Look who came to dinner

at........... the birdie feeder.

The only sparrow that didn't fly off was this Clay Coloured Sparrow...okay it is actually a clay sparrow ... but,  there is a sparrow called a Clay Coloured .. and, it looks pretty real doesn't it?  There are 3 on this little fountain.

The real ones quickly dived into the nearby juniper shrub and stayed there, quivering, 'til long after Curious George left the vicinity.

I got some photos of the cat and sent them to my neighbour to see if she recognized it.  We don't see many loose animals in our neighbourhood.  We live beside a golf course and do have coyotes and owls and hawks about all the time.  This guy would make a pretty good sized snack for somebody higher on the food chain..well, maybe not higher, but bigger.

He didn't get lucky ..   but, he was definitely checking out the menu.

Then, down he jumped and sauntered off in the direction of the next crescent ..where we think he lives.

Apparently, his name is actually George.  And I have no idea why he is out and about pretty far from home.  I would have thought people might be a bit more concerned for a lovely cat like this.  Looks like a Himalayan to me.  They aren't cheap.  Neither are vet bills.

So,  ....no actual birdies today on Wild Bird Wednesday...but, he is a visitor to the bird feeding station in my patio.
As usual, click on the photos to see them bigger ...what a beauty he is.

Bad George!  Bad CAT !!@

hahahah... yeh, as if I said that.  I just grabbed my camera and took his photo.

Check out real birds on Wild Bird Wednesday by clicking on this image.

Alice ..

With a bit more clay here and there and some sanding done... that scratty mohair is not the actual hair ...but a bit of it....to see if she is getting there.  Just getting a feel for her "look"...   who knows what she will end up wearing on her head.

Added some more clay to the hands and they are actually beginning to look more like hands ...but, not quite there yet.  Wish I could make myself add a bit more clay than I do each time...but, that's me I guess.  Must make them before I get tempted to paint her face.

Good thing Maggi mentioned about not painting her face till we have the hands done so that we get the same colour for flesh... 'specially if we, you know,   ....    ....  mix colours to get "that perfect shade"  hahahah.... been there before.  I think she knows me.

Alice in Steampunkland

The new dolly I am making.

Not much new happening with her ... she will be a long time in the making.

However, I did add some tiny bits of clay to her face and head and got her sort of how I like her ...and, I began the hands.  We'll see if I use the hands or not.  I might have wanted to give a bit more thought to the position of the hands and fingers.  Like, if I want her to be holding something or not.  They won't hold much in this position.

The pattern shows perfect skinny sausages for fingers.... whereas mine definitely look more skeletal.  Nobody mentioned having to put on alternate fingers...but, I found I was having great difficulty doing one wet piece of clay that close to a second piece of clay.  So, finally did alternate fingers and let them dry and then did the rest.

I was thinking how the fingers looked weird and sort of pinched together where they joined each other finger.  But, once I got the little bit of clay onto the back of the hand, I discovered I could lay it up further on the fingers a bit more to give them slight space or a bit of a web between each finger. That'll be more like it.

It looks like a bit (or, a lot) more work is needed on them yet.  I'm so slow and tentative with clay.  I have no idea why.....it is easy to sand it off..it's just paper clay.  But there you have it... working with clay tells you something about you.  Hahahaha,,,, as if I didn't already know that I am cautious and a bit tentative with a lot of things.

Coming along, albeit very slowly.

Click on the pics to see them bigger.

Wild Bird Wednesday

This is supposed to happen on Wednesday of course, hence the title..hahahha....but.... I'm late.  Worse than the Mad Hatter I am.

Today I have a few photos of another bird that has a bit of red colour on its head and breast area.  Well, of course, only the males have the blush of pink on the breast ...

It is called a Common Red Poll, although, like some others with that word 'Common' in their names ... not really common at all... certainly not to me.  In reality, they are quite cute and really quite beautiful in colouration.

Very tiny compared to a sparrow...even compared to a chickadee.....more the size of a little Nuthatch.

