resurrection fern

the myth of the flightless bumblebee

I have been contemplating all the little creatures , especially the insects that the warm weather brings to my garden, meadows and forest. They are so strong, magnificently designed and yet so delicate and vulnerable. My kitties have unfortunately collected a few slower flying beauties as trophies in the past week, a cicada and a dragonfly. I don't know how the kitties manage to catch them and not harm their wings in any way. 

On my walk in the meadow I was reminded of the story that had been published long ago that the bumblebee, taking into account all the known laws of physics and aerodynamics, should be incapable of flight but this was later proven to be incorrect by scientists ( even though the bumblebee obviously had long ago proven it to be incorrect) when they actually discovered just how fast the little wings are beating to keep it afloat. 

Interesting to know the buzzing sound , unlike the cicada, is made not by the wings of the bee but the tiny little hard working muscles that the wings are attached to. I was reading, and I will not try to prove this, that a bee will still buzz even if it is wingless!!

Why you might wonder am I bothering to tell you all this. Well yesterday, on a short lunch time walk behind my office I found the largest bumblebee I had ever seen. It was about 4 cm long and didn't seem able to fly. It was climbing the flowering weeds and "hopping" from stem to stem. A few times it used the "free fall" method to change location.

I made a short video since to show my daughter and I am downloading it to flickr as I write this. I was thinking of talking during this video but instead I let the soft sounds of the meadow do the talking for me. At one point when the bee attempts a short flight you will hear those little muscles buzzing. See if you can catch that bit.

Have a wonderful Wednesday. I am putting up the next poetry stone for autism up for auction tomorrow and you will have the entire weekend to place your bid. 

twigs

I was staring at this photograph for the entire month of June , it being one of the twelve months of an environmental art calendar I have in my home. The artist Urs-P Twellman is described as an "on the road artist". He made these large spheres out of wood from a building that had been torn down. I love that!

I would love to try to make smaller twig versions of these spheres , perhaps when my son, the stick architect, comes home for a visit. For now these have inspired a simple flat stage on which to place a covered stone.

The other half of this post touches on another subject that has been occupying my mind on my recent walks in the forest. The art of walking silently in the forest. It is something I remember having a long conversation with my husband about before we were married when we were out for a hike in the Adirondacks. I believe we were on our way to climb Mt Marcy. Here we were in our at that time very heavy hiking boots wondering what it was like to be footed in moccasins and treading silently through the woods. I already own the required footwear and so I am going to start to practice this whenever I can. I have long been of the opinion that we (our generation) are too heavy footed and that our feet, ankles and pretty well all our joints are suffering from this.

Here is my first exercise. I caught glimpse of an adorable chipmunk in the forest on the weekend. I took my camera out and then slowly and quietly moved towards him. These are not the tame sort of chipmunks that eat out of your hand at campgrounds. They are very skiddish.  The zoom on my camera remained the same for this series, it was only myself that was zooming silently in closer and closer.

I think if I master the art of walking silently in the forest it will bring a whole world to my camera. 

Stones and fungi do not startle when you snap twigs underfoot :)

Monday Morning Reflection

Mondays are always a time to reflect on the weekend passed and to plan for the week ahead.  I managed to finish and package some house warming gifts and birthday presents, finish my project submission for a book I was invited to be involved in, start my fiber piece for the milkweed project, my daughter and I tried out some new recipes, I crocheted a cover for something new ( a vintage plate), take a few walks in the forest and I even managed to start work on my plush you 2009 submission after being motivated by my dear friend and fantastic maker of plush 

Lisa.

I love the way the forest is reflected in the shiny patina of the back of the tea plate.  It has a little crocheted loop for hanging . I am on the look out for colorful little dishes now to one day be able to have an entire wall display of these.

That was a little sneak peek at my plush you 2009 contribution. I realized I had completely run out of eco fill to stuff the little guy.

I also tried out a new rose beer from Belgium and yes it really truly was pink and delicious. 

Now it is monday and I can already hear the large trucks rumbling down the street to start to work on those new homes. I had best get to work!

more meetings with remarkable flowers

Nay, if flowers will lose their looks 
If sunny banks will wear away, 
'Tis but right that bees and brooks 
Should sip and kiss them, while they may.

Thomas Moore

The life of flowers is oh so brief in my moody climate and one must get out and bask in their stage presence when opportunity calls. I have always told my children I have never met a vegetable I didn't like to eat and with flowers I have never met one that was not worthy or my attention. They are just so photogenic. 

The dragonflies and I are really enjoying the predominance of purple flowers in the front garden.

And yes oh so sad the weathered purple adirondack chair was a casualty of the storm :( 

I kept a few intact pieces to use for photographs. Thanks got the weathered garden bench was weighed down with sea stones :)

Enjoy your sunday!!

