Labyrinth Beads

2012-01-26T08:30:00.001-05:00

A few weekends ago, we went to Las Vegas. We saw three shows and ate at three really great restaurants. On Saturday morning we went to the Hoover Dam. It is huge and a marvel of engineering.

These are the turbines that spin while water rushes through them to make the electricity.

It's hard to get the whole thing in the picture it's so big.

I got a haircut before I went. I love it.

We stayed at the Bellagio, where they have the Chihuly ceiling. It's pretty spectacular.

Las Vegas was fun, but it's not somewhere I'm dying to go back to. They allow smoking in the casino, and to get to your room, you have to walk through it. So I ended up smelling like smoke the whole time. Ick! Plus the room was allegedly non-smoking, but it still stunk. I did enjoy the shopping, and the food. We gambled a little bit - won $50 on the Patriots and then promptly lost it in the slot machines. I'm just not a Las Vegas kind of girl. It's up too late and too glitzy for me.

2012-01-02T12:15:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! This new year finds me once again cleaning up my bead room. It had fast become a repository of all things bead, with no organization. I took an hour today and organized it; got the junk off my table, sent some things to recycling and put away the clutter. I joined an online crochet project and I'm eager to get started, but am waiting for beads to arrive in the mail. I have smaller sized beads, but I'd like to make the project with the large size, so I'm waiting it out. I can catch up easily enough.

I also joined another project, this time a photography project on the woofboard. You post one picture per week on a certain theme. This week's theme is New Beginnings. I'm still trying to decide what to take a picture of. Maybe I'll take a picture of my newly-neatened bead room. That's a new beginning.

2011-12-24T08:16:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Christmas can never be perfect again, because my father is not here. Yesterday Robert made a mince pie from scratch, which made the house smell like Christmas. My father loved mince pie, and I was listening to the Messiah and Bach Christmas Oratorio and I just missed him like crazy. Oh my God. I can't even write this without getting teary. We'll have good Christmases and bad Christmases but they will always be incomplete.

Sorry Martha

2011-11-30T15:01:00.001-05:00

2011-11-30T09:42:00.001-05:00

Last night we had a strange visitor to our bird feeder. I was sitting in the kitchen and something outside caught my eye. The bird feeder was swinging, but it wasn't windy out. So I watched for a few seconds and saw this very odd little creature run down the tree, over to the pole, shimmy up the pole and take a few seeds. He would then leap from the feeder back to the tree and scurry up it. A few seconds later, long enough to eat the seeds I presume, he would repeat the process. It was too small to be a gray or red squirrel. It was about the size of a chipmunk but didn't have the same stripes; this guy's stripes were different. Plus it was out at night, when most squirrels I know are in bed. So I looked it up and it's a northern flying squirrel. We took a couple of movies of his funny little antics and grabbed this screen shot off one of them. It turns out that they are a huge prey animal for owls, which explains his nervousness.

2011-11-28T17:41:00.001-05:00

I saw this license plate on the way to school this morning. I wanted to share it with my niece, because we like to say naughty words to each other. Usually the words are around the calibre of "bum" but since she's been going to 1st grade, she's come out with a few words a lot naughtier than "bum". Eek.

We did our presentation this morning. It was great. It was also fun watching the other students' presentations. Robert got his quiz back and got a 115. We also signed up for Italian II next semester today. It's fun.

2011-11-26T16:43:00.001-05:00

Tutta la giornata noi abbiamo lavorato su la nostra presentazione in italiano. Sono stanca.

2011-11-25T16:59:00.001-05:00

So we survived Thanksgiving. The turkey, which was a locally-raised heritage bird, was awesome. I think it was the best yet, in terms of flavor. The dark meat was a little tough, but that could also be how we cooked it. I used my Burano tablecloth on the table; it was so pretty.

My birthday present came and it came broken! :( I'm so sad and Robert is really sad. It was a beautiful piece by Lucio Bubacco. Such a shame. We haven't even unpacked it all the way. Here is Leda and the Swan, broken by FedEx.

This is what it's supposed to look like:

2011-11-24T05:01:00.001-05:00

Well this stinks. I forgot to blog yesterday. I was so busy. I made the brine, picked up the turkey, made stuffing and helped make a pie. Then my mom came over and we went out for a nice dinner. Ugh. I'm very disappointed that I skipped a day. :(

2011-11-22T17:24:00.001-05:00

So today I made the potatoes for Thursday. And I took a pie out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge. Tomorrow I make the stuffing and go get the turkey. Robert will make a pecan pie and the cranberry sauce while I'm gone. Then Thursday all that's left to do is to get the turkey in the oven and set the table. The rest is reheating, and I plan to use crock pots to do that. Genius!

2011-11-21T13:48:00.001-05:00

Anyone want to read my palm? I took the picture for a thread on LE and then didn't feel like posting it. Anyway, Happy Birthday to me! I didn't take my Italian quiz as a present to myself.

2011-11-20T13:41:00.001-05:00

Well, I decided to skip my meeting today so now I have all these peanutbutter cookies to eat. I think I'll throw them away.

This button I made the other day with one color of glass - Fire Lotus. It's such a neat color because it shifts according to how much heat it gets. I think it's my favorite of all the striking glasses out there.

Oh and the best thing is, my husband had a phone conversation with Angie and now Martha is dying to know what they were talking about. But mum's the word! It's fun to let her stew.

2011-11-19T12:00:00.001-05:00

I am making cookies. The peanut butter kind with the Hershey's kiss in the middle. They are not for me; they are for my bead meeting tomorrow. Hands off.

2011-11-18T17:33:00.001-05:00

The bead I made yesterday is on the right. The other bead I made last week. These will be made into ornaments. I think I will just run some red ribbon through them.

I'm starting to think about Thanksgiving and plan my menu and make my grocery list. I think I'll go shopping tomorrow; most of what I'll be getting is stuff that will keep. The stuff that won't keep, I'll buy later on.

2011-11-17T18:25:00.001-05:00

Today Java had acupuncture. I made a bead, hopefully to be turned into a holiday ornament for an exchange I signed up for. I peeked at it just now when I went to turn off the kiln and it's very cute.

My Kindle Fire came yesterday and today I had some fun in the Amazon store subscribing to magazines. I'm trying out Art Jewelry, Bead & Button and a cooking magazine. So far I really like the device. It's kind of neat. And I love that it's in color.

2011-11-16T17:01:00.001-05:00

It gets dark so early. I don't like it. It's only 5:00 and I feel like getting into my PJ's already. That's not right. In June it would be afternoon sunshine and I'd have all kinds of energy. I think I might need to break out my light box.

2011-11-15T17:58:00.001-05:00

It was a very quiet day here. I don't know why, but I didn't feel like making beads. Instead I went to the grocery store, and forgot to buy milk. Again.

I've been trying to make a bead that looks like my friend's dog whom she had to have put to sleep last week. I did three tries last week when Amy was here and then this weekend, I tried two more times, and nailed it. I was cleaning them this afternoon and my dremel slipped and put a tiny scratch near the bead hole and onto the front of the bead. Gah! It's so annoying. I wish there were a way to fix that. I might have fixed it temporarily by rubbing a little cooking oil on it to darken the glass. I hope my friend and her daughter like them.

