No further explanation needed . . .
Sneak a Peek – getting in the mood for Valentine’s Day
doodlewash SEALS the deal
Hug a seal
give it a kiss
all love is real
not hit or miss
Charlie O’s watercolor “Hug a Seal” is charming (Charlie is charming too . . . as is evidenced by the stories he writes to accompany his water-color paintings).
Check it out (there’s a sweet video of a seal hugging a dog) and click here DOODLEWASH
Sneak Peek into my sketchy life – not the best . . . not the worst
Had a hard time concentrating and my arms were hurting when I tried to draw. I’m blaming it on the rain . . . a convenient fall-guy (pun intended). When my drawings don’t turn out as well as I would like I usually blame it on the model.
You can see some of the structure lines & corrections in these 2 minute sketches.
The model held onto a rope in the poses. We were suppose to concentrate on the angles.
These below were 20 minute poses but I could only draw for about 10 minutes.
Usually, I use large drawing paper and stand at an easel. This session I drew on a smaller sketch pad and sat down. I figured if the model could sit
so could I . . .
Learning to Walk
Baby Hippo Fiona is the cutest ever! Mama Bibi and dad Henry probably not so much . . .
“A baby hippopotamus, born prematurely at the Cincinnati Zoo, has struggled to stand, eat, gain weight and breathe.”
“But on Sunday morning, the zoo announced “encouraging news from hippo headquarters.”‘
“Baby hippo Fiona, now in stable condition, has taken her first wobbly steps.”
“Fiona was born at the zoo on Jan. 24, six weeks early. She weighed 29 pounds, when baby hippos are normally 55-120 pounds, the zoo says. She was too weak to stand and couldn’t nurse on her own.”
Read all about Fiona, click HERE!
Sneek Peek into my sketchy life – from sea to shining SEE
I am enjoying sketching the human form much more than inanimate objects or landscapes. It stands to reason that I chose to be a psychotherapist rather than a landscape architect.
Here’s my latest sea-scape
and here’s my latest See !
He kept moving his right arm . . .
Invisible Illness – Prayers in search of “Cures”
I’ve written or spoken about my journey with fibromyalgia, the 40+ doctors, tens of thousands of dollars of tests and doctors telling me that nothing was wrong while handing me a psychiatric referral.
Difference in Reactions to Fibro and Pacemaker
Fibromyalgia: Hysterical Middle-Aged Woman’s Syndrome
This Ted video got my attention. I hope it gets yours because it’s likely you or someone you know has other invisible disorders such such as fibromyalgia, IBS, migraine, interstitial cystitis, vulvodynia and ME/CFS which affect millions and have been largely ignored by the NIH.
17 minutes
“Jen Brea’s Outrageously Successful Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME) TED Talk”
Despite my own struggles, I’ve been blessed with relatively mild symptoms and the ability to lead a fairly high functioning life. Long ago I lost count of all those I know, worse off than me, who have “untreatable” or invisible illnesses – friends, former clients, internet blogfriends, children and many who follow my blog
To all of you who are on similar journeys – – you are in my prayers. It’s not a cure but it’s all we’ve got . . . for now.
Sneeeeek Peeeek – Back to the drawing boards
First week of art classes. It’s amazing how “rusty” I felt after just 4 weeks of not drawing. The model had not ONE ounce of fat anywhere on his body.
I decided to push myself a bit and drew a few quickies using pen & ink. Ink is a bit intimidating since I can’t ERASE.
I drew him to look like an old man! . . . in my defense his head was shaved . . .
Not only didn’t the model have an ounce of fat anywhere on his body he didn’t have an ounce of hair anywhere . . . at least not in the places I saw . . .
How to gain control of your free time
March 1st will mark two years since I retired. Now that I have all the time in the world I have much more time to procrastinate. During retirement I have fine-tuned my procrastination skills.
I also have a continued quest for self-improvement. In between TV shows and relaxing I squeeze in reading articles and watching videos that inspire me to develop better habits.
Here’s the latest video which I found so inspirational I turned off the TV.
After listening to this Ted Talk I decided to do a trial run before my actual two-year retirement anniversary.
I’m going to treat the things I keep saying I’d like to do like a flooded basement. (you’ll have to watch the video). So! here’s what my emergencies are for this coming week:
- Do something everyday (as opposed to doing nothing)
- Cut out sugar from my eating “habits”.
I’ll let you know next week . . . or two . . . how I did.
Update on my condition
Papa’s Instructions Pome
Children of ours, it’s your time to play
So listen closely to what I say
To your DNA you must stay true
Here’s exactly what you are to do:
Baby 1
Dump buckets of muck
up judy’s nose
Make sure you duck
before she blows
Baby 2
Bang on her brain
whistle in her ears
like a choo choo train
til she bursts into tears.
Baby 3
Pound on her head
jump on her chest
all night long in bed
so she gets no rest
Children, it’s now up to you
judy is yours to do
Cuz Mama is weary
teaching how-to
with no app or Siri.
