A book .... a dream on hold....

Once upon a time, in a far-off patch of woods, near the small village of Oakton, there lived a very kind goat. Every autumn he won first place at the Red Oak Festival with his honey-and-acorn pies.Before each Festival, he would make his important journey to visit the friendly honeybees on the other side of the village to gather honey and acorns for his pies. Long ago, the honeybees had promised Mr. Goat that he could keep all of their extra honey, but only if every year he would plant some clover for them. So, Mr. Goat kept his word and every spring he planted clover. For this, the bees were very grateful.

One morning, as he was on his way to the creek with two empty gourds on his shoulders, he bumped into Mrs. Squirrel and her little mouse helpers." Good morning, Mr. Goat," she said, "I know you usually come to pick up the acorns at my burrow, but I have a tea party to attend, so I decided to bring them to you, with the aid of my little friends.""That was most thoughtful of you, Mrs. Squirrel. I shall therefore not detain you any longer." Mr. Goat then went on his way.

As he continued through the woods, Mr. Goat encountered Mrs. Opossum and her two children, out taking a little walk. She was busy holding her baby in her arms while her other child followed behind her, skipping a rope ."How glad I am to see you, Mr. Goat," exclaimed Mrs. Opossum. "I will be bringing some newly threshed wheat for your pies to your home tomorrow.""Oh, thank you Mrs. Opossum; but please, there's no need to rush, the Festival is still a whole week away," he answered considerately."Well, nevertheless, I will try to come by tomorrow."Then Mrs. Opossum waved and off she went down the forest lane.

Mr. Goat had just reached the bank of the creek when he heard two familiar voices croaking a duet in the water. He turned around to see his friends, the tree frogs, practicing their song for the upcoming Festival."My, what a lovely melody," Mr. Goat remarked. "Are you the only tree frogs participating this year, or will your entire clan perform? You did such a nice job last year!" The oldest of the frogs blushed slightly."It will be just my sister and I, this time." Smiling, Mr. Goat answered, "Well, keep up the good work," then turned and crossed the creek.

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Here are few pages of my book......

For almost five years now I have been working in and out on illustrating my first book using wool as my main palette colors. You have no idea how many forms of illustrations I have done for my story and how I change for one to another.... I have about 4 different mediums done by far and some I had other artist helping me but at the end I decided to do the entire book using the wool ( needle felted flat ) to depict my story.

Almost 2 years ago , I start working with mold making and thinking about making porcelain dolls. I had to divide my time and thoughts plus the marionette theatre was at full speed.

Crazy, Crazy but fun , fun. life is good ,no? *grin*

Well, I finished the book and got all my prices to have it printed in large quantity. I started then visiting local schools and see how they would respond if I would come to do author visitation and to my delighted surprise , most of schools were eager to have me and also the theatre.

One thing that I learned was that I would had to devote a LOT of time going here and there , school to school and all of the sudden it hit me. I realized that I am not ready to be way from my home, farm and children ( oh yes, my husband too,grin) in order to present/sell the book. I do want to do this ,but not *now*.

I am engaged -big time- with patitadolls and that it self plus the Marionette Theatre
is all I can handle right now . The book will have to wait few more years... meanwhile , I will continue read to my children .

Sunflowers heavens......

Few years ago , I told my husband how much I love sunflowers and when it comes to flower planting I like to make a *splash*!!!!!!!!*grin*

We have tree pastures in our farm , a total of 20 acres. Mark reduced one of the pastures , only by tree acres where he and I have planted 11 pear trees, 11 apples trees. We are planning to add this coming fall , 11 cherries trees, and 11 peaches and that will complete our small orchard .

Well, mean while , he planted all this sunflowers... isn't it wonderful?

I was out of town for almost a week . I got home feeling very sick. I have been sick for while and instead of getting better , I got worse. The hotel I was staying must had some kind of mold because I had such a hard time breathing.

I got home and start to feel better..... oh , how I missed my family and my farm!*grin*

Gabriela, my daughter , made an amazing supper tonight ... roasted herb chicken, homemade mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, fruit salad.... yum!

After that, Mark called me to go for a walk.... little did I know about the sunflowers..... smiles.... I have learned to take my camera every time I go for walks close to evening time because I never know if Silvano, the fox, will surprise me!*grin*

I much enjoyed our walk and I can tell you that I am breathing much better now.....

Isn't it pretty?

Oh.... this was my last surprise.... blindie , our blind cow, gave birth while I was gone...... doesn't her baby looks just like her?

Theaching and living the blessing from God

I have always wanted to be an illustrator. I have done countless paintings that tells a story.
My favorite book of the Bible from the Old Testament is Genesis. No matter how many times I read it is always new to me. I love to read about creation because humbles my heart and I gives me a great desire to honor my Creator. I am amazed by the fact that God used His word to create all things but when it came to mankind - he used His hands, His Holy Hands! What a thought to contemplate !*grin*
I don't think I ever shared this paintings before.... I did about 5 years ago and I never finished .... the image of Adam and Eve never came to me....



And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.


Like I said, it is unfinished however I do plan to finish it some day.

You may think this is funny and probably it is ... I am here sharing the Creation of God and now I am sharing my *little* creation... my home ... my children...His blessings!*grin*

I believe in eating very healthy. I grow up that way. Part from been poor and living in a Brazilian farm land but also because my momma , was very naturalist herself.She still is.

We grown some of our own vegetables, (whenever I don't get mixed up, * see prior posts*grin) and we can it. The most important vegetables to me are tomatoes and green beans and of course , we make jam from the fruits.

It is so wonderful to have fresh ingredients... do you know that eggs from raised chickens have 1/3 less cholesterol? Do you know the wonderful properties on Honey? It is important to know that commercial honey are many times heated in order to bottle it. I highly recommend , when ever is possible to buy directly from a source that you know does not heat the honey.

Here is Ben, He is 7 now but I love to look older pictures... all I can keep with me is memories and how much I love to make them.....

These pictures are few years old... but I found it when I was looking for some sd card that I misplaced and thought to share it with you....grin

It is very important to me to take the time to teach my children to cook. Not all, but most of my children knows how to cook and my 4 daughters are excellent cookers. I will add that Gabriella is our chef , only because is true and we all know it. grin.

We cook from scratch ... I never use can, mixes and other commercial stuff because I learned to read the labels. My son Kevin was very sick when he was young, he is now 15 but I kept a lot of what I learn at that time. He had has the skin test done and came back that he was allergic to : milk, tomatoes, all dyes, corn, eggs ,coffee..... did I say coffee???? ( poor think!!!!) *grin*

I learned to make a delicious cake without any eggs, milk, and still be good.

kevin is no longer seriously allergic to these things but I am careful about it.

May the Lord Jesus Christ keep you and bless you today and forever more. Amen!

Happy 4th of July!

Tonight , we had a blast! The children , Mark and I had a wonderful time ! How much fun it is to watch our fire works and watch the children play.... I think seeing my children happy is one of the best feeling ever!*grin*

Next year we will do the fire works by the pond.... I am still recovering from a sinus infection so Mark wanted me to sit next to the house....

The children loves to light the sparks and watch the big fire works....*grin*

so pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed your 4th of July and everyone was safe!