2011-11-14T13:37:00.001-05:00

I love fleece sheets. Now that winter is coming, they are like sleeping on the softest soft thing ever. I don't want to get out of bed. I bought one set, and then bought myself another because I want them always on my bed. I love cotton sheets in the summer, but for winter, fleece sheets are where it's at!

I tried the pumpkin custard, and it's actually pumpkin pie filling. I used a recipe for pie and just put it in ramekins instead of a pie shell. So it's good, but it's not custard. It's pie with no crust.

2011-11-13T13:49:00.001-05:00

Today I made pumpkin custard with fresh pumpkin I made last week. I like this time of year, because I tend to do more cooking and be a little more domestic. I loathe the term "nesting" but that is not a bad description of what I do. This all will culminate in Thanksgiving. Then that will be my fill and I'll go back to my non-domestic ways.

Last night I made crock pot oatmeal and proceeded to turn on the crock pot. I woke up to find out that I had left the crock pot unplugged, so we had stove top oatmeal this morning instead. Next time, for sure.

Dinner at Sarah's

2011-11-12T17:38:00.001-05:00

We had a very pleasant evening at Sarah's. Spaghetti is a great meal to share with family. We missed Martha and Angie, though.

2011-11-11T16:54:00.001-05:00

My new dishwasher came today! It has two drawers, so will wash much smaller loads. This way we don't have to wait until the dishwasher is "full" before running it. With just two people it takes a long time to fill up. Please notice the knobs I made; I took an extra-wide shot in order to include them.

2011-11-10T17:30:00.001-05:00

Another day without a picture. I always find that a picture brightens things up and gives you something to look at. Amy came over and made beads. We went to MT's Local for lunch, which was yummy. We came back and we had both lost our beadmaking genius, so she went home. We had a good beadmaking morning, though.

2011-11-09T18:12:00.002-05:00

Busy day today. I had the car inspected, went to the doctor, brought Bobby to the vet, went grocery shopping and made from-scratch pumpkin soup for dinner. It was delicious. The weather was gorgeous; I even saw a frog on a lily pad it was so warm! Not what I expected to see after last week's weather debacle.

In one week, my Kindle Fire comes. I'm really looking forward to getting it. I'm such a gadget girl.

2011-11-08T17:23:00.002-05:00

Today the tree man came to assess our situation. Many of our trees have to come down because they've lost over 20% of their foliage-bearing branches. We are going to try to save the big oak in the backyard. It's going to look like a Charlie Brown tree, but if we can keep it, I'd like to.

Also today my friend had to put down her little dog, Buster. I'm very sad about this. He was quite the character. Rest in peace, little man.

2011-11-07T13:47:00.002-05:00

Robert and I are taking an Italian class this semester at the local community college. It is so painful. Many students don't do their homework and are unprepared for class. It drives me crazy. Maybe it's because I went to law school, but I can't imagine not being prepared. The assignments take an hour, or maybe two, a week. So the same people end up answering the questions in class. I feel bad, but it's either always answer or wait for someone else to volunteer and then struggle because they haven't done the work or studied.

One of the assignments is to do a cultural presentation. We can work in pairs, so we're going to do ours on glass. We only have 10 minutes, so I'm not sure what angle we're going to take on this: history, process, maestri or a little bit of all three. The hard part is it has to be in Italian.

2011-11-06T17:30:00.002-05:00

Here we are. Dark at 4:30. Waking at 6:00. Hungry at 5:00. Everything feels like it's off at least an hour.

2011-11-05T16:45:00.003-04:00

We had the dogs' portraits done. Isn't it awesome? The artist's website is Portraits by Nette. I think she did a wonderful job. I won this custom portrait in an auction to benefit American Boston Terrier Rescue, so everybody wins!

Today we bought a new dishwasher; the kind with two drawers. I think everyone in my family except my sister who is too ~~cheap~~ frugal to buy a new dishwasher has this kind. Since it's just the two of us, we have to wait and wait for the dishwasher to be full before running it. In the meantime we run out of plates, or forks or mugs. This way, we can run a small load in one of the drawers and not worry about wasting water and energy.

2011-11-04T14:56:00.001-04:00

Oh boy, what to write about. Hmm....

Things are getting back to normal now that we have electricity. The yard people came and took away the branches that fell, along with a couple of trees that they were able to remove. The ones they can't remove will wait for the tree people who are coming on Tuesday.

They also put the net over the pond and placed the recirculator in. This will help keep the pond liquid over the winter. I also need to place a small heater to keep part of the surface open for gas exchange.

I don't know if I mentioned that Robert and I are taking an Italian class. We're going to the local community college. It's fun! I have to write an essay this weekend. Robert and I two of the best students in the class, probably because we are taking it because we want to instead of because it's a requirement. We're also two of the oldest people in the class. Probably even older than the teacher!

2011-11-03T17:47:00.002-04:00

Hooray! The power went on about 5 minutes ago. As bad as I think I had it, there are a lot more people who are having it worse, so I'm very grateful and counting my blessings.

2011-11-02T14:17:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of the oak tree with the widow-makers hanging down.

I hope we can save the tree and don't have to have it removed.

The good news is that the tree crews are going up and down our street clearing the trees from the lines. That's the first step towards getting service restored. We also got a propane refill for the generator, so we don't have to worry about running out for a few more days. The generator has been running nonstop for almost 4 days now and it used about 1/2 the propane that we had. It cost $433.00 to fill up, and we think it's worth every penny and more.

Snowtober is over

2011-11-01T09:49:00.000-04:00

So Snowtober is over and now begins November blog-posting month, where the goal is to blog each day in November.

We had a terrible snow storm on Saturday that has knocked out power to my whole town and to 237,000 people in the state. The estimates are a week until we are restored. Here are some pictures of the damage around my house.

This picture above shows the branch that hit the porch roof on Saturday night. I was out there while Bobby was outside and it hit hard! The problem is that this snow came so early, most of the trees hadn't shed their leaves yet. They acted to catch the heavy, wet, cement-like snow and so the trees really suffered with the weight and just came down. There is a tree down at the back end of the bead cottage. It seems to have missed it by about 6 inches.

Here you can see a branch in the pond. It came off the oak tree on the right. That tree has several branches hanging down by a thread. I'm afraid to go outside because I don't want to get beaned by those branches.

Here's a couple of branches from the oak tree in the dog yard.

Here you can see that the top half of a tree has taken out the electric and cable wires to our house. This is a bummer because having this problem puts us at the bottom of the list to be restored. They are going to work on problems where they can get hundreds and thousands up and running before they work on a problem that will get one household up and running.

Thank goodness the snow is melting. I was genuinely frightened on Saturday night as trees and branches were falling all around us. Luckily none did any damage to us or the dogs. We have a generator so we have heat, light, water and internet. We are fortunate compared to others around here.

2011-10-25T10:58:00.000-04:00

Last weekend my mother and I went to Cape Cod. We were supposed to go to a photography seminar, but it was cancelled, so we decided to go anyway and make our own fun.

We went to the Cape Cod National Seashore and watched a movie on the formation of Cape Cod. It was pretty interesting. We learned that the cape was made from the glaciers of the last ice age. They deposited their rocks and silt there and it formed the 'arm'.

We stayed at a nice little inn in Chatham, which is a fun town. We went shopping and had wonderful meals.