And your papa is tiring
of non-stop siring
It’s Mom & me off to find a new home
Hallelujah! you’re on your own
Practice what we’ve taught
drive judy crazy, make her lazy
don’t give it an afterthought
Spend all your time
making her go outa her mind
Blame game: roosters, virus and my dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
It’s the Year of the Rooster – I was born under the Chinese sign of the Rooster. Always thought it to be a curse I was born under a sign that wasn’t fertile enough to lay an egg or two.
According to my friend Sharon Bonin-Pratt (whose last post inspired this post) People born under the sign of the Rooster are hardworking, funny, trustworthy and talented.
I’m not hardworking, at times am funny, almost always trustworthy, and have latent talents that get laid but never hatched.
This Rooster year started off with a cold virus that delights roaming the cozy recesses of my sinus passages. It’s day 11 (but who’s counting). I’ve been a total slug – no energy, no resolve which gives me a perfect excuse for not making New Years’ resolutions.
(The truth be told, I never make resolutions for the New Year – learned long ago that when I inevitably fail to keep a resolution it leads to feeling badly.)
What energy I have has been directed toward resolving to be more creative this year.
In preparation I’ve been obsessively reading everything I can find on how to break my creative block and stop procrastinating.
Most everything I read about procrastination indicates that we procrastinate when we don’t want to do something that is not enjoyable. Being a master procrastinator I also procrastinate with things that bring me enjoyment.
For inspiration, I read blogs of people who write, read or draw daily – all things which bring me enjoyment. I feel badly I’m not like them which leads me to read articles on procrastination and meeting goals (I know how to set them, just not meet them).
Finally the article below has liberated me! I know what to blame:
My dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is lazy . . . not me.
Creative block here’s neuroscience how to fix it.
“What is it exactly that helps us be creative? What fuels us when we get into an especially productive work flow? What makes the hours disappear when our brains focus on a task?”
“What, in other words, is happening in our brains when we’re being creative?”
“Cognitive neuroscientist Heather Berlin at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai says we know a little bit about what’s going on. Berlin studies the neuroscience of imagination, creativity and improvisation. And for those people who might be facing writer’s block? “There’s really no prescribed medication,” Berlin says. “There is no real magic pill.”’
Instead, she says, creativity depends on which part of the brain you might be using.
“When [people] are improvising, there tends to be a pattern of activation where they have decreased activation in a part of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex,” Berlin says. “And that part of the brain has to do with your sense of self, your sort of inner critic, making sure that your behavior conforms to social norms.”
“Translation? When you’re at your most creative, “basically you lose your sense of self,” Berlin says. “You kind of release your inhibition. The second you become too self-aware that comes back online and you lose that flow state.”’
“In addition to losing inhibitions, people who are in a creative state have increased activation in a part of the brain called the medial prefrontal cortex, which has to do with the internal generation of ideas. In other words, the ideas are coming from within.”
“Some people, when they’re in the flow state … a lot of people say ‘It feels like it’s flowing through me. It’s coming from someplace else,’ you know, ‘It’s coming so naturally I don’t even have to think about it,’” Berlin says. “It’s called liberation without attention. You can only keep a certain number of variables in mind when you’re thinking about something consciously. But if you let it go, you actually can come to a greater understanding because the unconscious can do much more complex processing.”
“For those suffering from creative block, Berlin has some practical advice:”
“You have to take in all the information and then go for a walk,” Berlin says. “Go out, do something else. Because those people who sit there and just obsess over thinking about it too much, using your prefrontal cortex you’re actually limiting yourself. So letting it go can actually help you get over, let’s say a writer’s block or a creative block.”
I’d go for a walk but I have a cold. Maybe some other time . . .
The HeART of Healing Workshop
To see all the MARVELOUS “Found Poetry” the participants created and the full report you’ll have to click HERE: The HeART of Spirituality – Healing
“Do not run away from grief, oh soul. Look for the remedy inside the pain because the rose came from the thorn and the ruby came from a stone”. – Rumi
Here’s a sample!
“The more you plough and dig the ground the more fertile it becomes. The more you cut the branches of a tree the higher and stronger it grows. The more you put the gold in the fire the purer it becomes. The more you sharpen the steel by grinding the better it cuts. Therefore, the more sorrows one sees the more perfect one becomes… ” Abdu’l-Bahá, Baha’i World Faith
“When inspiration has become hidden, when we feel ready to give up, this is the time when healing can be found in the tenderness of pain itself”.
– Pema Chödrön (born Deirdre Blomfield-Brow is an American, Tibetan Buddhist and ordained nun)
The Queen and me
I admit I’m obsessive about steering clear of people who are sick. I’ve been “known” to remove my groceries off the counter and go to another check-out if I see a clerk sniffing or coughing. With fibromyalgia everything lasts longer and is more severe so I go to great lengths to avoid people who even appear to be sick.
My husband caught a cold 2 weeks ago and I’ve assiduously washed everything down – counters, door knobs, light switches and my husband – with disinfectant.
Turns out I was disinfecting the wrong person.
I woke up yesterday with a scratchy throat, a headache and feeling even less chipper than I usually feel in the morning.
The Queen gave me a cold
How do I know, how am I told?
