plum flowers

The pair of plum trees seem to have fully settled in.

plum flowers, May 2013

(and don’t seem to have had any set-backs from last years drought, unlike a few other things) We’re keeping our fingers crossed that there won’t be a late frost, that kills the flowers, like last year. I have hopes of getting more than one plum, per tree, this round. The one we did get was delicious, so it would be good to have enough for eating. At least there are lots of flowers, and the pollinators are hard at work. We’ll just have to wait and see how many set, and if the trees are old enough to keep a decent number until ripeness.

my little Hippocamp

I’ve continued to try and make more of the classical creatures out of the stuffies.

altered stuffed animal, “seahorse”

The hard part is finding the parts. It’s one thing to go through the collection and then match parts just based on how the work together but it’s another thing to go for a specific combination. Not only do I have to find the right parts but they have to be in the same scale and I like to have colours that look good together. It’s much harder! One idea I’d had for a while to do was a “seahorse” or Hippocamp. This one isn’t quite perfect, the tail should be more of a serpent, but I’m still pretty happy with it, as a first attempt.

Bunny battles

It appears that there was some sort of bunny territorial dispute that  went on this morning. (we haven’t been paying much attention to the bun issue since the mini fence has worked to keep them out of the sorrel, this year) We knew there were still some around since they did a number on the blueberries, over the winter, but they’ve been keeping a low profile. Not so this morning. I went out to open the store and a mad chase was going on around the building and the the east lawn. Standing at the door of the shop, one dashed past the front and came within a couple of feet of me! Unfortunately, by the time I was able to get to the camera, some sort of victory seems to have been achieved and I was only able to grab the one, blurred shot of a bun in motion.

Asparagus!

Two years ago now, we put in an asparagus patch.  We went with the root crowns and one small pot that had been sprouted from seed. They’ve done pretty well, but the early spring last year meant that they popped up and then got killed by a hard frost, so it was almost as if we had picked some. As a result, I’m a bit torn about cutting any this year. Technically, we should be able to take a small amount, but it might hinder the long-term growth of the patch. I think we’ll probably take just a few spears, so we can see how they taste in comparison to the commercially grown stuff, and let the rest have another year to expand.

spring flowers

Our daffodils have been struggling through all the random bursts of cold,  snow, and even a batch of hail, the other day. We’ve been impressed by their endurance. After the hard freeze last week, all the greenery went limp and I thought they were finished but they managed to recover with no visible damage. The tulips, on the other hand, are still alive, but their leaves look terrible. The only bulbs that are looking actually as they should, are the hyacinths. Now that it finally seems like spring is really here, it’s time to get to work on the garden again.

antique watch and image pendant

When we got the batch of watch parts, there were also some of the core body pieces.  Once all the gears were stripped off, a few still have interesting shapes and details. The spaces, where other parts had gone, were intriguing and I decided to try fitting some with images from my vintage book stash. This one of an eye turned out to exactly fit over a jewel setting. Once it was glued down, I sealed it with a clear coat, so it can be worn. It was then detailed with three salvaged drops in an amber tone and strung on some vintage chain. I’m happy enough with how it came out that I’ve done a small group, with other images. The only thing is they are all, as is typical for my stuff, completely one-of-a-kind pieces.

After the storm

The ice storm hit this region badly, and a bunch of hydro poles  went down, to the north of us. It took days for them to get them replaced and the power back. It wasn’t until Sunday evening that it was back at both the house and the store. We still have some clean-up to do, on the grounds, but we’re hoping to get to it later this week. It was upsetting to lose some branches from the big maple, in the middle of the east lawn, but it could have been much worse. We’re hoping that there won’t be an too obvious reduction in it’s symmetry since we’ve always loved how pretty it is.