Author: Francesca Filanc

Thanksgiving Day is just around the corner. I am reminded of so many Thanksgivings of the past. Thanksgivings when I was a child growing up in Del Mar were always fun and exciting because it meant the beginning of the fun-filled holiday season. Even though I grew up on the ocean in southern California I can remember crisp autumn air filling my nostrils, burning a little from the cold; and the delightful smells of  fireplaces as the colder weather set in.  In Front of the Crackling Fire

I can smell my mother’s cooking and remember the fun and excitement of preparing the turkey. It was a family affair and my grandparents who lived right next door were always there at Thanksgiving feasts. My father LOVED Kellog’s Corn Flakes. My grandmother, who I called Mimi, always used this recipe that then my mother, her mother-in-law, used when I was growing up. My sister Wendy puts fabulous recipes on her daughter Rebecca’s blog. Follow this link and you will find other traditional dishes in our family. And not so traditional since my sister is now a vegetarian, but equally delicious!  For photos and step-by-step directions go to the website —  Girlsgonechild – Eat Well  There’s also a delicious vegetarian gravy and mushroom dish on this blog post of my sister’s!

 Traditional Recipe: Mimi’s stuffing

1/2 cup butter or olive oil

2 onions, chopped

1 BUNCH celery, tops and bottoms cut off, chopped

2 bunches parsley, washed and chopped fine, thick stalks removed (I use food processor)

18 oz Kellogg’s corn flakes

¼ cup raisins or currants (optional—you can also add a chopped and peeled apple)

2-4 teaspoons dried whole sage or 1 T fresh (or to taste)

2-4 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped or 1 t whole dried (crunched up)

2 teaspoons thyme

2 teaspoons marjoram

Juice of half a lemon

1 egg, beaten

2 cup vegetable broth (about)

Toasted pine nuts or toasted almonds

Salt and pepper to taste

 From my kitchen windows I have a great view for observing wildlife in my garden. This morning while enjoying my Café con leche I watched as finches and other colorful birds foraged for seeds on the dried fall flowers. I also noticed one large bird perched atop an empty goldfinch bird feeder. I looked down and DRAT!!! There was the gopher mound bigger than last week. The dogs have had their breakfast and they are next to me in the house unaware of what is going on in the garden at the moment. As much as the gopher is a garden pest and I briefly thought Byron, one of my standard poodles,  getting totally filthy trying to kill it and missing because the gopher would just scamper deep into the earth or over to some other plants; I did notice that the gopher is actually cute. The birds were doing their thing while the gopher was digging her hole bigger and bigger and the resulting mound of earth was getting taller and taller. Every time the gopher pushes up more earth quickly and cautiously, she looks at me watching her and then goes down to push more earth up and out of her ever-growing home.

Right then a yellow breasted goldfinch, as if curious, walked over Mrs. Gopher’s house maybe looking for worms or grubs that the gopher might have unearthed from the deeper underground. The gopher then disappears for a bit but then cautiously reappears to continue her work.

For about the last five months I have been hearing a pack of coyotes quite close to my house, howling and yipping as they do when they have made a kill. Nearby here are many rabbits, voles and rats, enough to go around for barn owls and coyotes. I love hearing the coyotes. While I have yet to visit Africa, someday I hope to go on a photographic safari and hear the wilderness at night. It must be the most thrilling experience! I bet for those of you who have been to Africa, hearing a hyena or a lion roar in the middle of the night must, at the least, make your heart skip a beat!

Last summer, enjoying breathtaking sunsets with a friend,  I would become concerned for my dogs’ wellbeing. They are large dogs, standard poodles, but luckily have the sense to stay away from the wild dogs. I would call them into my house. As long as I am snug in the house with my dogs, I love hearing the coyotes howl! It lets me know that God’s wild nature even in this day and age is right outside. As I write this morning  I just saw a shadow cross my computer screen. I looked to my right–WOW a Sparrow Hawk is right outside my office window.

I am so thankful for nature, my family and friends!

This past Sunday the pastor at the church that I frequent spoke of the first Thanksgiving. The settlers had experienced so many losses and heartache and yet they sat down with the Indians in nature to enjoy a meal together and say Thank you God!

Thanksgiving is many people’s favorite holiday. I love the day because our whole country celebrates Thankgiving. One of my daughters who lives in Spain always has made it a priority to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family and friends. Yvette, in her way, is spreading our New World traditions to the Old World.

