Condiments and Round House Kicks.

You know it has been a low key day when I resort to posting these sort of photos. I am mildly justified because we have had an actual request for a condiment line up photo. Somehow I don't feel it is as exciting as one would have hoped.... but it's what we are currently packing in the fridge.

The fridge itself is always kind of a puzzle-esque masterpiece. It's not too bad right now but sometimes stuff is crammed in there in such a way you have to really put on your thinking cap before you try to pull out the cheese slices because you may cause an avalanche of olives, avocado and oranges if you do it wrong.





Wow. You can hardly contain your excitement right? I mean...this is not something you see every day unless you happen to own a refrigerator yourself which I am quite sure none of you do.

Now for something you'll really like. I have spent the better part of the afternoon contemplating THESE . How did I live this long without knowing about these pants? Apparently I'm not the Norris fan I thought I was. If you did have these jeans you could then get yourself one of THESE to wear with them which would probably get you into situations where kicking people in the face may become necessary for self preservation. Because secretly...we all want to kick someone in the face with style and in complete comfort.

So here are two more new paintings from Young William. He's doin' a fine job.





Tomorrow we are supposed to get a "We're all gonna DIE!" type of storm coming through here. Hail, "damaging winds" and rain. I am not feeling so confident about the concept of hail in relationship with the roof of our cozy little tin can here. So everyone please cross your fingers and your toes that we don't get creamed. We will let ya know how it goes.

Good Eats and New Work

Well our rainy day ended up brightening up and was actually pretty nice. I did have a low moment at the laundry mat (my least favorite thing about this way of living so far is the issue of having to use the laundry mat.) But Billy got a lot of work done today while I was being hassled by weirdos and their dirty undies.

We spent the early evening making dinner. We had lots of fresh stuff like heirloom tomatoes, fresh mint, fennel and poblano pepper so we decided to make falafel. Any fresh veggies go great with falafel. We always make our version of cucumber raita to go with this dinner, the recipe is plain yogurt, chopped up fresh cucumber, minced fresh raw garlic, chopped fresh mint and salt and pepper, it's simple. It is a perfect compliment especially if you are going to pour on any kind of hot sauce which we also always do. Otherwise we just use a box mix for the falafel, something like THIS one. We grilled the poblano pepper as well as a red bell pepper and wrapped the fennel bulb with garlic and mushrooms in some foil and threw that on the grill too. I use arugula for the greens because it's flavor does not get lost in the mix. We found a killer hot sauce made here in SC. This company (Gullah Gourmet) is so cute and we have tried a few of their sauces and all of them so far have been fantastic. The one we used to tonight is the Vidalia Onion Peach Hot Sauce. It seems like almost every single product is vidalia onion based... but once you try them you can see why. They are super yummy and their product labeling is brilliant. Oh, and I always warm up some soft flour tortillas to wrap the stuff up in.

If you have a hankerin' for fresh veggies and a creative night in the kitchen bust out with some falafel. It's one of our fave dinners... but the real challenge is perfecting your form in building your tortilla full of stuff. Inevitably Billy always ends up proclaiming that his wrap is too big to pick up.


Here are Billy's latest two paintings... both are scenes from Hunting Island State Park. I am really loving the way he is infusing the whole piece with color...even the sky has subtle pinks and yellows. He is really putting out some atmospheric work and it is fun to see him painting the actual places we are staying.




Both of these pieces will be up on eBay this week.

Rainy Day Thoughts

After a not so good night's sleep (heavy rain on the roof of an aluminum shell can be pretty loud people) we are having a low key day of reading and just hanging out. Last night we watched a program on PBS's Independent Lens series called "Black Gold" about the coffee producers of Africa. As they state at the beginning of the program, on the world market coffee is second only to oil in trade. OIL. Are you with me on that? Coffee is a really, really big deal. The next thing you need to know is that a lot of people in certain regions of Africa, Ethiopia in particular, are completely reliant on coffee as their countries most prominent source of income. Millions of people are involved in a life or death sort of relationship with coffee... and I don't mean people who think they will die if they can't drink a whole pot of coffee every morning before they start their day. Coffee prices are at a 30 year low and the producers literally make next to nothing off their product they take so much pride in and work so hard to maintain. Why am I telling you this? I dunno...just to get ya thinking about it I guess. A gentle reminder to actually consider where the stuff comes from and there are humans at the other end of our cups of joe we get from Starbucks or wherever. Billy and I try to buy fair trade coffee when we get coffee for home. It is a lot easier to find even at your regular old grocery store anymore than it used to be. But I will admit to (especially this winter) being a junkie for Caramel Macchiatos from Starbucks. I paid around $3.00 apiece for those drinks and the person at the other end of the spectrum is making like 50 cents a day for the work they do to produce the beans. It sure does put an ugly dent in the pleasure factor when you know that. It's something to consider when you buy coffee or for that matter chocolate or any other number of harvested, hand crafted products. If you are interested in learning more about Fair Trade products THIS is a great website to check out.

