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Saturday, May 30, 2009

Fantastic music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys

I am adding a link to my blog tonight. If at all possible I would love to have you listen to this piece of music. It touches your heart and makes your feet want to dance. I would add the video but I haven't figured that out yet. There is a learning curve to all of this.
I hope every one enjoys their weekend.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

LIfe is luck!

My modum went out on Friday night and left me with a lot of unfinished business on line. Isn't that just the way things work? First you are putting right along doing just wonderful and suddenly something drops the rock that sticks in the gears and really messes up the weekend.
After receiving my new modum it took 2 hours to get it configured. It wasn't so very bad. I got to talk to Anna in Manila and a young man named Cornelius. They both were very nice and tried very hard to fix my problem with great results. I wish every day was this good.
I experimented with digital stamps over the weekend. I found that they work great with a thin coat of Gesso on the paper. The ink stays wet long enough to put embossing powder on with out ripping around the room like a monkey. I was very pleased. With the Gesso you get a really clear image if the printer is sit on coated paper. Kind of a neat thing if you are in a hurry and every one in five counties and four continents has seen all of your stamps. Just find an image and print it off and color it and you are ready to go. Dover has a bunch of book that would deliver some really neat images. As of now, digital stamps won't be replacing my good old rubber ones, just yet. But they are something to play with and the cost is minimal compared to most rubber stamps and the price of Gesso is still pretty darn cheap.
I'm off to rip apart more magazines for my art/collage class. Making a beautiful background is well worth the time put in at the easil.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Short tail feathers and all






Hard as I tried I just couldn't get the twins to sit still long enough to get a picture of them. They were gone today. Most likely in the Oaks across the street from me. It is a nice little woodland area and just the right distance from the bird feeder in the back yard. My poor little dog is really going to miss them too. She would like nothing better than to taste those tender thighs under those pale blue feathers. Spring is always full of the screech of new mothers and the hassle of getting those babies up and flying.
Last spring I was thrilled to find a large mass of frog eggs in the dogs water bucket. I was not about to let those go with out intervention. I dug out an old aquarium that once harbored gold fish and scrubbed it and filled it with some beach glass and some well cleaned gravel. I gently scooped up the mass of frog eggs and put them into their new home. A minimum of five times a day I checked my new nursery. I fussed over and tenderly cared for them until the first one hatched. It was so exciting to see that little tadpole swimming around. Every one in the neighborhood knew I was a new mother. I hatched roughly 100 little tadpoles and encouraged them on a daily basis to grow strong and grow hind legs. Pretty soon we had an aquarium full of little bitty Pacific Tree Toads. The largest being about a half inch long. I was thrilled. I boiled lettuce every day to feed them until they started trying to get out of the nursery. I put blades of plants into the aquarium for the little darlings to crawl out on. Every day there were fewer and fewer little tree toads, but I didn't see an abundance of them in the garden. I was a tad puzzled. Then my puzzled question was answered with precision. A really fat Aquatic Garter Snake!! As fast as my precious foster children were leaving the nursery that snake was gobbling them up. The truth of nature is a harsh one. This year I still have the Garter Snake and not one little croker can be found. If I had of written this fairy tale I would have bunches of little crokers and a happy Garter snake.........but, alas.
The pictures are of Trout and a nice young Sturgeon. They swim around in the river here. Now, you know why I don't swim in the river too! I managed to get the photos of them at our Museum which has a tank with native fish.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Painting class



