This flower is one of my favorites-- reminds me of dogwood and springtime although it looks more like an oversized apple blossom. And it has absolutely nothing to do with this post's topic other than it also reminds me of pollen all over blossoms like butter on bread.
Or muffins.
And what to do with those bananas that ripened too fast in our recent heat wave.
I tend to be a creative cook. When it comes to recipes, I throw in a handful of this, a sprinkle of that, without worrying too much about precise measurements--except when it matters because of the chemistry. So, like my flowers, my muffins are never exactly the same way twice--but somehow always fabulous. And here's my secret--
I start with a fabulously simple recipe from a friend's mother.
Mary Jane's Banana Bread
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (~ 4 bananas)
1/2 cup oatmeal
handful of chopped dried fruit.
Bake at 350 degrees
Only what I do is something more like...
Oh heck-- I have 5 super large over ripe bananas so....
Add another 1/2 of the 1/2 measuring cup of oil;
Throw in another egg (remarking out this recipe is so 2 - 2 - 2 easy to increase by 1/2);
Don't bother to pack the brown sugar-- use less if possible, but DANG! this is rock hard... let soak in egg and oil...that didn't work... pull out and drain as best as possible... put in small bowl with a bit of water to dissolve. (20 minutes of smushing, dissolving, crushing sugar lumps).
Stir egg, oil, sugar (now plus water) a lot--until almost frothy this must be important because these muffins were the lightest muffins ever--especially considering what comes next!
Mush the bananas and stir in... or forgetting the order dump in bananas and then try to mush but that's harder.
Dump flour (remembering to add a 3rd cup) onto wet ingredients (this time using Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat pastry flour because that's what was handy); and baking soda (adding a 3rd tsp, but you could use the tablespoon spoon instead).
AND now is where I really tweak it:
Throw in some oat bran. (I never measure but probably more than 1/4 cup and less than 1/2 cup.) Thrown in some more because I'd added some water this time in trying to dissolve the brown sugar.
Add the 1/2 cup and then some of oatmeal. Hmmmm... throw in some more.
Fluff the dry ingredients to distribute the baking soda then stir it until reasonably well mixed.
--And then toss on some dried cranberries (fruit sweetened not sugared up kind)... how much? Until it looks like a good distribution you'd like to sink your teeth into.
Sprinkle in a mess of sesame seeds.
Throw in a handful of sunflower seed. hmmm.... toss another handful on. (If I felt like bothering to chop nuts, I would as easily added cashews, pecans or whatever else I had on hand.)
Line muffin tin with cupcake papers (because I hate washing out muffin tins). Fill and bake in 350 oven until done (20-25 minutes depending on your oven.)
[Note: tooth pick test for done-ness. Insert toothpick in center. If it comes out clean they're done.]
Remove from oven and (diet permitting) slather with butter, eat with a glass of (soy, rice, cow...) milk or cup of tea--and think of my flower.
Happy Eating!
Flowersbyfarha – May 2008
Flower to Flour
May 21, 2008
Photos
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Twitter, Twitter, Tweet, Tweet!
May 19, 2008
Photos
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Ok... I finally did it!
I joined Twitter. I'm still a little boggled about how it works, but getting the hang of it. Its a good challenge to keep messages under 140 characters! If you Twitter, do give me a Tweet! My username there is the same as here: flowersbyfarha.
Apparently to Tweet someone, you can either send messages to a particular user directly or send them a public message by using "@" in front of the user name, eg @flowersbyfarha to tweet me. Or just type your message for the tweeties at large.
Customizing the background was another challenge as I'm trying to create a uniform look with my graphics where possible. Part of the challenge was in trying to manipulate my graphics around a changing obstacle course so it would look nice, enhance but not distract--or be chopped up too badly by the windows and other site graphics. Thought I had the arrangement and then realized--this is going to be different on everyone's monitors as people size their windows differently.
The other challenge was trying to find colors that worked. Although I'm using files from my printers--thus in CMYK color system--I'm working with color code numbers from my website which is RBG color system. If that isn't fiddly enough, I discover that in PhotoShop Elements 5.0, I can input a color code but then the selector seems to default to some sort of not really near enough look-alike "stand-in" color.
