Looking through some old travel pictures, found some great boat shots. I take a lot of "reference photos" to paint later if I don't have the time to paint on the spot, and found these that I really liked and meant to do last May when we were in Roatán.
Part of the fun of my own blog is that I get to put what I want on it....on nice summer days, when it's not to hot - IOW, early in the morning, it's really fun to smoke some meat! Personally, I'm not very good at this, but I do know what smells good and looks even better. And most people who have received the benefits of this, have raved about how excellent it tastes, as I'm a vegetarian and rarely eat meat. But this is such a beautiful process that it's fun to watch....and smell while it's cooking!
One caveat - this is not a definitive tutorial on smoking - this is only a documentary...as I haven't got the slightest idea about smoking - just that it's fun to watch and smell!!!
The first thing is to get a good piece of meat - my friend loves the meat at Sam's and so he's trying a whole loin pork cut - how can you go wrong with this.
This is a great piece of meat, but it needs some work. First is to remove a lot of the fat and tendons - mostly tendons as they are the tough part of the loin. Take a fillet knife and slice it just under the tendons and then pull with the other hand and they will slice right off.
This is what the loin should look like.
Next you want to shake a rub onto the meat and wrap it in foil and let it soak in overnight in the fridge. Start your fire in your smoker - which can be a grill with one section blocked off for fire & smoking the other section for the meat. Here the smoking section is on the left. Start your fire with a few coals, and have your pecon, hickory, cherry or piñon wood soaking and ready to put on your fire. Take your meat out of the fridge and place on the grill section.
It should look like this - smoking chamber off to the left, and the meat smoking on the right. Here a few more coals are added for heat, with some wood chips (hickory here) are added to continue the smoking and the lid closed.
The temp shouldn't go about 225° to 250° - it does sometimes, but you want to bring it back down when it does
Omigoodness - isn't this looking just slightly yummy?!!! I can't wait.
OK have to wait which takes about 3 to 4 hours - depending upon what the meat thermometer says except that a little testing and looking isn't all bad:
The best way to test is just slice it open
The final test is if it's tender enough to cut with a fork....it is - it's done!
The sure sign of great smoking is the pink rim around the edge of the smoked meat - these are called the ketones and aldehydes, which I'm not sure what they do with smoking except that they're supposed to be there and it's a sign of great smoked meats!!!
You can use this same method with turkey, baby back ribs - we haven't tried it yet with beef tenderloin but think it would work swell....at least it smells and tastes wonderful - I've had the turkey before and it's very, very yummy. My family swears by the ribs and tenderloin and my nephew is totally beholding to me over this smoked meat - that says it all right there!
I never really understood "You Can Never Go Home Again!" - OK - so every one is not there like it was when you were a kid, but I love going home. I was raised in a small cattle town in the foothills of the Ozarks. It was an idyllic place to grow up and in case I needed reminding of that. Just one day in my home country and I was reminded of it totally.
Isn't this beautiful - the prairie is green and beautiful - the sun is shining and everything looks new and bright - just as it should in the spring. All I need is a full chorus singing "Oh What A Beautiful Morning" in the background - this is a musical isn't it?
The original purpose was that I had "invited myself" to come up on the ranch and do some plein air painting. It would just be a lot of fun - if nothing else to get some pictures of cowboys and countryside which I really miss living in the city.
So I drive to the ranch (photo above) having to shoo a group of horsies (their females so they are horsies - not horses) who were all probably having a nonchalant conversation like:
"Martha it's another one of those humans with that strange black box coming up oh-so-quietly - oh puhlease - like we're blind - I don't think so!!!"
"Yeah, well Sarah, it's getting worse around here. Used to be that we could have this road to ourselves, now we have these humans with their crazy black boxes clicking away. What will these humans do next? How dumb do they think we are sticking a clicker inside their black boxes!!!"
While I'm trying to shoo them now - thank you for that photo op, but I need to get by PLEASE MO-O-OVE!!!!! Nothing - oh well, it's Ok - it's the country!
I would post my pictures of horsies, but my host has the prize on that sort of photography here - so go visit her pictures for the drop dead gorgeous horses....I mean horsies.
Back to drawing...I finally get past the horsie patrol and get to the "home ranch" (I've been waiting years to use that phrase from Sky King & Penny). I'm greeted by not only the resident of this beautiful land, but my cousin and her good friend, Hyacinth, the famous Hyacinth of Pioneer Woman fame who has her own blog here. I immediately get my gear together and the girls (the moms let me have their children for a couple of hours), and we take off to find a great place to paint. There's another ranch house "the Lodge" not far away, and I personally know that it has one of the best views in the 5-state area! We're there and start painting. I've purchased a bunch of art stuff - stuff I would want if I was painting for the first time, and lay it all out - show them the oil pastels (color crayons with gobs of pigment), watercolor pencils (the easy way to start with watercolors), colored pencils (just for fun), and charcoal & graphic with some great paper.