I love them.  We haven't seen them around before..  and, now ...we've seen about 5 or 6 hanging about in the past few days.  My neighbour was trying to explain them to me as she had them at her feeder... and I thought she was talking about the House Finches when she mentioned some reds in the colouring...but she did say they had the streakings of a Pine Siskin... so was very happy they showed up here as well and I got to identify and also to get some lovely photos of them.

Click on the photo to see them even closer....




Look at the pretty colours....this shows off the "blush of pink" they speak of on the breasts of the males.

This little one was clearly showing me the Poll or cap on his head... either that or he was busy napping or thinking intently.... or maybe he spied a seed or something....

They definitely like the black oil sunflower seeds....

Check out Stewart's blog for more birds ...
Just click on the Wild Bird Wednesday pic to be transported directly there....

Special friends

Among my friends, I'm lucky to count a "speshol brown bear" and a "litol gween dwagon pwincess".....  That's right.  I have unusual friends.   And how I love it.

When I was down for the count just before Christmas; sick and coughing and aching all over and just downright miserable.....     I received a card from the two of them and it made my day.  They had drawn and coloured and written special messages just for me.  How cool is that?

I set it on a table with some other cards and looked at it several times during my wandering about trying to find somewhere comfortable to sit or lie... nowhere was any good.... so I kept on walking til I fell on the bed.

The next day I noticed that a late bud on the Christmas cactus had grown larger ... remember the plant?  It bloomed way back around the first of November.  There were a few extra little teeny buds on it that didn't amount to anything and fell off.  But, this bud stayed....

It got much bigger the next day and Dilly had her eye on it... the third day it opened slightly and the next day..it was in full bloom!  Oh, that did it...she moved her card right up close to it.  She loves pink and declared that it was the perfect colour and actually the very same colour ..as her "pwetty pink dwess" .. and, that she must sit right beside it.  She admired it for days ....

I had to take a few pics of them together ....

Of course, Bob T. Bear (esq.) ...  not to be outdone..... found a couple friends to hang out with as well.  Some sheepies and a mini Santa....

They kept it up for several days .....I never knew where to look for the card; some days it was on the sheep table..some days it was next to the cactus flower.  Seeing as Dilly found the flower first.... she got the most "me" time... well, that and she does have a very insistent way about her......

Thanks so much Bob and Dilly for my great card (and, the nose hugs!! )  You guys are the best!

Wild Bird Wednesday

I haven't been very regular in postings for Wild Bird Wednesdays ... but, on occasion I get a pretty capture and want to share it with somebody...anybody....so here it is for today.

If you want to check out beautiful or unusual birds ... please go to Stewart's blog ...

Please meet Mister and Missus Chirpy ....  aka House Finches.  They have a lovely warbly sing song which is why we call them Chirpies.....they seem to hang around during our winters... but, we don't see them all the time.

Click on any photo to get a closer look at them ...

Right now they are coming to the seed feeder along with sparrows, chickadees, nuthatches and a lone Pine Siskin.  There was a horrible accident one day with my damn kitchen window and a lovely little lady White Winged Crossbill.  She flew full tilt into it and killed herself immediately.  I did go right out to retrieve her and bought into the house in a shoebox to see if she could revive.  Many hours later she had not moved at all..    I cried.  She was so pretty and so dead.  My only good thought was that it must have been instantaneous and that she didn't suffer unnecessarily.  Mister BV had to dispose of her...I couldn't do it.  Poor little thing.

Anyway ... on to another photo of Mister Chirpy ...

Here is a nice clear one of himself ... him I can identify immediately...but, unless I am looking through my camera lens..I am not always sure if the Missus is a sparrow or if she is a Chirpy.  They are smaller than our sparrows but unless you see them side by side..it's hard to tell.  And, she is mostly browns....

Here is Mister Chirpy and a sparrow having a chat .... you can see the size difference ..  and Missus Chirpy is even more elegant, somewhat leaner, and a bit smaller overall than her mister.

Here is the link to Wild Bird Wednesday if you would like to join in with a photo of your own .. or just have a peek at other birdies.....

