Adjusting to the quiet house...

Well I have almost survived my first week at home with no kids during school hours. The days actually go by pretty fast and I still find myself with not enough time to finish what I want to do. And my art and craft work keep me very busy too. So its not so bad. I guess I just need a routine and some way to get me through the drearier rainy and then cold winter days.

I took my camera onto the porch and a pair of wedding birds to take a few pictures. In an elm tree of ours that died suddenly this summer there were a pair of woodpeckers pecking noisily at the trunk of the tree. They were larger than the small downy woodpeckers I have seen visiting the tree recently. I have been thinking about what to do about this tree quite a bit. Its so sad just looking at the dead limbs and I am tempted to cut it down. My other thought was to put up many bird houses on the tree. We have a gourd plant growing crazily in our garden this year with so many gourds too. So I could hang a bunch of these up. I'm not sure how pretty it will be and certainly won't provide any shade like that lovely tree did but it would be nice for the birds. I like having the woodpeckers visit too.

So here are my latest pair of wedding birds. This bride has a sweet little birdcage veil. When I was making it my youngest pointed out that it looked like a birdcage before she even knew what it was called. I was pretty happy with her unsolicited compliment though!



My middle child interviewed me this week regarding "how I use math in my daily life". It was fun talking to her about my store on Etsy. I think she was a little surprised at what I needed to do to have a "store".

Birds of a feather

I finished photos of this pair of birds this morning though the wind was not making this an easy task.



I adjusted the groom's head a bit so he looks at the bride and he looks so cute. The teal and white colors on the groom are quite attractive too. The bride's veil is a birdcage veil and I am pretty happy with it. I love the feather and the pearls.

Woof woof! I do!

As promised I dressed up my needle felted pair of dogs for their wedding day. The groom is sporting a rather dashing top hat and the bride has a sweet flower veil. They are wearing matching turquoise collars with the groom having a bow tie and the bride a jeweled necklace.







The will be off soon to serve as a cake topper for an upcoming wedding. They are so cute I am going to miss them.

Who let the dogs out?

This seems to be the never ending question as kids go in and out the door all summer long. We live on a busy street so this is a big concern for us with the dogs. This weekend wasn't a happy one for our older dog. She appears to have injured her good leg while trying to get off the couch. Poor thing can't even get up now. We have to carry her outside. I guess she won't be making any of her mysterious escapes anymore.

My sister's family is also going through a difficult time with their older dog (only 8 years though). The poor thing was diagnosed with cancer last weekend and she is fading fast. She was running around with our puppy this summer without a care in the world. The cancer has moved in fast and spread to her internal organs. The family is facing some difficult decisions this month. How do you explain this to young children when its so hard to deal with as an adult?


I have been working on these little needle felted dogs for a custom order. They have kept me busy nearly the full morning -- which I need as I adjust to this QUIET that is almost deafening (kids at school all day now). They are just so awesome -- I can't believe I made them myself.

This handsome fella is a Bernese Mountain Dog



This sweetheart is a Husky ...



I will be "dressing them up" this evening so they are ready for the "big" day.

Rainy days, clematis, and a cute little squirrel

We are enjoying our first rainy day after pretty much a month without rain. Everything was turning brown and the asters are flowering early this year due to the drought. My autumn clematis is blooming and looks so beautiful along our fence. So many white blossoms.


I can't help but taking more and more pictures of it. I am so glad I remembered to keep it watered during the drought.



This little squirrel is a custom order gift for bride's maid and will accompany a pair of wedding birds to the wedding. I love the cute little eyes!



We survived the start of school last Thursday but I am missing my youngest now that she is at school all day. She talks so much and it is much too quiet without her. Normally she can drive anyone up the wall with her chatter -- but I love it sometimes. Am I the only mom out there to miss their kids when they finally go off. No one else seems to mind and most are celebrating.

Twenty years!

Today is our twentieth wedding anniversary! I can't believe that that much time has gone by. The years go by so fast. My husband fixed me breakfast in bed this morning (crepe suzette and caramel cappuccino) with a dozen red roses.


This is a photo taken on our wedding day as we walked together out of the church. I was so happy that I just closed my eyes to savor the moment. Whenever I see this photo it brings me back to that moment of pure happiness.

A nice day for a hike

We are meeting up with my sister's family to hike Mt. Kearsarge this morning. It should be a fun hike and the day is nice and cool. We are bringing some cucumber sandwiches and snacks to eat at the summit. Now if I can just get everyone out the door ... including me ;)

These are two more sets of wedding birds that I finished and sent off last week.







.... We had a lovely day hiking. The young kids pretty much ran up the mountain on a very steep rocky trail. We brought along our younger dog and my sister brought theirs too. What fun those dogs had as they wrestled and tumbled up and down and up and down and up and down the mountain. Overall they probably traveled the equivalent of several mountain climbs. And they never seemed to tire at all. I with my knee and recent ankle sprain and my oldest daughter with her ankle sprain were a little slower going up. The view from the top was breathtaking and so clear. We enjoyed the panoramic view of all the other mountains surrounding us. The trail we took down the mountain was considerably easier than the trail up.

Late afternoon we drove to my brother in laws parents house to enjoy their new in ground pool. It was heated so the kids were in heaven. They didn't want to come out of the pool. We left for home when it got dark at 8pm and even then we had to drag the kids out. The young kids were making a lot of progress in their swimming too!