Migratory Birds may just get a break, and saving water around the house for use on plants.

With such a dry year, or actually a series of drought years, migratory birds are having a bad time on the Pacific Flyway.  But with a deal brought about by Nature Conservancy, with a lot of help from Audubon and other partners, and of course the farmers, disaster for the birds may be averted.

Read about it HERE

Farmers have also been partnering to try to save habitat for the quickly declining  Tri Colored Blackbird, a sub species of Red Winged Blackbird.  The Tricolored is crashing, with numbers down 40% since 2011.

This is very exciting because all of a sudden there is some hope in the mix of other news.  I think this will work if everything goes according to plan.  Of course, as long as the drought is running, the field flooding may have to continue.  There are an unbelievable number of farm fields laying fallow along the Central Coast.
When we drove up there last month we did see huge new acreages of wine grapes but there are problems ahead for those as well.  Please read about water problems ahead for the vineyards HERE

Nearly all the lands the vines now occupy were formerly ranch lands.  The ranch lands formed good forage for small animals on which Redtailed Hawks, Merlins and other raptors, coyotes and the occasional Bobcat made livings.  Mice, cottontail Rabbits, etc, sharpened their skills of survival while dodging death from the air or from the land.  But that's a different story.   Despite the fact that these vineyards are another form of desert for all species of wildlife, winged or quadrupedal, there has been very little amelioration made for the habitats destroyed, and this is so even with all the additional stresses and problems made worse by drought.

THIS LINK goes to  the United States Drought Monitor site  for a good look at what's happening and why it is so VERY important to save bath, shower and dish washing water for watering plantings.  HERE is a list called Wise Water Use PDF, and save gray water.  You can water your potted plants with it.  I have a lot of pots and that is how I'm doing it.

Good night, and good luck!  Let's keep water out for the birds, too.  I get a TON of species by just providing cover and cool water, with a bit of forage.  They check out the roses and citrus every single day.

Wordless Saturday: A Day in the Life of.....

A Room With a View

I Could Kill for a Cupcake Day

Sunday stuff, Stealing, A pretty washcloth pattern from Simply Notable, etc .. whatever hit's my eye...

Stealing first, if it happens......Ah, I see that it did....


Weird Question Meme
Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard of the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we also have our rules. First, we always credit the blog that we stole it from and we will “fess up” to the blog owner where we stole the meme. We also provide a link to the victim's post. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") We do sometimes edit the original meme, usually to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, sometimes to select that meme's best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from either this new meme or recently asked questions from a prior featured meme.
Let's go!!!


This week's questions come from Do These Shoes Match This Purse? Maggie doesn't say where she got it, but it was probably stolen there as well.

Do you wear slippers?  Yes, I wear them most of the time in the house.  Except summers, then I wear sandals.  I would love to be able to find the Brazilian Mules I used to wear all the time.  That would make me taller than a shrimp again.  Darn!  Why can't we import proper shoes, and from anywhere but Asia?  Not all women have narrow, little feet!

How many pictures are in your living room? One of my paintings  but we actually don't have a living room, per se.  There are framed posters in the other rooms, humming birds and one of sunflowers, and some photos from my kid around the other rooms.  There's a framed  Mutts comic in this room.  You can order reprints on nice paper on line.  I love Mutts.

Do you ever watch Brady Bunch reruns?  No, I never watched them the first time, either.  sorry

Are you allergic to anything?   Lots of environmentals and a couple of biggy pharmas. 

When was the last time you called in sick?  I never did that.  I was lucky enough to be able to quit jobs if things got unbearable.  My volunteer work was what I liked the very best.

Have you ever been in a car accident?  Yes, a very bad truck flip on a back road in the Sierras when I was a kid. 

What is your favorite snack food?  potato chips

 Have you ever seen a tornado? No, but they scare the living Bejeeebers out of me anyway.

 If you won a million dollars, what would you buy first? Two houses in Santa Cruz for my kids.  They would have to make payments but the big down would really help out.

What time is it right now?  Right now as I'm typing.  But, wait, you aren't talking about "Be Here Now" time, you are speaking clock face stuff.  Nearly midnight the day before.

Do you think it's cool for men to wear flip-flops?  Sure

How many pairs of shoes do you own?  Maybe eight, probably less if you count all of them, that goes from hiking boots to strappy dress sandals.  We just watched an episode of Black Books where they all go on vacation and the ONLY thing that Fran packs in her HUGE case is Shoes!  Lol!

Do you think you are a hypochondriac?   No, I have a real, quantifiable disease, two or three of them all auto-immunes that combine their super powers to defeat me but haven't quite managed the coup yet.

Do you own a dictionary?  We have four or five dictionaries, two English and the others in different languages.  Also, we have two in Klingon.

Where was the last place you went on vacation?   Heaven.  Actually Santa Cruz but it's very close to the divine place....

Do you talk about your friends behind their back?   No, Jesus would know, and forbids it, and gossip is something you must give up to be a good Taoist or Buddhist, too.  I really want to become a Real Human Being, but I have to "change my ways" to do it.  I'm working on it. 

Are you actually fat but in complete denial about it?  No, I'm strong, and that is because I train with a Marine.  Semper Fi!  That link goes to an organization that helps Marines who are struggling.

What color is your mouse pad?  I don't have one.  I hate them.  My desk is smooth and I keep it clean so the mouse stays happy.

Does your kitchen have a theme?  American Hickory and sort of American Craft.  I am a country girl.  My sister is the Victorian.

-------------------------------

Now the pattern and a pici.

It comes from Simply Notable HERE, and is the corrected pattern for these.  I am going to make mine from size 20 white crochet thread (or maybe it's 30?  I just don't remember what I have), only it's the stuff I used as comfort knitting after J died four years ago.  I still use that cloth for my face and love it.   

