Thankful For......

It's election day and fortunately the end of all of these election commercials, especially the GMO ones. I heard yesterday that Monsanto and Dow Chemical spent 8 million dollars on their TV and print campaign over the past couple of months, more than anyone in the history of Hawaii. Hopefully all of that money will be spent in vein, we'll find out later tonight. Just think of all of the jobs that money would have created.

OK... group hug! I hate group hugs, my cousin on my wife's side does that, very awkward.

I just voted! I too will be happy when the voting is all over. One of the sign wavers at our polling place had a sign that read "Who spends $8 million to tell the truth?" Makes you wonder, doesn't it. "Just think of all of the jobs that money would have created." good point James. Not only jobs, but if Monsanto and the other cemical companies had put that money to better use, say testing the soil and food they grow and raising pay for low end workers, what a difference that would have made. Monsanto is not about feeding the world, they are about feeding their pockets.

Right on sister!

Hiya all - thankful I am HOME from NYC - oh yikes = first time for me - frekkin cold - I was there for the Marathon - it was cold - warmer here in Canada - okay the $$$$ in NYC - blows you away - stayed at the Waldorf Astoria - shattered dreams - I thought it was so grand - issues galore - $110.00 for sunday brunch - what fool in the world would pay that for brunch ?- okay I am sorry - but the $$$$$$ in NYC. I came, saw and left. Lots of people, incredible buildings, art (saw the met and Moma). Ground zero was humbling - why are they building 4 more towers??? met Mr. Apollo from the Apollo theatre in Harlem - now that was special.
Missed you all. I am HOME!

Welcome home Pat! We missed you!

Morning all - off to set up my art show for this weekend - it never rains but it pours.
Life is so quiet here compared to Manhattan - the world is an amazing place.
Will be back for happy hour.

Great News!!! On November 4, Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences LOST the GMO initiative in Maui County by a margin of only 1,077 votes. Unfortunately only 48% of Hawaii's registered voters voted in this general election, the lowest turnout ever. Only 45,356 voters voted on the GMO initiative calling for a temporary ban on the cultivation of genetically engineered crops in Maui county. Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences spent $7.9 million dollars in advertising to win this initiative, the most expensive county initiative campaign in U.S. history. If you do the math, they spent $362 per 'no' vote, money that could have been spent on testing their products. Monsanto is saying this morning that they will fight these results in court, which means even more money wasted.

Mahalo to the people in Maui County who voted and a big MAHALO to those who voted 'Yes', The Aloha Spirit lives.

http://www.tastinghawaii.com/2014/09/bring-back-way-of-aloha.html

I am so proud of the people of Maui! I realize the fight is not over but with this small victory I hope more people will stand up. WAY TO GO MAUI!

Yahoo - I saw this as well - awesome news.

This is good news concerning the fight against GMO's! Darice I agree the fight has just truly begun and will probably go on for years.

It reminds me of the fight with aspartame.

Welcome back Pat.

Hello to everyone.

Darice the photo for Thanksgiving is beautiful!

Aloha everyone. Looks like this group had a busy weekend. It's very quiet around here.

Our weekend was busy, as usual. Saturday we went to a workshop on home loans for Vets. We got a lot of great info and are excited to start looking at homes for sale. Also we went to Maui's first "Made on Maui" event. More then 9,000 people went to the event. Charlie and I are now thinking it would be a good idea for him to get a booth next year for his printing business. Yesterday we went to Maui Tropical Plantation to drop off 12 miniatures at a jewelry/fine art store. Ron, the owner, had seen my minis about a week ago and loved them. He asked if I would put some in his store. So I went to work on creating a bunch of minis last week. When I dropped them off and set them up he asked me to bring in a couple of my larger paintings the next time I come. He wants do a whole section, wall and shelves displaying my work. I'm very excited about this location. Aprox 3 tour busses come there everyday. I'm also really excited that he asked me which is a first for me. I'm now in for locations on Maui and Christmas is just around the corner. The next couple of weeks I'll be working on back stock for all locations in order to stay ahead of the market.

Sooooo what have all of you been up to?