This cold is a dignified one
no snorting, sniffling nor dripping a ton
My makeups impeccable, not a hair undone
Despite a sore throat and my throbbing head
staying all day, aching in bed
I shan’t complain
For how often does one contract
a ROYAL pain.
“Queen is feeling better, says Princess Anne“
“But at 90 . . . she is exercising caution as she recovers from a heavy cold which she’s had for at least 12 days, (12 DAYS!!!! ) and which is bound to have left her feeling pretty miserable. (tell me about it).”
“She hasn’t yet had an opportunity to go outside and explore her 20,000 acre private Norfolk estate. (So true, so true)”
LONG LIVE THE QUEEN . . . and me too!
P.S. Wash your hands after reading this post – I’m contagious . . .
Spinning in control
It’s been a rough year. Maybe it’s the media bombarding us with political enmity, flood, fire, war, death, illness . . . but it does seem rougher than usual. My resiliency is running low.
To put things in perspective on this last day of the year I remind myself that this earth has been around billions of years and I am standing on a planet hurtling through space and haven’t fallen off . . . yet
This true-color image shows North and South America as they would appear from space 35,000 km (22,000 miles) above the Earth. Image created by Reto Stöckli, Nazmi El Saleous, and Marit Jentoft-Nilsen, NASA GSFC
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
The earth is moving about our sun at a speed of nearly 30 kilometers per second, or 67,000 miles per hour. Our solar system–Earth and all–whirls around the center of our galaxy at some 220 kilometers per second, or 490,000 miles per hour.
“There are anywhere between 200-400 billion stars in the Milky Way and an estimated 100 billion planets. Around one in five stars are like our sun, and astronomers have estimated that about 22% of them have planets the size of Earth in their habitable zone, where water can exist as a liquid. This means there could be 8.8 billion planets within the galaxy capable of supporting life (not accounting for composition of the planet or its atmosphere).”
“God has created the world as one—the boundaries are marked out by man.”
‘Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith
Antidote for Santa – Peace & Good Cheer
My Annual Christmas pome – Sick Ole St Nick undoubtedly struck a chord among my many many followers – well at least one . . .
By Sharon Bonin-Pratt*
Goodness, I feel sorry for the poor man in red his weary reindeer and sled
Don’t blame me cuz I’ve never participated in dragging that man from his bed
The worst you can say is I’ve not enough candles and therefore can’t light
All my eight menorahs, yes, count ’em, eight Hanukkah for eight days of light
Tell Santa to give up the late ride and eat chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil
Safer to spin driedles, tell stories of brave Maccabees and the miracle of oil
And he’ll feel much better when he rises well rested at the end of this year
Not having delivered gifts heavier than a wish for peace and good cheer
Happy Chanukah!!
*Disclosure: Printed without permission from the author . .
Annual Christmas Day Pome – Sick Ole St Nick
T’was the Day After Christmas Eve Pome
It’s true so they say that on Christmas day
old St Nick is always sick
from sugar, carbs, inhaling soot
and lunging sacks of children’s loot
Santa has to unbuckle his belt
to make room for cookies, and chocolate gelt
Popping antacids with each milk drink
he’s lactose intolerant, that’s why the wink
Up all night,
by mornings light he’s a fright
The chubby ole fellow, no longer mellow
Back’s in spasm, eyes are red
Climbing to chimney tops, legs like lead
When home he goes, the ho ho hoes
have turned to moans
the silent night filled with grunts and groans
No longer just plump he’s a fat grump
The reindeer too have lost their cheer
for all things festive in the New Year
His packed on pounds during the rounds
create huge drag for even a stag
They huff, puff and wheeze
looking for a stiff breeze
to help carry Santa over roof tops and trees
All the way back the reindeer pray
he’ll loose 50 pounds before next Christmas day
Cuz Rudolph et. al are running out of gas
hauling Santa’s growing ass
* * *
Merry Christmas to all who indulge and bulge!
from judy and Freddie Parker Westerfield
Why Santa never gets caught
Doodlewash is a blog I follow – both for Charlie O’s great water-colors but even more for his wonderful stories and descriptions about each drawing.
Today’s Doodlewash post inspired my pome.
Pome by judy
No one catches Santa on the roof
or in the snow sees prints
of tiny reindeer hoof
for Santa’s no bigger than a fly
and reindeer all the size of ants
ferry him through the Christmas sky
I don’t think it silly at all
to imagine reindeer quite so small
and know
how Santa slides down chimney flues
with nary much soot on his beard or shoes
So make your cookies the size of peas
and leave the milk in a thimble please
Limit the weight of gifts and such
to crush an ant
it doesn’t take much
* * *
To read Charlie O’s inspiring story click here:
How Do Reindeer Fly?
Sneek a Peek into my sketchy life – Heads UP!
The last class for this semester – I continued to play with water-color pencil.
I tend to draw the heads too small . . . or . . . another way of “looking at it” . . . I make the bodies too big. Then again, he is a big guy.
The uneven jaw line is reflective of his beard and mustache.
Here’s looking achoooooooo!
I admit it. I’m a bit paranoid about catching a cold or the flu.
When I get sick insult is added to injury as my fibromyalgia symptoms flare for weeks after I’ve recovered from the cold.
