resurrection fern

Meet Amygdala, the driftwood bunny

I want to introduce you to my newest little friend, Amygdala but first I want to share with you a little about the day he was created. I have had a very emotional weekend away when my mom became very ill and required emergency medical treatment. Yesterday I was feeling kind of tired and was having a hard time getting motivated to do anything. It was a beautiful day, just as the first day of july should be , warm and full of sunshine. I started out working in the garden and right of time the mid summer flowers , the day lilies were in bloom.
So I picked some for the porch table .

I hung the laundry on the line in the back yard.

Edgar cheered me up with his antics. He was trying all morning to catch butterflies but never managed to get one. He needed a good scratch on his belly. I love this mercat pose he does.

Feeling a little better, I pulled out my supplies.

I made a little crochet covered disc of wood my husband kindly cut from a branch that fell off the magnolia tree in the winter. I first stained the wood yellow with a water based stain.

I took photographs along the making way for this so I might write a tutorial later in the week if anyone is interested. Next I made a very delicate necklace. I found these really beautiful maple keys last month one morning.

Here it is hanging with the maple tree reflection in the mirror and then on the neck of my daughter. Don't you love her black apple t shirt. That emily is a very talented girl.

After a great chicken curry dinner ( After seeing michelle's nan on flickr I couldn't help myself) I was feeling relaxed and decided to make a new creation out of a piece of driftwood I found at my sister's cottage on the weekend. That is how Amygdala, the driftwood bunny was created. Amygdala - an almond-shaped neural structure in the anterior part of the temporal lobe of the cerebrum; intimately connected with the hypothalamus and the hippocampus and the cingulate gyrus; as part of the limbic system it plays an important role in motivation and emotional behavior. He made friends with us instantly and made us smile . He asked if he could wear one of the acorn necklaces because he wants to live a very long life . I managed to take some photographs of him just before the sun went down. His sweet little facial features are all natural and the wood has not been altered in any way. He is really pleased to meet you all !!!.

The First Sunday of Summer , the day in pictures

Here is my day in pictures with a little comic relief to start if you remember the snails ended the day yesterday consoling themselves with a heineken after the netherlands lost at Euro 2008 to Russia and this morning they were a little hung over. I made them some kasha to start the day. My father was born in St petersburg, Russia so I think I might just start cheering for Russia now.

Then we had a little garden drama involving Edgar the cat and a young bird.

I did a little crafting on the porch , covering some small smooth rocks with crochet . I am not sure what I will do with these but they remind me of a more natural sort of cameo. I don't even like to crochet, it seems to make my fingers numb but I find myself strangely drawn to cover all sorts of natural things with crochet lately. I have some others to show on a future post.

We went for a beautiful hike in a wonderful place a short drive from our home. It had amazing views, wonderful smelling meadows, beautiful stones, babbling brooks, many varieties of butterflies, tadpoles in the pond and the largest jack in the pulpit I have ever seen.

That is the day so far, I am going to catch the end of the Spain vs Italy game and then think about dinner. I love these long summer days. Have a great remainder of your weekend.

Happy Father's Day

I miss my father so much. Here is a picture of him when he was an adorable baby living in St Petersburg Russia.

Happy Birthday Darling, We love you very very much.

Eleven is my absolute favorite number because June 11 is the birthday of Tamara, my first child. I was studying medicine , actually my first year when I was pregnant and my due date was the date of my anatomy oral examination. The examiners took pity on me, sat me down and asked me to name all the muscles and nerves in the perineum and parts of the birth canal. I really got off easy on that examination but then I had to wait another two weeks before my sweet baby girl decided it was time to come out. She still has her own sense of time and dances to her own beat.

She has always had loads of friends although some of them don't say much.

She has an amazing fashion sense.

She loved to help out with her siblings and her animals.

She was an angel.

A very well dressed artist.

A wonderful soccer player.

She loves to joke around. Like pretending to be a flamingo.

Or making jokes about bananas.

She gets along great with the elderly.

And the young.

She loves art and culture.

She is a true Canadian and loves winter.

I can't believe how quickly you grew up to be a beautiful intelligent woman.

Happy Birthday Tamara, we love you very very much and can't wait to have you home today to celebrate with you!!!!

There and Back

Seems like a while since I have done a weekend in pictures post so here goes. We drove to North Hatley, Quebec to attend my son's convocation from bishop's university. This is a very picturesque area of Canada very similar to its southern neighbor Vermont.

First Beach Day of the Season

This is one of the posts with few words and tons of pictures because they say much more than I could ever write. Hope you all had a wonderful sunday and to all my american friends have a great holiday tomorrow.

