Terry the Chicken

Here's a new little friend to introduce to you.  This time a sweet little chicken.

His name is Terry........can you guess his last name?

OK.  I'll tell you - he's Mr Yaki!! ....as in Terry Yaki..... as in Terry Yaki Chicken!

As you wear Terry, he's there to remind you not to be a chicken but be brave!

He's made from white bronze and hangs on a 24 inch chain.

You may recall that the last time I tried Hadar's White Bronze, it came out yellow - well this time it came out white! Didn't do anything different - but Hadar said that sometimes the color change just seems to happen.

Happy Birthday Johnnie!

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Johnnie

Happy Birthday to you!

Monday's Millinery Musings - Hat Movies

By guest blogger Jennifer

Jennifer's Etsy Store

I adore movies and my favorite place to see them is in the lovely old Sebastiani Theater on the plaza in my hometown of Sonoma. Thanks to extensive refurbishing about 7 years ago the theater is enjoying a "second spring". The Sebastiani showed its first movie, Fugitive Lovers, on April 7, 1934.

Answers.com movie review says about Fugitive Lovers: "Escaping from her gangster boyfriend Legs (Nat Pendleton), chorus girl Letty (Madge Evans) boards a Greyhound bus bound for California. Likewise a passenger -- albeit a non-paying one -- is Porter (Robert Montgomery), a fugitive from justice. As the bus rolls ever onward, hero and heroine are inexorably drawn together, despite the looming twin threats of arrest and/or extermination."  Pretty exciting stuff in 1934!

Although this is an old photo, the theater still looks much the same. A tiny wooden ticket booth, just big enough for one person, stands at the entrance of the long passage to the front door and current lobby where tickets are sold. Inside the booth sits the "ticket taker".

Years ago I asked her name and was told then that she had no name.  I think of her as Lily, sometimes Edna or Mavis depending on her outfit, which changes every once in awhile. Notice that she is wearing a hat, you can just see it...a little ribbony clam shell affair. Although LilyEdnaMavis can't sell you a ticket, she has great presence and I check in with her several times a week when I walk to town.

But all of this is diverting me from the true purpose of this post which is to give you a list of some of my favorite hat films (and please, please, PLEASE share yours with me) :

Coco Chanel (not the recent Coco Before Chanel which has only a few interesting hats)
Enchanted AprilOut of Africa
The Moderns
Mrs. Parker and Her Vicious Circle
Henry and June 
Little Dorrit (Charles Dickens BBC Series)
Marie Antoinette (for color, costume, feathers, silk, over-the-top hair and hats)

Until next time,  let's pop some corn, put up our feet and go to the movies!

Sunday's Spotlight - WAKEY, WAKEY!

By guest blogger Pete.

In late October early November I usually put my garden to bed for the winter.  We have had a harder winter than  normal this year so most things seem to have been delayed.  In fact, some plants that lived through last year's much milder winter have failed to make it this year.  There have been just two exceptions to this.

I gave the garden a weeding in late March and it has had a few grass cuts since then.  Our lawns are not in a very good condition with weeds and moss in danger of  numerically overtaking the grass.  I have tried many things but all with no success.  A friend of ours' recommend "Green Thumb",a specialist firm dealing with lawns.  So we asked them to come and try and sort out our lawn problems.  They reckon they would need three more visits to get things back to what a lawn should be but even the one visit they have made has resulted in a marked improvement to what things were not too long ago and quite a few weeds have already departed this garden.  Their charge is more than reasonable - £14 a visit - and if you are despairing for the state of your lawn then, take a look at the Green Thumb website.

Last year's Christmas tree continues to flourish and I have realistic hopes that it will survive for Christmas 2010.  I resisted planting it in the garden for fear that it would become too large; so it remains in its pot.  The plum tree is in full leaf and looking very healthy.  Even the olive tree I transplanted earlier this season seems to be enjoying its new location.

So the garden has woken up and its demands increase.  It's not a bad place to work in on a nice sunny day and we've been having a few of these just lately.

It may well be that having looked at the photos attached to this blog you could be thinking that, perhaps, a visit to your optician might not be a bad idea.  Worry not (as if you ever would)!  There's nothing wrong with your eyes.  One of the things I love about photography is the opportunity it gives to experiment.  I would appreciate any comments you may have about this week's photos.

