15 Years Ago Today...

I know this man,

Who is near to my heart.

One day 15 vears ago,

It was torn all apart.

***

This man taught me everything

That I needed to know

But I never really listened,

Until he had to go.

***

He gave me love

And touched my life

He always taught me

wrong from right.

***

The day he left

I wasn't that strong

He has missed so many things

and has been gone so long.

***

But I will see him again

This I know

The day will come

When its time for me to go

***

So, I'll hold him dear

And close to my heart

Cause the day we meet

I know we'll never ever be torn apart

I miss you Dad and Love You!!

Monday's Pets

Little Wren has a new friend.

Louie the Panda Bear Hamster and Wren have been having some play dates and they actually are pretty funny together. Sniffing each others faces was the first thing they did but afterwards Wren followed Louie around the room.

It was so cute!

Then Mr. Louie decided to hoard all of Wrens food.

She wasn't too happy about it but in the end she had a full bowl and was content!

Just...

Just another day Saturday here on the farm but it was a nice and sunny one. A little chilly this morning with a cool 34 degrees but it soon warmed up and the birds were singing. Mr. Cardinal perched himself in this forsythia bush calling to his mate who was somewhere in the yard calling back. I always enjoy this time of the year when you have the windows open and you can hear the different calls of the birds.

***

I was invited to a fellow potter/assistants new house for a great luncheon today. There was quite the crowd and we all enjoyed good conversation and incredible Indian food. All homemade by Rupa, including the most delicious yogurt I have ever had! She is an amazing cook and I always look forward to having anything that she prepares.

***

Before I went to the luncheon I stopped by the studio to pick up some things that came out of the kilns.

I am quite pleased with the three mugs with my tree/people/flower motifs on them. The tomato red glaze turned out very well in this firing. The welcome plaques are some new colors I am trying on them. The blue colored plaque has a nice rich brown glaze to highlight the lettering and design. The deep crimson red glaze looks great with the lighter color on the edges. The white glaze is a little test sample but I really like the clean-ness of the welcome sign. It has some depth to the glaze with some oxide I painted on before dipping it in the white.

***

I have many, many other welcome plaques in the works and am really looking forward in displaying them at our upcoming sale. I will be listing my upcoming show dates and times soon, so stay posted for that.

***

Happy weekend all!!

Crafty Challenge Thursday

I certainly have been a busy little beaver this week. It all started last Thursday when I started a sewing project for my friend Julie. She had me make a window seat cushion years ago and it was now faded and in need of a revamping. She picked all of this great fabric (she has great taste in fashion) and asked me to do the job again. So, after measuring and remeasuring the old window seat, I started off by making some continuous bias tape and turned it into cording.
From there, the cushion just came together nicely.
The finished project is in the above photo. It is 116" long from end to end and is 20-1/2" wide. It was a little too long for me to take a full length photo in my living room so here is a portion of it. The top photo is all the different pillows I made to go along with it. I dropped it off to her house today and had to leave it without seeing it all put together. She called to tell me how much she loves it and promises to take a photo of it for me to see how it looks.
I can't wait to see it!!
On another crafty subject and this one just happens to be my favorite...

Pottery!!

I have been really into making these welcome plaques lately.
I turned the owl plaque into this cat welcome sign. I still have yet to carve the cat paws at the bottom and do some clean up work before it will be ready to sit and dry out. I have ideas for dogs, chickens, birds and more. Onto the glaze firing.

I really, really like how the middle smaller welcome sign turned out. I just love this glaze...it is called pistachio and maybe my new favorite!! Believe it or not, all that you see in this photo is this glaze...the bottom tray that I made was out of a different clay and it turned the glaze a deeper color. The fun little trees/flowers/people are done using a black glaze.

The top welcome sign shows how I can personalize them...note the est. 1996 and I also am putting peoples last names on them.
A great wedding or a new home gift!

Giveaway!

A fellow crafter/blogger friend of mine "L" is having a nice giveaway!

Check out her blog and leave a comment for it!

***

She writes:

I created these pendants this past weekend, and want to share them with one lucky giveaway winner. Hammered Vintaj Brass blank butterfly with stamped word, and wired Vintage button. Hammered Vintaj Brass blank heart with hand wired
vintage button.
and 1 Patera Heart bezel filled with image, brass bird, and clear resin.
How to win:
Leave a comment on this post for 1 entry.
Blog the giveaway and leave me the link for 2 entries.
When:
The winner will be picked on Wednesday a.m., April 21st!
Good luck!
http://www.lorelei1141.blogspot.com/

Busy-ness

Life has once again taken a hold of me and has spun me around and around. Todd was out of town the beginning of last week and between work and Graydon's Lacrosse practices it has been chaotic. But it seems like there isn't an end in sight, not this week anyways.

***

But all in all...Wren just wanted to hop in to say hi! She has this great little cardboard house or trailer as Graydon likes to call it.