Primrose Donkey Sanctuary

If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you know I support this little Sanctuary...and, that I love donkeys.

That is Sheila over there on the sidebar.

When it gets around to this time of year I know horse and donkey people are looking for some decent hay to feed their animals.  It's usually the time of year I send Sheila some $$$ to help out seeing as I can't be there in person to volunteer.  She is at the opposite end of the country.  Darn it.

You just never know who is out there and looking.. or where they live ... maybe they'll even be close enough to Primrose and Sheila to visit or volunteer some time.

They are hoping to eventually purchase some adjacent land to add to her small acreage... (and, you know how much that costs!!!)

She just doesn't have enough area anymore and, yet, they will never turn away an animal that needs a home.  They want to bale some of their own hay in order to make feeding the animals easier.

Please take a look at this little video ... and, if you can help ... I hope you will.

You can check out more videos from the Primrose Sanctuary on Youtube if you want to see more donkeys...

https://youtu.be/bGl-o3Z3LKs

Makin' a dolly...

Haven't done a doll since ..uhm....I forget how long ago, but a long time.  Since Madame Pompadour.   Remember her?  She took a lot out of me I guess.  Was it 2009?  Must look back sometime to check.
Wow....time flies.  Even if you aren't always having fun.

Anyway.... this is Alice in Steampunkland.  She looks like fun .. and, the pattern has a ton of great info to help get her looking good...

Here she is so far.... please don't judge yet..... there are a lot more steps to getting her face just how I want it.  And, if it doesn't please me, there will be other faces......... until I get it right.

Oooooh.... and, here is the really cute part...there is a bunny.   Can't wait to begin sculpting him.

Here is Alice when she is completed.... I hope mine eventually has a hint of a little smile..as this one does......hmmmm..... must continue working on those lips.........

Big, burly, super fit and ultra strong....

Does 'woman' ever come to mind when you say those words?

No.

And, 'woman' doesn't come to my mind at all when talking about hunky firemen either.

But, this morning, all anybody is talking about is sexist behavior in fire halls and of course, then it goes on to hiring practices regarding women in non traditional occupations,  etc... all to do with some female firefighter's complaints of her supervisor making certain remarks to her.  Big deal.  Sexist behaviour is everywhere.  If you are a woman or a man, get used to it.. learn to deal with it or figure out how to get around it or quash it.  Yourself.  Why complain to anybody who will listen?  Whiners never prosper.

First, if you are considering applying for a position in male dominated areas... make sure you can do the job.  Physically, emotionally, and mentally.  Second, get used to the fact that you will be badgered, or belittled, or worse, every step of the way and then perhaps, reconsider.  Or.... figure it out.  Yourself.  If you can't do all of the above...don't bother applying.  And, besides that...if you want to be a fireman, be big, strong, burly and able to lift a 200 lb dead weight, unconscious man, and, get him and yourself out of a burning building without batting any of your eyelashes.  Which, by the way, you won't have after your first fire.

Get real.  Who really needs to do every single male dominated job in the world?  Maybe we should actually leave a couple bastions of male dominance.  I definitely want a big, strong, ultra fit fire'man' rescuing me if my house is on fire and I am incapacitated.  Even a 100 lb. woman is more than most people can lift, male or female.  I don't give a damn about gender equality.  And, I sure as hell don't want some token woman firefighter showing up asking me if I can walk when my legs are broken....no thanks.  If you can physically beat out male counterparts for a physically challenging job...good on ya.... but that's the only criteria I want followed in some occupations.   Of course, that's only my personal opinion... and, I'm entitled to it.

I've worked in male dominated occupations.  Long before modern day so-called liberation.  Back in the 60's we did it to make a dollar more per hour.  End of story.  Oh, just a minute it isn't.

Free Range Children

What a great sign!

These people have several children....who are busy riding bikes and tricycles in and out of these gates.  Luckily they open onto the alleyway...