We also stopped at Nauset beach, where when I was 10, I tried to body surf and was bowled under by the waves. They were very strong and powerful and it scared me.

2011-10-15T11:04:00.002-04:00

This blog is not abandoned. Not a lot is going on and I can't think of what to write about. I've been making beads, taking care of the dogs and enjoying my pond while it's still liquid. After the giant frog moved in, we didn't see the baby fish for a week or so and we thought he had been eaten, but we were wrong. I'm very happy about that, because I love my fish even though I said I wouldn't get attached. It's hard not to.I'm also thinking of adding to the fishy family by buying a betta. I'm not sure why I want a fish, but I do. I had Junior for 12 years and I don't really miss being a fish mother. It's a lot of work changing the water and keeping the fish healthy. So I think I'm going to try to focus on the hard part of fish keeping and pass.

2011-10-06T09:49:00.001-04:00

I'm sorry that Steve Jobs is dead, but really. Do we need the tears and the memorials at the Apple store? Come on. Get over it people.

2011-09-25T17:07:00.001-04:00

I saw this guy in the pond today. He is the largest frog I have ever seen. I know it's hard to tell from the photo, but his arms are the size around of my fingers and he himself is the size of a salad plate. I don't want him to eat my fish, and I think he might be able to. Eek! I think it's a bullfrog. All my other froggies are green frogs.

OK this is a better picture to show the hugeness. On the upper right lily pad there is a frog that I would consider to be a medium-to-large frog that we've been seeing in the pond. The monster on the left is the bullfrog.

2011-09-23T13:00:00.002-04:00

This little guy showed up in the pond on Sunday. Of course, he was probably in there for a long time, but we think he's our first offspring. Or rather, the fishes' first offspring. He's only a few inches away from the larger fish, so you can see the size difference. I think it's so cool that my artificial pond is natural enough to be a breeding place for frogs and fish.

2011-09-19T20:38:00.002-04:00

Just some pictures of the dogs and some beads I made for a lilliput exchange. Things are going well. The dogs are good; Italian class is good and bead making is good. We're getting ready to shut down the pond for the winter soon.

2011-08-23T20:38:00.000-04:00

Amy came over today and we made beads. We are going to try to do this every week if our schedules permit. It's so much fun to finally have the second torch station all set up and ready. I'm glad I had the studio built to accommodate two. This picture below shows the station; I've since added the kiln so there are two complete set-ups available. I have a Cricket torch there, but soon am going to hook up my Scorpion and try it out on some big beads.

Below is my station. Kind of messy.

Robert and I got another waterlily. This one is a peach-colored flower. It's so pretty.

2011-08-09T08:57:00.000-04:00

I'm back from the Gathering. It was a blast, as always. Things around here are pretty normal. Both dogs are pretty good. I don't have much to talk about. I haven't sat down at the torch since I got home, though. I'm not sure why. I have a few things I need to make for fundraisers, so it's not like I don't have ideas. This week Robert is taking a blacksmithing class so I'm home with the dogs. The pond is doing well. The tadpoles have grown into tiny frogs. Each waterlily had a flower at the same time last weekend so I had to take a picture. I've read some good books lately, including The Help and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, both of which I absolutely loved. The weather has been very humid, but luckily not terribly hot. I dread the coming winter, so I'd love it if summer lasted well into fall.

2011-07-31T07:24:00.001-04:00

Last night my credit card was shut off when I went to pay for a purchase I made at the live auction. I knew I was headed for trouble yesterday. So I called them at midnight and straightened it out. So much for that. The auction was fun. Lots of things went for more than their value, which is good when you're having a fundraiser. I did my part, let's just put it that way.

Today there are more demos and then tonight is the trading party. I'm looking forward to getting home, but also don't want the fun to end. I guess I can look forward to next year.

2011-07-30T15:02:00.001-04:00

At the Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum.

The bead bazaar

2011-07-30T13:10:00.000-04:00

My credit card is smoking hot right now.

The Gathering begins

2011-07-29T09:30:00.001-04:00

The first presenter started at 8:00 this morning. We've been having a really good time. Amy has been finding us some really good restaurants that serve local food. Last night we went to the Mayan Cafe.

I shopped until I dropped yesterday. I bought 22 lbs of glass. I'm glad Amy's parents have a truck so I can ship it home with them.

My corsage

2011-07-27T10:53:00.001-04:00

I just finished my class piece. Forgive the crappy picture. It's way cooler in person. This is a pin.

First day of class

2011-07-26T11:49:00.001-04:00

I finally arrived on Louisville at 2:00 am. I had about 4 hours of sleep last night.

Today's the first day of class. We are making some very cool components for our pieces. SaraSally's work is so fun and colorful.

2011-07-25T19:40:00.001-04:00

This is my first blog post from 26,000 feet in the air. It's pretty cool that the plane has Wifi. We finally took off, 5 hours late. I think I'll be arriving in Louisville around 2:00 am.

Stuck in the Manchester airport

2011-07-25T16:38:00.000-04:00

I am stuck in the Manchester airport due to the weather in Baltimore. Luckily my connection is also delayed, but I worry about my luggage arriving in Louisville with me.

2011-07-25T07:49:00.000-04:00

Today I leave for Louisville. I'm going to miss Robert, the dogs and my pond. My head cold is now full-blown, but I still feel OK enough to go. I've been looking forward to this week since last year.

On a more serious note, little Jake, who had been doing very well, suddenly took a turn for the worse and had to have another emergency surgery yesterday. Any thoughts and prayers his way are appreciated I'm sure.

2011-07-22T08:30:00.001-04:00

I'm totally back to normal today. No stuffiness, no scratchy throat. Yay!

The heat is going to suck the life out of me, though. It's unreal. I feel bad for the dogs, especially Java, because it's hard for her to get cool with her short nose anyway and combine it with these temperatures and the humidity and we are left with only really quick trips outside to do our business and then right back in. Bobby loves the heat - he lies right down on the grass in the sun. I have to pretend it's nummy-num time to get him to come in. He's crazy.

2011-07-21T07:50:00.000-04:00

I think I have a really mild head cold. So mild that I don't really feel bad, just off. I still have the funny throat - I'd call it scratchy now - and I woke up stuffed. Hopefully I get back to normal soon.

2011-07-20T07:21:00.000-04:00

I think I might be getting sick. Sunday I had a killer headache and today my throat feels funny. This is not good, because I'm going away next week to Louisville for my bead convention. I will be very upset if I'm sick for this trip. The good news is that my throat doesn't feel sore, just weird. Maybe it's just ickyness from living in the a/c 24/7 lately. Ugh.

2011-07-19T08:38:00.010-04:00

When I win the lottery I'm going to set up a foundation to help people who need life-saving treatments and surgeries for their pets. It has to be the worst feeling in the world, knowing that there is something that will save your sick pet but you cannot afford it. I am very lucky that I've been able to give Java all the surgeries she needed to make her well and take away her pain and I know it. I wish everyone were as fortunate. While rescues and shelters also need help with funds, there are charities that help them. As far as I know there are no charitable resources for private pet care. Anyway I know this is a pipe dream, because I hardly ever play the lottery.