This is very frustrating for an artist--wanting creative control--as well as for a business person--wanting control on creating consistent branding imaging. But the reality is, even if I tweak it on my monitor, it will still look like who knows what on your monitor!
--adding a new layer of meaning to the phrase, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
I joined Twitter. I'm still a little boggled about how it works, but getting the hang of it. Its a good challenge to keep messages under 140 characters! If you Twitter, do give me a Tweet! My username there is the same as here: flowersbyfarha.
Apparently to Tweet someone, you can either send messages to a particular user directly or send them a public message by using "@" in front of the user name, eg @flowersbyfarha to tweet me. Or just type your message for the tweeties at large.
Customizing the background was another challenge as I'm trying to create a uniform look with my graphics where possible. Part of the challenge was in trying to manipulate my graphics around a changing obstacle course so it would look nice, enhance but not distract--or be chopped up too badly by the windows and other site graphics. Thought I had the arrangement and then realized--this is going to be different on everyone's monitors as people size their windows differently.
The other challenge was trying to find colors that worked. Although I'm using files from my printers--thus in CMYK color system--I'm working with color code numbers from my website which is RBG color system. If that isn't fiddly enough, I discover that in PhotoShop Elements 5.0, I can input a color code but then the selector seems to default to some sort of not really near enough look-alike "stand-in" color.
This is very frustrating for an artist--wanting creative control--as well as for a business person--wanting control on creating consistent branding imaging. But the reality is, even if I tweak it on my monitor, it will still look like who knows what on your monitor!
--adding a new layer of meaning to the phrase, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
The Oud
May 11, 2008
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Some days ago, I posted a note in the Political section of the Forum (http://www.silkfair.com/forum/thread/270, and it may have seemed a bit "off the wall" for those who do not know my background.
For each person there is an instrument that speaks to the soul within. For me, it is the oud. Traditionally a pear-shaped, acoustical, stringed instrument, with 5 courses of double strings and a single bass string, it is commonly considered the grandfather of the English Lute.
It is both melodic and percussive. When required, an oudist can be a "one man band" and still give a full, complete musical expression. It's bass notes can stir your guts and run up through the courses as it lifts your soul.
Besides it being my favorite instrument to listen to, and among my favorites to dance to, and knowing many oudists, I have actually played it a little. The first time I held one and strummed it, my heart soared. Literally. I felt as the heroine in some dime romance novel is supposed to feel when she recognizes her true love. Unfortunately my attempts to learn to play were consistently frustrated by a lack of time and a pressing of other priorities, but it remains my 'true love' in the world of instruments.
Perhaps knowing my close personal tie to the oud can help you understand my outrage and great sadness to know that such things are going on in this world as described in this article in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/world/middleeast/01oud.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&sq=Iraq%20music&st=nyt&scp=1
For each person there is an instrument that speaks to the soul within. For me, it is the oud. Traditionally a pear-shaped, acoustical, stringed instrument, with 5 courses of double strings and a single bass string, it is commonly considered the grandfather of the English Lute.
It is both melodic and percussive. When required, an oudist can be a "one man band" and still give a full, complete musical expression. It's bass notes can stir your guts and run up through the courses as it lifts your soul.
Besides it being my favorite instrument to listen to, and among my favorites to dance to, and knowing many oudists, I have actually played it a little. The first time I held one and strummed it, my heart soared. Literally. I felt as the heroine in some dime romance novel is supposed to feel when she recognizes her true love. Unfortunately my attempts to learn to play were consistently frustrated by a lack of time and a pressing of other priorities, but it remains my 'true love' in the world of instruments.
Perhaps knowing my close personal tie to the oud can help you understand my outrage and great sadness to know that such things are going on in this world as described in this article in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/world/middleeast/01oud.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&sq=Iraq%20music&st=nyt&scp=1
Say It with a Card!
May 03, 2008
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With the advent of e-mail, instant messaging, bloggin, cell phones and text messaging--even e-cards and e-vites, is letter writing a lost art?
It would seem so. All these forms of communicating allow us to reach out and virtually touch someone with more immediacy. They have seduced us with instant gratification.
Yet, by their very immediacy and form, they are here one moment and gone the next. Hardly a format to hold in your hand, savor the moment and hold it next to your heart, put it on the window sill or your desk to be opened and read again and again.
