Lost Art Creations

Studio Mascot Pics

Just a little bit of cuteness!  Polly & Cleo will be 9 mos old this month.  I think the lights were too much for Cleo - VBG!  Polly refused to move over on the chair so Cleo had to settle for the floor.

A Halloween Nor'easter!

I think Mother Nature is playing tricks on us, 'cause it sure isn't much of a treat!  It wasn't supposed to snow here until after midnight tonight.  Pics were taken at about 2PM this afternoon!

Fall Around Town

I just wanted to share a few pics I took at Smith Acres Farm in Niantic CT (which is a village of East Lyme).  A wonderfully patina'd old truck still stuffed to the gills with beautiful flowers and foliage, pumpkins of all kinds and colors and one monster pumpkin on display (not for sale - I checked - VBG!).

Enjoy!

T

Irene's Coming!

The time to prepare is now.  Stay safe!  If you are told to evacuate by officials PLEASE listen to them. 

I went to Target yesterday and they are already out of water.  I scored the last 3 bottles only because they were on the top shelf in the back.  Being tall has it's advantages!

I am also pulling out my Christmas window lights because they are either battery or solar powered.  With 2 kittens in the house they are safer than candles.  I already took down the canopy on the deck, stored all the outdoor furniture and did other items on the preparedness list.  Hopefully it will just blow out to sea.  Better safe than sorry though!

Dinners At The Farm 2011 ~ Update

 

What can I say?!  Dinner, the experience, the location, EVERYTHING was spectacular!  I wasn't sure how Jon would do with eating outdoors since bugs love to feast on him but he really enjoyed himself as well - enough to say that we should do this again next year.  Woohoo! Can't wait!   We also plan on making the trip to Chester to go to Jonathan Rapp's restaurant, River Tavern because everything was so wonderful.  My plan was to take photos of every course but I forgot and only got two photos of the food; the Lobster BLT and the Grilled Tuna w/ Salad Nicoise.  I created an album with all the photos of the evening.  The link is on the left sidebar.  Just can't figure out how to add descriptions to each photo. Any advise?

Time To Party!

Today is my birthday.  This year is more special to me because there was a time this Spring that I didn't think I'd make it to 51.  To celebrate we are attending a benefit called Dinners At The Farm.  I love the whole concept of this event and have tried for the past three years to attend but it was always sold out really early.  So this year I made reservations is April to make sure I got in.  They just posted pics from last weekends dinner at Barberry Hill Farm (where we are going this evening).  It's so beautiful and everything looks SO yummy!

Dinners At The Farm has been featured in national food & lifestyle magazines, the Food Network and on the Cooking Channel's Food(ography).  If you have the opportunity to attend this type of event in your area - do it!  You won't be disappointed!  After all, no farmers - no food.

To Hell And Back

First, I have to tell you my trip to San Francisco was FABULOUS!  I want to go back - soon!  I took LOTS of pics and will share them in the coming weeks.

The time after we got home ended up being a whirlwind of hospitals, ambulances and tests, tests, tests.

Let me back up a little.

While in SF I noticed that whenever I exerted myself (basically walk more than a 1/2 block) I would get a burning pain in my upper chest, shoulders and neck.  As soon as I stopped and rested a minute or two it would go away.  At the beginning of the week it was very slight.  By the end of the week I knew something was not right.  I was thinking Pneumonia or Bronchitis - boy was I wrong!

On Monday I went to the Navy Ambulatory Health Clinic.  The doctor insisted on sending me to the local civilian hospital - by ambulance.  When I got to L&M Hospital they started running tests; X-rays, blood work, and a CT scan of my chest.  They were thinking a Pulmonary Embolism but everything to that point came back clear or negative.  No blood clots - good news, but what the hell was wrong with me? 

I spent the night under observation and the next day they decided to do a Cardio CT Scan.  It showed 4 blockages in vessels around my heart, one of them was 95-99% blocked.  Because they do not do Angioplasties they sent me off immediately, by ambulance, with catheter still in me, to Yale New Haven Hospital where they had a room ready and prepped for me.