I am taking a painting class, on line, from Julie Pritchard. The class is specializing in backgrounds for journal pages. Just call me a clod. I am having my problems with getting my paints light enough to start with. I am a tad heavy handed with my colors when it comes to mixing with white. Thank goodness for Gesso. So far I have used more Gesso than paint. The style is a bit grungy too. I have been reading discussions about trends and I have a suspicion that "grungy" is another one of those trends. Not really my style but I am determined to learn to paint grungy or else. Else and Gesso. How come instructors always make it look so simple?
I watched a woman take pieces of crept paper and whip up flowers, that were just beautiful, in less than 2 minutes each. Then I gave it a try........I discovered that none of my fingers work like hers. If work at all. My flower looked like that last bloom of the season after a snow storm. Don't get me wrong, all wasn't lost, my wire stem looked great.
Someone suggested that I get pictures of my new foster children (Jays). They both will be hopping around on the sidewalk and when I reach for the camera they both dive into the star jasmine vine. If anyone has raised a star jasmine vine they know that it is it's own little jungle with swinging vines and thick, thick leaves. It does smell nice though. The view just doesn't work for photography. But, I did see young fresh shoots of a tail feather on both of them. I just keep saying to them, "exercise those wings" and get out of Dodge........please.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009



Birds of a feather

It seems I have the only terrier in history that is afraid of a squirrel or a bird. She is alright as long as she is in pursuit of the varmint, but let that varmint do an about face and stare her in the eye and she does get upset. She starts whining and looks at me as though to say, can't you do something with that animal? She then steps behind me for a better view of the circumstances. Alas, I guess I am going to have to have a long talk to the squirrel that likes to raid the bird feeder and the mother Jay that needs to teach her kids to fly. Having those twin Jays running around in the front yard at will just isn't acceptable nor is it safe for my dog. Poor dog fell off of the arm of the sofa, where she lays and watches the traffic go by, when the Jay jumped at the window this morning. It made an awful commotion and took the dog a few minutes to regain her dignity. If there is one thing a terrier has is dignity. She is still trying to figure out what she should do with the two aquatic garter snakes that live in the back yard. Every time she try's to sniff the snakes they zip out of the way and she jumps backwards about three feet. Pretty good movement for an over weight dog.
I am posting a few card that I made a couple weeks ago. I'm new at that too. Talk about a late in life bloomer! A journal page I did is included only because the journal is made from elephant poop paper and I really like elephants. I thought I would try journaling and this journal is the right size.
Do enjoy your evening.
Sally

Monday, May 18, 2009

The whats and wheres of the day


As you know this is my first blog and I am trying to figure out how this works. So far, I have discovered that after 10 years I don't have a Google account........news to me. So to comply I set up another account using the same information I used 10 years ago. Funny but it worked this time just like the last time. Ah my love affair with technology is more like my love affair with snails. I think I have a problem understanding just "what" I am being ask. I will conquer this too, just like I did with the snails..........that was a war of pellets and hostile words and it ended with slime trails.
I am taking an on line class learning to make background pieces for journals or collage. I am not much on journaling but I do know collage. A good back ground is what makes a piece jump out at you. I had my first lesson today and it was a lot of fun. A little on the grungy side but then that is what is stylish now, isn't it.
I received an e-mail from my grandson and it looks like I am going to be a great grandma again. Where did all of these grown children come from. I swear I'm not old enough for this great grandma thing. It sounds funny even when I write the words without sounding them out. Of course I do have to stop and think to remember how old my kids are now. Maybe my brain is trying to protect me from the obvious.
This week we have been dodging the bullet with a baby Jay that hasn't gotten his wing feathers yet. Oh how my dog would love to have that tender meatball. Poor dog can't use that door anymore and we have to watch every step we take. It seems the bird hasn't gotten the sense to be afraid of humans yet. The poor mother bird is running her self ragged. I really feel sorry for her. This is every spring for us. Little meatballs hopping out of the nest a week too early to keep from being eaten. Talk about Mother Nature having a sense of humor!
Enjoy your Tuesday. The roses are from my neighbors yard.
Sally

Sunday, May 17, 2009



My First Entry

Surprise, surprise. I actually set up my blog without any technical help. Not hard to do really. My big concern right now is font color. Pardon me while I play with the controlls and fine tune my abode.
Since this is the first entry I do believe I will find myself fine tuning my brain along with the abode. I am determined to make this fun to do and hopefully not be a drag on line. After I edit my pictures I have taken recently I will be posting those too. Yes, this may work into a fun project after all.
Sally