Monday, January 30, 2012

Another Day at the Beach.and New Art

 It was a beautiful day at the beach!  It started out overcast, and then it cleared up with cooling ocean breezes, warm sand and wonderful rolling waves.  I took a 4 mile walk on the bike path along the beach
and then i played in the waves and soaked in the rays ...
here are some picks from my walk.....


the ocean always makes me feel soooo GOOD!
While I was out and about town, I dropped off some new Jewelry Art Pieces at Alley Kat Art Gallery.
The Gallery owner has been asked to participate in the Philadelphia Flower Show in February....the theme this year is "Hawaii".  She asked if I would let her take some of my pieces to exhibit at the show.  Yay!
These are the new pieces I dropped off.  My copper cuffs are getting more and more detailed...i really love making them.......
fold formed and etched copper cuff with a brass seahorse

Fold formed and etched copper cuff with brass muse vintage stamping

Fold formed and etched copper cuff with copper bezel set fossil (i forgot what it's called, lol)
it's etched with fish and waves.....
Steel heart chain with vintage watch movement set in fine silver bezel with a pearl - conservative side
...and the reverse wild side, stainless steel bezel with glass doll eyeball.....





Tuesday, January 17, 2012

WELCOME LILYANA CONCETTA

Yep.  Named after ME...at least her middle name, that is.
Maggie and Lily
No pictures, pleez....damn paparazzi

Isn't she a beauty!  She joins her sister Maggie...and her mom -  my niece -  Jenni and her DH Jim.
Born 1-10-2012 at 1:39 pm...8 lbs 4 oz, 21.5 inches long with black hair and blue eyes... i am so delighted!

STORMY WEATHER


High wind gusts of 60mph and heavy rain decimated our newly mowed front lawn, strewing it with iron wood boughs and small branches.  Thankfully we had the 100 foot trees trimmed last month, so we didn't lose any trees...... the branches and boughs that fell were only small and bushy.!  The canvas car port that houses  Lance's jeep and the mowing tractors was torn from it's poles, but fortunately was still strong enough to prevent  MY carport -which  was picked up by the wind and sent crashing into the poles - from destroying Lance's car!
We spent a soggy morning picking up only enough of the mess to clear a path for the gas man so he could refuel our near empty tanks.  The temperatures here had dropped to the high forties-early fifties (January is our coldest month) two days before  (blankie time) , but these were warm winds and rains.  Tomorrow, when the rain stops, we will access the full damage and start the reconstruction of the car ports and clean up the debris.
yecchh.

On another note, for the last week or so Sookie our dog has been chasing *something* in my studio shop.  She crawls under my desks, around my boxes onto the shop shelves- and not being exactly dainty - she knocks things down and makes a mess of things.
I thought she was after daddy long legs....until i saw - WHILE I WAS WORKING AT MY jewelers bench -  a mouse jump up on a foil covered chocolate rose that was in a jar...take a nibble and run away...again and again.   really a ballsy little creature.  no more than 10 inches from me! In daylight!
the traps.....
Lance has these dandy VICTOR mice traps, that entice the mouse in, but it can't get out.....until you LET it out.  He thinks they are cute and doesn't like to kill them...
.....so i set 4 traps around the shop, baiting them with dog food.  Yep .  caught 3 mice.  next day i caught 2 more.  teeny baby ones and a bigger adult one.  Then, nothing. and more nothing. .i switched the bait  to american cheese.
.... the traps were sprung....but no mouse...AND...the wouldn't eat it..... so i switched again...this time, .  chocolate chips...
yummy.
2 more mice.  then 2 more mice...and 2 more.  Now I am up to 11!  Lance says I have to keep setting them until i go a week without seeing any, or having any traps sprung...or Sookie loses interest because they aren't there anymore.
 Hmmmm.
I take the little buggers out to the farthest corner of the back acres and let them out into the adjacent orchard.
releasing the mouse