I avoid anyone who sneezes, eyes are watery or is coughing. I’ve moved my groceries from one counter to another to avoid check-out clerks who looked like they are sick and on occasion come home and taken a shower if I THINK I might have been exposed.
Now I learn it’s possible I’m avoiding people who aren’t sick, just afraid, sad or incredibly empathetic!
Sneezing is “catching,” like a yawn.
“It is true that emotions can affect your nasal membranes. Fear makes them shrink (which can make you sneeze), and sadness makes them swell (which can also make you sneeze.) Though there is conflicting evidence, yawning has been linkedto empathy, and one study showed that psychopaths — people who lack empathy — may even be immune to contagious yawning.”
“If sneezing fits are like yawning fits, does that mean that if we are tuned into others’ emotions, we might sneeze out of sympathy? Though hard evidence is murky, there is some reason to believe that both yawning and sneezing fits may be powered by the mind.”
The article Here’s Looking achoo – debunking the sneeze covers even more:
- Sneezing is good for the soul
- Sneezing is bad for the soul
- If you say “God Bless You,” God might spare you. Or not.
- Tweezing your eyebrows can make you sneeze.
- Sneezing always comes in threes.
- Bright light can make you sneeze.
Read the entire article click HERE.
21 ways to keep your sanity for the holidays
Only 15 days till Chanukah! 15 days till Christmas! 22 days till New Year’s! Time for my yearly reminder on how to keep sane.
Christmas:
- Instead of buying a tree watch your friends decorate (and take down) theirs
- Convert to Judaism
- Sit in the lobby of a 5-star hotel and enjoy EXPENSIVE decorations.
- ADOPT a pig, instead of eating one.
- Make dinner potluck, you supply the paper plates and plastic cutlery
- Christmas dinner – Start with dessert and forget the rest.
- Sit on the beach in Bali
.
8. Go to bed on the 23rd and get up on January 3rd.*
9. Only buy presents for Jesus.
10. Put a cover on the outside chimney opening so you don’t have to put out cookies and milk.
Chanukah:
11. Watch your friends decorate (and take down) their Christmas tree.
12. Convert.
13. Stay in a 5-star hotel for 8 days and nights.
14. Use credit cards instead of gelt
15. Instead of gambling with a dreidle at home go to Vegas
16. Don’t give presents, do good deeds
17. Go to bed on Thanksgiving and wake up on New Years**
18. Bake potatoes instead of grating them to death
19. Eat macaroons with Ben & Jerry
New Years:
20. *Remember! Stay in bed until the 3rd, unless you’re Jewish.
21. **If you are Jewish, go back to bed.
Peace on Earth & Sanity to all my Friends!
My Sketchy Life – porn it ain’t
During the break in the life-drawing class a few of us talked to the model. She said most people had no idea what life drawing was and believed that nude modeling was akin to porn! When asked what she did for a living her answer was “posing for people who were learning anatomy”.
First, It never occurred to me that most people weren’t familiar with life drawing. Second, her answer made sense. When drawing a nude model students are intensely focused on the anatomy, the line & shading that emphasizes or de-emphasizes the muscle structure, the curve of the spine and the “personality” of the pose – not on nudity.
It’s a bit like reading an engrossing story. Your focus is on the plot line, the images created, the messages conveyed, not whether the” book” is hard-covered, paperback or on a tablet.
I was pleased with this sketch as it catches the likeness of the model.
Wasn’t so pleased with this sketch so I took out colored crayons and just scribbled. Still not pleased but it was fun!
Children’s Pome for Adults – the REAL night before Christmas
Dear human-beings,
Besides being soft and cuddly a mission of mine is to bring poetry to the masses, of which you are some. And I am here to bring you the truth . . . even though it might hurt.
Santa was frantic at the North Pole
Finances in the red, he was in the hole
Mrs Claus couldn’t afford sugar
For her cookies sublime
Dear old hubby didn’t have a dime
North Pole employment had exploded
and Santa’s credit had eroded
He’d spent his last cent on black Friday deals
and turkey with the trimmings for thanksgiving meals
The night before Christmas he no longer had clout
When all the elves threatened a walk-out
Elf-union held all the chips
As evidenced by the grin on all the elf lips
For every elf in all the land
Had won a pay deal without tipping their hand:
Double pay all December
a free thanksgiving meal in November
Finally fringe benefits for elves was real
For Santa and the Mrs, there was no appeal
Santa had bitten his nails to the quick
Both right and left eyes developed a tic
All Santa could do was self medicate
So he stuffed his mouth from the cookie plate 
And downed all the rum from a hot toddy cup
his blood pressure sky-high, went up and up
His big fat belly shook like a bowl full of lead
While visions of bankruptcy danced in his head
So all you children and adults too
Have compassion and learn to make due
STOP asking for presents and things you don’t need
YOU must now take heed.
It’s no time for greed
If you want Santa another Christmas to live
to every red-kettle-bell-ringer
Dig in your pocket and GIVE.
