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So, how many of you out there are suckers for anything chocolate? If you’re raising your hand and licking the screen, then you are like me. I know some people lust after sweet, pretty glistening sugar confections. But, no sir. Not me! I take chocolate, and I mean REAL chocolate, above anything else when I need a sweet treat! I don’t even like sweet chocolate. As far as I’m concerned, chocolate is only chocolate when it has above 70% cocoa solids! Even that has been too little for me these days. I am guilty of eating 80% chocolate straight, I’m afraid. But, the cake below is not so deep and dark that there isn’t some sweetness to it. I’ve tried that, and it ain’t good! Kinda tastes like someone put out a cigarette in your mouth and then walked around with socks on!

Devil’s Food is one of the cakes I’ve been eating since I was a child. Yes, I would eat a Twinkie or Swiss Roll on occasion. But, I always tried to go right for the Suzie Q’s if there were any. With all of us cousins, sisters and such fighting for them, it was a gamble as to what would be left. Half the time, I didn’t eat the cream filling. I would break the cake apart and scoop out the filling to discard with the wrapper. I did the same with Oreos. Just give me the chocolate!! So, my love affair with dark chocolate began. Granted, I don’t remember all that many cakes as a very young kid. I’m sure they were there. I just don’t remember them. But, at some point something must have opened the flood gate for me. Perhaps it was my love of chocolate ice cream at my Mimi’s house. Mimi, Papaw and my Great Aunt Pauline always said “Christa Belle! You’re going to turn into chocolate ice cream one of these days!” and they would all laugh. I still hear them say that to me as I get out the chocolate ice cream and place it in my bowl. Papaw always made sure I didn’t leave the ice cream out for too long. He was afraid it would thaw too much and then get freezer burned when it went back in. So, he usually scooped it out for me if it was too hard for my tiny wrists to muster. Usually, it was.

Now, on to the cake portion of the program

I had been looking for a good Devil’s Food Cake recipe for a while. After many, many books of disappointing results, I finally found the trick and a good recipe to finagle into my own creation. The “trick” to a good Devil’s Food is cocoa powder. You’d think melted chocolate would be more rich, but it isn’t. The cocoa powder has such an earthy hit to it and that’s what makes it so devilishly, sinfully good! I have been getting a cocoa powder made by Chatfield’s. Yes, it’s in the natural foods aisle. It’s unsweetened and Alkaline free, which means it isn’t “Dutched”. It’s so red, too, which makes for the best Devil’s Food! (Apparently, it has gotten quite the bad rep for not being good by places like The New York Times. But I dare anyone to taste my cake made with said powder and tell me it’s not a deep, chocolate flavour!) Before them, I used a variety of cocoa powders with not as much luck. I did like the Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder, too. But, it’s slightly sweetened and not as natural. Plus, it depends on the ingredients you add WITH the powder that result in a chocolatey chocolate flavour. For example, I use only non-processed cane sugars in all of my recipes and therefore need less of it. I also add a teaspoon of Espresso Powder to the dry ingredients. Coffee and chocolate really are best friends. One brings out the other. But anyway… The natural flavours of the cocoa, sugars, and such all work together to make the right balance of deep and sweet. The only thing in this recipe that wasn’t organic was the Espresso Powder and the Italian 00 Flour. I wish it were organic, but it isn’t yet. You could, of course, use All Purpose flour here. I just find the texture to be so light and moist with the 00. You could use cake flour as well, obviously.

For the recipe, you will want all of your ingredients to be at room temperature. This means the butter should be left out overnight, the eggs at least two hours and the buttermilk, covered, for about an hour. If you happen to forget, place the cold eggs in a bowl of hot tap water for about 20 minutes. You can grate the butter right over the mixing bowl to soften it instantly and leave it out as the eggs warm up. It’s such an easy fix and gets perfect results!

The recipe is as follows:

Sparky’s Devil’s Food Cake

Ingredients

- 12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted sweet cream butter
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (natural, organic or unrefined is best)
- 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
- 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda (Aluminum free, such as Bob’s Red Mill brand)
- 2 tsp. Pure Vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. Instant Espresso Coffee*
- 2 cups Italian 00 flour, or Cake flour, or All purpose
- 3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
- 4 large eggs (again, organic, free-range is best. Fresh as possible, too!)
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk*

Method
- Begin by buttering two 9-inch cake pans and placing parchment circles on bottom. Then, butter parchment and dust with cocoa powder. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Whisk the flour and cocoa together in a separate bowl. Set aside
- Cream the butter, sugar, baking soda and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, for at least 5 minutes. When light and fluffy, add the vanilla and mix to combine. Follow with the eggs, adding one at a time, until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides an bottom of the bowl and make sure all ingredients are fully incorporated. Batter should be smooth and velvety.
- Add a third of the flour/cocoa mixture to the bowl, slowly and follow with half of the buttermilk. Then, another third flour, rest of the buttermilk and finish with the last third of the flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated. Remove paddle attachment and scrape down a final time by hand. Divide batter evenly into the two pans. Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes. Check at 30 with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, cakes are done. They should be pulling away from the sides of the pan.
- Cool on wire racks in cake pans for about 10 minutes. Then, remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks. Leave parchment on, if it hasn’t come off, until ready to assemble layer cake. It helps keep the cake moist.
- When completely cooled, frost/decorate as you like. I used a Sour Cream Chocolate Icing on this. It was fabulous! That recipe is below this one.