Happy Birthday Dear Bee!  We love you guys so much and hope your day is, and Elle's day was, very happy. 

Since this was written on Saturday, to get a little ahead of the game, I have to go make some potato salad for later.  It's going to be a MOB scene now, I'm told.  I'm bringing knitting and earplugs.

Tah!

Saturday Komeeks,a Little Monster, and Happy Birthdays, too

Aaaannnnnddd, speaking of fish and other little creatures of the deep...

Here's a story, Via DH,  about a little monster so dangerous it had to be kept alone in the tank.  It ate EVERYTHING else in the tank.

Read about this little Monster HERE

 I guess this is one shrimp that nobody wants dares to eat.

Today is Ele's Birthday.   Tomorrow is Bee's.  Happy Birthdays to you both, and next year, a promise, we'll go have pizza together, or something very nice to eat somewhere, maybe Seabright Brewery? 

Wishing you each a Very Happy  Birthday!

The envelopes with mysterious markings have a lot of surprises in them, or rather one very big one.  Enjoy!

Friday fill-ins, pink lamp, Wolfie, lots of Generic blah blah

And, away we go!  Friday Fill-ins!

1. Paisley is one of the first Persian patterns to catch on world wide.
2. I want to use some paisley material to redo a favorite hat for summer.
3. Where is all this extra rain coming from?  Not that it all doesn't please me.  The garden is doing so well and any extra rainfall that helps fill reservoirs in California is very welcome indeed!
4. I love the rainy season so why would I want it to end?
5. Sometimes, less is enough, but that only means something to people who truly understand fashion over embellishment. I am a notorious embellisher.
6. My very favorite mustard is Grey Poupon.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a full movie night, as always because I love films, tomorrow my plans include finishing some small sparkly projects and packing them up for the mail on Monday, and Sunday, I want to re-arrange things into new boxes that DH bought me at Michaels.  They have flowers on them and all match!


Sisters Report:

Let's call this "An Ode to a Beloved Lamp", the non- rhyming version, since I am not a poet.

We went to see my sister on Wednesday, bearing gifts, and cookies, too.  I took her an Ott lite for her craft area.  She had been saying on the phone that she was finding it difficult to make things in her little sewing room.  Like myself, she has a converted bedroom for an SR.   You fellow empty nesters know the sort of room - one big window, up high.  To get enough light, C had to sit on an uncomfortable loveseat and lean forward to work on her make shift, low craft table, which strained her cranky back too much. 
 The  lamp I gave her is one of those fab little Ottlite task lamps that, when closed up, looks like (sort of) a tiny penguin, sleeping.  I've ordered a Pink one, of course, to replace it.

I missed the darn $19.99, one penny shipping offer from Jo Ann's on Valentine's Day because of not being aware of my sister's dilemma at the time, and Amazon had sold out, too!  These things must have hit a Giant Nerve with every Pink loving crafter worldwide!   Perhaps these lamps had been featured in a popular sitcom?  Anyway, they got really tough to get if you didn't want to pay full price, which I never, ever want to do.

Amazon finally got some more pink lamps by Wednesday night, with an exuberant  note saying "more on the way!!" emblazoned on the page.  So I snapped one up!  Mine, the black and white one I gave away, along with a different sort of radial-armed, wunderkind-designed task lamp,  made it possible for me to sew again at the machine.  Well, that is to say, the two lamps along with a pair of thick glasses that make me look a little like a Great Horned Owl , with glasses, have made it possible.

The Wolfie report:
Wolfie has been upchucking a few times a week, in a totally undecipherable pattern, for the past two months.  We may take him to the vet if he doesn't stop it!  Home "Forensics" have offered up only one or two clues.  He throws up nothing but fluid, and he eats very happily two minutes later.  We think he's a Nutter,  a "head case", poor little guy. He walks to his rug, and rolfs.  I've thought about training him to a Mason Jar.

 We had dedicated that rug for him already, as he loved to lie there and muse about humans and their odd pack behavior and what it meant, or perhaps he did this in order to keep a better eye on the denning cave's mouth.   We human's call it the front door.  Wolfie's rug is now the one he heaves on, which creates a traffic flow problem.  We need some blinking yellow hazard lights and saw horses like Cal Trans has, only slightly smaller so we don't trip over them.  Someday I'll tell you all about the "tortoise fence" in the side yard and my encounter with it.  Think: "Charley Chaplin".

Weather report:
 We've had a day, Tuesday, of  "Gully Washer Squalls", followed by a day of  "Glorious Puffy Clouds Floating" over the mountains and valleys, i.e., picture post card San Diego weather on Wednesday.  I was happy to have an unimpeded day of good weather to visit my sister.

Thursday  it was clouded over again, and promising more rain.  We planted tomato seeds in the form of two semi rotten parent tomatoes, before the first rains on Tuesday.   We plant them in this way as that's how these heirloom ones do best - as sneaky, squashed, semi dead little (ghouls?) tomatoes, well beyond hope of being eaten.

Anyway, we put said tomatoes in their new home, one of  Higher Rated Sunlight and up the hill from the regular routes (or highways) of the Marauding Tortoise Horde.  I reckon we will still have to fence those  relentless little bulldozers OUT of the tomato patch for their own sakes.  I'm not sure they should be allowed to eat tomato plants.  Nope!  They can't eat them, see HERE.  I shall put this puppy in the side bar!

