Monday, October 19, 2015

Tea And More...


   So how is everyone? It was a crazy busy week since last Tuesday. I believe it was mostly in Tuesday posts that I mentioned hubby's great Aunt Betty and great Uncle Truman whom I was helping out with transportation to dr. visits, home visits and whatever else was needed especially for Truman this past year. Well, he passed away at home last Monday. It's where he wanted to be. He was 95 and enjoyed a mostly good life. Betty is the only immediate survivor (she is his younger sister) and as families sometimes go despite more immediate relations, hubby I have been  the closest to them both. The funeral was Saturday and although a brisk, cold day the sun shone brilliantly. There was a church service then a masonic and full military honors service at the mausoleum. It was all so beautiful...and very touching because Aunt Betty presented my hubby with the flag at the end of the tribute which was completely unexpected. I am ever so grateful to have gotten to know Uncle Truman well in this last year or so. Now I will be looking after Aunt Betty and doing as much as I can for her since she doesn't drive and is alone.

 The last two days I spent washing clothes, putting summer clothes away in storage :(:(  bringing out the fall/winter things, and changing/ironing curtains. I also got out some fall themed items to decorate as in the photo above. I don't do Halloween any longer. What about you? How do you change things and decorate for the season change? No choice here in getting it all done QUICKLY since the weather turned on Saturday and we had near record lows last eve. It has def. gotten cold during the day too.

 That means more comfort foods....and more tea!


 I made this Carrot Rice and Cashew dish today. It's a new recipe I tried from my Indian Cookbook. It is delicious!! Very aromatic and tasty yet not spicy-with basmati rice, shredded carrots, some onion, bay leaves, cumin, cinnamon, garam masala and cashews. Sorry but I can't post this recipe d/t copyright but you might find it on Alamelu's website if you're interested.

 And I also found turmeric tea at our local health food store today:


 Turmeric is known as "Indian Gold" and has many health benefits including having anti-inflammatory effects. I really like the taste of this tea as I prefer the more herbal ones anyway to the fruity ones (unless I drink those iced). I tried making my own but it was a pain to do. This is much easier!
This is my share for this week's T Stands For Tuesday with Bleubeard and Elizabeth.

 And since I always have to throw in some art I'll share the page of face practice sketches I did and added to my journal.



  These are practices recommended by Jane Davenport from her book on drawing beautiful faces. I love this exercise in using guidelines to vary the positions of the faces. Although it's only for practice, on the second page I added a bit of black ink and white ink (as Jane has done in some of her examples) for a bit of definition and what a difference that alone makes! I am certainly learning how the more you practice-and practice 'loosely' the better it gets.
 
 Here's a close up of one (you can see another here):
 
 
Linking this to Art Journal Every Day and Art It Friday-Show Your Face.

 My next post later this week (probably Thursday) will be about my first cold wax and oil painting :)

 Hope you all have a wonderful week!

" If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you."     William E. Gladstone






28 comments:

  1. I got the alert that a blog post was posted by you! I wish blogs were more popular again. But everything comes full circle so maybe. .. my sympathy for your loss. ..
    The dish looked yummy although I'm so not a rice person. ..hubby said he had enough rice in the army for the two of us. We got a visit from lil Lennon this afternoon. ..even at almost 3 weeks..I can see he had grown. ..looks like he will be a blue eyed baby. Thanks for sharing

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  2. Sorry to hear about your loss ~ not easy to lose our loved ones ~ You are a treasure to his Sister I bet and were to him also ~ Saddest part of life ~ Yet, it is life.

    Your recipe sounds yummy and tea too! Love your face sketches ~ they are exquisite !

    Happy Week to you,
    artmusedog and carol

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  3. Sorry to hear of Uncle Truman's passing ♥ It sounds like he had a long and full life. That dish looks great and I'll have to go and check out the recipe. I"m in a cooking mood. Your faces look great and painting and drawing loose certainly does take PRACTICE. :)

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  4. Oh Linda, when I saw your first photo, I said to myself "autumn has arrived at Linda's." Nice vignette along with the relatives.

    Yes, I remember Uncle Truman and was so glad you had shared his birthday lunch with us for T one week. I'm saddened to learn he had died, but it sounds like he lived a nice long life.

