canal dreams

We are paddling on the Fremont canal and it's not only the boats that are drifting...

My mind travels from rusty hulls to memories of Barcelona.

An under-pier cathedral all a glow!

Salmon pink globes hovering like lanterns.

It was Shanghai and the Pearl Tower!

A short little stretch of water becoming longer the slower we travel...

A message from beyond!

One fine summer afternoon my friend Joanne stopped by the studio. As we chatted she worked her way around the room looking at and fondling the work. She ended up with a yellow "Smile" cup in her hands. She really didn't seem to want to part with it, and I didn't have the heart to charge her for it. She is a lovely person, all about doing nice things for others, so I told her to just take it home. A few months later I received this post card!!!

The post card read:

" Hi Mom, Its me! Here in I am in the land of Ghengis Khan! Can you see him next to me? I live at the Ashral Charity Center where lots of people come and go everyday. Everybody smiles when they see me. Hi to my brothers and sisters!

Love, Your Darling Cup."

Joanne took him with her on a visit to Mongolia.

I think he is happy there!

Floating World

At the bottom of a warm pool the manatee floats.

Until visitors in small boats visit.

The small one is very curious.

A mother continues to nurse her baby, and someone is sleeping.

Paddles and tails...

Under the shade of jungle leaf, we float on top. Occasionally we roll into their world.

Time spent with them is in suspension

soup time

Yum! Cold outside, warm inside.

Almost everyday that I work in the studio, I settle down to a bowl of hot, Asian style soup around the lunching hour of noon.

If I'm lucky, I get to have it at home too, when I'm working there.

However, the studio has all my supplies:

Dried black fungus and

shitake mushrooms,

rice noodles,

carrots always, among other vegetables

such as spinach or baby bok choy,

Chinese broccoli, ginger, and

Tom yum paste, in a jar...

The water gets a head start on boiling in the electric kettle while I finish up tasks.

The soup itself is cooking only about 7 minutes!

It warms with heat and spice!

My favorite read at lunch time is The New Yorker magazine.




Then, back to work...

snow paddle

I really have been getting a lot done in the studio...

however, Saturday Kristin, Nigel and Joel met Monica and Jay at Marblemount Wa. to be swept down the mighty Skagit River amongst snow flurries and lurching eagles.




The river is our state's second largest, I've been told by local knowledge", Joel Rogers, and flows at approximately 8 miles per hour.

Known as a bald eagle hangout when the salmon are running, we did not anticipate seeing many this day as the run was finished. In fact, we saw approximately 40 of the great birds sitting vulture like in barren trees, staring at the river, now devoid of fish!

Paddling an open canoe, Nigel probably got the chilliest of us all, gleefully sliding back and forth across the current. I plucked up my courage and paddled the Rumour with my storm paddle. Well, it was a small storm... and was pleasantly delighted by the control it provided me with, not unlike a canoe paddle, really!

Monica was in a state of bliss, being in her kayak again and on a river once again!



I think that made Jay happy, because he was smiling a lot too!
It didn't take long to wisk along the 19 miles to the take out. And once off the water, we hurried to get out of the wet and be on our ways again.

Ice Rink

It has been the most beautiful type of winter weather here lately, frosty and sunny. Nigel and I have been paddling on Green Lake almost every morning. Tuesday we discovered ice near the center! It was magical! Paddling up to the edge caused it to shiver and make the most delicate creaking sounds. Breaking through the thin crust was a lovely sensation, to begin with. Then, as the crust thickened the experience was a little unnerving! The kayak glided up on the ice and the paddle slid underneath. I felt quite an insecure.
Well, we're giving it another go today!
have a good one!

vase and flowers

Last week Nigel and I had a dinner party. I made black bean soup from "The Greens" cookbook, The Greens is a restaurant in San Francisco, famous for its vegetarian cuisine. I also made a pear-apple tart with tart pastry from the same cook book. Grant said was the best tart he had ever had. Well, true or not, it was tasty, and his compliments made me feel great! The soup was served in Kri Kri cereal bowls, which are ideal if you have a large group, a small house and not a lot of room for large plates! No photos of the beautiful table this time though. Nigel, however, had filled our Trumpet vase with tulips and I did manage to get a photo of them.

I am vowing to take more photos of table settings this year and, I think it would be WONDERFUL to see photos of other people's table settings using Kri Kri or VIT. If you want to send a photo to me at krikristudio@aol.com, I would be ever so happy!

Maybe I could even do a posting with those pictures!