Poetically yours,
Freddie Parker Westerfield
My Sketchy Life – inky dinky, dilly Dali
New model – not an ounce of body fat on the boy. The majority of students are well into their 60’s. I made note of how many of the women asked him to return to model ! . . I myself prefer the models with a bit of ballast around their belly. Gives me more room for error.
This class I ventured out of my comfort zone, put away eraser and went for it with permanent ink and no preliminary sketch in pencil.
Notice the box? I keep trying to draw within the box so the figure doesn’t run off the page. Here’s my result!
My Sketchy Life – why the nude still shocks
If you are an art buff or interested in the psychology of nudes read this article Why The Nude Still Shocks. Not only is it interesting it underscores my past reluctance to put up the sketches of men as opposed to women. (see Equal Opportunity Nudes)
The model this week was male but he was wearing this warrior “get-up” that the men in the class seemed to enjoy drawing , . . must be a testosterone “thing”. I say “TAKE IT OFF!”
A Frankly Freddie Thanksgiving
Dear Human Beings,
Time for my ANNUAL Thanksgiving ‘Ode To Tom’ and tell you what I’m thankful for:
- I’m thankful that I was not born in a country where they eat dogs.
- I’m thankful you are all my best friends!
- I’m thankful for all the treats I get even if I don’t get as many as I deserve
- I’m thankful I am soft and fluffy so people want to pet me
-
Freddie Parker Westerfield, Poet Laureate
A Turkey’s Tale
by Freddie Parker Westerfield
A turkey named Tom lived on a farm
His story is such, so they say
Waking at dawn
he’d peck at the lawn,
searching for bugs,
nibbling on slugs
of which he was particularly fond.
Then on Thanksgiving day
Gobbledy gobbledy gone!
So if YOU took Tom from off his farm
in the middle of the night
please give him due thanks
for gracing your table. (It’s fitting and only right).
And for all the bugs and many slugs
which make him an organic delight
P.S. I was told to tell you that my Human-being wishes you all things to be grateful for in your life, like she’s grateful for me.
My BEST FRIEND Shari sent me this picture. I think she might be a Turkeytarian . . .
My Sketchy Life – no mo nude
Clothed! The model was clothed! I actually found it easier sketching nude people with no distractions . . . like folds of fabric and print patterns and color.
The model had on an elaborate costume with intricate patterns and gold threads. I tried to eliminate all the “distractions”. Here’s my first attempts at using water-color pencil.
Jokingly, I asked the model if she would take her clothes off. She replied, “Will you?”
Brand new and nude – Puggles
If this isn’t the cutest, weirdest little critter I don’t know what is!
A Puggles Pome
Puggles are the puggliest
Their little snout the ugliest
Cuddle them quick
for when they’re grown
they’ll claw you
and won’t give a lick
“Sydney Zoo is celebrating the arrival of the first baby echidnas, known as puggles, in almost 30 years. The tiny (cute), and incredibly rare Australian mammals, hatched in the summer weighing between 250 and 500 grams. Echidnas, sometimes known as spiny anteaters, lay eggs – which hatch after 10 days. They’re then carried in their mother’s pouches for up to two months.”
Irreversibly Front & Back
My friend Peggy and I are working on a new project to share our stash of therapeutic strategies, tips and tricks on the internet. In my exuberance, “playing” with settings for the new web-site, I mistakenly changed the theme setting for this blog . . . and can’t figure out how to change it back again . So Curious to the Max has a new look, in case you didn’t notice.
And in case you didn’t notice we had a new model in class. All these sketches were 15 minutes done with water-color pencil.
There are two “fronts” and two “backs” (She was sitting on a poofy cushion).
AND in case you don’t see the connection between my blog change and my sketches: Clicking a button on the computer and irreversibly changing the blog template is like drawing with water-color pencil. I can’t erase or correct either of them.
My Sketchy Life – from start to finish
Take a peek at the entire class from the beginning 2 minute sketches to the 20 minute poses.
Tried water-color pencil for the first time. Discovered it doesn’t ERASE so the first go over needs to be very light.
This model was great. She was more voluptuous than most and I didn’t have to draw muscles!
In the sketch below I used an old piece of cardboard backing. If you look you can see the water stains from years past.
For the last pose the model put clothes on . . . probably because I couldn’t get her breasts symmetrical!
I may take these drawings and experiment some more with the water-color.
How to cook a turkey FAST and painlessly (for you not the bird)
It’s THAT time of year again for “Cooking with Judy” Here’s my yearly Thanksgiving post — cuz it’s tooooo good not to be shared!
I have a reputation, among those who know me, to have an “interesting” sense of humor. Even though How to Cook A Turkey with 500 degree heat sounds like a joke IT IS NO JOKE.
The turkey comes out brown, beautiful and MOIST. I’ve done this every year for over three decades and it’s never failed.
All the people who have tried it do it again and again. . . except for the woman bought a ButterBall Turkey* . . . to see why, keep reading.
Ingredients:
10 – 18 pound turkey* and a sense of adventure
Directions:
- Pre Heat oven 500 degrees (this is not a typo)
- Clean the bird
- Throw it into a covered container – put on lid or aluminum foil
- Do not add ANYTHING to the pot and/or the bird.
