HENRY, LUTHER, THE TUDORS, EASTER AND FAMILY FUN

If you've been following my blog, you know that I've been studying Henry VIII and the history of the Reformation and the Church of England.



I'm suddenly fascinated with this time in history and can't seem to get enough information about it in this old brain of mine. While I was "Googling" I ran across these images of Martin Luther's hymnal and Bible. I thought these were very interesting artifacts.




My Great Aunt was married to Frank Wassall who was the brother of Dr. Sam Wassall who was responsible for the vaccine to cure Malaria, and I have the Wassall family Book of Common Prayer which I really treasure. Guess that's why I'm so interested in old books.

I've also been watching The Tudors on Showtime and that has really peaked my interest in English history. As a gift to myself, I have purchased seasons 1 & 2 of this series. It's really fascinating.

Since I'm such a visual person, I find it much easier to retain facts if I can see them as well as read about them. Season 3 has just started and is on Showtime on Sunday nights. I highly recommend watching it. I never realized how truly mean Henry turned out to be. One thing's certain ... you don't ever want to be sent to the Tower for a "visit". The chances of your returning are pretty slim!



My dear friend and prayer partner, Diane, had a birthday last week and I painted this little butterfly for her. I feel as though our friendship is like a metamorphosis .. always changing and growing, so the butterfly painting seemed appropriate for this occasion. She appeared to really like it.



We had the pleasure and privilege of seeing the Monarch Butterflies when we were in Pacific Grove in California. They are so beautiful and fascinating to watch.
I took a break from study and The Tudors to get ready for Easter on Saturday. Last week was Holy week and we were extremely busy with church activities. There is a slide show following this entry if you'd like to take a look. Most of the photographs in this show are taken from Father Matkin's blog. He's so good about keeping all of the parishioners up to date with photos of things going on around the church. My thanks to him for his many talents.

We attended daily mass last week so on Saturday I decided that I'd better get my act together and get ready for the family gathering here on Sunday.
The first thing I did was to set the tables.





I've always loved these little dancing rabbits so they make their appearance each Easter.

Once the tables were set, Frank and I went grocery shopping. He's always such a dear to help me out on all occasions but especially on holidays. Easter is so very special to us for many reasons. We MET on an Easter Sunday 53 years ago, so it's a very important day in our lives as a couple and a family.


We've changed a little since then, but our love for each other had not changed. it's only grown.
While we were shopping we found these wonderful strawberries, so I decided to give the boys a special treat. They aren't always as interested in the desserts that the adults have, so I had a special plan for them. These particular strawberries were almost as large as a small egg. They are amazing!



As soon as we returned home, I started to prepare the big people's dessert. For some reason, Easter brings Pineapple Upside Down Cake to my mind.

Here is the pattern that I made in the bottom of this huge cake pan. The fruit and nuts are sitting on a caramelized glaze on the bottom of the pan. Of course when we turn this cake out, this will be the top .... and here it is .... Voila!

Sunday morning after church I hurried home to put the ham in the oven, slice the tomatoes and green onions. I had already cooked the navy beans on Saturday, so with the exception of cooking the ham and the cornbread, the meal is almost ready.

Ian arrived wearing his new Fedora. When I told him that he reminded me of Justin Timberlake, he didn't take that as a compliment even though I meant it as one!

Connor helped devil some eggs for snacks when they first arrived. He's lots of help in the kitchen. We were waiting for Ethan to arrive so we could all get started. It was great that the entire family was present!



And here comes Peter Cottontail! Actually, this is a painting that I did a little while back that is painted in the style of Albrect Duerer.




The day started out to be very dreary with lots of rain but about 1:00 it started to clear up and turned out to be a beautiful day after all. My ham turned out well also ;-) I might add that it was delicious.


After the meal was finished, I brought out the boy's surprise. They loved the warm, melted chocolate that they could dip these wonderful strawberries in.

That's an egg sitting on the table, so that will give you an idea of the size of the berries!

Dayna was checking out the family pictures that grace our refrigerator. Those of you who have been to the house know all about our "fun wall" in the bar. We have photographs everywhere! It's a visual history of our lives.

The boys decided that they needed to go for a swim and we had heated the Jacuzzi in anticipation of this decision. They put on their swimsuits and we put on our jackets and out we went.

Harry even got in on the act. He always wants to be in the middle of everything and he always is!

The boys debated for a long time and then finally decided that they might try the pool which is NOT heated.

Connor checked with his folks to see if it would be all right.

I only wish that I would have always said yes to my own children when they wanted to swim and it was still too cold. They would not have stayed in the water very long and would not have asked to go in again for a very long time! Guess we get wiser with age!

Franklin was checking his IPhone to see what the temperature was (and also to check on the golf scores at the Masters). We need to get a TV for the deck. It would make life much simpler.

Ethan, out Great grandson is getting so big. He's 14 now and it seems like only yesterday that I was babysitting him as a cute little boy. Now he's a handsome young man. The young ladies had better watch out!!!

The weather warmed up to nearly 70 degrees so the jackets came off and everyone enjoyed basking in the Easter sunshine.

Since tomorrow is a school day, the troops left about 6:00 p.m. My baby boys are growing up They're all such cutie pies! After all, if you have a skateboard, wear a fedora and bring your own champagne, how can you miss?

Have a great week. I'll write again when I have something to say!

XOXO, Pcasso

HOLY WEEK AT ST. ALBAN'S

THE CHARLESTON AND A MODEL A

Since we did so well with our tango, which is 3 short posts down, that we decided to change the mood and take you back to the Roaring Twenties. The post below this one is self explanatory. Here's our vehicle that we arrived at the competition in :-) Enjoy!!!