Thankful Thursday, Chess Titans, and Generic Blah blah

I'm learning to play chess, on line.  It's awfully hard because once the black bishops move, I can't tell them from the pawns.  (You aging knitter's out there would understand this.)  The queen doesn't scare me too much because I already know she is deadly. (Off with your head!)   But that tricky king, seemingly so weak, can move in any direction one space.  So, just when you think you've got him nailed, he slaps you down.  And, to my surprise, the pawns can capture diagonally.  Of course, the game is more savvy than any beginner, but we beginners do have the advantage of a "back button"; the Chess Titans are helpless against a "back button".

I'm thankful I can see at all!  There, that's what I'm thankful for today, plus the ability to "back button" a Chess Titan when I need to (on line that is).  You can play real people on line but I declined.  There's a lot less humiliation that way. 

I'm also thankful that it's raining a bit, and it's warm rain.  Warm rain in January must be some kind of first for San Diego!

I'm thankful for the Pacific  Ocean, and the Santa Cruz Big Waves



I didn't knit at my sisters because DH went, and when he goes, it's a lot of fun and a lot more chatting.  I didn't even take the knitting because I can't knit and talk unless it's something really simple.  Plus, I have to decide if I really do need another set of needles in 20" length.  I can't just keep buying stuff!  16 inch long circs should be long enough but I need all my attention on angora to decide because no one in their right mind wants to rip back angora yarn if something doesn't work out.  I gave Sis another beeswax heart so she could keep the first one on the wall in her kitchen.  She has tiny hearts here and there everywhere.

We picked up old lady Pfaff from her "spa" yesterday, and was told by the mechanic that she couldn't make button holes anymore - the Poor old Dear. So then there was a lot of grinding of teeth, DH's, as I was introduced to a Janome Magnolia, (It has a flower on it and I would be right back there in the 70's!) in an attempt to drag me into the 21st Century.  But when we got home, I pondered all the feet I've got for those two old ladies.  Mon Dieu!  I decided to just sew with wild abandon and let the chips fall where they may.  Next to the Spa is a real Dino, the serger, for a lube and oil change. Muscle bound Sergers are definitely not females, Even with prissy little names like "Bernette".

Friday Fill-ins and chit chat

The Beauty Beneath my Feet.

And...here we go!

1. I love the feeling of having the leisure to not have to rush off now, in the morning.

2. Seeing my husband smile at me when he brings me tea always brightens my day.

3. Being able to go see my daughters again in that game changing year is what I will remember the most from 2012.

4. My favorite family recipe is hand made pizza from scratch, the dough and all;  we don't make it anymore but it's still better than anything you can buy anywhere.

5. When I want to spoil myself I have coffee and chocolate covered ginger from Trader Joe's, or maybe some Lacey's Cookies.  I love them both.

6. "Bones" (or maybe "Numb3rs") is my favorite TV show.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching Netflix or reading Dr. Terry's Bear book; tomorrow my plans include doing more organizing or pouring more wax forms and Sunday, I want to go through one big tote in the sewing room.  Just yank that puppy out from under the table in there and go through it.  It's not a tailor's workroom, like I want to have in there, so it's just going to be my sewing room for the rest of my life!  This, even though it will always LOOK like a tailor's workroom.

The weather is finally warming up, three cheers!  The roses were pruned today, and the doves that usually hide along the stand for the water shell were sitting disconsolate in the cape honeysuckle that has really taken a cold weather hit.   I hope it survives.  But, it's a hero plant, as it saved the citrus trees in it's shadow.

Yesterday I went to see my sister, who surprised me with a little silver heart necklace that she made from half a pair of earrings; she made two necklaces, matching, for us.  I took her one of the bee's wax hearts which she has decided to hang in her kitchen.  We talked about Mother, and how she liked Oriental things.  Mom called them her "Chinesey looking things".  

It was a lifelong passion for Mother, this love of the Oriental Look.   Sis and I talked about having gotten the bug for thrift shops from Mother.  She really loved to go thrift shopping to search out her special little bits and pieces of "things to look at."   I thought it was a mid-western behavior  but it's not. 

All people love a bargain. And most women have a decorator's hand for their homes, even if they have very little money.  She would find clothes there, too.  So do we.  And my daughters, too.  It's fun.  You never know what you will find, and it's just a lot of fun to do.

In a few days I have to have a procedure on my eyes.  One is too dry and the other one always is dripping tears.  People think I'm sad because a tear periodically rolls down my cheek.  Well, sometimes I am sad but it's different, that errant drip.  It is an ersatz tear.   

When we are driving somewhere, and I have to wipe away a tear, I imagine that other drivers or passengers in cars think that some unhappy event has transpired, but it's only that I have ultra tiny tear ducts and they won't behave!  I hope that the new specialist can whip those little follicles into shape!

Still no knitting.  But I've picked out a half a dozen possibilities for the sock yarns for an Opal sock bunny and unearthed the pattern, yarn and needles for a nice angora hat.  Hopefully I am NOT allergic to Angora, an insult that occurs more and more as the years pile on. Oh!  Big FAT Yay!  I have a new allergy and it's to lichie nuts, Angora, hot buttered popcorn, banana splits *insert whatever*!   But this is America, and there is a heck of a lot of food here.  I'll always find something really good to eat.  That is until they have to feed me through a tube, yes?  Please God, no!

Three little sisters at Halloween a long time ago.
Right to left - Elle, Gee and Jimmie

Little Readers, start them Young!
Twins and me, Jimmie in front, Gee next to me.

Daddy and the Big Sisters Bee left, and Elle right

We are all still readers.  It's a Great Escape! 

Music Monday- Roberta Flack, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", and Bee's Waxswax Heartscraft

This is such a beautiful song.  I love this recording where Roberta Flack plays the piano accompaniment to her voice.  She is an amazing performer.




And now, as promised, the update on the beeswax buttons for hand sewing and beading...