Ok...I will step off the soap box now. I don't think I will have too much exciting news to post this week. We are sticking close to home and working for the most part. Billy is painting right now indoors (because of the rain.) My best friend Michelle is coming this weekend from Martha's Vineyard to spend a week with us so we are trying to get ahead.

I will leave you with a picture of Grill Master William McLane cooking on our new "little girl." We had been discussing buying a small propane grill for awhile and I had shared this idea with my Mom. A few days ago while on the phone with her she asked me "So what's the story on the little girl?" And I was all...."What little girl? What the Hell are you talking about?" Yah...obviously she had said GRILL not GIRL...so there you have it. We christened the little girl with tofu dogs and corn.

As Easter-y As I Get.

I set out this morning to take photos. Of Easter-y stuff. I was not sure what that meant exactly... but I was ready and willing to try for a theme of sorts. I suppose I could have taken photos of ladies in silly hats and little girls in poofy dresses leaving church or I could have even gone to the grocery store and photographed pink sugar cookies shaped like eggs. But I did not do that. Instead I found myself at The Magnolia Plantation. I paid the entrance fee of 1 million dollars to see the gardens (it costs 2 million if you want to see the house as well.) There are 51 acres of gardens so I guess it is worth the high price you pay. I took my highly confusing map and set off on foot through the maze of walkways. I took a lot of photos and it seems they are mostly of creepy cherub babies and billowy maiden statues. So there you have my Easter photo theme. It's as Easter-y as I was able to get. I kept a sharp eye out for any rabbits who may be passing through but there were none. They were too busy elsewhere today I guess.








Billy stayed home today to paint. He set up out on the old grounds of the plantation (now a campground) where we are staying. There are a bunch of great big old oaks out there and he is working on a piece involving them.

People (I won't say WHO...but you know who you are) have been pestering me for days about our Easter dinner. I did my best to appease your worries. I made bow tie pasta with asparagus and we also had some fancy pantsy bread made with rosemary. And wine. And we had fresh flowers on the table. And a candle was lit too. Easter Dinner.


Now Billy is laying on the bed occasionally wailing out a weak sounding cry of "Brooownies!" So...that will tell you how the night will wind up. I'm making brownies. Right now.

Loquat Bombings in the City

Yes. Loquat (click it for more info on loquats than you ever knew existed.) I was hit in the head by one while dining at 82 Queen today and I still have a large crunchy sticky spot on top of my head to prove it. Our lunch was actually a pretty amusing experience. We were seated out back in a lovely little patio area surrounded by old brick buildings and great old trees, statues, arbours etc. it was very quaint. Until the loquats began to splat and bounce off the table and my head. When I looked up to get a look at where my assailants were descending from I immediately spotted a 5 foot long giant snake directly above my head in the tree. After a 1.7 second spike of pure panic I realized it was fake. The restaurant had placed it there in an effort to keep birds and squirrels at bay... nobody wants poop in their soup. Although sooner or later some poor woman may have a heart attack when she glances up and sees the fat serpent in the tree above her head and does not realize it is plastic. Our food came and wow....WOW. I had fried green tomatoes over grits and Billy had barbecued shrimp and grits. I ate 3/4 of mine and immediately felt like I had consumed a quart of warm mayonnaise. It was good food but entirely too fried, rich and indulgent.


After lunch we wandered around downtown on foot for about three hours poking our noses into galleries and reading the menus posted outside at all the shmaltzy restaurants. Charleston is really a great place to explore on foot... I would recommend avoiding the Market Street area though. It was over the top touristy and kind of gross. My general rule of thumb is when you encounter a Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory head in the opposite direction.



