Lazy Girl, Episode 16

Fern
Fern is my sister Jeanne's black Lab. 
Fern is very sweet. She's a good girl.

Here's Fern Story by Jeanne

"Fern was born on October 5, 2006 at the Guiding Eyes for the Blind breeding center in Patterson, New York. She tested out of the program and was released from Guiding Eyes on December 4. We picked her up that afternoon, a little over a year after our previous dog, Uma (also a GEB release), passed away. 

Guiding Eyes assigns a letter of the alphabet to each litter of puppies. All of their names begin with that letter. Fern was an F litter. She was one of 10 puppies born to Ila and Evan. We thought we would change her name but finally stayed with Fern. 

Fern was immortalized, along with myself

and our laundry, on Googlemaps street view July 2013.

and on Munchkin of the Week on 6/11/2012..."

Fern is employed by a company which specializes in fetching newspapers for dog owners. It's called, Get the Paper Inc. Every morning she gets the paper for Jeanne. She is paid in biscuits.

Fern likes to play with toys. This brown squeaky bear is her current favorite. In this game you ask her to drop it, and then you toss it, and she runs and gets it. Then she brings it back to you. Then you repeat this, many times.

 Fern is smart. She knows which hand her biscuit treat is in.

 Fern is a dainty lady.

 When sunbathing, she prefers to lounge on a towel.

Fern also loves to swim.

She particularly likes to find a conch shell in the water.

Jeanne keeps Fern's food in a 

special container.

Fern loves her breakfast and dinner.
She also likes apples, carrots,
green beans and broccoli.

Rich Rojas,

I hope you like this post.

Love,

Fern

For information on Guiding Eyes

click here.

À Bientôt!

Lazy Girl, Episode 15

A Birthday in Boston
Last week, on August 14, we celebrated Richard's 82nd birthday in Boston. His family, daughter, Dianna, son, Richard and son-in-law, Michael, were visiting from the Midwest. We took the Cross Island Ferry to Boston from Orient Point. It was a stormy morning and the surf was high.

Richard Cramer is 82 years old.

Photo by Dianna Cramer

The surf at the ferry.

Few people were on the top deck in the gray weather.

Photo by Dianna Cramer

Our first stop in Boston was the

Museum of Fine Arts where

we had lunch in their cafe.

 The museum has a great collection of

John Singer Sargent paintings.

 A Victorian tableau.

 Modern bracelets. The pale green one is

by John Iversen of Sag Harbor, NY.

Richard and his family toured Boston on Thursday and

Friday while I was at my workshop.

Richard's son selected this bistro

for the birthday dinner because they serve

both oysters and duck, his father's favorites

 Richard and Dianna.

 Dianna and Michael

 Richard and me.

 It wouldn't be a celebration 

without OYSTERS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RICHARD!

À Bientôt!

Lazy Girl, Episode 14

A Cake, Two Dogs
and Scrabble 
We decided to have a family get-together at my sister Jeanne's house. The challenge: make the vaunted Ebinger's Brooklyn Blackout Cake. It has three parts. The cake, the pudding filling and the frosting. Could we do it? Some of the greatest patisserie chefs in the world had tried ... and failed.

When we were kids, my grandmother, Sarah, and my grandfather, Willy, would come to see us on Sunday. They lived in Brooklyn, and they always brought a chocolate cake in a white box tied with red and white striped string. And they always asked the lady at the bakery to put two Maraschino cherries on the top: one for me and one for Susan.

From 1898 to 1972, Ebinger's made their Brooklyn Blackout Cake. In 2014, three women would attempt it in an Orient kitchen. Let the games begins.

"For Katie Workman, though, the cake is something else entirely: "Oh my God, it's a big, fat pain in the butt." Workman, the creator of cookbook and blog, The Mom 100, says that making the cake is so difficult, she still suffers what she calls PTCS: "post-traumatic cake syndrome."  NPR, All Things Considered, March 27, 2014

First, let's set the stage.

 My niece, Sarah, has just gotten a puppy, Polly.

Fern, Jeanne's dog, went through 

some difficult moments when Polly showed up.

But by now, they were starting to play

and be friends.

My brother, David, was there too.

All dogs love David.

Fern loves me.

This is essentially how she spent

the afternoon as we worked on the cake.

 The recipe.

 The ingredients.

 The pudding chills.

 Lead chef, Susan, takes the cake

out of the oven.

 Where there is Jeanne and Dave,

there is Scrabble.

 It took four hours to make the cake.

 And four people.

 I cut each layer in half.

 The frosting.

 Jeanne made a splendid pasta for dinner.

 Ready to cut the cake.

 Success.

No tears, no tantrums, and only

one run to the store for more

semi-sweet chocolate morsels.

And Polly and Fern were happy too.

À Bientôt!

Lazy Girl, Episode 13

From Paper Dolls to

Living Dolls

The second day of our Carla Fernández workshop at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum dawned, and with some trepidation, I wondered how I would do realizing my paper doll designs. But first, we were to be treated to a tour of the Museum by Textiles' Conservator, Tess Fredette. Walking through the Museum, Tess explained Isabella Stewart Gardner's decorating idiosyncrasies as we eyed walls covered by tapestries and damasks, paintings and objects. It was fascinating to hear about conservation techniques and to learn of Mrs. Gardner's particular ideas, like the way she liked to "plop" drapes on a window seat rather than let them hang free.

Left, Meegan, wearing a skirt of her own design,

made from the selvedge edges of fabric

and Carla, explain the Mexican method of

measuring with fingers and palms.

A seam would be two fingers.

Carlos, a fashion designer,

begins sewing a piece.

 Carlos models his top.

Kat's dress takes shape.

I sew a red facing on my dress by hand.

 Cailin models her skirt...

which can also be a cape.

 Carlos models a red skirt.

The ambitious dress!

In the background, Jay Calderin, the head of Boston's

fashion week, helps with sewing.

And Ta Da!

 Me in my dress and beads of my own design,

 and Carla's "chocolate whisk" bracelets.

Photos by Jeanne Markel

I need to add the decorative motifs,

and it needs a good pressing,

but here is my dress.

Fern likes it too.

I would like to thank Carla Fernández and

Pieranna Cavalchini, curator of Contemporary Art

at the Gardner, for this

memorable experience.

À Bientôt!