The set up for melting and pouring...and waiting, waiting, waiting for the wax to melt on the Low setting on the iron.

Big background photo shows the set up and tools used
Top right shows the wax melting in the chili can
Bottom right is the cooling forms.  You have to let them cool about twenty minutes before un-molding.

 The pictures are sort of self explanatory but being me, I've set about explaining it all.

Top left is a stabbing tool for testing cakes and baked potatoes but I used it to float wax on the bottom of the flat undecorated form.
Top right shows the un-molded Heart shaped silicon (blue thing)
The two on the bottom corners show the bottom and top of the connected pieces, trimmed.  

This was very fun to do, but I'll warn you to keep the iron setting as low as possible, Be patient and not walk away from the wax on the iron, and remember that everything is very hot.  The wax will stick to your skin like glue if you spill it on you, making for almost instant 3rd degree burns. The silicone mold is the one I bought some time ago from Miniature Sweet, a beautiful Etsy Shop.

I didn't sleep all night, took a long nap today and didn't start the angora hat.  But I will start it soon.  The weather is FREEZING!  I can't believe that the warnings of this that came out of Scripp's Institute of Oceanography in the early 1970s were ignored.  Now we are in it, and it's going to hurt.  My advice, learn to swim, but also, buy a full wet suit meant for the arctic. Oh yes, and watch for flying debris when the poles flip.  The last was a joke.

Sewing, when I get the Nina back, will commence in style.  DH snagged two lovely Simplicity patterns for 99¢ each for me this morning.  I couldn't be happier if I were twins.  1714, for the starfish and the nesting pincushions, and  the one I've been after forever, 2921.  There are a few others but I'm trying to stop buying anymore garment patterns.

Cheerio!  Head's up!  Go have some fun crafting. It's good for what ails you, though it doesn't solve the great question of why we are here, it does adds color and meaning to the journey.  It also keeps you off those mean streets and out of the bars.
 

Friday Fill-ins, Bead Shop Crawl, Two pounds of lovely wool bits arrive.

1. I was born during a full moon.
2. But I don't howl when the moon is full.
3. When we laugh at adversity, we sometimes die.
4. But, maybe to die laughing is the best!
5. Underneath it all I remind myself that nothing in this world is real.
6. Oh! And thanks for that, Dear God in Heaven!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to eating solid food, tomorrow my plans include finish making another cornucopia decoration, and Sunday, I want to knit, eat Halloween candy, and read! 

Wednesday this week, my sis and I hit the local bead shop.   This is being typed late, and I need some daylight to take pictures of my tiny haul but one thing I did find out.  Silver findings cost an arm and a leg now, even tiny head pins are over a buck a piece.  OUCH!  We went home and recovered with some tea and a chinwag about Victorian stuff and a space heater near disaster.  She showed me all her current projects and if anyone can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, it's my sister.  She's a master crafter!  I know, so boring. 

Yesterday was All Saint's Day.  I spent most of it recovering from a monster headache that woke me up at 4:30 am.  I slept a good part of the day.  Since I believe in Saints and Angels, this is a good day.  "All Hallows Eve" is another name for yesterday, and "The Day of the Dead", in Mexico.  It's really a day for honoring loved ones who have moved on to the real world.
 
A while ago (after having seen a list of such places before from one of the Biggies in Saving the Earth) I searched the web for predator friendly places to find raw wools of many colors for felting.   I found  this place, Becky Weed's Thirteen Mile Lamb and Wool Company    Though she didn't have the specific wool product for sale that I wanted, she kindly put together a couple of pounds for me anyway.  Yay, Becky!  I am delighted with what she sent, two pounds of assorted colors from her flock, of bits and pieces that were left over from the edges of fleeces, some washed, some raw.  I reckon that I've got a tutorial period, and when that is done, I'll have very soft hands from the lanolin.  When I get done, I hope to know how to do a whole fleece for spinning. 

One side, and, the Flip side

I will have to plot out, all over again,  how to wash raw wool, and care for it afterwards.  I guess it's, "pick, soak, soak, soak, and then wash, rinse, rinse rinse, dry, pick, comb, and Bob's your Uncle!  At least I hope that's what it is.  I'll try not to felt it!  This isn't actual knitting, but it's a close cousin.

Halloween Hearth:

They all light up and look very cute

My little wake up call in June or whenever it was has made me want to decorate for all the reasonable holidays, and Halloween is one of them.

Sadly, teens aren't trick or treating much anymore, so we have a lot of candy left.  I reckon the teens go to parties or they stay home and baby sit (for very big bucks) so that adults can go out, run around, and howl at the moon!

I miss the elderly twins who used to come by, in costume, and collect candy.  I never cared how old anyone was, and as long as they were in costume, they got candy.  Some of the teens were so big that it was scary, since they dressed up like characters in horror flicks.  But, life should be fun, eh?  Anyway, I miss them.  At least I didn't have to figure out what to do with so much left over candy.

Saturday Komeekz, plus "This and that"

 Art Rant, Care and Feeding of Good Things, Democracy Maintenance ...Dust  to Dust.

Saturday Komeekz:

Every parent knows about this....

 This adorable cartoon about a family growing up, and the challenges of being a parent, has stolen my heart for many a year.  I hope you enjoy it, too.

While musing in the big comfy chair yesterday morning, I decided that I'm sick to DEATH of the "art as commodity" community.   I saw some truly original, and wonderful artists (not myself- I'm not in their league) go down in flames because they couldn't get gallery space or a sponsor with bags of the "readies".  With such an event, if it happens for you, begins the mad rush of "collectors" to OWN "an early Glootlespittle" and entre into the art (as commodity) market. I know, what an awful thing to say!  But I was musing about it.

