Oh, Baby, It's Cold Outside!

This Christmas Eve we had our first EVER blizzard warning for Tulsa. The night before I took these photos it was snowing and blowing between 35 and 50 mph. Oklahoma City had 14 inches of snow and they were closing highways!

Merry Christmas

The story of Christmas

relived and retold...

The Bethlehem miracle,

centuries old...

God's gift of His son,

free to all who receive...

Beyond understanding...

and still we believe.

Photo from The Nativity Story

Not a UFO

These photos were all taken at the same direction, but at different times from our house.

View looking to the west at sunset.

View looking to the west at sunRISE and the full moon still up and shining. We live on a beautiful round earth, no doubt!

Lucky Shot

Was out on the patio to shoot some jewelry with the natural light on the northside when along came one of the patriotic birds again. This time I was much closer with the camera and the bird was not afraid.

Happy Thanksgiving

Blessings to you! Here is a link to the original 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation of George Washington: http://wilstar.com/holidays/wash_thanks.html

Fun With Glass

Putting the new kiln to work! This is what the glass looks like before it's fused. The kiln fires to about 1425 degrees and the special paper just turns to powder but it works its magic and keeps the glass from sticking.

Here's after.... looks kind of Christmasy!

Patriotic Birds and a Perfect Rose

A wonderful little flock of Robins. Yes, our lawn is still green from all of the rain we've had.

Believe it or not, this was one of the last roses of this year's season, and it was so beautiful. I planted this rose bush in a large flower pot on the front patio, it really didn't do much this summer and then voila! A perfect rose. Hybrid Tea 'Tiffany' and it is fragrant, too!

Operation 'Save the Blackberry Bush'

OK, you know the cute little bunny rabbits... they chewed all the branches off of my 'Arapahoe' thornless blackberry bush. One of my gardening books said that blackberries grow only on two year old branches, so probably no berries next spring, but I tried to rescue the bush -- transplanted it with a little fish fertilizer, and put a tomato cage with fenced barricade -- ah, yes, woman vs. nature just to get a few berries !

Autumn Colors

This old oak is golden in evening sun.

' Celosia' and 'Knockout' roses. These made it through a mild frost.

Nandina berries and Pink Knockout roses.

Art on Main Street

We just had this art show. Lucked out on the weather. It had been raining for three weeks -- like a son of a gun -- but that Saturday was sunny. We got stuck on a side street at the end, but we had a good time and sold some things. The first two sold were beaded pendant and earring sets. I have plans to make more of those - a lot of fun.

Photography for the Web

What I'm finding out is that glass jewelry is much more difficult to photograph than pottery. Especially the dichroic glass. The reflections can just kill the colors. I've been trying north light outdoors and I have plans to try the lightbox again to see if that will improve. Still learning. I take many different shots and try different backgrounds, then Photoshop a few for the online store. I'm using a Nikon D60.

New red coral beaded necklace and pendant set I just finished

Dramatic red and coral necklace earring set. Just placed for sale in my Etsy shop. http://tinyurl.com/yg4cdvb

Website Hits and Google Analytics

I try to keep track of how many hits the blog and website get, and I noticed a spike in hits on October 1st. It was like, hello (with an English accent), what happened? With the help of Google Analytics I found out that a nice blog had featured one of my kitchen pottery spoon rests.

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/scavenger-nyc/10-etsy-finds-for-your-kitchen-097348

First Test Firing in the new Kiln

This was my first 'real' test firing in the new kiln. The first one said just to fire it without anything to break in the heating elements. Notice the cross -- for blessings, I hope!!

A New Arrival!!

I'm so excited. A new kiln for pottery and glass. I am checking it out now, and have high hopes. Yahoooo! Fired up!

Chrysalis and oh just one more bunny photo

This is so neat looking. I googled it and it might be a moth, the big butterfly chrysalis looks different.

I don't know, this little guy was sitting eating grass on our patio. Can't help myself with the camera.

Rose Hips and 'Carefree Beauty'

This rose bush is fantastic. 'Carefree Beauty' is no delicate plant. I don't spray roses with chemicals, so they need to be hardy. This blooms all through the season, except for a heat wave over 100F, but as soon as the weather gets reasonable it continues on blooming its heart out. Now it is covered in large rose hips. I'm going to harvest and try to dry them to make some rose hip tea. Here is a great website for more info on this rose. Plus they have a database and photos of almost any rose you can think of. http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=974

Brookside ARTZZ Show

After over two weeks of rain, we hit a beautiful day. Sunny around 80F.

There were a lot of folks out walking their dogs at the art show. A church group set up a doggy watering booth and had large bowls of water for the dogs, and they gave them free doggy biscuits. Nice!

A lady and her mother came by and had a stroller full of Papillon dogs. They wore little pink tutus to match their stoller. Oh boy, now there's a dogs life!!

Garden Photos

This 'Celosia Cristata' came up from last year's seed that had fallen in the ground. This flower is large, about 6" x 8". They are very stunning and easy to grow.

White Crane and Jedi Action at the Lake

Jedi Stick Action!

Caught a photo before he flew off. The water is lookin' pretty muddy.

A New Line for the Gallery - Coming Soon!

Sneak Peak:
I will be adding a new line from "D.L.O. Design" for the Prairie Coast Art Gallery. I'll give you a hint... It is also fired in a kiln but NOT pottery! I have been designing fused glass jewelry. These are going to be online and also for sale in the upcoming art festival shows this fall.

More info coming soon, so please check back in to the blog.

Revisiting the Aquarium

A beautiful yellow striped fish, I don't know the name of.

A manta ray... cool!

Jelly fish. Wow, what planet are these on? Our Earth's WATER WORLD is fascinating!

Speaking of WaterWorld...

Photo Credit: IMDB

Getting Bugs to Pose on Flowers

This little wasp didn't give me too much trouble when I ask him to pose for me on top of this onion flower.

I had a dickens of a time getting this fly to pose for me on the leaf of the 'Carefree Beauty' rose bush. But he finally cooperated.

But bees, on the other hand, absolutely love to pose on 'Echinacea' coneflowers.

Some Wonderful Art from a Children's Summer Art Camp

We visited an art show featuring work from kid's art camps at our city's art coop. Isn't it wonderful? So pure and colorful.

Oh, Please, Just One More Bunny Photo

or two photos

Seems like that our wild rabbits are not running away immediately but kind of hanging to see if you walk towards them. This was a zoom in and cropped in Photoshop.