Eloise Loves Footbal Season!

She is ready for this weekends games!  She is an Auburn fan of course, as well as the Saints, although I hear she also pulls for the ravens.   

She does like to watch the sports, (and tail-gate) but she like to play much better!  You know where she will be going to college!!!!

Happy Birthday Ganesha

Ganesha's Birthday has to be one of my favorite holidays.  This is the second year I have celebrated with friends of mine, one of which makes the beautiful Ganesha every year.  She makes it out of clay, and then, after the celebration is over, they take him to the bayou so he can return to his home.  

 

 Ganesha is the Lord of Obstacles, known for both removing as well as placing them. But like most of the Hindu deities, he is not so simple.  To learn more about him please check out his wikipedia page. 

 

Here is Ganesha and his offerings at his alter.  For his birthday he gets tasty foods, fruits, flowers, candles, and insistence!  Lucky deity he is! 

Below is Dunga the Great!  He is a giant dog!

Peters Land Services' Temporary Website!

Oh! I have been so busy here at the Department of Design!  I have so many projects wrapping up that I will be sharing soon!  I almost cannot wait, but I must.  There is one project, it is just a quick temporary website for a client.  But it is live!  

I should say this about PLS, they do good work!  Today he will be celebrating the opening of the heritage rose garden at Beauvoir.  He researched the roses that Jefferson Davis's wife Varina would have used reconstructed the landscape using the same types of roses she used. 

I can't wait to see the gardens my self. 

A screen shot of peterslandservices.com

In addition to landscape restoration, PLS also provides Planning and Landscape design services as well as building and maintenance.  He specializes in sustainable gardens too! 

I will be posting more of the work for PLS soon, as well as work for his bike shop ecoGeno! 

Sunday Bread-day

Today is my get stuff around the house done day!  I haven't made bread since I have been back, and decided it was on my list of "chores" for the morning!  

I made a Tuscan Loaf which is a simple bread, and has both white and whole wheat.  The recipe came from a cook book my dad bought me several years back when I first began experimenting with bread making: The Bread Bible by Beth Hensperger

 

This is the first free formed loaf bread I have made in a long time, as well as the first bread I have kneaded by hand in years (you know, since I got the Kitchen Aid)

 

I think it turned out great!  MMMMM Toast for lunch?  

Pizza Night here at the Ugly Green House

I have been making pizza for my self regularly lately....for several reasons, mostly because I love good pizza, but most is too unhealthy to eat regularly. 

I have learned that if I cook for my self I can have the things I love and still eat in a  way that is good for me, and now that I have it down, I might just eat pizza every day! 

Those are 4 lumps of dough, made from Mark Bittman's recipe, accompanied by tomato, eggplant, basil and rosemary from the garden. Some sea salt, olive oil, Al's pepper mix, mozzarella, and Parmesan. I know it sounds complicated, but since most of it was in my garden it was really simple: just use what you have. 

I have had 2 pizza making surprises. The first is that rosemary is essential, and it goes amazingly with basil. I think this might be a well known fact, but I am just figuring it out. 

Second, to get the dough hot enough to cook in our kitchen ovens, the secret is to use a broiler and a cast iron pan! You must preheat the pans in the broiler then place a thin layer if corn meal in the heated pan. Place the pizzas in the pan, like you would on a stone and bake until top is browned to your liking. This is a quick process, so don't let your mind wander too much or you will risk blackened pizza. 

Bon appetite! Ahhhh!!! I cannot wait for tomorrow's dinner! Pizza night again!

A New Room for a New Roommate!

Sometimes, here at the Ugly Green House, I will rent out one of my bedrooms.  The house is way too big for just me, and especially now, since I am working from home, it is nice to have someone else using the space.  It seems like most of the renters I get are only here for temporary stays and one fell in love.   I don't mind the temporary boarders, but I would love to have them more often, I have made some good friends this way. I have been so lucky with my roommates.  I have had people I worked with at the GCCDS, and a guy from the Research Lab, and now a woman coming to do community law work for the  summer.

She needed a furnished room, and I didn't want to give up my guest room capabilities, and have a room sitting empty, so I rounded up a bed and dresser.  I pulled some furniture and art from other parts of the house.  I bought new sheets and a new blanket.  I did it all over a few days too.  What do you think? 

I think I need a stripe intervention.  I can't help buying things striped.

a big sunny window, and the low maintenance mother in law's tongue.

That was my grandfathers drafting desk, an extra chair,
and a shelf set that was waiting around for a need. 

Amos Kennedy Prints, now in most rooms of my house.  They are just too good!

Paper Doll Show

I consider my self so lucky to have been invited to participate in the Paper Dolls Uncut Art Show  at the Duckett Gallery at the Mary C. O'Keefe Cultural Center of Arts & Education in Ocean Springs Mississippi.

What a great idea! Paper dolls, they are art to be played with. They are for play! 

My work, set up in the gallery!

I did two series for this show.  The first I did the tiny houses, with interchangeable flags. (I hope to get those documented and on my website soon.  I will post the link when I do.) 
The second series, which can be seen in more detail on my website, were a series of little boxes with a vintage photo in the rear. Then I made little scenes that could be changed out in front of the images.

My Paper doll Boxes! The available boxes are for sale at my Etsy Shop. 

This was such a fun project.  I loved having a theme, or an idea to work off of that came from outside of me.  It was refreshing. 

It was also so nice to see how all of the other artists interpreted the idea.  

by Joey Rice

by Bill Myers

Sue Weidie Findeisen

By Chris Stebly

By Mary Anderson Pickard

By Mary Anderson Pickard

by Kerr Grabowski

by Leif Anderson, Matt Stebly, Carol Hutcherson

by Jason Stebly, Ellen Ellis Lee, Kat Fitzpatrick

Bill Myers, Stacy Johnson, Mary Hardy

Carmen Lugo, Michael Walker, Marcella Upton, Regan Carney

Camille Boggs, Mary Hardy, Jessie Zenor, Carol Hutcherson

Steve Shepard, Joreje Lavato, Shane and Sheri Sekul