When I first saw the sign I immediately read "chickens" instead of children and wondered if chickens were legal in our area.  Just for a nano second  of course...but, I guess that was the plan.  To get our attention.... and I thought it cute and clever, so of course, it ends up on here....why not?

and, then......it snowed.

My 'Christmas Cactus'..   which has bloomed on all sorts of days including American Thanksgiving... and, on Hallowe'en.... this year bloomed even a week earlier....it must have known something.

It's winter.... because the following Monday.....it snowed!

 The birdies were not best pleased.

I must dig out my heated birdie bath...and quick!

The snapdragons were still blooming away.... I must admit it was waaaay past the time when I would have expected it.  I just couldn't make myself pull them out when they continued to sprout flowers.

I've been looking at paper 'thingies' .......from older Paper, Cloth, Scissors mags......
look at the cute little purses....
No clue what I'm doing, but I'm trying a couple.

I wanted to post a bird photo

.... for the group I used to visit and hang out with .. at Paying Ready Attention.... remember Wild Bird Wednesday? ..

The sun was so pretty this morning very early...and, I tried for a chickadee against that backdrop.  They were so busy flitting in and out of the lilac branches ... I couldn't catch up at all...

This is my reward for trying.....nothing at all really.... little buggers....

I must be totally out of practice.

Aha!!!   finally, something that worked out!  Lemon squares!  hahhahahha........ I'm already practising for the festive season.  MMM.....  these are yummy......

Click to biggify and feel your mouth watering ..... slluurrppp......

AWOL

Why I can't just add something small here and there escapes me.  Some days it just won't happen...
The ribs are getting better...but still not as good as I'd like them to be.

I've been having some laser treatments on my elbow...and hoping it responds as well as the other elbow did back in 2013 ... what a walking disaster eh?  My neck is killing me...hahahhahahha oh, brother ... I don't dare ask what next?

Been working in the yard trying to get things ready for winter..and, baby sitting cement finishers in the garage.. had the floor repaired and epoxied... is that a word? Epoxy put on the top of the repaired cement.  Hopefully now there won't be any more chunks of cement pulled up by the overhead doors when they get frozen to the floor on cold days.  They are a'comin'.... although, right now the weather is better than a lot of days in the summer... and just slightly cooler ..which would be great for golfing....but, the courses are readying for winter too and leaves are all over the place now... can't find the balls when they go off the fairway. They are aerating, spreading sand on greens, etc... kind of not worth the effort now.

I don't even want to pull out the potted flowers and plants...they still look great... but, it is a matter of  maybe a couple weeks now till it gets cold....I'm leaving the good ones til the last minute..but, cutting back the daisies, the lilies etc.... we had to cut the Hawthorn down too... Fire blight for the third time.  I give up.  Maybe a crabapple there instead.  And after the high winds of the last few days picking up a million (I kid you not!!) little teeny cones from the neighbours two big, old, dirty spruce trees.  If they'd water them a bit they'd be a lot healthier and not produce so many of the silly things....but, they won't water and they won't take them down.  Go figure.

Look at the late blooming Bacopa ...and, the beautiful Lobelia...it lasted all season.  First year for that.  Lovely.....

Little book

More like a booklet really ...it is just several pages.  With samples of my work to remind me of how I did certain things or things I want to try at some future point.


Anyway... here are a few of my pages.

Variegated embroidery thread.

I moved the white on white embroidery to a page with a bit of colour.   I wrote myself notes as you can see...for down the road when I'm sure to forget what things were.
Some day I want to do a pincushion with yellows and ruffles .. I still have some of the fragile silk hanky..just waiting to be used.......

The pale pink flower pounded fabric below is pretty but it never did become quite what I envisioned when I tried to piece it together so cut it into smaller pieces and have used it in my book.

I did a pincushion in taupes with a bit of another piece of flower pounded fabric and love it... I wish this one had worked out as well....but, it didn't and now...I'm just happy it's still good for something.

Wanted to show you my other flower pounding piece if you haven't see it before.  I posted it a while back. Lovely Olde Worlde tatting cut off a beautiful vintage hanky that I bought at a doll and bear show...for only pennies...I almost felt guilty.  I managed to buy 4 lovely hankies that day.  Thanks to that wonderful lady whoever she was.

doing something...