Now's the chance to plan  your summer holidays (if you haven't done so already).  Things look as though they could get a bit tough in the UK with a new parliament that is hung.  Or is the hanging bit wistful thinking?

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream and Macarons

We have friends coming around for dinner tonight so I've been busy in the kitchen - then took a break and did some gardening!

I made strawberry ice cream - using the most delicious strawberries that I bought from a farm in Kenwood.  These strawberries are how strawberries should taste!  Absolutely yummy.

So my first ice cream of the spring.  I love making ice cream and make quite a bit throughout spring, summer an fall.

I don't like store bought strawberry ice cream - but this recipe I have is just yummy - so I thought I'd share it with you. It's really easy so even if you've never made ice cream before - it's worth a try.

Ingredients:
1lb (500g) Strawberries
1/2 pint ( 300 ml) heavy (double) cream
4oz (100g) bakers (caster) sugar
Juice of a lemon

Puree/mash the strawberries, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix.  Churn in an ice cream maker or put in a container in the freezer.  If you aren't using an ice cream maker, you'll need to take the ice cream out every couple of hours and break up the ice crystals with a fork.

When softly frozen - eat it!!

I made some French lemon Macarons to go with the ice cream.  Macarons are a great naturally gluten free dessert but a little fiddle to make.  The ones I made today have lemon rind in the meringue part and then are filled with some lemon curd that I also made this afternoon!

Fancy joining us for dinner????

Perched Treasury

I finally made a main treasury on Etsy! I've never quite got the waiting around part of it that is involved.  There are only 333 available and you have to wait for a split second when one expires to grab another....but I've finally done it.

I entitled it "perched" and show it below. Hope you like it

1. Dolan Gieman 2. Twisted River Clay 3. JMaz 4. Soul Harbor Jewelry

5. Birdland Creations 6. R Roberts Photography 7. Department 63 8. Rochelles Little Ones

9. Digger Bren 10. Milica Bubanja 11. Tracey Capone Photography 12. The binary box

13. Artisan Lyn 14. Hilaria Galleries 15.  The Candy Shoppe 16.  Beauty is Art Studio

Quick as a bunny - Friday's facts, fascinations and folklore

This week was rabbit week for me.  It started on Sunday morning when I was walking past one of our glass doors and saw the cutest little thing on the porch.

It was a baby jack rabbit. And so tiny.  We are used to having big Jack Rabbits in our garden and love watching them run and hop around, and they never go near our vegetable patch - but they are really big.  Sometimes when you just get a quick glance of them, you think it has to be another animal like a coyote or something because they look so large.

 

Just look at those ears!

But this little babe bunny was tiny - even his ears were small.  He hopped around a little bit but seemed a little wobbly on his legs so settled down in some vegetation in the shade - which was good as it was a hot day.

I then went out for the day and when I came back, he was still there....and looking a little fragile...  I'd left the house around 9am and now it was 5.30pm and he was still on his own...so I got a little worried.
I looked up wildlife rescue on the internet for their guidlines and it said for rabbits that if they are 4 inches long and their eyes are open then they can fend for themselves and you shouldn't do anything.... I figured he was around 4inches so I resisted giving it a cuddle and just kept my distance.

When it got dark, he moved just a little bit to cozy up to the side of the house which was warm but still no mummy and still no cozy den to go into. Anyhow - we went to bed and the next morning he wasn't there....so we are hoping he is doing OK and found his family and is now hopping around the vineyard somewhere.

John named him Flash for the white dot on his forehead.  I wanted to call him Gordon after Flash Gordon, but we already have Gordon the Gopher snake - it had to be Flash.  I'm hoping we'll see him again one day soon, recognizing him by his flash - and see that he is doing OK.

My second scary rabbit story came on Wednesday night when I was driving back from San Francisco.  Suddenly this large rabbit ran in front of the car - and he was really big.  But then, in hot pursuit of the rabbit was an enormous great horned owl!! He was swooping down to the road, claws out ready to pick up this big jack rabbit!!! But in the middle of this was me in my car!  Luckily the owl saw the headlights and quickly swooped up and just missed my windscreen.  For a split second he was flying straight at my windscreen with his wings outstretched.  It was then that I realized that he was in fact larger than my windscreen!! What a wingspan!