We should be thankful to the great man Abraham Lincoln who set Thanksgiving as a national holiday!

Enjoy being with your family and friends. Individual family traditions that for some of you includes feeding the homeless or giving a soldier far from home a hot meal.

However you celebrate your day, Happy Thanksgiving!

Bye for Now,

 

Francesca

 

 

 

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an erection to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney illness will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

I buy all my ingredients for cooking at Jimbo’s Market (http://www.jimbos.com). They are a totally organic store and carry a great variety of items for people who cannot digest gluten, such as my daughter. She has celiac disease. We who live in California are fortunate because California has grocery stores such as Jimbo’s that carries options and varieties of foods to chose from for specific dietary needs. Jimbo’s carries non-traditional brands that are many times not available at the big-name markets.

My daughter did not know until several months ago that she has celiac disease. Yvette had a blood test that lets the person know definitively whether or not he or she has the disease. For those who have celiac disease, gluten is poison to their bodies. The good news is; once a person with celiac disease stops ingesting gluten, his or her body, within time, may have a chance to return to ultimate health. (http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/)

Yvette lives in the north of Spain with her family. There are more and more children being born in Spain with allergies to gluten or like Yvette have celiac disease. In our country too there are many people that have always had tummy problems but did not know their problems could all go away if they stayed off gluten. In my own family my sister and I feel that we are carriers of celiac and suspect that our father who died of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma might have had the disease.

In general, depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, anger, low energy, sleep disturbances, or loss of appetite interfere with daily life and may last for several weeks or longer.  According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), depression is persistent and can interfere with a person’s thoughts (cognitions), emotions (affect), behaviors, activity, mood, and physical health. In the general population, depression occurs twice as frequently in women than in men (APA, 2000, p. 354)

Researchers have observed an association between celiac disease and depression that dates back to the 1980s. In 1982, Swedish researchers reported, “depressive psychopathology is a feature of adult celiac disease,” as they found depressive symptoms in patients recently diagnosed with celiac. The researchers concluded that the depressive symptoms were the result of untreated celiac disease, possibly due to malabsorption (Hallert & Aström, 1982). A 1998 study reported one-third of individuals diagnosed with celiac disease also suffer from depression (Ciacci, Iavarone, Mazzacca, & De Rosa, 1998).  Adolescents with celiac disease also have higher than normal rates of depression: 31% compared to 7% of adolescents without celiac disease (Carta, Hardoy, Usai, Carpinello, & Angst, 2003).

Researchers are still exploring the link between celiac disease and depression. Most recently, a survey of 177 women with celiac disease found that 37% met the threshold for depression and 22% met the threshold for disordered eating (Arigo, Anskis, & Smyth, 2011).  (http://www.celiaccentral.org/mental-health/depression/)

Another interesting point — I notice that when I stay off gluten, although I don’t have a problem with it, I lose weight more easily and/or the weight stays off.

Gluten is in wheat, rye, and barley. Eating in restaurants can be a bit of a challenge when you cannot eat gluten because any trace of it is poison. It’s imperative to make sure that when grilled fish is ordered in a restaurant it doesn’t touch anything breaded that might also be on the grill at the same time.

Sometimes Yvette emails me, I think I was glutenized last night. Her term for being in a restaurant where, even though she painstakingly asks the chef and/or the waiter if they can prepare a gluten free meal, and then being assured that there will be no gluten she ends up being served some food with gluten.

Jimbo’s is so great because they have all the specialty items people need to stay away from gluten.

In my last blog post I mentioned the Organic Buckwheat Flax Baking Mix from The Pure Pantry Gluten Free and Delicious (http://thepurepantry.com) And it definitely is!!! Just thinking about those mouth-watering waffles makes my mouth start to water.

Pamela’s Brand, all products, are delicious too!! One key I have learned from my daughter is that it is much easier if the whole family choses to go gluten free when one or more family members have a gluten problem. I have a separate toaster that is just for gluten free toast. When buttering toast for breakfast one has to be careful not to butter all the toast with the same knife. Also, as my daughter Yvette reminded me, no double dipping into the butter! Any crumbs left in the butter will glutinize the next person who uses the butter.

Cooking gluten free foods can become a real art form. I was just visiting my younger daughter Erica whose close friend made us a delicious vegan meal, all gluten free.  Even my meat-lovin’ son-in-law found the meal delectable!

