Why is it that where ever I go in the garden these days I seem to be running into spider webs?
Well I asked the web (WWW) that question and:
Garden spiders have a seasonal timetable. They hatch in the spring,
reproduce and die in the fall.
They lie low in the early summer
(trying to keep from being eaten), but by September/ October the survivors are large
enough to start spinning webs; and they're in a hurry because the
females need to lay their eggs and, well, you know ... that "die" part completes the cycle.
So as I walk around the garden this time of year I do a windmill thing with my arms and my husband takes a broom with him and holds it out in front of him; the neighbours must think we're crazy.
Oh well, it is fall now: the days are getting shorter and I feel a dampness in the morning air. The flower and vegetable gardens are winding down but the weeds are flourishing.
Here are a few pictures from a summer visit to Shannon Falls.
I spent some time beach combing this summer and collected some driftwood for carving. This particular piece was a challenge. Really dry pieces of driftwood are either really hard or rotten and fall apart. This one is very hard.
Here is a picture before it was sanded and painted, at this point I needed to fill in some irregularities in the other side, so after filling it with putty I left it on a railing outside to dry.
The wind must have carried it off the railing because the next time I came out to check on it it had vanished.
No problem, it must have fallen down onto the planter below?
I looked everywhere and couldn't find it; when I explained what I was doing to my neighbour he got a flashlight and an angle mirror and helped me find it below the slats under all the pots. Yes we had to move it all.
Thanks to B for saving the day!
How did we know where it had to be, well there were only two voids in the spider webs (oh them again) under my planters and it was under the second one we tried.
Now it is cleaned up and I have started painting it, more paint and varnish still to come; I am painting both sides.
Second project is moulding polymer clay into decorations, so I have been experimenting with ways of making teardrop shaped ornaments but I also wanted them to be lightweight.
I tried filling them with a couple of things with no success and then thought of using a cork inside, well this seemed to work well until I baked it and the head exploded:
Apparently a plastic cork does not work!
I have been able to save this one by cutting some of the cork out and gluing it back together but next time I am using a real cork!
Stay tuned.
2D:
Here is another painting that I have done for a November show at Gallery 1710. A watercolour of course. I am not sure if I am happy with this one yet, what do you think?
