Dear Little Deer

As I mentioned in my last post I am working on some bottles but don't really have anything I want to show yet.  I have such busy days in my shop that I can only work in the evening and am too tired to do much.  But I have done a bit of decoupage on two different bottles.  I just do a bit at a time so it can dry and I can see if I have missed anything.

WELL......  while looking out the window early this morning we were surprised to see a deer visiting our birdfeeders.  He or she really ate a lot!  Bill had to refill it shortly after.  Here are two pictures he took of the event.   The first picture the deer looks so innocent.  In the second picture...... not so innocent.....
Hope the he/she enjoyed the meal.

Bottles, Bottles,  Bottles !!!!   I love bottles (and jars too) and collected a few over the years.  I like to have them on window sills among other things. The light shines through.

I have signed up to take a class in decorating them in different ways.  I have been collecting up the supplies I will need.  The ones I will use first are shown in the picture above.  I haven't decided what bottle I will use first.  Stay tuned.

Meanwhile here are a couple of jars I did up recently inspired by a couple of books I have.  They are what are obviously fantasy type "specimen" bottles.

I hope to have something to show you soon.

More flowers

I seem to be on a coleus kick this year.  There are some many varieties and colors.

There are some coleus I put in the this tea cup planter in May.

I  am having some trouble figuring out how to add pictures today for some reason. And to add to the words.   I started this morning and gave up so am back again to try again.  I wanted to add a few more pictures that I took the other day.  Not as many as I thought were good enough to post but I liked these four.  I hope I can get them to settle properly here.  They are here and labeled but I can't move them to the order I want.  I hope they make sense.

And here the tea cup is in late July.  The coleus has really grown and filled in.

These are corel bells, a dark leaves version. And some plant I don't know the name of just behind it.

I am back again...........................

Wow, I have been along time away from this blog.  After my accident, the fall,  I just couldn't seem to get back to it. I have recuperated from that and have been rather busy doing things.  Just not blogging.   During this time we have been to two blue grass festivals, had a visit from my sister and brother in law and to our favorite farm and flea market in Leesport.  We also found another good one in Reedsville, Pa.  I have taken lots of pictures and hope to get them posted over the next week or so.  I have done two art swaps during this time, but   just swapping supplies, not the actual art.  I just can't seem to get myself to do much art but I am blaming it on the weather.
     I started taking pictures today after I went out to my antique shop and found Bentley the cat resting in a baby cradle that is filled with a small rug and some quilts.  He sure does know how to find nice places for naps.

Since I had the camera with me I took a few pictures of my yard on the way from the shop to the house.  The first thing that caught my eye was these two lilies growing close to each other.  Aren't they bright and cheerful.

 Next I looked at the Rudbeckia (black eyed susan.)  they are always plentiful at this time of year.  The big problem is that they are quite invasive and have pushed out all but one of the Echinacea (Purple Cone Flower) that were growing there.  But I still love the Rudbeckia!!!  

Here is a cute little planter I found at a flea market in Reedsville, PA.  Those hens and chicks are using the log as a planter.  The same lady had an old pocket book filled with hens and chicks.  There are some creative folks out there.  Here is a picture of the one that I bought.  It was so reasonable priced I couldn't leave it!

I have lots more pictures but will save them for another day.

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been away from my blog for awhile.  Too much going on or not enough.

I haven't been doing much creating art.  I seem to be doing a LOT of reading though.

   Two weeks ago I started to get back spasms again.  Haven't had them in ages.
So I went to the doctor and he set me up on a pill regime, not much but enough and by
Saturday morning my back and therefore my life was back to normal.  Or so I thought.

On Saturday afternoon I was fairly busy in the shop. After one customer left I headed into the house  to get my dinner started.  (Lasagna)  As I was walking down the stairs to get on to the patio
I lost my balance.  And down I went. On to the concrete and brick. My customer who is also a very good friend and my husband both heard my screams for help. They came running to help. I had landed on my back.... and put a nice gash in my head.

Off we went to the emergency room.  The doctor was worried so had me get a CT scan to make
sure it wasn't a fracture..  It wasn't.  So he gave me 7 staples..... ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!!!!!
He then said I could go home.  My back was bothering me but he was pretty sure it was connected to
the spasms I had been having last week.

Well maybe so.....  but today I went to my regular doctor to be checked out a bit more thoroughly.  He says I banged up my back, bruised some bones and set off the spasms again so back to the pill regime.
I have to use the heating pad a lot and don't sleep too well. Funny thing, I never did get a headache from hitting my head.  Just have a hard head I guess.

Once all of this is behind me I intend to get back to doing some art projects.  I have three things waiting for me. Mean while I am getting lots of reading done.

It has been dumping rain here the past few days off and on and everything is really growing fast.  I hope to get a few pictures of my garden when I feel up to it.

Bentley and Nature

Bentley is so improved that we are letting him walk around the house a bit during the day.  Yesterday he wanted to sit up in the kitchen window so he could look out and see all the stuff he was missing.

   Here he is looking out the window, sad that he is trapped inside.... like kids they don't always appreciate when we do something for their own good.
        Here is a little gold finch eating on the bag of niger seed.  Doesn't it look nice next to the beautiful petunias.

 

The wind had blown over top part of birdbath but the Blue Jay was still hopeful.

      
But after a lot of looking Bentley decided a nap would be better.

While he was sitting in the window I stayed close by working on a new project.  It is an interesting type of journal.  I will show pictures in the next day or so, after I get a bit farther along.

A day at the Flea and Farm Market

On days that are good we often head to Leesport, PA (on Wednesdays) to go to the big flea market and farmers market.  We discovered this market long before we moved to PA.  It might have been one of the reasons we decided to move here.

This week was a fairly typical day at the market.  We spent the first few hours looking at all the "junque" at the dealers "up on the hill"  as they call it.  And we managed to put a LOT of items in our van for resale in our shop.

Then I headed out to the Pavilions were they sell flowers, produce and all sorts of other goodies.

I have a new cell phone and it has a camera and I am just learning to use it.  Therefore the pics may not be all that great but you will certainly get the idea.

I took a few pictures to give you a flavor of the market.


First there are always livestock there.  They have a livestock auction later in the day.  Here are a couple of shots of the goats that were in a little pen right out on the walkway .  Behind them in another pen are cows but I thought these guys were so cute I had to take their pictures. Apparently the little fellow who is black, stayed in that back corner all the time.  I checked back a couple of times and he was still there.  The others liked to move around a bit.

After seeing these guys I went out to the produce area.  We were planning to buy some plants today so I started my look around.  Here are a couple of shots of some of the plants available.

  

This second picture was taken inside the pavilion area and the light seems a bit strange but adds to the shot I suppose.

Back in the other pavilion I stopped at one stall that sells lots of rustic looking yard art.  We have bought from her in the past but today I just enjoyed looking.  Here are a couple of pictures of the kinds of things she sells.  She always has them in cute little vignettes.

So that was a small part of our day at the Flea and Farm Market. We hope to get back again very soon.