Felting

The felting supplies arrived yesterday and with them some roving in, you guessed it, purple, brown, green, and white! Not colors I would have chosen but they do make an interesting palette. MMMMmm, the blue above should be purple! So much for scanners picking up the correct color!

Another day lost to low energy and pesky allergies! There is a wind advisory until tomorrow night at about 10pm , how do they know that the wind will abate then? The 40-60 mile an hour winds have caused some damage plus the dust creates havoc with allergies. And here I thought I wouldn't have as many allergies after moving here. Traded the miserable pine pollen one in for desert dust!

I did get the hem turned up on a shirt I'm making and now need to make a trip to a fabric store, not close by, to get some buttons. I was positive that I had a stash of buttons but I must have dreamt that I did. I played with painting on tin foil a couple of days ago, but have no idea what to do with the experiments. I imagine that a mixed media piece will be begging for them someday. Stashes are created by experimenting with lots of techniques and then storing them until needed; sounds like a recipe! One can never have too many hand-made embellishments.

Thank you!

You never know what will make a difference in someone's life when you let them know that they matter.

Thank you to the people who let me know that I matter!

It may seem like a small thing but reach out today and let someone know that they matter.

Crater

What is a photographer to do when there doesn't seem to be anything to photograph? Point the camera at the ground! Two holes were dug and concrete poured in readiness for the shade structure that hopefully will be installed on Monday or Tuesday! The pieces are stacked against the back wall! While viewing the hole from my bedroom window and lamenting the fact that I haven't felt inspired enough in days to point my camera at anything I thought that it might be fun to keep a documentation of the backyard. In a storage container I found a spiral bound notebook with pocket dividers in three sections perfect for storing tags clipped off of plants. I used to save the tags in a Sunset gardening book but now that I'm in the throes of planting a yard from scratch a notebook might be a better approach.

I just hauled 4 huge newly planted pots containing fragile tomato plants out of the garage back into the sunlight! The wind seems to have abated and the forecast is clear sunny days again. I had hoped to spend the weekend experimenting with something worthy enough to post on ExpressionVillage only to find that the energy levels are closer to zero than I had hoped for! Stacy is very ill with a cough that kept us up most of the night, mom is wandering around in an Alzheimer's daze and I seem to have a version of "the cold." DRAT!
I've decided to start posting on http://rocky-point.blogspot.com/ again!

I bought some muslin yesterday that I had hoped to play with. Armed with a couple of patterns for some quick pants and tops the idea is to cut out the pieces and stamp, paint and embellish them before sewing them together. I need some clothes to wear when the temps soar and can't find ready-mades that I can afford. I did cut out a top a couple of days ago and have been working on it. After a 30 year hiatus from sewing I am a bit rusty but what a delight to discover that fusible pellon has replaced that nasty heavy need-to-basted pellon that I had stopped using. Now if I can just keep edge stitching lines straight!!

Finger Prints

"Grandma, I didn't mean to leave finger prints all over your refrigerator."

Matthew isn't walking yet, he does, however, make the rounds of the rooms hanging onto walls, windows and appliances.

The boys were a delight during their weekend visit, but they left a cold behind that Stacy came down with. She's very ill.

The yellow ranuculus, below, survived only to get whipped by a wind storm last night! I'm beginning to rethink gardening in this brutal climate. If it isn't so hot that eggs fry on the sidewalk, then it's so cold that a frost zaps the life out of plants and just when things seem to calm down a 60 mile-per-hour wind mows everything down. The HOA expects us to plant a garden in the backyard! I like easy gardening; stick a plant into the soil, provide water and fertilizer and enjoy!

First Bloom!

For those who garden and know this particular flower you'll understand why I'm not even attempting to spell it! I can't locate its name tag. Anyway, this gorgeous bloom lasted all of one day before today's 89 degree temperature wilted the entire plant! I have hopes that after the soaking I gave it the poor plant will revive. One tomato plant also looks rather sad. I gave up and turned on the AC for the first time since November. My grandson's, ages 5 and 1, are arriving in a few hours to stay with us for a few days. It seems that mom and dad need a break which is nice for me because I get to spend time with the boys! One of the many reasons I moved to this HOT area was so that I would be able to see the boys more often. Jack packed his suitcases on Monday just to make sure he wouldn't forget to take anything to grandma's house.