I now have 4 stents in me, the chest pain is gone - thank GOD, and in a couple of weeks - God willing- I start Cardio Rehab.  I am just tired and incredibly sore from the surgery and following doctors orders.

To think I was days - if not hours from having a massive heart attack is sobering and to think it could have happened in San Francisco or on the plane ?!  I prefer NOT to think about that thank you very much!

I think my husband is almost as worn out from the stress.  He is home and helping me around the house.  He took me grocery shopping and back to the NAHC to get my prescriptions filled and on Saturday he gets to take me to the local organic farm for fresh eggs and veggies.

In the past I tried to watch what I ate but I wasn't really religious about it.  I enjoy good food, I LOVE to whip up a gourmet meal for friends and family.  Now I need to figure out a way to make them just as tasty with no cream and very light on the salt and fats.  Anyone know any good online sites for these kinds of recipes?  Epicurious was pretty light - they only had 14 recipes for main dishes in their umpteen thousands of recipes database - can you believe it? 

Lesson learned here is, if you have chest pain that doesn't go away after a minute or two or that persists like in my case - do not ignore it - get thee to a doctor - IMMEDIATELY!

Another little tidbit is that I am only 50 years old and Coronary Artery Disease doesn't run in my family.  I always liked to be different from the pack but this is ridiculous!

For the time being I am focusing on my recovery and have postponed all my March classes (April TBD).  The Etsy site is up and running - it's not usually that busy this time of year and since I have no $$$ coming in from teaching every little sale helps.  I only have one swap commitment which I had already planned out the artwork for, so I should be able to get in done and mailed out on time without to much stress.

 

Artwork courtesy of:

Mary Zimany

from the Go Red For Women Calendar

Happy Birthday Baby!

The grand dame is 20!! this month.  The date is approximate 'cause she was a rescue.  Some stupid family abandoned her in Navy Housing in Groton CT.  She had the good sense to follow a friend of my husband's son home from school who took care of her until we adopted her.  They couldn't keep her because they already had a houseful of rescued pets (mostly abandoned by moving families).  I don't understand (and never will)  how a person can leave behind a pet that has given them nothing but unconditional love.

In her old age she is a very sound sleeper.  Heck, she quite a snorer too!  This was the 3rd pic I took and the only one that came out sharp, not blurry.  She slept soundly through all the flashes and clicks and whirs of the camera - bless her heart!

Doesn't she just look the sweetest!?

Winter Storm Ella

Byron said it best:

The English winter - ending in July,

To recommence in August.

Right now, I know how he felt.  This winter cannot end quickly enough.  Other than the first snow and snow on Christmas I can pretty do without the white stuff.

Right now we are dealing with sleet and freezing rain.  Yesterday when I went to go pay my property tax before the storm hit my car suddenly made a squeeling noise from the brakes and then I loud Ka-Klunk!

So off to the auto repair where I had to leave my car and get a rental.  A tiny subcompact that feels like a tin can on wheels.  No Way am I going out in that thing in this weather so I am trapped at home trying to keep busy.  Ok, 'nuf said.  I'm done bitching.  If you made it through this whole post thanks for listening!

T

Thar She Blows!

We haven't had a winter like this in quite a while!  The state was essentially shut down today as a monster Nor'easter blew through starting last night.  We got a good solid foot of snow today.  I think the snow is blocking my satellite 'cause I lost TV reception around 11AM and haven't gotten it back yet(8PM).  I just hope the wind blows in the right direction to clear it off soon.

I did get a lot done today.  Cleaned up the Etsy Shop, Figured out how to create a new banner for it using GIMP - SOOOO much easier than the way I used to do it!

I even played with my new Digi Zumi camera Jon got me for Christmas.  It's a digital Lomo camera.  It does really cool things with the light and color!  I took the same pics with my Sony Digi just to see the difference.  Pretty nifty huh!?

Regular Digi ( I did adjust the color and contrast a bit)

Digi Zumi

Regular Digi with minimal editing

Digi Zumi

 

More Digi Zumi