Summer Snowbirds ... and some are not

Welcome to sunny southwest Florida where the snowbirds flock to flee the icy winds of northern winters and bask on our sugar white, sandy beaches. Then, when the humidity and heat show the slightest hints of climbing, they pack up and head north again.   We have, however, a couple of northern snowbirds that have chosen to stick around this summer; a pair of Canadian Geese.

Mom and pop geese built a nest on the tiny island in the middle of our neighbor's pond and proceeded to lay a clutch of 6 eggs.  For  many weeks mama goose sat patiently on her eggs and waited ... week after dreary long week, until finally her babies hatched. 

 Unfortunately only 4 of the eggs were viable but 4 out of 6 isn't too bad.  We've been enjoying watching the little fuzzy goslings grow and grow they do; very rapidly.  The parents have, so far, managed to protect their little ones from our local hawks and cats and dogs.  Now the only question is :  are the baby geese still considered Canadian or are they now native Floridian Geese ???

What a Difference a Couple of Years Make

Newly planted oak tree - Photo taken about 2 years ago

This past winter has been a mild one, fortunately, and our yard didn't suffered the consequences of freeze or frost damage like it did the winter of 2010.  So this Spring  everything plant in our yard has had an abundant flush of growth.

Over two years ago we planted 3 little oak trees, with hopes of someday enjoying their shade.  Of the three, the one photographed above almost died on us.  Poor little pathetic thing had turned brown and looked on the verge of dieing. I assumed it probably needed more water so drug the hose out to it and began soaking it . . . that's when I noticed the water was cascading rapidly down a hole and out of sight.  Seems the crew that planted the oak had left a huge, unfilled hole at the base of its roots.    Using a broomstick handle and the garden hose I tried to compact soil into the void and kept my fingers crossed that what I did would save the tree.

The photos below were taken just a few days ago. It is now much larger and fuller than the two other little oak trees and someday it will provide us with ample shade . . . looking forward to that when the temperatures hit a 100 !!!







FREE SHOP FOR LIFE GIVEAWAY from Handmade Artists Shop

Most of us jewelry makers and designers are familiar with Pearl's blog : A Beading Gem's Journal.
In today"s post Pearl is hosting a fantastic Giveaway for a

Free Shop for Life Giveaway from Handmade Artists Shop

 

To enter go to A Beading Gem's Journal by clicking HERE

 

Handmade Artists Shop is similar to Etsy only different in the respect that instead of charging a fee to list and a small commission on sales, Handmade Artists Shop offers a flat monthly fee of Not $20 for a premium package or $10 a month for a standard package but $5 dollars for their monthly fees with no listing charge and no commission when the items sells.  What a wonderful concept.  AND NOW GET THIS :  They are offering a giveaway of a lifetime free membership.

 

To check out their site :  CLICK HERE

 

And again to enter the giveaway  CLICK HERE

 

Dealing with the DNA Cards

photo above ... close to 30 years ago, me on the left in the blue; my taller cousin Annamaria on the right ... I don't think I need to mention that she also carries a lot more baggage on her top self than I do.

Looking  myself over, from head to toe, I began to wonder why the Master Creator never gave me a say in my choices or options as to what specific genes I would like to carry.  Why did it have to be such a blind potluck ?   Perhaps those perfect runway models are content with the genetic cards they were dealt but as for me I would have liked to have had some say in the matter.

Master Creator, "Okay now, how would you like to have your mother's varicose veins?"
Me, "I'd rather not, if you don't mind.  But thanks for asking."

Master Creator, "How do you feel about boobs?"
Me, "Well they would be nice.  What are my choices?"
Master Creator, "Well let's see now: you could either have small, teeny, tiny boobs like your grandmother Della, on your father's side; or you can have the more voluptuous breasts that your Italian mother and her side of the family possess."
Me,"Hmm, ample boobs or hardly-there boobs?  I, think I'll go with my mother's genes on that one, if you'd be so kind."

