Seeing Beauty

I love the process of gathering inspiration 

as much as feeling moved to create.

Above, evidence of these two loves have come to be 

long-time neighbors on my Studio's inspiration board. 

 I never tire of listening to their conversation.

A few days ago I received this gift from my big brother Eric.

He cut the wasp nest from a tree on his property, 

and as you can see, it even engulfs some of the tree's branches. 

The large hole was made by a bird who dined on the larvae.

How are those grain lines are formed?

 How is this incredible structure even made? 

Skip to 2:56 seconds into this video for the answers.

Mother Nature never fails to teach and delight. 

It's time to hand over the keys. 

My dear friend Tracy winters out of town, 

and this year she entrusted me to keep her 

Kitchen Aid mixer, the "Red Cadillac", 

shall we say, in good working order. 

How did I get to be so lucky?!

While a decent block of time to make 

pasta from scratch wasn't in the cards, 

I did make a variety of cookie doughs, 

brownie & quiche batters. 

Now the time has come to return 

the Red Cadillac to its rightful home, 

and may I say I truly enjoyed the ride. 

Thank you Tracy.