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Thursday ~ June 1st
Mountain Bluebird
Canada Goose with her goslings
Last weekend, my mom & I went bird watching. We used to go every Saturday when I was young. Now that my mom has a new camera, it's prompted a return to some of our old, nature haunts. We went out early in the morning; it was a bit chilly & grey out, but it didn't discourage us from keeping our date. We first stopped at a pond near the highway that has a trail leading up to the water's edge. We spotted Grebes, Canvasbacks, Mallards, Mud Hens & Buffleheads. A Rudy duck was bobbing his head & tail up & down, perhaps as a mating ritual (although I couldn't spot a potential suitor anywhere near him). We noticed no ducklings so it was a wonderful surprise to see this Canada Goose with her little goslings later on at another little pond. We also saw a coyote cross a road, a broken egg on one of the trails, redwing blackbirds, loads of tree swallows & some spectacular Mountain bluebirds. We watched a Mountain Bluebird couple bring back big, plump green worms to a bird box on the side of the road & stuff them in there so they must have some wee ones already hatched. Summer is beginning to burst into action!
New clue for the riddle contest - this has been a tough one so far. |
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Friday ~ June 2nd
Galapagos Seals ~ photo taken by my Uncle Bill
Ah, the weekend is upon us! Chris & I are going out to his Uncle & Aunt's (just outside of Edmonton) for a family reunion on Saturday. There might be as many as 150 people there ~ Chris has 13 Aunts & Uncles on one side of the family & with that a whole lot of cousins. It will be a day of horseshoes, barbeques, jokes & stories, capped off with a campfire & some guitar playing in the evening - I'm looking forward to it!
Last night I watched the National Spelling Bee on ABC. Did you catch it? I've never watched it before, heck I don't think it's ever been broadcast before (?), but I was watching because Finola Hackett, a girl from a small town a 1/2 hour east of here, was in the finals. Boy, I can't believe how exciting it was! I was on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, crossing my fingers & whispering "mojo, mojo, mojo" each time she was up. She came in second! Check out the words she had to spell here. In the end, 13-year-old, Katherine Close won with the word Ursprache. I thought I was a pretty good speller until last night; that was harder then Jeopardy!
I best be off, I'll leave you with this cat "mashing potatoes"... Have a wonderful weekend! |
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Saturday Sale!
I made an extra set of Aegean Artifact beads & I've decided to sell them. There are 22 handmade glass beads in luminous shades of amber & emerald with jet black accents. As well, I applied pure silver splashes & encased dichroic glass in some of the beads to give them a shimmering, gem-like quality. Included are glass bead spacers, Bali silver spacers & a "lifesaver" glass bead at the end. The price is $180 (plus shipping). If you're interested, email me. I know it's the weekend so I'll leave this up for a couple of days & if there is more than one person interested, I will do a random draw & let you know by Monday night if you're name was picked. |
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Monday ~ June 5th
I took this photo the other morning at 5 a.m. I've been getting up early with the birds. The robins start singing at 3:30 a.m. & there's a couple of them nesting just outside our bedroom window. It's the prettiest sound of summer, but 3:30 is pushing it.
The reunion was a blast - I have tons of photos to go through, but right now it's time for a morning walk to my mom's for coffee. I've had lots of interest in the extra Aegean Artifacts set & I will do the draw tonight as promised. I'll email everyone that was interested to let them know either way. |
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Tuesday ~ June 6th
Another sky photo, but this one was taken during the evening, while we were out at the family reunion. It was such a beautiful night!
I've been beading up a storm! We are going to do another show in June - came about rather recently so we've got to bulk up our inventory. I'll be showing the new stuff here & hopefully I can get another auction up soon.
I added another clue for the riddle contest. |
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Wednesday ~ June 7th
Chris woke me at 5 this morning (when he leaves for work) and said, "you should see the sky right now, it's absolutely unreal". So of course, I jumped out of bed & grabbed my camera & sure enough, it was the most stunning sunrise I've seen in a long time ~ it took my breath away. I even got dressed & ran up the road to get a better advantage point, but alas, by then it had fizzled into a light blue sky...
I know, I know, 'what's with all the sky photos?'. I'll try to take a photo of some of beads I've been working on later today so you can see what you really came here to see.