.... almost anything to stay busy ... I have things on my mind that are happening this coming week and not looking forward to them... plus the ribs are holding me back .. so I'm just "doing" ....

I decided to make some little books in the style of Karen Ruane...

Putting some of my stitchery samples in one for me... they've just been sitting in a pretty box 'til now.

We began a larger ledger in one of her classes ...for doodles, samples and other inspirations, but, I saw that she has been making cute tiny  books... only a few pages really.. so I decided to do one.

What is it they say?  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...... .. hahahaha ... oh, alright ...I'm just a copycat....

Here is a page ...

Lots of various stitches on the first piece .. which is a piece of linen with some sparkly bits on it.. a gift from another member of the first class we took together... thanks Lexxi ... and, the second is a bit of hand made lace that Karen made..and I won in a little giveaway .. to which I added some pink and some white French Knots .. then.. stuck it to some water colour paper and did a bit of paper pricking.                                                                                      

Almond Biscotti

Yep.... another month has flown.

I'm hanging out close to home because I've managed to break some ribs.....again.  It happened a few years ago as well.  Then, I leaned into a woodbox .. putting a fair bit of weight on them.  It hurt like hell when it happened ..but, like an idiot I also turned to my left and reached in again... also doing the other side.

This time, hardly any weight at all (barely leaning) on a spindly clothes drying rack...whilst trying to peer behind it into the water softener to check the salt level.  Yikes!  It felt like getting stabbed with a hot poker.  What an idiot.  There was a lot of swearing and then some crying.  Then, just being totally p.o'd.  How disappointing it is to realize I am in such a fragile way;  I've always thought of myself as 'sturdy' or physically fit even if I am a smallish person.   But, a few years ago I even gave up my motorcycle when I found out I have full blown osteoporosis.  Can't afford to get knocked off or fall off one of those if I can't even lean on something without breaking parts of me.  Let's just say...it's bloody annoying.

Anyway.... onward.  I've been baking.  My usual fall back in so many situations.  I love baking.  And at my speed it is not too strenuous.
I can't lift out my mixer...but, Mister BV moved it onto the counter and I'm leaving it there.  For as long as it takes for me to be able to lift it once again.  It was only a week ago today that I did the stupid thing...so I have several weeks of not being able to do much.  Laughing, coughing, sneezing or any quick movements are shocking to the area...to say the least.   Getting in and out of bed is agony.  Turning over in the night wakes me up with a start.  Okay... backtracking...hahhahah...oh, don't laugh...it hurts!

These are lovely and rustic looking.  In my biscotti making over the years I've gone from wanting them to look pristine to loving the rustic, home made appearance of biscotti like these.

On my Tea and Scones blog I have more pics and the link to Nonna Pia ... (what a little sweetie) ...actually, I'll link this up as well.  She makes very soft dough.... which is the furthest thing from what most recipes make up.  She spoons it out onto the parchment paper.  Seemed so strange when I first tried it because I usually have a lump of fairly dry dough that doesn't even stick to my hands while forming the 'logs' for the first bake.

My first few test bake recipes are in preparation for ...............wait for it................................did you guess?  ..   and I'm not the first this week to be talking about it......... Christmas!

Yeh, I know.  Too early.  But, it isn't.  That's what happens isn't it?  We are still trying to have our summer fun... then, it's fall and other things happen, and, all of a sudden, whammo!  It's the festive season and we are behind the eight ball already.  Not this year.  I'm getting a jump on recipes and then, I'm going to get busy with some crafting stuff.  Yep.  This year I'm gonna be ready.

Hahahahhahahhaha..... oh, brother that really hurt.  Silly me.  I say that every year and it never happens.  But, also, having said that ...I don't have too much to do at the festive season except baking and some little crafty stuff.  Buying gifts went the way of the Dodo years ago.... when postage and bus fares went sky high.  Our families agreed to buy ourselves gifts instead.... or not.  How much does a person need anyway?  We usually spend our money on things for the house.   Luckily, this year we are not renovating....wooohoooooo ........

