Well, folks, da-ta-ta-da, it's finished...
My first experiment with
the painting style known as "trompe l'oeil", the French phrase for "fool
the eye." Really fantastic, seasoned trompe l'oeil artists can create
works that give the viewer such a convincing sense of reality that one
feels as if the objects can just be pulled off the shelves. I'm not at
that level yet, but I am fascinated by the pursuit of making things come
alive in a very different reality through paint.
The first baby
quilt for Twin A (we thought about calling them Twin 1 and Twin 2, but
it just sounded somehow wrong) is finished, and I will be displaying it
just as soon as I can. I have this REALLY annoying character flaw
(among many) and this is that I don't ever remember to bring a camera to
ANYTHING! So, here I am at the baby shower for my first
granddaughters, and of course, no camera. My daughter-in-law has
promised me pictures though, thank God one of us has a practical head on
her shoulders...I figure that I put well over 100 hours into it, but it
was well worth the time.
I am the casserole queen, perhaps not
the prestigious title in the world, but at least I'm the queen of
somethin'! Tonight's offering is one of my favorites...one of those
"throw whatever's in the fridge and hope for the best" recipes. Tonight
I sauteed some onions, some diced celery, and a chicken breast
together. I added a can of cream of mushroom soup, and about a half cup
of my homemade refrigerator salsa, which I admit is heavy on the
cilantro. I added some chili powder to taste, some pepper, some
parsley, and some powdered garlic, as well as some leftover rice.
Popped it into the oven at 325, and I'll top it with some leftover
cheddar cheese as it begins to bake.
Nothing else much to report,
except that I'm still in the midst of my homemade Women's Studies plan.
The book I'm reading right now is not the most stimulating one I've
read, but it is a basic, nuts and bolts view of the history of women's
rights. It's entitled "Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women's
Rights Movement". The thing that strikes me as I read about Susan B.
Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, among many others is that so few of
these women were ever working class housewives. They appeared to have
come mostly from privileged families. I find it interesting that they
were so passionately against a lifestyle for women that in many ways
they really didn't live. And I also think that in an age before the
washing machine and the electric range...well, somebody had to do these
tasks for them, and most likely it was a poor servant class of women.
But I'm only partly through the book, so perhaps this observation will
change.
I'm also reading "The American Woman's Home" by Catherine
Beecher. Her sister was the famed Harriet Beecher Stowe of "Uncle
Tom's Cabin" fame. Catherine Beecher was the Martha Stewart of her age.
She wrote many books on how to effectively manage a home of the time,
and was instrumental in developing further education for women and
training teachers to move to the West. She was an anti-feminist,
believing strongly that the most important job for women was to create
stable, productive, loving homes in our country as a springboard to
create good citizens. Despite this arguably antiquated stance, much of
her advice is strangely pertinent even today. Just goes to show that
women are women-- whether they're in hoop skirts or blue jeans. I'm
looking forward to putting together a review of her book in the near
future.
(Image: "Aunt Ethel's Shelf" Acrylic on Canvas, Cory Jaeger-Kenat, 2010.)
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