It doesn't get better than this! So we're all set up - what could be better. Actually this is a good opportunity to talk a little about plein air painting. There are some good guidelines to remember:
So we're set, and then unfortunately the teacher starts to paint, and looses track of any sort of instruction - oh well - it's the country!!! I'm painting....what can you expect......
The Codding Barn
Ranch Tree
Our gallery shows really are a lot of fun. I think we do them as much for the party as for showing the art.
Here are two of our member, (L-R) Beth Hammack and Peggy McMillan gladly taking a sale! The gallery is all spiffy for the show. We have a professional hang the art, and then everyone brings their favorite hors d'oeuvres, and voila - a party!!!
We always have a guest artist - this spring it was a jeweler Michael Cole, who has some beautiful things. He uses mostly semi-precious and gorgeous tourquoise. They were very special and unique without being strange.
Some come for the food (we know it's really fabulous).....
and some come just to see old friends.
No! The art did not make her that happy - it was my punch line!!! Ok it wasn't that either, but Mary Ann is having a blast!
So it was another successful event - I even sold some art! Stay tuned for the fall show!
OK - I'm a little late - taxes and all, but finally up and running. So what did we do?.....diving!!! I know it's a shock but there it is.
I know - it looks terribly commercial. We divers all laugh and usually sing the first line of "The Lo-o-o-o-ove Bo-o-o-o-oat!!!!" Fortunately there aren't too many of these people below the water.
First we got our reservations late, so we decided to go early and come home late - that of course costs us more than just sucking up and paying the extra for the flights, but it was also a lot more fun. So we got into Cozumel early afternoon - and takes a while to get to the hotel and then went diving. Couldn't wait to get in the water - or rather get the camera in the water.
Isn't she beautiful....looks like she put her eyelashes on just for us. But immediately in the water and we see this. I'd just read an article about triggerfish who attack - actually you really have to provoke them - apparently getting near their nursery is a big no-no. This one was alone and probably could have cared less, but I was excited to see something so important immediately on entering the water - I'm like that a lot when I'm diving!
Angelfish pair for life, here are two really big ones - about 12" to 14" long. They were just trolling around looking for stuff to eat. These are French Angelfish.
This is the beautiful Queen Angelfish which is always a wonderful find, and yes, they are this colorful. They are beautiful in the water.
I never, never fail to marvel at the beauty and delicacy that is throughout the ocean. Here is this unbelievably strong place - the ocean with its currents, drifts, and really big fish and eaters, and here's this beautifully delicate stuff growing all over.
What are you looking at bub?....You look at me and I'll take a picture of you - with a macro lens, objects may appear closer than they actually are!!!!
A word about our accommodations. We usually stay at Casa del Mar
It's a lovely place and they have geared their operation to diving and divers. But we made our reservations late, and so we couldn't get in.
So we booked a place at Casa Viento
This is Diva - the house dog - and she's as sweet as they come. It's a large casa (behind the pool in this photo), and little rooms along the other side of the pool. We had a 1st floor room, which was great with all our equipment. I can't say enough fabulous things about this place. It was off the beaten track - very clean, very neat and just the sort of place that Walt and I love to stay in. The only thing is that it is about 5 miles north of downtown San Miguel. But if you get a scooter, then you can run all over the island. For us we had to get transportation to the marina at Caleta. It wasn't bad, cause Casa Viento was such a marvelous adventure.
I would recommend it highly.
The rest of our vacation was in a time share on the Riviera Maya, which was not our cup of tea. It was big, huge and just too many people stuffed into a place that was also just too big for us. Not saying the place was bad, but it was just not for us.
After a week in Playa and the Riviera Maya, we came back to Cozumel. It is so much fun and still quaint and yet settled - good food, good diving and so far - good accommodations! 
Evening view out our window!
We love Cozumel - it's so much fun and we seem to see such beautiful things and take such beautiful pictures. 
Flamingo Tongues are always special....their shell is this background "creamy" color, and the mantel covers the shell...the dots with black outlines is the mantel. The mantel withdraws when the mollusk is disturbed or attacked.
I NEVER lose my enthusiasm or fascination with these delicate fern plants. They are everywhere in all sorts of forms, colors, shapes, but they are all delicate and there to grab up the goodies to eat in the water.
These little guys are the illusive Splendid Toadfish and seeing one in it's enclave is a real treat. Usually when someone is pointing under an over-hang, there's a toadfish in there. 
Then every once in a while you can coax one out and it's a load of fun. Never having seen this before, I had no idea of the color and hence the name: Splendid Toadfish!
The color is extraordinary and in the strangest places, but so are the coral and all the other life and shapes in the underwater paradise.
Ta-da! One of my best photos to date of the spotted anemone shrimp - they are transparent and extremely hard to capture - I particularly like the eyes.
Our camera is too much fun....and when the sun shines (in between the thunderstorms), it's a colorful extravaganza.
