Woody Woodpecker!!!!!!!

Yes!   He came back!  I saw him about 2 years ago and not since that time.  These pictures are not clear at all - I was pretty darned excited.   I looked up from my work and there he was!  Hanging with Downy Woodpecker! I didn't have my camera set up, it wasn't on a tri-pod, no remote cable.....it wasn't even in the room.  

 

I very carefully and very slowly and very quietly crept from the room.....snatched up my camera and took these pictures about 3 feet from the window - free hand!   I was so excited I am amazed they aren't just one big black, red, and white blur.

 

Maybe I will get another chance this week - I am ready!  Camera set up, tripod, remote trigger.....check!

Here he is showing his backside - that is a big bird for a little suet cake.   I think there might be bigger suet cakes in my/his future!

Thanks, Patty.   You started all of this and now I am upgrading my suet cakes....will it never end?

Meanwhile, Woody is showing 'her' other side here....

 

 

Meanwhile....Mr. Cardinal and his sidekick, Tufted Titmouse, said they weren't impressed and just kept spitting out those millet seed hulls!

My new mission?  Get a clear shot of Woody in all of his prehistoric glory! 

Back to Beading! New design....or two....

I think it is something about this time of year...lots of new beading designs coming out.  Very simple and 'quick' ones, too!  Well...'quick' in beading terms can mean it only takes a week to make a piece.  These bracelets worked up pretty quickly once I learned the design and made about 4 of them. 

 

The designer, Deborah Roberti, calls them Bobble Bangles. 

 

 

 

With the holidays around the corner.....

 

 

And a straggler - I had forgotten about this guy.  This is 1/2 of a full St. Petersburg stitch - you can probably guess it is a Russian stitch.   I haven't mastered the full St. Petersburg yet and am still trying to figure out the darned pathway of the thread.   A bit complicated, those Russians.  This is the only one I have made so far.

 

 

If this was a full St. Petersburg it would have a repeat of the blue and the red on the other side of the crystal beads....I just don't know how......yet.

 

Finally, a picture that reminds me of the Princess and the Pea.......Mini, Warrior Princess, has been waiting very patiently but now wishes I would cease hunching over a beading tray and go with her to survey her kingdom and bark at squirrels.  So I am off to obey the Royal command.....but I will let her do the barking at squirrels.

 

Happy Beading!

 

Birthday

A big birthday, too.   I made my way to Chicago to spend some time with Steve and Cecily....who kept welcoming me to my 'Seventh Decade'.   Wow - really?  That seems like a lot and it really couldn't apply to me.  Or - could it?

 

In one of the most delightful kitchens anywhere - there was a Happy Birthday banner!  How cool!  How kind!  How thoughtful!

 

Ellie the Dog (ETD) tucks herself neatly out of the way under the windows but has instant view of everyone, especially the Love of her Life, Cecily!

 

 

Ellie does have some.....confidence...issues....

I don't know....are you sure it is ok if I am here?  Absolutely sure?

 

Thank you but I don't want to look over there....at the scary lady with the camera....I will just look at you with adoration.

 

TA DA!!!  

Everyone is smiling

 

 

Thank you, Steve and Cecily!  I endlessly treasure your friendship and your kindness!!!!

See you at the Olive Festival next year!

XXOX!

 

The End

 

 

 

 

 

Now on to beading!

The silly mean dove that pecks the little birds on the head has been mourned....now on to something more cheerful.   New beadwork!

Still Ndebele!   Here are some fairly large Ndebele cuffs using embellishment between the columns.  The gold one was fun to bead - it was a new pattern and that is always fun.  And it was a color I very rarely use and was fun for my eyes (yes, eyes can have fun, too).  And I experimented with magnetic clasps on these bracelets.   I can say that a bracelet and its magnetic clasp is soon parted.   I made a silver one and I believe it is somewhere in the Kroger parking lot, I didn't even get a picture!

Anyway - here is the gold one - it has now moved on to its forever home.  Hopefully it has a forever home now - I think bracelets with magnetic clasps are destined to be vagabonds.

 



Same pattern but in blue!  This time with *TWO* magnetic clasps.....I think it is still hanging around in the bead box....so far.

 

 

So - what is it like to work with magnetic clasps?  

 

 

 

Miserable!  They stick to each other, the bead tray, other needles jump in the fun, they wrap themselves around the pliers........Strike 2!

 





Yes.....I kept trying.......this one is snuggled in the bead box as well

The concept is good!  I hope these last 3 find their forever homes!

Meanwhile......abandoning the magnetic clasp idea - well, I didn't exact abandon it - I started gluing them together!  Now we have bangles but - at least they will stay on for sure!

Anyway - now another version of Ndebele - this one a thin pattern - I like it a lot.  This is a very nice little pattern and works up quickly if you are experience with Ndebele. I have switched to 2 clasps I very rarely use - just because the old toggle is getting really over-done!

That is all of the new bead patterns for now.  Next post will be another 'B' - to follow Birds and Beads - and my trip to see Steve and Cecily.

Bad news for the backyard birdies!

I know most people think of doves and think of gentle little beings......so delicate.  I, however, think of doves and immediately think - 'rotten little buggers'!   They are simply pigeons with good PR!   They swarm my backyard feeders and peck my little Chickadees and Titmouses on the head to make them leave.  And they will even intimidate the Cardinals into leaving the feeders.  No love lost here for the rotten little buggers!  But I wouldn't wish harm on the.....just wish a lot of distance from my backyard birdies.

Unfortunately, early last month I looked out of my window on my backyard oasis....here is a picture of my window on the world - I spend most of the week days sitting beside the window on the right....

 

I saw a falcon stoop on one of the brainless little doves.   I have seen it before in my backyard - it is a blur of light, an audible impact and then nothing.  The falcon strikes, grabs, and leaves just that fast.   So ...... is that snow on the ground?  Maybe gray leaves?

 



Nooooo.......

Lots of hiding places for the falcons in my backyard.....They can be up there.....



Or....maybe over there.....

RIP Mr. Dove......