 In conclusion I am NO EXPERT but you can go to the computer and get lots of advice on this subject. If you suspect, after reading up on this subject, that you may have celiac disease, your first stop should be with your physician to get a blood test.

Happy balanced eating; vegetables, fruits and grains that are right for you.

Happy Cooking!

 Happy Painting!

 Bye for Now

 

Francesca

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an erection to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney disease will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

Ok, you all know that I love to cook and entertain!

This morning I had brunch for Heather and Linda as a thank you for the beautiful work they did on the grandchildren’s room.  These two lovely ladies are the ones who made my dream a reality by sewing the drapes, pillows and coverings.

Heather actually remarked at breakfast that it was a bit stressful after I left for vacation until the creative process took over because they wanted to make sure they were creating my vision. I never had any concerns, but feel badly that they experienced the angst.

I do get it because when I am commissioned to paint a painting I go through the same process. I want to make sure the person or people are pleased with the outcome of the painting. It is sooo much easier to paint out of my soul what comes to me on my own than to paint what some one else has asked for in a work of art. But in the end, whether I have been commissioned or am painting for myself, the art has to come from that deep place.

Once the creative process takes over, just like Heather said, the project is so much fun!

 Brunch Menu:

 Fresh squeezed organic orange juice

Organic gluten free Belgian Waffles made with The Pure Pantry Buckwheat Flax

Crisp bacon “Applegate Organics Uncured Hickory Smoked”

Organic berries — raspberries and blueberries

Chobani Greek yogurt and Wallaby Organic Greek yogurt

Real maple syrup

Scrambled eggs

 

Happy cooking

Happy painting

Bye for Now

Francesca

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an erection to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney sickness will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

 

Those of you that have read all my blog posts know that I had my knee replaced on May 4th of 2011.

Now thanks to a change in the weather as we segue into fall, among other things, I am only one pound away from my goal. I am sure I will meet the final goal tomorrow.

So guess what I did all day? Want to know!? OK, I will tell you, I have spent the day trying on all the clothes in my closet. Turns out it is a really good day for me to do this cleaning both physically and spiritually. Much was accomplished!

Practically NONE of my clothes fit!!! The only ones that do fit are some new ones that my girlfriend bought for me when she came to visit this summer and REALLY OLD — don’t tell…..vintage 80s!!!!! clothes that are way out of style. Or maybe not? Help! I need to pick up a Vogue and see what is IN!!!

I have taken most of the clothes and put them in another closet for giveaway or to sell to a resale shop. The few still hanging are ones that I want to have tailored because they mean so much to me sentimentally. Most of these are Christopher Collins Collection (www.christophercollinscollection.com), my daughter Erica Tanamachi’s couture business. Christopher and Erica were childhood friends who started Christopher Collins Collection in 2008. Christopher was in the top six contestants in 2010 Project Runway. Check these beautiful clothes out online.

It is a law of life that when we are afraid to let go we are not making room for the new and improved whatever… As I tried clothes on today different memories came to me, good and bad, and I thought WOW it is good feng shui to let clothes go!!!!!

I am now going down to a store in Del Mar that takes designer resale. Tomorrow I am going shopping! Pretty Woman, here I come!

Ok what does this have to do with art? Nothing! But I do the same thing when I paint over paintings I don’t like.

Happy Fall Cleaning!

Bye for Now

Francesca

 

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an erection to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney disease will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

Until almost two months ago I stored my large paintings in a bedroom in my home. A dear friend mentioned several months ago,

Fran, you should store your paintings somewhere else and turn this room into a baby’s room for your new granddaughter.

This friend was expecting her first grandbaby. She designed and created a darling and elaborate room for her granddaughter who is now two months old. My own daughter called in a panic about a month and a half ago.

Mom, I’m concerned where Jade is going to sleep when we come down for the wedding in October. The porta-crib has become too small for her and she would fall out of an adult bed.

So I thought, gosh, I am going to Europe for a month, leaving in two weeks and I need to think fast. I called a young man who is a commercial painter but also does other projects and got the help I needed to turn the room into a grandchildren’s room. My girls say they will be done having babies after this one is born in November. So I will have four granddaughters. The room was painted a very pale pink. I then went shopping to Baby World and found a reasonably priced crib. Online I found a French day bed with trundle from Target. I asked a gal who sews upholstery if she could sew the curtains, bedcoverings and pillows.

