Follow Your Dreams

Follow Your Dreams - for many years now my motto has been "Be a DREAMER & a DOER"

And now I am living that dream. After being diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome on the autism spectrum I have made many connections with others who are autistic.

There is one commonality that we seem to share - we are all creative types and often very artistic. I wrote WHY DON'T THEY COME WITH INSTRUCTIONS? to share a little look at my families journey with autism. After a teaching career I knew I needed to educate to create awareness.

Naturally Autistic ANCA www.naturallyautistic.com is the organization I have chosen to share my talents with. I will be co-writing a "foodie" column with an gluten free/casein free chef and he and I will each have our own radio shows beginning in March.

Follow Your Dreams is the title of my show and I'll be sharing what I have learned along my journey growing up without an autism diagnosis. DREAMS are powerful if you focus on them they can carry you through the dark times life brings. I hope you'll visit naturally autistic website and sign up for the free newsletter so you can follow our column and find links to the wonderful radio shows.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

I find art in everything... The forties was a particularly beautiful period in time. Our family has found a fixer of a project for our new home. 1946 Jensen Motor Yacht that is 62 feet

The original light fixtures, whistle/horn, kitchen cupboard knobs, fireplace... She is amazing. Yes, she needs a great deal of work, but what an adventure! The burl walnut paneling is beautiful

She came out of the water (was actually the 2nd largest boat they had ever pulled out of the water at the Port of Everett, Washington). My husband has been working with experts to repair and repaint the bottom and hull. She is really becoming a beauty, with black bottom, green boot-stripe and white hull.

I can't wait to remodel the kitchen to a forties red & white retro kitchen. My red kitchenAid mixer will fit right in, now all I need is a retro, red toaster :o)

I'll have more pictures to come as our project progresses :)

For now I have to get back to work on Farmer's Market visits for my California Bay Area book

A few of my favorite things ... art inspired

Connecting Food, Farm and You: 40 Farmers Markets in 40 Days is a new series I am working on that will begin publication in March 2010. Eating locally means knowing that your food was freshly picked and direct from the farm. Farmers Markets are bringing communities together.

The beauty of nature inspires me in my variety of art forms: my photography often inspires paintings. The colors palette in the cauliflower had me wanting to pull out my watercolors.

Northern California / Bay Area Farmers Markets, filled with colors of every hue...

Flowers and fresh fruits from farmers markets, trips to museums, trips to the wine country, wine, cheese, and olive oil tastings all evoke memories that inspire me in my arts.

The Pacific Ocean inspires me ... from feeling the roar of the waves crashing in as you stand at the waters edge to serene moments of light reflections peeking through the clouds, beauty surrounds us.

I hope you'll join me as I travel and explore new farmers markets across the United States, enjoy the fresh foods, recipes I create with my findings and the interesting people I meet along this journey.

All photos are copyrighted, Janet Beaver Coad

An Ode to Washington Barns

Pictures of the day - tractors and farm cars

I loved this farm equipment museum in Eastern Washington

This air conditioned barn had a lovely tractor parked out front

But my favorite was this car parked out in front of a farm

it has character...

I hope you enjoyed a trip across Washington and some of my favorite vehicles

A Day in the Pacific Northwest

I love to drive around the backroads in our area and take photos of farm animals, barns and old tractors or farm equipment. I used to shoot them in black and white and develop them in our darkroom, but we have a great digital camera now and the darkroom has slowly been taken over by clocks and tools...

As I drove by this farm and parked and rolled down my window this horse came over - probably hoping for a handout (I wished I had some carrots or apples.)

There was a huge "BEWARE OF DOG" sign on the fence = I drove by two or three times and he never moved or so much as barked. I was beginning to wonder if he was alive! Cute little Australian Shepherd...

My fiber art is all done with alpaca fibers so I can't pass up a stop to look at a pasture full of alpaca! And the beautiful pink dogwood added to their beauty.

I enjoyed watching these sheep - when I passed them in the morning they were all laying down. As I drove by later in the afternoon they were walking and a few of them looked like they were stiff (I knew the feeling as this recent cold snap we've had has been driving my arthritis crazy.)

I wasn't sure if they guy was just young or had already been shorn, but cute as a button. And when I was looking at these photos after I got home I noticed the bird sitting on the back of one sheep. If you look at the picture below - the bird is on a different sheep :) the first one with the black face.

Maybe tomorrow I will post some barns or tractors and old cars.

Fiber Art Dreams become Photography Dreams

Architecture has always appealed to me - in Italy it was doorways, in San Francisco it was firescapes...

I've spent so much time hidden behind the camera photographing markets and food that I realized this is my current artistic passion. So these are my favorite shots for the day. Enjoy a little piece of San Francisco through the eye of an Aspie.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!