Master Creator, "How do you feel about height?  Your dad's tall,  six foot two, and so's most of his side of the family.  On the other hand, your mom is just pushing four feet ten and most of her clan is also short in stature."
Me, "Now that's a toughie.  Petite or tall?  Tall like the girl from Ipanema; being able to reach things without the aid of a step stool; being able to look over the head of that annoyingly tall person that always, always sits in front of me at the movie theaters?  You guessed it MC, tall it is!"

To be honest the Master Creator wouldn't have needed to personally ask my preferences just give me a check list of all my options so I could have checked off the ones I would have preferred.
Thin, fragile fingernails that chip easily or thick, healthy nails that can grow long and lovely?  Hum, no brainer that one !

Teeth: mother's large teeth that will require the extraction of 4 molars and then, later, the extraction of 4 wisdom teeth plus 4 or more years in orthodontics . . . or father's smaller teeth that will require very little in the way of extractions and orthodontic care?   Oh, gosh!  Let me see.  Geez, I'm not a big fan of pain and discomfort so guess I'll opt for my father's genomes on that one.

Yes the list could go on . . . and on;  but we all know that, unfortunately, we're not given the option of choosing the genomes of the body that will ultimately hold our souls.  Such a pity !

What's Up with Blogspot Word Verifications ???

Photo above ... Lunch in Lugano Switzerland. 

Me with the long hair and sunglasses, my baby daughter beside me in the gray skirt and my middle daughter across the table from us. Circa 1988

What is up with all of Google's word verifications on blogspot ?  I don't know if there's one on my blog but if there is, I want it gone.

I did a bit of blog reading and found so many blogs now have that double word smear ... er sorry, I mean verification.  Several times my comment was denied as my interpretation of the smudges ... excuse me ... the words ... was incorrect.  What a bother !  When did this take place and why has it taken place ?  Does anyone know? 
Oh and please ... PLEASE ... tell me my blog doesn't require them ... even if you have to lie to me, just tell me they're not really there.

post script ... The story I've been writting now stands at over 69,000 words and 120 pages.  It's close to being finished (excluding a few months for editing, rewriting and constant tweaking) but it still has a chapter or two left before everything's wrapped up.

A Blossoming Dream

Magnolia's aren't supposed to bloom in February but obviously no one told my little magnolia tree this small fact.  With warm winter weather its nature told it Spring had sprung and so it blossomed.

More importantly than this bit of trivial trivia is the fact that for the past few months I've been deep in contemplation.  I've been reevaluating myself, my life, my priorities ... what I want to do, what I want to accomplish.  Though I've come up with a few answers many questions still remain.

Perhaps in my heart, I knew all along I had to follow my dream no matter where it led me.  Perhaps I will simply find myself faced with a dead end street, but I'll never know unless I try.

For the past several days I've been working on a story ... a wanna be novel.    At times the story pours out of me so fast and furious I can scarcely keep up with it.  At other times I pause and wonder in what direction it will go next.

My story is far from finish and is yet in stages of rough draft.  It will need lots of fine tuning and rewriting.

Below ... for those of you who enjoy reading ... is a very small excerpt from one page of one chapter and admittedly not the most noteworthy.  I would love to hear your opinions so your comments are truly welcomed and encouraged :

Peppertree

Lora Leigh stared at the face in the mirror.  It hadn't changed much, perhaps more tired  with signs of discontent but it was still an attractive face.  Youthful enough for a 32 year old, smooth firm skin no visible wrinkles.  A pretty face graced with large turquoise blue eyes, a well defined lip and high cheek bones all framed by dark, chocolate brown hair.  She ran her fingers through her hair.  No signs of gray ... yet.  "Two years" she told herself " hard to believe it's been that long".  Today was her 32nd birthday  and the two year anniversary of her divorce from Matthew Tabor. 

It had been an amicable divorce based upon a terminology called incompatibility.  Who had initiated the divorce was debatable.  Perhaps it was Lora Leigh who had become bored with being home alone most of the time, while her CEO husband jetted off to corporate meetings in faraway lands.  Maybe Matthew had grown tired of the silence with little to discuss between them.  Dividing their assets seemed as simple as children dividing their haul of Halloween treats ... I'll let you have the Reese's peanut butter cups if I can have the Butterfingers bars.  So it was; you can have the BMW, I'll take the Mercedes. 

