Birdies, Berries and Classes!

Before we had all of our rain last week, I noticed a piece of thin plastic waving about in the climbing rose bush. I figured the wind had deposited it there but when I went to pull it down, I found that it had been put there by Mr or Mrs Cardinal!! IT was firmly woven into the structure of the nest that was hidden in the thorny canes of the bush. So smart!!! I did cut out the bit that was flapping in the wind and free from the nest. If it had not been for the plastic tail, I would have never noticed the nest. Now Mrs is getting pretty used to me stopping by for a chat. If you click on the photo and enlarge it you can really see her sitting in on her nest. that orange beak really glows. I love all of the wildlife that makes our yard their home. another benefit of organic gardening. Last week as I planted the tomatoes, I was joined by a large Box Turtle- I shared a few worms with him just to let him know he was welcome any time:).

this is my first year to harvest the Rhubarb and I am thrilled with how my first batch of Strawberry Rhubarb Jam came out.

Yesterday I made a batch of bread and it seems that I have to make another batch tomorrow. Today Matthew ate 3/4 of a loaf of bread as toast, slathered with fresh jam. Strawberry Rhubarb jam is his favorite! I hope that I have enough for another batch!!!! He has been all grins for most of the day!!! YUM!!

Last Saturday I taught my second session of my Collage Jewelry Class. After my first go at teaching this class, I shook things up a bit and the class went much more smoothly! I am starting to have return students and new students who have come to class because they have heard about the classes form their friends! Validation is always so very rewarding!!! Julia did a fabulous job on the necklace that you see above and created a second one as well. Several folks were having trouble with breaking wire till we discovered that they were using pliers with teeth in them, i.e not jewelry grade pliers. Once we changed out the pliers, things went so much more smoothly!!!!

This is Julia's second piece.

this piece was made by a wonderful gal who had a huge collection of her Mom's costume jewelry. We repaired a few pieces and then put a group of them together in this lovely necklace. She was thrilled and so was I !! I love it when students leave classes happy and satisfied!!

Names are flying from my brain at the moment, I hate that, but I love this simple piece with the glorious red sari ribbon! The student wrapped the found stone without any help from me and added a few accent beads. This young gal is a natural!!! I can see a lot more jewelry in her creative future!!

I realized that I never posted the pieces made during my most recent Beaded Cuff class, so here they are.

Meg had some time constraints so she was not able to finish her bead work but she followed our finishing process and will complete her cuff on her own. What she has done was so very pretty and full of personal symbols. I love it when students make their pieces their own!!!

Kathi chose her palette of colors from the sea and did a fabulous job with her hand work!!

Gloria made this stunning Black and Gold creation and was almost done with a second piece!!

Jan used shells and turquoise to conjure thoughts of the ocean for her design. by the time class was over we had most of the beaded cuffs complete and all were excited to be starting on new pieces. They all purchased lots of supplies to keep themselves well stocked!!


I want to leave you with a few shots of my spectacular pink iris from before our week of rain and storms! the delicate blossoms really do not hold up well to rain and they are pretty much done for another year. While they were untouched they were simply stunning and soooo very fragrant!! The roses were not overly happy with the drenching either but at least Belinda's Dream will bloom hard for me all summer. Especially after I give her a banana skin coffee grounds egg shell cocktail to give herr a shot of energy!!!

The Siberian iris are such a stunning sapphire blue, almost purple color and the yellow iris hung in there long enough to give some wonderful contrasting color play in the garden bed. The rose in the background is just coming into her own and is super fragrant.

I hope that where ever you are the flowers are blooming or the leaves are turning to give you the wonderful colors of nature's gifts!!