I'm not trying to get my readers to chip in for Jake, but it's rather an example of what I'm saying. This little dog was adopted by my friends after his aged owner couldn't care for him any more. He has been a wonderful addition to their lives. He somehow ate part of a tennis ball and it became stuck in his gut. They brought him to the emergency vet on Sunday but no surgeon was available. While undergoing surgery yesterday, his intestines ruptured in two places, necessitating an additional surgery at another facility with a more skilled surgeon. So now his surgery is going to cost mega-bucks and they just don't have it. To rub salt in the wound, the second hospital wanted 75% of the cost up front. Here's more information: Jake Info. I hope he makes it. The next 48 hours are crucial and we're pulling for him.

2011-07-12T16:44:00.001-04:00

I am going to torture Robert and make him eat with the bugs outside on our new patio table. It'll be a nice place to have coffee in the morning or to spend an evening if the bugs aren't too bad. I'd like to use it tonight but it's so hot I think we'd melt.

2011-07-08T17:41:00.000-04:00

We have lived here for 10 years and when we moved in there was this spiky plant in the front yard. Over the years it has gotten bigger but has never bloomed. I've since learned that this is a yucca plant, and this year it's blooming. It grew this tall spiky thing and it is just now starting to open.

The flowers are large bell-shaped white blooms. Kind of pretty when you look closer.

I have noticed other peoples' yuccas blooming lately. Are they all on some 10-year cycle or did I just have to wait until my plant got big enough or old enough? It's a cool plant.

2011-07-04T08:52:00.000-04:00

The pink lily has opened every day for the last four days, so my theory that it would only last one day was wrong. The beautiful thing is that it is getting deeper in color every day. It's so pretty.

The yellow one opened yesterday for the first time, even though it emerged on the same day as the pink one, but this is the second flower for this particular plant.

Happy Independence Day!

2011-07-01T18:18:00.000-04:00

The pink water lily bloomed today. This morning it was just a green pod-like thing sticking up out of the water. We came home from the gym and it looked like this:

In just a few minutes - under an hour anyway - it was fully open and showing its gorgeousness. I hope it opens again tomorrow but I have a feeling it might be a one day thing.

2011-06-30T13:52:00.000-04:00

Here are some pond pictures. The first is a tadpole along with a closeup.

Here are the goldfish, after just being fed. They're not usually at the surface, as they like to hide.

A shot of our first water lily. It is not quite open all the way.

Miscellaneous pond. I don't see anything terribly interesting to point out here.

This is the water lily opened up all the way. I'm glad I took this picture that day because the next day it did not open at all. We have another two flowers coming up; probably sometime this weekend. One is from the red plant and another is from the yellow, same as the one below.

2011-06-07T18:05:00.000-04:00

We have tadpoles! I guess it's inevitable when you have a bunch of frogs hanging around your pond that you'd wind up with baby frogs, but it was still a nice surprise to see them for the first time this morning. We put in 6 goldfish (29 cents each) last week and yesterday was the first time we saw them. I think it's because of two things: the pond was very dark, almost coffee colored, and now it's clearing up; and I think that the fish hid down near the bottom for a while. It's very fun to sit and watch them. This afternoon I sat in my hammock next to the pond and fell asleep.

2011-06-03T13:25:00.001-04:00

Today is Cheeseburger Day for Joe Stains, a Boston Terrier who went to the Rainbow Bridge this week. We had followed his blog for many years and always loved to read of his adventures, even if he was the world's biggest Yankees fan. We will miss him, and we didn't even know him in real life. So in honor of Joe, the dogs got to split a cheeseburger. The humans had salads.

Just plain, please.

The first two bites are gone.

Sitting pretty and waiting patiently for more.

A split second later, it was gone.

Watch those teeth, those are my fingers, Bobby!

Java loves cheeseburgers!

It reminds me of when Barney was having his eye problems. He had to have a keratotomy to make his eye ulcer heal, so afterwards I brought him to Burger King for the healing power of a cheeseburger. He loved it.

2011-06-02T13:19:00.000-04:00

We planted the pond the other day. All the plants are in the water without pots, except for the water lilies. They need to be too deep, so we'll wait until next spring when we change the water in the pond to plant them. I'd need a scuba mask to plant them now. Ick. There was a little garter snake hanging out in the rocks watching us, or maybe it was after the frogs in the pond. We saw three different kinds of frogs in the pond that day. We're putting some goldfish in soon.

2011-05-29T10:29:00.000-04:00

At some point on my trip, my camera started taking square pictures instead of rectangular ones. These are the last pictures of Venice and Murano that I took, from the plane as we were leaving. The picture above is Venice. You can see the Grand Canal as it snakes its way through the island. Also you can just make out San Marco square. I've highlighted them in the next picture:

Below is the island of Murano, on the right hand side of the picture, kind of cut off. The plane was flying too fast! You can just make out the lighthouse at the Faro vaporetto stop toward the middle of the bottom of the island.

This is what the lighthouse looks like close-up:

2011-05-28T18:41:00.000-04:00

Last night I searched and searched for my ATM card. I had taken it out of my wallet when I was in Italy and left it in the apartment and it was still in the case where we kept it when we got home on Sunday. I saw it on Monday because I looked for it after I realized it wasn't in my wallet when I was in the grocery store earlier that day. So yesterday I went to use it thinking it was back in my wallet where I put it on Monday and it wasn't there. I searched and searched the suitcases and the places where I thought it was and couldn't find it. Finally we called the bank and reported it missing. They offered me a replacement either by mail or by walking into any branch. I chose to get a new card in person, as it would be faster. So as I'm sitting in the bank, waiting for the branch manager to make my new card, I take out my checkbook and what falls out? My missing ATM card! I was very embarrassed and I hope no one watches the security tape to see my shame.

Here are some of the horses I sculpted in the Lucio Bubacco class. My favorites are the blue one and the one we attached to the bead.

2011-05-22T17:33:00.000-04:00

So we're home. The yard looks beautiful and there's a loud frog in or near the pond. The sad news is that Junior, our almost 12-year-old goldfish died while we were gone. If he's the only pet that meets his demise as a result of his trip I guess I'll be happy. (Barney was PTS right after a vacation and Pixel was PTS right before). Another semi-sad thing is that the robin's nest is down off the lamp near the front door. I'll miss them. It's good to be home but I'm exhausted. I just want to hit the sack.

2011-05-21T09:30:00.000-04:00

Last night we took the vaporetto to the Accadamia stop and went to a fabulous restaurant for dinner. Robert had cuttlefish spaghetti. He loves squid ink! After dinner we went to a concert in a church. They played Vivaldi, Albinoni and Bach. It was beautiful. I couldn't help but think how much my father would have enjoyed it.

This morning, we ate breakfast and went to the San Toma stop on the vaporetto and walked around. We found a gondolier and he gave us a small tour. It was probably a very touristy thing to do but it was fun and we enjoyed it.

Getting in and out of the gondola was a little scary, as we had to cross over another parked gondola to get to the one we were taking. I thought for sure I'd end up in the drink.

After the gondola ride, we went to the Museum of something or other and saw an exhibit of Lino Tagliapietra's work. He's a very important Italian glass master who was one of the first to share his knowledge with American glass artists. He taught at Pilchuck for many years. His work is really pretty. I don't know if I was allowed to take photos so I snuck some:

After that we had lunch at Londra Palace, which was a place highly recommended by Martha. It was good. Robert had cuttlefish risotto this time. So he's had it three different ways now.

