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Invisible Friends, you don’t know how happy I am to feature this creative woman, Marie from A Year From Oak Cottage.

Dear Marie was my first real blog friend.  She started reading my stories long before anyone else and provided me with endless love and encouragement.  She’s always been there for me.  A painter, a chef, a baker and a writer, Marie brings smiles and light to everyone she touches.  She’s an inspiration.

But I’ll let her inspire you, with her own words.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m just a humble country girl from a small town in Nova Scotia.   My dad was in the Air Force, as was my ex husband.   I work as a personal chef for an American family over here in the UK.  I love my job for the most part.  I cook anything from simple breakfasts to silver service dinner parties as well as cocktail parties for hundreds.  I love the fact that I get to constantly stretch and hone my skills as a cook.  I’ve always loved cooking and it’s pretty special to be able to do something you love for a living.  I also have been drawing and painting since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  I think of all the things I love to do in my life; this is the thing I love most of all!

What made you start blogging?  When did you start?

I started blogging about four years ago.  It started with a journal on AOL journals and migrated to Blogger as time went on.  I wanted to be able to put my thoughts, feelings and memories down somewhere that my children could go and read them.  Because their father and I are divorced, and necessity means that I live quite far from them; it was a way of staying in touch and of sharing with them. It’s become so much more than to me now.  It’s a wonderfully creative outlet for me and I have made oodles of wonderful friends through this medium. It has become an integral part of my day.  A day without blogging for me is a day with something missing.

What creative things do you do in your day to day life?

Well, I cook every day for starters.  I cook for the people up at the Big House (which is what I call the Manor House that I work in).  Since I work a split shift, I come home (I live in a country cottage on a little corner of the Manor House Estate) and  cook for my Todd and for my blog.  I also paint pictures and write little stories.  There is always a character running around in my mind and words to play with.  I am not much good with the spoken word, but words seem to flow from the ends of my fingertips with abandon and concisely.   I keep a small notebook with me at all times to jot down ideas in–stories that need to be told, pictures that need to be painted, little characters that need my brush to come alive .

What does creativity mean to you?

It’s the very heart of me.  I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t create and invent.  It is the essence of my being and a HUGE chunk of my life.  I believe God has given each one of us talents and it is a sin to ignore them or waste them.  I thank God for mine every day.

I know your faith is very important to you.  Tell me how it influences your art.

Every time I sing a hymn or read my scriptures I get these wonderfully vivid images in my mind.  When I see someone doing something, a picture comes into my mind and is immediately associated with God’s goodness to each one of us.  I can’t help it really.  I see God’s providence in everything . . . every joy, every tear, every chore .   For so long I felt alone, through a loveless and abusive marriage that lasted far too long.  I have always believed in God, but never knew that I was important enough for Him to care about.  I know the difference now and I just can’t help expressing my joy at all the good He has given me in my life.  This comes out in my writings and my paintings.  They may seem silly and simple to some, but they mean the world to me.

If you could go anywhere with anyone, where would you go and what would you do?

When I was a little girl, we had neighbors that had been everywhere.  They had travel decals of every place they had been, all pasted on the back window of their station wagon.  I must have spent hours pouring over them and dreaming about all the places they had been and the things they had seen.  My absolute favorite one was the one for Disney Land.  It was my dream to go there and it still is.  I am not sure why.  I am a person that gets motion sickness on a swing so I wouldn’t really be able to go onto any rides, but just the thought of walking up and down the streets of the Magic KIngdom and rubbing elbows with Donald Duck, Mickey, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty makes my heart sing with joy!

Describe your dream meal for me.

My dream meal would be, no question, fish and chips.  The batter on the fish crisp and light encasing sweet flaky moist cod.  The chips, hand cut and fried until nicely browned and crisp on the outside and meltingly tender and sweet on the inside.  With my homemade tartar sauce, malt vinegar and plenty of sea salt.

What’s your favorite type of pie?

That’s a hard question to answer because everyone in my family are pie afficionados.  You can put absolutely anything in between two crusts and we are up for it.  Having said that though, I do have a weakness for lemon meringue and pecan, oh, and my mother’s homemade turkey pot pie.

What are you most proud of in your life (art and otherwise)?

The one accomplishment I am most proud of in my life is that I was able to bring up five children to be responsible, happy, well adjusted adults.  One must never underestimate the value and worth of motherhood.  From the time I was a small girl until I was a married woman all I ever really wanted to be was a mother.  And to have done it without having messed it up too badly, well, what can I say?  I feel very good about that.

What is your favorite type of flower?

