The lazy flower garden

When we first bought our place about 16 years ago I had grand ambitions and lots more free time.And I knew nothing about gardening. I took mostly free or cheap plants from friends and neighbors.And now years later when I am too lazy and busy to put any effort into it these hardy perennials keep coming back without any help from me.

Little did I know how disgustingly stinky daisies are.

I love these daylillies! I seriously never water them or do anything but weed a little early in the spring.

I can’t remember what these are called . Some sort of hardy bluebell?

The reseeding foxgloves that always surprise me every couple of years by reappearing just when I thought I wouldn’t see them again.

 

I can’t remember what this lovely purple stuff is but as long it requires nothing from me I’m happy to have it.

These I could do without. The Canadian Thistle. Ouch!

Thisi s my non lazy super hero husband putting in our new vinyl floor.What a difference!

Philomath Frolic and Rodeo-one week later

Well it was over a week ago that I too the kids to the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo but I finally got the time to post this. As a Brooklyn girl the rodeo fascinates me. It’s so different from where I grew up to see guys wearing cowboy hats because they are actual cowboys and not gay men. Of course they could be gay. Not that there’s anything

wrong with that.

The boys took their mandatory pony rides.

They had been begging me to do the carnival rides. The first ride they chose was the roller coaster. I was kind of surprised that Max really wanted to do it because he’s not much of a ride daredevil.  He looked like he was pooping in his pants the whole time. When he got off he said in his serious voice-“That was kind of scary.” He then declined to go on any other rides for the rest of the night.

 

Henry won this giant blue bear that made him very happy. We also ran into his best friend Emmit

 

And then there was the actual rodeo. This is the rodeo clown wearing a silly fat suit and doing a whole dance schtick. While somewhat amusing at times I couldn’t help but feel bad for the overweight folks in the audience. But the kids told me he wasn’t making fun of fat people he “just wanted to dance in a fat suit to be goofy.” OK then.

Real cowboys roping a cow. Yee haw!

 

The mandatory shaved ices.

Aleaha and Max really getting into their ices.

Relaxing at home with Dad.

Successful photos of new Kanji jewelry

We often get requests for specific words in Japanese Kanji and other languages to be made into our stamped jewelry. This is Nick’s end of our jewelry line. He makes the dies and perfects the tumbling techniques. I get the fun part of photographing the jewelry. I used to hate it back in the olden days before digital cameras. I’d waste hours and hours of my life and tons of money on film, wait to get it printed and then be horribly disappointed and start all over again and repeat the process. My simple Sony Cyber-shot 5.1 megapixels changed all that. And the miracle of Photoshop.

These pictures were taken outdoors on a cloudy overcast day. I found a Japanese kanji book of ours and an art history book and had some fun.

 

Light - Japanese Kanji and Chinese Character and for Light Sterling Silver Pendant

Light - Japanese Kanji and Chinese Character for Light Sterling Silver Stamped Earrings

In the same photo shoot I played around with some rough obsidian we bought at the Tuscon Gem Show many many years ago and this new Snow Flake Obsidian Ball Pendant.These didn’t come out quite as crisp and photoshop helped with the contrast quite a bit. The silver Kanji jewelry above didn’t really need much photoshopping at all other than cropping.

My boys

Henry and Max and our new  to us mini van modeling the cute summer clothes that Grandma Fran sent.

New Amethyst Earrings and New Sterling Silver Pins

 

Today I took these pictures and added these Tiny Amethyst Sterling Silver Wirewrapped Bead Earrings.

I also these two new Sterling Silver shawl pins.

Circle With A Twist Sterling Silver Shawl Pin or Brooch

Double Crossed Loops Sterling Silver Shawl Pin or Brooch

I also decided to add a photo of my small chubby man hand (a “Sienfeld” reference to those who know what I mean by “man hand”) holding the pin to get more of a sense of scale with these sweet little pins. These two pins used a little less silver wire than the others and take a little less time to make so they are a little less expensive than the first 5 ones I put in our shop.

New Sterling Silver Shawl Pins

Celtic Infinity Loops Sterling Silver Shawl Pin or Brooch
Well I finally took the plunge and invested in 12 gauge sterling silver so I could start making my shawl pins in sterling silver along with super awesome aluminum. It's dramatically more expensive than aluminum. The 9 gauge aluminum costs about $.15 a foot and 12 gauge sterling silver costs about $7 a foot. That doesn't leave a lot of room for mistakes.Hence the significantly higher price for them.The silver is also a lot harder and more difficult to bend and hammer.

Looping Celtic Crossed Knots Sterling Silver Shawl Pin or Brooch
So I've started out by making the most popular aluminum shawl pin designs.