    Not sure where you live, but I saw on the weather that there was snow somewhere in the northeast today. It is still HOT here. 80s and one day topped 90 F, with nights in the mid 60s F. We may go from summer to winter and ignore autumn all together.

    I have to share a not so funny story about the first time I cooked basmati rice. I was making Spanish rice and, as I always do, roasted the raw rice in a small amount of oil until it started to puff a bit. However, I had grabbed the basmati, rather than the brown rice I normally use. It was a disaster and tasted horrible. I'm glad your recipe turned out better than my very first disaster with basmati. The recipe sounds great.

    Your tea looks wonderful, too. I'm sure it was wonderful and will keep you warm this winter. Your faces are great, but I'm really, really, really looking forward to your cold wax play. I also hope you'll show whatever scrapers and tools you used when you made it. I'm always curious what others use when they make these.

    Thanks for sharing your week with us for T this Tuesday. I hope to be by on Thursday or Friday to see you cold wax project. And again, my sympathy goes to you for losing your dear Uncle Truman.

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  5. Love the faces, practising really brings results. Sorry to hear about the death of your Great Uncle, and it will be good if you look after his wife now. The food looks great, and the tea. Have a happy T day, hugs, Valerie

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  6. Oh that rice looks fantastic and I have never heard about this tea !
    Your sketches are fab Linda!
    Happy T-Day!
    oxo
    Susi

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  7. It must have been a sad week for you but also an opportunity to celebrate what a wonderful long life your uncle Truman has had. It's definitely autumn here too and like you I'm looking forward to warming food and sitting by the stove in the evenings. And arting of course, that never stops! Lovely to see it's the same for you..

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  8. Hi Linda, I really enjoyed reading your blog this morning. What a privilege it is to look after elderly relatives (but sometimes hard too).
    I love your autumn display. Very tasteful. Like you, I don't do halloween. I hate it and what it stands for. Here in Spain luckily it is not a tradition, but slowly halloween merchandise is creeping into the large stores so the Spanish children want to do it too.
    Here the festival of the dead on the first of November is a big thing. Already people are polishing gravestones to make them look their best. On the day they will put flowers or anything else that embellishes the graves, and spend a lot of time in the cemetery. It's like a huge community picnic. Loved ones are remembered that way.
    The rice dish looks yummy. I'm going to try and copy it. Do you use stock or water? I looked at the book but obviously it didn't show any recipes, but a lot of useful info on southern Indian cooking. I might put that book on my wishlist...
    And while I'm at it I might add Jane Davenport's book on faces. I've started drawing lessons in our village recently. I've only been once so far.
    Thanks for a great post,
    Lisca

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  9. Looking after an older relative is a big responsibility. I'm glad you were able to enjoy your time with him before his passing.
    Lovely autumn display...I enjoy those so much more than the Halloween creepy.
    Love what you did with your art pages.
    Happy T day!

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  10. Hello and Happy T Day Linda! I'm sorry to hear about your loss, how nice that you got to know him so well this year. I'm sure you were a blessing for him and all you did.

    Such a yummy dish this looks and sounds. LOVE the art décor, always my favorite. I do change out my picture frames to that season/holiday as my most favorite way to decorate then the usual things with them.

    The weather here got cold too and then warm and cold, love that it keeps going back to warm as I'm not ready for it to stay cold yet.

    Really like your faces and the way you did them, faces are so fun to see and draw.

    Take care and have a good week.

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  11. Sorry to hear about your loss. It sounds like he lived a good, long life, and it is wonderful that you got to be close to both of them.

    I do add a few touches more related to Autumn than Halloween since I love this season and the colors associated with it.

    Your faces are really wonderful--I can tell you are enjoying that artistic journey.

    I enjoyed catching up with your posts that I missed while away. I especially like the one when your Mom returned from her trip with the photo of your brother & husband. What a cool T-shirt! I also liked your Halloween card and the rainbow of color you added to the face you drew. Now I am looking forward to seeing your cold wax/oil painting!

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  12. My sympathies on your loss. Even after such a long, full life it's hard to lose loved ones.