Then I went to k's blog, Dotted Yellow Line and grabbed her link to an article. It's so worth sharing.

Also, at Big 7-0 & More , June reminded her readers of something worth remembering - that we need to celebrate, within ourselves and as a community, the people who make a difference in the world around them by bringing joy and fun into lives.  YES! Magazine, which I read from time to time (and want to share) is one place that was created to do just that.

On the other hand, it's unfortunate that we've had to keep such a constant vigilance to save a Democracy meant to be a model for the world, and this to the point that the good got pushed to the wayside. We have a big job ahead of us, folks!

  Remember, You have the right to vote!!!!

Horoscope for the day:
"There is no major conflict in your foreseeable future except perhaps between warring factions of your own belief system.  This touch of cognitive dissonance makes the day more interesting."

My conflict is that I don't believe anything in this world to be Real, (almost all major religions concur in this belief) but I have to clean up my messes of all these unreal things as well as to attempt to dust the rest of the unreal junk (nearly everyday) to feel good about myself.

I'm really not sure this does much for making a day interesting because I'm allergic to dust!  A friend of mine from Rockhound days has a grownup son who was so allergic to dust as a child that it was life threatening.  She told me one time when she and her hubby went to visit him they were astounded by the amount of dust on every surface.  Son was single at the time.  He told her, "Dust is a protective cover for furniture".  She reckoned that he was either on to something or had grow out of his allergy.  I think he was on to something.  Yet, I still attempt to dust, with predictable results.  Achooooo!

Now for the other side of the "cusp" stuff:

"You are the most committed person you know right now, especially your commitment to fun.  Your play today deserves at least as much attention as your work did yesterday."

Actually, yesterday was a fun day.  It was our 49th Wedding Anniversary, and since we have no family close by that remembers or cares much, we made our own fun.  We went to a favorite restaurant for Italian food and a little wine, then came home and watched a movie.  The whole day, on my part, was totally selfish, and totally grand.  I also finally ran down that glue stick that allows ordinary paper to act like a Post it note, Elmer's makes it, and found the most amazing eraser that masquerades as a licorice stick.  All this fun at Staples!  Who knew?!

The Restickable Stick, and a long PINK eraser that looks like candy.

Today I'll be putting things back in boxes that got overlooked in the long healing process after knee surgery and other surgical interludes since then.  I've liked looking at the Christmas swags on the backs of the sofa and loveseat, the snowmen on the hearth, etc., but Halloween and Thanksgiving are coming so it's time to stow some swags and snowmen!  At least the Santas all got a rest!

My Favorite tiny Halloween Ceramic.  She comes from a set of five or six small ones but reminds me of one of my kids.

So, there you are, sort of a week in the life of.

Found on the dotted yellow line in the middle of the road!

Binders Full of Women

And now for something completely different...

Well, almost...

kudos to k

Sunday Matinee, and bungalow talk.

All the links to photos have become Broken, so I'll live without them for awhile.

Sunday Matinee is for a picture called, "Get Low"

A first time major film director, Aaron Schneider, has done what can only be described as a masterwork.  In the Special Features (I forget just who said it) the comment was made that when they looked back on their career there would be this beautiful gem of film they had helped to create that would be like a legacy.  I agree.  The film is beautifully scored, acted, edited, produced, and delivered.

Robert Duvall plays the main character, the Hermit who throws himself a party.  With a magnificent supporting cast, he tells the story of his life, going from hated local monster to, well, you can watch the transformation.  Sort of Dark and a bit Gritty, it's worth the time you'll spend to watch it.  Very Fine!



Bungalow ode:

How's Rob Blog had THIS up and it reminded me of the insane love I have for the California Bungalow, so many have been lost in re-development that it makes me want to cry.  Or maybe it makes me want to puke from the stress of losing favorite things;  I can't tell.  Anyway, the article she posted is hilarious, and worth the read. 

Friday fill-ins and Adventures in dentistry...

1. The tale is told of living free to move about, clean rivers and lands, and an abundance of wildlife.
2. Seeing deer, bison, and horses running freely is something that always makes me think of my ancestors.
3. To ensure my remembrance of my Indian Ancestry, I read about Native Americans and support their causes.
4.  Freedom in one's own lands is a fine thing.
5. It's never too late to recapture that feeling.
6. When I was given it, I wrote my Indian name on the back of an old receipt.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching Netflix, tomorrow my plans include staying cool - because tomorrow will be hotter again, and Sunday, I want to read "The Good Thief" and some more of "The Beginner's Guide to Walking the Buddha's Eight fold Path"!

Adventures in Dentistry:

When I went to the dentist two days ago I had to take the usual dose of anti-biotic because of knee replacement.  By the time my cleaning was done and I could sit up, I noticed a rash on my kneecap.  I looked at my chest and it was there, too.  "Mon Dieu"!  The Dental assistant looked at my back and hip and called the doctor back.  He looked at my kneecap and said, "Yes, you are having a reaction to the Amoxicillin".

Luckily, I take generic Benadryl daily, but by the time I got home I had some welts and more rash so I started taking Benadryl, a lot of it!  The next morning my face, tongue, lips and throat had swollen up like a snake had bitten me, and some welts had appeared.  I was determined to NOT have another run to the ER this month, or even this year! I just kept taking the generic B, and today I'm much better.  I mourn the loss of any penicillin, but it sort of runs in the family, so I was lucky while it lasted.

Yarn destash:  I have gifted a HUGE bag of yarns to DD, who weaves, kept some wools for small baskets and stuff, and given about 10 pounds of mixed wools and acrylics, plus some blends, to Sally's.  I'm going to have to make a list of projects otherwise they will just float right out of this leaky Kon Tiki of a brain.  Lists are good things.

