Hey all!  I hope everyone had a great Easter. My husband and I spent the morning tag team parenting.  We had one boy volunteering at church making breakfast and the other sick at home.  My husband, we'll call him Eric, went to help at church and as my daughter and I left for church service he came home to be with the boy who was sick.  As luck would have it, about noon, an Easter Miracle (as my mother called it) occurred!  When it was time to go to grandmas the sick boy was healed and able to go to Grandmas to fish, go cart, and frog spear his way through the day!  But as all good things come to an end, so do Easter Miracles...Monday morning school was a 'no go'!!!
      Fever, cough nor tummy ache will keep me from putting three kids on a bus tomorrow morning.  It is the end of April and the Vermontville Maple Syrup Festival is fast approaching.  This is the weekend that I have to laminate my schedule and keep it in my back pocket so I know where I need to be and when.  Boy Scouts, Dandy Lions, Church and 4-H all have me running.  My daughter has also been chosen to present flowers to the Maple Syrup Queen and she is also running in the princess pageant.  I somewhat envy those who high tail it out of town this weekend.
      Who am I kidding?  I haven't missed the festival in all my years...and that's a lot of years!  Even the year I had the Chicken Pox, Grandpa Marcum loaded me up into his old Ford and found a place to park where I could see the parade.  No rides, no games, no friends to run with.  I still bare the scars of that weekend...and I have a few from the Chicken Pox too.
     While I have been spending much of my time writing, I have to switch gears back to getting some drawing done.  I have committed myself to donating some art to the local FFA chapter.  I should be committed because I only have a couple of weeks to get it done!  I'll find the time.
     With that wrote, I better get at it!  See you all at the Festival!

-Christine

I'll have the Linguini!

      Hello All!!!  I am having a hard time thinking of things to blog lately.  Is it possible that I have already spilled all of my knowledge out for all to read?  Yes...It is possible!     
      I have been writing a lot lately, excluding my blog.  Over the past couple of years I have been working on my writing skills by going to A Rally for Writers held each spring in Lansing.  I have always felt more than unworthy to be among writers.  I have always maintained the thought that wearing a cowboy hat does not earn the title of  'cowboy'.  But still I go, learn and try to  improve.  While commas, word structure and adverbs are still a mystery, I will draw from my literary hero, Nancy Drew, and solve the case of "the inexperienced writer".
       I had the opportunity to have the first ten pages of a manuscript I wrote read and critiqued by an editor, Teresa Crumpton.  I'm sure if Teresa were to read my blog she would be in editors Heaven.  Meeting with Teresa gave me validation as she loved my book and said "The story voice is fabulous. This is what agents, editors, and readers love."   This validates what my husband and mother have thought all along!
     I haven't much else to say so I thought I might add a little poem I wrote after a little elderly lady read a poem at last years writers rally.  I was inspired to write the following poem:

I’ll have theLinguini

by Christine Gardner Terpening

She read a poem called “Linguini”
Although she didn’t write it
Boy could she recite it
She was little and frail
This woman of seasoned age
Her voice bubbled and cracked of Italy
She read these words with passion…
“Lightly oiled, stuck to hips
Lavished with sauce, Kisses and fettucini”
Her voiced dropped low
“Rubbed, twining and braiding, cappellini
Lovers and Little neck clams”
Her voice climbed high
“Glistening, formagio, pinched,
Romano, twirled, vermicelli, long and smooth”
It was almost too much to take
We all shimmied in our seats
We tugged at our collars
Lips were wet and hungry
Our swallows we choked
And when she was done
We all needed a smoke!



    

Where have I been?

    I just have to say "it has been a long winter"...and it's not over yet.  Event after event has kept me from blogging the past couple months and I have been reminded of that often from a loyal reader.  I've had busy kids and a few deaths of loved ones and friends loved ones but one in particular that has kept me in a funk lately.  My horse, Moonshine (of Moonshine Fine Art Studio), passed away on a chilly Sunday morning in February.  I was fortunate to be with her and hold her while she passed.  As hard as that is I've had movies playing in my head of all the amazing things that horse and I did together in our youth.  She was 30 years old so I can't say it was totally unexpected but I love her very much and she will be greatly missed.  It certainly wouldn't be Heaven without horses and now the best is there!
    On a much brighter note, my sons, Marcum 12 & Dillon 11, became proud Shepard's of a bunch of little lambs this January.  They saved their money from 4-H and their ewes from the past couple of years and purchased a flock of ewes and a ram.  The lambs were born in January so they will be big enough for their local fair.  I was so proud of them as they pulled their first lamb together from the mother.  Many more followed.  I spent many nights sleeping in the barn as to be there for any middle of the night births.  Cold would not be a strong enough word to describe the barn conditions those nights but thanks to good friends and family I had electric blankets and a good dog to get really cozy with.
     I have done a little art in between wrestling season, lambing, scouting and everything else that my 3 children have been into.  Most recently I produced a portrait for an Eagle Scout ceremony.  I have posted pictures below.  Due to the fact that I'm not all that computer savvy, one picture is really big and one is really small.  It was presented locally in my home town and well received.   Eagle Scout, Zachary Siple, was very excited to receive it. 
    Both my sons are scouts and have made it their goal to receive the same rank and my daughter, Josey, is a Maple Valley Dandy Lion.  That is a local club of little do-goodin' girls focused on learning and fun while serving their community.  My  Boy Scouts are busy collecting sap from the maple trees.  The sap is running as fast as a kindergartners nose and keeping up during a busy schedule is next to impossible.  I must have super scouts because they are getting it all done.  The rewards will truly be sweet!  I know...that was sappy!
    Well...I better git!  Take time from your busy life to do something fun and selfish and I will try to do the same!  God Bless!    -Christine

Cowboy boots!

     In the gallery below you will find a drawing I did today while helping a young lady learn to draw.  I set up a still life of some old cowboy boots around 5pm today and now, at 12:18 am I am finished.  It didn't take quite that long to draw & render but I had motherly chores to do in between...make dinner, do laundry, rock a little cowgirl to sleep...the usual. 

Newest Gallery Addition!

     I recently finished a new piece of artwork.  So recently that I still have pastel on my hands and I'm dizzy from the fixative.  I decided to take a break from my normal style and try something whimsical.  I call it "Whimsy Pasture."  It's media is pastel and its image area is 25" x 15 1/2".
    This piece is for sale but ones like it can easily be ordered and customized to your liking.  I can add your family/farm name, quote, brand, or welcome to the clouds and I can change the animals to a different species...whatever trips your trigger.  
     The price begins at $200  matted and framed, additional requests may be subject to additional cost.  Half of the total is due upon ordering.  Shipping and handling extra.
     There is still time to order in time for Christmas...but you better hurry so I can beat Santa's deadline! 
      To order call 517-726-0817...ask for Christine...but honestly, who else answers the phone around here?