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.

On my window sill ...

I thought I would share a few photos of my window sills that I love so much. Many of these old bottles have been found around the yard of our >200 year old house. When the sun is shining through them they look like stained glass windows to me. I must admit that they do get rather dusty at times and contribute to the rather daunting task of cleaning house. But as you can see even when they are a little dusty they are still amazingly beautiful. A bare window sill would be easy to clean but would lack the personality of these beautiful displays.









The window sill with the roosters show our bees wax roosters made with beeswax from our own hives. I love the smell of beeswax ... so sweet like honey.

Ice from the sky

We had a surprise hail storm yesterday afternoon. It was so noisy outside and in the house my youngest was terrified and I was a bit surprised too. I just looked out the window at the plants getting pummelled by the 1/2 inch balls of ice. There wasn't much I could do to save them because the lightening was very close. Thunderstorms kept rolling through all afternoon so I opened up the sewing machine and started a few sewing projects. I am working on some stuffed fabric hens and chicks. I have sold the hens locally in a few shops and at fairs. I have a basket of them in my living room that makes me smile too. I made up the pattern myself but I am having a little trouble getting the little chicks to look cute enough. I want their heads to be larger and round but they aren't quite coming out like I am imagining them. I guess a few trials will be in order.

I finally finished painting the wooden base for this handsome rooster so he could be ready for the shop. I love the black and white coloring on him. Mounting him to the base was a bit of a trick but I have a tiny drill that worked out fine with a little patience. I loosely modeled him after a photo of a Fresian rooster that I saw on Flickr and loved. I am thoroughly enjoying all the beautiful pictures shared on Flickr.

Ahhhh! The sun.

I am enjoying the sun shining through the windows cheering me up. After a few morning chores I will make my way out to get my hands dirty a bit in the garden. I finished photos of this needle felted rooster and bee this morning and listed them in my Etsy store.



This little bee looks more like a bumble bee than our dear honey bees. Our honey bees were out this morning enjoying the sun and flowers. While waiting for the school bus we watched them gathering nectar and collecting pollen on their legs. They seemed to be humming happily.

We haven't heard any word from the sheep shearer that didn't show up so maybe today will be the today. He never did show up on Friday or over the weekend. I am looking forward to seeing the silly faces on those adorable sheep. Maybe someday we can get two to keep out in the field. We only have a single acre so I'm not sure if that is enough space for them.

One of my little birds was included in another Etsy treasury today. This treasury is called So Precious by cynmb.

Survived the weekend!

We survived the first crazy weekend in June and have another coming up next weekend. This is due to music recitals, dance recitals, and end of the year church plays for all 3 girls and husband as well.

As a break from all that turmoil I sat down on the couch and worked on these little guys today. It was too rainy and drizzly to tempt me to go outside -- though I have much to do to get caught up on my gardening. My daughter needed to make a model of a starfish for science class but our cement casting didn't set properly due to the cold. I suggested that she needle felt her model and she did a very good job on that. I am sure that her science teacher will be curious about the wool though.

Hot sheep!

I took my youngest over to the farm with the sheep and met my friend there at the barn. The sheep shearer hadn't shown up yet and the hot woolly sheep had been cooped up in the barn all day. We visited them in their barn stall and fed them a few slices of bread. This barn was clearly the cleanest barn I have ever been in. It nearly inspired me to do a scrub down on my chicken coop -- but I have company coming so that was clearly not the best idea. We have a multitude of old house shutters and windows stored in our coop and they really need to find a new home in order to get the coop cleaned out properly.



When I was adding the story about our sheep visit I had no idea what the rest of my day would involve. My two eldest children had their orchestra concert at the New England Concervatory in Boston. The concert was lovely but the beautiful old hall is not air conditioned. The air was inredibly hot inside the auditorium. With the stage lights and incredible amount of human bodies in that room one could barely breath. I actually think the sheep in the barn yesterday were much better off than we were. The music was incredibly beautiful though and worth enduring the heat. I did feel bad for the children playing in the orchestras and the conductors on the stage. My eldest said it smelled like meat cooking up there. Anyway I can't believe these young children make such beautiful music.

The rooster crows

I worked on a smaller needle felted rooster last night. I have a little wooden base for him that I want to paint with the sounds of a rooster crowing as they are known from around the world. Here is what I found in my search on chicken sounds. Hen and Rooster animal sounds in several different languages from Sounds of the worlds animals from Georgetown University.

Chicken (hen) clucking
Afrikaans: kloek-kloek
Albanian: ka ko ko ko
Arabic (Algeria): cout cout cout
Bengali: cokor-cok
Catalan: cococ
Croatian: ko-ko-da
Danish: gok-gok
Dutch: tok tok
English: Hens cackle and cluck.
Estonian: kaa-kaa
Finnish: kot kot
French: cotcotcodet
German: gak, gak
Greek: ka-ka-ka
Hebrew: Tarnegolot mekarkerot.
Hungarian: kot-kot
Icelandic: gaggalagó
Italian: coccodè
Japanese: kokekokkoo
Korean: kko-kko-daek-kko-kko-kko-kko
Norwegian: Høna kakler.
Polish: ko ko ko
Portuguese (Brazil): cocoricó
Russian: ko-ko-ko
Spanish (Spain): coc co co coc
Swedish: kackel
Thai: gook gook (with high tone)
Turkish: gut-gut-gudak
Ukrainian: ko-ko-ko
Vietnamese: cuc-cuc tac


Rooster (cock) crowing
Rooster
Afrikaans: koekelekoe
Albanian: kiki ri ki
Catalan: kikkirikí
Chinese (Mandarin): gou gou
Croatian: ku-ku-ri-ku
Danish: kykkeliky
Dutch: kukeleku
English: cock-a-doodle-doo
Esperanto: kokeriko
Estonian: kikerikii
Finnish: kukkokiekuu
French: cocorico
German: kickeriki
Greek: ki-kiriki
Hebrew: kukuriku
Hindi: kukru:ku:
Hungarian: kukurikuuuu
Indonesian: kikeriku
Italian: chicchirichí
Japanese: kokekokkoo
Korean: kko-kki-yo
Macedonian: kukuriku
Norwegian: kykeliky
Polish: kukuryku
Portuguese (Portugual): cocorococo
Russian: ku-ka-re-ku
Spanish (Spain): kikirikí
Spanish (Argentina): ki-kiri-ki
Swedish: kuckeliku
Thai: ake-e-ake-ake
Turkish: kuk-kurri-kuuu
Ukrainian: kukuriku

My needle felted tree sculpture is listed in an Etsy treasury called a House wife's wish by wired. I love this nest of eggs from wired's shop.



This afternoon I will head out with the girls to watch a sheep shearing. I will let you know the details of this excursion.