Remembering a Great Artist...Sebastian R. Gianino

this is just a small sampling of Seb's Paintings. My house had turned into a small gallery of his works. He was so incredibly talented. Now I know where my kiddos get it from.
His primary medium was oil painting. I can't even begin to tell you the thousand upon thousands of sketches he has. yes, thousands. His Morgue file was unbelievable. At least 9 metal old file cabinets.
If you are unsure what a morgue file is..it is where he would spend hours upon hours cutting stuff out from magazines and such and use for research to draw a certain body part or item.
if it was hands, abs, breast or feet..he had at least more then a thousand of each. Then it was put into sub categories....babies, adults....American...european..you name it there was a category. His dream was to one day be an illustrater.
In the 70's someone offered to buy a painting for 300$$. He declined.
I can only fathom how well he would have been known if he would have sold his paintings.
He studied under Brother Matthew, who was a wonderful monk over in Illinois.
I will be posting more art work soon from Sebastian.

He loved Jesus.

He loved the idea of family

my husbanded misses him.

the kids miss their Grandpa

the art world has missed something.

Today's Freshness

ahhhh....
a cool front moved through..knocking it down a few degrees and with lower humidity it has made it nice to survey my small garden of Eden.

It has been so hot that Watering 3 times a day was necessary. More so for the plants that are in containers. Which is halve of my garden.

I love to garden...I mean grow food. Sure flowers are nice, but give me something I can eat. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but for me, beauty is in taste.

I have never grown FOOD. I am in WONDERMENT that I can grow stuff I can EAT. Sure, I have always had an Herb garden. There was nothing more liberating then being able to step out my door and pick basil, Italian flat leaf parsley, dill, sage, cilantro, thyme, rosemary.... what ever else I might need for a dish. I felt like I was kind of free from the MAN. I mean, have you checked out prices of fresh Basil at wally world? I was spending easily about 15 bucks a month alone on Fresh BASIL during winter.

When we first thought about how we would garden we did not have much room. Our back yard is the size of a postage stamp with a GINORMOUS tree in the back yard. I think that thing has seen many moons pass. On the side of our house was optimum sun. but we had shrubbery. Well, up it came.

I did not have quite enough room for all of the things I wanted to grow. So containers were a great alternative.

The rest as they say is History.

This leads me to now.

Today's Freshness.





As I pick the okra when it is ready, I go ahead and clean, cut then freeze. I am hoping by turkey time have enough for our tradition of Gumbo Thanksgiving day weekend. We have picked about 2 pounds and had it stewed with homegrown maters. With speckled butter beans, rice and corn bread. Wow..is life ever good!





I am really not sure how big Okra is supposed to get, anytime I have ever bought it home grown from the farmers market it was never this big.



My okra is just grown in containers. I can't help to think how much I would have if it were in the ground with great dirt.




Today we also picked about 2 pints of grape tomato's...




all in all this 3 dollar grape tomato plant growing in a pot has given me at least 12 pints of tomatoes...with more to come it seems. What a money saver. if you buy the sweet grape tomatoes at the store you are spending at least 3 bucks if not more a pint!!




This tomato is my favorite. The bradley.



I really thought it was done. but after putting some compost in there it has had a rebirth, every flower blooms into a fruit now...I am counting down to pick these so I can grab my salt and savour the acidic goodness this tomato has, with a flesh that is tender with no mushiness at all.

WHAT IS IN THE FUTURE?

Eggplant...



cantaloupe..( I planted this from seed, I have at least 6 waiting for the perfect moment to be plucked) Again, just in a container..and I was told Cantaloupe had a low yield and was hard to grow...








what is even more wonderful about our garden. Pesticide free. and no unnatural chemical fertilizer.
here is to fresh eats...

Sewing Again!!

It has been so long since I have sewed, I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to create a dollie....

now listed on ebay.....

Todays Fresh Pick'ens ~ SWISS CHARD

Today bright and early went out and picked Swiss Chard, yellow and red varieties..

hmm..now the quest to find what to make with it today

My FFA Girl

Sophia, my lil ole FFA Girl..

we picked these carrots a while back, just enough to put into a pot of chicken noodle soup.

my small garden has grown by leaps and bounds. Cucumber have been plentiful..as well as all of my herbs.

I had no idea zucchini was going to take over like it did.

if you go down a few posts you will see my garden in the begining...

the small plants with only 2 leaves on them have turned into amazon like plants.

I am still awaiting much anticipated home grown maters...

BitterSweet Fathers Day

It was a very bittersweet fathers day for my husband.
His father passed away on June 5th, after spending nearly 6 weeks in the hospital.

The passing was all to surreal.

I feel for my husband. there was no closure....
we got the call at 10:29 that he was not doing well..we had even talked to them just at 10..the nurses that is.
when they called we rushed up to the hospital, I got pulled over even. i wanted to make it there.

