Thankful

Is it too late to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving? I don't think so. Even though Christmas preparations are well underway, my heart is full of thanks for so many things this weekend. The Mister and I took our little grandson Liam to pick up our Thanksgiving turkey at Gozzi's turkey farm in Guilford, CT. Long time readers of this blog will recall the Easter egg dyed colors of the turkeys that the Gozzi family has out in a huge pen in front of their store. Liam got a big kick out of them as you can see from his face. Gozzi's never changes. Inside the storefront is a simple counter and on the wall to the left are old competition ribbons and awards.

We were expecting a litter of Corgi puppies this weekend from Stella and James. You can see them on our Reinwood Corgis site if you like. Princess Stella had other plans. She required an emergency c-section on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for seven beautiful puppies 4 boys, 3 girls. Thankful that emergency c-section went well and mom and pups are doing fine. Thankful for my gallant husband who was more concerned with getting Stella to vet than brushing his hair (we're talking pre-coffee here people...) Thankful for a kind and caring vet who called me Tuesday night to see how Stella was doing and to let me know he would cancel his own eye doctor appointment for the next morning if we needed him. Thankful for having a friend like Mary Elizabeth to share puppy breath (and breakfast!) with. Thanksgiving may have been on Thursday, but my heart is still full today.

Did I mention that I was having everyone over here for Thanksgiving Dinner? Gulp. Somehow with John and Laura's help I managed to get it done. These pies were baked in the wee hours of the morning. While the pumpkin was in the oven, Laura was washing dishes (it had to be about 1:30 AM at this point) and I sat at the table weaving a lattice pie crust and cutting little leaves out of pastry dough. Adrenaline from the day did not wear off quickly that night. Laura was right, I did burn the tops of the apple pie crust but it still tasted pretty good. Her brother tells her that she should be a food critic and combine her love of writing with her dinner commentary. "I only say it to help you perfect your cooking" she likes to tell me with her impish grin. What a pip I raised. Homeschoolers! Sheesh. Let me tell you though, when my head finally hit the pillow I crashed and slept soundly, even though it was only for a couple of hours. Don't you love that feeling when you are extremely tired and you get into your bed all snuggly knowing you've accomplished a ton of work that needed to get done? Even though you are exhausted it is a good kind of tired. Do you know what I mean? Everything was made from scratch. Let's see...what did we have? Turkey and gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, corn pie, stuffing (one without onions for Mary Elizabeth and my Mom) cheese platters, shrimp cocktails (one hot cocktail sauce and one mild for Laura and Mary Elizabeth...hey...I want happy diners here!) baked ziti, filet mignon which John cooked outside on the BBQ, snowflake rolls (OK, I didn't make those, I ordered them from the bakery but somebody made them! LOL) apple ciders, pies and chocolate fudge. Did I forget anything? By Thursday Stella was feeling perky and excited about her babies. She was given many delicious treats and has decided that Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday.


Here is Stella and her new babies on their birthday. All are doing well so far. I will post more photos soon!

May I say one more thing that I am thankful for? I am thankful for you, my dear reader. It means a lot to me that you choose to spend a little of your time visiting here and following this blog. I am grateful for those who follow and collect my artwork. I am grateful for your friendship and lovely comments. My heart is full. So full. Happy Thanksgiving!

For those who have been asking, I will have a bunch of brand new Christmas Corgi ornaments and things for sale all this week. I will keep you posted as they are done!

Now, how many days till Christmas? xo xo CS ^..^

Art For Your Christmas Tree

Just finished this new miniature ornament. Now in the shop on Etsy. xo xo -CS ^..^

*sold! more on the work table! xo xo

Happiness Is A Warm Puppy

Mary Elizabeth took these photos over the weekend of Halo and James' puppies at 10 weeks.

Don't you just want to kiss them all on the nose? (You know you do....)
Happy Monday, my lovelies! xo xo -CS ^..^

My New Apprentice?

Some of my Corgi friends have already seen this nutty impish Corgi of mine performing her antics. I thought I'd share these with you as well. Here is Weebles, mild mannered (ahem) kitty. She is convincing Amy to jump up on to the table where I was working on a few paintings. Amy does not require much convincing.

She regularly will move and jump up on to chairs both inside and outside on the patio to get on to tables. I know, I know. I need to train it out of her. The problem is that she usually does it when she thinks no one is watching.

You've heard of a blue moose in a china closet? I have a sable Corgi on an art table.