I love the old fashioned flowers: sweet peas, snap dragons, pansies, fox gloves, blue bells, daisies and pink roses, carnations, holly hocks.  I guess it’s a good thing I live in an English cottage because I can have a cottage garden with all those flowers!  Yes, I am blessed.

What’s the best gift you’ve ever given?

Well, I like to think the best gift I have ever given was to my children when I decided to be a stay at home mom.  They always knew where I was and I was always there when they needed me.  My mom went out to work when I was young and I always missed having her at home.  I always said that when I grew up and had my own children, I would stay at home for them.

Tell me about one of your favorite artists, Beatrix Potter.  What does she mean to you?  How does she inspire you?

Well, Beatrix never let rejection get her down or stop her from pursuing her dream.  She was a strong woman in an age when women were very much dominated by the male sex.  I have always loved her stories and her art.  She was able to see the whimsy in everyday ordinary things and animals.

Who else influences you?

Well, I have to say I am mighty fond of the art of Tasha Tudor, Mary Englebreit and Holly Hobbie.  They are my idols in the art world.  Also my Aunt Freda used to do the most lovely little drawings and writings.  I like to think I am following in her footsteps.  Nobody ever really knew she could do these things except for family, but that was a different place in time.  I have always regretted not going to art school.  My mother wouldn’t allow it and insisted I take a secretarial course instead.  I often wonder how far I could have gone had I been able to truly develop my talents and hone my skills years ago.

Where’s your favorite place?

My favorite place is my home.  Home truly is where I hang my heart and my home is wherever my heart is hung.  I’ve been blessed to have been able to live all across Canada and in several foreign countries.  I have loved every place I lived.  There is no ugly place on earth.  I truly believe that beauty is to be found everywhere and anywhere.  You just have to look for it.

I’ve given you a box with a big red bow.  What’s in it?

Why it’s a magic lamp with a genie of course!  (Along with a flying carpet)  Can’t you just imagine the adventures I am going to go on now?!

What do you hope to accomplish with your blog?   Where do you hope to be in the future?

I just want to touch hearts and minds.  I want to bring joy to people.  Whether I am capable of doing that to a few or to many, I am happy to be able to do so.  Of course, I hope that one day people will want to buy my art like they do Mary Englebreit’s.  I see my little characters as dolls and figurines and all sorts.  I would love to have a series of inspirational books out there for people to read and of course cookbooks, all filled with little bits of my art and hopefully smiles for everyone!

Let’s talk about your culinary skills.  What made you interested in cooking?

My grandmother was a fabulous cook.  She was not a fancy cook and she worked on a very limited budget, but she could make shoe leather taste good and make you want to eat it.  I expect it was the love that she infused into everything she made.  I have very fond memories of making molasses cookies with her and to this day just the smell of them baking reminds me of her and I feel all warm inside.  To me, an old fashioned molasses cookie spells love.

How long have you been cooking?  What are your favorite things to prepare?

I have been cooking since I could stand and hold a wooden spoon in my hand.  When my mom went out to work full time, I took over cooking for the family and I loved every minute of it.  I also adored the cooking part of home economics.  I just love to cook.  I don’t really have a favorite thing.  I just like cooking everything!  And I adore being challenged!

What do you hope people get from your blog?

I want people to feel like they’ve just sat down and are having a chat with a long lost friend when they come to my page.  I want them to feel the essence of my heart and to know that they are loved.  I want people to come away feeling like they’ve just spent time that was well worth spending.   I want people to come away feeling uplifted in some way.

Where do you want to be in five years?

Well, I am really hopeful that my artwork and writings will take off and that I will be able to do it full time.  My husband is 17 years older than I am and we found each other very late in life.  I hate to think that I am going to be spending the majority of our years together having to work outside the home and coming home exhausted at the end of every day.  I want to have lots of time to run through the flowers with him and to spoil him while I can.  Does that make sense?  If I could paint and write and make enough for us to live on by doing that, all my dreams would have come true.

When are you coming to Texas?

As soon as I can afford the ticket to come, I’m there!!

What current projects are you working on?

I always have a children’s story and a picture running through my head.  That never changes and is an ongoing thing.  I am working on a special project with a special friend, but don’t want to jinx it by saying anything about it.  Mum’s the word!

Does Queen Bitty scare you?

After having spent 22 years under the spell of a domineering, abusive husband, and having escaped, nothing scares me.  I have a soft spot for chihuahuas.  I’d probably pester her to death.

Cookies or Cake?

CAKE!  CAKE! CAKE!!!  I’m not bothered which kind, just send cake!

For more on Marie, visit her blog!

Stay tuned, Invisible Friends!  Tomorrow, we have more fun and after that, a week full of joyous whimsy!  Stay tuned!