I ran in, took the staff elevator even, I did not care.
ran into the room with people telling I could not go in there.
I knew something was not right when there was not a neighboring patient, there was not monitors hooked up to him, he was covered, mouth open and eyes closed...

I held his hand, it even felt liked he was gripping it....I could have sworn I saw his chest moving......I put my ear to his chest...no signs of life.......


Michael had not yet made it in, he was the nurses station, and asked how is my pop..I ran out and said..he is dead.

we hung out in the room, the priest came..we said prayers.....

having kids does not make you an adult, taking care of a dying parent does.
it has been hard...there is so much more...but out of the 6 weeks, he only spent 4 official days in rehab. after checking in, then fell out of bed had bleeding on the brain and rushed to 2 diff hospitals, was released on a Tuesday, then on Friday again rushed to hospital because oxygen levels were low and he was lethargic,
90 percent of the time in the past 6 weeks he was not with it...calling out to dead relatives that have been dead for years.....

this is so hard for my husband...his dad never let him know that he loved him, or was proud of him.


seb bit nurses, punched..for being so sick he was so strong.

Seb was terribly mean to Michael....for years...but even in the hospital in his half coherent mind, he was just mean. seb asked a nurse, are you a praying person..the nurse said yes, then he points to Michael and says pray that he gets punished.


Mike has a cyst on his head....seb asks him, what is on your forehead....A HORN GROWING..????

I mean, we knew it was a matter of time before he died. I remember the weekend before we checked sebastian in, he fell in our house, had an accident on the floor, hubby even had to bathe him he had not had a shower in months...I told Michael then, I think your dad only has 2 months to live. If we did not insist on checking him into the er, I really think within days he would have been dead in his home. I told Michael, you have to make him go the ER, you know how much guilt you would feel for years to come if you did not.....


on the 25th of this month he would have been 75.


It is just sad.
please pray that I have strength for my husband....and that we have wisdom on to know what to do....

Life Happens & So Does Death

This is a really weird time for our family right now.
My father in law is kinda touch and go.
With Congestive Heart Failure and Kidney failure.

for a few days he did not know anything and calling out to his sisters that have been dead for years, and his mom. when he sees me he calls me Betty, which is deceased wife.

My husband felt the brunt of it. His father was saying nasty vile things to him. All though I think he did not understand he was talking to his son because he kept on calling him a different name.

Nurses have been bitten, and he needs constant attention with someone at his side to keep him from pulling his cathater out.

we are visiting as much as possible and trying to understand this all. We now have had a crash course between assisted living, skilled nursing, and nursing home.

........
but for now hospital is a home.
Heidi

I'm GroWinG!!

I am Growing!!

Not in Height

(maybe an LB here and there...)

But needless to say, I am growing..

it has been about 8 weeks just about since I have sewed a stitch.

I traded my needle in for a shovel..

instead of fabric to create, I have been planting seeds.

and I am sure my neighbors really thought I lost my mind when I decided to PULL OUT ALL OF MY LANDSCAPE ON THE SIDE OF MY HOUSE and opted for a raised cinder block garden instead.

not only did I pull out all of my landscape on the side of my house (the side that faces south and gets 6-8 hours of light a day..) but also any container that could hold dirt, well, now holds dirt.

My radishes are even almost ready for harvest!

Arugula is very tasty compared to those old plastic tubs that you can buy in the store! for years I have always heard how arugula had a "peppery" taste. Not the ones I was buying all of these years that come pre packaged. but the baby greens growing that I planted from seed have a very peppery taste indeed.

I can be found grazing on the seedlings that need to be thinned.

I have got 3 different types of basil plated so far, and awaiting the Thai basil to come in (it is so good in a noodle bowl soup!!)

by good ole summer time I am hoping to have a healthy harvest of 5 different kinds of maters, and my favorite lettuce, bibb.

so, that is what I have been up to. Now, today for the first time in about 2 months, I am ready to sit down and sew.

Happy Growing & Sewing to all.

Heidi

Good BYE FRIED POTATO CHIP....

NO, I am not going on a diet, but perhaps I should.

I am saying good bye my dear earthy fried russet friend, I have found something new....

I don't have to peel it...I think it is cheaper by the pound..and something different and still just as yummy..

HELLO MY FRIEND OF THE bannana COUSIN..

HELLO PL ANTIN..

simply sliced, deep fried, and seasoned and salted....

just yummy I tell ya...

hello my new friend.

.

Hello fried plantin,

goodbye fried potato

ps. I will still wrap you up and bake you in the oven, will still peel you and dice you for breakfast, I will still peel, dice, and boil you up for creamy goodness that is mashed taterers...

I simply have found someone else to fry

but

I do still love

you

potato..

♥♥HARTS♥♥ Sneaky Peaky

Greetings!! Thanks for hopping on over to my blog today..Spring is on my mind for sure..I have got rabbit dolls just multiplying around my house, So, I am offering them on Harts. Please be sure to stop by for the First of the month for all of the new offerings.