AHHHHH

I am so happy it is saturday. I realize I give the impression of peace and tranquility on this blog almost always , mostly because I think of it as my own little personal oasis. This week we had a severe wind storm that tore down many mature but perhaps not so healthy maples and willow trees in my neighbourhood. Nothing like the sounds of chainsaws for hours through the night to give one a restful sleep. Then there is the never ending sound of construction and large trucks delivering concrete to the end of our street to build two "monster" homes. Well on tuesday these men working without the necessary map of the underground lines on the property hit the natural gas line. Then there was police, firemen, gas company officials . Our road was blocked for most of the afternoon until the leak was sealed and the air cleared. The next day the same inexperienced construction workers were bombing down the street and hit a sweet older woman as her car was just leaving the intersection right outside our home. As if that wasn't bad enough they then proceeded to verbally abuse the frightened woman. Luckily my daughter was home and asked her to park in our driveway and wait until the police arrived. 

The next two days the police were parked on our street monitoring the situation.

Today there are no storms, no gas leaks, no car accidents, no rude people, no emergency vehicles and all I can say is ahhhhhhh.

Here I will be working on some project deadlines, crocheting, sewing, enjoying the peace and quiet and waiting for butterflies.

The winner of the first silent auction for autism was Diana. I will be emailing shortly. Thanks to all who participated. A special thanks to Sarah who offered a donation. If you haven't had a chance to do so you should visit her blog , quince and quire, it quickly became one of my favorite daily reads. I might just make one of those meadow garden skirts today!!

It's friday and time for a walk in the forest

                "The earth is what we all have in common."  Wendell Berry

The earth spoke to me in colorful language, did you notice its bright orange tongues?

I answered with a few simple words straight from my heart.

Have a wonderful weekend and please don't forget to get your bid in for the silent auction.

By the way those bright orange tongue like fungi are actually called orange earth tonques or microglossum rufum.

I love tiny little flower vessels like test tubes, egg shells and thimbles so one summer day as I was out on the porch I couldn't help but think that the gorgeous sea urchin that jen sent me would make amazing vases for delicate little garden blossoms. I cut a piece of a wide straw I had in the kitchen , duct taped one end , filled it with rain water and poked it through the natural opening in the sea urchin. A few well chosen flowers and minutes later I had a special summer arrangement for the porch table.

Pretty enough for a painting. Maybe Sonia could use this as inspiration for her next session of water color painting. Her last series was so fantastic.  

Yes that is mathyld the moth who has taken up permanent residence on the porch table!!! I think she might have heard rumors that this is where little creatures can go to get their big break at being famous ( think fern :)  An extension of this natural vessel idea was a flower in a snail shell tucked inside a hand crocheted little basket. 

Don't forget you have until friday , midnight to place a silent bid on the first of the auctioned poetry stones ( see the last post). Please spread the word. Thanks so much :)

This is the first of what may be a small series of silent auctions for a few of the poetry stones that were a collaboration between  Cathy Cullis and myself. She asked that if I sold the stones that I would donate a small portion to an autism charity. Her son Elliot is autistic. So in honor of him and Elsita's wonderful little boy, Diego who just recently celebrated his birthday I decided to sell a few of the poetry stones by silent auction. All the money will go to Autism Ontario for them to use in the area of research and treatment. To place a bid email me by friday, July 17 midnight at margaretoomen@mac.com with silent auction for autism in the subject line. The first stone to be auctioned is one of my favorites: TODAY IS A BORROWED BLUE I will also include some high quality photographs of the stone that would be beautiful framed or made into cards. I would appreciate if you might link to this auction on your blogs to spread the news around as only this thoughtful community can.

thanks so much :)

I am posting this just after working all evening with my daughter, packing up the stones, writing and making thank you notes and about half way through I was thinking it would have been much easier in terms of posting them if I had not had a one stone limit per customer. In the past some wonderful people bought 5 stones at a time. 

I do think it worked out better with so many new ( to me) customers soon to be happy covered stone owners.

I am tired and feeling a little like this lovely lady in one of my daughter's favorite paintings.

Which is why when we saw this poor star nosed mole in the garden pond my daughter immediately named her ophelia.

Tragic but very very beautiful.

Now I must get some sleep.

Before I start I want to thank Jen for supplying the wonderful "holey" stones for this tutorial. I made my first necklace just after the stone diary XI post and I wear it almost every day. I love it so very much. I was requested to make another on the weekend for my daughter so I decided to turn it into a little tutorial. 

Supplies:  a stone with a large hole or something else suitable for a pendant ( shell, button with large hole, piece of wood)

three strips of fabric about 1 cm wide and at least a meter long. Preferably torn , not cut for that lovely frayed look.