The day before my trip I called an electrician and arranged for him to put a light fixture in the ceiling with a fan.

While I was in Europe with my daughter and her family I told my oldest granddaughter Anushka about the grandchildren’s room I designed and that was being completed while I was with her in Spain.

Anushka loved me to re-tell the story detailing the new room. She and her mother and baby sister were going to travel back to the states with me for the wedding of a close friend’s daughter.

Mimi Mimi Mimi stowy stowy stowy

(In her little Spanish Basque accent)

Ok what story would you like to hear?

Invariably Anushka would either like me to tell her about my dogs Byron and Amie and their antics, or she would ask to hear about the grandchildren’s room.

When she picked to hear about the grandchildren’s room I would tell her,

Ok Anushka the room has been painted a very pale tone of your favorite color,

PINK!

Yes Anushka, Pink, even the ceiling! ☺

OH, Big smile and little gasp from Anushka.

The curtain rod has been painted white and the curtains are a gauzy white fabric. There will be crystal beading on the curtains and a fancy valence with white roses made out of fabric. There will be a window seat that is pink with a cupboard underneath that you and your cousins can keep your toys in with open area on each end for books as well as toys.

There is a white crib on one side of the room and a white French daybed on the opposite wall. The window seat and the day bed will both be covered with colorful pillows of different shapes and colors with fringes and beading. All the colors are colors that compliment the pink.

Mimi will everything be mainly pink?

Yes Anushka with white bedding and lavender and green accents.

The wall to the right as you come in the room has beautiful colorful knobs that I bought at Anthropology, placed on the wall at different heights for my soon-to-number four grandchildren. You, Jade, your baby sister Mikaela and Jade’s soon to be born baby sister. Rebecca Woolf has a show on HGTV Child Style where I saw the great idea for this special wall.

On each knob I have put an outfit for each of you when you come to visit Mimi. Each of your names will hang on a hook above your clothes.

Tell me about my outfit Mimi.

A beautiful white dress that has three white roses on it.

Anushka proceeded to cry deep breathy sobs

But I don’t want a white dress I want P…INK!

My heart felt like it was going to break for her.

Oh dearest Anushka, please don’t cry. I think you are going to love the dress but if you don’t, can you keep a secret? I have a beautiful pink one too. If you prefer the pink we can trade it for the white one. I know you like really fancy dresses so that’s why I chose the white one for you.

Anushka immediately calmed down and fell fast asleep.

I left Spain after two weeks and met my mother in Germany to then travel on to Italy for a two week Road Scholar trip of Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast.

Pat (my mother) and I parted and I traveled on to meet daughter Yvette and her girls in Brussels for two days. We then traveled back to California together.

We arrived home and Anushka ran upstairs as fast as her growing legs could carry her.

Gasp Gush…her mother heard her say,

Mimi Mimi Mimi it’s soooo Beautiful!!!!!! 

And she loved the dress but she asked to see the pink one too and took the pink one home leaving the white one here for next time she comes to visit Mimi. ☺

The room will not be complete until Mimi paints murals on the walls. One will be of Byron and Amie, the two standard poodles.

Glad to be back in the States!

Bye for now

Francesca

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an erection to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney illness will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

I had a gentleman tell me one time Fran, the art that sticks with people is the art that is done with confident strong powerful strokes with the energy to back them up. There’s also a quote in the Bible, Hebrews 10, Verse 35, So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. (New International Version, 1984©) I love this message!

A contemporary example of outstanding confidence is the Rock Star Pink. She is so inspiring! Pink writes what she knows and she performs without fear. A circus performer at her best, she performs with wild abandon that rocks her world and the millions who love her and her music! Stretching her limits, taking great risks! This is a perfect example in my view of what we are to do in life. When we do this we can accomplish greatness in whatever our calling is in this world.

