ruby crowned kinglette

if there were any doubts before...

a quick glance outside confirmed what every one and every calendar* is saying.... fall is here!  i knew it official when two dark-eyed junco's bounced by looking for a little breakfast.  i love those little creatures.  here, they migrate to the more elevated and treed areas of the region around the end of march, so it is always lovely to see them return to my yard at this time of year. 

i thought i would be sneaky and creep down the steps with my camera and try to get some pictures... well, i knew it was unlikely because where ever i go, chet goes... and though he isn't interested in small birds, the small birds don't know that and they scatter when they hear him coming.

i was able to take some pictures of these candles holders full of rain water and covered with condensation.  the morning light coming through them was so sparkly and beautiful i completely forgot about the birds.  often, there is a benefit of not tidying up after a dinner outside (i am purposely not divulging when that dinner was...)

this is what fall feels like to me.  bright, sparkly, a bit chilly and damp and just so beautiful.  summer is for others who enjoy bare feet and cotton dresses. give me a sweater, some shoes that cover my toes and a pair of sunglasses and i am the happiest person in the world.  blue sky and crisp air? there ain't nothing better.

*southern hemisphere excepted... spring runs a very tight second to fall in my book.  now, if spring came after summer, it would tie for 'greatest season of all' with autumn.

the family keeps growing and growing

another month, another baby...

introducing audrianna francine, born just over six days ago... she has her mother's lower lip and her father's coloring, a pretty nice set of lungs and beautiful long fingers i am already jealous of, a little dimple on her left cheek and grandparents that will no doubt spoil her with all things sweet and lovely.

congratulations to my wonderful cousin for a job very very well done!

and, reminding you that this is a crafty sort of site, audrianna will be surrounded by a little love from me too...

this is the denise schmidt 'hop skip jump' quilt i made a couple months ago and then a skirt and bumper to match...  roman shades are next.

{tiny} variations on a theme

i drew a vase of peonies in june, just a tiny drawing.  since i have no confidence in my drawing abilities i wanted to get it done quickly so i wouldn't have to consider it for long.  well, it looked better to me a couple of months later so i decided to mess around with it and the 'machine'.

i am not sure about this yet.  i think the image is too small to see the gocconess of the print.  it looks like a sketch and not a print so much.  it is the size of the screen so i was limited in that regard, but it think the next time i might try to tile the sketch - or whatever - to get a larger, more contemporary print.  we'll see - even while writing this is have more ideas so it might just work.

i did have fun with the serrated cutter though so everything i cut for the next 4 months may have a perforated edge....

and here are the variations... plus a ton more on the table but really, how many do you really need to see?

lucky number thirteen

at 10:51 am i received a package.  debbie, of fence construction fame, sent me some apples from her tree.  she feel* felt so badly in my time of mourning (see below) that she decided to share a bit of her mother-lode.  i don't know the variety, but these little beauties smell almost of bubblegum, and are just so pretty!

so now, what to do with them?  they are not good pie apples - per debbie.  but, they are good applesauce apples - also per debbie.  julie suggests i honor rosh hashanah by having them with honey - i like that idea since i do have some nice fireweed honey.  debbie sent thirteen, one for each i lost to the midnight marauders.  so, i am wondering, what you do with your fall fruit?  i mean, besides photograph it?

 

*dammit!

zero, zilch, nada - gone!

this is what i awoke to this morning.  i am now perfectly happy to blame raccoons.  chet wasn't the culprit and really, how much can a rat eat, or carry away for crying out loud.  i know there are some raccoons across the street.  a mama had four babies under someone's deck and they put out dog food for it and it was all the rage earlier in the year.  here is what i think about that...

raccoons are wild animals and can be damned vicious.  don't feed the wild animals!!!  JUST DON"T!  unless, of course, they are birds. but then you must contend with rats....

so, as you can plainly see, i will not be making anything with my apples. ever.

maybe they saw my rant?

vindicated? i think so... a little, anyhow.