So, after all of those paragraphs of twaddle, how do you like my rustic, crunchy, Almond-y biscotti?

Look at that will ya?

More than a month has passed since I last posted.

Oh, well.... it's summer.  We don't get that many months of summer up here north of the 49th.... so we make the most of it.

Golfing, gardening, hanging out on the patio sipping a cold beer .. admiring the fruits of our labour ...etc... you know how it goes.  The lawn is the best its been in years..in spite of those pesky voles having made hundreds of trails all over the one side ..it grew in beautifully.  Kind of like they aerated it I guess.  You'd never know they'd spent the winter wrecking things under the snow banks.

My pots are beautiful... a riot of colour this year.  I particularly love the 'million bells' flowers (Calibrachoa)  ...  they just keep on blooming all summer.  I always have yellows and pinks ... and purples ...  and even the odd orange just to get my own attention.  I don't even like the colour orange ..but, some oranges are nicer than others...and, for some silly reason, I like how orange and pink flowers look side by side.

After my visit to my sister's "fat farm"... there was no Mr. Limpy when we got back.  Nobody fed him while I was away ... and I guess he moved on to greener pastures.  Like the clubhouse at the nearby golf course.  I was there one day and a whole family of crows was perched on trees and signposts "cawing" for a handout...hahahhah...I laughed and tossed a few bits of my peanut butter sandwich in the air.  I scared one off the post... must not be my guys...my crows wouldn't be afraid of me.  I did try to call out to Limpy just to see if one of them was him...but, no limpy guy hopped down to greet me.

This is the last time I saw him .. through the window... having some fun in the birdie bath all by himself.

And, this is the last one I have of Missus..... giving me the 'come hither' look ... there is just something about her.........

We had a huge storm last Wednesday and I saw my first funnel cloud.  It gave me goose bumps.  I know the folks in Kansas and Oklahama will be saying, "big deal"... but, we don't get that type of weather around here.  Well, not often.  There was a tornado that did touch down several years ago in Edmonton, a city not too far from us ... that did a lot of damage...and a lot of people were killed.  That was a first.

I looked it up on Wiki ... here is what happened.

~~~July 31, 1987 The tornado killed 27 people, injured more than 300 people, destroyed more than 300 homes, and caused more than $332.27 million CAD ($597 million in 2015 dollars^[1]) in property damage at four major disaster sites.~~~

Our day was nothing in comparison.  But, on Wednesday, I was coming home along a busy highway and cars were stopping to look  ...and take photos...traffic was doing ridiculous things.  I kept my eyes on all of them and on the clouds too... knowing I could make it home in 8 minutes and feeling as though I would beat it for sure.  Hard to tell how quickly things were moving but it was a fair ways off in the distance.  I did get home just in time to wrestle the big flower pots closer to the house.  I "walked" them by turning them side to side .. cuz I sure can't lift them.   All 8 of them.

Next, I grabbed the camera and stood in the garage with the big door open.  Got a few good ones of the clouds. The lower ones were rotating as it all moved along (just like in the movies) and I was happy it was moving south ... at quite a rate of speed .. not a funnel, but a huge dark bank of clouds... looking pretty ominous....
black as night at 1:00 pm...


then it rained ... next came hail.. then... oh, wow ... huge hailstones!!  And, seeing as folks might think I was exaggerating when I told the story, I took this photo with my tape measure to corroborate things..... no doubt how big it was now!!  I had to wait til it stopped as I didn't want to feel the bash of one of these on the old noggin.  Guess I could have worn a motorcycle helmet...but, what about the rest of my body? .. Didn't risk it.

Areas just outside the city were the hardest hit and crops decimated by the hail ....several houses totally trashed....it did plenty of damage.... and apparently a small tornado touched down just outside the city limits...but, not a lot of damage in that area.

But, today is beautiful.... time to go out and water my pots...... luckily I still have pots to water. !!