Popping in for a quick visit and then off to a photography course. Had my art show this weekend - not a roaring success - studio tours in November in Canada are not happy things. More later

Morning all - time to kick start us again. I have been out of commission with a very bad cold/flu but up again. Did my art tour last weekend- kind of a bust - art tours in November in Canada are not great events - cold, wet - yechy - sold a couple of cards and 3 of my little encaustic paintings - hardly worth the time and effort. Art tours - one never knows!
So what have you all been up to?? My buddy is in Kihei Darice - I think that is north of Lahania but I am not a Maui expert.
Wonder what is up with Cynthia and her kitty situation?
Okay James what you up to.
Debbie how are things.
Hi to everyone!

Pat, I received a phone call from the District Area Manager of the apartments that we live in. Her exact quote to me is, "I want to make you happy." I told her, "I will never be happy here because of the animal abuse I have witnessed here." We are still feeding cats, until they are trapped by animal control and then euthanized. Sadly there is nothing more we can do. There is no place for them. I try not to look outside it is so painful even to look at the ones left. But at least we can feed them to ease their suffering until they are captured.

It took a toll on me physically as I cried myself to sleep, so I have let my painting go for a while. I will get back into the swing of things I am sure. Just right now, I don't feel like doing much. The area Manager seemed to think that giving me brand new carpet would make everything all right. What a sicko.

Darice sounds very busy also successful! Congrats!

Hello to Deb, James, Iris, everyone!

Aloha from Moloka'i,

Pat, I've been busy writing and testing recipes for my food blog. I am currently writing about bone marrow, a "super food" that is very popular now, but has been eaten since the caveman days. Very interesting research. I should be posting in my blog soon.

Sorry to hear about the ongoing saga of your cat problem Cynthia. I took Maka out for a walk early this morning only to find a feral cat in my driveway, they are everywhere here in Maui county.

This is a golf tournament weekend, but a rain storm is on its way. I hate playing in the rain. Last month I didn't play because their was a hurricane just off of our shore. I found out later that 18 golfers showed up to play. Oh well, these guys are die hard golfers... literally.

James I know someone whose name starts with A (Anna Banana) who LOVES bone marrow. I admit I have never eaten it but Anna B sure loves it - I warm the bones up a tad and slurp!
Oh Cynthia this is too bad about your cats - I would be upset too!!!
Good luck in tourney James.
Salut!

Can anyone say "Toooooooth Ache!!!!!!" I hate mouth pain! It started Monday, been to the dentist twice, they still don't know which tooth is having problems, no cavities or obvious issues on the ex ray. I'm going back Monday for a cleaning. The pain is so consuming I can hardly think. So I won't be posting much more because I can't think of anything else. I hope you all have a great day!

Darice sorry to read of you tooth ache! Strange that they can't determine from X-rays which tooth or what is going on. You don't happen to suffer from TMJ do you? Sometimes if you grind your teeth in your sleep or bite down hard in your sleep it can cause tooth pain. Here is praying that you will soon be feeling better soon. In the mean time maybe try rinsing with salt water and hydrogen peroxide. I always use hydrogen peroxide diluted and then spit it out of course and rinse with water. Some times the salt and hydrogen peroxide kill any germs that might be causing tooth pain.

James Bone Marrow is extremely good for you. Pat Anna B is blessed to have you!

Deb, missing you!!

Again, hello to everyone.

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Morning all and hope you feel better soon Darice.
Great photo Debbie - I love pointy leaves.
I am now a volunteer librarian for a local art association - Job I did professionally for 30 years so should be able to handle it.
Cool here BUT no snow - unlike out west and mid west -
Today we are putting up Christmas decorations - I have a long lane so will string lights as far as they will go. Will be pretty at night.
Anna B is going to get spayed in 3 weeks - oh yikes - my baby - every time we scheduled this something came up like an infection or heat or... she is such a gorgeous dog - personality and looks. Too many unwanted puppies in world tho and not enough good homes.
Later for happy hour.

Hello Deb! I Love the fall colors and the photo!

Hope the tooth ache pain is going away for you Darice!