Going Green

With Tuna Salad That is.
Here is a twist on Tuna Salad the is very refreshing instead of the old gloppy mayonaise way. Now, I do not use exact measurements on things...so I will do my best to share this with you.

• 2 cans of Albacore White Chunk Tuna in Water
• 1 (or 2 if you are feeding a bigger crowd) of Garbanzo Beans~Chickpeas


• 1/4 of a Purple Onion Thinly Sliced


• A good hard Italian Cheese (Parmesan, Asiago, Fontinalla)


• Fresh Italian Flat leaf parsley


• Fresh Basil


• the juice of one lemon


• Olive oil


• Coarse Sea Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper


• Organic Baby Greens (a mix, or I love this with just Arugula..)


• Avocado ~ OPTIONAL


• 2 organic brown eggs boiled ~ OPTIONAL

Drain your tuna and place in a mixing bowl, drain and rinse your chickpeas and place in bowl. Add your thinly sliced purple onion. To taste add as much lemon juice you would like (I use a whole lemon) Drizzle with Olive oil. ( you don't want it to be drowning, but not dry either) Add a couple of chiffoned basil leafs in, and chop a few leafs of flat Italian leaf parsley in. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix well

Place a hand full of greens on a center of a plate.

Add tuna mixture, then shave some Italian hard cheese on top.

OPTIONAL

Serve with slices of boiled eggs and Avocado.

If you live in a small town like I do, the good thing is ALL OF THESE THINGS CAN BE FOUND AT WALLY WORLD!! During winter when you are craving some freshness, this hits the spot. During summer when it is scorching hot, this is not heavy and won't weigh you down and make you feel sluggish.

New ebay Listings in 2010

Greetings! I hope that you brought in the 2010 with a BANG! It was a great New Years.

My lil ole Suga Buga (Sophia) has turned 6!! **sigh**

And even more excitement....AMERICAN IDOL.....I did not think I was going to watch it this year, but found myself not being able to STOP WATCHING IT the first 2 nights....before you know it, it was 2 hours later and on the couch I was the whole time, quickly running during commercials for potty breaks.

Well, I will keep this short and sweet today, as I have been sitting on the computer for a few hours fixen' pics and listing my new dollies.

Thanks for looking ;)

Heidi

New Dollies! And Stage fright!

Greetings! Well it is just about that time, for the PFATT MARKETPLACE to launch. It has been a wonderful year on the Marketplace, and I want to thank everyone who has stopped by and supported the Artisans.

Well, I have 2 last offerings for the Pfatt Market Place of '09.

An Angel who can easily go from Christmas (with her Noel banner) to any other time of the year, with a flip of the banner it now says "love" (before you know it Valentines will be here)

Another creation is a very worn snow fella. he will just melt your heart, not only great for Christmas, but through out the Winter season.

Tomorrow is a big day, the Christmas Play will Be held at school and Gabby has 3 performances to do. We will spend tonight going over the lines and Singing to "SANTA'S HOLIDAY HOEDOWN.

You see Santa's toy shop is going under because of an unexpected recession. They have refinanced and tried everything else they can think of, but have finally run out of ideas. All are very worried. Suddenly the idea comes up that they should go to Branson, Missouri, open up a theater and put on a show. They hope to make a lot of money and save the toy shop and subsequently Christmas itself. All seems to be going fine except they are short a main headliner for the show that will guarantee their success. Santa Claus is the logical choice but his reluctant to take up a country career. In the end, it is Mrs. Claus (gabby) considerable powers of persuasion that convince Santa that he has no choice but to swallow his insecurities and "go with the show?" To no ones' surprise he eventually sees the light and saves the day.

Complete with (here is the list of Charchters)

Dolly Holiday

Tex Glitter

Minnie Pearl

Rodaie Valet

Yokam

Dwight

Garth

Brooks

Vince

Gill

Reba

Mcentire

Billy Ray

Cyrus

Mary and Chapin and Carepenter (a three headed elf)

Wynonna

Judd

and of course

Santa

Mrs. Claus

and

Rudouph

Along with all of the 5th grade singing along!

COURAGE

What makes a King out of a slave?

Courage!

What makes the flag on the mast to wave?

Courage!

What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk?

What makes the muskrat guard his musk?

Courage!

What makes the Sphinx the Seventh Wonder?

Courage!

What makes the dawn come up like thunder?

Courage!

What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the ape in ape-ricot? What have they got that I ain’t got?

COURAGE

On Ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110464865699

Thank you for all who served.

Just want to say a very quickie thank you to all of the verterans out there who have served our wonderful Nation.

also just wanna put a blurb out there that I have listed my first santa of the season.
http://cgi.ebay.com/WORN-Black-Primitive-Santa-Claus-Doll-W-Christmas-Tree_W0QQitemZ110456647206QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFolk_Art?hash=item19b7baae26