Clowning around....

Friday (of last week) was the final day of circus camp and it ended in an adorable skit put on by the kids. I am sure this will be one of the things that my daughter looks back on with fond memories.



I also finished up several of these cute ring bearer pillows with a needle felted nest of eggs. I was pretty happy to come up with such a cute idea but for weeks now haven't had the time to sit down and actually sew them. I was getting a little worried that someone else might come up with a similar idea in the mean time.



These are two treasuries on etsy which feature an item from my store. One features birds and the other chickens.




This weekend we spent Sunday afternoon at Tanglewood for the last concert of the season. The music was featured Gershwin's music and it was a lovely concert. My husband made up several salads and chicken wings and packed us up a nice picnic basket. After the concert we had fun with the girls running through the maze (hedges) and playing tag and hide and seek. Later we played with our "large" frisbee on the open lawn and again played tag. All the girls seemed to enjoy themselves -- which is harder to achieve now that some are teenagers.

Sharing Treasures...

I did manage a bit of time out in the garden yesterday. I finished planting the window boxes for the front of our house. They look a bit pathetic right now but I am hoping they will fill in a bit. Its so easy to spend a small fortune at the greenhouse/farmstand so I try to get the six pack plants and use them sparingly. Meanwhile my daughter discovered a dead gypsy moth caterpillar (injured on a rock). This involved a rather dramatic two hours of tears and a rather elaborate burial at sea (in my small container pond). Many prayers were said and stories of this wonderfully kind caterpillar were shared. Even water spray "fireworks" went off. Most of this was her idea and she was genuinely distraught over this. I didn't want to dismiss it but played along hoping she would snap out of it. I loved her stories about the kind caterpillar and all the qualities he had that we would miss.

Being out in the garden made me realize how much damage was caused by that hail storm Leaves litter our yard and many of the flowering plants are damaged. During the summer when I have more free time I like to make cement leaf castings of some of the larger leaves. The rhubarb looked so lovely this year but now the leaves are full of holes. Unfortunately I hadn't been able to work with cement sooner due to the weather and generally busy schedule. This photo shows some of the leaves I made last year for my porch and gardens.



The first Thursday night band concert of the summer began tonight on the town common. The girls were so excited. We ate chili dogs and cheese and the girls enjoyed cotton candy and popcorn. My youngest enjoyed the children's games but the older two were off socializing with their friends. Its difficult to let them go off without worrying about them. My husband's parents came along too (since they are still visiting us) and hopefully enjoyed themselves enough. I really enjoyed meeting up with friends too and chatting a bit while listening to the music and keeping an eye out for the children.

And now for the treasures...

Ever since I discovered Etsy treasuries I have wanted one but they proved much too illusive for my schedule. Too many interruptions go on in my life to sit patiently waiting for one. I figure that one rainy day in the future I might just have the patience to catch one. In the mean time I will enjoy the ones created by other Etsy members. One of my pottery chicken families is included in an Etsy Treasury called Little Jewels by Majo



My newly listed bee is also included in this Etsy Treasury called Bring Back the Bees by amianda.