Garden Memories

As summer winds down and the cooler weather sets in, I wanted to post some of my warmer weather pics. Come see what my eye spies in the garden.

what's happening

i haven't been blogging too much in the last few weeks after tucker's illness, because my hands have been bothering me alot (sore joints, low hand strength, pain in the wrist area, etc -and computer use just aggravates them more). could just be a severe tendinitis episode or something else. i did get a lyme's test yesterday since i was bitten by a tick about about a month ago. he also did some arthritis tests too, but wasn't leaning towards any of these things, which leads me back to tendinitis. i'm wondering if how i was holding tucker during those 3 weeks he wasn't well, just aggravated my hands. i've been trying to stretch them alot, which is helping. anyway, that's that.

for a project not related to small hand work, i decided to revamp my cabana, which is now being called "They Gypsy Cabana". i found a darling umbrella at Pier One for $42 on clearance (one part of the umbrella was broken). it reminds me of a circus tent. on a whim, i decided to put the umbrella inside the cabana as the roof part was now open (the roof collapsed over the winter) i got a new outdoor rug, changed out the chairs and added some colorful fabric lanterns that i found at kmart. i dragged over some plantars of grass and put in some candles. finally i added a little Chinese desk that i had bought at Country Living Fair last oct and that was that. you can't tell from the pictures, but in front of the cabana are 3 bird feeders, so it is great fun to sit inside and watch the birds come and feed.

(kabana kitty)
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this is a picture of what i am slowly working on (taking breaks as my hands bother me). i still have some soldering to do on them and then i will cover them in Ice resin.

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finally, here is a my pictures from the warbler nest that i've been watching since i found it several weeks ago. i went down there on monday to check on them and the nest was no longer in the tree. i found it on the ground. hopefully that means that they grew up and flew away.
cover them in Ice resin.

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and finally a collection f shots fm the yellow warbler's nest. i nt down their progress and e nest was no longer inflew away.

whatcha doin in August?

This summer i have been invited to Charleston, Maine to teach at Art-in-the-Rough. "Art in the rough" is the brainchild of my friend, Taryn Reece, of Naval Jelly Studios. It is 2 days of classes. The retreat is held on their property and is a camping retreat. Do not fear, though, you will be provided unique & elegant amenities. It's successful debut last year earned a new nickname of "glamping" (glamour camping!) here's what to expect:

"imagine bunking in a large tent house, snuggling into an oversized, comfy cot with crisp linens and warm blankets. You will be surrounded by special, luxurious touches including a complimentary welcome basket brimming with goodies, fresh towels & sundries" - I'm sold!

the minute i read about this retreat, i wanted to go. it reminded me of my sweet childhood memories of girl scout camp. I was so lucky to be a girl scout when i lived in Guam (yes, Guam!) and have the fondest memories of camping out with girlfriends and wonderful women full of encouragement and leadership. here is the other reasons i want to go:
facilities: private hot water outdoor showers, wash up stations, changing areas and bathrooms, accented with cool decorative touches & funky- junk! surrounded by picturesque gardens and breathtaking views of the mountains woods & fields. Be prepared for the treat of taking at shower outdoors! you can go on a nature walk or lounge by the pool. there is an art barn open 24 hours and campfire, twinkling lights and lanterns complete the magical setting.

go check out this page to see the fun lineup of how we will be spending our time. seriously, i just can't wait!

here is where you can see the workshop line up. it 'll be me, Taryn and Robin Betterley. Now i have just have to figure out how to be in 3 places at one time, since i really want to take both Taryn and Robin's classes! the dates are August 13- 16th. seating is limited, so be sure and register early! feel free to email me at keeshagirl4@aol.com or taryn at njs@naveljellystudios.com if you have any questions. hope to see you there!

jellystudios.comnjs@naveljellystudios.comnjs@naveljellystudios.com

porch party

this is the metal homemade bookcase/cabinet that i picked up yesterday. it looks like its always been here. i thought i'd take some other pictures of my back porch for you to enjoy. there is a hook over the cabinet, so i'll pick up a hanging basket of flowers, which i think will look really nice.

this is a pair of shutters i picked up yesterday for $20.

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and here is the potting bench i also got yesterday. the guy who makes them is retiring. he said this is the last one. he and his wife are really cool. they live down south in a town called, "Tuckerton". he is selling off his wood pieces, so me and jeff (jane wants to go too!) are going to go see what he has.

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close up on potting bench. i put some of my precious sea balls in the enamel bowl on top there. (it's sunk in). because we get so much rain, we are going to try and find something to cover it with during rain and winter.
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the dress form i got yesterday

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a paper mache bust also found yesterday. i have some vintage metal flower curtain tie back pin that i will poke into the bust and then hang my necklaces from there.

