Best Wallpapers Flowers: November 2009

Advent

O Lord, stir up your power and come! Rescue us from sin and all evil by your holy protection. Help us to prepare our hearts for your Son's new coming in grace this Christmas. We ask this through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Our Weekend

7 trees are up with 6 decorated. 4 are still in boxes waiting to be put up.

Japanese cherry blossom painting

Japanese cherry blossom tree flowers acrylic modern art painting on canvas. 24 x 36 inches sakura abstract oriental asian painting on a 3 inch deep canvas, this canvas is a 3D canvas specialty canvas for modern orient art. 600 dollars, plus 30 for shipping and insurance.

View more art at my gallery at
http://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com/photo.html

Rejoice & Give Thanks!

Thanksgiving blessings from our family to yours!

Chrysanthemums watercolor painting large art

Chrysanthemums watercolor painting, large flower watercolor painting still life 18 x 24 inches white, pink, and purple small thin long flower pedals realistic botanical watercolor original painting. Perfect Christmas gift for someone special just in time, I am posting this the day before Thanksgiving Day and right before Black Friday, I am also having a Black Friday Art Sale, this work is available as an original for 459 dollars plus 20 for shipping. Also check out my website where I have limited edition prints of this artwork also available in addition to the original.
View more art at my gallery at
http://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com/photo.html

Historic Windsor Hotel art painting

Windsor Hotel, Americus Georgia" Cityscape hotel in Americus GA architecture historical Windsor Hotel Painting 12 x 16 inches, 159 plus 7 shipping, watercolor architecture cityscape painting pen and ink drawing if you have a certain cityscape or house you would like painted email me for an estimate.

View more art at my gallery at
http://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com/photo2.html

Pine Mountain GA Loft and Art Gallery Painting

Pine Mountain GA Loft and Art Gallery Painting
12 x 16 inches, 159 plus 7 shipping, watercolor architecture cityscape painting pen and ink drawing if you have a certain cityscape or house you would like painted email me for an estimate.

View more art at my gallery at
http://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com/photo2.html

Black Friday Art Sale

SUPER BLACK FRIDAY ART SALE!!!!

Select any art on this site or my website and send me an email and I will send you an invoice with 30% off send me an email

View more details at my gallery at
http://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com

A Simple Feast

Our Thanksgiving Menu

Roast Turkey stuffed with root vegetables & fresh rosemary (local)

Butternut squash (local) Pilaf

Cornbread Crockpot Stuffing

Steamed Green Beans (local)

Sweet Potato (local) Casserole

Thanksgiving Table

Inspired by Thrifty Decor Chick, I transformed orange craft pumpkins found on clearance, into beautiful metallic pumpkins with a can of Rust-Oleum Burnished Copper spray paint. I finished the pumpkins off with monogram label tags printed on cardstock. These pumpkins are now ready for our Thanksgiving table!

Thanksgiving Holiday Market - November 23rd

A special Thanksgiving Holiday Market at the Midtown (North Hills) Farmers' Market.

Pastured pork maple sausage links (Mae Farm, Louisburg, NC)

a bag of Lettuce greens (Cedar Rock Farm, Castalia, NC)

2 dozen Pastured eggs (K. Edward Woodlief, Kittrell, NC purchased from Mae Farm)

Sweet Potatoes (R & V Farm)

Local Honey (The Pleasant Bee, Raleigh, NC)

Rainbow chard, fresh rosemary & cilantro (Piedmont BioFarm, Pittsboro, NC)

2 bunches of Kale & FREE radishes (thanks Rocky River Farm, Siler City, NC!)

Christmas Tree Lighting at North Hills

Still life flower oil painting

Oil still life flower painting 24 x 24 inches large painting on canvas, magnolia flowers still life with apples pears lemons and other fruit. Magnolia floral with clay vase. Art commission, sold, if you have an image you want painted please send me an email with your request.