    The rice looks tasty; I'm sure I'd enjoy it. Your faces are expressive -those eyes! And the mouths seem ready to whisper a word to me... Happy T Tuesday :)

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  13. My heart goes out to your family and to your great Aunt Betty.
    Sorry for your loss Linda.
    Uncle Truman and Aunt Betty were/are lucky to have you and your husband there for them.
    You are so right about change, comfort food and tea.
    The frost in on the pumpkin here too.
    Your rice dish looks perfect to me in every way = Yum!
    Lovely practice pages of faces!!!
    Happy T Day to you oxo

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  14. Sorry for your loss Linda. Aunt Betty is very lucky to have you so close, as it will surely be a trying time for her to adjust to.
    LOVE your practice faces...you are really getting good at them.

    Happy T-day

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  15. So sorry to hear about the passing of your family member...it is good that you had the opportunity to help in many ways. I love your fall decor! Of course the colors brighten things up. Truly gorgeous photo frames and table scarf!! And love your sweet little faces too! happy T day!

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  16. so sorry to hear about your loss like your little faces..art heals

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  17. Condolences on your loss and that of your Aunt; she will miss her brother and I'm sure she will be grateful to have your help and company.
    Your practice faces are very good. I have Jane's book but haven't got around to opening it yet. So many projects, so little time ;)
    I don't do halloween; Wee Man does not like it at all. Our weather has cooled down a lot so I'm thinking of adding a blanket to my bed ;)
    Thank you for your lovely comment on our holiday post; we had lots of fun in Edinburgh. Happy T Day Linda :o))

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  18. So sorry to read of your uncle's passing! I'm with you on celebrating Autumn! Your faces are wonderful! I am becoming braver at drawing faces although I am not very good at it! Happy T day! Chrisx

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  19. I am sorry for your loss and I'm sure your great aunt will appreciate having your company and help going forward. The weather has turned here, suddenly, a well and I feel I have been freezing for almost a week. I don't mind. It is still better than the more than 110 deg F heat indexes that we experienced this summer on several days! No Halloween for us but I love the fall colors and all things Thanksgiving.
    Love your faces! I must go look in my book for those exercises. They look like a lot of fun and I can see how they would be very instructive as well.
    Happy TSFT!

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  20. I'm glad that Great Aunt Betty has you to care for her - she would be so lonely without you. I'm glad Great Uncle Truman's funeral went as well as it could, and how touching that your husband was given the flag, a real honour.

    Those faces are wonderful - and what a difference the tiny spot of white makes! I've got Jane's book but haven't yet tried any of the exercises yet, you've inspired me to get on with it :)

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  21. Enjoyed a lovely catch up of your recent posts.... you have been very productive as always.
    Sorry to hear of Uncle Truman's passing but glad to hear everything went well at his funeral... how special for your husband to be handed the flag.

    Love seeing your faces :)

    The tea sounds interesting, Barry just bought some Cardoman(m) tea but I haven't tried it yet....

    Pretty Autumn decorations Linda....

    Karen x

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  22. I forgot to tell you that I am sorry about your loss Linda!
    oxo
    Susi

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  23. pretty practice sketches, sorry about your uncle and so great of you to help out your aunt.

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  24. I am so sorry to hear about your Uncle Truman, Linda; but what a fantastically long life! Your Aunt Betty is lucky to have you to care for her. Your faces are just getting better and better. I love the different positions of the heads, Over the weeks on here it's been such a privilege to watch your skills grow. Thank you for sharing and the rice and cashew dish looks delicious too! I must visit that some time. xx

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  25. Bless you for being a caregiver for your Aunt and Uncle before he passed away. So sorry for your loss, but what a blessing you are. My dearest and I took care of his Aunt on a daily basis so she could stay in her home. we lived across the street. We did that until she passed away, and count it a honor to do it for her.

    Your practice faces are so cute, and almost look like colorful easter eggs. That's a compliment. But at a glance that's what I saw. Better put on my reading glasses HaHa

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  26. So sorry for your loss... what a gift you are to aunt Betty! I really like the look of the faces on the lines - never considered that it would help with positioning - great idea!!

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  27. I am sorry for your loss, Linda. October has been hard!Hope your heart heals fast.Love your face sketches.They're adorable!Love your rice and quote!Happy T day!

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  28. So sorry to hear of your lost, I hope you and your family are doing ok. Just love your faces and I will have to look out for that tea, I love teas of all descriptions, I've got a quite a collection! Thank you for joining Show Your Face and sorry it has taken me so long to get over here to comment, I'm still playing catch up! Kx

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Thank you so much for your comments; it's a pleasure to connect with you!