* Instant Espresso Powder is usually in with gourmet coffees in grocery stores. If you can’t find it, just use about 1/4 cup brewed, cooled espresso, or strong coffee, and reduce the buttermilk to 1 1/4 cups.
* If you want to make sure this cake is truly Vegetarian (for yourself or vegetarian visitors), make sure to get gelatin-free buttermilk. I use either Organic Valley, which I use for MANY products, or Trauth. The latter is the easiest to find here in Ohio. Just look on the ingredients and see if it has gelatin. Trauth is also my favourite Cottage Cheese! Berkeley Farms is a great brand in California!

So, what could possibly rest atop this lovely, sinful treat? I could have chosen the old faithful Cream Cheese Icing, but I wanted more chocolate! So, I opted for a delicious Chocolate Sour Cream Icing. I found a good place to start with the infamous Nigella Lawson. But, hers was too sweet, so I modified it a bit. Thanks for the great start, Nigella!!

I also decorated the sides of the cake with dark chocolate shards that I grated with a medium-sized grater. I used 70% instead of the 80% here so as not to scare off the taster too soon with such a strong chocolate flavour. You could use any chocolate shavings you wanted (milk, white, coffee-infused, peanut butter chips and the list goes on.) or none at all. This is a great base cake to dress up any way you want! You could even fill it with icing and cherries and put a cherry jam on top for a black forest approach. The possibilities are endless!

The recipe is as follows:

Chocolate Sour Cream Icing
Should be enough to decorate one two-layer 9-inch cake. If you like a lot of icing, double this recipe!

Ingredients
- 6 ounces melted chocolate (all 70%, half 70 half 80, or whatever combination you desire. I used half 70 half 80)
- 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup sour cream (Use regular instead of reduced fat here. The latter tastes too weak for this icing.)
- 1 tsp. Pure Vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp sifted confectioner’s sugar, or more if you like it sweeter.
- water, to preference. Up to 1/3 cup.

- Chop chocolate, with a serrated knife, into small chunks. Place in heat proof bowl and place on saucepan over simmering water. Don’t let the bowl touch the water as it will burn the chocolate. Simmer over low heat until all chocolate is melted. Take off the heat and start whisking in the butter, slowly. As the mixture cools, add the sour cream and whisk until smooth. Add the vanilla and the confectioner’s sugar, a Tbsp. at a time, and make sure there are no lumps. Then, add water until you have your desired thinness. It needs to be spreadable and silky with enough body to stick to the cake. Careful not to thin it too much as it will slide off of the cake. If you do go too thin, add more confectioner’s sugar until desired consistency. Fortunately, there’s a lot of wiggle room with this icing!

So, that’s my favourite Devil’s Food Cake for the moment. I actually have some in my kitchen right now! Well, look at the time. Time for tea and cake!

Until my next food invention, see ya next time.

Much Love and Peace to Everyone,

Christa Belle (aka Sparky)

All dairy products in these recipes are from Organic Valley. All chocolate was either Jamieson’s or Lindt. Give them a try and see what YOU think!!

Well, I have been quite busy here as we are working on the Hungry Lucy songs for our latest album. Also, I have been busy in the garden, kitchen, writing the beginnings of a story and many other selfish indulgences.

I also completed a project for my youngest sister, Shara, and I felt a huge sense of completion with it. I did a photo shoot for her when she was pregnant and decided to make a true, old-fashioned photo album for her as a keepsake. I also gave her a disc with all of the files so she could get the enlargements she needed in the future. Anyhoo, since I completed the book, only last week, Micah, the baby, is now 6 weeks old… maybe even 7 by now. Gee. I didn’t work very fast, huh? But, it was great fun, and quite difficult in some areas, and I am happy with the outcome, as is Shara. She gave me permission to post a few pictures on here so you may see some as well. For now, I’ll just post my favourite one. I want to showcase them better in a gallery form soon, but this site isn’t quite ready for that yet.

I did a colour shoot, but then decided where I wanted the tone to be. This shot just screamed gentleness and rich blacks. It’s not quite stripped of all colour, but it’s just hinting at flesh tones. Shara and Chris, her husband, have such pretty skin and hands. Shara managed to have the perfect preggo belly!!

