver Trail which took us around the entire lake. It was a ‘brisk’ sunny day so we walked rather quickly. The scenery is beautiful!

We observed Canadian Geese, Coots,  and 3 Bufflehead ducks… unfortunately we didn’t see any beavers though!

We took some back roads on the way home and stopped by a pond where my friend Stacey had seen a beaver earlier in the year. We didn’t see any beavers, but we did see a pair of otters!

Some research online informed me that otters are mating at this time of year and that they often use old beaver or muskrat lodges. I’m guessing this means that the beaver has moved on and there may be some baby otters to observe come springtime! How fun!!!

Hydrangea arrangement in parlor

Down in the game room

a little billiard tree

and rustic pinecones

The grand staircase

A different view of the tree

And as I was leaving… a sweet-faced good-bye.

(I really need to get some goats.)

Somehow I didn’t manage to get pictures of everything but here are a few…

Dining room wreath to match table arrangements

Wreathes in ballroom … I should have gotten a close-up

Mantle in parlor

Two small ballroom trees

And here is a close-up of the tree

Tomorrow I should be wrapping up and I’ll try to remember to get pics of the rest!

I was a bit apprehensive about doing the arrangements this time because I was asked to use faux flowers instead of the natural greenery I’ve used in the past. Keeping all of those fresh arrangements watered and fresh looking is a lot of work so it was understandable.

I really love the way the ballroom mantle turned out!

And the dining room arrangements too! 

As you can see, the tree is in the stair-hall this year instead of the ballroom. Got that decorated on day one.

On to day 4, stay tuned!

Yep, I was asked to come and do the Christmas decorating at Chesley again.

It was odd going back after leaving nearly a year ago now.

But it sure was great to see some old friends!

I’ll be working all week so I’m sure there will be more pics to come.

Well the gal who commissioned it showed it to someone and they loved it so much that they wanted one similar!

So here is the result, completed yesterday…

I like this one better than the first, what about you?

I hope the client is happy with it!

Update for Capri D… 3/4” glass tile edging

This just about sums up my life right now…

Arrrrrgggggghhhhh!

The weather was beautiful and we were able to enjoy a bonfire on Friday.

Mr C’s nephew is absolutely FEARLESS! When we had our October snow storm, the very top limb of one of our willow oak trees broke, but not completely. That guy just climbed to the top like a monkey and sawed the broken branches off.  We stood by and could barely stand to watch. His Mom was just slightly worried! Thanks again D.J.!

On Saturday we went out and found my very first geo-cache!

Then we went to the Hollywood casino where we all lost to the house. CRAP!

Now it’s back to normal… laundry, critters, mosaics, work… until more company comes right after Christmas! YAY!!

Oh yeah… big news! My little Itty-Bitty niece and her Marine beau got hitched! Congrats to them both! We love you!