Celtic Heart and Swirls Sterling Silver Shawl Pin or Brooch
They've been tricky to photograph too.I think it's because they are shinier than the aluminum.

Celtic Budding Spiral Sterling Silver Shawl Pin or Brooch


Fleur De Lis Sterling Silver Shawl Pin or Brooch


Celtic Knot Infinite Swirl Cross Sterling Silver Shawl Pin or Brooch
This is one of my most difficult and complex designs and uses a little more wire than the others.Although not uncomfortably heavy, it is amazing the weight difference between aluminum and sterling silver. The silver has a different look and feel than the aluminum that I hope will appeal to some knitters looking for something a little special. But I really appreciate and love my aluminum.

First Grade trip to the Portland Zoo

Last Friday I chaperoned Henry's First Grade class trip to the zoo. It was a crazy 2 hour bus ride. Luckily we had lots and lots of parents who came on the trip to help.About a half hour before we arrived Henry started to feel sick and it started raining.I was not in the best of moods. But once we got off the bus he felt better. Must have been car sickness.And miraculously the rain stopped after a little while.We spent the day with his 3 best friends and another set of parents.

We all brought our own lunch and found a great spot inside the lion viewing area. And then suddenly from cross the field this large and lovely lioness spotted us and came trotting intensely over to the window like she was ready to eat us for lunch.

It was pretty exciting and terrifying. I'm so glad that glass was strong.
This polar bear was hilarious. He was really enjoying himself and showing off for us while the one in the background was having some sort of OCD weird caged animal moment. He kept walking backwards about 3 steps and then forwards 3 steps like he was doing the cha cha cha. The picture below the video of the bears is of Max and his super awesome preschool teacher Sara Melahnik.(I couldn't figure out how to move the picture below on blogger. Anyway...) It was the next to last day of preschool for him. We'll really miss her and I can't believe my baby will be starting kindergarten in the Fall.

Time for new pictures and things

Things have slowed down a little in our Etsy shop. Rather than freak out and panic which is my usual response to the fluctuations of self employment income I've tried to use this extra time to add some products I've been meaning to add for a long time and improve some pictures.
Like the long overdue Treble Clef G Clef Sterling Silver Stamped Pendant.


Pretty Little Rose Quartz and Amethyst Swirl Sterling Silver Pendant

Black Stone and Fresh Water Pearl Swirl Stone Sterling Silver Pendant

Green Aventurine and Amethyst Swirl Stone Sterling Silver Pendant

These three stone pendants all have matching earrings in our shop. Figured it was time to make a nice set.They are also very inexpensive ($8.50).

Rainbow Eye Aluminum Bar Shawl Pin or Brooch

This is a new bar pin design. It works kind of like a safety pin.

I just ordered some thick gauge sterling silver wire so that I can start making the shawl pins in sterling silver. I'm excited to try them in silver but a little nervous about the overhead costs. Silver is significantly more expensive than aluminum.

Steaming Cup O Joe with Garnet Sterling Silver Pendant

I have been meaning to get more creative and take some better pictures of our Cup O Joe stampings. Here are the new pictures.

Steaming Cup O Joe Coffee Cup Sterling Silver Earrings

I'm back!

Well it's been a ridiculously long time since I blogged. Just busy and not that into it. Facebook just seems so much easier.(Give in to it all you reluctant facebookers. Join the herd. It's fun and easy and everyones doing it.)
I just got back from spending 4 days in Albuquerque with my parents while my Mom was going through surgery for Colon cancer. It went very well. They were able to do it all laparoscopically. She is strong tough lady and was just released from the hospital today. The surgery was on Monday!. She is expected to fully recover.
It was hard to leave my family. I had never been away from Henry before and he was initially very upset. But he resigned himself to it and bribery helped .Nothing like a bunch of new legos and wii games to get over Mom being away. Max took it like a man. Nick was super dad.
I may be a freak but I love airports and airplane travel. Yeah there are some scary, high anxiety moments but I still find it so amazing and exciting.I think the picture above is Mt Hood outside of Portland.

The Desert.

Approaching Albuquerque.

Mom and dad in their backyard (pre surgery).

Me and Mom squinting in the harsh bright sun.

The guest room/office I stayed in.Note the ancient PC with windows 98 on dial up and the half broken roller ball mouse they insist on using that drove me insane and tv with converter box. I was satellite dish deprived but did get to see 5 different religious channels and mexican soap operas.

My Dad is an arteest. That is one of my favorite paintings of his.

One of his statues in the back yard.

His sculpture garden on the side of their home.

I think it looks like he's giving the finger. He says it's just pointing.