In other news, I have started the beginnings of a story I have been thinking of for a few years now. It was inspired greatly by my Father-in-law, Peter (I call him Dayadee) and my niece Christina. While the younger character Christina evoked has changed into an older woman, the essence of Christina’s spirit is still very much there. Then, while listening to David Darling’s album ‘Cello Blue’ I got the whole beginning scene/chapter in my head. I have since written that chapter and am thinking of what comes next. I got three folks to read it and they all wanted more. Good job on my part I suppose! My tentative title for this story is called “Days with Indigo”. I’m putting this out in the open web so people can ask me how the progress is going. I used to be afraid to do this, as it invited questions, and thought it would stress me out with people constantly asking me about it. I’ve done that with a lot of things in the past and never completed them. So, I’m trying a reverse method where I put out what I want to do in the hopes that people wanting it will make it happen faster! I do get distracted very easily with gardening. I think, in a weird way, it’s an avoidance tactic. If I don’t complete it, it can’t be judged. On the other side of that bitter coin, if I don’t complete it, it can’t be enjoyed either!

Another bit of inspiration for this story, the character of Indigo, is my eldest niece, Jasmond. When I saw the first scene in my head, I saw her as the kind, deep-brown eyes that stare back at the main character with hope and innocence. It’s not really based on her as a person, per se. But, certainly a frame of reference to the beautiful, kind people around us everyday. I think there will definitely be strands of Jasmond present in the character. How could there not be? She’s such a giving person, as is Indigo. Plus, I thought Jasmond might like that name It’s a bit mysterious, like her.

So, I hope to write this story/book or whatever it becomes by this time next year. The race is on! From this day forward, ask me how I’m doing on my story, “Days with Indigo”. If I fail to complete it by July 4th of next year, I shall forever face the shame of NOT completing my own work. You may hiss at me publicly and shout “for shame, for shame” in the streets!

I heard a quote from my tried and true old friend “Little House on the Prairie” just yesterday that made me wake up and realize I need to get a move on. The quote was this “There is no shame in the work you’ve done, only the work you haven’t.” I promptly sent War-N my thoughts and he loved that quote as well. It’s a good one!

Well, I’ve got a lot of work to do! I must, by the end of this year, make my end-of-year movie and finish the HL album. All the while, writing for ‘Indigo’. I love having a creative list of things to achieve. And the best part is they are all from my own desires! Maybe if I consider it just that, an achievement list, it will seem less like a task to be done. I don’t want to die not fulfilling my own dreams. That would be very sad indeed.

Ok then. Talk to you soon!

Much Love to All,

Christa Belle

I recently had a person use one of my photos in their blog to illustrate their story. While the story was nice, and my photo did go nicely with it, they did not ask my permission and didn’t even credit me or link to my site. Instead, they directly used MY photo and said nothing about where it came from. I could have ignored it and let it go. But, it really bothered me that they had done this. Therefore, I found a way to take the pic off of their site with a little notice replacing it that states how taking people’s pictures without asking is wrong. This isn’t done out of malice, revenge or anything like that. I simply tried to tell them that if they had asked my permission, I would have gladly granted it. They didn’t. So I took it back. If they were to now ask me nicely, and apologize for taking it, I would gladly give the picture back to their story.

To some of you, this may seem odd coming from the person who believes sharing music is lovely. But, that’s just it. When people play, display or comment on our music it’s always stated that it is in fact us. This person did not do that. So, I will be posting a Creative Commons stipulation on this site very soon to anyone wanting to use my photos in the future. As long as you credit me and don’t try to profit financially from my photos I have no problems. Nothing on this site is for sale. Especially if it was not done so by me. Now, where did I put those watermarks??

A non-aggressive Christa Belle

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

This year, I have found a couple of interesting things in the garden. What I thought was a blackened leaf turned out to be a petrified frog. What I could have mistaken for garbage was a bird skull. And then, there was Pullo’s baby teeth which kept falling out left and right in the house! I thought they were all quite beautiful and thought you might, too.

Here we begin with the teeth of our baby, Pullo. Pullo is our 7 month old kitty and is growing rapidly. I literally kept hearing his teeth hit our kitchen floor as they all decided to fall out in the span of a couple of weeks! It is rare to find so many from a kitten. They usually swallow them, poo them or just get lost in the carpet.

I found the first in our carpeted hallway, then two in the kitchen and another near the sofa. It was odd that I kept them, as I have never been a fan of loose teeth on humans or any other animal. In fact, my younger sister used to torture me and show me her extremely loose teeth to make me cringe! Thanks, Shara

All of the pics were shot underneath my seedling grow light. It gave a very daylight feel to the pics even in their raw state. I adjusted them, of course, to suit my wants. I really like how they came out!

My friend I-Li (owner and Master Chocolatier of Vice Chocolates) had given me a goodie bag of chocolate at the Blacksun Festival and I still had the paper bag on my shelf. I used the bag as a backdrop on a few of the pics so that I didn’t have to use material that I’d have to wash the death out of later.

