Anyone can swing - Fridays facts, fascinations and folklore

I read an interesting article in the paper yesterday about a new Playground that's just opened in Hyde Park, London that is designed for seniors ( 60 years +).

It sounds great.  They have installed some low impact fitness machines for seniors such as a cross trainer, a sit up bench, a stationary bicycle etc.....The idea is that this fitness equipment encourages seniors to participate in gentle exercise while also providing them with time to socialize with friends, and all in a nice environment...  It's not gym where you have to pay for membership and come in workout clothes, you can just be wandering by and take a few minutes to try some exercises...

Here's a link to a short video about the new playground

Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth

 But after reading it...I was left wanting more.....

Where are the swings, slides, see-saws, and roundabouts?...Why can't there be "playground" equipment in there too?  Don't you think that sounds fun and gives exercising a little more "freeing" feeling....I mean there is nothing like swinging high and feeling the wind in your hair, or holding on to a roundabout and catching those wonderful childhood memories....  Feeling younger again...

So well done to Westminster City Council who funded the project ($60,000) - but now add some recapture-those-childhood-days equipment too!  I bet everyone would enjoy it... I know I feel somewhat sad when I walk past a swing and can't go on it....  And after all...anyone can swing:

A bird in the hand....2

I must be feeling very grateful at the moment as I've made another "bird in the hand" necklace.  It's different from the little girl one I showed earlier in the week - and this one was actually my original design from a few years ago.

 

The hand is just over an inch long..

If a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush....I wonder what two birds in the hand are worth?

Which do you prefer?

Playboi photo!

So for those who were too afraid to look - here is the photo that was in Playboi (www.playboi.de) yesterday:

They thought my little "Perched" birdie ring looked like he would go well with their logo birdie!  Playboi is a German design website/blog.  Thanks KariaQ.

I'm in Playboy(i) today!

Yes - today is the day!  I'm in Playboy(i)!

I haven't told my parents  yet - but I know my dad will read this sooner or later......oh, oh.....

It was quite a shock - just on Monday I got the request to send them a photo....and today's the day!

You must go and see - here's the link:  Ruth in Playboi

A bird in the hand.....

 This little freckle-faced girl is just loving being able to hold this tiny little bird in her hands.  It's like the world has stopped for her and nothing could be better.  She daren't move - she is just loving every minute...

And that, to me,  is the basis for the saying "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush". Let's be grateful for all that we have right now and not waste our time wishing for things that may not even be as good as what we already have.

Let's treasure the moments, the things, the people we already have in our lives..and be like this little girl - love every minute!

Mondays with Marly - California Dreamin'

By guest blogger Marly

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

What a difference two weeks makes. The income tax forms are mailed away and my left brain is recuperating and resting comfortably after having to perform a myriad of gymnastic feats to complete the task. "Go ahead and reminisce about your trip to California and your amazing visit to Birdland," my left brain lazily says. I'm headed off for a well-deserved nap. Just remember you promised we'd talk about studio organization later this afternoon."

Mmmmm...studio organization....O.K. then.... let's start reminiscing...shall we? 

Angie's spinner beads

It was the fall of 2008. Angie was having a significant birthday late in September and we wanted to celebrate it in a special way. So what evolved was an amazing week in California divided into three parts, exploring San Francisco, spending two days with Hadar Jacobson in her studio, and the big finale...visiting Ruth and family at their Birdland vineyard.

Marly's bronze and silver earrings

After exploring San Fran for two days we took the BART over to Berkeley and settled into a lovely B and B in the neighbourhood of Hadar Jacobson's place called The Brick Path B and B . Then we spent two days of creating jewelry under the knowledgeable guidance and expertise of Hadar in her studio/workshop space. We were so excited about our new learning experiences and the opportunity to spend time with such a gifted artisan.