Send me an email

View more art at my gallery at
http://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com/

Market Day - November 14th

Local honey, 3lbs grass-fed & finished ground beef, 1lb ground, pastured pork sausage, 2 dozen pastured eggs, 1lb Carolina style pastured pork BBQ, 2 green bell peppers, eggplant, sweet potatoes, kale, green beans, fresh rosemary & cilantro

Saturday marked the last day of the Midtown (North Hills) Farmer's Market for the year. Since May, our family has gone out every Saturday morning to partake of its local treasures. We've experienced the seasons like never before. And looked upon the faces of the people that grew our food. For me, the farmer's market has been more than just some trendy alternative to Whole Foods. It's evidence of God's provision. My own attempts at feeding our family organically-grown food from our backyard was anything but successful (unless you count an overabundance of fresh basil!). So I count it a blessing to have found such a wonderful place right in our community. To have people that care about providing responsibly grown, nourishing foods. That treat their animals ethically and allow them to roam and forage and eat in the way God intended. God bless those who fed my family during this market season. I can't wait for April!

Fall Decorating - White Craft Pumpkins

Monogrammed and polka-dot pumpkins on the dining room table

The creative juices have really been flowing lately around the house! I fell head over heels for the white craft pumpkins at Michael's. I think over the course of a few weeks, I bought all our store had! With some black craft paint, I created a monogram on a large pumpkin and polka dots on a smaller one. I did not free hand the letter or the dots if you're wondering! I made an M template using Microsoft Word and used a lid from a jar for the dots.

More pumpkins on the pine china cabinet my Daddy built

The first polka dot pumpkin was so cute (and easy!), I went back and bought a few more. I did two more polka dots and then branched out with a striped one for the china cabinet.

Damask design for pumpkin in foyer

Looking to move beyond stripes and dots, I turned to the internet for inspiration. I found this post from The Pleasures of Homemaking about decorating pumpkins with scrapbook stickers. Absolutely brilliant - and something I never would have thought of! Back to Michael's I went. I found the really cute crown Manuela used in her design, as well as a damask design similar to the textured wallpaper in our foyer.

More scrapbooking stickers on a pumpkin upstairs

I love being able to bring a little bit of the season into our home!

Veterinary office and old Chevy Truck painting

Artist painting art commission of a veterinarian office landscape building and a Chevy truck with a large billboard sign out front. Water color and pen and ink drawing illustration 12 x 16 inches sold. If you have a particular subject you want painted send me an email at dereklovessheila@yahoo.com for an estimate Or, send me an email

View more art at my gallery at
http://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com/photo2.html

abstract still life office painting

Abstract still life painting of a contemporary modern home office setting with computer and framed paintings on the wall behind the computer, one of the most unique art commissions I have ever completed for a customer. Water color and pen and ink drawing illustration 12 x 16 inches sold. If you have a particular subject you want painted send me an email at dereklovessheila@yahoo.com for an estimate.
Or, send me an email
On a different note at the same time my wife wrote a blog about Modern Furniture

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View more art at my gallery at
http://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com/photo2.html

Noel's House Virtual Tour

I was at my friend Noel's house back in August. I took all these photos of his yard and the various tropical fruits he grows. Noel Ramos is a fellow member of the Rare Fruit and Vegetable Council of Broward (RFVC). He is an author on the cultivation of tropical fruits and a regular contributor to the RFVC bi monthly newletter. He is also a major contributor of photos for the RFVC website. And, also just an all around great guy. So let me give you a virtual tour of his beautiful Coral Springs yard, 08-15-2009.

Coffea arabica - Coffee it makes a great shade tolerant fruit tree.

Carica papaya - Papaya

Annona squamosa - Sugar Apple, Sweetsop "Red"

Annona squamosa - Sugar Apple, Sweetsop "Green" Noel with his highly productive tree.

Pouteria sapota - Mamey Sapote 'Pantin'

Pouteria sapota - Mamey Sapote 'Pantin' this is the same tree as above you can see in the photo that this tree was badly damaged in hurricane Wilma (2005), but Noel knew that since it broke above the graft union this tree could be saved. It is still producing heavily and the fruits are delicious.