I planted a red bud tree in my yard in honor of my father. It's the state tree and I love it when it blooms - seems way too colorful all at once.
Bradford pears are thick in this part of the country - they bloom beautifully in the spring and have gorgeous gold/red/purple foliage in the fall and thick with leaves in the summer - great for shade. They are drought resistant, and just great for this climate. They are susceptible to the storms - last year's ice storm.
Breaks my heart to even remember this - but they are surviving pretty well, after this.
Back to spring:
There is wisteria in the back yard, and this year it's flush with blooms and the aroma is wonderful.
The blooms are short-lived, but gorgeous while they last.
In my city when I'm called for jury duty, I show up and don't try and get out of it. It's an excuse to sketch and work on some things. I usually only make it to Wed at the latest as I'm not a good jury member - most attorneys pass me up first time through voire dire.
So I'm prepared.....I come with several pictures - this one was a simple patio with great lighting - it was the lighting that really appealed to me - and the weird perspective.
I can't resist Venice - anything Venice, especially the boats...I love watercolor - I'm not good at it, but I love boats, water and watercolor
More water. Actually there was a show (1900 Paris) at the local art museum, so I went and got all inspired - museums do that to me - and went through the gift shop and got a little book on Edward Hopper, and did this boat of his:
It was cold outside, and because they were doing individual voire dire in the upstairs judge's chambers, it was hot up there, so they had the thermostat down in the court room. I wasn't the only one wearing a coat - lots of the other jurors were wearing theirs too.
This is our room in Curaçao - really neat - we looked over the harbor where the dive boats were - pretty neat to wake up to every day.
When all else fails.....and I'm bored of everything in my sketch book, my hand is always a good thing to draw....I can make it as detailed or sketchy as I want.
Well, another two years before I have to serve and so I've done my sketching in the jury room.
This is my first trip on a liveaboard, and can't think of a better way to do this than with the Nekton company. They've done this for a long time and have this art down to a fine science. The staff is really fun and of course they love diving so they make everything really terrific.
They do a briefing at each new location. Sometimes they move
during the day to offer us a new site for the afternoon and evening
dives. They have night dives every night. For the novice or not
familiar with diving....night diving is a lot of fun. There are things
out that you don't see during the day, and even though it may sound
terribly frightening in the dark water, when you get 8 or more on a
night dive, there is a lot of light out there, and more importantly you
know where everyone is. The dive masters usually draw a colorful map
of all the sites to see at the site, and by the time they are finished
and every one has asked their questions, we're all rearing to go.
There is of course all the beautiful and very sweet stuff, and then there's the really cool stuff
OK this guy maybe isn't all that pretty, but to get this shot was a
very big deal. You have to find them first of all, then they have to
come out and growl at you and they can be very shy, and then you have
to click the shutter at just the right time, have the right exposure,
aperature opening, shutter speed - it just isn't all that easy.
This always reminds me of "Frenchie" the cleaning shrimp in Finding
Nemo....this is a banded shrimp with those glorious bands on his
cleaning claws. Theoretically if you put your finger out there he will
clean it for you. Divers do this all the time however I haven't gotten
my guts up to do this yet.
Then there's the people who stay out too late and their eyes are
red....they deserve this after having too much fun the night before. No
red-eye correction helps this even a little bit. These are cute little
arrow crabs. They can range from about 4" across to almost 10"
including their leg span. They look like little spiders with this
pointed head and two eyes off to the side. The blue ocean is filled
with all sorts of exotic creatures. This is part of the fascination
with diving. Photography just seems to be a natural extension of this
- to record a lot of what is under water.
Then you have the very, very tiny - these 4 little drum fishes are
about 1/2" large, with the small one at the bottom being about 1/4" in
size. They were all floating together within a little reef area, which
had obviously offered them enough sanctuary to survive this long.
This is a face only a mother could love...and especially that
crouchy expression on his face - but those eyes don't help - unless
you're looking for a flounder, and this is the best way to find them -
those eyes go in all sorts of directions.
And this beautiful thing is called fire coral....anything with
white tips is almost always fire coral and stay away from it. It
causes a fierce burn on human skin - and the white tips are just the
minor burn, the older branches causes even worse burn. Sometimes
what's beautiful is just enough to stay away from!
....too bad I can't do that with John Cleese's voice, but alas this is the real world.
I'm reorganizing some of my blogs so they fit better. I think my diving & diving photography fit better on "My Art" part of my blog. This is the beginning!!!!
As this blog matures, I'll probably put this someplace completely
different, but for now this seems the logical place. So named this in a
new category: A Completely Different Tangent - Diving.
As well as my design, love of fashion/clothing, art and music, I
dive. And it's fun to log about all my adventures as I've matured from
a simple little snorkler
to this:
Yep - those are sharks.
In just a year we've been to Cozumel, Roatán, Bahamas, with trips back to Cozumel, US Virgin Islands and Curaçao planned for this winter.
What I plan to do here is log in those trips and keep a photo and verbal journal.
