First CSA farm package

Today was the first pick up of my garden share from local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) organic Borski Farms. Today's basket included a large head of romaine lettuce, sweet English peas, a head of garlic (all picked this morning), a basil start in a pot and a pound of dried pinto beans. For lunch I had the world's largest salad with the romaine and shucked peas plus a few ingredients I already had at home (fresh spinach from the neighbor's garden, sliced almonds and a boiled egg) mixed with a light dressing. The dried pinto beans are soaking in water and I'm perusing recipes for using them tomorrow. I'm excited about this lovely relationship with delicious fresh local organic produce and the opportunity to try new recipes with items to come. Bring it on, Farmer John (Borski), not to be confused with Farmer John!!! ;o)

My builder's back!

Just a little peek as the sun is going down on the second day's work installing the wood siding to the backroom addition re-do project. Items remaining on the exterior include trim work around windows, doors, corner and freize boards, installation of outside electrical outlet and cover, installation of the outside wall light, new steps and railing at the back door, and a custom awning over the south-facing windows shown in the photo above. The awning on the south side will help keep out the hot high-angled sun rays in the summer and let in the low-angled sun rays in the winter. After the items on the exterior list are complete, we return to the inside to connect the wiring pulled through last fall, install the wallboard, trim, paint, and install the wood flooring, and chandelier. Ahhhhhh, it feels good to see progress again.

Let the view in

Last night around the dinner table, three of us were talking about our windows being dirty. Well, at my house, I'm the designated window washer, and everything else, for that matter! I was trying to recall what type of solution I used to clean my windows the last time, and couldn't. So I looked on the Internet for some ideas. I'm sharing the tips I found on TipNut below. I'm pretty sure my mom and grandmother used recipe # 5. I had a big ah ha! for the third cleaning tip on the bottom---great idea. I'll be grabbing my bucket, squeegee, newspapers and ladder. I washed the car last week and really can't believe what all I can see coming at me now!!!

Homemade Window Cleaner Recipes & Tips
Recipe #1
2 cups rubbing alcohol (70 percent isopropyl)
1/2 cup ammonia
1 tsp dish detergent (liquid)
top with water until you have 1 gallon of window cleaner
Recipe #2
2 cups water
3 TBS vinegar
1/2 tsp dish detergent (liquid)
Recipe #3
1 gallon water
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tsp dish detergent (liquid)
Recipe #4
1 gallon water
1/4 cup vinegar
2 TBS lemon juice
squirt dish detergent (liquid)
Recipe #5
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 gallon warm water
Recipe #6
2 TBSP cornstarch
1/2 cup household ammonia
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 gallon warm water
• Mix the ingredients in a bucket, make sure cornstarch is thoroughly dissolved before using.
Recipe #7
From Homekeeping – A Natural Shine To Cleaning (Recipes):
Windows & Mirrors: Store these solutions in spray bottles.
• One part vinegar added to four parts water
• One cup cold strong black tea with 3 TBS of vinegar

Window Cleaning Tips
• Spray windows with preferred cleaner solution then wipe clean with crumpled newspapers. The newspaper helps prevent streaks.
• Avoid cleaning windows and glass when the sun is hot and shining on the window–glass will dry too fast and there will be streaks.
• Also wash one side of the window in an up and down direction, on the other side scrub side to side. This will help determine which side of the glass has the streaks that need to be polished out.

Friday SLC Gallery Stroll...

Above: Lisa Shopes Oliver - watermedia painting

Stop by and say hello to us at Charley Hafen Jewelers - Gallery this Friday between 6-9PM for the reception for Lisa Shopes Oliver who is exhibiting her paintings and exquisite shadow box collage pieces this month.

