resurrection fern

whittling the afternoon away

 

I planned to garden, read, embroider and crochet but then on the shelf as I walked by to enter the back yard was a old chocolate box containing my woodworking hand tools. I remembered the large stick with a crook in it that I brought home from my evening walk yesterday. I grabbed the stick, surveyed its knots and curves and started to whittle. Before I realized what was happening I had whittled a good deal of the afternoon away. It was so relaxing and I forgot how much I enjoyed working with wood.

I now have a well shaped walking stick, shepherd's staff or the largest crochet hook on the planet. All I need are some goats or sheep :)

 

Now I am off to work with a busy day ahead of me. Good news though we are expecting rain later today.

xxoo

m
               

book release giveaway

 tweet , tweet the little bird book has arrived and I have a copy or two to giveaway. Please leave a comment telling me your favorite bird, bird story or bird artist and I will pick one or two winners on June 7th. 

This little giveaway post is staying at the top of the page for one week but you will find the regular daily posts right below it. 

lazy days of summer (even if it is only may)

The heat wave continues here in Ontario. It is having its effects on all of nature , great and small. I usually never water my garden but was really feeling like I had no choice last evening. Or perhaps it was only for selfish reasons because I had been missing my sleeping snails. One good soak and the flowers and snails awoke. Now if only someone would please water me....

xo

m             

soothing greens to end a very warm week

I love the warmth but I must say the kitties and I are looking forward to some rain and a little dip in the temperatures soon. In the mean time we are cooling ourselves down with cool soothing greens. Here are a few of my favorite green pics of the week.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

xo 

m            

felting by the lake

My sister Helen is a felting bright star. She has been turning colorful fiber into felt for much longer than me. In fact she introduced me to the craft many years ago and she was the first person that I ever saw felt a stone. It was great to be at her cottage felting along side her at the lake. We picked up some colorful silk scarves at the thrift store on the way up to the cottage for just this purpose ( it must be genetic).

Here are a few pictures of the scarf/wrap I made.

I also made a little driftwood baby.

The weather in Ontario is crazy and wonderfully warm. The cat days of summer we are calling them. Here is what I mean.

For me it means cool salads and ice cold beer ( this is a new seasonal brew from a micro brewery in Toronto) on the porch and spending almost every waking moment when not at work outdoors.

I want to let everyone know about a postcard swap here that Jill is sponsoring. I have signed up already.          

symbiosis squared

    

          

 Symbiosis (from the greek: σύν syn "with"; and βίωσις biosis " living") commonly describes close and often long-term interactions between different biological species. LIchen are an example of symbiosis , "living together" of two organisms, fungi and algae. They have been described as nature's raincoat. My absolute favorite example of this is Cladonia cf. cristatella, a lichen commonly referred to as 'British Soldiers' and second to that is Pixie Cup Lichen (Cladonia fimbriata).   This past weekend I was in lichen heaven with my favorites in abundance steps outside the cottage door. These marvels of nature inspired my first little creative outburst which I nick named symbiosis squared. I felted some smooth stones gathered from the path with mossy green wool and then incorporated some cladonia specimens into the fiber.

These are now sitting on my porch table and have become little conversation pieces. After a time I may return them to the woods, felted stone and all and see in what form their return is celebrated.

xo

m     

golden long weekend

I am back from a long weekend well spent. With ingredients like a golden sun, warm breezes, sparkling lakes, some family and friends, wildlife in abundance, delicious meals, musical interludes, creative outbursts and the company of my eldest daughter, Tamara for the journey there and back.

It looked and felt more like the middle of july than the middle of may. Oh and I almost forgot the golden sunsets.

Many more pictures to show you of some of my discoveries and creative outbursts.

xo

m

I hope fern kept you amused           

in my absence

 

 i love how i can pre post on typepad so that while i am away canoeing on a lake in Quebec you can read my prearranged blog posts as if i never really left at all.

I am letting fern and his friend blog for me today. They are the handsome silent types so just sit back and enjoy the pictures of the two of them enjoying the porch.

    

the sea around us

"One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, " What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?"

Rachel Carson

I found a copy of this book at a local church rummage sale a few weeks ago. It will be my reading for the long weekend and I will be very interested in finding a way to view the academy award winning documentary based on this book that was made in 1953.

I made that little jelly fish crochet covered stone as a tribute to the book.

   

mapping where the stones are coming from

I decided to use pins and a map and mark where all the stones from each of the 20 stone diaries have come from. A very interesting pattern arose. 

What i concluded from this little exercise is that there are huge parts of the earth's crust that I have yet to discover. So if any of you reading this little blog are from south america, africa, or asia and would like to send me a pebble or two please drop me a line or leave a comment below.