Lora Leigh wondered if they had ever had anything in common.  Maybe ... at the start ... at least it seemed that they had.  Had they somehow, over the years, changed... one of them ... both of them ... became different ?   

She took a last swipe of mascara across her lashes, applied a small amount of lip gloss and looked again at that familiar yet vaguely strange face peering back at her.   Today was a new day, a new beginning.  It had taken almost 2 years but the large house that she and Matthew owned had been sold,  much of the furniture had been auctioned off as neither she nor Matthew had any desire to keep any of it.  The furniture had been another matter of contention.   Lora Leigh had never liked it, it felt  too grand and pretentious for her taste.   It was Matthew's style, or so she had thought but then Matthew said there was none of it that he wanted.  Perhaps they never truly knew one another after all?   

 Matthew had collected his personal effects almost 2 years earlier,  all that remained now were a few cardboard boxes scattered throughout the house in neat little piles.  These belonged to Lora Leigh, the remnants of her life of having been Mrs. Matthew Tabor.  Soon these too would be gone, picked up by the movers and taken to her small condo.  Only the house, a shell of what used to be their home, would remain behind. Empty rooms filled with broken promises, dashed hopes and dreams unfulfilled.

Thoughtless Thursday

Little Rylee Jade - photo taken a couple of weeks ago on her first day home.

Have you ever sat down to write a letter to someone; you know you need to do it, you know you should ... must ... do it; but as you sit and look at the blank sheet of paper your mind is a blank? It may be a letter to dear, loving aunt Matilda who dotes on you, relishes your letters and to whom you've not corresponded with in far too long ... plus you really need to thank her for that thing-a-ma-bob that she sent you for your birthday ... have no idea what you'll ever do with it but it 's the thought that counts.

You begin to write; "Dearest Aunt Mattie - Hope you're fine. The weather here has been..." The words seem forced, contrived, so you crumple up that sheet of paper and start over again. Then you realize that though you adore auntie Mat, your heart and soul just are not in tune with your brain and it is impossible for you to write that much needed letter.

Well guess that has been me for some time now. Not just with blogging but with a number of other things as well. I've been playing an exasperating game of catch-up and find myself consistently falling behind. As they say; "The hurrier I go the behinder I get" !

Scattered across my work-table and desk-top are too many projects to count, all in differing stages of incompletion. Most are in need of an item such as a special focal item, a bead or beads, a certain size of jumpring or the right clasp. Frustrating! Annoying!
About the only thing I've completed in the last couple of weeks was a bird's nest necklace.  It was my first attempt at making a bird's nest. 

I found that my vast stash of beads was lacking in small oval, egg-shaped beads. The best I could come up with were these 8 mm x 6 mm oval, Dalmatian jasper beads.  Some eggs do have spots, don't they ?  

Once the nest was complete it needed a necklace, however all the chains in my supplies were either the wrong size or the wrong color.  This brass tone wire (called "Jeweler's Bronze")from Fire Mountain Gems is not the easiest to match, especially where chain is concerned.  And the color of the Dalmatian jasper was a pain to match with seed beads.  I now own at least half-a-dozen more tubes of seed beads, all in tones of beige or tan and not one of them is a dead ringer for the gray-beige background of the jasper.  I ended up settling on a
gold-lined cream.  Not perfect and in the photos it looks white but is really a soft cream-tone, very neutral.

It took several tries to finally come up with a combination of beads that complimented the bird's nest and that would fit through its bail (I should have used a larger mandrel to form the bail on). 
 Next problem was to find a clasp and, naturally, nothing that I had on hand matched.  A hook and eye clasp would have to be handmade out of 20 gauge wire of the same color; "Jeweler's Bronze".

So it's done; one project, out of far too many, that's finally complete.  Funny thing is that my first attempt at making a nest turned out fairly well though not perfect,  my second attempt however ... well let's just say it looks more like the wire in my wire scraps jar.