Then comes the frog. His skin looks almost like wood or peeling bark from a tree. I almost stepped on him twice, which is why I decided to pick him up. I wouldn’t have been able to stand it if I had crunched those tiny little bones beneath my feet. “shivers down spine!!”

I shot the frog on white paper so his “frogginess” would be more prominent. I managed to use the “dodge & burn” tool in Aperture (V 2.1) which was quite lovely. I love tools that you can’t tell have been used!

Then comes my favourite shots of the day…the bird skull. I sat the skull on a blue/purple clipboard that I have. It is very shiny plastic. The luminosity of the plastic made for quite a beautiful floor for the skull. It’s slightly reflecting the skull and slightly water-like at the same time. It wasn’t my intention to make such a beautiful pic from a dead bird. I was merely seeing what it would look like. I was astounded by the results! Plus, just look at the intricate design of the bones and skull itself. All that complex work inside a bird skull. Amazing.

This is the full view.

This is the cropped view. I thought this view looked very much like an old mask design. I later found out from my friend Julia that a bird skull WAS one of the first mask designs made. Cool!

I could include more, but this is a nice summary of the shots of the day. I took these with my Fujifilm S1 Pro with my AF Nikon Micro Lens (60mm, 1:2.8 D) attached. No external flash was used. Just the light from the seedling bed. I shot them using an aperture ranging from 9.5 to 18. I like a smaller aperture. I always find it softens the light that enters the lens. But hey…that’s just me

I’m gonna head out now. So, in the meantime, if you feel you need to shoot something, use a camera!

Much Love,

cb

P.S. I’m still not at all happy with the layout of these pages. At some point it will represent my vision! Please be patient as I figure out how to make it look better.

In the past couple of weeks, I have been gearing up for many things. I’ve been working on getting things ready for the garden, working on my Cemetery film and preparing for my youngest sister’s baby shower (for which I’m making the cake). This is not including any Hungry Lucy work, so my brain is a bit of a fast track at the moment!

So, I went to the Spring Grove cemetery yesterday to try (yes TRY) to shoot some video and a bunch of pics. As you can see, it was a very sunny day and I got loads of “sun beams” in pics where I didn’t necessarily want them. While I got to shoot pictures, my camera batteries in my video camera died flat. BOTH of them! I got a few panning shots of trees and such, but not much else. As I got lost in the midst of Spring Grove (which is VERY easy to do!), War-N called me on my cell phone. I had a nice little chat and suddenly, mid-sentence, my phone died. Plus, I had to pee so bad!! Knowing this may have scared War-N, I eventually found a payphone (you know they still exist, yeah?) to tell him I was ok. And yes…I found a bathroom, too It’s now 50 cents to make a local call. Crazy!! Now you can’t even tell someone “Here’s a quarter. Call someone who cares!”. You’d have to say “Here’s 50 cents. I’m awfully sorry it costs so much, but call someone who cares!”.

Blah, blah, blah…I went to cemetery #2 near Sharonville. I don’t know the name of it off the top of my head, but it’s one I frequented when I worked in the area. An old friend introduced me to this cemetery, but you’ll find out more about that story in the future film!

Anyway, I used to go here and have lunch in my car and then walk amongst the stones. I wrote a lot of poetry in this cemetery. One in particular I remember being inspired for was a poem called “Perrinne”. I thought it was a very lovely last name that I had seen on a headstone. I’ve always remembered the first line “Perrinne, you soothe me, calm me down. When things have gotten too busy…” and I sometimes go back to that statement and can find calm in the stone of Perrinne. Anyway, they have some of the oldest stones I’ve seen in this cemetery. It’s a blend of old and new stones from plot to plot. You can’t even read some of them anymore. I find this so sad. Even graves aren’t permanent. But whacha gonna do? It’s stone. It does what it wants.

Now I am preparing my seedlings indoors in a flat, in the typical fashion, under a grow light. I hope no one suspects me of growing anything of an illegal nature! We do live across from two cops and they can see my seedlings here in the library from the street. If they insist, I shall show them my tomatoes and peppers!! I had thought about starting other seeds indoors, but the other things I’m growing are all best when directly sowed. These are things such as carrots, lettuces, peas, beans and a few flowers (cornflowers, sweet peas and the like). I must say I’m absolutely dying to get out back and garden like mad! But, I must have patience. That’s the one thing gardening has taught me. As much as I may want to, you just can NOT rush things in the garden. So, I shan’t.

In my “cake trials”, as I have been calling them, I am trying to make the ultimate shower cake. I started with a Martha Stewart recipe straight from her Baking Handbook. While it was “ok” I knew I could do better. So, I replaced the cake base of Martha’s with an elegant White cake recipe. The Lemon Curd layers stayed the same and I made a straight Vanilla Swiss Buttercream instead of my first Lemon Swiss Buttercream. Cake #2 (pictured) was a definite improvement over cake #1. BUT, I still think the buttercream could be much better. It still had too much butter, which made it a bit greasy, and it didn’t have the fluffy whiteness I was hoping for. So, I shall do one more icing trial and hope for the best. I must say. Swiss Buttercream isn’t that easy! I find it wonderfully challenging. I was, however, quite pleased with the white cake I made. It was so light, moist and full of flavour. I also learned that Lemon Curd wasn’t that difficult to make. Guess what I won’t be buying as much at Jungle Jim’s?? So, in a nutshell, the cake making is going very well. We ate that one up real nice!