She really likes to peek through the holes to look out. But if you put your hand in there to pet her, she grunts like a pig and pushes my hand out of the way. Her space, is what she is trying to tell me. :)
I had to throw this pic of Graydon in the mix. We went shopping this past weekend for summer clothes for him, as he has grown out of all of his from last year. But we stumbled upon this great little hat and he just loved it. He looks so cute in it...he wore it all day and night, I don't think he ever took it off once. I think it will be one of his new found favorites!
So what's this mess you ask?
Well it is a pile of bias tape that is being turned into...

cording!

Lots and lots of cording.

I had a sewing project for a friend to do, 116" long window seat cushion with 8 pillows. I finished it all up on Sunday and I will be delivering it this week to her. I can't wait to get a photo of it all put together to show you. It really turned out great!!!

I really enjoy sewing and when I can get time to do it, it makes me smile. Especially when I see the outcome of all my hard work.

***

On other news...I have jumped full speed ahead into pottery again. I have a show coming up Mother's Day weekend and I have lots and lots of new ideas brewing in my head.

Stay tuned for all the photos....

Vacation Mode

Sanibel Island...

a magical place!

My brain is starting to go into vacation mode.

I need the beach...

I need the salty air...

I need the waves, sun and warmth!

I need to shell hunt....

I need to just hang out with my family with no interruptions.

***

We are trying to plan something inexpensive but fun and since we have family in Florida and we love the beaches down there, that is where we might be heading.

When?

I'm not sure, but hopefully soon!!

Huh???

I'm not quite too sure about this...

This has happened now two times...

I'm baffled???

***

Any fellow chicken people out there know the reason behind this?

Usually we get large size eggs from our four girls but today this little tiny egg showed up in the nest. I have yet to crack the egg to see what is inside but I am hoping to get one of those egg blower things that one pierces the egg a little tiny bit. I would like to keep this egg and display it and its mate at Easter. Kind of neat, don't ya think?

Sunday Morning Run

Today I decided to run around our house for a change. I am getting bored with running my usual route so I decided to run in God's Country. I got that little saying from another fellow runner and friend Ashley.

She posted something on Facebook this morning about running a half marathon in God's Country and I thought, hey...that is right around my house. No, not seriously, but it certainly looks like it. I decided to head out after Todd and Graydon left for a boys morning adventure (motorcycle race). I knew it was going to be a hard run with all the hills but my thought was to just head out and enjoy nature.

Just a note...I did not take my camera during the run with me.

This is a shot of the first hill I ran up.... And then a big downhill.

Just in time for another huge uphill. It was perfect running weather...60's, sunny with a little wind. Great tunes and the birds singing. What more could I ask for?

Horses were a nice added touch. I tried to coax them closer as I ran by but they were enjoying their morning grass too much. After the horses I was entertained by 4 Alpacas. They also were enjoying the morning grass but were very inquisitive. As I was running by their ears were standing straight up and they inched closer too me down the driveway. That is until their owner whistled for them and they turned and walked back to the house.
Very comical!

The view from the top of Mix Road was amazing. You could see for miles and miles and it was so clear. Notice the road in the distance? That is the road I was running on and what I ended up doing at this point was turning around to run back.

Along the way back these lovelies were enjoying the sun on their back...

I was too!

I didn't get a chance to see this deer running but it was a nice little surprise when I glanced though the camera lens. After my run I decided to go check out the mileage and ended up taking my camera with me. Good thing huh?

***

I just had to share my wonderful morning with all of you.

Metal Diner

Graydon has been asking for some time to eat at a metal diner. I don't know how he got it into his head about it but I thought it was kind of neat. We have a couple of them here in Broome County and to be honest, I'm not too sure if I have ever eaten at any of them. So Thursday I offered to take him for an early lunch to the one in Johnson City and he jumped on the chance.

It was an interesting atmosphere...lots of locals that the waitress knew by name. It seemed to have the same look as what I thought it might look like with the addition to a building added off the back for more tables.

I figured out that this was a two way mirror that the cook could see everyone while he was working away. Of course Graydon questioned why there was the need for a two way mirror but I said to him that the space for the cook was tiny back there and he must enjoy looking out and seeing who he is cooking for.

We ordered our lunch and literally not even 10 minutes later our food came out. The fries were so nice and crispy and perfect. I ordered a omelet with tomato and feta cheese and it was yummy. The waitress walked by and said"How's you hot dog boy"...we both thought it was funny that she said that.

This diner has been around for years and years and I have driven past it about a million times. I wish I would have asked the waitress how old it is, but I do know that it is well over 40 years old...

A nice adventure for the two of us!!

and we will definitely be heading back there soon!

Crafty Challenge Thursday

So Crafty Thursday was yesterday...yes I know.

I had planned on posting last night but we had one heck of a thunder and lightning storm which left us a little frazzled. As we sat watching "Survivor" a huge lightning bolt hit close to our house but we didn't realize how close until my in-laws called. Apparently it hit our neighbors house and caused all the alarms to be tripped. Police and Fire we called and the bolt hit the bottom corner of their house which left some charring on the inside of their house.

How scary....everyone is OK, but I'm sure they are still shaken up about it!