Aaaaaaaaah, but cards! When you say it with a card--and a blank note card with flowers-- you can keep the message short and sweet yet convey it with the impact of "a thousand words."
I've just listed my 5x7 blank notecards and business-card-size enclosure cards which feature my ribbon flowers.
I swear these flowers have a mind of their own. Some wanted to pose for "studio portraits" while others were more adventurous and wanted to go "on location" for their photos. The result is an interesting mix of photo images.
The one shown in the photo here is called "Last Rose of Summer" because it was the last rose I made last summer, and I photographed it on the last day of summer. I use a framed and matted enlarged photo in my booth at art shows. It is fun to see people as they come by the booth and admire it--then double-take when they realize it is not a "real" flower. The testimony to my work is that although the roses in your garden may wilt with the end of summer, but the flowers in my "garden" will stay fresh.
They're high quality, 4-color printed, and the feedback I've gotten from my customers so far has been very positive.
Word of warning: You might need to buy two. It seems some folks like them so well, they don't want to send them out but want to frame them instead!
There's always some holiday or special occasion around the corner--or a moment where you just feel the urge to tell someone that you care for them. So forget txt msgs and send a card!
To see all the cards, please visit my shop http://flowersbyfarha.silkfair.com
PNC 701-5 Silk Satin Roses http://flowersbyfarha.silkfair.com/2302
PNC 702-5 Peek-A-Boo Pixie http://flowersbyfarha.silkfair.com/2309
PNC 703-5 Last Rose of Summer
(see photo -- also available as photo print by custom order) http://flowersbyfarha.silkfair.com/2308
Mix or Match 5x7 blank inside note cards http://flowersbyfarha.silkfair.com/2310
Mix or Match Enclosure Cards (7 images including the 3 above) http://flowersbyfarha.silkfair.com/2312
It would seem so. All these forms of communicating allow us to reach out and virtually touch someone with more immediacy. They have seduced us with instant gratification.
Yet, by their very immediacy and form, they are here one moment and gone the next. Hardly a format to hold in your hand, savor the moment and hold it next to your heart, put it on the window sill or your desk to be opened and read again and again.
Aaaaaaaaah, but cards! When you say it with a card--and a blank note card with flowers-- you can keep the message short and sweet yet convey it with the impact of "a thousand words."
I've just listed my 5x7 blank notecards and business-card-size enclosure cards which feature my ribbon flowers.
I swear these flowers have a mind of their own. Some wanted to pose for "studio portraits" while others were more adventurous and wanted to go "on location" for their photos. The result is an interesting mix of photo images.
The one shown in the photo here is called "Last Rose of Summer" because it was the last rose I made last summer, and I photographed it on the last day of summer. I use a framed and matted enlarged photo in my booth at art shows. It is fun to see people as they come by the booth and admire it--then double-take when they realize it is not a "real" flower. The testimony to my work is that although the roses in your garden may wilt with the end of summer, but the flowers in my "garden" will stay fresh.
They're high quality, 4-color printed, and the feedback I've gotten from my customers so far has been very positive.
Word of warning: You might need to buy two. It seems some folks like them so well, they don't want to send them out but want to frame them instead!
There's always some holiday or special occasion around the corner--or a moment where you just feel the urge to tell someone that you care for them. So forget txt msgs and send a card!
To see all the cards, please visit my shop http://flowersbyfarha.silkfair.com
PNC 701-5 Silk Satin Roses http://flowersbyfarha.silkfair.com/2302
PNC 702-5 Peek-A-Boo Pixie http://flowersbyfarha.silkfair.com/2309
PNC 703-5 Last Rose of Summer
(see photo -- also available as photo print by custom order) http://flowersbyfarha.silkfair.com/2308
Mix or Match 5x7 blank inside note cards http://flowersbyfarha.silkfair.com/2310
Mix or Match Enclosure Cards (7 images including the 3 above) http://flowersbyfarha.silkfair.com/2312
Bauman Farms Greenhouse Gallery Pt 2
May 01, 2008
Photos
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As promised--more photos and review of the Bauman Farms (first annual) Greenhouse Gallery art show.
Bauman Farms is a multi-generational family run farming operation in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The family and staff are well organized, helpful and cheerful. It was a delight to work with them leading up to the show and throughout the weekend.