Ahhh…that’s better. I can’t stand having all of this stuff stuck in a deadly loop in my brain! Best to get it out and talk about it. Meanwhile, at night I’m dreaming about dried-up seedlings, lop-sided cakes that I can’t ever finish icing and a swamp of a garden that spits out whatever I plant. The brain is a weird, marvelous, quirky thing. Mine has certainly had it’s share of activity lately! I love being so busy, but sometimes my brain won’t rest when I need it to. But, it’s worth the weirdness. I’m getting things done! Now, on to a recording session for Hungry Lucy tomorrow. I’m quite excited about that, too!! But first, a grocery shop is a MUST!

May you have a splendid weekend!

With Love,

Christa Belle

Today, January 31st, I feel very much calm and happy. I had breakfast with my War-N and that always makes for a good day!

As we sat and talked, I realized how unusual our relationship really was. I always hear people say how “marriage is hard” and I just don’t know why? I know we don’t have kids, so that is a different scenario. But, to have to “work so hard” to be with the one you love…well that just seems so strange! My Mother once told me that the more time I was married, the more time I would appreciate having to myself. Sorry, Momma. I don’t feel that way yet. I’ve been with War-N for 10 years now and I still feel the butterflies when he comes home. Whenever this “work” is supposed to come into play, please don’t tell me. I’ve avoided it thus far and we are both the better for it!

I think maybe people work too hard to make something work that shouldn’t. “They say” it’s all about sacrifice, compromise and all that jazz. Why? If you aren’t with someone who appreciates all of your quirks, methods and madness, why are you with them in the first place? And before you say something, no. This isn’t a ramble about how perfect my marriage is. I’m simply going through the thoughts in my head trying to figure out what a “normal” marriage is judged by. And I’m certainly not judging anyone else’s marriage. Just thinking out loud on my blog. That’s allowed, right?

I also feel like there’s a difference in “working things out” after an argument and “working to stay together”. All couples have arguments, no matter how big or small, and have to find a resolution. But, to have to constantly find a way to want to stay in the same house? That must be a terrible feeling. Well, I know. I used to feel that way long ago, before War-N. That brings me back to a comment War-N said this morning about how divorce can be a good thing. For example, in the 50’s and 60’s people just didn’t divorce. It was not done! It was looked at as a sign of giving up or abandoning your spouse and family. But, I have learned that it can also be a sign of giving up on yourself if you DON’T get a divorce. Complacency. How terrible!

I think this came about by watching the film “51 Birch Street”. A WONDERFUL film! It’s a documentary about Doug Block and his family. I’ll say no more than that, as it will ruin it for anyone else. I’ll simply say you MUST see his brilliant film and learn everything you can from it!! I certainly have. Not just as a viewer, but as a future film-maker.

So, I hope I am never “normal” (I haven’t been by any standard thus far!) and continue to live in a calm world with my non-normal husband. Life is what we make of it. If someone is always telling you to give in, compromise or not be yourself, where is the life in that? I’m very luck to have found War-N. It wasn’t an easy road at first, by ANY means.Obstacles everywhere. But, as our buddy Clete Francis said, “If we can get through this, we can get through anything!”. You said it, Clete!! I think that’s why we’re such a strong couple today. We learned what we were early on. We embraced it and never looked back!

I hope you, yes you, are happy and know who you are within yourself. That’s the key to finding true happiness!

Much Love to everyone!

Christa Belle

As some of you may know, I recently did a DVD project for my close family and friends. For the last three years, I have done an “end of the year” project documenting events of that year. Well, the one I did for 2006 never got given to anyone, so I decided to make a ultimate DVD set of the years 2006 & 2007. It is now finished and either in the recipient’s hands, or on it’s way to them.

To describe how I felt while editing all of this material would take a long time. I’ll just say I re-learned a few things that needed re-learning. All of the people in my life are so precious to me and sometimes a video is my only way to communicate that. Yes, I communicate my feelings through music, too. But, I feel pictures and video say things that songs cannot. That said, I also made a soundtrack for the “first flush” of recipients to enjoy. Since I wasn’t selling this DVD, I just wanted to make each person a “mixed cd” in Soundtrack style. I know, I’m rambling. But who cares??

