Eagle (Raceway) Nest . . .

I can't imagine that birds give a lot of careful consideration to where the best nest-building site would be so when I found this little robin's nest last night,  I just had to take a picture and hope for the best for her.

We were at Eagle Raceway in Eagle, Nebraska, last night where my darling stepson is racing one of his dad's (darling husband Ed's) sprint car - a dustier and dirtier and noisier place there cannot possibly be.  Lee was lined up to race his heat and his girlfriend and I climbed up to the viewing platform on the back chute when I happened to look down and there, at the top of the metal stairs between the handrail and the support is a robin's nest with one beautiful blue egg!

Possibly not the best place to build but in her defense, the racetrack isn't too busy except for Saturday night and she probably wasn't counting on a crowd.

The best thing is that everyone, drivers and pit crews, who climbed up those metal stairs were very careful to sidestep the nest and leave it undisturbed.  Cannot wait to see if she has a hatchling next weekend.  Fingers crossed.  We're pullin' for ya, little mama!

Friday Blooms . . .

I can't resist leaving you this Friday with a few shots of my iris in bloom. Sonja's Selah - beautiful.  Veined shrimp pink falls and white petals, orange beards.

And two old-fashioned Mystery Iris blooming in the ditch.

Bye.bye little birdhouse . . .

Yay for me, I hardly get a chance to post things on my blog before the sell anymore.  I should be so lucky all of the time!

Anyhoo, this is a little copper birdhouse I enameled with several siftings of vitreous enamel in white as the base and raspberry pink for the top layer.  On the final firing I randomly placed a few copper dots for a bit of interest and forged a bail to pin on top so the little birdhouse swings.

Pretty cute.  May have to do a series in sweet Springy colors?

More enameliciousness . . .

A few shows can wreak havoc on one's inventory so I'm working hard once again with copper and torch-fired enamels, experimenting with color and blending and embedded bits and pieces of copper.  Sometimes it's best not to know what you can and can't do with a material as that opens up toying with unpredictable results.


While the price of sterling silver is still sky high, using copper is becoming more intriguing.  I am not only playing with the colors of the enamel, but also using rivets and pins and hinges to make each piece unique.  

Love it.

Winter directly into Summer . . .

Sheesh!  Last week I was wearing my fleece jacket and yesterday it hit 97 degrees.  If anything deserves a WTF, this does.

So to honor my cravings for All Things Summer, I had a monstrous craving for Gazpacho.  Monstrous.  And with no fresh tomatoes at this point (c'mon, July!), I built it with canned tomatoes and it was wonderful nonetheless.  Now, I'm no foodie and typically I don't post recipes but in the event that you get a midnight craving for Gazpacho, here's a quick recipe that will fulfill your every jonesin'.

Two 28oz cans of good diced tomatoes, juice included

One English cucumber (you know, the ones wrapped in cellophane), diced or rough chopped in the food processor

One red onion - rough chopped in the food processor

Two little cans of sliced black olives

1 yellow pepper - rough chopped in the food processor

2 cups tomato juice or V-8

1/4 cup diced garlic (to taste)

1/2 cup red wine vinegar (I love pomegranate vinegar!)

1 cup good olive oil

salt and pepper (to taste)

I serve this (of course, cold) with a dollop of sour cream and tortilla chips and it's to die for.  It's my prelude to summer and should hold me until the 'real' tomatoes are ripe on my vines.

Wow. It's been a month . . . ?

Oh lordy.  A month.  A month!  How does it happen that I can be so busy that I can't take a minute to blog about anything?  But it happens so here's to picking up where I left off.  The azaleas are blooming, hostas up, daylilies looking good, corn has been planted in the fields surrounding our little slice of heaven, grass is mowed, I'm in my shorts (finally!) and almost all of my vegetables planted.  Time to start in again.

I was featured in a great Lincoln photographer's blog today, Shay Chic, and I love the way it turned out.  Well, I guess I wrote it but they were questions that made me think once again about my work and where I'm headed.  So often I find that I limit myself mentally and answering Natalie's questions has had me pondering and reconsidering myself this week.

Anyway, take a quick look and scroll through to get acquainted with my fellow Lincoln area artists.  We're a diverse bunch, that's for sure, with a myriad of talents.  Love 'em all.