Quote: For everything you have missed, you have

gained something else.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Salton Sea Postcard

Salton Sea Photos. The one on the bottom left was one of those times I was happy to have a camera in my hands! A cargo train was passing by when my friend said, "Now." I turned to see about a dozen red cars, raised the camera and clicked! I'm programed to react when he says "now." We have a short-hand photography vocabulary that comes from years of photographing together. The red against the arid desert backdrop, yummy!

Photo transfers on muslin, rubber stamps, faux stamps, stencils and edged stitched using a sewing machine that needs some tension adjustment! I've never been able to adjust the tension on sewing machines. HELP! Actually, the effect that the stitches provided helped make the postcard look even more aged, some times things work out.

Nature's Composition

There are times when nature provides a composition so powerful that it's difficult to pass it up. Such was the case along the shore of the Salton Sea. (I plan to work with this photograph to improve the composition.)

About the fish from Wikipedia:
High levels of selenium have also been found in the Sea and are thought to contribute to mortality and birth defect problems in the local bird populations. In 1997, investigators researching the death of fish discovered a parasite dinoflagellate known as Amyloodinium ocellatum in 22 of 23 dead fish. Algal blooms also lead to massive die-offs of the fish population due to oxygen starvation. There are often thousands of dead fish, mostly tilapia, lining the shore.

I'm beginning to seriously think about joining the cause to save the Salton Sea!!

Happy Valentine's Day

I know I'm a little early but I wanted to post this in case I forget to do so tomorrow night.

For the background on this postcard I used a speciality paper, then I added the manipulated cabinet card image, some postage stamps, rubber stamped some areas, searched for some sparkly stickers that would work and for the finale gold painted the edges. Quote: "I get by with a little help from my friends." by John Lennon.

Salton Sea

The beautiful side of the Salton Sea! What isn't noticeable is how many dead fish are floating at the edge of the shore and among the crushed shells. The sea is 35 miles long and 15 miles wide and I plan to explore as much of it as I can; it's the only body of water in the area! I miss the Monterey Bay!

Some Salton Sea History:

http://tinyurl.com/2v66ed

Link of Interest

http://www.inaminuteago.com/blog/

Nope, I haven't fallen off of the planet! I doubt that I have a lot of readers so most likely it doesn't matter when or if I post anything. . . Yes, I know that I don't allow comments; I turned off that feature after repeatedly receiving SPAM's or "you think you have it bad" kinds of comments. My life is what it is; not great, not bad. I do my best to find something each day to be grateful for; be it a cloud chasing another cloud across the sky, saluting the voodoo tree, finding an affordable stainless steel bread box after just mentioning how nice it would be to have to declutter the kitchen counter, or having a friend plant some pots to brighten a corner on the patio. There is something every day to be grateful for!! Today I'm grateful that I was able to sleep in! And while that doesn't seem to be much in the scheme of things it helped to shape the day. The FM is rearing it's ugly head once again and I'm brain fatigued to the point of fearing that I too have Alzheimer's!!

Mom broke my heart on Friday when she asked me if there was anything else I could give her to improve her memory because she can't remember anything from one hour to the next! During my extensive research I discovered that I was already giving her the vitamins, minerals and other supplements listed as being helpful. Plus, she's taking Aricept. It must be awful knowing that you can't remember anything, but I'm grateful that right now she's aware of that. The next stage of Alzheimer's seems to be rapidly approaching where one isn't aware of not remembering anything. I'm not prepared!

My "friend" visited last week and we were able to see a little of the Salton Sea before driving an hour away to pick up his car that had died on the freeway the day before. He had planned to arrive by 5pm but as luck would have it the car stopped in the middle of a 4-lane freeway abruptly changing that plan! Out of the 3 days he was here we were able to have 2 days that were a mini-vacation! Driving to the Salton Sea, which turns out to be about 30 minutes from home, and then two days later looking for pots and plants for the patio and discovering a fabulous nursery in the most unexpected place behind a strip mall was a gift! We also stopped at a restaurant on El Paseo where we sat outside and "people watched." El Paseo resembles Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills! A plate of tempura and cold Corona beers was all it took for my thoughts to take flight to Paris and Italy where we have had similar experiences! So, the much-needed visit, while exhausting, was a respite from the tedium that is taking more of my time than I imagined.

Like so many I become cranky if I don't create something on a steady basis! At least photographing the shore at the Salton Sea gave me a boost.

The laundry is waiting in piles on the floor and mom can't remember how the washing machine works. She also no longer cares if the dark clothes are mixed with the whites as long as the piles are even! Stacy sorts laundry by categories making for an interesting laundry day!

Quote: Life is a Dance.
Find a partner!
Happy musings by Sally Huss