Marly's collage pendant

 Angie's hollow form stones

 Angie's collage pendant

We ended our California adventures with a visit to Ruth's place in Glen Ellen. It was wonderful to see Ruth again and to experience Birdland, a magical retreat that exudes happiness, thoughtful creativity and natural beauty everywhere you look. We loved meeting Ruth's husband John and their colorful and talented parrot, Harold, and had a wonderful time in their company.

Ruth had planned many special events to help Angie celebrate her birthday. First it was off to the little mountain town of Calistoga for a mudbath...aahhh...such goopy, relaxing fun!

The mudbath and massage got us in the perfect mood for a bit of winetasting. Here's a picture of Ruth and I enjoying some wine at Roshambo winery. I'm looking rather stern as I want Ruth to notice that my wine glass is empty! Hee hee!

After a few more visits to nearby wineries, Angie and Ruth were ready to dance with the locals!

Ruth and John were amazing hosts. We'll always have memories of gatherings in the "fairy ring," delicious dinners, sipping on Birdland Merlot, sharing stories around the fire, and looking out at the stars above the vineyard. What a highlight of 2008!

Oh dear....I think my reminiscing time has run out...I hear the left side of my brain starting to stir. Maybe I can squeeze in some play time with metal clay before the dreaded "studio organization" conversation! Wish me luck!

Sunday's Spotlight - Nearly Nearly

By guest blogger Pete

We have a friend, who, for the last three years, has been telling folk that she's nearly eighty.  We know, for a fact, that she has two more years to go before she reaches that total.  However, according to her method of reckoning, from last Friday I, too, am nearly eighty!  I'm not sure what's so magical about the number eighty.  You probably get something like 171/2p a month off income tax. 

However, last Friday did bring me something different - something I've never had before and neither has Pam.  The Government decided that I'm now eligible for a free TV license.  Yesterday evening Pam and I watched our first session of free TV.  Pity there wasn't much on that was worth watching!!!  I'll not tell you how old I became on Friday; I'll leave you to work that out.

At long last we've stopped getting frosts in the early hours of the morning and all the, so called, experts are telling us that we've seen the last of frosts in this part of the country until late autumn; (although it might be "the last of frosts until "nearly" late autumn"). 

I've had bedding plants growing nicely in the garage for "nearly" a fortnight.  A "fortnight", for friends over the other side of the pond is "two weeks".  This morning I planted sixty bedding plants out in  the front garden and, as I write this, Pam is planting "nearly" another sixty out in the back garden.  Quite a useful word this "nearly".

Think of me on Tuesday afternoon.  I'm going into the local school for "nearly"  two hours - actually it's just a little over one hour but you know how that word "nearly" begins to take over.  During that time I'm going to be an "Aunt Sally - (or should that be "Uncle Peter?) - can't explain that to friends over the pond except to say that in Victorian times an "Aunt Sally" was a fairground attraction and she had things thrown at her. 

Anyway, for that time the children are free to ask me any questions they want and I have to try and answer them in a way they can understand.  This will be the second time I've done this and the first time I quite enjoyed the experience.

Well, it's "nearly" time to end this blog.  Remember it's "nearly" Christmas so why not start your Christmas shopping?

PS the photos are from the Belvoir Steam and Traction show.

Enjoying the flowers

Week of the rabbit

I know I am a little late as last week was my week of the rabbit with baby Flash and saving another one from the claws of a great horned owl.......but I couldn't resist sharing this Snoopy cartoon with you:



Our rabbits need someone like Snoopy around to look after them!

Eyes like a hawk - Friday's facts, fascinations and folklore

Several times this week we had a red-tailed hawk come perching on the vines near our house.  There is a nesting pair in the woods nearby but normally we don't see the hawks perching near the house.

He looked quite majestic and I loved his yellow feet ( I wonder why they are yellow?).  And he got me thinking about the saying "eyes like a hawk".