* a couple of you wanted to know how i got all these items back home: we live quite close to this flea market, so jeff and dillon drove over and picked up one load. then jeff came back later and picked us girls up. then jane and i returned with the truck to get the tin shed. it was light weight and easily slid into the back of jeff's truck.

i just got invited to participate in a porch party. stop by Rose Colored Glasses to see all the participants.

back from the festival

Well, we are back from the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. we left thurs around 10:00 and it took about 4 1/2 hours to get there (maybe a little longer since i got lost in this one spot). it was a nice pleasant ride and fun to spend that amount of time with dillon, uninterrupted. once we got closer, i set my GPS to take us on more of the backroads, so the scenery was much nicer (although, hard to find a restroom!) as we approached the festival we rounded this curve and saw big huge road signs saying "slow down, festival ahead". rounding the next curve, we were greeted with lots of color, tents, people, activities and more! it was quite a sight seeing all these tents set up along the ridge of the mountains. we turned off into the festival parking area and immediately saw Abby and her mom, Peggy. (abby is dillon's girlfriend). you could tell she was excited that he had arrived. after our hello's, Peggy, tell us that due to severe rain the day before, that our actual campsite is not accessible by car at the moment due to massive amounts of MUD and that we will have to carry everything up by hand or wagon. Yikes! so, 3 trips later up and down this muddy hill (thank god i had my rain boots), we finally finished (the last trip almost doing me in as i was alone loading the wagon and after safely getting it over a little careen area, the darn thing tipped over and our stuff was everywhere. thank goodness i was on a grassy knoll - no mud! but to top it off, it was sooooooooooo hot and muggy. we were sweating buckets when all was said and done. after setting up our tent, we all split up for awhile, since Peggy's camp, was set up down the hill (she was in a pop up camper and had to stay there until the roads opened). dillon wient with peggy and abby, while i stayed up the hill to set up our beds and organize our stuff. when i was done, it was back down the hill again to find their camp. then i went on an ice run to the "village" where most of the activities took place (food, vendors, concerts, dancing, etc.) this was a very well organized event. i was amazed at the village and enjoyed walking around and seeing the sights. there were lots of cool vendors; although, only 2 of them were handmade items (yay), the rest being imports (sorry, but ick). i immediately bought something from one guy who made all kinds of awesome jewerly from old antique spoons. i bought a pair of earrings and wish i had bought a few other pairs for gifts. i really enjoyed his things.

back to Peggy's camp with the ice and dinner. we just had some burgers, fruit and chips, but let me tell you, that was the best darn, hard earned burger! not too mention, Peggy made margarita's! some other friends arrived, so it was meet and greet everyone. after dinner we all headed over to the village. there were concerts going on and i went and listened to this folk band (i was calling them "fiddle rock") - called The Horse Flies. i so enjoyed their music that i bought their latest CD. the kids went to the dance tent and i stayed to watch them dance for awhile before calling it quits and heading back to my tent. dillon showed up some time later and crashed. i had a hard time sleeping though, because the sheets were damp from all the humidity (gross). also, it's kind of drag to have to keep getting up to walk to the portapotty. (don't forget, i haven't been camping since college!) you have to carry your flash light so that you don't trip over tent lines, but once inside the potty, i coudn't figure out what to do with my flashlight, except put it in my mouth (and it was a chunky flashlight...........)aww, the joy of camping.

we were wakened quite early in the morning to the sound of the port-a-potty next to our tent being emptied and cleaned. (lovely at 7:30am!) but again, i have to say, they did a good job of empty them and keeping them clean and stocked with toilet paper. for breakfast dillon and i had cereal in our tent, since we were the only ones at the campsite. then we washed our hair (with water in jugs i brought) and brushed our teeth and then headed back to base camp. they were all eating breakfast and the kids were going their separate ways, so i decided to go for a drive to try and find a store to pick up some things we all forgot (trashbags!) by the time i got back, the road to our campsite had been opened, so i got to drive right up - yipee! what a difference a road makes. i put my car in 4 wheel drive though, just in case. the rest of the festival was more of the same, music (we went to see a folk version of Beatlemania, which was cool), eating, dancing, etc.

we left on saturday. packing up wasn't as bad as i thought it would be and so much easier with the car there. we stopped at some falls before driving home, which was really pretty. 20 minute hike in and out, but well worth it. next post, i'll show pics. we had a nice leisurely drive home. dillon was quite tired (well, me too!) so he napped on and off. abby called him the next day and said it started raining again with hail and that tents were falling down and they all had to pack up quickly and get out before the roads got muddy again and they all were stuck there. i said, i'm glad we left when we did!