Saturday Komeekz and Generic Blah Blah

Good old ( well, maybe not exactly old) Lalo!  Huzzah!

Yes, just when will women, who make up 50.85% of the U.S. population finally get "personhood"?

The way back machine. Elle "reading" to Bee. 

Elle could read very young but not quite this young.  After getting the idea that those sounds and symbols are what makes the story, I don't think she's ever stopped reading again!

 Elle had an eye operation before she was 18 months, and after that there was no keeping a book out of her hands.  She also taught her little sister to read!  The girls are a little over 1 and 2 here.  Does anyone else remember TV with an antenna on the roof,  and those awful plastic drapes when we were just starting out housekeeping, and they were lots cheaper than cloth?  The line snaking out the window was for our FM radio or maybe the TV.  Our TV was a black and white monster we had for years and years until someone gave us a color TV.  Anyway, we can't remember which it was as this little house had a tile roof so not so easy to put out an antenna.  Years later, The house burnt down in a big wildfire.  We hadn't lived there for a long time but I remember our wonderful neighbors, and the "hood", and felt very sorry indeed.

As an aside, none of us own a Kindle or any other device for reading books.  We just seem to like books best. No offense to those who love their Kindles and Nooks.


 I turned on the earring "machine" in the middle of the week, and have made these for a sweet, comical friend who came to meet us, with her very humorous sister, in Santa Cruz.   We go back a long ways, J and I.  She's so very dear to my heart.  We stayed in her field one year for a week.  I made some tasty little sweet buns in the tiny oven of the RV - succeeding in not burning them all - and we had a chin wag and Low Tea at the dinette one mid-morning.

She took us on a tour of wine country and we got a LOT of tasting in that day!  Wheeeee!  Also, we went to see the ancestral Native American village, re-created by California Parks and Recreation.  We need to keep those people in mind while we gaze into the distance over the tops of the Giant Redwoods at the Zip lines.  California is the home of their ancestors.

These are J's favorite colors

 Today I'll make more earrings but these will be from some re-cycled bracelets  that the DDs found at the Flea Market.  They asked me to make them some earrings.  And dear S,  yours are on the assembly line.  I found some marvelous leafy things in the bead stash.  

I mentioned the pretty flowers on something that is called bind weed in Santa Cruz.  It grows here,too, but I never knew it was a pest.  Such a pretty little flower.

Now for something else beautiful

Elle made one of these for each of us. 

My new bracelet, very hard to photograph unless it's on a light table, a technique I haven't quite mastered.

I hope your weekend is going along happily, and that there aren't too many pictures in this post to make it unwieldy!   There's a trip to the Monterey Aquarium coming up and it's loads of pictures.  I'll make a flicker album or something.  Not sure.  (How is all this for "chain of thought" blah blah?  I'm in good company with some pop pulp fiction authors, right?) 

Life moves along at a "Glacial Pace"

Life report with the Weather thown in:

I was dashing around and didn't proof read this well!

It's hot.  I hate it.  Meanwhile, Life just moves along at too fast a pace, as usual, for getting much crafting done and craft goes at the Glacial Pace.

Bird Report;  I was watching out for a baby dove, trying to decide whether it was abandoned by it's parents or not.  The tiny adult female is a careless mother, but then doves didn't evolve around cats.  I know that fledgling doves get fed a couple of times a day on Pigeon's milk but I didn't see the parents around until almost dusk.  Today a hawk got the baby.  It's depressing not being able to help these young and innocent little creatures.

But, happier news.  DH was out walking Wolfie and came upon an hummingbird that seemed like it had a broken wing, lying in the road.  Mon Dieu!  He tried to pick it up but it flew a little distance into a gutter.  He came home and googled Project Wildlife, then went back out after a short consultation with me, and picked it up and put it on a low bush.  It was tiny, more so than usual.  It finally rested enough - and it's parent was nearby - and flew up into a larger bush, then flew straight up, like a bumblebee, into a nearby tree.  Success!

Wolfie (and Me) report:

If Wolfie were a Red Dog.

 That is Exactly what his face and body look like.  This was in an email to me, and I have NO idea where the picture came from originally, but this IS Wolfie as a red dog.  The ears, no; that is just an updo by the person who is supposed to be this little fellow's friend.  Would you do that to a friend?  Lol

Wolfie is scratching the same parts of his body constantly, and I'm worried that the surgery has affected his brain and has made him into one of those neurotic dogs ( more so than he was) that scratches constantly from a form of post surgery insanity.  While contemplating all this, I was so nervous that was scratching myself.  Hmmm?   I will be checking into Canine troubles after anethesia. Anyway, he is still very cute, kicking his feet when he's in my arms, like a baby human.  I guess he's my honorary grand child.

As to what happens to humans, the post op fog:  I am getting better at making change.  But, I still have trouble understanding my Knitting.  The ability to understand a pattern is coming back very slowly.  I was told this would happen but didn't realize it would take so long!  No wonder they wouldn't let DH see me in Recovery, and that it took so long.  I might have tried to leave by the trap door in the ceiling, maybe?  October 19 is one year.

The DDs found this beautiful stuff at a thrift store a few months ago, and one bought it for me to use.  Yay Thrift Stores!  There are 8 skeins.  A shorty sweater?  Very tall socks?

Yummy Stuff

I would make her something from it but she's allergic to wool.  As you can see, it's Merino 5 from Crystal Palace, The Whole big wad for $3.25.  Not bad, eh?The two wound balls in the back were wound so tightly that the bounce was almost gone from the yarn.  They were one big ball and I swear it was so tight that I could bounce it off the floor.  Someone really UPTIGHT must have owned this yarn and tried to make something that REALLY bit them hard.  I hope to make something nice, like who knows what with it.  It won't be socks but I don't think there is enough for a sweater.  Maybe a vest?  The colors are luscious!