My best paintings are painted in this manner. I go to that deepest honest spot emotionally to bring something out of my soul that is real and true. This process can be exhilarating or it can be painful. It can be painstakingly tedious and seeming without end. But in the end, if I persevere, something beautiful emerges voilà on the canvas that I am satisfied within myself. Some of my best work has actually been a gift. It just emerges and I flow with it like being on a journey. Perhaps as if led down a path to an enchanted secret garden that sparkles in moonlight.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book, Outliers: The Story of Success a chapter about the 10,000-hour rule. His observations were that you need 10,000 hours to be a phenom. Also, some other interesting points he makes:

In fact, by the age of twenty, the elite performers (violinists) had each totaled ten thousand hours of practice. — p. 38

The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in anything, writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin. — P. 40

To become chess grandmaster also seems to take about ten years. (Only the legendary Bobby Fisher got to that elite level in less than that amount of time: it took him nine years.) And what’s ten years? Well, it’s roughly how long it takes to put in ten thousand hours of hard practice. Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness. — p. 41

When an artist can stand in front of the canvas and paints from a totally honest spot in body and soul, intentions may be realized through paint placed on the canvas. The painter’s job is to impart the painting that comes through her intellect, emotions as well as experiences and manifests itself on to the canvas in the form of art.

An artist is blessed with the ability to sway a person’s emotions with a visual creation. Artists that I admire Matisse, Picasso, Chagall, Mathew Smith, Van Gogh – what makes their paintings great is the inner essence of the artists soul that is shared with no reservations to the world! Once these great artists completed a painting that they considered good, the painting is then in the eyes of the viewer to interpret what she sees in the art. Art is then for the pleasure of being interpreted by the viewer. If a viewer asks me what were you thinking when you painted this painting? What does this painting mean to you? I might respond, how does this painting make you feel? What do you see in the painting?

Why do we like a particular piece of art? A painting may invoke in us a certain feeling or remembrance that we can as individuals relate to in some way. Why do we see the sadness in a particular painting, where another person comes along and sees only joy and happiness in that same piece of art? We as the viewer are drawing our own conclusion and experience transfixed by the vibrations and soul of the man or woman who painted the work.

Pink, a remarkable vocal and visual artist, works tirelessly to produce and perform her rock concerts. Flying high over audiences singing with deep passion the songs that she has written out of heart ache, despair, sexual feelings intensity and love this is why millions of people flock to by her CD’s and thousands to her performances. She is being real taking chances living on the edge preforming with precision what she has envisioned in her own soul.

Here’s to being Confident in the inner knowing of what is right for us in our own lives.

Filled with inner confidence we can strive to great heights!

Bye for now

 

Francesca

PucciI had a gentleman tell me one time Fran, the art that sticks with people is the art that is done with confident strong powerful strokes with the energy to back them up. There’s also a quote in the Bible, Hebrews 10, Verse 35, So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. (New International Version, 1984©) I love this message!

A contemporary example of outstanding confidence is the Rock Star Pink. She is so inspiring! Pink writes what she knows and she performs without fear. A circus performer at her best, she performs with wild abandon that rocks her world and the millions who love her and her music! Stretching her limits, taking great risks! This is a perfect example in my view of what we are to do in life. When we do this we can accomplish greatness in whatever our calling is in this world.
My best paintings are painted in this manner. I go to that deepest honest spot emotionally to bring something out of my soul that is real and true. This process can be exhilarating or it can be painful. It can be painstakingly tedious and seeming without end. But in the end, if I persevere, something beautiful emerges voilà on the canvas that I am satisfied within myself. Some of my best work has actually been a gift. It just emerges and I flow with it like being on a journey. Perhaps as if led down a path to an enchanted secret garden that sparkles in moonlight.
Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book, Outliers: The Story of Success a chapter about the 10,000-hour rule. His observations were that you need 10,000 hours to be a phenom. Also, some other interesting points he makes:
In fact, by the age of twenty, the elite performers (violinists) had each totaled ten thousand hours of practice. — p. 38
The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in anything, writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin. — P. 40
To become chess grandmaster also seems to take about ten years. (Only the legendary Bobby Fisher got to that elite level in less than that amount of time: it took him nine years.) And what’s ten years? Well, it’s roughly how long it takes to put in ten thousand hours of hard practice. Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness. — p. 41
When an artist can stand in front of the canvas and paints from a totally honest spot in body and soul, intentions may be realized through paint placed on the canvas. The painter’s job is to impart the painting that comes through her intellect, emotions as well as experiences and manifests itself on to the canvas in the form of art.
An artist is blessed with the ability to sway a person’s emotions with a visual creation. Artists that I admire Matisse, Picasso, Chagall, Mathew Smith, Van Gogh – what makes their paintings great is the inner essence of the artists soul that is shared with no reservations to the world! Once these great artists completed a painting that they considered good, the painting is then in the eyes of the viewer to interpret what she sees in the art. Art is then for the pleasure of being interpreted by the viewer. If a viewer asks me what were you thinking when you painted this painting? What does this painting mean to you? I might respond, how does this painting make you feel? What do you see in the painting?
Why do we like a particular piece of art? A painting may invoke in us a certain feeling or remembrance that we can as individuals relate to in some way. Why do we see the sadness in a particular painting, where another person comes along and sees only joy and happiness in that same piece of art? We as the viewer are drawing our own conclusion and experience transfixed by the vibrations and soul of the man or woman who painted the work.

