Clutter or Creative Process?

This is what my stamping area looked like when I finished making the card below. I'm in an online group that makes cards with a different theme each month. The challenge for June (notice how I just got that in under the wire?) was to make a masculine card. I don't have many stamps that could be considered masculine, so I went this route. The background was fun to make...it was a technique called "alcohol ink float". I like that it turned out looking like a map!

More creativity tomorrow, featuring strawberries and rhubarb!

Sweet Sorrow

I took a picture of the 2 remaining finch babies, since I may not get another chance. Yes, that's right...two of them have left the nest. It was so fascinating to watch the process as they were getting "urged" out of the nest by the father! It's as it should be - I'd be even more worried about them (and it wouldn't bode well for their future) if they never learned to fly. But it is bittersweet (you're right Erin.) I can't believe how much I miss 2 baby birds...and there are still two left! Get a grip, Susan. :)

So now I'm turning my attention to getting things done around here that we've put off for too long, such as getting estimates for having floors refinished, choosing paint for the "creative" room, and getting the yard whipped into shape. Well, that last one is a challenge because the mosquitoes have hatched and this year they seem bionic.

Midsummer Night's Eve

Well, the weekend was delightful and we are pooped from garage sale-ing, gardening, cooking and eating on the deck and staying up too late. Here's a picture of our first home-cooked rotisserie chicken. It tasted even better than it looks.






And yet another finch picture! They're starting to really look like birds. See the eyes and beaks? They are really growing and getting more vocal, and I know that one of these days they'll be trying out those wings and flying on out of here. That will be so sad! It's the empty nest thing all over again - with birds this time :)

Hodgepodge

Happy First Day of Summer! Enjoy the longest day of the year. I'm celebrating by not going to work today. My MIL is coming for a visit, and should be here in an hour or so. I'm looking forward to it. Today we're hitting the neighborhood garage sales, maybe doing some gardening tomorrow, church and a garden center on Sunday...sounds like a good weekend!

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Good mail day yesterday :) See picture


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The finch babies are getting bigger and a little more unruly. Here's a picture of them - they barely fit in the nest anymore!

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Happy half birthday to me! 49.5 woo hoo! I'm very excited about turning 50.

What I Learned Today

If someone wants to be bitchy, you pretty much can't stop them. But you can make smart comments back at them :)

Happy Half Birthday

To Erin! She is 23.5 years old today :)

Balding, drunken bobbleheads

That’s what the baby finches look like. They are hilariously, adorably unattractive – all eyes and beaks, not a lot of strength or coordination – and they make interesting sounds. Not cute little cheeping sounds like baby chicks, but more of a soft, hoarse burring sound. They sleep a lot, but they get active, in their floppy, wobbly way, when the mama feeds them. We are almost exclusively going in and out through the garage so as not to disturb them, but I do check on them via the bathroom window several times a day. Usually they’re asleep, but I can see them breathing. Just like when I watched my babies sleep, and I always checked to make sure they were breathing. I do have a pretty good picture that I’ll add later. And here it is!

On another note, the senior tour starts Friday AM with my MIL coming for a visit, til Sunday or Monday. Then it continues with my dad coming on Monday and staying til Wednesday. And then he comes back over the 4^th of July. And then, as Kevin says, we will want a vacation :)

Wildlife Report

Once again I was worried about our babies (the finches that is). I hadn't seen the mom fly off the nest as she usually does when I open the door, and I worried that she abandoned the nest and that the babies were...ahem. Anyway, I took down the basket to see if there was anything going on...and there were 4 big eyes staring up at me. I quickly hung up the basket and ran in the house. I'm not sure if the other 2 eggs hatched but there are at least 2 babies alive and well. And later this evening I saw the mom again. Apparently the parents can be away for long stretches but that doesn't mean they've abandoned the nest.

And then after dinner, Kev and I walked up to the golf course and got to see 4 of the foxes out playing. All this life in our little corner of the world!

Happy Father's Day

I was hoping to be able to put up a picture of our newest arrivals, but they aren't easy to photograph. We have finch babies in the hanging basket by the front door! The parents moved into the basket in May. At first I wasn't excited about birds living there, what with it being right outside our front door, and we hoped they'd get the hint and move on. But alas, no. They went and laid eggs! From then on I worried everytime we disrupted the mama, and fretted that she was off the nest too much and that the eggs would never hatch. But I'm happy to report that we have babies. The best view of the nest is from the bathroom...if you stand on the toilet. I tried that this morning, even took the screen off the window to get a better picture but all I got was a leafy blur. So here's a picture that I got from someone else's web site. They have faces only a mother could love...

And here's a picture from our cruise today. We were blessed to have beautiful weather, after all the storms of late. It was slow going because all the lakes are no-wake, but the food was wonderful and it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Good Will Shopping

Because it's almost (technically) summer, and only going to get warmer, and because no matter what season, my office is a constant 80 degrees, I decided I needed cooler clothes to get me through. The other night I ran over to Goodwill to see if there was anything suitable. Jackpot! I got 4 skirts and spent less than $25. I wore one yesterday and got a compliment on it from Analicia, my student. So I'd say that was $3.99 well spent.

