Where in the World have I BEEN?

Ha.. of course I am busy, I am always busy.. so busy I haven't had a  moment to spare to jot down all the things I have been busy doing

First I learned to knit.. here are some photos of my newest adventure... 

Of course that was the beginning, then I really got going and created a Christmas gift.. for my granddaughter! Here it is

I am really Proud of my Accomplishments.. My grandmother was BLUE in FACE trying to teach me to knit in my youth...but I could never manage it.. .mostly because She would RIPPPPPPPP out every mistake!  It was pretty discouraging.   So Now I am on my way to being a Happy Knitter!

There are some other new adventures coming to this BLOG .. in a day or two!
Keep your eyes open!!

                                                                Crazy but Mostly Happy     

Fun Stuff

 So there is actually a point in my day 

      when I have  fun! 

                  Creating a rain gauge and hydrometer happen to be one of those moments

 These first three pictures are the steps in creating the hydrometer which is a weather tool to study humidity

 First step ~cutting a piece of plastic from the cover of a lid ~ adding a dime for weight and nailing it to a 10 inch long board

And next a hair from my head is glued onto the plastic triangle, it's barely visible ... watch soon for the finished project. (I have to wait for the glue to dry completely and in our current weather that could take more than 24 hours)

The hair cells actually can make this little plastic triangle move up and down, that outta be interesting!

 A used candle holder is the first step for the rain gauge

  bending a coat hanger, now that was a feat in itself.. and not very easy!

Now the gauge is hung out on the trellis and waiting for the nights forecast of rain

Lo n' behold, already a half inch!

Herbal Journal

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The Herbal Fun

In my backyard there is a stump, the rear of the stump is empty and hollow, today when I peeked in I found this lovely oak leave trapped in a spiders web...how clever Mother is!

THE GIFTS OF MOTHER NATURE!

 

I I do just adore Mother Nature and all her offerings do you know that I begin every day standing in awe of Mother Nature and Father Sky.  Well yes I do, in my  garden arms reached to call the quarters and speak of my daily gratitude and to intend Peace for all the world and it's inhabitants


~ this weekend I was fortunate enough to share those feelings with like minded students.
Our teacher is Susan Clements a very energetic, enthusiastic and compassionate woman who eagerly passes along the information she is so full of!!   
 Last spring we gathered together for the first time and began our walks in the woods and lessons in Susan's house we shared and learned from Susan and one another.  Yesterday was a culmination of the first part of this class and here are some of the products we were completing!

LHere we have Deb looking kinda guilty!

No ~ not really I am just having fun, Deb was our label maker. 

Jen and Pat were squeezers

While Susan and I poured!

There was no doubt 

We giggled when we tasted those YUMMY cordials!!

Peach Ginger... and Lime Tequila 

 

Afterwards we took off to the woods to see if we could find and identify some mushrooms, mostly hen of the woods!

Susan leads the way with Pat by her side...

 A moment of surprise for the students

Susan is awarding them their crescent moons!

As Susan's teacher Rosemary Gladstar has done for her students, our teacher has passed on the tradition they were surprised and so excited, what a wonderful tradition to witness! 

I am very proud to be the Apprentice Assistant!

Beaming Jen and Pat

S

Susan putting Deb's moon around her neck!

Smiling Deb!

SHIT.. look there are the mushrooms across the lake

Patricia spots some of those mushrooms we are supposed to be finding.. only thing is this is a digital zoom and now we have to trek there to see if we can find them!

WELL 

we do.. 

and DEB wants to go out onto the stick to get them.. only Susan says "NO"!

It's Deb's anniversary and Susan doesn't want anything to happen to her, after all her husband of many years is taking her out to celebrate!!

Some of our other woodland findings were

Wintergreen

and Squaw vine!

I hope you enjoyed our adventure!

There is no doubt we all did

As If I don't have enough to do?

Okay so I am not the world's busiest person.. but I do like to keep busy

I never find enough time to do what I would love to do at that moment.. and one of those moments came yesterday while I was journaling, since I do believe I am an adult attention deficit human.. since I can't sit still very long.. I created a new journal

Here is how it happened......It all began with some really nice paper.. and some ribbon and yarn, that put the notion into my head, than WHAMMO.. I added the paper, bound it with the ribbons and yarn and it became one of the nicest journals I have ever made.. 

I

Isn't it pretty.. It came out so lovely..  I was interested in selling it.. it has 16 sheets of paper inside, it's 5 X 7 inches overall.. what do you think maybe $5.00 ?

Its

It's so fun!

Now I have got to rest a bit or I'll never sleep tonight, it is the night before school begins, and I am like a Kindergartener all over again.. can't sleep toss and turn wondering what the new year will bring!

Hum............

Bread Anyone?

Bread.. yep

So I was busy cleaning the school yard (again!) and my mom came to help, we were chatting and I told her JP's ( he's the spouse) biggest cost at the grocery store is a loaf of bread.. whole grain, no garbage is $4.00 a loaf.. that's total insanity, of course you can buy cheap white bread no doubt, but I am talking about health here, and white bread is not healthy we all know that.. I would personally go without bread first.
Well back to the story.. my Mom called later in the day and asks if I will be home (I am always HOME by the way and she knows that , the only time I am gone is walking the dog!)

So she pops over and brings me a gift that I have to go to her van to get..  here it is an Oster BreadMaker!

boing.. so I don't have time to use it right away, but then the thoughts of using it begin to eat my mind...

SO of course I have to use it
I made a simple white loaf.. yes white but there were no ingredients to make anything but I am thinking whole wheat with sunflower seeds to be my next loaf

Here is the first loaf swirling around in there first mixing stage!

 And here is the loaf still warm getting ready to go to the Fridge since there are no preservatives I think it's best there!

So I go back to work soon, and my blogs I hope will be more consistent, this past few weeks have been hectic and Earl the Hurricane surely put my time in a tailspin!
But we'll chock all that up to bunch of good energy spent to lose some weight I have managed to hold onto this summer!

 

After a long hard day of yard work we can look back !

The new play area complete!

All those Simple but Incredibly Wonderful Things that just Happen!

A couple of years ago, during our Herbal Classes a gift was given to us, a small container with seeds of a Moon Flower plant. I nurtured those little seeds for a very long time, they grew into big plants and took over a portion of my 'craft' room. 
They got taller and taller, and some actually died. I seperated them into smaller pots and brought them out to the school, as the front room gets very cold!

Over the winter they continued to grow in the school building, but they never really looked happy, well this summer I said "What the heck~ maybe they'll like the garden". 
Sure enough they loved the garden!  Here is the first flower to open on August 18th at 6:30 P.M.
I can't tell you how excited I was to actually watch it happening!  

I

It unfolded a little bit at a time, but quickly until it's complete splendor shone in the garden 

T

The next morning in the sunlight it remained even more glorious with it's face to the sun however as the day progressed it's beauty gave way to death

Thank you Kelli For the Magick Seeds

That

That same morning as I turned the corner from the garden to the playground there was the most amazing site, I ran to grab the camera to photograph this lovely spider web encased in sunlight!

The gardens holds so many wonderful splendors I had to share them

Spin Spiders Spin

So pass the word along and invite some spiders over to your house!