June Gallery Stroll - June 18th, 6-9 pm.
For a printable (PDF) version of this list, click here.
15th Street Gallery – 1519 S 1500 E; 801-468-1515Opening reception for the colorful, contemporary still lifes of Aaron Lifferth. Gallery guests may also view paintings by Lindsay Frei, Aaron Bushnell, Steven Larson and Eric Thompson.
A Gallery – 1321 S 2100 E; 801-583-2100Please join us for a Summer Solstice Event, featuring new works by our artists.
Alpine Art – 430 E South Temple; 801-355-1155Best in Show, a collection of paintings of our favorite furry, feathery and scaly friends. Featuring artists Leia Bell, Kate Birch, Cristall Harper, Lenka Konopasek, Tessa Mecham, Chris Miles, Lyndsie Orgill-Peppinger, Suzanne Tornquist and Sue Valentine. A portion of the proceeds benefits No More Homeless Pets in Utah.
Anthony's Fine Art and Antiques – 401 E 200 S; 801-328-2231Featuring the Story of the Flag, a rare and important painting from the Ulysses S. Grant Family depicting Grant's father, Jesse, telling the story of the U. S. flag to Grant's sons, Ulysses and Jesse.
Art Access – 230 S 500 W; 801-328-0703 Art Access is pleased to host abstract landscape artists Jeff Juhlin and Jodi Steen. Access II is hosting Denise Crane and her exhibit, Living Within My Head, an exploration of depression through painted images.
Art at the Main – Ground floor of the Main City Library, 210 E 400 S; 801-363-4088 We challenged our artists to set up a still life using an Arabian coffee pot, three red books, a pot of flowers and a pair of glasses, and represent them in any medium, any style. The results will be revealed at the June Gallery Stroll.
Artistic Framing and Sugarhouse Gallery – 2160 Highland; 801-486-4893Now showing color photographs by Greg Sumner taken in Central Mexico, in the states of Guadalajara, Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi.
Broadway Market – 242 E 300 S; 801-363-3939Food Art, focusing on the aesthetic nature of food in all its aspects.
Caffe Niche – 779 E 300 S; 801-433-3380 Caffe Niche is proud to present Ellen McConnell’s, New York, mixed media on canvas and Brody Ism’s, Ism’s, spray and acrylic paint on canvas.
Charley Hafen Jewelers – 1409 S 900 E; 801-521-7711Featuring Lisa Shopes Oliver’s exhibit, Imaginal Alchemy, free-flowing mixed media paintings of ethereal abstract compositions and colorful interplay.
Every Blooming Thing – 444 S 700 E; 801-521-4773Featuring new work from artists Aaron Stills, Christina Pellegrina, Steve Lawrence Peterson, Carol Evans and more.
Finch Lane and Park Galleries / Art Barn – 1340 E 100 S (in Reservoir Park); 801-596-5000Featuring Al Denyer’s drawings, Aurora Hughes Villa’s clay and mixed media and Sunny Belliston Taylor’s paintings and mixed media.
Frame Shop at 6th and "L" – 752 E 6th Avenue; 801-359-4604Exhibiting the exceptional work of Daniel Ramjoue, the award winning realist who adds energy and motion to still life. Meet the artist on Gallery Stroll night.
Hope Gallery and Museum of Fine Art – 151 S Main; 801-532-1336Featuring a distinct collection of European masters from the 16th to 21st centuries, including the largest collection of original Danish works (outside the national museums in Denmark) by notable artists such as Bloch, Kroyer, Henningsen, Wegmann and Molsted.
HORNE Fine Art – 142 E 800 S; 801-533-4200As seen on the cover of Catalyst: Take a vacation right in town with Summer in the City. Enjoy Karen Horne's celebration of downtown life at cafes, plazas and parks. Also, swimmers by Jamie Wayman and new garden scenes by Phyllis Horne.
the Hotel – 801-660-5857Presents Gallery Stroll after party beginning at 9pm. Evenings Live, upstairs in the ballroom + mercury lounge, is a one-of-a kind experience integrating live art, live music and new collections from featured artists every month in a high energy nightclub environment.
Local Colors of Utah – 535 S 700 E; 801-363-3922Anticipation, our summer group show features all of our artists in a variety of mediums.
Mestizo Gallery – 631 W North Temple #700; 801-596-0500No More Heroes depicts the work of emerging local artists commenting on contemporary social discourses and activism; sentiment that resonates the unwillingness to settle for representative democracy and patriotic heroes by taking “charge” into their own hands.
Michael Berry Gallery and Custom Framing – 163 E 300 S; 801-521-0243 Sculpture by Tim Little and paintings by Rick Blackerby.
Phillips Gallery – 444 E 200 S; 801-364-8284 New landscape oil paintings by Tom Howard.
Rio Gallery – 300 S Rio Grande; 801-533-3582DesignArts Utah ’10, juried by Budd Steinhilber, features fifteen diverse design projects by some of Utah’s best designers.
Salt Lake Art Center – 20 S West Temple; 801-328-4201 Contemporary Masters, fully playable miniature golf course designed by Utah and national artists and Not Just Another Pretty Face, commissioned works by Utah artists.
SLC Ink – 1150 S Main; 801-596-2061Featuring Existentialist Embodiments. Artist, Joshua L. Johnston’s works evoke strong emotion and speak in tongues that viewers have yet to behold. It encompasses the same amazement and mystique that music can convey without any words.
Tin Angel Cafe – 365 W 400 S; 801-328-4155Presenting a dual show of musicians. Wes Greaves from Utah's Tough Tittie will display his digital art series, Moonshine vs. Milk and Neil Keener of national band Git Some with his acrylic paintings, Icon Sandwich. Live music by Derek Wright. Call for reservations.
UTah Artist Hands – 61 W 100 S; 801-355-0206Many Hands, a summer group show featuring the works of the gallery represented artists. Showing June 18th through August 31st. Each month different artists will be on hand for demonstrations.
Williams Fine Art – 200 E South Temple Ste 100; 534-0331Hosting the opening of the Wasatch Society of Artists Show. Artists include Russell Case, Bonnie Posselli, John Berry, Rob Colvin, Gary E. Smith, Richard Hull, Steve Kropp and Ron Russon who will feature over 30 new works.