So, the design for the cover was very important to me. We had used a technique with Thorn Apple (collaboration band I was involved in) years ago where we decided to print on vellum. The look is very beautiful and ethereal. I went back to that technique and feel it made the picture look like an old Polaroid transfer or something. I LOVED it!! However, some folks couldn’t read the text, as it was a bit faint on the vellum with all that black ink. So, I made a second version on crisp white paper. It’s much more legible, but I don’t like it nearly as much. I gave the first recipients the vellum variety and the people more concerned with the reading the crisp variety. I actually remembered to make myself a copy this time, too! So, I made a vellum version for me

The picture on the front of the DVD is my Grandparent’s old porch in Athens, KY. I was VERY fortunate to go and take pictures before the whole area was torn down. I still miss that porch, place and, most importantly, the people. I often go back to Athens to the cemetery, the old town streets and buildings and just re-connect with my childhood memories. I sit on the rock wall, staring up at the stars and know there was a lot of love here once.

There is also a school in Athens, which I believe will also be torn down, that I made a menu picture on the DVD. I had taken pictures there on a recent trip to Lexington and it was perfect for a Menu backdrop. One more lovely tie to the past. Great!!

I don’t know how this will come out, but I often feel like the family documentarian. I feel like I am preserving my own life as it happens and I can look back on it any time I want, or need, to feel my human connections. I called the DVD set “Laughing through the Tears” because that’s what everyone says they do when they watch my little films. “I laughed, and cried, and laughed some more” and so on. So, the title was born. Plus, it was a line in Steel Magnolias that I just loved. A scene in the back yard where Dolly Parton’s character says “Laughter through tears is my favourite emotion.” I have to agree 100%.

So, I will continue making memory archives and living life as if each day is my last. I’m not going to waste my time “saying” i’m going to do something. I’m going to actually DO it. My wild heart is finding it’s beat once again and isn’t afraid of what’s to come!

Much Love to everyone, everywhere!

Christa Belle

Before you think I spelled it wrong, I didn’t! I made invitations using the art of Edward Gorey, so nyah! I would show it, but I’m afraid I’d be committing some unspeakable copyright infringement. I don’t wanna disrespect the “Ed”, so I shan’t.

Anyhoo, most of the party went according to plan. I didn’t get my menu tags out in time, so there were no labels on the food. But, I think people could tell what most things were, so it was all good. It was a family affair with most of my family attending. The few that weren’t there were missed. Hope they had fun with their other plans Below is War-N as “Undead Priest” and Peter as “Dracula”. Later on, you will see the Devil Woman, too!

I set the mood with a bunch of candles, orange & purple string lights and a few special items, like this picture I was given while on tour with my band, Hungry Lucy. I met this guy, who was in a band also playing that night, and we started chatting about photography. He happened to have his portfolio with him and offered me an original work! I gladly accepted and had him sign it for me. I thought choosing a photo of him, by him, was highly suitable. It marked the occasion nicely. He, Feightner, was such a nice guy and so humble about accepting compliments on his work. It was all stunningly gory, and beautiful. I thought it fit in well with the party and offered a very special touch!

I set three tables with different things. One Vampire table, one Ceremonial table and one Skull table. Each of which are below in corresponding order. I liked the ceremonial table the best just because I LOVED the photos of it!! Plus, I discovered a great way to use napkin rings as votive holders! I had them beside me on the table, before it was dressed, and I thought “Ooooh…that would be nice!”. It was, and I was happy Also a great use of cheesecloth, don’t you think??

Then, there was the food. I made Rabbit Poo, Spider Legs (complete with cheese body), Pond Scum, Plasma Fizzures and everyone else brought many more gross-sounding, but delicious, food! I was so busy that I couldn’t take photos at the time. But, Mummy Carol (Devil Woman in the photos) managed to come through for me as she shot a lot of photos that evening. Thanks Mummy!!

The Rabbit Poo was the most labor-intensive thing I’ve made in a long time. Basically, it’s tiny hand-rolled truffles served in a bed of toasted coconut. You can see a cup of it in the above picture, next to the spider, in the silver muffin cups. I figured the best way to serve them was in a bundle, as I didn’t think tons of fingers on the truffles was a very sanitary thing. Eew!

I’m not including a lot of the pics of other people, as I don’t know if they’d want to be online for the world to see. But, everyone looked so great! My youngest sister, Shara, had the best, most original costume of the night (in MY opinion). She was a Deviled Egg! She had on white scrubs, red devil horns and a tail. She completed the look with a yellow yolk on her belly! Brilliant!! But, here’s me as a Murdered Faerie. War-N did my hair, as I couldn’t get it large enough!

Here’s Dracula and Devil Woman together. Other attendees included a different Faerie (My eldest sister, Angela. We were both Faeries and didn’t know it!), an Undead Swamp Creature, Murdered Al Capone, Tina Turner, Dark Angel, the Pig from Saw, Ghost, Death, a Hot Mummy and my Dad as himself! What a list of visitors, ay?

Then, we put our projector and fabric walls to good use for a background. We played the old movies Nosferatu, Dracula and Frankenstein. We put music to it (a LOT of Skinny Puppy) and it made for a great feel.

