Birthday pics

Thought I'd share my pictures of Mason'sbirthday party on Sunday. What fun! Melanie has some lovely pictures on her blog. The theme was Aliens, hence the masks. There was making of a sand castle as well as a sand angel. What an awesome party!!!

Fortune cookie

Last Friday my husband and I went out for Chinese food. Here's what my fortune cookie said:

You find beauty in ordinary things. Do not lose this ability.

...just what I needed to hear to confirm my weirdness/uniqueness. My mom was just asking me why I had all those insects on my blog (it was in a nice way). I stated, "Because they're there."

The first picture is of a bean blossom, and the others are morning glories.

Caterpiller

My little catapiller is changing before my eyes all in a matter of 16 hours! I feel like a proud parent or else a kindergartener being so fascinated with this. Yes, I am calling it MY catapiller since it ate ALL my flat-leaf Italian parsley I planted and its siblings ate ALL my dill. Needless to say, I saved it from the black wasps that come and eat them...Then I'm usually left with no herbs or catapillers...thus is the cycle of life.

Insects

Lately I've been interested in the intricacies of insects and particular patterns. Here are some from pictures from our yard. Did you know cicadas sometimes live for 17 years? The yellow spider is an Argiope. We've had some in the summers before, but never this big. The body is at least an inch long.

He (Solomon) produced manuals on botany, describing every kind of plant, from the cedars of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows on walls. He also produced manuals on biology, describing animals, birds, insects, and fish. "NET Bible version of 1 Kings 4:33"

p.s. Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post!!! I'll have to remember them when I have a bad day on the wheel.

Lidded flower vessel

Was wondering where my piece was because it wasn't on my shelf in the kiln room and the kilns were empty. Then I just happened to glance at the display case of the students' artwork while leaving, and there it was! Guess my instructor liked it.

Family hats

My mom bought the green hat as a joke. Seems like one of her grandsons has to get that hat out every once in awhile at family gatherings. In a couple of the pictures, my great-nephew is trying on my dad's cowboy hat. Then there's one of my sisters and me in our grandma's hats.

My Oklahoma nephews taught me about flat-bills and that you are supposed to keep the stickers on and wear them crooked. Too bad I lost the picture when they dressed up their father and pulled his pants down to hip level. He was stylin'.

Pottery

Brought these bowls home last Saturday, but didn't get around to taking pictures until recently...obviously, some little white fluffy dog wanted in the picture, so I posted the one bowl three times. These were waiting for me while I was on vacation, and I didn't know if they turned out or not. This hobby requires a lot of patience as does gardening.

Don't know if this is boring to see my pottery on this blog, but guess it's kind of like a journal for me. The pictures can also be deceiving and only I know where the flaws lie. Anyways, I'm anxious to see if the ones I glazed last week turned out and have to wait until Monday to pick them up. One of my instructors says there are 641 ways to ruin a pot, and more than one of them is glazing...too thick, too thin, etc.

Otovent

My brother has a eustachian tube problem and has to use an Otovent which is a balloon that he blows up with one nostril. Weird, huh? This is an actual thing a doctor prescribed and not one of his inventions like his flashing-light goggles or other gizmos. He's the only person I know who uses a joystick to turn on his cruise control.

Happy Birthday, Sister!

Wishing you a wonderful Birthday! Love you!!!

By the way, your brother said I should be 1.5 since I'm married to #1.

This song

I found this song on this blog, so thought I'd share it.

Capitol A'Fair

Got to go to an art fair while I was in North Dakota. It was luckily an overcast morning...Saw some neat pottery including some from students from my previous college where I took ceramics about 17 years ago. My favorite was here (you can click on "here" to visit his site). This lady does a little of everything. Also learned about this guy who was born in Casselton, N.D.

My mom was in the hospital, but was discharged last night. This was due to gallbladder disease and not her cancer. Needless to say, I was busy updating her medical blog so may now pay more attention to mine now. Stay tuned for more pictures from my out-of-state adventure.

p.s. Cindy, I thought you might like the fused glass charm picture.

Last Sunday

Last Sunday all of my mom's children and their respective spouses and offspring were together except for two sons-in-law. After having a post-birthday party for her or unbirthday party, she told us she had two things she wanted us to do---take a family picture and decide which things we wanted of her belongings including the belongings of her ancestors that she has accumulated. She stressed that we didn't have to take the things home now, just label them.

After taking the family pictures, we all went down to the basement and she started the "show and tell"...This was the Bible Commentary that migrated from Germany to Russia and then to America, etc. Some of the females started getting teary-eyed including my mom. I was already exposed to this..my mom already made a brother and I sort through things almost a week prior. My brother kept reminding me that this is what we would've done had she been moving to a condo. That made me feel a lot better about it.

My mom has the deep desire to not leave a mess for her children...She is not giving up hope. She says that if she lives 10 more years, then we will have this done already. If she wants to see her ancestors' things, she will come visit us.

This last picture is of my mom and her granddaughter-by-marriage wearing my mom's wedding dress. My oldest sister is the honorable owner of it now. My mom was so proud that we didn't fight about her belongings, but tried to convince each other to take things.

p.s. Can you guess which family member we dub as our "family clown"?

Hot Rod Mom

Here's my mom borrowing the motorized scooter at the zoo...Like I said in the other post, it was hard keeping up with her...zoom, zoom. Maybe my mom and Chill24 could race someday.