Whiskers On Kittens

In the some of “my favorite things” category… whiskers on kittens are right up near the top.  So I was very pleased when my friend Noriko sent me a drawing she did of her daughter’s cats, Elsa and Leo. 

I met Noriko many years ago (maybe 30) when I was looking for ingredients for Japanese cooking and found her store in Huntington on Long Island.  To my delight, I found tempura batter mix, seaweed for making hand rolls and Japanese rice plus things that were identified only with mysterious characters that added to their mystery.  In no time, the store became a restaurant.  I had moved to Huntington and it quickly became my favorite place to eat.  Still is.  We became friends and became part of each other's lives.  It’s easy to “practice happiness” with Noriko, her smile is quick, her laugh is rich and she always has a good word for people.

I will be making a photo album with some of Noriko’s delightful paintings in it – I’ll keep you posted. 

I was also drawing kittens this week, well sort of drawing… I belong to an art group online (ZNE) and some of who are interested in photography are working with a book by Karen Michel -“Altered Imagery.”  Here’s a photograph of Katie, my calico, which I sanded and scratched and painted with dyes.

And speaking of books—here’s another one of my favorite things—a book by my friend Karen Eckmeier.  She is a nationally known quilter. I take that back, since she is going on a teaching tour of New Zealand in February, we’ll have to make that internationally known.  Here’s a picture of the cover.  You can get it on Amazon (link is on the right hand side) and find out more about Karen on her website www.quilted-lizard.com.

And just for the fun of it… here is a necklace that I made to celebrate my favorite 4 pm cup of tea.

 

Life is good.  As my dad would say... have fun!