It's Time For More Photos of Laurelwood...Our Victorian Home

This is the front walkway.

This is the right side of the house next to the master bedroom.

This is a view from the next door neighbors of the right front side showing the upper balcony door.  There used to be an outside staircase and we intend to replace it.

This is a view of the Widow's Peak and the left side iron work.

This is a photo of the left side door.  Beautiful woodwork indeed!

These are the double front doors.

This is a shot of the left side of the house.

This is in the very front lawn under massive oak trees.

This is a distance shot, showing the massive trees, the entire house and front grounds and the garage which is a masterpiece in itself.

This is a gazebo in the backyard.

This is a photo of the back door and back patio.

This isn't the most beautiful shot, but it shows the rose beds and part of the garage.

At the first part of the year we had an opportunity to purchase a house at foreclosure, and what a house it is!
I think these photos shows most of the outside of the house and grounds.  I will next time, post photos of the interior of the house.  And we are in the middle of remodeling the entire upstairs into three bedrooms.  There are approximately 23,000 bricks that were used in the making of the house and flower beds, and back patio.
ENJOY!

Photos from Paris, France from a friend

I had a very dear friend I had been corresponding with for the past two years and she would send me very special photos from France taken by herself, where she was living at the time.  She passed away on July 31st, 2011, her name was Denise Cangelosi.  She was a doll maker and would create fabulous soft-sculptured trolls and fairies.  I will miss her greatly.  She was in Cloth and Clay doll ning and some of the fantasy doll ning sites too.  These are her photos. Enjoy with remembrance of Denise.  Her former blog is: The Arrogant Frog and the Smug Beef which are evidently phrases known by Englishmen and Frenchmen and the ladies of course!

LATE BREAKING NEWS!!! MY BROTHER, TROY HOWELL, WILL BE SIGNING COPIES OF HIS BOOK 'THE DRAGON OF CRIPPLE CREEK' AT THE BALTIMORE BOOK FESTIVAL IN MARYLAND ON SEPT. 24, 2011. (THIS IS A CORRECTION AS I THOUGHT IT WAS IN OHIO).

I just went over to my brother, Troy Howell's blog and he will be signing copies of his book 'The Dragon of Cripple Creek'  at the Baltimore Book Festival in MARYLAND, on September 24, 2011.
Please go to Troy's blog and you will find out more information. There is a link to the Baltimore Book Festival blog on Troy's blog. If you scroll down two posts HERE on my blog, the link to Troy's blog is there. Click on his link, and when you get to the first page click on 'open' and then it will take you to the next page and click 'blog'. Have fun viewing his blog.
Thank you!
Teresa ~                                                                  

Children's Book Illustrator ----- Troy Howell

It's time I posted about someone whom I have known all of his life....and that is my brother, author, and children's book illustrator, Troy Howell.  Troy is a modest man, handsome...he really wanted to be an actor...but life chose him to be an artist.   So, he pursed his career at the young age of 17, when he became an illustrator for the magazine 'Cricket' for children.  From there on, he moved from Southern California where he was born and raised, and he moved to Virginia to be on the eastern seaboard to be closer to New York City where he was able to find an agent to promote his artist career.
Without much further ado he can be found at his site: www.troyhowellstudio.com 

When you arrive at his site please click on 'blog' and it will take you to his Penchant page.  On the right hand sidebar under his heading of: 'Pages' is his 'trunk sale'.  Click on the 'truck sale' and it will show you various  pieces of original artwork he has for sale at the moment.  He has also just recently written a children's book published by Amulet Books.  The title of the book is: 'The Dragon of Cripple Creek'.  There is a wealth of  MORE information about Troy's book on his 'Penchant' page under the list on the right side bar titled: 'Pages' Scroll down to the heading 'the dragon of cripple creek' and click on that older post.  On that post Troy talks of how he developed his characters for the book, the 'voice' he choose for the main character, pre-publishing sketches of his characters including ideas for the cover of his book.
I am adding a photo of one of his pieces of artwork which is available in his 'trunk sale' and a contrasting photograph of a tree in Africa, which I thought looked like a woman.  Please enjoy Troy's website.

I thought this photo was strikingly similar to Troy's 'Daphne' in his above illustration of 'Apollo and Daphne' published in 'Favorite Greek Myths' by Scholastic Press 1989. (Which is available at Amazon books.com). The original illustration is available in Troy's 'trunk sale' for $850, along with many other original pieces of his artwork, including a couple of original illustrations from the 'Redwall' series of books by author Brian Jacques of England, which, sadly this last spring, Brian passed away.   Enjoy!~

Doors, natural Corridors, and Gardens

A Medieval Faire

Just some smashing shots of a Medieval Faire I was able to participate in a few years back.