Pink, a remarkable vocal and visual artist, works tirelessly to produce and perform her rock concerts. Flying high over audiences singing with deep passion the songs that she has written out of heart ache, despair, sexual feelings intensity and love this is why millions of people flock to by her CD’s and thousands to her performances. She is being real taking chances living on the edge preforming with precision what she has envisioned in her own soul.
Here’s to being Confident in the inner knowing of what is right for us in our own lives.
Filled with inner confidence we can strive to great heights!
Bye for now

Francesca

Path:

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an hard-on to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney illness will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

Lately I have been noticing a profusion of butterflies and dragonflies in north San Diego County. One day there were so many that I actually counted them; twenty-five butterflies floating about in the garden! I had just returned from an invigorating swim in the ocean that left my body feeling tingly all over! Seeing the butterflies and dragonflies floating through the garden overwhelmed my senses and gave me the feeling that I was living in a real-life Alice in Wonderland dream world. It’s moments such as these that I am inspired to paint.

My sister Wendy has been calling almost every day.

Want to meet down at Swami’s for a swim?

I am so grateful to her for turning me on to this wonderful amazing playground in my own front yard! The expression the best things in life are free really fits the description!

I have a friend here in San Diego who is a surfer and a fisherman besides being an excellent cook. He always has a fishing pole in his truck in case the fishin is better than the surfin. One morning last July he paddled out from Pacific Beach three quarters of a mile and caught a thirteen-pound halibut off his surfboard!

I have another friend and she fishes with her boyfriend from their kayaks down in south San Diego Bay around the Coronado Cays. My friend has seen a pod of dolphins swimming around the bay.

Everywhere one lives there are amazing opportunities for outdoor life. We just need to be adventuresome! It’s funny that we feel we need to go on vacation to do the fun things and if we plan it right we can have such fulfilling life styles doing fun things right in our hometowns.

When Pete and I were first married we lived in an apartment attached to my grandmother’s house. Peter and his buddies were civil engineers and would go surfing at lunchtime every day. I have a friend whose practice is in Del Mar and he walks to work, keeps a surfboard at the office, and goes surfin every day at lunch year round!

I have other friends who have just one car. The husband rides his bicycle to the Coaster and takes it down with him to work in San Diego. On his lunch hour he walks for exercise and rides his bike back to the train station after work. What an enchanting life style. Besides being green this friend has the enjoyment of incorporating exercise and outdoor life into his daily lifestyle.

One of my daughters and her husband live in a small town on the way to Point Reyes.
My son-in-law’s passion is cycling. My daughter shares his love for cycling.
In my view where they live is like living in Europe. They both work in San Francisco but totally utilize the advantages and natural resources of their beautiful environment.
They have had at times ridden their bicycles to work over the Golden Gate Bridge! Every weekend they take amazing bicycle rides to Point Reyes or different spots in and around Mount Tamalpais.

I admire my son-in-law. He comes home from a hard day at work and goes for a mountain bike ride! Great exercise and what a way to enjoy nature with all 5 senses!

Here’s to enjoying the gifts around us and incorporating them into our daily lives!

Bye for Now,

 

Francesca

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an erection to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney disease will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

Last week my sister called our mother and me.

Let’s meet down at Swami’s to go swimming. Swami’s is my favorite beach right now! Fran, it’s like when we were kids! No crowds and the beach is amazing!

 We have been having unseasonably hot weather for San Diego this summer. I really should not complain because by comparison San Diego is quite comfortable year-round. A friend who lives in Texas assures me that I live in paradise. The water temperature has been in the mid 70s°F, in places the water feels like a bathtub, closer to 80°F.

Summers growing up in what was then a sleepy little beach town, I could not wait for school to be out and go to the beach every day. My birthday is in July and all I wanted every year was a new raft. I remember my parents would come into my bedroom and place it on my still sleeping form. Oh, the excitement I would feel! I remember a silver blue plastic raft that I received one year. It had clear plastic so I could look down into the water where my head would rest. Thinking back, I can even recall the smell of the new plastic and the feeling it invoked to run into the ocean clutching my raft!