XOXO, Pcasso

ONE MORE TIME

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

ABOUT OUR AUDITION

We decided to stop being armchair dancers and try out for Dancing With the Stars. Check out the following post. Do you think we can make it? (You may have to click on the square to get it to load) Let me know what you think.
XOXO, Pcasso

OUR AUDITION

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

PAINTINGS, PARTIES, DWTS, AI AND THE TANGO!

The beginning of the week brought some really freaky weather to our area. As we were driving over to Fort Worth to deliver a painting, the skies contained the most threatening looking clouds that I've ever seen.

By God's grace we didn't have any really severe weather to accompany this dark, voluminous sky aside from a torrential downpour. When the skies in Texas look like this in the springtime, you're always prepared for tornado watches and warnings. I always feel that I need to sleep fully clothed during April and May in case I have to either hide in the bathroom or make a run for it. I'd hate to be caught in my tacky old nightgown for all the world to see. Tornadoes are the price you pay when you live in Texas, but the rest of the year makes it worth it!

On Saturday I went to a shower for a friend's daughter's wedding. The invitation was so darling that I thought I'd include a photo of it.

The girl on the invitation is almost as cute as the bride to be.

I was blessed to have sold 2 more of my paintings last week. One was a watercolor and when we delivered it, Frank said once again that my watercolors were among his favorites. With that in mind, I brought out the watercolors once again and started to paint.

The Irises in our front yard are blooming right now, so that seemed an appropriate subject for this little painting.

Of course, everyone always has orange juice on hand. Some of our friends with whom we go to church on Sunday morning will be coming over this weekend for a brunch, so we will need OJ for our Mimosas.

I then decided to paint something really funky, so this piece which I call "Travelin' Time" seemed to fit the bill. It makes a great greeting card.

There is a quotation from Oscar Wilde on it that reads, "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something SENSATIONAL to read on the train!" In my case that should read, "I never travel without my blog" ;-)

And speaking of blogs, I always play a CD while I'm writing ... seems to help my thought process. To get in the mood this morning, I'm playing a new Diana Krall CD entitled Quiet Nights. It's great!

It has wonderful, soft Latin American music on it and is perfect to set the mood for my ramblings. This style of music is one of my favorites ... however, I like ALL kinds of music. That's one reason that Frank and I are such big fans of American Idol.

And speaking of American Idol, my favorite this year is a young man whose name is Adam Lambert. (My folks lived on Lambert Avenue and Adam was the first and #1 man, so that may explain it!) He's a rocker and so are my son and grandson, so that may be my interest in his kind of music. We've been groupies for the past 40 years and have loved every minute of it.

Adam's also pretty easy on the eyes! Last week he changed his look completely as well as his style and sang a soft, romantic song. It was as good as the other things he does. He even looks a little like Elvis Pressley. I'm not a big fan of Elvis but we did have the opportunity to meet him in Las Vegas once.

Jimmy Dean is a friend of ours and he took us to Elvis' penthouse at the Landmark Hotel to meet him back in the 70's. I must admit that it was pretty exciting and he (Elvis) was very hospitable and a gracious host. Wish I'd had my camera with me at the time! Here is one photograph of me and Jimmy way back when.

This one is a shot I did manage to have taken by the Hotel photographer at the Desert Inn where Jimmy usually starred. The other young man in the photograph is Terry Blackwood who is one of the Blackwood Brothers. His group were backup singers for Elvis. They were all Gospel singers together before Elvis hit it "big" and he always treated his friends well. Terry used to come and stay with us when he was in the Metroplex area. Nice young man. As I understand it, he still has his group and they're still singing Gospel after all these years. Thank goodness the styles have changed. Don't you just love Jimmy's pants! I'm thankful that double-knit polyester is out.

Here is another shot of Adam with his Elvis look.

Here is a link to his performance this week. The song he is singing is "Play That Funky Music" and it's the ring tone that I have on my cell phone. I always know when it's my phone that is ringing! Check it out. He's HOT!

Adam Lambert: Play That Funky Music - Performances - American Idol

And speaking of hot, I also love Dancing With The Stars and my favorite dancer on it is Gilles Marini. He's gorgeous. Frank says that I have always liked the dark, greasy type and he may be right. I didn't marry one, but he is Hispanic, so that should count for something ;-)

This week he danced to the Argentinian Tango and scored the first perfect score of the season. That, to me, is the most romantic and sexy dance of all and he was WONDERFUL!

These photographs from the show pretty well show what I'm talking about. If you are interested in the tango, here is a clip that I found that is a perfect example of the dance. There are other clips at this site as well.

http://www.youtube.com/user/tangoclasses

To fit the mood, here is one of my paintings with a fedora in it (another watercolor) that is similar to the ones that the dancers in Argentina wear.

There is also a wonderful movie about the tango with Robert Duvall. It's entitled "Assassination Tango" and I highly recommend it. We've watched it several times and it's very good.

Having been to Buenos Aries, we really appreciate the dance and the music. Years ago we saw the musical, "Tango Argentina" and that's when I fell in love with the dance. When done right, there's nothing like it. It I was younger and about 50 pounds lighter, Arthur Murray would have me in his arms right now teaching me how to do it ... or better still ... Gilles :-)

With this fantasy, I think I'll close for the day. Next week is Holy Week and we'll be going to mass each day. Easter Sunday is just around the corner. Enjoy this most blessed time.

XOXO, Pcasso