FROM EGGS... TO BABIES

I'm a little late in posting this, but this starts about 3 weeks ago...

We got to PA late Thursday night. On Friday morning my husband goes all around watering the potted plants we have on the deck.

He goes upstairs where we have a small deck with a shadow box...

and I hear "There are birds hanging out up here"... Then I hear, "We have eggs!"

Inside the shadow box, is a nest with 4 spotted eggs.

I did see both Mom and Dad, but could not get a picture of them. They are Northern Junkos also known as Dark Slated Junko.

2 weeks later, we went back to PA and.....

there were babies in the nest!

Where you see the yellow lines - that is the outline of thier beaks. If you look close you can see 4 separate yellow outlines. One is beneath the leaf on the left. There ae 4 babies!

And here's Momma. So very hard to see her standing right in the middle over the nest.

((While I was at work, my husband likes to change my screen saver on me, and I came home to this picture. These are not my babies, but I love the similarity, and I just love this picture.))

On Sunday, we packed up to head home. Gianna must think we are going to forget her, because she always climbs on top of the packages. If you take one, she'll just climb up on the next one.

See you later...

JENYA2 - CHECK OUT THIS GREAT SHOP ON ETSY

I'd like to tell you about this wonderful person I met on etsy.... Her name is Jenya.

Jenya has many talents, including designing enamel jewelry and acrylic painting, and loves to use her creativity in color and design. Jenya has a love for animals, and also a great talent for knitting. She has combined all of these loves and talents by creating these wonderful knitted dog sweaters and vests.

Jenya opened up her shop http://www.jenya2.etsy.com/ on etsy in November 2010, and soon after joined the PetsJubilee team, which is where I met her and have since found out what a wonderful, warm, fun and very generous person she is. She has even had numerous giveaways, giving out multiple sweaters at a time, and shares her blog for others to post on.




Her dog sweaters are just beautiful. The one above being one of my personal, all time favorites.

The colors, the patterns in the design, the stitches she uses, really show in her work, and stand out from the rest. She even added these little pockets on the back for treats.

I can speak from experience as I own 3 of her sweaters so far, and will be back for more. Not only do I love the colors and the design, but they are made very well, with quality yarn, and they are so soft, with a comfortable fit for my dogs. Here are some pics of my 2, Giupetto and Gianna wearing them.

The 2nd picture is of a shorter sweater vest, that is another great idea of Jenyas. I now need one of those for my girl.

Jenya also makes these beautiful shrugs for us humans, and uses her same talent and eye for color and detail in these wonderful shrugs.

AND... she has now added these beautiful and unique knitted necklaces to her line.

Won't you stop by her shop and show her some love?

Fathers Day and Pool Party - June 19, 2011

We went to John's daughter Jennifer's. In attendance were Jennifer and hubby Greg and our grandsons - Thomas, Stephen and Nicholas, and their dog Lexie.
Also there were John's son John, his wife Joy, our granddaughter Gianna, and grandsons Lucas and Marcus, and of course myself and Grandpa John.



For those of you watching this, in the heat, hope these pool pictures help cool you off.

First is a slide show of our day:


The following are some videos:




Last is the big splash contest:

Giupetto's 7th Birthday - June 2, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIUPETTO !!!

Giupetto gets birthday prezzies in the mail from Shari, and we have a little birthday party.

Everyone loves the cake and treats, including DaVinci. Giupetto says even the birthday card Shari sent him tastes good.

Thank you so much Shari for making Giupetto's birthday so special!

And Giupetto gets to wear a silly birthday hat in the video too.

Art in The Plaza May 22, 2011

Well, it was sooooooo cold, only 50 degrees - all day, and very windy, even some cold drizzle in the morning, cloudy - the sun never even peeked out. But there we were about a dozen or so crazy people, out in the cold trying to sell thier art.

There were not that many people walking through, but truly, considering the cold, I was surprised we had as many as we did.

I saw at least 6 dogs, a Briard Marely, that I fell in love with. He did some tricks for me, such a super sweet dog. He hung out with us for most of the day. There was a cute tiny yorkie, an apricot poodle, a Cavalier, a white poodle, and a mini schnauzer.

I enjoyed talking with everyone as usual, and everyone enjoyed my customer pics. I took some pics and some videos.





The purse with the lavender flowers and butterfly sold. That was my favorite. Those embroidered scenes are so fun to do. You design it yourself, choose your silk flower and the machine stitches a design over the inside of the flower. I don't make these anymore. Just do not have the time.








I am so tired now. My feet hurt, and my shins hurt, and my cheeks hurt - I think I have wind burn.

Happy 1st Birthday DaVinci

DaVinci turned 1 year old on May 5, 2011.

We went to Pennsylvania for the weekend, arrived at night. DaVinci loves his travel cage so much he stayed in there the whole night and didn't come out till the following morning.

These are the videos taken that morning.

Caution - I am trying to teach DaVinci how to sing Happy Birthday, so one of the videos you will here one of the 100 times I sing the song to him. I want you to sing along - you know, in honor of his birthday.

Even though I have sang this some so many times, so far all he can say is "How does a cat go? Meow" and "Woof-Woof".

Hope you like his birthday videos:

Weddings are in the air...

The royal wedding was not the only wedding in my mind this weekend, although I think it may have been my inspiration.

Following is the makings of my latest wedding dress.

This one is for a Cockapoo named Hannah.

I'm ready to make the first cut of this beaautiful lace fabric.

It has an irredescent thread running through it as well, which is hard to show in the pictures.

Looks like I will have just enough.

( The shamrock table cloth is put down to protect the table while I am cutting.)

Sewing begins. The lace fabric gets a double lining so the seams do not show.

The peanut gallery (thank God for lint rollers):

Playing around with some designs for the bodice.

I decided to use an organza ruffle that has sequint flowers in the center. I used this along the neck edge and I made a curved design with it on the bodice.

I also used some organza flowers which have beaded centers.

Work starts on the train - no lining on the train so the lace will really stand out.

Finished dress with train. The train is removable, so Hannah can dance at the reception.

I also bordered the bottom of the train with the organza ruffle.

Here's the dress without the train.

Close up of the bodice.

That bottom flowerette gets removed and that is where the train gets attached:

And here is a picture taken outside with the veil on:

The head piece also has some of the sequint organza ruffle along the front:

Of course, she must cover her face while walking towards the altar - so the veil can be worn over the face:

I wonder if this will be a June wedding. :-)