For the millions of us who love to swim it is no small wonder. The human body is made up of so much water! I was talking to a friend about this just yesterday.

 About 70 percent of the human body is made up of water and, coincidentally, more than 70 percent of Earth is covered in water. Water creates an environment that sustains and nurtures plants, animals and humans, making Earth a perfect match for life in general. Nasa Site

 Water is so soothing to us! Maybe it feels like we are back in the womb. I have always found it so interesting that as human beings we often do not enjoy the gifts that we are blessed with in our own backyards!

It had been years until recently that I had been to Swami’s beach let alone swimming there. First off, the walk down the stairs is breathtaking. Chalky white sandstone cliffs line the beach. On a clear day views to La Jolla fifteen miles down the coast. No wonder Swami’s has been made world famous by the Beach Boys and professional surfers! Not to mention the Self-Realization Fellowship Temple from which Swami’s derived its name.

Wendy, our mother Pat and I laughed and played in the ocean. Our mother had not been in the ocean in over five years. What a great way to spend a couple of hours riding waves and frolicking in the surf!

My deceased husband’s mantra was work hard and play hard. Pete’s way is, of course, not everyone’s but I do appreciate the fact that my sister reintroduced me to a life-long pleasure from my childhood. Just down the street!

Here’s to doing fun and creative things like painting and swimming and taking advantage of the opportunities we have at hand to enjoy life and nature.

Bye for Now,

 

Francesca

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did somebody tell you about watermelon Viagra? If you’re concerned about sexual disorder, you have to study about it. Erectile dysfunction, defined as the persistent failure to maintain an erection to the orgasm, exerts an estimated 15 to 30 millions men in the United States only. Because some of symptoms are medical emergencies, it’s considerable to know what to do if they happen. On occasion kidney disease will lead to erectile dysfunction. As a rule, this may include high blood pressure, anxiety, or a venous leak.

 

As I was strolling through my garden yesterday and then during my daily walk,  I saw some beautiful butterflies, some whose names I don’t recall, but others remembered from childhood. There were always many butterflies in my mother’s garden when I was growing up, Morning Glories to Monarchs. Frequently as a child I experienced  Mourning Cloaks landing on my arms. Nine years ago I saw a all-yellow butterfly for the first time.  I actually wrote about it in my journal years ago and drew pictures of them with colored pencils.

The Cloudless Sulphur showed up in my life as hope! At Norris Hospital USC, Los Angeles, my beloved husband had just been diagnosed with stage 4 invasive bladder cancer. Peter was 51 years old. We were up on the 6^th floor and there were dozens of these beautiful butterflies flying from one building to the next through the Eucalyptus trees far below. Peter went on to have surgery at that hospital a few days later and was proclaimed cancer free. We were all elated and again right after the surgery I saw dozens of the Cloudless Sulphurs flying below his room!

Tragically Peter’s cancer returned and he passed away four years later. But I still saw Cloudless Sulphurs in front of my car on my walks and everywhere I drove! Even after the loss of my husband the yellow butterflies continued to be a symbol of hope. In those first hours, days, months and years that I saw the butterfly I would smile and say “Hi Pete.” It was as if I was getting a message from him or he was coming around to say hi, all is well, all is ok.

As a very young child I thought that butterflies symbolized transformation, and possibly reincarnation. None of us really know exactly what happens after we pass away. I believe we are transformed to a higher place and vibration if we have lived a good responsible life. I can remember telling my mother and friends that I found butterflies fascinating in that they were teachers. They start out as caterpillars, build themselves a chrysalis and after weeks or days blossom into the most beautiful creatures that have no resemblance whatsoever to their former selves!

Often while painting I start out with a specific idea in my head. But then as the painting develops it becomes even richer than my original plan. South Beach is one such painting. I worked on that painting for eight months. It started out as butterflies and dragonflies. It ended up resembling a man’s face with a dragon coming out on the right. South Beach was in a show a few months ago and about fifty people sat around discussing this one painting for an hour. Maybe the fact that I started out by painting butterflies made the transformation energy that intrigues and gives deep thought to viewers.

