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?
Well it is starting to smell a lot like summer. The sweet scent of peonies, the heady fragrance of sweet peas, the delicate scents of roses carried on the warm evening breeze.
Lavender, rosemary, mint, oregano and thyme all thrive, sharing their scents as we brush up against them.
The smell of freshly mowed grass and of the ocean mixed with the sweet coconut oil scent of sunscreen; these are summer scents and they make me smile.
The buzzing of the insects busy in the garden, yes it is summer.
The taste of sun ripened berries, the first tomatoes from the garden, meals outside on a summer day .... ah.
White peonies, especially those bright red details in the centre are a favourite.
A week ago I had a fire
To warm my feet, my hands and face;
Cold winds, that never make a friend,
Crept in and out of every place.
Today the fields are rich in grass,
And buttercups in thousands grow;
I'll show the world where I have been--
With gold-dust seen on either shoe.
Till to my garden back I come,
Where bumble-bees for hours and hours
Sit on their soft, fat, velvet bums,
To wriggle out of hollow flowers.
William Henry Davies
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Yes the weather has improved at last and the garden is growing.
Good news, I finally have a crop of peas that the squirrel didn't eat; I had to put a wire mesh barrier around the seeds to keep him from eating the new shoots, but it looks as if I might get some fresh peas this summer.
Last week I welcomed a small visitor.
Here are pictures of a Wilson's Warbler that I spotted in our back yard. I don't recall seeing one here before, it is certainly a pretty little thing.
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News from the Studio:
this past weekend was the art walk
I was at Knox United Church with 14 other artists.
We had 449 visitors, and Boots the cat (who regularly attends church events), come to enjoy the event.
Part of my display
Below displays by my art buddies Robin and Beverly
This is the first time I have participated in Artists in Our Midst, it was a lot of effort but a good experience;
we are already discussing next year!
No new art to show, it is definitely time to start on something new though.
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A couple of months ago I mentioned that the South Delta Artists Guild (Gallery 1710) was raising money to donate to Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (OWL) through the sales of decorated birdhouses.
Alba (the barn owl) came back to Gallery 1710 for a photo op and to help pick up the cheque that the gallery had donated to OWL.