They did a great job organizing the event and with generating publicity--including two television programs promotions that carried through the weekend with PSA.
The greenhouse was gorgeous with all the plants and garden art and fixtures. The booths flowed in and out of the overall design like mini-gardens of art galleries. The emphasis of metal work, water fountains and other garden art was well balanced with upcycled art, stained glass, mosaics, 2-D (photography, oil painting, papers, cards, etc), pottery, a bit of jewelry, and my flowers.
In the past, when I've asked about shows in the city this show also drew from, I'd been told people there tend to wait until they've seen you at a couple shows before they'll buy. I found this pattern reflected in my sales-- locals admired my work but were more prone to taking my card, whereas the folks coming down from my area were more apt to admire AND buy even if they'd never seen my work before. So, foundation laid for future shows in the area.
Being out in the country, a drive from major metro areas (and price of gas again on the rise), a first time event and a first for this type of event in the area plus a free-way exit closure the first day were all factors that affected attendance compared to more established shows closer to more populated areas. However, turnout seemed to follow typical patterns seen at most shows--slower, more retirees on Friday; busy on Saturday, slower again on Sunday.
And, as usual during any show's slow moments, the artists networked. I got some great ideas for redesigning my display from one artist. Another artist got some gridwall layout ideas from my booth that she can use to make her booth more approachable.
The response by the community--both local and far-flung-- was very positive. The setting was beautiful.. the artwork varied and high-quality. The hosts were friendly and gracious and offered a fabulous BBQ kabobs, mimosas, wine and kettle-korn for snacks in the Greenhouse Gallery. Additionally there was the added bonus of their store across the driveway with country gifts, jams, honey, fresh produce, ice cream, and fresh from the oven bakery goods. Well worth the drive!
All in all a good show to participate in and looking forward to next year!
Since there is room for only one photo on this page, the Fire-Breathing Dragon created by Mark and Tamara Fountain of Oregon. This dragon was breathing fire all weekend and greeted us as we entered from the parking lot. Additional photos posted in forum thread
http://www.silkfair.com/forum/thread/205
Bauman Farms is a multi-generational family run farming operation in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The family and staff are well organized, helpful and cheerful. It was a delight to work with them leading up to the show and throughout the weekend.
They did a great job organizing the event and with generating publicity--including two television programs promotions that carried through the weekend with PSA.
The greenhouse was gorgeous with all the plants and garden art and fixtures. The booths flowed in and out of the overall design like mini-gardens of art galleries. The emphasis of metal work, water fountains and other garden art was well balanced with upcycled art, stained glass, mosaics, 2-D (photography, oil painting, papers, cards, etc), pottery, a bit of jewelry, and my flowers.
In the past, when I've asked about shows in the city this show also drew from, I'd been told people there tend to wait until they've seen you at a couple shows before they'll buy. I found this pattern reflected in my sales-- locals admired my work but were more prone to taking my card, whereas the folks coming down from my area were more apt to admire AND buy even if they'd never seen my work before. So, foundation laid for future shows in the area.
Being out in the country, a drive from major metro areas (and price of gas again on the rise), a first time event and a first for this type of event in the area plus a free-way exit closure the first day were all factors that affected attendance compared to more established shows closer to more populated areas. However, turnout seemed to follow typical patterns seen at most shows--slower, more retirees on Friday; busy on Saturday, slower again on Sunday.
And, as usual during any show's slow moments, the artists networked. I got some great ideas for redesigning my display from one artist. Another artist got some gridwall layout ideas from my booth that she can use to make her booth more approachable.
The response by the community--both local and far-flung-- was very positive. The setting was beautiful.. the artwork varied and high-quality. The hosts were friendly and gracious and offered a fabulous BBQ kabobs, mimosas, wine and kettle-korn for snacks in the Greenhouse Gallery. Additionally there was the added bonus of their store across the driveway with country gifts, jams, honey, fresh produce, ice cream, and fresh from the oven bakery goods. Well worth the drive!
All in all a good show to participate in and looking forward to next year!
Since there is room for only one photo on this page, the Fire-Breathing Dragon created by Mark and Tamara Fountain of Oregon. This dragon was breathing fire all weekend and greeted us as we entered from the parking lot. Additional photos posted in forum thread
http://www.silkfair.com/forum/thread/205
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