I got to take my bluenose ship jacket to the beach and I also worked on my newest ship. Can you guess what kind of ship it is ???? The most amazing thing of the day was seeing a rainbow cloud. I have never seen this before but there was a small patch on rainbow only within the end of a beautiful cloud . It started off very faint but grew stronger as the cloud approached the tree line. I am so glad I managed to get a picture of it before it disappeared.

Ms Elsita Mora meet Mr Rob Ryan

I had two wonderful surprises in the mail this week ( wow and its only wednesday) , a present I bought myself for my birthday last month arrived from England and a surprise from sunny California. Ms Elsita Mora I would like you to meet Mister Rob Ryan .

Now don't get jealous Bill but don't they look amazing together! Many years ago when my oldest children were young I used to order kits from england to make children's clothes . I was very excited to hear that this company was making a comeback and even more excited when I heard to celebrate there restart one of my favorite artist rob ryan designed fabric for a skirt ( for women!!!) . The company is clothkits and they are definitely worth checking out. I can't wait to get sewing this weekend to make the skirt. I told elsita how much I loved the buttons she was making and how I would love to knit a sweater around a set of them . I had no idea she was going to send all those fantastic things. Here are some close up shots so you can see what I mean. I love them so much and I know they will make any item I place them on look fresh and unique. They are so inspiring.

The kit comes with everything you need and the pattern is marked directly onto the fabric. It comes with lining, interface, zipper, a custom clothkits label and even thread. How cool is that !

The only thing I am missing is one of those little house elves that can operate my sewing machine or maybe a solar powered machine that I can take out in the woods and enjoy the fresh air, wildflowers and sew at the same time. That might be a good first invention for the lab Dr Elsita and I are starting. I have a 10 hour work day ahead of me so I better post this , finish my coffee and skidaddle out of here.

Happy Mother's Day

I wanted to wish all my friends a very happy Mother's Day and leave you with a few of my favorite pictures of animal mother's I have taken this past year and one from my photo album ( you should get a kick out of this one) . Don't forget to think about Mother Earth and all her children today!!!

I love that last photograph taken before the birth of my fourth child. Just in case you were wondering the baby in the little girl on the rights belly still hasn't come out.

Happy Birthday Elsita !!!!!

Elsita turns 37 today. It isn't a secret because she has already posted this on her blog. I don't recall the exact day I discovered elsita and her amazing artwork on etsy ( thank you etsy!) but it was less than one year ago. That lead me to her blog where I fell in love with all her art and instantly felt a connection to her writing. I left a comment and we have been friends ever since. I encouraged her to post her pictures on flickr and she encouraged me to start a blog. She and I have commented on every blog post each of us makes ever since that time. We have different methods of posting. I post a comment every day usually during a short break in my office schedule. It always makes me smile and energizes me. Elsita tends to leave 5 or 6 comments at once , usually late at night LA time. In the morning I wake up very early, make coffee and turn on the kitchen imac. I love finding a bunch of elsita comments. What a great start to my day. Everything elsita touches turns to gold. She can do just about anything . The only craft she doesn't know how to do yet is knitting and I hope to change that when we meet sometime this year. So what do you give the girl who can make anything ? I love making dolls in the waldorf style. I have made them for all my children and some very close family members but never for anyone else until this past week. I made a doll for elsita. This doll hasn't got a name yet because I want elsita to name him with one of her sweet cuban names. He loves to spend his time wandering in the woods, talking to the animals , insects and trees. He loves wild flowers and ferns and he always has his little knapsack with him to gather little gifts that the forest offers him on his travels. He brings them home to share with his mother who loves them so much . This little doll and his mushroom companion are on its way to california to give elsita a huge birthday hug .

MAY DAY CHALLENGE

Today is May 1st , traditionally known around the world as May Day. I would like to challenge you all to bring back the tradition of leaving a cone of flowers on some one's door knob today. Make it someone special but not your best friend or next door neighbor. I am going to leave some flowers at marjorie's door. She is a sweet elderly woman who lives in a very big old house in our neighborhood . I see her every day out for her exercise walking around the block with her walker. I bet she used to be quite the gardener but her arthritis interferes with that now and I know the flowers will make her day brighter. The tradition is to sneak up to the house , tie the flowers to the door knob or garden gate , ring the door bell and "run". I think it is more fun if done anonymously but that is your choice. My blog posts for May are going to focus on flowers in nature , art , craft and literature. I reached my goal for April to post every day of the month. Enjoy your day!!