Marco - Polo

This weekend Ron and Jennifer were both fighting off some bug, so I took Zach and Zoey to church with me and afterwards went to our favorite restuarant, El Magueys.  So far the day was going well.  I thought I might try to keep the kids out a little longer since their mom was so tired.

Every day on my way to work I pass the big A-Maise-ing Corn Maze. Tickets were just $5 for the maze and $2 for the hayride, so in we went.  AFTER we paid for the  tickets we were handed a detailed aerial view of a THREE ACRE maze.  It was indeed, AMAZING. There was a jack-o-lantern, and a large star, figure 8's and more. There were posts throughout the maze letting you know if you were on track or not. Two of the three posts we found were "mystery" posts.  That just meant there were no hints as to where we were!

We didn't time ourselves, but in the length of time we were in the maze, we found three separate and distinct entrances!!! The kiddos were real troopers.  Zach noticed all kinds of details which told us we had been around that particular bend before, and Zoey stated she wasn't going to quit.  So we pressed on.  Me in my new dress shoes and newly formed blister, and two children with boundless energy running ahead calling Marco - Polo, always in earshot even though I couldn't see them.

About 10 minutes before our last exit we all had been amazed enough and were ready to see grass and sky again.  We found refuge at a nice picnic table where we were offered a free cup of fresh pressed apple juice.  It was just enough to move us on to the fort next to the pond full of swans.  The kids climbed the fort and I sat on the pond bank and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

While we were there we joined a family that was going to feed some starlight mints to the horses.  We were honored to tag along just to watch.  The mom convinced Zoey to open her hand to the horse and let him take a mint.  Their mouths are sure big, especially next to a five year old's hand. What a brave child!

The hayride came and went and was pretty uneventful except that we were all covered in field dust when we got back.  Feeling dirty and parched, we stopped at a fancy ice cream parlor and stuffed ourselves before going home.   I don't get to be the grandma that does special things very often, so it was a real treat for me.

I'm pretty sure next year I will look for a nice corn maze that doesn't need a GPS to get through, and come prepared with a nice pair of tennis shoes for the occasion..

the Great Blue Heron

After wondering if the ground would ever dry up from the constant spring rains, we went directly into the driest, hottest August on record.  We had no rain the whole month while storms on the East coast poured rain into swollen rivers whose banks gave way under the crashing waves and winds of two hurricanes.

While whole towns have been evacuated and homes destroyed beyond repair I sit and look out the window and find myself grateful.  We are safe, we have electricity, air conditioning and jobs to pay for the electric bills.  We have been so blessed.

We have a little pond in our back yard, perhaps 100' in diameter, but now after no rain, it is all but dried up.  We have had ducks and Canada Geese and Great White Egrets stop by, sometimes for days, but last month a solitary Great Blue Heron came and stayed. I guess we should give him a name.  (Once my daughter lived on this property in the winter and named two geese Fred and Ginger, but they lost their lives in a fire-arms incident.)

Now, instead of finding him on the edge of the water stalking food, he is knee deep in the center of the pond. Today it is finally raining a soft gentle rain.  Probably not enough to fill the pond by any means, but the cool air and rain are as welcome today as the heron was on the day of his arrival.

This is Handmade Hoopla Week over at SnaggingStampers. I haven't been able to make anything in the past but I was determined to do it this year.

Stampington Magazines have been my best friend lately...Every spare moment I have been looking for something that I could replicate and the jar at the left was the most fun.   So far I've made 5 jars of various sizes.

Each jar has something different inside.  This one has Tinker Toys!  Hanging from the top is an array of things you might find in your kitchen junk drawer...things you can't throw away, but really aren't using.  There is a length of chandelier crystals, watch parts, wooden thread spool, old keys, buttons, beads, slide film, belt buckle, clothes pin from the 40's, a brooch, vintage thread bobbin, pendants and a few things that I can't give an name to!!!

One or two of the jars has hands from an old clock, a pair of spectacles from the 1800's (only has one ear stem!), vintage match books, dominos, wooden nickle, beaded earrings, shoe clips, vintage photographs, rhinestone jewelry, medals, button cards, vintage sewing things,  and the list goes on.  These are just some of the things I had around my art room and kitchen drawers. 

Even though they were time consuming to make, I enjoyed the process a great deal, especially being able to make a mess, leave it and come back fresh to add more. The third one was much easier as I'd finally got a rythym going for how to hang items from the top.



This is another project I found in a Stampington Magazine: Tags wrapped with lace and ribbon and pieces of fabrics topped with pretty vintage jewelry, shoe clips stick pins and buttons.

The piece at the left was made with a pair of earrings.  One earring became a pretty stick pin, and t he other is just clipped to the ribbon.

First the tags had to be dyed and dried then the fun of pulling together three items to fill the tags began.

This was fun as I had many pieces of lovely lace that were short pieces.  This one shows a vintage hankie wrapped on the tag.


This tag has a shoe clip on the front. It's big and has beautiful rhinestones in it.

The tags can be given as a gift that may be added to ones collection of pretty things, or the recipient may take it apart to use the pieces for other crafting.

Lucky for me I found a fun Thrift shop that had some jewelry at affordable prices.  I walked in and in 15 minutes I'd spent $44.00 !!!!!

Greener side of the fence

I so wish I had taken my camera to the garden with me this morning.  I skipped my routine shower and headed out before the sun mixed itself with moisture to produce unreasonable humidity.

Since I'm often not even awake at this morning hour I was surprized to hear so many birds and see the rabbits out early muching on clover.  What took me back though was a little weasel staring at me before he went into the garden.  I approached the end quietly and he came out with a sense of boldness to stare me down for a while before he turned tail and headed off for the tall weeds behind the shed.

The word weasel in my vocabulary has been connected to someone with little integrity using words to alter the perception of some issue.  A weasel uses just a bit of truth to draw you in.

Weasels - Moles....I hear they can both ruin lawns and crops.  Our neighbor, a farmer, has not yet tilled and planted his land due to the pervasive rains of the spring and summer.  I guess that weasel decided the garden was greener on this side of the fence.

Asian pack for Kristi

Bird Book pages and Cover

These are my pages for a recent Bird Book collaboration. Each member had to make two 6x6 pages with art on both sides. After all the pages came in we made our own covers.

Jan's Chunky book pages

Kay, Martha and Beth, some internet friends from Project Pedros encouraged me to start this chunky book made with scraps leftover on my art table at the end of the day. I was hesitant to take on another project, but this is one is without a deadline, without pressure and it has become a real source of relaxation for me.

Because I work in decos I'm always pulling out pictures and ephemera for up to 5 different themes in one day. I'm always up for a challenge and my table ALWAYS has bits and pieces of interesting ephemera all over it, so why not? Everything in this book was found at an arms reach...across the table or on the floor!

This February 15th 2011 entry not finished