Pat concerning Anna B I know that all too well of what is like to get your precious baby spayed! Christmas decorations are popping up here and there in different towns in Georgia. Gene and I noticed this when we took a drive to the mountains yesterday. We stopped to look at a waterfall just off the paved road, no hiking required at all.

James I imagine there are many waterfalls where you are at? Correct me if I am wrong.

There has been a change of plans within my family. All this time we were set to move to Florida in 2 years when Gene retires to be with daughter, son in law and three grandchildren. Well my daughter now wants to move to the North Carolina mountains! She says she is sick of Florida!!! So it appears we will get to move where I have wanted to live all my life. That is the North Carolina mountains! Yippee! Can't say that I am upset at all at these change of plans! She wants to move near Asheville, NC after she gets her degree from college for Veterinarian Assistant. We are looking at land in Leicester, NC. It is beautiful. We will be near ski resorts. Although I have never skied and I don't plan on it with a serious back injury! LOL! I will be enjoying the scenery. Now I know all of you that are accustomed to snow and probably get sick of it, well to us it is a rare treat where we currently live. Where we plan on moving to will have snow! I am excited about the change of plans.

Of course it is not Hawaii, that is Paradise to me, but the North Carolina mountains is close enough to paradise for me! ha, ha, ha,, ha

Have a great day everyone on here, hello to anyone I missed, I don't want to leave any one out.

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Happy Monday everyone! Thanks for all your well wishes and advice about my tooth. I still have a lot of pain in my mouth, it jumps from upper teeth to lower teeth. I'm going to have the dentist x-ray my lower teeth today to see if that is where the real problem lies.

Debbie, great new avatar! Love red hair on you!

Cynthia, sounds like your dream is coming true. Good for you!

Pat, How's the Christmas decorating going? I haven't put up a tree in 9 or 10 years. Can't say that I miss it. But I do enjoy the efforts of other's.

Aloha James, did you get out to golf this weekend?

My next door neighbor join the Raquel Welch Wing club.
The one you see in my avatar photo is the red hair Farrah Fawcett wig.
I'm born with dark red hair, I lighten it because I didn't think red hair look ok on me.
I like the hairstyle of the wig.

Gosh Darice, hope your dentist locates your mouth pain soon!
It's ice cold here! Colder temps all week long with a chance of rain:)
Have fun everyone:)

Deb:)

We are having our first min blizzard - Oh Cynthia - snow gets tiresome really quick - pretty BUT makes driving dangerous, walking hard, wet and cold - whine
Darice poor you - Maybe it is that TMJ thing I think someone mentioned. Pain that travels is not good.
Tomorrow I am supposed to take art to a venue - hope driving is okay - tonight I have my camera course - teacher is not great - worth the trip?? I saw no but hubby says yes - so off I go.

Good morning everyone. I'm enjoying all the good humor in here today. Lots of laughs, thanks Marty and Debbie. Your discussion about mountain oysters had me laughing so hard i got tears in my eyes. Most of your "i wont eat" list Marty, is on mine as well.....except lobster......I love lobster! And that also goes for avacado, mango, starfruit, mangos, or papaya...I love all those! Good to know about cooking turkeys upside down. I'm going to have to try that sometime. This year we are going out for Thanksgiving. It's just the two of us so no need to do it up big. I'm going to miss those yummy turkey sandwiches though.

I've been cranking out paintings the last few weeks. Gearing up for the busy season here, which will be starting soon. I'm also working on preparing for Maui Open Studios. It's not until Feb but I have a lot to do to get ready. Like rearrange all my art work in my studio and stairwell, create advertising postcards and finish painting my 30x30 oil painting of Olowalu. This painting well be my featured painting for the open studio weekend. I bought an ad in the Open Studio guide book this year. I'm looking forward to this year being better then last because West Maui (where I live) has the first weekend of the month. Last year we had the last.

I hope you all continue to enjoy your week.

Have a great Thanksgiving Darice:)

Been reading all the news - Ferguson, thanksgiving etc. yikes - I hope all my US friends have a great thanksgiving - eat lots of turkey and/or everything that goes with it. Enjoy your family and friends.
The violence around Ferguson is awful - such a tragedy - war does not fix anything.
Still no snow here - a blessing for us.
Wonder where our Ms. Cynthia is at???
Working on more small xmas paintings.