Have fun!

Drapery "remodel"...

I love my dogs, but… I know....I’ve said that before.

Look at the photo above. Notice that the drapes on the window to the left are tucked up on the window sill. Whereas the drapes on the right side window hang down and actually “puddle” slightly on the floor. You can’t see the puddle because the bed is in the way, but they puddle. I wanted bulky puddling drapes in my bedroom. I like them to be billowy, wrinkly, blousing and with a minimal amount of hardware involved. Above photo: Angel in the Cathedral of St. Paul in London.

I like the drapery worn by many of the angels depicted in Italian art. Not like attire of the prim and proper angels like you see inside the cathedral of St. Paul in London---see photo above.

Photo above: The Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (in Rome).

I prefer the tumbling, rumpled, unstructured drapery barely hanging onto the angels like the one that is happily thrusting a spear through the heart of St. Teresa in Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s sculpture of The Ecstasy of St. Teresa. St. Teresa, herself, has some good billowing drapery occurring with her robes, too.

The drapes shown in the photo above, of my garden breakfast room, terminate into St. Teresa-robe-like billowing puddles.

So the problem with the puddling drapes in the bedroom is that my dogs sometimes pull their beds on top of the puddles and lie down on them. The drapes get dirty and in the worst case, the drapes are being stretched by the dog's weight to the point of bending the curtain rod! So I decided to shorten my drapes.

I'm not crazy about short drapes nor am I fond of the effect of typical hemming techniques. My solution was to fold the drape bottoms up to the height of the window sill. I did not cut off the extra fabric. I still wanted a somewhat billowy effect, so I kept the extra 21 inches of length and instead of hemming the drapes in a conventional manner, I folded the width of the drapes in fourths and hand stitched a spot at each of these points---using a tacking stitch.

Above: Buttons covered in polished cotton with printed script pattern.

I liked the idea of turning up the bottom of the drapes and “buttoning” the folded up bottom to the rest of the drapes. I wanted to attach covered buttons in a different fabric. I made the button covers from a favorite chintz/polished cotton fabric that consists of a parchment-colored background printed with a graceful black French script. The piece of the script covering each button creates a fun random little squiggle. I haven't made button holes since high school home economics and wasn't feeling confident about my current ability to make them. I also had concern about laundering my drapes with the covered buttons attached. Though the covered button package indicates that the aluminum buttons are safe being laundered and dry cleaned, I didn’t know how my chosen fabric covering would hold up during these processes.

So I came up with a removable solution. I found wonderful little safety pins which are called button pins (for delicate/non-washable buttons). See photos above and diagram below.

I used the button pins to attach the covered buttons over the tacked hem spots. So it appears the drapes are turned up and buttoned.
I doubt Italian angels wear buttons, but I like the punctuation the buttons give to the blousing turned up drapes. (OK, maybe they are beginning to resemble the angel's robe in St. Paul's - London.) And I like the subtle contrast of the smooth parchment-colored chintz fabric with black squiggles against the raw canvas cream-colored drapes.

