There's a Dragon in my Art Room: A new year, a new look, and some photos to share

Hi friends, if you've visited my blog today, you probably noticed a change in the way it looks. I enlisted my talented son to overhaul the look of my blog, since I'm not too savvy at this sort of thing. Since so many of you now read blogs on a mobile device, he's cleaned it up for you.

that's him, in the middle!

You may notice that my dragon Lucy is no longer featured on the head of the blog. Here's the former top of the blog.

I've told you about Lucy (the dragon in the photo) on several occasions on the blog; you can find them here. I expect that, down the road, Lucy will make a return, but for now she is busy relaxing in our lakeside cabin. Luckily she is a dragon and knows how to keep herself warm.

Lucy, in warmer weather

Changes in the blog format? Everything is still here, just moved a bit. You'll now find my archives and labels at the bottom of the blog, rather than the side, where they were difficult to read. A tab now provides a direct link to my Pinterest page, and my photos all have a 'pin me' button to make it easy for you. My followers have been moved to the right, above my blogroll, which hasn't moved at all. I hope you'll find the new layout user-friendly; please let me know.

The new background, by the way, is a photo I took of of autumn leaves. My camera was on a tripod, and I zoomed in and twirled the camera in a circle during a long exposure.

So while you are here, I'd love to share a few favorite photos from the past week or two, including the one of my son and step-grandkids in the photo at the top of the post, taken on Christmas Eve. We are a dual-religion family, so while I am Jewish, we also celebrate Christmas for my husband and his branch of the family tree.