Aloha Pat,

Yes it is amazing how race remains an issue in this country. Kimberly and I were watching football this morning and were reminded how sports teams are so interracial.

Yes it's turkey day here in Hawaii. Locally every time you buy so much at the grocery store throughout the year you get coupons. Then at Thanksgiving you hand in your coupons to receive a free turkey. We did that this year. Yesterday I made a big pot of my fresh cranberry/starfruit relish. I canned it in jars, then Kimberly cut out some of her tropical fabric into circles which we put on the lids of the jars, tied with raffia. Then we hopped into my truck and made surprise deliveries to our island friends. I love giving, you get so much in return. I guess that's what this day is all about.

Got to go, my free turkey is waiting.

Have you photographed Kimberly's pretty canned fruit?
They would make a great holiday card:)

Manny and I are having tuna fish sandwiches for our Thanksgiving meal.
Putting up Christmas decorations too.

Hello Pat, Darice, Cynthia and Marty.
Have a great Thanksgiving:)

I am stuffed!

It was so good, roast turkey, mashed potatoes with giblet gravy, brussel sprouts cut in half, sautéed in butter with pine nuts, and of course my cranberry/starfruit sauce. I also had a couple of bottles of Celebration Ale from Sierra Nevada Brewing.

Debbie, I thought you and Manny were going to make his stuffing with turkey?

Time to watch the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks battle it out.

Hi James,
We were going to have Manny's special meal for Thanksgiving
but had to hold back on spending this month.
We will try again at Christmas, but not sure.

Grand foods are always wonderful to have once a year
for the holidays. Today was fun for us, Manny help me
Christmas decorate our small patio.
We had our tuna sandwiches and coffee outside sitting
in our pretty patio. Admiring what we accomplished.
It wasn't cold today, clouds with a little sun shining.
Manny's enjoying his football game, he's a 49er fan too.

Gobble, gobble
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and didn't eat tooooo toooooo much,..............
I see you did Jim,....super menu you had there,..chef !

Helen and I just did a little office work and chilled out off and on,....tonight I'll watch a movie maybe? She goes beddie byes early every night,....me,...I average around 2;30 - 3;30 AM,....my play time is at night,...doing images,...listening to talk radio,....an occasional movie,...working on a slide show presentation I'm doing,...and such.

Our snow storm fizzled out leaving just a minimal amount of the white stuff,...suits me fine.

This coming Monday = next month,...........Next up,.......Christmas,.....

Who won the football game Jim,......am not a big sports fan other than auto racing,..... the Indy 500 is my super bowl.

Will sign off

Marty

19 to 3 Marty, in favor of Seattle. We are having quarterback problems. The idea is that you throw the ball so the receiver can catch it. Oh well, there's always next time.

The 49ers screwed up again. I'm a new Seahawks fan.
Have a great Friday everyone.

Happy day after Thanksgiving everyone! This year we went out for Thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed it very much. The only problem is no left overs. No turkey sandwiches or left over pie, but we do have a clean kitchen :-)

Ah yes... a clean kitchen, mine has gotten a work over the past few days. I just got through making Hawaiian lace cookies. We had turkey sandwiches for lunch, so Ono!

Got my ears lowered this afternoon, I was getting pretty shaggy. I know this really nice Filipino lady who cuts my hair, and Kimberly's, in her laundry room in a small plantation house just down the street in Kualapuu. We "talk story" while she cuts my hair. It's a small island thing.

Liver and onions for dinner, I don't imaging any of you folks like liver based on our conversations lately. I love it once in a while. It's important to mix up your diet and keep your body guessing what's coming next.

Thanks for the comments Debbie, I can't believe you are a Seattle fan now with a past 49er player for a husband?

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Morning - Anna B LOVES liver James LOL!
I am not a black Friday shopper - mind you l live in a small town - no stores (well hardly any!). I buy most of my gifts at craft/art shows - love those kind of things.
Having beef stroganoff for supper with friends tonight - supper made - easy so we can visit.
btw - Darice I love your koi and koala paintings - darling.

