Poor little Mini

This is a picture of Mini after she got home from the vet. Warrior Princesses that don't let their teeth be brushed regularly have to have it done at the vet.





The vet sent this picture to my cell phone to let me know she was awake and doing OK. I'm not sure Mini would agree that she was OK.



All together now ......Awwwwwww....... Mini has recovered nicely and has resumed her Warrior Princess duties.

And...on my walk today I saw.....Julia!

Julia is a walking pal, along with her wonderdogs Sammi and Mini!  Yes, another Mini.   Mini and Mini are now referred to as Big Mini and Little Mini.

Julia stops by to gather Mini and I up for our walk.   In tow is her grandson, Blake, and WonderDogs Sammi and Big Mini.   Blake is a little stunned at all of the doggy energy! 


And off we go....past the Middle School/Prison....everyone is following Grandma!  You see what I mean by 'in tow'.



A bit of a step down to cross the parking lot to pick up the neighborhood walking path.. they take a very good picture, don't they?  Blake is having a wonderful time but is wondering just where the heck did I come from?!


And a final romp before heading back home for the evening.....and wonderful walking partners for Little Mini and I.   Maybe Blake will come back sometime for another walk around the neighborhood.  Little Mini would like to get a few more sniffs of him.

Summer 2012, July, August, Indiana - HOT! and DRY!

It was very hot and dry, trees and flowers dying, water restrictions, fire burning bans.....but - in A Quiet Southern Indiana Backyard ... not so much!
I resisted watering for quite some time.  Watching the birds sit with their beaks gaping wide open - looking so much like Edvard Munch's 'The Scream', trying to exchange some heat, no water around, poor little cardinals losing their head feathers, looking like tiny vultures....I admit it - I caved.   I couldn't take it....and launched my sprinklers!


Two happy birds, the Indigo Buntings even stayed around.  Little boy Bunting is hanging with the Cardinal, enjoying the sprinkler.   He has little blue patches on his shoulders and should turn all blue next year.  Meanwhile - I made sure his pecan sized self stayed hydrated!



It continued to 'rain' every evening - kind of like Camelot for Cardinals.  I added a hanging bird bath that even the bees buzzed...landing on the wet parts and then taking off again.  Cardinals and Titmouses all lined up on the fence to catch the water and then take off - zooming back through the water it as it wafted away from them.   The Chickadees and Finches just hopped in the birdy bath and had a nice drink and a romp. The Quiet Southern Indiana Backyard was a happy and busy place about 8:00 p.m. every evening!



Feathers mostly grew back in. Now all we have to do is get through winter.



I wonder how much an outdoor heater costs....

New Beady Eyed Beaders!

July was a busy month.  I managed to convince Diedre and her two beautiful daughters, Olivia and Lauren, to come to Bloomington to do a little Beady Eyed beading!   As it has been quite some time since the Beady Eyed Beaders have gathered I was pretty happy to have them come down and I got to do a little teaching. 
First - they had to chose which stitch they wanted to learn.  I gave them the choice of one of the first 2 stitches I learned in 1986 and taught to me by my dear friend, Carol Wilson, in Kotzebue, Alaska!
I decided to make a couple of collages (because I found an app for that) to assist their decision making process:
Will they pick Daisy Chain? Or will they pick the Chevron stitch?

They chose the Chevron and I got busy trying to figure out where I was going to set up in my little 800 square feet! I finally picked under the skylight in the living room so Bubba the Bird wouldn't feel left out.


Here are our examples and a couple of beginner kits and we are ready to go!



Mini jumped in to supervise picking their colors



Ready to go!

Some seriousl beading going on here....


And then some not so serious beading..wonderful picture of Lauren

We stop for a little food


And a final group picture before they took their beadwork home to complete ...Olivia and Rocky, Me and Bubba the Bird, Lauren and Mini.


No final pictures of their creations yet but....watch this space! It was wonderful to have them here - I am hoping to talk them into learning the Christmas earrings next! All of the Beady Eyed Beaders remember the Christmas Earrings!

Dalai Lama's 77th Birthday Celebration in Bloomington

For those of you who were wondering - I am still here and all is well.  I just became a victim of blogging inertia for some reason.   Now to catch up.....
The Dalai Lama's 77th birthday was celebrated at the TMBCC July 6th.....in 105 degree heat.  It was hot.  It was hot inside and outside!  

An early dedication and then not much moving on the grounds. Did I mention it was 105?



But Deb utilized her Yogic powers to remain cool and provide some entertainment in spite of the heat!


It was our good fortune that the Center, led by our creative muse, Lynn, developed a wonderful plan to demonstrate the multi-cultural mission of TMBCC with a fashion show complete with music, photography and entertainment!
There were many participant and many cultures represented but I must start with Bonani!


Bonani spent considerable time and effort to represent Zimbabwe and it was totally appropriate that she had 2 photographers capturing her creativity.
For the Beady-Eyed Bunch - the bead work she wore was amazing!  BTW - the air conditioning wasn't working very well with the cameras and the lighting - I think she is starting to melt.

Bonani was wearing a traditional Zim maiden wedding dress on her first walk.  We will have to leave most of that to your imagaination but it was a stunning presentation.  Of course.


There were so many cultures representated from Russian to Great Britton to Vietnam to Holland and so many more. I have just a few represented here - the most clear pictures! I am telling you it was so very hot inside the center!

























After all was done everyone sighed with relief, or heat stroke - it was hard to tell. Arjia Rinpoche, Director of the TMBCC, led everyone outside for final pictures...




It was so very cool and wonderful to have Bonani, Liz, and Sharon drive all the way down from Indianapolis to participate in this wonderful community event