Annona salzmannii very rare!!!!! I want one!

Gonodonta nutrix Citrus Fruit-Piercer. Wagner Field Guide p.371. Breeding year-round in southern Florida, Custard Apple (Annona) is a larval food plant. This one is eating Noel's Annona salzmannii !!!!! Ouch!

Thanks to What's That Bug & kkroeker for a proper ID www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/08/16/unknown-caterpillar-from-...
Here's some pictures of the different variations bugguide.net/node/view/39479/bgimage?from=0

Artocarpus heterophyllus Jackfruit 'Dang Suria' or "Red Good Morning". This is a seedling from Thailand and the fruit has red flesh.

Hylocereus undatus Dragon Fruit 'Red'

Annona mucosa syn. Rollinia deliciosa Biribá Noel's world famous large fruit Biribá I've tasted them they are the best Annonaceae fruit I've had to date, they are sweet, a little tart and taste like lemon meringue pie . I have seedlings growing.

Annona mucosa syn. Rollinia deliciosa flowers

Annona mucosa syn. Rollinia deliciosa what a solid looking trunk

Annona mucosa syn. Rollinia deliciosa Noel with his beautiful mature tree.

Pouteria sapota Mamey Sapote 'Pantin' being protected by an old strawberry container what a great idea and your recycling!!! Just one of Noel's ingenious ideas to protect the valuable fruit from birds and other raiders.

Artocarpus heterophyllus Jackfruit Noel told me this tree was destroyed during Hurricane Wilma. It has recovered 100% and is fruiting. Noel says, always give a tree a chance to recover before you remove it and I agree.

Pouteria caimito Abiu protector, please recycle!

Pouteria caimito Abiu 'Marisa' the fruit is very sweet and has a nice caramel like taste.

Manilkara zapota Sapodilla these fruits taste like brown sugar to me.

Me with part of Noel's bumper crop of green and red Sugar Apples Annona squamosa what a feast I had!

Noel's House Virtual Tour by Eric Bronson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.flickr.com

Market Day - November 7th

Since it was very cold out this morning (in the 30s!), we left the kids at home with my Mom, warmly in bed. My husband and I stopped at a few yard sales (my newest obsession) before making our way to the farmers market. Today we picked up a dozen pastured eggs, rainbow chard, a small bag of salad greens, 2 butternut squash, 3lb grass-fed & finished ground beef, pastured pork sausage links, pastured pork bacon & a few red potatoes.

Only one Saturday left for the Midtown (North Hills) Market!

Thinking Victory At Home

Last night, I found myself in a mood. My tired body would have rather been in bed reading. Instead I was in the kitchen, making pizza dough for the next day's dinner, chopping onions and green peppers and shredding mozzarella cheese. A million "to-do's" filled my head. My husband's upcoming surgery, workshops, a school conference, what would I make for breakfast, when would I find time to make BBQ sauce and yogurt, to work on next year's calendar for work. The kids were also being rowdy and kept hopping out of bed. It was just all too much!

But then it came to me, just as I spoke victory at work, I can also speak victory in my home. I could turn this mood around by looking at the positive. I'm so blessed to be in my kitchen making dinner for tomorrow. Some do not know where their next meal will come from. Some other mother, some where in this world is staring at bare cabinets and an empty fridge wondering how she's going to feed her babies. I'm so blessed!

I'm so blessed that God chose me to be the mother of these three children. Some woman out there would give anything just to have one child, but I've been blessed with three. Three healthy, vibrant kids. I'm so blessed!

From the widow's perspective, I'm so blessed to have my husband. And from the perspective of the daughter whose mother has passed on, I'm so blessed to still have my mother with me and in good health. I'm blessed to have our home, to have means to provide for our family and to have the physical ability to do all those things on my to do list.

I'M SO BLESSED!