Now we're back at the hotel, gathering steam for this evening when we pack things up and get ready to leave for home tomorrow. It's very pleasant out and we're going to work on tomorrow's crossword puzzle while sitting on our roof terrace. It's sad to say good bye to Venice and especially to Murano. We've had such a good time. I can't wait to come back.

2011-05-20T10:30:00.001-04:00

This is our hotel from the outside. This morning we had breakfast and walked to Piazza San Marcos to visit the basilica. It is decorated completely in mosaics, and most of it is gold.

Here you can see our room; the round window up top and the metal frame of the roof deck to the right.

This is the view from the round window. I can't get over it. It's so beautiful.

Between our hotel and the Piazza is the bridge of sighs. Look what they have done. It's abominable. The sides of the building are covered in advertising, so there is no way to take a picture of the bridge without taking a picture of the ads. Ick. Bad idea, Venice.

So we got to the basilica, and there were no photos allowed. Everyone else was taking them, so I snuck a few, as well. I got caught once but they didn't throw me out.

This is the body of Saint Mark, "rescued" from a monastery in Alexandria.

Below are some pictures of the mosaics that line the ceiling. This is in natural light.

These horses are from the second century, B.C. and were originally from the Hippodrome in Constantinople. They were outside the basilica for many years but were brought inside and replicas were placed outside.

Here is the inside of the basilica all lit up. They turn on the lights at 11:30 every day and we just happened to be there at that time. It makes a huge difference to see it all aglow. The gold is just beautiful. Plus after our visit to Orsoni yesterday, we know how they make the gold mosaic tiles.

2011-05-20T03:09:00.000-04:00

This was our apartment building in Murano. Our apartment was the second floor, right hand side. It was very cute and comfortable. I loved that we had a washing machine. We were able to pack just half of the clothes we would need that way. Here are a couple of interior pictures.

The decor was blue and in each room, there was a beautiful chandelier.

The only thing the place lacked was internet. I think when we come back we would stay here again, only we would do something about getting a modem so I could blog every day. It would have been much more convenient.

We had to move our suitcases in two turns. We each have one large suitcase, a smaller suitcase plus a carry-on and our handbag/daypacks. There was no way we would be able to maneuver all that luggage on and off the vaporetto and up and down the bridges we needed to cross. So we took our time and the afternoon to ride the vaporetto back and forth into Venice to check into our hotel.

When we got to the hotel, the clerk said we have the best room in the place. It's pretty cool. It is in what must have been the attic, and we have a roof terrace where we can sit and look down on the city. Here are some views of Venice and St. Mark's square in different lights from our roof:

2011-05-19T16:38:00.001-04:00

Day 8, Monday

Today was the first day of class with Emilio Santini. He's from a long line of glassworkers from the Venice and Murano area. He brought along his teaching assistant, Alex.

Class was great. He has a slightly different style than Lucio and it was good to see them both. My friends Lori and Paul from the Boston Chapter came to the studio. They aren't taking the class; they just happened to be here at the same time as the classes. They also know Emilio well, so it was somewhat of a reunion. I left class at 6:00, after the demonstration of pulling points in soft glass. It looked too hard to try at the end of the day. For dinner we took the vaporetto into Venice and ate at a lagoon-side restaurant which was very good.

Speaking of eating, we have been trying hard to try new things this vacation. Some of the more unusual foods we've been eating are cuttlefish, sea snails, eel, goose, sardines in saor, along with the more usual things such as clams, mussels and sole. It's fun to ask what the waiter recommends or what is the specialty of the restaurant and try that.

Day 9, Tuesday

We started the day at the Venetian mirror factory. We weren't there long, as the man who was to show us around didn't come to work that day, but we did get to see the end products. They are very beautiful and ornate. A little too fancy for my house, I think. I really did like them, though.

In class in the afternoon, Emilio's sister Lucia came and gave us a demonstration of how she gilds glass with gold leaf. She uses a turpentine-flux mixture, paints the design, then applies the leaf, scrapes off the excess and fires it on. It becomes permanent. She is very talented.

After class we saw a demonstration of 'batuto' which means 'beaten'. It's an engraving process where the glass ends up with a look that metal gets when it's hammered. This is master engraver Luigi Camozzo at work.

For dinner, Robert went into Venice to a pizza parlor and got take out pizza for us. I had a 4-cheese which I didn't like because it had gorgonzola on it. Who knew I wouldn't like bleu cheese on pizza? I thought I liked cheese on everything, but I guess not.

One of the main things we like about Europe is all the dogs. I haven't seen a BT yet, and I hope I don't because I'm not sure I could resist greeting it. This is a little dog we saw, bringing someone the newspaper.

Day 10, Wednesday

Today was our last day of class. We used blowpipes to blow hollow beads and vessels, or in my case, shards. :) It was fun and I plan to do some more at home. I spent a lot of time watching Emilio work. I think you absorb a lot just by watching. I did practice some, but I felt I wanted to see more than do more.

After class we had a party to celebrate. Everyone brought something good to eat. I didn't want to cook, so we brought a meat and cheese platter from the deli. We left around 10:00, because we had to pack up and get ready to move to Venice.

Day 11, Thursday

We finished packing this morning and went out to breakfast. We had due cappuccini and a couple of bready-type things. Then we met at the vaporetto and took it into Venice for a tour of the Orsoni mosaic works. It was incredible.

Tomorrow I'll talk about leaving our apartment, getting to Venice and our hotel.

2011-05-16T02:57:00.000-04:00

Day 6, Saturday

We started the day off at Carlo Dona's toolshop, a highlight of a trip to Murano. He makes incredible, high quality glass blowing and lampworking tools. I bought a bunch of things and I'm excited to try them out.

Then we headed to the internet cafe to post my blog.

After a cappuccino at the cafe and a very quick perousal of Facebook, we went to Burano, a quaint little island near Murano. It could be said to be a tourist trap, but it's very pretty and is famous for its lace and embroidery. I bought a Thanksgiving tablecloth and some napkins. It's really pretty. In Burano, all the houses are painted pretty pastel colors.

It was a very warm day and we got tired so headed back to Murano and a quick nap. Our across-the-hall neighbors Pete, and Caroline, who is my class-mate, had a party. We had a nice buffet-style dinner and good conversation. All the people traveling with Ofilia were invited. It was fun.

Day 7, Sunday

Today was the first day it has rained since we've been here and boy did it rain. We had tickets for the Secret Itineraries tour of the Doge's Palace, so we made the trip into Venice. It was cold, windy and rainy. Bleah.

The tour was really cool. It was the tour of the parts of the palace related to the administration of Justice. We saw the cells where Casanova was kept and where he escaped from. I think I would have tried to escape, too. They were small and dark and creepy.

After the tour we went for lunch to Caffe Florian, where Ernest Hemingway ate once. It was pretty classy and I think it was the most expensive meal we've had here. It was so expensive because it was right in Saint Mark's square.

It was so cold and rainy that we decided to come home and relax for the afternoon. We had some laundry to do and the dishes needed washing, so home-based chores prevailed. I plan to explore Venice more while we're staying there toward the end of the week.

Now we're just hanging out, reading, and writing. I made a yummy supper of leftover chicken, tortelloni and zucchini.

The sun made an appearance at the last minute, just before setting, and gave us this incredible view of a beautiful rainbow, ending at the Church of San Pietro.