Phew, we made it through 6-6-6 (*wink, wink*). |
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Thursday ~ June 8th
It's tough to get a good shot of these because the grey background seems to draw the colors away instead of highlighting them ~ there's a certain depth & sparkle missing. I shot these when it was grey outside too & since it's going to be that way for the next couple of days, I just sent them off with my mom (to make jewelry with them) instead of reshooting in a few days. You get the drift though; in person these babies are really pretty. The deep cobalt blue coupled with the bright clarity of aqua & teal remind me of the Caribbean Sea. And the beads at the back have a 3-D like quality with wave-like swirls deep within the bead & patterned markings on the outside.
I'm not even going to talk about the Stanley Cup finals at the moment - brutal! I just hope the Oilers can bounce back... Instead, here's a cool link if you're planning any road trips in the U.S. this year. Google & Earth Day Network teamed up to provide a very informative & fun tour of some of the most popular vacation spots. Click around Summer of Green - it's actually quite funny too! And this guy does the tiniest works of art. I bet he would make a fantastic glass bead artist! |
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Sunday ~ June 11th
(more than once but less than 10) 2. Multiply this number by 2
&
Did you know that chocolate was enjoyed
more than 2,600 years ago? They found a chocolate pot dating
back to 600-400 B.C. in Belize. Read more about it
here. |
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Wednesday ~ June 14th
More things to entertain you while you're waiting for new beads...
Livingstone Daisies in my rock garden
Check out this cool optical effect. Stare at this castle for 15 to 20 seconds & then wave your mouse over it - you'll see it in color until you move your eyes, then it will fade to grey (don't worry, there's nothing that is going to jump out & scare the living daylights out of you).
A friend sent me this link. They have some wonderful things & it's an excellent cause (just read their mission statement to be inspired!).
Here's a brilliant idea from Flickr ~ you can post something beautiful every Sunday to inspire others. This one, in particular, moved me & this one made me feel all fuzzy inside.
I'm anxiously awaiting the new Trailer Park Boys movie, are you? Looks like it won't be out until October now. And this movie looks great for next year ~ the things they are doing with computer animation these days ~ amazing!
Are you pumped about Treasure Hunters, the new show beginning this Sunday on NBC? The trailer for it is a bit cheesy, but I think it should be a lot of fun. The premise reminds me of Kit Williams' books I used to read as a kid ~ do you the ones? Where he buried real treasure (gold karat jewelry) somewhere in Britain & if you could solve the clues hidden in his books, you would be able to figure out where the treasure was. I never did crack the clues, but it was fun trying. Speaking of clues, the final clue for my latest riddle is now up here. I'll draw a name next week ~ good luck! |
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Wednesday ~ June 21st
SUMMER! It's officially here & boy can I tell. It was around 11 p.m. before it started getting dark last night - I'm loving these long hours of light!
Should I mention that the Oilers lost? Yeah they lost & it was a real bummer, but it's time to move on. It's football season now! Our friends from Calgary are coming up this weekend as the Calgary Stamps & the Edmonton Eskimos are playing in town on Saturday. Go Eskies!
It's been a busy little stretch as of late. We were at a wedding reception in Calgary last weekend & I've been preparing for a show we are doing this Friday. I hope to have some pictures up, maybe tomorrow, of some of the goodies we've been making for the show (and of course if they're still around after the show & you're interested, they'll be available to you ~ just let me know if something strikes your fancy).
I am happy to say that I am almost done all of my custom orders! I have been working on them for months & months. I will not be taking any orders for a very long time now. This summer I plan to experiment & play at the torch, try new color combinations, designs, shapes...etc. I've ordered some new glass colors & some silver mesh, it's time to have some fun! I hope to be able to offer lots of beads here soon so stay tuned.
Oh, I almost forgot, I should draw a name for the latest riddle contest. Hold on...
And the winner is ~ Jan Norwood ~ congratulations Jan! To find out the answer to the riddle, click here. Thanks for playing, I'll put another one up soon. |
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Saturday ~ June 24th
Good weekend to you! The sale was fantastic yesterday! Thanks so much to all the wonderful staff at Lakeland Ridge School, especially Karen Lundin for organizing it!
I have some jewelry up for grabs that I will show here once I get all the "specs" on them.
We have no shows now until November & I'm almost caught up on everything so I'll be able to play a lot more on the torch & offer up some goodies very soon! |
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Monday ~ June 26th
Egyptian Princess Bracelet ~ SOLD
Click on photo to view new jewelry! |
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Wednesday ~ June 28th
European Starling Flocks
Just before sunset in Denmark, during the spring, tons of European starling flocks gather in amazing formations. This phenomenon is called "Black Sun" ~ Link.
I remember seeing lots of these while living in London, but nothing quite this magnificent!
Other cool links:
Animal Daydreams by Couverture ~ cute website! |