Photo by D Chenault

Anyhow - the owl flew off somewhere and the rabbit was saved and hopped into the vegetation!  Phew! And I drove on home with a quickened heart rate!!

I haven't made a silver rabbit in  a while - the ones shown above were from a few years ago...so maybe it's time!!!

Unfurl - and show your inner beauty

Spring is such a beautiful season. The garden just looks stunning right now with all the new flowers.

And so I just had to make a flower. This time, a ring entitled "Unfurl".

I wanted to grasp the unfurling stage - when the flower begins to reveal itself and show you it's real beauty. And so the ring serves as a reminder to the wearer to show their beauty within.

I'm mulling over the idea of making more of these and adding color either to the outside or the inside...
What do you think?

So during this springtime - make sure you unfurl and show the beauty within.

From "Perched" to "Perch"

Okay, Okay. Don't groan too loud! I thought it was quite a clever segue from yesterday's blog post entitled "Perched" about a bird ring to today's blog post about a fish pin "Perch".....No???? Thinking up new blog post titles every day isn't easy you know!!!

Anyhow - here's a little fishy I made as a pin in silver and resin.

I really like pins and wonder why they aren't very popular. Okay - raise your hand if you like and wear pins.................................

Hmmm - maybe the situation isn't so bad - there were quite a few raised hands there, so my faith is restored a little and I'll make some more pins (or brooches as we like to call them!).

Better go now and think how I'll be able to segue into tomorrow's blog post......hee, hee!

Perched

v. perched, 

v.intr.

To stand, sit, or rest on an elevated place or position.

And for this little birdie, that "elevated place" is your hand!

He just loves to be perched on a finger and go where you go.....watching in on your world... A perfect companion.

And whilst he's quite a big bird and solid silver, as he's perched on a squared ring shank, that means his weight doesn't make him want to slide around your finger.

The soft matt finish just makes you want to cuddle up to him!

Mondays with Marly - Taxes and Beginnings

By NEW guest blogger Marly

Marly and Angie own Studio 28 in Waterloo, Ontario Canada.

I’m sitting at the table amidst piles of last year’s receipts coaxing my shy and often timid left brain to step up and make sense of the numbers, tables, percentages, and schedules that make up my income tax return. As I look over a receipt from one of myToronto suppliers, my right brain merrily skips into my head and says, “Remember on that particular trip to Toronto you also went to Massey Hall to hear the Canadian Songwriters Tribute to Neil Young.”  “Oh yes!” I enthusiastically respond, “What a great
concert!” Which inspires me to go over to my computer and click on iTunes...a bit of music in the background to help me get through this tax thing would be perfect! Oh and while I’m here at the computer, I might as well check my email. Ah yes, an email from my dear friend Ruth inviting me to be a guest writer on her blog. What a great opportunity! How exciting!  But wait, now I need to write something!  How does one begin? Looking back at the pile of receipts on the table, I decide that, indeed, this is the perfect time to think about my first guest blog entry.

So let’s go back to spring of 2008. Angie, my good friend and business partner, and I have dabbled in metal clay for a few years, but its when we spend three days with Celie Fago in her lovely Vermont studio, learning about the tear away technique, doming and keum boo, that our excitement about this incredible medium really takes off! 

Lentils Made at Celie’s in Vermont

During our time with her, we are introduced to bronze clay which Celie has been testing for Bill Struve and Rio.  We also learn that she will be teaching the first introductorycourse in bronze clay at the PMC conference that summer. Mmmm.....another exciting opportunity presents itself. Angie is lucky enough to make it in Celie’s bronze clay course which fills up within days of its posting. It is in this course that Angie has the very very good fortune of sitting beside a lovely British woman named Ruth Baillie.  Both of us continue to enjoy her company during the course of the conference, discussing seminars and people we have met each evening over a glass of Ruth’s very own Birdland Merlot. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Ruth, Angie, and Marly at PMC Conference 2008  