2011-05-14T05:25:00.000-04:00

I intended to write a lot sooner, but we haven't had internet access and it wasn't until yesterday that Robert found a cafe with Wifi. So I have a lot to update.

Day 1, Monday

We arrived in Venice after a lovely business-class flight across the ocean. It takes all of the scary away from flying when you have people waiting on you and your seats are really comfortable. We collected our luggage to find that one of the suitcases didn't make it to Italy; it was still in Spain. Luckily it wasn't one with our clothes in it. It had all kinds of electrical chargers and machines, so probably they held it aside to examine and subsequently it didn't make it onto our plane.

So we took the Alilaguna boat from the airport to Murano to go to our apartment. We were pretty tired but were determined not to go to sleep during the day. We met Lucia, our landlady who gave us the key and showed us around and how things worked. Then we went to the grocery store to buy a few things for dinner and breakfast. We bought pasta and cheese for dinner and some yogurt and rolls for breakfast.

Then we unpacked and read for a while. As we sat on the couch, my eyes kept closing and I'd force myself to open them to find Robert's were closed. I tried to stay awake but it wasn't easy. So I ended up making dinner pretty early and we went to bed around 6pm.

We woke up again around midnight, but were able to get back to sleep an hour or two later and sleep through the night.

Day 2, Tuesday

Today was kind of a bust, at least for Robert. We had a tour planned of the gold leaf factory but he couldn't come because he had to stay and wait for the suitcase.

So I went with the group to see how gold leaf is made in Venice. Factory isn't really the right word, because it's definitely a small family-run operation. I bought some silver leaf for my beads. The gold leaf is made in Titian's palace, where he lived at the end of his life. The building is really old and the marble stairs are all worn down. The process is pretty fascinating but I won't describe it here except to say that it involves hammers; heavy, heavy hammers.

After the gold leaf factory we went to see Vittorio Costantini at his studio. He makes beautiful glass animals, birds, fish and insects. They are incredibly lifelike. In front of his bench are lined up a library of field guides from which he takes his inspiration. I'm lucky that I own a hummingbird of his.

At this point I wasn't feeling very well. I hadn't eaten any breakfast as we got up late, so I bought a gelato and headed back to Murano to see if Robert had gotten the suitcase. He hadn't. So I took a nap.

Finally the suitcase arrived around 5:30 pm. At that point we went out together - which we hadn't been able to do all day - and walked around and found a restaurant for dinner. It was a pleasant evening; we sat outside next to the canal and enjoyed the ambiance.

Day 3, Wednesday

My first day of class with Lucio Bubacco. I can't describe the excellence of Lucio's work. It's simply amazing. He makes it look easy and it is so not. I tried it. I was not too successful, but at least my later attempts were always better than my earlier attempts, so I have to say the class did its job.

While I was gone, Robert explored Venice and got us monthly Vaporetto (water bus) passes, so we are free to come and go without having to worry about buying a ticket on board. I took it home from class one night just one stop, across the canal, because I could.

Class went pretty late - until almost 7:00 pm, so I met Robert and we went out to dinner. This time to another restaurant on the canal, outside.

Day 4, Thursday

This morning we got up extra early and went to visit a friend of Ofilia's who makes blown beads at the torch. They were beautiful and the process was interesting to see. I may buy myself a mini blow-pipe just to play with.

Then more class. I'm not going to show my work but I'll tell you that the Italian-renaissance-style-goddess-head I was trying to make ended up looking like George Washington.

Robert went to San Marcos square, and went to three museums.

Another day of eating dinner at a restaurant along the canal.

The good thing about being in an apartment is that I can choose to cook or not. Monday I cooked because we were so tired, we didn't want to have to go out. But the next three nights we ate out just because we wanted to. I didn't come to Murano to cook dinner every night, but if we want to we can. We have breakfast in the apartment every day, which is very nice.

Day 5, Friday

Today was the last day of class with Lucio. Like yesterday, the day started off early with a visit to Ofilia's friends. The first visit was to a father and son team who make beautiful, heavily encased pendants. The next visit was to a hot shop. Robert and I left the hot shop a little early to go get a cappucino.

Then I went to class where I made a horse and put it on a bead, in the Lucio style. I haven't seen it yet, but I think it came out really nice, for a beginner.

After class I called Robert and had him meet me on the Vaporetto and we took a cruise around Venice and Murano, including a cruise down Venice's grand canal. We saw the hotel where we'll be staying next week; it looks really nice.

We got back around 8:00 pm and I fixed dinner; a store-bought roasted chicken, fresh asparagus and mushroom ravioli. It was yummy.

2011-05-07T08:17:00.000-04:00

Today we go to Boston to the Red Sox game. We're spending the night at a hotel and then tomorrow we'll go to the MFA or something for lunch. Then in the evening, we fly to Venice through Madrid! I'm very excited. The dogs are in their hotels; have been since yesterday. I sure miss them, but the vacation from dog duties has been nice. I'm bringing my camera and my netbook, so I am hoping to be able to blog while I'm there, so check back. I'm taking a class with Lucio Bubacco and Emilio Santini. Have I said I'm very excited?

2011-05-01T11:01:00.000-04:00

The robins have built their nest this year on the light right outside the kitchen door. This is not the most-used door in the house, that would be the garage door, but it's close. There is a lot less traffic at this door than at the dog door, where they built last year. Here's a close-up.

I'm looking forward to watching them bring up their babies. Mrs. Robin started sitting on the nest yesterday so I'm thinking that we'll have babies by the time we return from our trip to Murano.

We have fiddleheads! Not the eating kind, though.

And our beautiful cherry tree. The hummingbird was visiting it yesterday. I love spring.

2011-04-27T17:23:00.000-04:00

I keep a camera in the living room, ready to snap pictures of cool birds or animals that I see. I finally unloaded them onto my computer and I'm seeing that this batch goes back a long way, into February. Here's a lone cardinal in the icy trees:

And a little red squirrel on the dog ramp:

Today I took this one of a rose-breasted grosbeak at the window feeder. He is not all that bright. He kept landing on the top of the feeder and trying to eat the seeds through the roof. He got a little upset, either at his reflection or maybe it was his frustration at not getting to the seeds. His wife comes to this feeder and she goes to the proper place, so maybe she can teach him.

On the Java front, things are going pretty well. I bring her to various appointments three times a week, so my life is kind of consumed with that. She's walking pretty well and she's definitely back to her feisty self.

Java again!

2011-04-07T18:10:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was Java's PT day. She wore her green dress to keep her warm and protect her back from the sun. She looked so cute that Dr. Silver brought her back to the neurology department to show her techs how adorable Java is. I took a movie of her on the treadmill, which she hated. But I think it really helped.

2011-03-29T09:45:00.000-04:00

Last week was a hard week, but we got through it. Java is not too happy being confined to her spot in the living room. She also is having bladder issues, because she has an infection and as a consequence is peeing a lot. As a result, I'm doing a lot of laundry. I bought a half-dozen beach towels that we are using for her bedding, as they are washed easily and are comfortable for her to lie on.

