A Tree in A Tree

Last fall we noticed this tiny red cedar tree growing in a large maple tree in my parent's yard. This past weekend we were visiting and I snapped this picture of the two trees. The crook in the maple is about 15 feet off the ground and the little red cedar is happily growing in it's cozy home.

My parents live on a farm so during the dusty, dusty summers dirt and rain accumulate in the tree and little cedar has survived.

My dad tells me that red cedar tree seeds will not germinate on their own-but must be eaten by birds in order to soften up enough to sprout.

This easily answers the question of how the little tree seed made it into the maple tree's nook as this is one tree on the farm that no one parks their car under!

Studio 11

I have a complete floor in the garage loft-which is good because now I won't fall through if I have a creative stroke of genius. Half of the loft is to become my 11th art studio (the other half-family storage).

I've had a numerous spaces over the years-some more successful than others. As I think back some of the studios seem like mere figments of my overactive imagination and in reality actually were kitchenettes, living rooms, dining rooms and other various and assorted spaces that I claimed a corner in.

In graduate school I had a "real" studio in a house owned by the university. We fiber art grad students had spaces in a 4 bedroom ranch across campus. All critiques took place in the common area-the former living room. Generally these were fairly civil events-not the estrogen induced scenes that some think occur when 8 female artists are under one roof. Though there was one "studio mate" that I regularly wanted to throttle on principle alone!

The artists that were heavy into dyeing and caustic materials had spaces in the basement and those of us who had weaving or painting habits had bedrooms. I could never get use to the space though-it felt weird like "little Suzie's bedroom"- my urge was to decorate it rather than work in it. I spent much of my time looking out the window.

Over the years I've discovered that the space least likely to be conducive to art making are those that are shared with my office. For me stacks of file folders and bills are a major distraction. Those "real life elements" pull me off my purpose...just asking to be straightened or paid or read.

I had a great space in our last house (thanks loving hub!). It was beautiful...almost too beautiful. It had great light and white, white walls. Just gorgeous. I am still a painter/ fiber artist/sculptor, but now my tool of choice is an airbrush. My painting is intuitive and not particularly neat-well let's just say it-not neat at all. I am the queen of over spray. So those white walls and the office combo scene and a number of equally impressive procrastination alibi kept the production down.

So I am not finishing the new space much, except to possibly put in a ceiling and wall to separate the storage area. I am digg'in that window and can't wait to get a table up there-I think the lace curtains gotta go though.


Since the space is accessible only through a pull down stairs I am wondering if I can pull them up from the studio...hummmm..privacy!

A Pond is Born

The courtyard pond is almost complete! I am thrilled. Here are the pictures of our journey. The layers are: sand, cushion (carpet pad), then the liner. Now the landscaping-YUM! my favorite part.

Here are the steps:

1. Dig the hole: critical point-make sure side are level.

2. Lay in 4" of sand-tamp until your arms hurt-then tamp some more.

3. Add a layer of material as a cushion for the liner-I used old carpet pad. Check for stones and roots sticking out that could puncture through the liner.

4. Position the liner, add water-jump in and adjust liner as water fills to eliminate huge folds

5.Trim liner not less than 1 foot-(this pic shows about 2')

6. Haul in as many flat rocks as you can manage. Surround the edge adding in boulders and other rocks. Build a waterfall.

7. Add plants and more landscaping materials and ENJOY!

(click on photo to enlarge-

then hit back arrow to return to the blog)

Surviving the Move

We are actually living in our new house! Sleeping here, unstopping toilets here and lov'in it. The last few days and hours of the move were-lets say challenging!

I just could not finish packing-we obviously had MUCH more storage in our old house than we realized. My hub was shocked at all the stuff-most of which was not his.

His latest brainstorm is to open the new garage and put a "FREE" sign over the door with the hopes that it will be emptied out. He thinks that all the important stuff has made it in the house, the rest is just extra. Point well taken.

Now...back to unpacking-a much more fun job.

Disturbing The Peace

Dear New Neighbor,

I know that we have not met yet because we have not moved in, but I am sure that you will understand that it was not our intention to blast the neighborhood with our alarm system for what seemed a never ending period of time on this lovely Sunday afternoon.

I'm also sure you will understand that our floor finisher did not intend to fill the house with so much dust that it set off our hard-wired fire alarms which could be heard for several miles away.

I am equally sure that you will understand that we did not know that the security system including the fire alarms was set to activate- as were not told this.

I'm certain that it is easy for you to believe that we were not given a code or a key to the security box that holds all the shut-off switches and that we were not aware that if it that alarm when off that there was a huge siren speaker off the back of the garage that would send that unbelievably loud screech through our lovely neighborhood.

And I also feel confident that you will appreciate that I was finally able to get a hold of the security company who did not have a code for the system and couldn't disconnect it even when I offered to fax them a copy of my contract on the house.

I also am VERY SURE that you are very happy that a security technician took pity on me and actually came to the house and disconnected the entire system with just the removal of a wire or two-(I think because he wanted me to JUST stop talking and calling.) And oh yes, he found the key to the alarm box, locked IN the box.

Finally, I am completely certain that he will charge me and arm and a leg for his service which will somehow make the universe nice and balanced again-since there are at least 100 people who would like to see the "For Sale" sign go back up on our house, including the bride all her friends attending the bridal shower taking place 2 streets over!

Most Sincerely,
Your New Neighbor

P.S. We are actually very quiet people and Oh Yeah, the concrete slabs in the driveway are not from digging a fallout shelter.