Overall, a great night! I, as the hostess, had a few things I wasn’t happy with. But, hey. Whatcha gonna do? Everyone had a great time, so that’s what matters!

Enjoy the pics, even though they are posted rather late, and I’ll talk to you again very soon!

Take care,

cb

Well, I just got a new toy! I am now the proud owner of an AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 D lens. HOORAY! It works perfectly either on my film Nikon OR my Fujifilm S1 Pro. So, I can use it with film, or pixels

I have had the same 28-80mm lens for my camera(s) for many, many years (like more than 10!) and have always wanted a lens for close-up work and nature photography. I finally got my wish today, on Lucy’s dime! We’ll be using it for all sorts of new projects, some for the band, and some just for me.
With this shallow depth of field, I am going to have to learn how to shoot with it so I don’t have blurry pics all the time. It’s not an everyday shooter, but it’s great for getting up close and very personal with a subject! Minimum focus range is an amazing 8 3/4 inches! But, I must say, I got closer than that with good results. Now, I just need to get closer with a tripod to hold the steadiness! I tried focusing on the kitty boys, but they wouldn’t hold that still for me I chose this pic of the Sedum because it was colourful and soft. That’s what you get with a 2.8 lens, baby!! Sharp focus, soft background and amazing colour. YAY! Much work is in my path. Now I can get the right photos I need for my cookbook and finally get that off the ground! Funny what can hold you back. Now, I have absolutely no excuses to do my long awaited cookbook! Watch out, you mountainous plates of pasta. I’m a comin’ ta shoot ya!!

Large Lens Love,

cb

What a start to Fall, ay? Still in the upper 80’s here in the Ohio area and not much cool weather yet. The mornings are cool, so that’s a plus. Also, the days are getting shorter…YAY! I do love a nice dark morning to greet me after I take War-N to the bus. It gives me that “Winter” feeling and I can pretend, at least for half of the day. Also, I can go outside very early and enjoy the garden before it gets too hot. Just this morning I sat outside in my big blue chair, sipped my tea slowly and watched the birds fly from house to house avoiding loud sounds. I had my hand over my cup too, in case the birds decided to “drop” anything Hee hee!

So, I started my day with a lovely breakfast with War-N. Then, I took him to the bus and came home to enjoy my tea and time with the boys. Peanut has become much more of a lap cat lately, and Sebastian always was. So, it’s nice to have them fight over who will sit with me first! Lately, Peanut wins.

Peanut’s fur is growing back nicely. After his clean, close shave about 4 weeks ago, you can’t even tell in most photos that he’s been shaved. He’s still as regal as ever and loves being free of his dreadful dreads! He does have a bit of a resemblance to a poodle, though :/

Sebastian enjoys starting his day with the back door open, no matter the weather. He cries if you DON’T open the door! And why is it that Sebastian is so cute, and Peanut is so handsome? Size? Eyes? What is it?? Not that it matters. Just a wonderin’.

So, onto Garden News!! Aside from getting my fingers pricked by pulling the wrong weeds bare handed, I have been busy with normal maintenance (mowing, weeding, whacking and the like) and planting my Fall plant of choice, Mums. Crysanths to you lot in England! I usually go for the rusty varieties and the darker shades. I managed to get a lot of the deep colours, but I have offset them with the Bronze colours as well. It will be a big surprise as to what the Bronze ones look like though, as no buds were open as of yet. Yay…a garden surprise!

I love this particular plant. It’s a red variety mum, not blooming yet either, which name escapes me at the moment. I just love the way some of it hangs over the front of the pot. I think this one works very well in this pot. I can’t wait for opening day!

This one is an orange variety and looks great in an orange terra-cotta pot with the blue-grey rocks as a backdrop. You can see its colours already, so I just look forward to more of it.

I did a special project for Halloween, too. I got two plain old plastic black cauldrons at a craft store. I drilled 4 drainage holes in the bottom and voila! A cauldron planter for my Mums! I put them on the front porch so I can enjoy them when I sit in me rocker. The drill went through that plastic like butter, baby! Easy peasy. These varieties are Caesar Bronze (left) and Sunset Orange (right).

Then, I planted the smaller babies in the ground, mainly because I ran out of pots! I moved my Rosemary pots behind the newly planted Mums in hopes to make a cute little area for adding pumpkins and such to a bit later. I think it will work when it has more visual impact.

Speaking of Rosemary, the one in my front bed really found its roots this season! I can remember when it was a little twig of a plant that slightly resembled a small christmas tree. It, and its sister plant out back, are both flowering now. It’s so easy to not see their flowers. They are a light blue and they get lost in the sky behind them. You know what they say about Rosemary, don’t you? Where Rosemary grows, a wise, powerful woman is in charge Not really, but something like that.

