Tootsie's new fashion

Isn't this just worth a poor baby?  She has been pacing the room, scraping the plastic collar on all the furniture, trying to get rid of the nuisance.  Just for a couple of days, Sweetie.

dagger bead bracelet

Some years ago I saw a magnificent necklace made with dagger bead crochet.  I tried to learn bead crochet, but was unsuccessful with anything smaller than pony beads.  Then I saw a patttern in Bead and Button magazine with peyote stitch.  This I can do.  The photo is not as gorgeous as the bracelet, but it was so much fun to make and wear.  I have a meeting in Prague this November.  The bead factory, Presiosa Ornel in nothern Bohemia, in that famous valley for Czech bead making is just a bus ride away.  Yay!  Roadtrip! 

just for the birds

A couple of places in the yard are home to clusters of plants in the Arum family - arrow shaped leaves that die back in early summer, leaving the flower spikes to grow the seeds to maturity.  I was sitting quietly on the porch yesterday when I realized there was more blue jay squawking and mocking bird rasping that usual.  I watched the territorial displays and tried to determine if there were chicks involved.  After some time I realized the birds were gathering red berries, and then realized the disputes seemed to be over the cluster of berries next to the house.  I think they were all getting buzzed from the berries!

the SS Jeremiah O'Brien cruise

The SS Jeremiah O'Brien is one of two last remaining liberty ships, and she is kept afloat by a group of volunteers who take her out occasionally for a little outing. http://www.usmm.org/libertyships.html   For my birthday this year we took a day cruise from San Francisco up through Suisun Bay to look at the mothballed fleet tied up there. http://scotthaefner.com/beyond/mothball-fleet-ghost-ships/ Who knew there were so many types of ships?   But the lead paint and who knows how many other heavy metals are seriously befouling the bay waters, so these ships, mostly from WWII, are being either moved or scrapped.   I frequently drive over this bridge and have been watching the rafts of ships get smaller.  It was really interesting to get to sail up close and have the captain tell us what each one was and used to do.  Things look pretty different from the level of the bay, and it was a good time for all.

cocktails at the Dali Museum

I spent a few days at the Florida Pesticide Workshop.  The hotel is lovely and on the beach, although hot as you might expect in July.  The inside meeting rooms made up for the heat by being extra cold.  Monday night we had a field trip to a museum built on a pier in St. Petersburg a few years ago http://www.thedali.org/.  I must say that boy was hardwired very differently than I am.  However, any meeting reception at a museum always trumps a reception in a ball room.  I LOVED the garden they created around the building.  I want a bench like this one.

Sweltering in the mid-west summer

Life in California is good.  I am not in CA, I am outside St. Louis in a lovely community with expansive GREEN lawns and shade trees, triple digit temperatures and extra high humidity as it rains every few days (not to mention the Mississippi River, just a few miles away, is running at capacity).  It just happens to have a heat index above 90 by 7 in the morning.  So when I go on my morning stroll, hardly generating the speed to be actually termed a walk here, I come home soaked to the skin before 8.  Now let me think, why did I ever think life sounded good in CA?

On the good side, Mom is pretty strong and will have not problem doing for herself when I leave in a few days.  The wireless is pretty reliable, and the big lounge area is quiet this time of day, so working is not a problem.  I spend the rest of my time out on the porch with the overhead fan, thank goodness, trying to escape the non-stop Turner movie channel in the other room. 

Did you ever wonder if there is an alternate universe where all those things you meant to do tomorrow, but didn't get done, actually do get accomplished?  What would life be like with caught-up e-mail and a clean kitchen and mowed grass be like?   Guess I will get to wonder a little longer.   Left all that behind in CA.

a short detour for my week

My mother had surgery Saturday.  She is fine.  However, it took me way too far back to when we nearly lost her 3 years ago.  I spent all Saturday morning trying to breathe for her from here.  It was all very sudden and no way could I get there.  So I am all packed up and leaving today.  I guess I should call her and tell her I am coming.  I have boxes of plums and apricots on the counter, and hungry cats prowling the kitchen.  The neighbor promises to distribute the zucchini, so I guess I am good to go.  Oh, I need to find a jar and take Mom a plum and a cot.  I hear the tomatoes are in in IL where she lives, so that will be something else to look forward to.