A red-tailed hawk's eyes are nearly as large as a human's, although the bird may weigh only three pounds.  Such size results in a relatively large image cast upon the retina.  The retinas have a dense concentration of cones and a great many optic nerve fibers. The area of critical focus, known as the fovea, in the back of a hawk's eye has 1,000,000 visual cells or cones per square millimeter, compared to 200,000 in a human eye. Even more impressive, the hawk's eye has two foveas in the retina where the highest concentration of visual cones occur, while we have but one. Thus raptors can see eight times better than man and have an exceptional ability to judge distance.

If you hold a finger 2 feet in front of your face., you can see it clearly because you are focusing the image on your one fovea.  Now hold the finger 2 feet to the left of your head and move your eyes but not your head to see it.  It is not in focus because the light from it is not hitting the fovea.

For a red-tailed hawk with mutliple fovea, most of what they see is in focus.  So human's will never have eyesight as good as hawks!

As an aside, other birds - like seabirds and shorebirds have a ribbon-like fovea across the back of the eye in order to orient themselves better to the horizon.

Guess we are lucky we don't have to catch little creatures and birds to sustain ourselves.....


Here's a red-tailed hawk's call - Warning: it's pretty strident so don't play this is you are in the office and should be working!

"I'm looking for a friend....I'm looking for YOU!"

Our parrot Harold loves to watch childrens television in the morning.  We allow him one hour of PBS Kids programing on Mondays through Fridays so he watches Curious George first and then Sid the Science Kid (and yes, he is sad on the weekends, coz they don't play then!).

He just loves all the noises - especially the high pitched ones - and joins in squalking and singing and strutting around his cage.

So I am in and out of the kitchen when these are playing - but of course, not watching them! However, I away seem to hear Sid the Science Kid sing this one song......  Every morning,  when he gets to school  and is in the playground he "sings":

"I'm looking for a friend.... I'm looking for YOU!"
and each time, he finds a friend!  Good old Sid.

This latest bird that I made is also looking for a friend.  He's a big bird - 2 inches from tip of beak to tail - much bigger than I normally make - and I think he's looking for YOU!

I haven't named him yet... maybe he should be Sid?  What do you think?

Oh, Oh. Look what I found - Sid's song on Youtube! Now you can all see!

Show your true colors - Master Muse Challenge

My second Master Muse challenge is up on Tonya Davidson's blog for Whole Lotta Whimsy.   I hope you'll go to her blog and see a synopsis.  Thanks Tonya.

This time the challenge was using metal clay and inlaying Ice Resin.

My creation is Hugh the Chameleon.......

Photo by Drew Davidson

He's a pin/brooch. 

As soon as resin was mentioned in the challenge, I knew for me that that would mean a way I could add color to my silver clay. But most inlay of resin is in flat surfaces, so I wanted to come up with a technique to add resin to sculptural pieces where the resin wouldn't all run out and spill because of the three dimensional shapes and many curves and angles etc.....and it's a fun technique. I hope you'll give it a try.

The full tutorial will be available for purchase soon at Whole Lotta Whimsy and also via this blog.

I hadn't used Ice Resin before - but I really like it. There's lots of ways to use it, and it's non toxic.  I'll be using my bottles up pretty fast.

I hope your like Hugh. He serves as a reminder for us in that, while he - like all chameleons - adapts and changes to suit his environment, by doing this - he also warrants a closer look. So while we can adapt and blend to different environments that maybe sometimes aren't always easy  - remember also to "show your true colors" and warrant a closer look.

Have you got the Ruth-humor as to why he's called Hugh??? yes - obvious isn't it!!!????

Rare Bird Sightings

The rare birds from a week or so ago - The Dopey-eyed Billasaurus and the Bog-eyed bug eater - have now been strung up!
 

I've put them on a long, 30 inch opera length chain so they can spin and move around.  I have used a clutch bar on the chain so you can adjust where the birds hang and whether they are level or one above each other.

I like the clutch bar - seems to work well with the birdies in that they are free to fly close to each other, but not on top of each other!

And yes, it seems like the two birdies are falling in love.....

 

What will their babies look like I wonder?

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.