dancing lizzie

baby proofing the fireplace... oh she is growing up fast!

girls getaway

a little ice cream

painting

journal writing

loving this journal, big time! (you can see my new sewing book peeking thru... i am loving this book.)

well, we didn't get the right kind of clay...this will be harder than i thought...so we improvised with regular pre-maid red clay and hoping our little "seed pockets" work. we had fun putting them together regardless.

after some local research i found it is hard to find powdered red clay, this already mixed red clay was easy to find and cheap soooo... we took a tad bit of seeds and compost and made a small batch just for fun. hoping these work, stay tuned.

awesome

the white stripes...always good.

flickr favorites... recovering from a graveyard shift

Whitstable: Cottages (County of Kent UK), originally uploaded by steffanmacmillan.

Whitstable: cottages (county of kent, uk)

when i have to work a graveyard shift, i am such a zombie the next day... finding solace in some cool flickr photos... doesn't take much effort to look through all these lovely images. :)

more Flickr favorites

Chemainus, Vancouver Island, Canada, originally uploaded by Barrybar.

Chemainus,Vancouver Island, Canada

cute

gorgeous

wacky

drooling to go (watched the santorini and capri episodes twice each!)

a few more favorites

sneaking into the neighbors pool

oh to have a swimming pool!

a favorite artist

someone i have followed for years and years, before i even had a decent computer, when i spent all my free time painting with my dad in his garage... we loved the collages made by rex ray. we even painted a whole series based on the few examples we found of his designs. i have a large one up at the cabin. they were fun fun fun and my dad and i really enjoyed ourselves! anyways, i think they are gorgeous and i just bought this book to drool over and inspire me to make some of my own versions for my own pad. someday i hope to be able to purchase an original piece from him. his collected works will be out soon, another must have for me to ogle.

a tiny square of paper with a circle cut out... was carefully placed midway through the book... it just flitted out onto the table while i turned pages as if one of the photos came to life. very surreal... very cool. nice touch!

Camp Wintaka 50 year reunion!!

Camp Wintaka is the residential camp for the Long Beach area council and was the first "sleep over" or "sleep away" camp i went to as a child. On my ceremonial gown (someday i will photograph this lovely creation) i have a "3 years" patch, so i must have gone there three years. i most likely went around 1976 or 1977 for three consecutive years... that was when i was around 9 or 10 through 11 or 12 years old (i am 39 now). i know for sure my first year at camp yallani (the Los Angeles council camp) was in 1981 when i was 13. i still don't know why i never became a C.I.T. (counselor in training) at camp wintaka or a counselor? i was a camp fire member through high school, but not as active during those years. maybe because camp yallani was an actual paying job and i fell head over heals in love with the place, i never went back to wintaka? not sure, but this july is the 50 year reunion and i am going for sure!

the pictures i have are pretty bad, i can't for the life of me find the camp photo taken at the end of every session with all the campers together. those photos hold up remarkably well. i have a stack an inch thick of camp wintaka and camp yallani weekly session photos that have been put somewhere "very safe", so safe i can't FIND THEM!!! hope they turn up before the reunion!

for anyone who likes weird coincidences (i for one LOVE them!)... last winter i was asked to cover an ultrasound account that was going to be a major challenge for me, something out of my comfort zone technically... but i just went for it and pushed myself. Needless to say i became close friends with the tech there (pat) and when i happened to mention i was the camp fire leader of my daughters group she said ruth, her partner, had been in camp fire and on and on we talked. pretty soon we realized that ruth had gone to wintaka around the same time i had, she had been a counselor. this started communication between ruth and i via pat... i brought my camp fire song book to work to share with her and pat told me ruth was moved to tears when reading the lyrics to some of the songs. very cool stuff! so here comes the 50 year reunion and guess what? pat and ruth will be attending with me so we can share in all the goofy camp memories together. who would have predicted this outcome when i so hesitantly took this account back in december? here is something else that's cool...camp wintaka is located on "green valley lake road", yes THE green valley lake road that goes directly to green valley lake and my cabin. gotta love coincidences!!!

progress... this is fun!

the boys and

the girls.

Seed Bombs

i have been so inspired by this post and then all the research i found soon after, to begin a project up at green valley lake. i am hoping to continue with it into next fall and have the girls make seed bombs as part of a camp fire project. the whole idea behind them is quite beautiful... a little pod of seeds and nutrients that when thrown into a barren area will sit and wait until just the right amount of moisture or warmth allow them to grow. the little bomb has all the nutrients the plant needs, a perfect little package.

behind our cabin is a hodgepodge of trees and plants, some dying some vibrant and some in a state in between. the ground is very dry and there is a spattering of wildflowers blooming at different times during the spring and summer months. i spent last weekend carefully raking and picking up large branches to get the hillside ready for my wildflower bombing. stay tuned...here is the link on how to make them...here is another recipe too.

and our next door neighbors are in great need (see below)...some beautification is in order here!

this lovely thing (below) was about to be ripped out (it is jamming itself into the eaves)...thank goodness i saved it... gorgeous blooms! now we know to just cut it back each year, sometimes you just have to be patient to find out what a plant will become.

interesting links on seed bombing found here and here.

Emily's first day at camp and sewing in the real world

today emily headed off to her first day of summer camp...wearing the shirt i "stole" as a teenager from camp yallani when i was a counselor (to explain: extra t-shirts were stored up in the attic of the camp yallani lodge and so years and years of left over shirts were just sitting around. my fellow counselors and i helped ourselves to one from each year for our future kids. i was thrilled to find several in good condition stored in the garage and emily wears them regularly...i love the retro illustrations)

she picked this hat because it reminded her of "camp fire"...um....not the same kind of fire but too cute to say no to.

and something i looked forward to doing all weekend (i did a little at the cabin, but just a bit) was a marathon day of owl making. i am trying to stick to themes but i find myself all over the place with my combinations. i need 6 of each theme that can be sold as a unit, but after about three or four, i find myself changing colors and combos. maybe it is just that right side of the brain taking over? not sure how it happens but when i start counting them up i realize my blue/brown theme has turned to pink/blue/brown and the bright pinks have gone orange or green or brown. i guess i am having way too much fun with this, need to buckle down!

Happy Fathers Day!

Children's Forest

off to the fire lookout tower

unfortunately chris was called back in to work shortly after arriving on saturday... so sunday was spent having a picnic lunch and walk at the childrens forest, a hike up to the fire lookout and since liz and i drove in the hybrid, chris did some off roading with the other kids who in turn told wild tales of flat tires, getting lost and other near death experiences...that is andrew and emily were scared witless, aaron apparently didn't notice. ha ha!

book bags

look what i finally made! no pattern, just winging it...dont look too close (pardon the wrinkles...i am new to linen and don't iron much obviously)

birthday present for my mom...thrifted fabrics from virginia! i was waiting for the perfect project to use them. (lots of lessons learned, note the upside down birds... next time i will check things like that)

time to give credit where credit is due: here and here and here and here and here

saving the birds

summer owls

something i stumbled on today, i had driven past this lovely reserve on my way to work for several years, but until today was unaware of this gorgeous nature center right across the street. it is a great example of what can be developed, an oasis in the city, if people have the desire to save it. what a fabulous place, i will find a way to spend some time here soon.

end of year potluck

we made it through one year! the best night ever!

friends for life

expect AMAZING things from us next year, we will SAVE THE WETLANDS!!!!!! just watch!