A little of this and a little of that

Is what I am sharing with all of you today, a mixed bag for sure. Photo's of flowers blooming around my yard, childhood memories, shopping finds and a little of this and a little of that.

First off, in the past several weeks like I've mentioned before I haven't had time for art or the computer, and I have so missed sitting down to create some art and blogging.
My mom has Alzheimer's and her condition and her memory is getting worse. So, I do a lot of the errands, cooking and driving to doctor appointments for both of my elderly parents. Mom is having her cancer surgery this week on her nose and left ear with reconstructive surgery. I think the added stress of knowing that she will be having surgery is making her condition worse.
Yesterday, I had my annual dermatologist doctors appointment..the doctor found 3 pre cancerous areas on my face, that had to be frozen off with liquid nitrogen. The blast from that container sure does burn and sting. Today, I have red, puffy, blisters on my left check, tip of my nose and under my left eye...looks really strange, but the areas will look worse before the areas heal.

You will find this note a little long, but I have lots to share. Grab something to drink and sit back in your computer chair. I hope you will enjoy what I am sharing on my blog this afternoon.

While wandering around in the back yard, in my flower garden I found a hatched and discarded blue robin's egg. The little baby birdie had hatched, and mama robin had taken the egg from the nest to discard. The eggshell was lovely and cracked in half, I tucked it in my pocket and forgot that it was there, and the shell got  crushed. Silly me.
Below: The egg shell photo is enlarged so it looks huge.


Although the weather hasn't felt much like spring there are lots of flowers and shrubs blooming now  in the yard. the smell of lilacs fills the air. The Iris have buds and so do my Clematis, and I can't wait to see the  flowers when they open. I am so enjoying the colors of the new leaves and blooms, as it was such a long, cold winter.
I have yet to get my glads in the ground. I better hurry as some are starting to sprout in the cellar where I stored them for the winter. The good news is the area where the bulbs will be planted is ready. My flower beds have been weeded and cleaned out.
This morning I also put out my hummingbird feeders. I thought I heard the hummers a few days ago, but I didn't see them. My sister in law already has the hummers coming to her feeders.
As I took a break from writing here on my blog, I looked out the kitchen door and I saw a male hummer at one of the feeders on my back deck, and I enjoyed watching the little male darting from one feeder to the next. In this month's Birds & Blooms magazine there are many pages of beautiful photographs of hummingbirds...wonderful issue, check it out if you can.
Oh, and while I have bulbs on my mind, I ordered a catalog from Brecks and the catalog arrived the other day. There are so many gorgeous daffodil bulbs to chose from. I especially love the frilly centered ones. To request a free catalog click here...Breck's Holland Bulbs

Now to share some new photos that I took this morning from around the yard.
My apple tree in blossom, and unfortunately I haven't been able to get a photo of the Baltimore oriole that comes to sip the nectar from the blossoms. I love to hear it sing. Some have luck attracting the orioles with halved oranges, but that hasn't ever worked for me. I've only managed to attract ants.

My Columbine are also blooming as are the Coral Bells near the fish pond.
 

Reminiscing...Last night while I was looking for something I came across my old Jacks and ball. In the same container I found my mother's jacks from her childhood. Mom is now 88. I guess you could say mom's and my own jacks are now genuine antiques. The jacks that I had are much lighter and smaller in size. I know I had many, many hours of enjoyment from this simple little game. I don't expect many young girls play jacks anymore, and if they do...how the heck do those huge plastic jacks that are now sold fit in their small hands? 
Below: a photo of my childhood jacks and ball. You can still see a bit of green, red and blue on my old metal jacks and the ball is pretty beat up from lots of use.

My mother's jacks from her childhood.
 
I still have a big bag of marbles from when I was young. We played such simple, but fun games back then. No high tech toys. I wish I still had my paper dolls and my Ginny doll with all the clothes that my mother sewed for my doll.  My Ginny doll had red braided hair. I still have a china tea set that my grandmother gave to me one Christmas, and I treasure it. I should venture upstairs in my parents attic to see what else I might have stored up there.

Below: I bought this Zentangle Basics book that is pictured below at a yard sale this morning. It is the first in a 3 book series.  I have never seen the 2nd book in the series in the stores. I have the 3rd book in the series. I want to try to create some Tangles, I didn't like what I created last year, but I am definitely putting Tangles on my to do list. Have you done Tangles? Did your first attempts come out looking like you expected? To be truthful...my first tangles didn't turn out anything like I had hoped.


Yesterday, while out running errands, and grocery shopping, I found a new item in Michael's...a 12 x 12 Wizard of Oz double sided paper stack. I was beyond excited, as I have been collecting Wizard of Oz items for a very long time. The papers in the stack are really nice.
Several years back at the New York Rubber Stamp convention, I bought from The Stamping Ground, a Wizard of Oz themed unmounted sheet of rubber stamps. I also have Wizard of Oz fabric that I bought last year. I've been collecting Oz items with the idea for an altered book with this theme. I bought the paper stack with a 40%  off coupon.

The photos below from the stack are in random order, and some of the papers are glittered in areas.
I love watching the movie and I usually watch it every time it comes on TV. I never seem to tire of it.

 

 

 

I saw the ruby red slippers bookmark below on Facebook. Aren't they cute? I wish there had been directions included on how they attached the legs to a bookmark. Craftzine.com always have cute ideas, but they never have instructions. Very frustrating!
I am going to try making these and I will figure something out, as the slippers would be really neat in my Wizard of Oz altered book that I have plans for. Click here  Ruby Red Slippers bookmark_ 

I also used a 20% coupon that was good for the entire purchase including sale items.  I bought a few other things... more paper, stickers, and beads, Smooch paint and some Smooch spritz that were on the mark down table so I thought I would give those a try. Have any of you tried these? Did you like them?
Also, I bought a package of air dry clay, and a 1 inch paper punch. I've been meaning to try creating mini art pieces using the 1 inch size.  I've been way behind the times, as inchies have been around for a long time now.

And, last but not least...tomorrow I will be starting a NEW contest for naming stray kitty. SK has now become a indoor house cat. I can't get SK to go outside at all now. I guess kitty knows he found a good home and that it nicer inside than out. Since SK is now indoors, we discovered SK isn't a she, but a he. How could we make that mistake??? Well, we could never get close enough to get a good look, as SK would drop it's tail or sit if we came near. SK is a very clean cat..thank goodness. So, put your thinking caps on, and think of a good name, as our new feline household member remains unnamed other than being called SK. Remember, there will a prize in the offering if we select the name that you suggest.

Well, I guess this is long enough. I hope I haven't bored you to tears. Come back again, and hopefully I will have some  art to share with all of you. Have a  creative weekend. I'd love it if you left a comment to share any of your childhood memories, tell me whats blooming or nesting in your garden/yard. Or if you love the Wizard of Oz and have you created any art using that theme.

P.S...oh, I forgot to mention that while I was at my parent's house on Friday, in their backyard near the treeline I saw a male (Tom) turkey and 3 hens. Wish I had my camera with me at the time.