August, 2006

August 27 still sunny here.... The book I dropped into the bath tub on Monday is slowly drying out... good news is I can read it as the ink didn't actually soak through..... yesterday a spent a couple of hours out on the deck reading and knitting.. my knitting has a pattern so I have to count stitches while I read..... Some of yesterdays lunar landscape beads are great in spite of everything will see if the scan is any good and upload it if I like it! OK I liked it.... The lighter transparent colours look better in real life too!

August 26 Started out nice here today but it's clouded over... Beads well I sort of made beads today... One of the other island stores is closing out and I left her a note that I would buy her packing supplies from her.... She phoned while I was making beads, so I went over to get them... forgot to check temp on kiln before I left it was about 1250 when I got back, oops, flat tile beads slump nicely at that temp! Got back fixed temp was checking beads to see which ones were no longer tiles... Only one had moved.... Great however some idiot managed to stick two of the beads together, in the process of getting those apart a third one joined the party..... Actually smacking the beads very hard on the counter breaks them apart and they were hot enough that I got the marks firepolished out...... Think it took about 4 hours to make 13 beads today..... They better be nice!

August 25... My washing machine quite a couple of days ago... since I was felting hats at the time I didn't notice that the water hadn't drained as I scooped the hat before the spin cycle.... It was the wet rug in fron of the washer that clued me in that there was still water... I just thought that the washer had stopped so started it up where it had quit and the rug just got wetter... (guess the level in the washer must have gone down a bit!) G said the pump had quit..... I bailed the washer a couple of days ago man is there a lot of water in a washing machine! Anyway last night we moved it out onto the deck so he could remove pump and drain water that was below the drum..... The entertaining part (no photos sorry) was G holding me by my ankles while I dove headfirst over the back of the washer to try and unplug it... turns out the plug in was actually in the closet beside the drier which is why we were having such a hard time finding it! Anyway we're not sure if it was felty bits from felted hats... generic lint or an underwire from a bra collecting all of the above that seized the pump... but it is all cleaned up and working again ... so ready to be moved back into the house! I did make beads this morning but I started by trying to chop a big chunk out of my finger instead of a piece of glass of the end of a rod, actually I got the glass too... Think I was playing with R4 picasso glass today... see what it looks like tomorrow, I didn't encase these beads either...

August 23 Sunny again today... Emmy is home for a couple of days so I got to play cat doorman all night again last night.... Think I need to get him little booties that are impregnated with Windex... He's making my door very streaky! G bought me another entire baby monitor unit in Calais yesterday... They were less than half the price in the states that we paid for the first one in Saint John! I actually discovered the US price when I was trying to see if I could just order a replacement monitor from Fisher Price...... They actually had recommended US retail prices on line! I'm not sure if you can order replacement parts or not..... I think the easy answer to that is no but since they were so cheap in Calais easier to buy a new unit.... This one is not going on the stove top! I got a right answer yesterday to my game too, so it's not impossible, not even very difficult! I put my 'mutilated' Blue Jay panel on my home page yesterday, actually the red berries don't look as bad as I thought they would! Anyway it's been delivered to the gallery so they can ship it to Ontario for the Wedding Anniversary end of next week.

August 22 Sunny today.... I got to go to the mainland this morning.... my drivers licence expires next Wednesday and pictures have to be of the person who's name is on the licence.... Actually when they shrink the picture down to 1 inch by 1 inch you can't see the wrinkles anymore either ... what a deal! Got home to a phone call asking me if I could speed up the delivery of my blue jay panel... I'm adding red berries to an existing panel to make it more suitable for a ruby wedding anniversary, since G is off to Calais today he can swing past St A on the way, but he had to wait an hour while I did it! Will see if the picture he took is any good and post it if it is! My book that took a bath is still sodden I have it outside in the sun today, G took one look at it and told me that it was a much better deal wet, just look how much thicker it was now! I'm still trying to read it too...

August 21 Still rainy... Felting hats this morning have three in the washer, two are good the third one is still way to big! Of course I test them by pulling them straight out of the washer and trying them on.... Last night I decided to have a bath since the house was cold since I have all the windows open to hear the cowbell that I replaced my piece of junk wireless doorbell(s) with! Phone rings... I had been reading grabbed the towel and ran downstairs... got back upstairs and found my 900 page novel floating on the surface of the water... All I can say is it hadn't sunk yet!
I think once it's dry the pages will all stick together, and the ink has bleed through to so it's really hard to read! Oh well I bought it used 3 books for $5.00! I'm only on page 160 too.... I just got an order for Christmas stock yesterday 20 pairs of snowman earrings, and it's still August...

August 20 Looks rainy here today! We had a thunder storm at 4:30 this morning and it hasn't cleared off yet! I went into SJ for super last night, but decided to come home on the last ferry instead of staying over... My 'weed is some variety of Knapweed, it is one of those plants that has both a perennial variety and a noxious weed variety .. I'm thinking this is more likely the weed however it's much bushier than any on line photos I can find .... ie it's an extremely healthy weed!