Java had a triple whammy yesterday: acupuncture, a neurology re-check and physical therapy. Acupuncture went great. Java was very relaxed. We then went to Woburn for her re-check and PT. The great news is that Java is moving her leg. Some of her reflexes are still there, while one is not. Her pee still stinks so I think we'll be doing another round of antibiotics soon. Java had fun in PT. She was manipulated and allowed to walk around the room. I think she did more walking there than during the last week combined. Then they put her in the water treadmill, which she hated. She won't even walk in a puddle if she can avoid it, so it was her worst nightmare come true. But she got through it, did it, and lived. She'll be going once a week for the next few weeks.

2011-03-23T13:44:00.000-04:00

Java is home! It was hard being without her all weekend, but I'm glad she was at the hospital and able to rest and heal. Dr. Silver looked at her again on Monday and decided that a second surgery was not required at this time. Neurologically, her leg is the same as before the operation, kind of useless. However, she is out of pain, which is the most important thing.

She is home but is not all that happy because she is on strict crate rest. She usually sleeps in her crate when we go to bed or when we leave the house, so she's used to it. The problem arises when we are home when she's in her crate. She gets very upset and fusses and refuses to relax. So we have her barricaded on her blanket in one of her favorite spots, which seems to be working much better. In the picture, you can see her under a pink blanket, behind the chair cushions.

The picture is a screen shot taken from the camera we have set up. It's such a cool thing. We set up our laptop, which has a camera built in, with a program called iCam. iCam also has apps you can install on your iphone or android phone and it allows you to monitor what your camera is pointed at when you're away from home. So we were able to watch Java sleeping in her crate last night and this morning when I went out to get my hair cut.

We were concerned over whether Java was not settling down in her crate because she was anxious or because she was uncomfortable. We are pretty confident that it was anxiety and not pain causing her to be so agitated. It's good that she's able to settle down in her crate and out.

2011-03-18T09:55:00.000-04:00

We went to see Java last night. She was off the IV meds and still fairly comfortable. We're holding to the plan of keeping her there over the weekend and her being re-evaluated on Monday. I miss my girl.

I feel pretty guilty about leaving her there, but we feel it's best for Java to stay there where she can get pain meds if she needs them, and stay quiet so she'll heal. The vet agrees that it's best. They don't even want her walking around to pee; they express her bladder right where she is and then just clean it up.

2011-03-17T10:56:00.000-04:00

Dr. Silver called and the short version is that we're taking a "wait and see" approach. She consulted with her colleague and he felt that she needed to give Java more time. So the plan is to keep Java at the hospital until Monday (unless she starts feeling better at which time we'll take her home) and she will be re-evaluated then.

2011-03-17T08:26:00.000-04:00

We went to see Java last night and she acted as if she were in pain, just like she did yesterday morning. In between yesterday morning and evening, she slept and rested quietly. So Dr. Silver thinks that she may not have operated on the correct disc and depending on how Java is this morning, Dr. Silver may do another surgery. We just want our little girl out of pain. It's so heartbreaking. We're anxiously awaiting a call this morning.

Java update

2011-03-16T12:06:00.000-04:00

So Java came home on Monday. We were shocked to find that her left leg was almost completely paralyzed. The worst thing was the pain, though. When she moved around, she'd still snork and we could tell that she was still really uncomfortable. Dr. Silver said she wanted Java to come back on Tuesday for a more thorough exam.

I was happy to bring Java back, because I'm not very good at witnessing her pain. I hate it and tend to withdraw. I guess I'm not a very strong person in that way. I remember one time when I spent the night with Sarah and brand new baby Elizabeth, who ended up crying all night. It killed me. Not because the crying annoyed me, but because it killed me that she was crying and there was nothing I could do to alleviate whatever was bothering her. I hate that helplessness and that's how I feel with Java in pain.

Anyway, I brought Java to Woburn yesterday to see Dr. Silver. We have been managing the back pain medically for two years now and it was the worst it has ever been. Dr. Silver asked what we were thinking. I told her that if she thought it was feasible and there was a chance of success that we were thinking surgery. Of course I had been thinking surgery since 2009, but Dr. Silver always advised against it as the risks outweighed the benefits at that point. Now, Dr. Silver said the benefits would probably outweigh the risks. So we agreed on an MRI and then if that showed surgery would be required then she'd go ahead and do it.

The MRI showed that the left-bulging disc was worse than it was in September and it was what was causing the paralysis in her left leg. So she operated. There was a lot of old, crusty, hardened stuff because it was an old bulging disc. She took out what she could and got some fibrousy stuff out. She said it was a wait and see thing now as to if it was enough.

Her tech called this morning and said that Java had a good night. She was up and walking around, but there was still weakness and some pain, so she's on an IV and is receiving painkillers. They are going to keep her very quiet and lying down today. We will visit her this evening.

2011-03-14T16:54:00.001-04:00

I hate the time change, even if it's only one hour. It kicks my butt every spring. The good news is that the snow is melting; we can see the cover of the well cap again. I haven't seen it since January. That means there's only about 1 foot of snow left to go.

Java spent the weekend at the emergency vet's, for pain. She woke up feeling ouchie and making her pain noise a lot on Saturday. Then Saturday night when Robert got home, he ended up taking her to Woburn because she was panting in pain and couldn't get comfortable. She couldn't even stand. It kills me. So she's coming home today; she's much more comfortable now. The bad news is that she'll be back on the prednisone and peeing in the house again. I'll just have to break out the diapers and the onesies again. Glad I didn't throw them away.

I cannot believe the horror and the devastation in Japan. I cannot imagine having my whole world that I know erased or wiped away. It's just terrible. There are no words to describe it enough.

2011-03-05T16:43:00.001-05:00

Here we are at Sarah's

house with Martha and Katie.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

2011-03-04T20:48:00.001-05:00

Another test from my new iPhone.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

2011-03-04T18:20:00.001-05:00

Sorry. Just one last test.

2011-03-04T18:16:00.001-05:00

Test

Trying to do better

2011-03-02T16:29:00.000-05:00

I looked at the sidebar of this blog and saw that I only posted one time in February. I'm going to try to do better than that this month.

This squirrel and his brothers and sisters as well as his red cousins have become the bane of my existence, and Bobby's existence lately. He runs from window to window to check for them and then when he sees one, he makes all kinds of noises in his frustrated desire to rip one apart. The squirrels are all over my feeders, all day, every day. I took this picture from my picture window. He's raiding the suet. The bears will be out soon, so the feeders will be coming down in a few weeks anyway.

Bead-making machine

2011-03-01T17:02:00.000-05:00

I have been a bead-making machine. I'm really glad that this is one resolution I've been keeping, and enjoying keeping.

2011-02-08T09:40:00.000-05:00

These are my beads from yesterday. The one on the right is for Nebraska Boston Terrier Rescue to raffle off. I might make another because the bone is off-center and there's a little speck near the dog's ear that shouldn't be there.

Not too much is new around here, except for the enormous amount of snow we've gotten. We had to have our roofs shoveled off because I was afraid it would collapse. My brain knew that it probably would not, but I was still anxious about it. So we had it done. We woke up to a couple more inches on the trees this morning. It was so pretty that I took a few pictures.

2011-01-27T09:46:00.000-05:00

See that birdbath in the last picture? That is about 2 1/2 feet tall. I think we got 8 more inches of snow last night. The only good thing about it is that the sun is out and the sky is blue and the trees look sugar-coated.

2011-01-24T07:09:00.001-05:00

I promise I'll stop posting screenshots. I seem to be having fun doing that lately. I just wanted to show the temperature. Minus 8! (-22C)! Feels like minus 24! (-31C)! That is just insane. Conversions are provided for my international readers.