Under this Rosemary is a special remembrance stone for Chloe that my sister Angie gave to me. I named her Chloe Jr., obviously, and I thought under Rosemary was an appropriate place. After all, “Rosemary is for Remembrance”.

Then, I have my growing rock collection, mostly given to me by my nephew, Jason, who is a master at collecting interesting rocks. This one looks like an old-fashioned telephone, complete with handset AND base!

He found these two rocks at the Hamilton Riverbank. I sat and watched clouds as he collected rock after rock. It’s so cool what he comes back with! He said these were for me & War-N. So, I put them under the “love seat bench” at the top of the garden.

I have some other random rocks he gave me that I just use here and there for great accents. This looks like a little river of rocks going under the pot. I love a little rock play in the garden, obviously!

And get this! These Willows were the tiny twiglets leftover from nearly three years of being in the wrong place. We had 10 originally, given to us by War-N’s parents, Peter & Carol, and we had to move them due to an error in property lines and fence problems. So, I moved them to the lowest point at the time and the didn’t like it there either and never really grew at all. Then, when we had the work done in the back yard, I moved the remaining living ones, 5 total, to the top bed with the most new, good soil in the bed. Since July, they are now nearly as tall as me and quite a bit wider than I am I’ll have a private Willow cove by next Summer! I certainly won’t be planting any additional Willows. 5 is quite enough for our space!

Then, on the subject of strawberries, they sure do like to play leapfrog! My eldest sister Angie, my Gardening Angel, gave me tons of plants a few months back. Some of them were strawberry plants from her own divisions. She gave me 11 and, after my count this morning, I have 37 contact points with the ground! Each “runner” (the little red vines) make little offshoots which, in turn, make another plant. These seem to be easy enough to control at this stage. You simply cut them off where you don’t want them to go. I want them to fill in the lower lip of the right hand side, so I’ll let them run for now. You can’t see all of them in this shot. But, trust me, there are plenty! One of the tiniest plants, with no offshoots, is even producing 2 berries in the dead end of summer! Wow. I can’t wait for the strawberry flowers in early summer next year!

Now, on to some red colour! When I planted this sturdy, blue-flowering plant, Plumbago (Leadwort to most folks), I had no idea of the glorious red colour it gets with age. After the flowers are spent, it starts to turn red…even in August. I just let it do its thing and see what happened. It surpassed the Dead Nettle beside it and went on to live a happy, healthy life as a red plant. Actually, I think my Dead Nettle died! I guess it lived up to its name, huh? Oh well. Lesson learned.

More red in the garden will follow, just a few feet north of the plumbago. Above the leadwort’s head is Russell, The Red Maple. This is the ‘October Glory’ variety and I’m starting to see signs of why. This tree will look like it’s on fire when all the leaves are in full fall colour! I’m REALLY looking forward to this show. Just the peep show is cool so far! This is also why I got this particular Maple to begin with.

Out in the front bed, I discovered a few other types of species. I saw in a few of my Rue plants a yellow, white and black caterpillar. I didn’t know what type of caterpillar it was, so I looked it up during one of our weekly trips to the bookstore. I swear to Goddess I opened the book, which was hundreds of pages, to the EXACT caterpillar that was in my garden! I looked further and found another possible match. But no. It was the first one I saw. Craziness. The match was a Black Swallowtail Butterfly. Well, it will be soon. The other candidate was the Monarch. But, the Monarch was absolute stripes with no spots and funny little antennae on its head. I don’t normally go for the crawling specimens. I saw one and I was ok. Then, I noticed quite a few on one plant. I instantly felt sick and ran inside!! Am I a girl or what? Now, it seems to only be this little guy. At least, I can’t SEE any others out there.

My “once Around” garden stroll began and ended with the eyes of Peanut and Sebastian. You can’t see Seb’s eyes fully, but if you look closely, you can see one of his eyes in the flower head of the Yarrow. Aw. My dear, sweet boys! They, of course, sat and watched out back as I took picture after picture. Peanut gets mad after a while and really wants me to either come in, or let him out! I won’t do the latter, so I go in

I can’t describe the feelings I get when I look at my now growing garden. To see it how it used to be, and how it is now, is such a huge transformation already. I feel so much more calm when I visit the back yard now. I used to feel ill and depressed every single time I looked out at our barren hill. No more of that, please! Even though it will all go to sleep, I know it will come back stronger, fuller, greener and more alive! Plus, I can watch the new shoots emerge from the ground. My oh my, I love every part of gardening!

This is a nearly full view of the back garden at its current state, Mum pots and all. I know you wanted to see it, Christopher, so here ya go

Okie, dokie. That’s about it for now. I have bulbs coming to me today which I shall plant when it finally cools down. 3 types of Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) and 2 types of Iris. Join me next time when I’ll be planting all of those beauties!

With a Cup of Tea,

Christa Belle

P.S. The alignment of this article is not fully representative of my vision. I couldn’t get my code to obey me, so I left it as it is now. Not horrid, but not great either Sorry.