Charleston has a lot of nooks and crannies...little alleyways and gardens you can get a glimpse of down courtyard corridors. You can really feel the age of the place and it is very well maintained in the French Quarter. The parks are beautiful as well...



We capped off the day with a fat slice of Toll House Pie from a place called Kaminsky's Cafe. It was in the heart of the creepy Market Street tourist district but it was dealing out mean looking desserts so we grabbed one to go and took it out to the Waterfront Park to devour it. Then it was HOME PLEASE....I think I am gonna be SICK. Another piece of advice... Tollhouse Pie on top of fried green tomatoes and cheesy grits is just not a great idea. I have a long way to go before I can hang tough with some hard core Southern eatin' I think.

Charleston!

We finally made it to Charleston. We have had so much anticipation of arriving here... for a variety of reasons. My best friend is considering moving here and is coming down for a week long visit while we are here so that is the main reason for the interest.

Our camp site is just about 15 minutes from downtown and is pretty decent. It's not as nice (aesthetically) as the last few places we have stayed but it is really close to town so it works. We drove in yesterday even though we were so tired we felt like we really may die. Charleston is a total mind blow. I guess I did not really know what to expect but A. It is WAY bigger than I expected and B. There is A LOT going on in town. The historical buildings/architecture are just fantastic. I am all about any giant old waterfront mansion that's painted pink from head to toe and is surrounded on all sides by enormous oaks and flowering bushes and trees. I will post pics once we get down there in earnest and see more stuff.

So we are settled here for three weeks. After that we have no idea where we are going. Feel free to make suggestions on places North of here on the coast you have been or know about which are good. This would include North Carolina and/or Virginia.

I wanted to mention one really interesting place we visited down by Hunting Island. It was Penn Center and it was a beautiful little town to see. Click the link (Penn Center) to read a bit about the historic info on the place and see some amazing old photos. It really felt like stepping back in time to be there. The buildings and the area are really being well cared for. Billy really wanted to try the nearby Gullah Grub Restaurant but they were not open any of the times we passed by with empty tummies. So it is something to plan a return visit for.

I'll be back to post new pics as soon as I have some to show off. We need to set to work painting too... and I will post new work as it is finished.

BIG POST. Lotsa stuff.....

So we drove almost 20 miles today just to find internet access. It was worth it. I am sitting here devouring a perfectly tasty hummus wrap and a sweet tea at a coffee house in Beaufort while working online.



Arriving at Hunting Island State Park (SC) we were greeted by the camp hosts… “Welcome to paradise!” I could not imagine this place was going to live up to such a bold statement… but it really kinda does. We are tucked back in a deep woods, surrounded by huge old oaks and palms. The beach is about a 4 minute walk from our front door and is enormous, wild and stretches on for miles.



Once we parked our peanut and started to get set up we were greeted by the *other* camp hosts… a family of deer who visit on a daily basis lookin’ for a snack. You can feed them straight from your hand. I was insisting on a whole foods diet….fruits and veggies and an occasional piece of grainy bread. Then our neighbors landed and I watched in awe as a kid fed a single deer an entire bag of Cheetos. So much for the whole foods diet. Anyway… we have also been feeding the 14 million red cardinals who reside in these woods. There are considerably less bugs here (which is weird) and we have fallen in love with the beach where you can find beautiful shells when the tide goes out. It is hard to even consider working (painting) while here, there is too much other good stuff to be doing.

Billy did head out on Saturday and set up out on a stretch of beach to paint a wind swept old tree. I worked outside back at the trailer and finished a small barn landscape I had started back on Hilton Head. So we have gotten a little bit accomplished while here.

It is extremely windy out here most of the time, which I have tried to demonstrate visually for you here...



We have had some low moments with the meals on wheels.... I told you we would eventually. It has been a 'back to basics' sort of mentality ruling in the kitchen for the past week. You can't get much more basic than pb & j.



We will head out again on Wednesday morning to head up to Charleston, SC. Once we get set up there we should have full internet access the whole time. Until then....

Birdie Goodness

Be sure to click the pic to see it larger... I was thrilled to capture this dude as he cruised over the pond we were walking around today. He's all back lit and glowy. Pretty snazzy.

