Iowa Birds 2:Flicker,Wren and Swallow

Note: He’ll stay with them while she goes off to have another brood. They’re both kept busy. :)

Look for a more intense orange underside on the males. I love their chatter. :)

Garden Season Has Begun…

…with yard work, re-potting my African violet,potting a Ranunculus from the local Shopko, and starting flowers from seed.

My beautiful Ranunculus(Persian Buttercups)

The little bud on the left went…

These flowers remind me of a ball gown.

They’re such a joy.

Poseidon

Last week dad and I “got out of Dodge” to a travelling exhibit at Joslyn.

I would show you pictures from the exhibit, but I got rid of the little bit that I had (since a nice man came along and enlightened me about my limitations in that area). hehe Here are some pictures from around the museum, though.

Glass

We hadn’t seen this one before.

We went up into the balcony for the first time that day. They have Asian and Native American things up there.

The Poseidon bit had ancient pottery, mosaics, carved gems, too many drafty figures etc. etc. They had things dating all of the way back to the 700’s (B.C.). I saw denarius coins for the first time; and on one of the pieces they made a reference to early Christianity in Rome.

Even nuns have to leave at closing time.

Birds of Iowa

Common birds that is—as listed by the Iowa Association of Naturalists. I have decided to paint all of them. Wish me well! I have many more to go!

These three are the finished ones.

 

They are all in pen and ink with watercolor.

I’m trying to include at least one fact with each species.

Lord willing I will be putting all of them up on here. :)

Vintage Style Embroideries

It isn't even 20 degrees outside, and it's snowing; but I’ve had this wonderful Springy-February-optimistic stirring inside. I don't feel wintery.

 

It's nearly Valentine's day, which means that it's nearly Spring! Picture it! Pastels, chicks, lambs, green-laced trees, buds, daffodils—Aah!

The above is a towel I finished embroidering a while back. I loosely based it off of a smaller, vintage embroidery I have. Nice and springy! :)

The rest of these are the embroideries I’ve gotten done using 1940’s reproduction iron-on patterns from my friend Amanda! So far I’ve been using them on cotton dishtowels, but will probably branch out at some point.

Even the little cookies had faces. :)

It’ll be good to hang laundry on the line again.

To me, these tall glasses look a bit like spies on their way to a dinner party.

I love the cheery colors on this one.

I’m currently working on crocheting my first ever hexagon afgan. Hopefully putting it together won’t turn into a mess!

Happy Spring Dreams!

When a fluffy orange cat…

…keeps showing up on your property, and he misses out on the Christmas turkey carcass that has been set outside, and you see him rummaging around on the burn pile in the backyard—what do you do? The only sensible thing of course, you lob pieces of cold chicken at him.

Then you proceed to woo him with canned and dry cat food until his little, underfed sides fill out…

Pet him until his hisses turn to purrs…

And your dad calls him O.J.

Astonishingly, he is friends with our dogs. It has been a very bitter winter. One night he came up to the house and was trying to scramble up on a window ledge(and doing a bad job of it). He had probably seen our cat, Bo, do it to tell us she wanted in, and thought “Maybe if I do it too they’ll let me in!”. That’s when I put him to bed in the new barn where the dogs sleep. (I already knew he didn’t mind the dogs.) He now comes and goes from there; and that is where his little food dish is kept. And yes, he has slept in the dog bed with the dogs! He seems to be favoring the lawn mower seat now. Dad ended up setting a towel on it to make it more cozy for him. (Dad’s a softy.) He probably would have been in the house by now if we didn’t have three other cats living in here.:)

Great Grandma Lillian (Dawkins) Carleton

Born in 1898…

…she was a soft-spoken and sweet tempered woman who was plagued by poor health.

(On the Right)

She knew how to knit, and made a rose colored cardigan for grandma. :)

(Behind the shock)

In the summer and fall, Clayton would be away quite a bit hauling grain to Malta, Montana; and it was up to Lillian to man the fort.

They lived without conveniences like running water and electricity. A pump in the kitchen would have been a luxury. :)