***

Yesterday morning I picked these welcome tiles up from the studio. I do really like how the owl plaque turned out. The green glaze is a nice mottled glaze which has bit of gray flecks through it. I can't wait to make more of these...but in the meantime I will be listing this as well as another tree welcome sign in my etsy shop this morning.

This tree welcome plaque is finding a home in Texas. My sister-in-law wanted one so it will be on its way down there next week. I'll have to have her take a photo of it hanging on her house.

Here is a couple of things I was working on Wednesday night. The top is just a smaller bowl, perfect for mixing eggs, dip or whatever you would like. The middle is a sugar/honey jar for a friend. It will be glazed in a beautiful black glaze that breaks a rusty red. She has a bunch of my pottery and it will be a nice addition to her collection. The bottom right piece is interesting. Todd's cousin is getting married in June and it is going to be a Indian water jug for part of their ceremony. I'll take more photos as I complete it. There is several more components to is and it should be fun to assemble.
***
Happy Friday everyone.
Hope your weekend is Fantastic!

Let's go....

Fly a kite!!!

What a perfect day to fly a kite...there was a strong breeze blowing and it was just calling our name to finally put together this great kite that Graydon got from the Lewis's for his Birthday last year.

The tails were a little hard to keep from winding around you during take off but once it was in the air, the kite flew perfect. The kite happens to be a Ty Fighter from Star Wars and it was a little interesting to put together. Thank goodness for an Engineer in the family. I started putting it together and it was all wrong.

Graydon had tons of fun with it....

And finally took the reigns himself.

It was a perfect day!

Weekend Review

The whole entire weekend was so beautiful I just couldn't stand it. It started off with Friday being in the 80's...80's, in the beginning of April? But, yes it was! Get out the shorts and t-shirts and start the yard work. While I worked on the gardens, Todd got the riding lawnmower all ship shaped with new blades and a little tune-up. I decided to get the girls (above) cage all cleaned so while I was doing that I let them roam the yard to feast on bugs, worms and grass. They never strayed too far from their home but they decided to park it in one of my un-attended gardens. They helped rake and weed for me...such good girls!

Martha, just had to show off her good side for the camera while the others were too busy to even notice I was taking their photo.

***

Saturday was pretty much the same thing....yard work.

I have tons of gardens on our property and they need to be all raked, weeded, edged and mulched. I will photograph the process at a later date, but those of you who know about gardening, know that it takes time for the beds to look good. I have one garden in particular that I have totally neglected for the past two years. It is now overgrown with weeds and is a complete mess. I plan on revamping this garden in the near future...what exactly I will be doing, I'm not sure. I have gotten tons of magazines for inspiration so once I get in there maybe the focus will become clear.

Easter Sunday morning is always spent with my sister and her family. Sometimes we have it at her house and sometimes it is here. This year was here...we had a breakfast of bagels, quiche and Easter bread (paska) and then headed out of an egg hunt. I hope the kids always will want to do this...it is so much fun for them to get the eggs and see the surprises in them.
The eggs were hidden all over the front and side yard. The back yard is still a muddy, wet mess from all the rain we have had.

Even the chipmunk holes were used as hiding spots. Made it very difficult for the kids to find the eggs :)

The annual cousins shot...they are getting so big!

Ahne is 6 , Graydon is 10 and Shea is 8!

Even the Easter Bunny came out to surprise the kids!

Little Wren loves it outside although loud noises scare her.

Shea and Ahne enjoyed taking her for a walk around the yard. She decided to help them get some exercise.

And posed for some great Easter pics!

Here is us...the whole clan.

We always try and take a family pic like this on Easter and Christmas.

I love my family!!

Thanks for a great Easter Sunday morning!

Crafty Challenge Thursday

There comes a time in your life where you just throw up your hands and say, I surrender. That is sort of where I am at this present time. I feel totally un-creative lately although there are a million ideas floating around in my little brain. I feel like running has halted since hurting my leg or more specific, ITB. Physical therapy has been helping but I am a little nervous to start running on it again for fear that it will really hurt me and set me back farther. But...I really need to run...it calms me and clears my head for other useless floaters that like to run through on a daily basis. Todd has not been feeling well so that has been extremely stressful in this household since then. Hopefully with the plan that we are going towards, within the next 4 weeks we'll see a drastic decrease in his blood pressure and he'll start feeling like a million bucks!

The non-creative side of me is driving the creative side NUTS!!! I start something and then kind of peter out after a while. These welcome tiles are prime example. I have had this piece of clay laying around for quite a while and intended to make a smaller welcome tile. Two nights ago, I finally started it and it took about 2-1/2 hours to carve. After carving I casted it in plaster to make a permanent mold for future use. If I were to hand carve each one of these, the price would be through the roof so casting them in plaster and just having to do some refining work, makes the price affordable for people. I can't wait to see what it looks like glazed!

So back to the owl welcome tile, I casted it in plaster and my intention was to make it interchangeable. I carved out the owl in the tree and added with some extra clay this adorable bunny. The bottom row is some wonky hearts but it can be changed into a persons last name or even the established date.

As in this owl welcome tile.

I have some sketches of cats, dogs, birds to also put into this tile.

Any other ideas...blast me a comment!