First bronze projects by Angie

First bronze project by Ruth

Little do we know that when we say our sad goodbyes at the end of the conference, that we will all be together again in a few months. Wait...what’s that? Oh dear...the left side of my brain is wringing her hands, glancing over to the pile of now neglected receipts, and telling me in a very forced whisper that there are tax deadlines to meet.  I guess, the next chapter of our adventures with Ruth have to wait. But, at least now I know what I’ll be writing about in my second entry. I really wish I had invested in that nifty “receipt reader” thing that Ruth talks about earlier in her blog. I might be a little less reluctant to go back over to the table. Maybe, I should go online and learn more about those receipt
readers, or perhaps go for a walk on this beautiful, sunny day to clear my head a bit before I get back to the numbers...isn’t there some dirty laundry that needs attention?...and so it goes.

Sunday's spotlight - Flowers Everywhere

By guest blogger Pete.

Well, we went to the South Holland district of Lincolnshire's Churches Flower Festivals.  We managed to fit in four  churches and each one was an absolute riot of colour.  I made a second visit on Wednesday and managed to see another four.  I did tell you that there is an abundance of flower festivals in the churches there at this time of the year.

Pam came with me on Monday and the four churches we visited were Long Sutton, Moulton, Sutterton and Surfleet.  Each was very good and each were so different from the others.

The display in Long Sutton was worth visiting but I reckoned that this was the weakest of the eight in that, although it had flower arrangers from outside the town as opposed to locals for the other churches, it was a long way short of its usual standard.  I have asked others what they thought of this display and the majority seem to agree with me. Their theme was "Opposites", which I thought was rather a "cop out" for the arrangers.  There definitely wasn't the style and thought of previous displays.  When you think of it you can just put together red and white flowers and easily decide a theme of some sort of opposite from that.  Added to that most of the displays lacked variety of colour.  However I would award nine out of ten for the home made cakes.

Moulton was a new festival for us, we've never been there before.  As you entered the church you were met by a trapeze sign ordering "Tell me a story!".  The theme for Moulton was obvious.  Each display illustrated the title of a book and here variety and thought predominated. Home made cakes were good here and earned nine out of ten.

Sutterton cleverly combined a display of scarecrows with their flowers and the display had the theme of "A year in the life of a scarecrow".  Both the scarecrows and also the displays were great - again showing originality, great displays and a good use of props.  No home made cakes here because time was passing and we wanted to fit in anther church before we set off on the journey home.

We had started off at Long Sutton at 10 a.m. and it was 2.30 p.m. when we left Sutterton.  Just time to fit in a visit to the festival at Surfleet.  I thought Surfleet just edged out Moulton for the best showing.  Variety of colour was definitely on display here both from the hats - the theme here was"Hats" - and also from the flowers.  The home made cakes here weren't as good as the others so they earned an eight out of ten.

After all that cake tasting - someone must do it! -  we thought we'd give a hot meal a miss when we got home.  We also gave a cold meal similar treatmentl.

The photos this week are from my Wednesday festival  visit.  It features the small church of the small  village of West Pinchbeck.  Hope you like them.

If you're in the area and would like a trip out today or Monday then go for these festivals.  Last day for them all is Monday.

Introductions - New Guest blogger Marly

I want to introduce you to a new guest blogger - my great friend Marly.  

Marly is an artist who works in fused glass, metal clay and lots of other things too.  She and Angie own and run Studio 28 in Waterloo, Canada (near Toronto).

Lake House View

The photo below shows Marly in my studio last year, when she and Angie were visiting.  While we were together, we had an incredible time making some collaboration pieces - three pieces with each of us contributing to each piece.  The process - and results - were amazing. Here's the link to the final blog post about our metal clay collaboration projects so you can see what we came up with.

Anyhow - I won't tell you too much about her, as she'll be doing that!  She will be blogging on alternate Mondays in her new slot "Mondays with Marly". So one week it'll be "Mondays with Marly" and the next it'll be "Monday's Millinery Musings" with Jennifer.  (Now why Jennifer's name doesn't begin with an M I'll never know!! Maybe she should change it!!!)

 Garden Window

I'm delighted she agreed to join our little band of bloggers, so we get to hear a little about "inside the artisan Marly".

See you Monday Marly!