check this out, it relates a bit to this...

isn't that david hasselhoff?

say you are going to move to los angeles, or going for a weekend in las vegas, or a week at the film festival in telluride.  besides eating well, i will bet you see a celebrity or two.  so, what better way to document those sightings than a little book i have gocco'd just for that reason!

when my sister moved to los angeles one of the little presents i gave her was a book to document the famous people she saw.  well, it turns out she isn't so good at seeing the famous, even if they are eating breakfast at the same neighborhood restaurant.

anyhow... i thought it might be fun to make some more and what better way to experiement with my gocco machine than to make these.  each book has ten pages, printed front and back, and i think if you are very clever you could have that famous person autograph the page as well.... just remember, when they ask, you got it at rubycrownedkinglette.etsy.com.

the jig is up

i learned a little something last night....

the party responsible for stealing my apples?  it's that one, up there!
last night while finishing my book for book club, chet trotted into the house with an apple in his mouth and then proceeded to eat it, TWICE!... i let him have the first one, i took the second one away.

so, there you have it. i am now down to three apples, not even enough for a pie.  i am not sure i would have made a pie, but now i know i can't.  it is hard to garden when your dog loves all things vegetable - and fruit.

another friday, the same wips - more or less

the little bastards are still among the living... it seems they are smart enough not to get caught - luckily for me they are also smart enough to not come into the house again.

and a farm report.... it seems that maybe the rats are not interested in the traps because they have a nearly endless supply of fruit.  of the 13 apples i had on the tree, only 5... FIVE! remain. i am less than happy about this.  the two that i have had as representatives of the rest are still here but they are not terribly ripe yet.  a little bit red, but not much... i am still under the impression that water could help.

i not being coy.... just slow.  still working on the gocco project.  this time the cover worked better. now i need to get things cut and then assembled.  i have found i am stingy as hell with the ink - i am hoping that trait will serve me well.  still trying to get the hang of not spending all my money on paper toweling for the clean up.  it is better but i am amazed at the tenacity of the ink.

i keep my potatoes in a basket in a cupboard with slatted shelves and two small screened openings to let air flow through, around and then back out.  this cupboard is in the corner and is always obstructed by the dish rack.  therefore it is easy for me to forget about the potatoes in said cupboard.  here is what happens when you forget potatoes in a cupboard.  i think it is fascinating!  thankfully i found them before they began to stink....

here is a closer view of the spuds... cool, right?

good friday everyone, may the farmers you look to for food bring you potatoes that are more edible than these.  i don't think they will be nearly as interesting, but i imagine they might look like you would want to cook them for dinner.

moving forward... with a random hiccup here and there

it looks like the world slipped a little bit today...  i realized it while washing dishes.  i didn't feel it, i sensed it.  i think these kinds of things can go unnoticed if you don't look up. 

in a sea of memorials today regarding the 'event's of 9-11' i was pretty sure i wouldn't add to it with my thoughts.  but i will, in a way. 

the idiot that i call my president seems to be taking the opportunity of the five year anniversary of 9-11 not to be political (his words, not mine)... but to remind us that the world is not safe, there are terrible people out there and if not for his administration we would be in far worse shape (my words, not his).  i don't happen to agree with him.

i think the best thing that guy could do would be to start a blog, one without an agenda.  if he did that simple thing, he would find that the world is full, bursting full, of inquisitive, clever, smart, funny and amazing people who live not to make it a worse place but a place better for having been in it.  maybe, hopefully, he wouldn't use fear as a way to hold tighter to a failing leadership, he would reach out and learn about things he doesn't know, and risk learning something about people different than himself.

that is the power of a blog.

this is my 100th post. it was easier to get here than i imagined.  it was also enriching, satisfying, amazing and just plain fun.  if the next 100 posts bring people into my life who are half as special as the ones that the first 100 brought i will be a better person for it.  thank you everyone for visiting, commenting, reaching out farther with emails, packages and friendships.  this truly gets better every single day.

-s