Watch the video clip below to witness her making one hot mess. I put a fresh cup of painting water out (which she helps herself to) and left for a minute only to return to find her skulking around my paints and things. Luckily John had just put batteries in my camera and it was handy. I must warn you, do not let your Corgis try this at home. At the end it seems as if she leaps from the height of the table. She usually gets on and off from the chairs which are all around. You will see her trying to avoid the other Corgis who are surrounding the table, not as adventurous as she. She actually leaps to a short table with a fluffy dog bed as soon as the other Corgi moved off of it. No Corgis were harmed in the making of this video :) *you may pause my bloggy music on the player in the left sidebar before playing video if you prefer. xo xo Cathy ^..^

Thankful.

Saturday morning I headed out early to run a few errands. I wanted to pick up a few things for the kids. I headed to a couple of stores a few towns over. I thought I went out early enough to beat the Saturday shopping crowds but evidently everyone had the same idea. The first store I went into had shiny Christmas displays of decorations and things right at the window, so you know I had to go in. Completely distracted from my original mission I spent over an hour browsing through aisles of gifts and goodies. In one little corner was a sad and lonely small shelf with little bits of marked down Halloween stuff. Can Halloween have past already? Sheesh. Where does the time go? While browsing and being squished into an aisle of interesting decor, a woman in front of me pointed to this gigantic green wreath-looking thing made of feathers and, laughing, said something to her husband in what I believe was Italian. She and I looked at each other, obviously both amused by the shimmy-shaking-green-feather-wreath thingie. Only one word came to my mind when I saw it and I said it out loud. "Grinch." The couple began to giggle while the husband began to hum 'You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch' and we all laughed. I left there thankful that some things, especially Christmas things, are just understood by all in any language.

After leaving that store I went to the Walmart next door. I always feel like a deer in the headlights when I go into these big stores. It is like shopping overload. I started looking for what I had gone out for in the first place. I finally based my decision on choosing the item that was made in the USA even though it cost a few dollars more. It made me sad that 9 out of 10 items I saw are not manufactured here anymore. I wandered over to the CD's. I have an addiction to holiday CD's. I can't resist buying them. I even saw one in the Post Office the other day when I was mailing out a commissioned piece. I'm sure I'll add that one to my collection soon too. I don't even know what songs are on it. Somebody stop me. I had 3 in my hand that day, the new ones by Andrea Boccelli, David Archuleta and Josh Groban. I went with Andrea Boccelli's but something tells me I'll be back for the others or will order them online. At the check out, I had the nicest chat with the check out lady. She couldn't wait to buy this CD as well and we talked for a few minutes about how much we love his voice and then about other Christmas CD's. I left there thankful for a pleasant check out lady who seemed to enjoy her day. I'm sure everyone who met her that day was a little better for it.

That evening, I went to see the new 3D movie A Christmas Carol. Check out their website for some fun online games and things. The computer animation is incredible. As soon as I heard that Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman and Colin Firth were in it, I knew I would see it. Go and see it if only to get to wear the 3D glasses. Make sure you turn around in your seat to get a look at everyone wearing theirs. It is something silly that you don't get to see every day. On the way home I realized that the last song, "God Bless Us Everyone," on the Andrea Boccelli CD I had bought earlier in the day is in the end credits of the film. One of my favorite film versions of A Christmas Carol is A Muppet Christmas Carol, but whether you read the original Dickens ghost story or watch one of the many 'Scrooge' films, the timeless message is the same. Guard against Want and Ignorance. Remember those less fortunate than yourself. Be compassionate. Be joyful. Redemption...where there is life, there is hope. Keep Christmas in your heart not just on Christmas Day but all year through. Be thankful.

Today is Veteran's Day here in America. My heart is full of love, thanks and appreciation for all who have served in our military, from colonial days to the present. You make it possible for us to spend our days in freedom, shopping for Grinchy feather wreaths and Christmas CD's. You gave us the freedom to be able to sit in a theater wearing silly glasses or whatever else we choose. We are truly the land of the free because of the brave. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. xo xo -CS ^..^

Night Baking

Last night during the Yankees/Phillies game I was asked (badgered? begged? nagged?) to make a pumpkin pie. So I did. No one even waited for it to cool and then wondered why it was steaming on their plates and the whipped cream was melting. Yes, I know the crust isn't so pretty. But in my defense it was 10:00 pm when it came out of the oven. No potpourri could ever make the house smell as good as the spices baking in the pie. I'm going to have a sliver now. If they saved any for me....

Happy Monday, and Happy November, everyone! xo -CS ^..^