Yesterday, at ceramics, I glazed a small plate with a red glaze that will turn an amazing, speckled green in the kiln.  I'll plug a snap in here later.  Meanwhile you can gaze at the hunk of bee's wax bought at a local Farmer's Market.  Ooops, here's the pic.  I forgot...

Ceramic Rabbit Contemplates Beeswax Mountain

DH calls it Mt. Beeswax.  I think he wants to go climb another mountain.  I'm looking for a mold, or will make one, of a bee.  It's really not too hard to do.  Then I'll make some little bees' wax cakes for sewing.



But back to the Ceramic piece blah blah.  I'm also using a crackle glaze on one side in a quarter moon shape as an experiment.  Depending on how long it takes to I find my glaze formula books, I'll be running down to FreeForm to buy ingredients for a slip glaze.   This, since no one local sells the stuff anymore.

 ****RANT ALERT**** I guess potters gave up on it and the "market" followed suit.  China makes all the low priced art pottery now; they have the market sewn up on most things, including the beautiful art glazes that once were the pride of American Pottery.  With all the jobs in China, no wonder we can't find jobs that  pay a decent "living wage" for anything.  But, that's free trade!  I say, Good Job Murano Glass for keeping YOUR market!

Happy stuff.  My sister and I are going to watch the rest of Downton Abby.  When is the next one coming out on DVD?  Ican'twait!

Lots of Photos...Crafty hands, SkyWatcher Post, Arboretum visit, and first Woggy felting project

I made all photos small for ease of loading but make them bigger with a click...


 Crafting hands

DD1's Hands make a beaded bracelet

At Camp, DD4 makes the dotted egg

My first felting - yes, it's supposed to be an egg. Ha!

Cities have pretty skies, too, especially along coast lines.

Sunset in the City

Arboretum Proteas

Sunlight through Protea Flower

Plainer but did the bees love this one!

Ghostly White that must have been spectacular in Moonlight

 I'm sorry to say that I've not touched my knitting.  This is actually the coolest day we've had since we returned so that's my excuse.  I'm sprawling out with my books - The Lady's #1 Detective Agency re-read - and working in the garden.

Garden Report:

There are Lots and LOTS of new tiny succulent starts to minister to, and I dead headed the big Apricot Nectar Grandaflora (Happily, it LIVED!) and cleared away a very aggressive upstart of a scented geranium that the birds must have planted last fall.  I want it but I don't want it where it is.  I'll transplant it this coming winter.  It was headed for the Grandflora with a speed reserved for Giant Kelp!  You just can't have something going for a treasured rose!  You just have to put a stop to that level of floral aggro!  The rose struggles enough. 

Speaking of roses, I saw an unusually pretty rose in Trescony Park community garden this month. Trescony is called a Kid's Park and it really is a lovely small park for the little ones.

This beautifully shaped rose starts out bright yellow
Then it fades to this lovely white with pink edges.

 I'm sore all over.  Gardening and Fitness.  Chocolate here I come!

PS. Federer Survives...

I watched part of this "Thriller" match on the big screens at the gym yesterday, and let me tell you, it truly was brutal.   With many badminton ploys being handed back and forth across that net, it was fantastic to watch these two tennis stars.   Djokovic really had Federer down and I thought maybe, just maybe, he would win the match.  Amazing play!  I love tennis!

AS the World Burns... Long, get a cuppa...

The Daily Grind: Or, Why I feel like I'm living in the "Pickles" comic strip.

I had a good work out yesterday, and my trainer, whom I swear is a Buddhist Monk, helped me with my inner turmoil as well.  He also applied the foam roll to the darn muscles in my legs that vapor locked this last week. Our understanding is that when I grimace and grit my teeth, he get's to say, "This is all to the good!", and then we both laugh.

So, this isn't a completely beochy post.

Two days ago, Thursday, I took my knitting bag with me when we took my sister to a lab.  I took the knitting, but forgot the patterns were laying on the table under some stupid flyer that had been left on the doorknob.  Joy, Joy JOY!   At least the wait at the lab was not long because we had gotten there at the CRACK of DAWN!

So, when we got home from taking Sis  to get her very sore back ex-rayed, I put the knitting bag with the teddy bear on my shoulder (thanks Suzi!) as we came into the house, and I started looking for the phone that I take out to the area of the comfy chair in order to have it handy while knitting.  Alas, the phone had vanished!  So, after dashing around looking in all the usual places that phone chooses to lurk, I decided to call it, on my cell, to scare it out of hiding.  No luck, I could hear the thing ringing but it seemed to be behind something where it never would have been put; was it maybe inside a drawer?  I pulled out all the drawers.  Nope.

Then DH said, "shut off the machine and call it again."  After arguing for a few minutes over that tactic, I did, with the same result only this time I listened with more care.  The lost phone rang longer, thus proving DH right about it all, and as I turned, the phone kept ringing somewhere behind me.  I walked out to the chair and the sound of the phone followed.  WTFrak?

Yes, dear readers, I had put the stupid phone into the bag on my shoulder but had forgotten having done so.  Phone found, I took what remained of my befuddled brains and sat on them, in the comfy chair.  I did not knit.

Yesterday, Friday, I did almost "Dance in the Kitchen" as I tried to keep from falling on my face after having avoided DH, who came barreling through behind me while taking plates to the dining area table.  After my Robo-dancing cum stumbling around ceased, I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants.