- Do NOT baste or look at until time is up (you will hear burbling, don’t worry, by the time you hear burbling the turkey is dead)
- Bake (and I do mean BAKE), 7 minutes per pound, unstuffed at 500 degrees FARENHEIT
- 7 1/2 minutes per pound, stuffed
*WARNING: Do NOT buy any *turkey that has ANYTHING injected under the skin (especially butter!) or the fire department will join you for dinner after you scrub the black soot from your ceiling.
Q & A (I won’t bother you with the Q-part)
- Yes, it comes out brown and beautiful.
- No, it is moist and delicious
- I always put the stuffing in a casserole rather than the turkey – others have stuffed the bird and said it was great.
- Yes, it will smell like Thanksgiving not like a house-on-fire.
- No, PETA would not endorse this because it is more humane . . . for the cook
- Yes! 500 degrees. It is not a typo
- Yes, 7 minutes a pound
P.S. A typical turkey will take a little over 1 hour to bake. The first year I made the turkey this way I had the critter sitting out raw and naked as a J-bird when the guests arrived.
When they found out nothing was in the oven everyone nervously inquired what time we were going to eat.
Made me smile.
A Peak into my Sketchy Life – Bigger and Worser
(Well, not actually “worser” but I try to avoid trite phrases like “bigger and better”.)
In case you’ve not noticed . . . my drawings all go off the page. I don’t mind the aesthetics of that but I want to be able to do it “by design”. I try framing, measuring, planning . . . as the drawing progresses the limbs or head (or both) end up off of the paper.
The life drawing teacher suggested I get a BIG board to work on a BIG piece of paper to get the entire torso on the page. So much for bigger . . .
(Showing my hand on the paper to give you a sense of the scale).
Happy Halloween! Duds to Dudes
Since my “vertigo episode” I’ve been in a fibromyalgia flare-up, complete with exhaustion. Today I peeled myself out of bed, put on my best duds and went to class to draw a dude. Can you guess which one is me?
After spending 3 hours drawing a nude dude this is what I looked like . . .
My Sketchy life – dinosaurs and dames
Many, if not most, of my posts over the years have regaled you, my loyal readers, with bits of what I find interesting and curious. (ex. Two of my all time most viewed and informative posts were about Butterfly fish and the Singles Scene and Stoned Fish.)
Since I’ve been taking life drawing classes there are not many articles that go along with drawings of nudes that meet the G-rating of my blog.
In class the teacher has been talking about the skeleton of the body and today I found a very interesting article about a discovery of a new species of dinosaur in Australia that is in keeping with this instructional focus!!!!
“Paleontologists have discovered a new species of dinosaur in Australia. The wide-hipped, long-necked, four-legged plant-eater was about half the length of a basketball court, and its shoulders stood as high as the hoop.”
This model was a slim-hipped, long-necked, two-legged vegetarian who was the full length of my paper and her shoulders alternately drooped and stood high, depending on the pose.
Check it out (the dinosaur, not the model): http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/20/13351870/new-dinosaur-species-savannasaurus-australia-discovery-titanosaur-sauropod
“Savannasaurus skeleton is one of the most complete sauropods to be discovered in Australia. Based on its skeleton, it was probably about 50 feet long, with a long neck and a wide, round body — weighing in at 40,000 pounds, as much as three African elephants combined. Dinosaur fossils in Australia are exceedingly rare, and this discovery could help scientists understand how these massive creatures spread across the planet millions of years ago.“
. . . that would take one humongous piece of paper to draw it . . .
My Sketchy Life – wonky, wacky & wobbly
Ten days into walking like a drunken sailor without the drink or the sailing. My husband drove me to art class. It was nice to get out of the house. The vertigo is much better but I’m still a bit wobbly.
At first, looking back and forth from the model to the drawing pad was a bit disorienting and I was very tired after class – probably because my brain was working hard to compensate.
The focus for this session was using brown wrapping paper, black and white charcoal.
Dizzy blond and I ain’t even blond
Friday: Spent all day and evening in the ER. I was EXTREMELY light-heading, threw up, missed my art class and spent 24 hours in bed thinking I’d feel fine in the morning . . . WRONG.
Saturday: In the morning the room was moving and I wasn’t. Every time I moved I threw up and there was nothing to throw-up since I hadn’t eaten anything (You have probably created a nasty picture in your mind . . . just make it even nastier).
The ER was even more fun. Throwing up, drawing blood, 2 CT scans (to make sure it wasn’t a stroke . . . it wasn’t) and finally, after 4 different anti-nausea medications and drips, I stopped throwing up.
Sunday: I’m still dizzy and have to hold on to things to walk (it’s a bit wonky to type) but the good news, the GREAT news, is I’ve not thrown up. The bad news is I’m still dizzy . . . and grey-haired.
To my friends and acquaintances who suffer with Ménière’s disease. . . I have new compassion for you!
P.S. For those of you I confused . . I don’t have Menieres just plain Ditzy.
My Sketchy Life – scritch, scratch and stretch
I have little energy and my hip is sore . Usually, I stand at the easel when drawing but my hip is so sore this week I sat. I’ve been stretching my hip and back every day but scritching and scratching at the art.