Sweet dreams, Harri-Berri, without a worry of collapsing curtain rods...

"Untangling Thoughts"

Above: Untangling Thoughts, acrylic paint, pen and ink on canvas, 2009 - Toni Youngblood

Michele at Paisley Pomegranate delivered the happy news to me today that she sold my painting shown above. Thanks, Michele!

Paisley Pomegranate has two locations:

Salt Lake City
(801) 487-4863
1155 Wilmington Ave Ste B
Salt Lake City, UT 84106 See map

Park City
(435) 575-0300
1743 Redstone Center Dr # 105
Park City, UT 84098-7930 map

Not a walk around the park...

Go to CBS news online report

Above: Aerial view of our wildlife pond in Liberty Park with oil encroaching from the upper left of the photograph. Photo: AP/ Matt Gillis, Deseret News

Above: Hazmat crews attempting water cleanup of t he pond.

Photo: Lean Hogsten SLC Tribune

Above: Aerial view of natural water flow carrying spilled oil downhill towards the Great Salt Lake.

Photo: Leah Hogsten SLC Tribune

Sunday mornings we typically walk the few blocks from our house to Liberty Park and make the two-mile circle around the park. The park is an oasis of trees and the pond is refuge to hundreds of waterfowl. The park houses one of two stand-alone aviaries in the U.S.. Today is a different Sunday. Early yesterday morning a pipeline broke and spewed nearly 500 barrels of oil into the city's creeks and ponds and waterways. The underground pipeline flows to Salt Lake City from Colorado and feeds the city's oil and gas refineries. Our Liberty Park is closed. There will be no walk around the park for us today. Some 150 water birds who were unfortunate enough to be where they normally spend their time, in the pond, were taken to the local Hogle Zoo for "clean up". Crews have worked around the clock to try and clean the pond. They are attempting to clean the naturally flowing waterways which lead through the Jordan River and then to the Great Salt Lake. It is a huge task. As we walked by our beloved park yesterday afternoon, which is closed and inhabited only by the massive equipment and human hazmat crews---the pond and surrounds were eerily vacant of ducks, geese, ducklings, goslings and any normally visible wildlife. It brought to my mind the couple of days around the country following "9/11" when all airspace was off limits to traffic and there was a creepy silence. A flash of thoughts went through my mind of Rachael Carson's Silent Spring. How many times do we need to magnify this "little spill" to equal that of the one we are currently attempting to clean up in the gulf? Can't happen in "your" backyard? The earth is everybody's backyard. (IMO, Earth is the innocent victim of human terrorism.)

The following photos are by Jim Urquhart The Salt Lake Tribune

A priceless source of wonder and beauty is the variety, richness and vitality of life on this planet. Do we have a prayer (I hope) of continuing its existence long enough to find clean, safe, non-toxic, less expensive (and I'm not just talking about $) sources of energy for "fueling" our lives? Hoping for better days and ways.

Have a wonderful weekend...

The following photo and caption were sent in by reader Vince.

Life is hard. You try to do your best in raising your dog; balanced diet, puppy school, advanced trick training and for what? To come home after a hard day to find this!

(NOTE: This is a dramatization. No animals were intoxicated, harmed or abusted in the making of this photograph. ~Sparky) Vince, what kind of beer is that?

A Roman Apartment

When I was living and studying architecture in Rome, I was struck by the methods of design and construction by which Italians adapted and reused ancient buildings for modern purposes without necessarily sacrificing the old-world charm. I ran across this little apartment in my old Trastevere neighborhood of Rome at accomodationsrome.com, and wanted to share a few of the interior photos that illustrate accommodating a lovely little new apartment into a very old space. The chestnut ceiling joists have been painted white but left visible and the graceful stone structural arch not only holds things up but allows open flow and a beauty in itself. I have to add a photo of the neighborhood church, Santa Maria in Trastevere---I loved walking past it every day to and from school. It is said to be one of the oldest churches in Rome, perhaps the first in which mass was openly celebrated. It's a beautiful basilica church with an inviting piazza and fountain across from which are a couple of really good restaurants and shops. There are a lot worse daily commutes than walking past this!!!

Above: The basilica church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, utilized ancient Roman columns from pre-Christian buildings, has Byzantine mosaics, and so much more!!!

And the apartment below...

Ciao amici!