Step 1:  After you have torn your strips tie one end with a knot. Fasten this to something with a pin or ask a kind volunteer to hold it for you ( thanks Tamara).

Step 2:  Start to braid the fabric , not too tightly.

Step 3:  When you have braided for about 9 inches or 22 cm tie another knot.

Step 4:  Skip over about 12 cm of the fabric and then tie a knot again. This segment will be the part that holds your pendant.

Step 5:  Continue to braid until the braided sides are of equal length. Now undo the first knot at the beginning and thank your volunteer for holding it so well.

Tie both the ends together and trim the fabric to even things out.

Step 6:  Now take your holey stone or other object and push all three strips of fabric through the hole in the central unbraided area. You should have a three strip loop poking through the hole. Place the knotted end through this loop and then snug it up a little. With this method the pendant is replaceable since it is not permanently attached. Although why you would want to replace such a lovely stone I have no idea.

All done and ready to wear.

natural little flower vessels

I love tiny little flower vessels like test tubes, egg shells and thimbles so one summer day as I was out on the porch I couldn't help but think that the gorgeous sea urchin that jen sent me would make amazing vases for delicate little garden blossoms. I cut a piece of a wide straw I had in the kitchen , duct taped one end , filled it with rain water and poked it through the natural opening in the sea urchin. A few well chosen flowers and minutes later I had a special summer arrangement for the porch table.

Pretty enough for a painting. Maybe Sonia could use this as inspiration for her next session of water color painting. Her last series was so fantastic.  

Yes that is mathyld the moth who has taken up permanent residence on the porch table!!! I think she might have heard rumors that this is where little creatures can go to get their big break at being famous ( think fern :)  An extension of this natural vessel idea was a flower in a snail shell tucked inside a hand crocheted little basket. 

Don't forget you have until friday , midnight to place a silent bid on the first of the auctioned poetry stones ( see the last post). Please spread the word. Thanks so much :)

A Silent Auction for Autism

This is the first of what may be a small series of silent auctions for a few of the poetry stones that were a collaboration between  Cathy Cullis and myself. She asked that if I sold the stones that I would donate a small portion to an autism charity. Her son Elliot is autistic. So in honor of him and Elsita's wonderful little boy, Diego who just recently celebrated his birthday I decided to sell a few of the poetry stones by silent auction. All the money will go to Autism Ontario for them to use in the area of research and treatment. To place a bid email me by friday, July 17 midnight at margaretoomen@mac.com with silent auction for autism in the subject line. The first stone to be auctioned is one of my favorites: TODAY IS A BORROWED BLUE I will also include some high quality photographs of the stone that would be beautiful framed or made into cards. I would appreciate if you might link to this auction on your blogs to spread the news around as only this thoughtful community can.

thanks so much :)

feeling like ophelia

I am posting this just after working all evening with my daughter, packing up the stones, writing and making thank you notes and about half way through I was thinking it would have been much easier in terms of posting them if I had not had a one stone limit per customer. In the past some wonderful people bought 5 stones at a time. 

I do think it worked out better with so many new ( to me) customers soon to be happy covered stone owners.

I am tired and feeling a little like this lovely lady in one of my daughter's favorite paintings.

Which is why when we saw this poor star nosed mole in the garden pond my daughter immediately named her ophelia.

Tragic but very very beautiful.

Now I must get some sleep.

liberty and a holey stone : a tutorial

Before I start I want to thank Jen for supplying the wonderful "holey" stones for this tutorial. I made my first necklace just after the stone diary XI post and I wear it almost every day. I love it so very much. I was requested to make another on the weekend for my daughter so I decided to turn it into a little tutorial. 

Supplies:  a stone with a large hole or something else suitable for a pendant ( shell, button with large hole, piece of wood)

three strips of fabric about 1 cm wide and at least a meter long. Preferably torn , not cut for that lovely frayed look.

Step 1:  After you have torn your strips tie one end with a knot. Fasten this to something with a pin or ask a kind volunteer to hold it for you ( thanks Tamara).

Step 2:  Start to braid the fabric , not too tightly.

Step 3:  When you have braided for about 9 inches or 22 cm tie another knot.

Step 4:  Skip over about 12 cm of the fabric and then tie a knot again. This segment will be the part that holds your pendant.

Step 5:  Continue to braid until the braided sides are of equal length. Now undo the first knot at the beginning and thank your volunteer for holding it so well.

Tie both the ends together and trim the fabric to even things out.

Step 6:  Now take your holey stone or other object and push all three strips of fabric through the hole in the central unbraided area. You should have a three strip loop poking through the hole. Place the knotted end through this loop and then snug it up a little. With this method the pendant is replaceable since it is not permanently attached. Although why you would want to replace such a lovely stone I have no idea.

All done and ready to wear.