Java and I have to go out to acupuncture. Thankfully her appointment is at noon so it should be up over zero by that time. This winter is very cold and has been very snowy but I don't feel the seasonal hibernation kind of feelings I usually have. Maybe it's my vitamin D level or my blood sugars, but I feel good even though it's snowy, cold and dark.

On Saturday we saw The King's Speech. It was very good. We are lucky that there is a theater about 1/2 hour away that shows the more obscure films that don't make it to the mainstream cinemas. We've seen some interesting films there. The owner is a huge movie buff and also owns a drive-in in the next town over; I think it's the last one in the state. The theater is on the top floor of the town hall and they show old movies for free on Sunday afternoon. It's pretty cool. http://www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com/

I finished the little Boston Terrier Valentine beads I'm making for a Valentine's card swap on the Woofboard. I'm going to make them into keychains and also provide a zipper pull clip. I have both because I had to go to two different stores to get the split rings, if you can believe it. I bought the zipper pulls at the first store just in case I couldn't find the split rings at the second store, but I did. Here's a picture of the beads. They aren't cleaned yet in this picture, but you get the idea.

2011-01-23T13:26:00.001-05:00

Just another plug for http://phoebeallens.com/ the hummingbird camera. I can't stop watching it. She's so cute and the babies are so ugly.

2011-01-23T09:20:00.003-05:00

Brrr. That is all.

2011-01-22T09:54:00.001-05:00

This is what my back yard looks like. I am beginning to think that winter will never end, even though it kind of just started. We've had three major snowstorms in 10 days and there is about two feet of snow on the ground, with more to come on Wednesday.

The dog yard is buried and the snow blower has broken down but seems to be easily fixable.

The birds do love that we put out food for them. They are very active when it snows and when it's so cold.

We are supposed to experience very cold conditions in the next few days, with highs of only 10 degrees F. and lows in the negative 10's F. I am not looking forward to this.

In the meantime, I'm dreaming of spring and my water garden and watching this little hummingbird raise her chicks on this webcam: http://phoebeallens.com/

2011-01-21T08:12:00.000-05:00

My mom bought me a new camera and I'm pretty sure I love it! I took this picture of the dogs at night with no flash and I think it came out great.

We had a fun weekend at Woodstock. I love hanging around with my family. They are fun and funny.

Robert and I worked on my bead room and have gotten it to be manageable. Most of the beads are put away in their cubbies and I even restrung a necklace for someone while sitting at my clean table. I still have one cabinet I want to empty the drawers and organize the contents of, but that can wait. I also want to put a semi-comfy chair in the corner for a place to bead and relax.

2011-01-12T09:42:00.000-05:00

Pretty soon we are going on our annual visit to Vermont. This is my favorite time of the year. Family, fun, knitting by the fire and relaxation. I'm really looking forward to this. Here are some pictures from our visit last year.

Crock Pot Oatmeal

2011-01-04T13:38:00.000-05:00

4 cups water

1 cup steel-cut oats

1/2 cup half-and-half

I have a cute $15 3-quart crock pot from Target. I bought it because I also have a $175 6.5-quart All-Clad Slow Cooker. While I love the All-Clad, it's just very large for small meal preparation. Since having the new gadget I've been keeping my ear out for things I can cook in it. In the past few days, both my mother and my sister mentioned crock pot oatmeal. I was intrigued. I bought the ingredients, found a recipe online and started the crock pot on "Low" as the recipe called for just before I went to bed.

I woke up at around 1:30 am and found that I could smell the oatmeal cooking. There was a strong smell of warm half-and-half pervading the bedroom. I knew this wasn't a good sign, but made the choice not to get up and stir, turn it down or otherwise tend to the oatmeal. After all, this is why I was making it overnight instead of in the morning. That decision was a mistake. When I got up in the morning, I checked the oatmeal and found that the middle was runny and raw and the outside was browned in a solid ring and stuck to the walls of the crock pot. Blech. Robert was game to try it anyway so he doctored it up with raisins and brown sugar and took a taste. He declared it to taste something like wallpaper paste and so we chunked it. I ended up making soft-boiled eggs.

So I tried again. I knew the recipe was right; I felt that the fault lied with the temperature of the crock pot. So yesterday I tried again. This time during the day so I could be awake to watch it. I prepared another recipe's worth and this time set the crock pot on "warm". I wasn't sure it would get hot enough to cook but it did. It was great; we re-heated it this morning in the microwave.

So my advice is use the "warm" setting and not the "low" setting to make crock pot oatmeal.

2010-12-31T12:53:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! I hope that 2011 is better in every way for everyone.

I think I've decided on my resolutions. I'm not going to do the "lose weight" "get healthy" route because I'm already trying to do that anyway. So in 2011 I'm going to make more beads instead of not doing anything and also I'm going to take more pictures and blog more. Those should be easy enough to keep. I hope. The ones I listed the other day also apply.

This afternoon we are going to Sarah's for a little get-together. It should be fun. Elizabeth got a guitar for Christmas so Robert and I are going to help her out a little bit. She's only five, so I don't know how much we can teach her or she will retain, but it might make it easier for Sarah to listen to actual chords than to listen to the noise that Elizabeth has been making.

2010-12-28T10:18:00.000-05:00

How awesome are these shoes? They are metallic gold, with sequins sewn onto the sides. I was lucky enough to score these from my friend Ofilia who bought them in Murano, found they did not fit and sold them in the garage sale on Lampwork, Etc. I wore them on Christmas and Christmas Eve. I love, love, love these shoes.

I've been doing a little thinking on New Year's resolutions. I'm not sure I'm going to make any, because they don't last and I always break them. I think that I would like to be thankful every day, even when I'm not having a good day, because I think it's important to recognize the good even if you're feeling bad. I also want to increase my post count on the Woof Board.

New tank for Junior

2010-12-27T11:37:00.000-05:00

We finally got our 11-year-old goldfish a new tank. Previously he was living in a 10-gallon tank, and we decided to upgrade. I hope he'll be OK in his new, larger home. I used some of the water from his old home to "seed" the new one. I also am using the same filter, as it harbors beneficial bacteria.

We thought we'd put him in the new pond next spring, but I'm very hesitant to do that because there's a heron in the neighborhood and I don't want to provide it with an easy meal of my oldest pet. We thought the new tank would be a nice Christmas gift to him and to ourselves.

The orange fish in the background are fake - they're on the scene we put behind the tank so you don't just see wall.

2010-12-20T10:27:00.000-05:00

We went to visit my mother yesterday and went to Exeter for lunch. Here is my mom and Martha in front of a store with very cute clothes for children.

We went to the Loaf and Ladle, a nice little sandwich/salad/soup shop. I experimented with my camera by leaving it on the table while I took the pictures.

Martha wanted to get in on the picture, too.

Elizabeth ate nothing of her lunch. She didn't touch her sandwich and ate only a few bites of her soup. On the way home she was complaining that she was hungry. Martha and I told her that we have no sympathy for her and that maybe she should learn to eat when there's food put in front of her. Good thing we're not mothers, huh?

2010-12-18T14:23:00.000-05:00

The bubbler in the pond has created a dome of ice over the fountain part. It's kind of cool.