Today was gooooood stuff. We started the day off with a honkin' big breakfast of Apple Cinnamon French Toast with Bananas. I made it with fresh whole grain bread and put a ton of cinnamon and some almond extract in the egg to give it more flava.


I spent half the day sketching out new ideas for paintings while Billy worked on an actual new painting which I will post here tomorrow. I attempted to paint outside but after ten minutes of being eaten alive I was retreating back indoors faster than you can say pecan pie.

We walked at a nearby park (no idea what it was called) and got a bunch of great photos. There were several really beautiful water birds in the park and I got some nice shots of them. The pic up top was my fave of the birds. I also love this pic of a massive thistle plant...



I have a lot more pics to post but it is late and we are off to lala land. I will set it all up on here tomorrow if we have time. It is packing to move day and we are also washing the trailer (on the outside) which is no small task. It is covered in pollen and has been for three weeks now. It ain't gonna be pretty.

Bloggity Blog Blog Blog

Two, two TWO posts in one day! It was a big day...in a weird, ambiguous sort of way. Nothing really happened, but we did lots of stuff.

The biggest news of the day is this.... MY MAGIC SHOES CAME. People... this is huge. I have been pining away for these shoes for over a year. My dear, dear Mother has gifted me my MBT's at long last. I am oh so very tempted to display 'before and after' photos of my rear end just to prove that these shoes are too legit to quit, but I will spare you the grisly reality of my current booty situation. I am now armed with my pedometer and my magic shoes and I am ready and willing to tackle the miles ahead on foot... leading to a moderately decent looking bottom line at the end of the road. Make sense? Or am I delirious and making no sense at all? It matters not... I know what I am doing. I am a pretend professional.

Other than that we have a few new paintings. I picked up my brushes for the first time in a couple of months and this is the result...



I worked from a photo from some place or another we have been in the past few years. I have a file of "good tree pictures" saved just for this purpose.

Billy has done a few new ones this week.





Both of his are from the Pinckney Refuge next door to where we are camped out. I love the moodiness of that first one.

Tonight we had a dinner worthy of a meals on wheels posting... Mesquite Grilled Tofu Steaks with Louisiana Cajun Hot Veggies and Wild Rice. Billy is on a hot sauce kick and has been buying up new ones to try out. This one was my fave so far. It's pretty hot but has a great flavor.

We are gearing up to hit the road in a few days and our next location has no internet so I may be MIA for about 5 days or so. If we can hunt down a coffee house with WIFI we will be all set...but otherwise we are deep in the woods and fighting for our very lives against the biting gnats of South Carolina.

Sun Baked Noodle Head

It’s not what is on the dinner menu for meals on wheels… Sun Baked Noodle Heads. It’s what I was yesterday. The temperature here reached up close to 90. We went to the beach. It was good. The water is still mighty “crisp” but when it is 88 degrees crisp is just the quality you are looking for in your H20. Being that it was pretty intense sun and we are still sporting our winter white skin we only stayed for about two hours. That and the fact that around 1 o’clock exactly 1 million people showed up and set there beach towels down exactly 4 inches away from ours. That causes me to grind my teeth and hallucinate about pitchforks and fire so we packed up and left.

One thing of note from our time at the beach was the rescue we performed. Billy spotted a wee green tree frog jumping like he was trying out for the froggie Olympics down the length of the beach in front of us. He quickly caught him and after a careful inspection he was A. the cutest frog I had ever seen in my life and B. had no business whatsoever being out on the hot sand AND C. was in great danger of being found and made prisoner by any number of 5 year olds in the vicinity. He could and probably WOULD have suffered the most prolonged and unkind death that day if Billy had not clapped eyes on him. So I gathered him up and walked him waaay back into the swampy marsh area where I placed him in a shady nook. I swear…he gave a “Holy Crap lady! Thanks!” look before I walked away. I mean…just imagine! It would be like if you had lost your way and suddenly found yourself in say, the middle of the Sahara in the midst of a bunch of angry, rabid camels and a huge hand suddenly descended from the sky, picked you up and set you down in Maui at the Hilton, poolside, with a fancy drink being handed over the moment you arrived. Whew! Thanks man! That was a close one!

Not sure what the day will hold for us today. We are gearing up to leave here on Thursday so we need to start packing up and cleaning up. There is laundry to be done, etc. Nothing too glamorous on the menu I am afraid. Trailer living can't be all drama and intrigue you know.