Josie went home last night. No matter how comfortable she seems at our house, she's always happy to see Tom. He's so cute/insecure about it. Whenever he's on his way to pick her up, he calls, asks how she is, and says "she probably won't want to go home with me". It's true, we do make a nice little home-away-from-home for her, but as I always tell him, he's #1 in her heart. Tom thought she "smelled nice" when he got her. Well, for one thing, she didn't smell like dead fish anymore :) But mainly, I think she smelled better because she likes to rub up against the lilacs. Mmmm - lilac-scented retriever!

The Rains Came Down, The Floods Came Up

And Lake Delton drained...and several homes were washed away. Here's a link to a local story, for you out-of-towners.
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/290641
It's so incredible that a whole lake would disappear. That much water is an awfully powerful force, and I'm glad I wasn't anywhere near it when it went.

On a much smaller and less distressing scale, here's what it looked like in our garden. This was before the last round of rain late Sunday. I had to empty the inches of water from our potted plants, but they seem to be OK. Surprisingly, it even seems that our border of baby marigolds survived.

And in the "mixed blessing" category: Josie goes home today. I will miss her, but not her hair or muddy feet. She's a sweetie, though.

Dream Come True

First of all, I need to report that the hummingbirds are here, and quite inquisitive. A moment ago one came and hovered at the window, checking out the living room. I'm thrilled to see them. We'd had a few earlier in the spring, as far back as April, but not the steady stream that we had last summer. But now it looks like that has begun. They are marvels of engineering and a delight to watch.

Yesterday Jen and I went to Kopke's, my greenhouse of choice. The trip was mainly for her benefit (haha) so she could check out what they have for hanging baskets and other plants. Well, yes, I spent some money there too. While we were there, the tornado sirens sounded, but we checked the sky and talked to someone who worked there and it seemed that the tornadoes weren't anywhere nearby. So we continued shopping. Then on our drive back to Madison we saw some very suspicious looking clouds northeast of us. We pulled off the road and watched...saw the wall cloud...watched some wispy looking clouds drop down...come together into a funnel shape, travel a bit, then dissipate. I have now officially seen a tornado. (We heard later that there'd been a small tornado near Cottage Grove, which is what we saw.)

Kev's on the roof, cleaning maple seeds out of the gutters...I suppose I should go spot him :)

Birds & Bees & Life & Death

I took down the hummingbird feeders yesterday, washed them thoroughly, made a new batch of nectar, and rehung them. Still no birds. I'm starting to take this personally. And no orioles yet at the oriole feeder, though to be fair, it's still waiting to be rehung. I doubt that they are going to come into the house to find it :) Since I don't have any new HB pics, here's one from last year.

I found out today that the son of a former coworker of mine passed away on Thursday. He'd been diagnosed just over a year ago with a glioblastoma, which is a very nasty brain tumor. He'd had surgery and chemo and those helped, but didn't eliminate the tumor. And he's been through a couple experimental protocols. Things were looking pretty good, all things considered...he was planning to compete in a triathlon today, his birthday, but was hospitalized earlier this week. Just today I found out that he passed. It's incomprehensible to me. He was a person who really lived his life, and by the way, was only about 33. He started out as an art major (when I first met him he was in college) and worked making jewelry at several Madison area stores. Every year he did the AIDS rides, with his mom going along on the support crew. He's been in the Peace Corps for the past several years, and in fact, was med-evac'd out of Swaziland last year when the tumor was found. Gerry is going to miss him so much - she was a single mom for all Derek's life, and they were so close. Moms do not expect, nor do they want, to outlive their kids. Kids of mine...consider yourselves hugged.

And I lied about the bees...I have nothing to say about them. Oh, I bought honey last weekend. And "The Secret Life of Bees" is an excellent book. There.

A Distant Rumble of Thunder

At 4:32 am came the first murmur of thunder, discernible only to a dog's ear. And then, since she is a big trembling mass of hairy fear, 100 pounds of Josie leapt onto the bed and planted herself right smack in the middle. I enjoyed my 8 inches of bed space and totally worked it by sleeping on my side...or rather, not sleeping. Then the serious storm started, lots of lightning, crashing thunder...then the neighbors' car alarm - the car being in the driveway right outside the bedroom window - chimed in. So that was that as far as sleep goes.

Which is OK as I have a 7 AM dentist appt. How good do you think a person's dental skills are that early in the morning? What was I thinking when I made this appt 6 months ago??

Then after work Andrew and I are having lunch at Brasserie V, and then doing the gourmet food shopping tour of Madison - Penzey's, Vom Fass, and Fromagination. If I had time I'd put in the links for you, but you are savvy and can find them yourselves.

Enjoy your day! Josie went back to sleep. Here's a pic of her from last winter.

Virgin Blogger

I've been encouraged to start a blog, and I was told I could write about birds, road trips and whatever. So I will! Welcome to my new and shiny blog! Don't mess it up :)