When the teacher saw this she commented that it looked like someone sitting at a bus stop! She said it kindly and I agreed. So I quickly scribbled, skritched and scratched over the original. At least now it looks like the bus has just arrived.
This was an exercise on finding reference points in the room to draw the figure. I spent so long finding the points that I didn’t have time for the figure!
I was fading fast and so were my drawings!
Hopefully, next class, instead of scritch and scratch I’ll stretch with the art.
Shower yourself with doodle art
This is one hot shower!
My Sketchy Life . . . Albee it
Edward Albee died the other day at 88. He was a Pulitzer prize-winning playwright. He intensely disliked it when asked what his plays were about but finally explained:
“If anybody wants me to say it, in one sentence, what my plays are about: They’re about the nature of identity. Who we are, how we permit ourselves to be viewed, how we permit ourselves to view ourselves, how we practice identity or lack of identity.” Edward Albee
Most of the models in the life drawing classes have been posing for a long time. They come equipped with props and pillows and strike dramatic poses that I defy anyone in “real” life to take . . . unless you’re an exotic dancer.
Art teachers explain that drawing isn’t about what the hand is doing it’s about training our eye to see what it actually sees rather than the internal image of what we THINK we see.
Right now my drawings are about trying to learn to view shapes and shadows, lines and limbs . . . and hopefully have my hands follow. Someday, it would be nice to say the same thing Edward Albee said . . . that my drawings are about the nature of identity.
Laughter is the best medicine
The weather is changing
my body rearranging
Help! I’m in a fibro flare
Everything hurts
including my hair.
Sharon Bonin Pratt is a writer, an artist and a dear friend. I think she also is psychic. I’ve been not feeling great and the subject of her last post was just what I needed. AND it’s dedicated to ME!!!! What an honor!
Shari inspired me to look for a smile (SEE THE VIDEO).
Here’s a sample from Sharon Bonin Pratt’s Ink Flare:
“Who can laugh without relaxing? Isn’t that why some of us (not me of course, and certainly not you, but other unnamed folks) pee their pants when laughing raucously? Losing all control is not a bad thing, even if you must change your whitie-dities, because when you’re having that much fun – who cares about all the rest? Oh, and it’s contagious! In a good way, not like the flu, but like having enough cup cakes for everyone in the world. So now I not only feel good inside my own world weary bod – I feel good because everyone around me also feels good. Motto for today: Spread cheer – laugh out loud.”
Read her entire post – Sharon Bonin Pratt’s Ink Flare
My sketchy life – failing my way to success
Sara Blakely’s embrace of failure has helped make her the youngest self-made female billionaire in America. She invented Spanx (body-shaping undergarments – the modern version of the corset and girdle).
When she was growing up, her father would often ask her the same question at dinnertime.
“What have you failed at this week?”
I was AGHAST – failure!? What a horrible father. Everyone knows we are supposed to focus on and revel in success. She went on to say:
“My dad growing up encouraged me and my brother to fail. The gift he was giving me is that failure is (when you are) not trying versus the outcome. It’s really allowed me to be much freer in trying things and spreading my wings in life.”
What a novel idea! Embrace failure as a sign of taking risks, learning and growing. Failure is a victory not a defeat.
“The fact that I had never taken a business class, had no training, didn’t know how retail worked,” she said. “I wasn’t as intimidated as I should have been.”
I read her interview just before my life drawing class. It was liberating!! I gave myself permission to fail at trying to draw perfect likeness, perfect proportions, perfect shading.
My new motto: Fail Away!
. . . it’s never too late to become the oldest self-made billionaire in the United States.
My sketchy life – equal opportunity nudes
It’s been called to my attention that while I post drawings of female nudes front and rear I don’t post male nude drawings full front.
I am so used to seeing women bare it all in the media that I don’t think twice about my female drawings. I wonder if, deep down, I’m actually a prude?
Here’s to woman’s liberation and male, dare I say, penile picture poses!
My Sketchy Life – Back to school
New semester for art classes just started. Here are my best sketches (you didn’t think I’d post my worst, did you?). I particularly am pleased with the first as I managed to catch the likeness of the model.
Cuddle Fish
“The team spotted this Stubby Squid off the coast of California at a depth of 900 meters (2,950 feet). The stubby squid (Rossia pacifica) looks like a cross between an octopus and squid, but is more closely related to cuttlefish. This species spends life on the seafloor, activating a sticky mucus jacket and burrowing into the sediment to camouflage, leaving their eyes poking out to spot prey like shrimp and small fish. Rossia pacifica”
RATS! We Inhaled
At Judy Formato’s Painting on the Patio (POP) art group the topic of marijuana came up.
Several of the woman, who shall remain anonymous, (we are all well over the age of 50 or 60 or 70) admitted to inhaling in their youth. It was a pertinent topic (for those of us well over the age of 50 or 60 or 70) relating to pain medication for maladies that come with maturity.
Is this a coincidence, or what? . . . I came home to read this new medical marijuana “MIND” study:
Researcher Staci Gruber is “. . . trying to determine the long and short-term impact of medical marijuana on cognition, brain structure and function, quality of life, sleep, and other clinical measures.