In my mind, as in Alice in Wonderland, butterflies are one of God’s amazing gifts to our world; and to us as humans to be able to ponder and revisit the myriad of meanings in this insect. If nothing more than the pure beauty this insect adds to our gardens. It is worth in my opinion to plant the plants they like to encourage them to come to my garden.

Here is a list of plants to attract these fabulous “fairy type” creatures to your gardens:

Buddleias– they come in many colors and grow very tall, Salvias– all types, Abutilon, Lavenders, Cenonothus, Lavatera, Leonotis, Arbutus. Check my mother’s website and blog http://patwelsh.com/

 

Have fun attracting butterflies into your world!

Bye for Now

Francesca

 

Just recently I have discovered that composting like painting is a passion of mine!

I have been composting for about twenty-five years on a large scale. But this was always a very simple method that my gardener and right-hand man Sergio has helped me with throughout the years. I call it the Lani Frymiller method. If you are blessed with a large piece of land, take a square area and buy a flake of alfalfa hay and spread out evenly over the ground. If you have horses or can obtain horse manure, cover the hay with a thin layer of horse manure. Repeat the process of layering interspersing with garden waste including lawn clippings.  (Do not include any poisonous plants such as Oleanders.) Within three months I would have beautiful dark loamy compost at the bottom of this pile. I have a little tractor that Sergio uses. Before the tractor Sergio would just dig it out from the bottom with a shovel.

Some people include their kitchen scraps (vegetables and fruit, no meat or bones) in this type of compost pile but I would never did because I was concerned about encouraging rats.

About four years ago I dropped by my sister’s house to see her beautiful new raised beds and vegetable garden. While in the garden Wendy exclaimed,

 Fran, come see my composter!

 Wendy had researched, googling world’s best composter. Joracame up on the Internet. This composter is made in Sweden. That country is so GREEN it is actually the law that every family composts their kitchen scraps!

Wendy proceeded to demonstrate, adding kitchen scraps, vegetable, fruit and fish, into the composter. The composter has two chambers and she was able to show me a completed batch. Like magic, in three months she had dark loamy soil that smelled marvelous! I decided I wanted to do the same! After ordering the Jora online, I picked out a spot in the garden to put my composter. I was so excited I found myself checking the front porch every day in anticipation of its arrival.

 Finally it arrived and I was as excited as most women are about being given flowers or a new piece of jewelry! The sign of a true gardener?

 To begin, I put a small bucket of horse manure in the bottom of one of the chambers to jump-start the composting process. Although this is not necessary, it does speed up the process. I started adding the kitchen scraps regularly. I bought online an attractive crock that matched my kitchen décor from Gardener’s Supply to keep next to the kitchen sink and collect vegetable and fruit scraps. Per my sister’s advice, I bought Original Feline Pine Pellets. They are made out of wood. It is important to buy the pellets and not the sawdust.

Here’s the process, step by step.

Carry kitchen scraps to composter.

Turn composter eight times to distribute the contents.

Open chamber and if necessary, with a hand-held three-prong cultivator, break up any large chunks or lumps. Then add kitchen scraps.

Close the chamber and rotate several more times.

Open the chamber and sprinkle a handful of the feline pine pellets from the pet store.

Close the lid. Don’t rotate composter until next day when you add your next batch of kitchen waste.

(If you turn the Jora right away pellets will make compost lumpy.) The wooden pellets soften overnight and you can then turn the composter several times to mix all the ingredients.

One can become very educated or be seat of the pants like myself. A friend of mine in Olivenhain Garden Club, Robin, gave a lecture on home composting for our club. She suggested this book to buy: The Complete Compost Gardening Guideby Barbara Pleasant & Deborah L. Martin.  Frankly I have not read it but I do love making the compost! My tomatoes are especially marvelous this season! Maybe in part due to my home made compost.

I decided to blog about composting this week. My heart was filled with so much happiness yesterday as I, smiling, carried kitchen scraps to my composter in the garden. I opened the lid and smelled deep loamy compost.

I was thinking, to myself, what a spiritual event it is to make compost. Out of the dead comes the life. We can enrich our soil and grow fruits and vegetables to eat to put the waste back to make more compost to grow more food. What a totally amazing happening! This is so deep that it is kinda the meaning of life and feels so creative!

It is not us that does it. It is like a cut on our arm healing. Life has the seed of life in it whether soil, vegetables, people and animals.

Wow what an amazing world life is!

Happy Composting

Bye for now

Francesca