 Rho, does it count as dancing in the kitchen?   I asked DH, and he stopped laughing long enough to vigorously shake his head, "Yes!".
-------------------------------------------------
Huzzah!  And, "Let the games begin"!

The days have gotten long and hard;  I have a feeling that worry over this caused my own recent "Evac to the Zoooo".

Let Go and Let God.

I want to knit A LOT more ( A LOT MORE), and get those three sweaters finished this year (!!!) !  I want to get my house in order, as in, "tidy" as well as clean.  My favorite Aunt once said to me, "You are just a little untidy but you are clean.  Just work on keeping it all in order."  So I did.  The floor tiles need to be steam cleaned.  I need/want to get/rent a steamer.

Getting rid of business junk has been very hard.  It has to be handled in the proper way.  That takes time and care and so much mental energy looking through/at all the stuff!   Besides, ceramics is heating up again, or was.  We now have a big part of the power grid off line out here on the coast of Cali.  I'll just do the things I can do, and I'll wait 'til after summer to fire all of it if I have to.  The club has it's own kilns which is very handy for hobby stuff.

The San Onofre Nuclear Power Station, and it's possibly improper design, finally caught up with those higher on the food chain than mere shell fish and aquatic plant life.  This last development means that running the kiln will be very expensive.  Life in SoCal will again be like living through those long, dark days of multi million dollar crooks, speaking here of Enron.  This time it will be without, probably-maybe, some tasty little fraud in the mix.

The Truth about farm labor: Updated to set straight a misunderstanding:

Maybe it's because these kids are, as is the modern term labels them, "Hispanic",  but at least 400,000 American children (because either they or their parents were born here) work in the fields*, (see excerpt below) a lot of them working as much as a 30 hour week, and paid very little.  They get behind in school because they constantly have to move with the work, to the point that half of them do not graduate, and those who do so hardly ever do so in spectacular fashion.

Today at the gym, I listened for a few minutes to a couple of over privileged Old Farts yammering on about what Obama had done to grant legal status to immigrant children.   I think it's fantastic he's done this, and this is why:

What this does is start to help heal a cancerous sore that is on the body of workers who pick and put fruits and vegetables on our tables.  The next time you eat a strawberry, or slice up a tomato, I hope you will think about, and care about, all the children working in the field.  It's an American problem, and we need to solve it.

What the POTUS did today was to recognize the problem, put some muscle behind getting it solved, and raising  this iniquity up into the face of the Nation.  It will help the 400,000 American children working in the fields as well.   

Voices from the Fields by S. Beth Atkin

I got my copy from the Goodwill Stores online site.

* "10 years ago the ILO created World Day Against Child Labor, but for the 215 million children who work around the world this day should be their day every day. And this should be the day where we also remember the 250,000 to 400,000 American children who are systematically exploited every year as they harvest the food that we eat.

 They are there right now in our fields, working at far younger ages, for longer hours at exploitative wages and at greater risk to their health than any other children in America because of a loophole in Federal law that permits children as young as 12, and sometimes younger, to work in 100-degree heat in a tomato field for 16 hours, but may not permit that child to work in an air-conditioned office. And this should not be so."

The quote was taken from THIS SITE in a Guest post by Robin Romano, who produced the documentary film, "The Harvest"

If you watch this film, please keep an open heart and mind. The children are bi-lingual, because they are Americans, born here, and have learned English as a dual first language. Trust me on this. They learn it right along with Spanish.

 Also, in the credits are small biographical inserts of Americans who made it all the way to the top with so much against them as children of migrant workers. When some studies that I read in the early 60's were first published, migrant workers were poor white people or black people from the South and Midwest, or seasonal pickers among college age students.

Your treat for reading this far is a Sky Watcher Post.  Make it very BIG.  Love ya!

This is the Marine Layer, breaking up, as we headed home Thursday.
I love that cooling layer of clouds.

Critical Race Theory

I just recently found out about this, so pardon me while I catch up.   A few weeks ago my trainer asked if I'd ever heard of Critical Race Theory, and apparently I'm not the only yokel who thought it actually had something to do with Racial Studies in the field of Cultural Anthropology, which I dearly love.

Au courant I am not.  However, ignorance is not bliss.  I'm slowly reading the PDF on CRT posted at a website run by UCLA.  You can read the latest flap about this theory in a Slate article HERE.

Apparently, somewhere, way back in the Archives of some Conservatives' personal Backwards Machines, Obama had warmly shaken the  hand of  the founder of the theory.  Shall we all now faint?

And now for something completely different:  I would like to know if game # 617 in Free Cell is actually winnable.   Please advise?

L found this.  Hahahaha.. ways and means.

First Law of Home Economics, don't let your means out run your ways to earn a living.  Just what part of it didn't they all understand? 

I knit the sock, went to ceramics and applied engobes and some glazes, came home and caught up with my sister's life as well as what her doctor had to say, then I put up the knee the rest of the time.  A "just right" day for a tired lass.

And, I got to eat pretzels while watching survivor shows.  These weren't those sissy made up things but shows about people who really went through something deadly and lived to tell the tale.  Sometimes you have to watch something that you hope your children never end up going through.  Just growing up in Los Angeles should be enough of a struggle.

I told my trainer about the bear story, and he told me a funny one that I'm not quite sure was mocking mine or not.   I guess he's never been a mother who had to protect her kids.  I had to protect mine and being scared of a big cinnamon bear was not going to cut it.  I'm still not afraid of bears but I am afraid of mountain lions, and come to think of it, Fire Ants. 

This is enough for tonight.  Sweet Dreams! Cherry Blossoms from the San Francisco botanical Gardens years ago.

I wish you a Cherry Blossom Sky

Spring is on the way!