Seasons Come and Seasons Go

Last Summer
This Morning!

Featured on Etsy Front Page

Had a nice surprise this morning when I checked Google Analytics. My views shot way up so after looking at craftcult.com -- which tells a shop if they have been featured on Etsy -- I saw that I had been. My celedon green soap dish. It's only for 30 minutes or something like that, but the traffic is high. Very nice surprise! Thanks much to StonesinBloom Etsy shop!

New Kiln is Working Out Great!

For a while it was too cold to run but I'm working in lots of firings. So far, so good! It took some experimenting and some sad days of things not turning out. Some research and questions to local experts helped me iron those out. You can save different firing programs -- most have several steps and speeds to different temperatures that take several hours -- then the cooling periods (annealing). So far, I have three different programs now that are stored in the kiln's computer that are working great!

uPSIDE dOWN

I've got real skills and I've been helping myself to the birdies' sunflower seeds!

Jack Frost

Jack Frost Nipping at Your Nose... la la la

Just a few minutes ago. Yikes!

Zoom in on the frost

An Orchid in the Midst of Winter

I have had this little orchid for a few years. It was barely hanging through the summer but came to life on a windowsill it started blooming again right after Christmas.

More Snow Photos and a Dazy Sighting

Dazy paw prints in the snow. I love how she does not walk a straight line.

This is Dazy doggy by St. Francis basking in the sun (earlier this year).

We made this evergreen our outdoor Christmas Tree.

Kitty cat tracks in the snow. Better stay away from Dazy.

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