“People drive two to three hours sometimes to get [here for] the study,” Gruber said. “They’re really committed. They really want to know what effect this will have on them.”
“As they wait for long-term results, MIND researchers have made a few interim discoveries. They have found, for example, that marijuana could possibly ease symptoms for people with bipolar disorder and that a medication for strokes and Alzheimer’s disease may reverse the cognitive effects of chronic recreational marijuana use.”
Perhaps our POP group could volunteer – we can drive and are VERY committed women.
I think we qualify.
Oh, by the way, here’s what I painted at POP.
I wonder why they don’t use rats for this study – they use them for all the others?
Stealth Sketching
I knew about people who do travel sketch books – instead of taking photos they sketch. I knew about plein air painters who set up their easels and paint nature. I didn’t know about the groups of artists who take to the streets all over the world and sketch.
They call themselves Urban Sketchers. The supplies need to be portable and compact – small sketchbooks, pencil, pen and watercolor seem to be the main tools of the trade. People and buildings are the main focus.
You have to be fast and just capture the essence of what you see. People move, get up, leave. Sometimes I draw the arm of one person on the body of the other, furiously freeze a tiny moment in time hoping people don’t get up, come over and demand I stop staring at them. Then I “clean up” the mini sketches – erase lines, add a splash of color.
At the POP (Painting on the Patio) gathering yesterday I couldn’t get inspired to paint so I pulled out my mini sketchbook and “cleaned up” some of my sketches:
Can’t call myself an Urban Sketcher cuz I don’t sit on street corners or stand by light poles. I sketch people while I wait for doctors’ appointments, get my computer fixed or tires rotated.
Since I live in the suburbs it seems a bit pretentious to call my self a suburban sketcher. Stealth Sketcher is much more like it.
Frankly Freddie – Dog Days of Summer
My human has been laying around the house all week. You’ve probably noticed she’s not been commenting on her blog or responding to e-mails. She overdid it at her last workshop and has been dog-tired ever since.
Humans are cute, not very smart and take a lot of patience on our part. Just when I think she’s trained she gets loose and I have no idea where she goes or what she gets into. All I know is she comes limping home.
She looks a bit dog-eared.
Usually she can pick up the scent and find her way back but if you see her loose on the street don’t call human-control, just bring her home in time for my dinner.
Frankly,
Freddie Parker Westerfield, CDT, RET
“Befores” and “afters”
Judy Formato collects people – from bus rides, parties, meetings and invites them to her “POP” gatherings – Painting on the Patio. Yesterday I met her collection of very talented and welcoming women who have been meeting for 3 years to paint, chat and share resources.
Most of the women were doing water-color. I experimented with my newly purchased pastels to color two of my quickie life drawing sketches I had done in class.
The afternoon was topped off with wine and snacks. Judy served a verrrrry tasty egg plant dip that had zing from some delicious pepper sauce imported by the family fine Italian food company Formato Brothers.
Here are my “befores” and “afters”:
The HeART of Spirituality – Journey from Dark to Light
The theme for July is “Journey”. Held a special 4 hour – yes, count ’em FOUR hours of creative energy – workshop yesterday. The participants focused on a painful experience, what strengths they developed as a result of the pain and how God’s love or “the universe’s grace” touched them.
People could share as much or as little as they chose. It was a wonderful group of women. (All you men, where are you?!!!!)
Take a look at a sample of wonderful paintings and mini-journals the participants created yesterday!
To see all the paintings and journal pages click HERE!
“Everything in life ministers to our development. Our lesson is to study and learn… Tests are either stumbling blocks or stepping stones, just as we make them.” Abdu’l-Baha, The Baha’i World Faith
Sneek a peek into my sketchy life – peanut butter and landscapes
The last life drawing class for this semester. Everyone brought food for a potluck – dips & chips, chocolate, cookies, cake, fruit – it was quite a spread. We’ve had this model before.
After staring at her flat abs for 3 hours I disciplined myself and only ate the fruit.
One of the students saw the above drawing laying on the floor on its side and said it looked like a landscape.
I came home feeling out of shape and deprived. So I ate 3 peanut butter and honey sandwiches (needed protein after all that fruit).
Can you tell what this is?
poin·til·lism
ˈpwaNtēˌyizəm,ˈpointlˌizəm/
noun
-
A technique of neo-impressionist painting using tiny dots of various pure colors, which become blended in the viewer’s eye. It was developed by Georges Seurat with the aim of producing a greater degree of luminosity and brilliance of color.
Click HERE to see if you were right!
Sneek a Peek – back to back basics
The general consensus among my women art classmates is they prefer drawing female curves rather than male muscles. Next week I’ll ask the men. One of the women said her husband was VERY upset she would take a class where the focus was staring at nude men.
For these sketches I threw muscles to the wind and just drew. I took a few liberties (like cutting off the models head because he was wearing a ridiculous helmet which I refused to draw and beefing him up a bit to match my own fantasies . . .)
I’m only sharing the back views I drew . . . don’t want to upset any of YOU that I’ve been staring at full frontal nude men . . .
