Jan 29

January 28 - excellent persimmon pudding

January Fire Power for the 27th

January 26 - Australia Day!

We spent last year in Australia - we love to celebrate Australia Day with a glass of McClarenvale wine - d'Arenberg The Hermit Crab 2006 made with viogner marsanne grapes -a delicious white wine of Australia! Here we are with our son and our neighbor (she's 92!).



Persimmons! My mother and sister love making Persimmon Pudding.
Today I made my first persimmon pudding and LOVE it - so did everyone at the table - all coming back for seconds!

January 19 - 25, 2008

Jim and I are married 30 years now - Mom and Dad for 60 years!
Mom keeps all the wedding photos on one table. I like weddings and long marriages.


Attacked by the 'futon monster' on Sunday, Xan is happily surfing the net - waves at Long Beach must not be good for ocean surfing....




Saturday Art Studio 544!

Cape Ann artist Molly joins me for a quiet afternoon of watercolor - we enjoyed the nice light as it turned into the "blue hour" - Xan and Jim returned from frostbiting to view our paintings...

.....and enjoy a salad creation - we shared with friends for dinner....

Mom's Book Group on Wednesday.

Mom is the on far left in her favorite color (green). She is with some of her book group friends - Book Group has been going for 30+ years.


I read Saigon Dog Robber by William I. Murphy to my dad while mom meets with her book group. My automatic switch on my Cannon Elf is taking this shot as we laugh about something funny Uncle Bill wrote. This is a book about his year in Vietnam - 1962. What a year! I hope it gets published so you all can read it. Uncle Bill mentions the flower fairy I remember at the end of his book.

When my Uncle Bill arrived home from Vietnam, he drove his new Chevy Corvair through the night to our house - I remember expecting him. He called to say he'd arrive in the morning sometime. My parents, my four brothers, and four sisters were all excited to see our fabulous uncle. As an eleven year old girl, I thought about what I could do to welcome him - I waited with anticipation. Early in the morning, I peeked out the window and saw him in his car in the driveway. I put on my recital ballet costume - full tutu and all - snuck down the stairs - opened the front door slowly, snuck out to the big brick front porch - I needed this audience - he seemed pretty captive -I performed my whole dance routine for him. I even incorparated declining the three brick steps into the show so I could use the entire front lawn for my stage. I bounced on top of the fresh cut lawn. My pink leather slippers just nicking the fringe of grass. My dance became more elaborate when I saw that he was enchanted with me. Music? The early morning bird song was enough to keep me with the beat of my very rehearsed recital performance. After the finale, I gracefully took my bow, then flew over like a flower fairy and gave my Uncle Billy a big hug through the car window - we both had teary eyes - after reading his book I know why he teared up - but for me, my tears were for his tears. I was in the moment - HAPPY - in a dream.... this wonderful morning - then laughing we rushed in the house hand in hand and woke everyone else up - Uncle Bill always caused a ruckus. All the Donovan kids (just 9 of us then) loved commotion and uproar!

Writing a cookbook: I am writing a cookbook to celebrate my parents' 60th Wedding Anniversary - compiling recipes from my mom's extensive collection, my collection, my daughter's, and all my siblings' families. I wrote one for their 50th - so I know it is possible and worth all the time, energy, and effort.

January 25 - "rainbows of my own" -
I am happy to see that our cut glass window is splashing rainbows all over my morning!

Jan 24 - Christmas cactus - my mother gave us back some spigs from her plant which is from spigs from our very old ( and now gone ) plant which we had started from a plant that she had (now gone)....all really part of the same plant....generations continue...

I love Christmas cactus blossoms!

Jan 16th , 17th, 18th 2008 - a little mixed up - but all there!

Jan 17 - Jim with my parents - on Thursdays my mom sings in her church choir - so Jim, dad, and I usually go out to dinner and spend some time reading by the fire.January 18, 2008 - What is the What by Dave Eggers - what an amazing book! My book group is reading it this month and I am captivated by the story, the writing, and the author.
January 18th - favorite books from Gloucester - we sent them to Australia along with Hillary.

January 17 - snow sunset
January 17th - "Mill River marshmallows"

Jan 16th - We share what we know with those professionals who are interested in being certified in Auditory-Verbal Therapy. We follow the guidelines set forth by the Academy for Listening and Spoken Language - http://www.agbell.org/ - certification in Auditory-Verbal Therapy - we guide parents in how to teach their children who are diagnosed as deaf or hard of hearing - we teach them how to learn to listen and speak - yes, children who are deaf can talk with natural spoken language!

We were lucky to have Hillary for a few days - we shared all we could from our office and sent her back to Australia with a big HEAVY black bag full of therapy ideas and techniques and STUFF!
Bye Hillary!

Jan 17th, I visited the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, MA - they allow educators to tour the museum for FREE - I loved the exhibit on Origami - and I love DRAGONS - because I am a 'dragon' - born in the year of the dragon!

and rainbows always inspire me - especially this one - my "rainbow bridge" - of color!

Jan 15, 2008

Hillary, our AV Intern/friend from Bethesda, MD - now working at the Cora Barclay Centre in North Adelaide, South Australia came to visit us - we had a snow storm! Time for mentoring. Time for sledding!

January 14 2008 The big SNOW storm

January 13 2008 Surfing before the storm