How about a Route 66 sign from Ebay for Manny's birthday? I even saw a print somewhere here on FAA.

Today will be special for me, I will have over 200,000 page views on my blog, kind of a goal of mine.

What a clever idea James! I'll check it out!

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Wow, that is so great Debbie! Congratulations! I just finished Jason's book "How to get in to Galleries" (Jason owns Xanadu Gallery) easy read. I discovered I'm already doing everything he talks about. I was hoping to learn something new so I could move to the next level in my career. I also just finished reading a book on how to have a successful open studio. Now that book was full of great info. I plan on using a lot of the suggestions in it.

I got the new iPhone 6 and absolutely love it! It takes better photographs then my old iPhnoe 4s and it has a much bigger screan. My iPhone case I ordered from my (aw) website looks great on it. I've already had lots of great comments about it. Excluding from the guy at the AT&T store where I had the service set up at, loved it. The best part about having one of my paintings on the cover of my phone is I get to advertise my work to everyone who sees my phone! Plus I get to write it off on my taxes 😄

I watched 60 minutes tonight, I wish all of you could have seen it, they had a segment on Syrian refugees, a real eye opener. There is so much wrong with our country these days, and then you see how bad it is elsewhere, thousands of war refugees, women and children, scrambling across the desert to Jordan, a country that is already bursting at the seams with these refugees, who have no place else to go, very sad. Count your blessings and pray for better things to come.

Morning all - cool here but still no snow.
Debbie yahoo to you!!! congrats!
Yes James I find watching such documentary shows very informative - keeps us in perspective. I am not a great news watcher but find such shows really provide lots of info.
Today is cooking day - going make Anna B's food, also some shortbread cookies as well - I love shortbread cookies.
Time to start the xmas baking (and eating).
btw - we better go find ms. Cynthia - haven't seen her for a while.

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Deb, as usual your talent is amazing and stunningly beautiful!

Sorry been missing in action..............

James I agree with you. I have a friend that just contacted me that lives among Muslims. He is in great danger because he is a Christian. He lives in Ghana Africa and he is seeking a way out of that country! He was born and raised a Muslim and converted to Jesus Christ. So he is in great danger.

It will take me a while to read up on everything that is posted and I will get back to all of you but right now I am going to take the opportunity to get back on that huge painting I have been working on for months now. I let so many things get in the way of my art now it is time to go full focus on it once again.

We still have 4 feral cats that they did not see or trap that we are feeding. But I have learned not to let it get me sick from crying over them. I have learned to let go and let God in this situation.

once again will get back to all of you once I am caught up on everyone's postings. Peace, and blessings to ALL on here!

Love you guys!!!!!

Morning all - wow nice painting Debbie!
I often work a long time on paintings as when I started to paint my biggest mistake was being to quick and not letting things dry. I know work on a piece, let it dry think about where it is going and work some more.
Nice to see you again Cynthia.
Letting go is a great gift - I always just do my best and then let the bricks fall where the may - knowing I can do no better. It has been my motto forever. There is no more than your best.
Today is cool but sunny - nice day for a banana walk and maybe a little shopping - we will see.

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Good morning everyone. I can't help but mention how beautiful it is here today! It's absolutely perfect and here I am sitting at home on my one and only day off not out enjoying it. Well there is always this afternoon. Did I mention last week that I had an online magazine message me on Twitter and asked if they could do a feature on me? No? Well today they posted the feature http://nijimagazine.com/2014/12/meet-darice-mcguire/

The next few weeks are gearing up to be very busy. I have new students coming from the mainland and one from here. I'm also volunteering to cover two kids classes for one of our LAA teachers. That should be fun. I love teaching kids! They are so fun and full of energy.

I'll make a new discussion thread tomorrow when I'm on my computer at the studio. Today all I have is my iPhone to post with. I hope you all have a great rest of your weekend.

Aloha for now!

Hi everyone. I just created our new discussion thread. Here's the link http://fineartamerica.com/groups/la-creme-de-la-creme-.html?tab=discussions