August 19 Notice the new game, I will give you the number of letters as soon as I get the same number twice! All 9 word guesses will be replied to telling you what letters you have that are right in each word and if they are in the right location in that word eg someone last game guessed "The three blind Mice" my second word was Streetcar hers was Three there are 4 letters right and 3 are in the right place in the second word. I won't give out hints if you don't send me 9 words! Hazy here today so much cooler!

I started watching America's got Talent about 3 weeks ago ... Just thought I'd comment that I don't think the right person won, but then I didn't vote so shouldn't comment! However Wed was the first time I had seen her so maybe she got votes based on previous performances! I did find it interesting though that 4 of the top 5 'groups' were kids!

August 17 Sunny again, my pottery did arrive sometime late yesterday I found it on the back porch when I went to get the mail at 5:30! Spent this morning unpacking it instead of making beads! The Purple weed will be on my home page in a few minutes... on this page you get a picture of one of yesterdays Kronos beads, actually there are 4 really nice beads but this is the best photo and I don't think it's very good!

August 15... Raining today, didn't photograph my weed yesterday so it may not show up today... Suppose to be getting some NEW pottery for the gallery today, another Halifax potter, Once I get it I can totally reorganize everything, it's amazing how often people think that something is new if you just move it! Trying to dream up a new even more diabolical quote... think I have it ...

August 14 Cooler than last week but still nice weather! An update on Canadian Airport security ... they are so busy looking for Handcream etc that they will miss something that could be a problem! Reminiscent of fall 2001 when I flew with a razorblade paint scrapper in my purse, (yes I had been scraping paint and I wasn't programmed to clean out my purse in those days prior to flying!) and the security person actually moved it in my purse to get at some electronic gizmo I had with me! Tried working in the dungeon this afternoon but my cow bell kept ringing so now that I've given up on useful work the people have stopped coming! Any horteculturists reading this I have a 'weed' that I let grow on the gravel in front of my bead studio... It is now blooming the flowers look a bit like thistles but there are no thorns and the leaves are all wrong... It's probably got about 60 flowers and there is one per branch size of a quarter, picture(s) tomorrow!

August 12 Two right answers yesterday! I went to SJ late yesterday afternoon to move furniture. Full size couches are so much fun to move, couldn't figure out what to grab onto... the legs were so small I figured if I grabbed those we'd end up with a couch suitable for people with really short legs! Em was happy to see the couch in our living room, he's been torn between sleeping on his couch all alone or spending time with people! I came home this morning I figured I would miss the 9 o:clock ferry so wasn't in any rush... but then I noticed what looked like ferry traffic coming towards me at 9:08... made it to the ferry landing just in time to see the ferrry go round the end of the warf! Due to extreme;y low tides the one ferry was going out around some of the other islands, the second one wasn't running at all.... After the tide started coming back in the other ferry showed up at 10:05... Duddly met me on the driveway and told me off for leaving him alone... At least he doesn't have to share his food when it gets left outside with a Racoon! I figure Rocky sits in a tree watching Gord with his binoculars to see where Gord is putting Em's food then runs and steels it before Emmy gets hungry!

August 11 That is all of the A's Poured again last night... Saves me the trouble of watering my outdoor plants! My sisters family is going on holiday next week! Her 14 year old son would rather stay home with his friends... My sister is telling him how much fun he'll have! We were travelling in Europe the summer my sister was 14 .. my sister spent the entire summer while we were in the car with her face in a book... I remember that! Mom says that whenever any of us pointed out something of interest to my sister (I was 11).... for example ... look at the pretty lake... she would reply "I saw one of those yesterday" and keep on reading! Hope Kenny has lots of books with him! Actually I remember the beaches in Spain and Portugal .... The Atlantic Ocean is much warmer there than it is here! I did make some beads yesterday ... the new Artists guide has a picture of a bracelet I thought that maybe I should have one similar to it in the gallery!

August 10 Cooler this morning, I went to St Andrews late yesterday afternoon to look at an art show, one of the women in the show does really cute minatures that I'd like to carry in the gallery but I guess you shouldn't expect the artists to be in residence if you show up over supper! Since it was a gorgeous evening I ate dinner on the deck at Treadwell's Snug Bar... I actually got to use a reserved table promising that I would leave by 8, however they were very slow producing food and I would have ended up with a picnic on the beach if the table next to me hadn't left at 7:55 as I still didn't have my food! But I did manage to pick up the New Artist Studio brochures, In lots of time for Next summer! Oh I should point out that I'm not playing this game by wheel of fortune rules there may be more than one A and more than one S in the solution!

August 9... Now that you know how many letters are in each word answers will not be evaluated unless the words have the right number of letters! For those of you who haven't guessed I'm telling people how many letters they have right in each word and if they letters are in the right place! Can't remember what the name of that game was. I did make beads today, Tried out some more olympic rain and also tried out some srod bits of a new glass R4, the R4 glass has really nice names like Monet and Picasso, but in rods it's all varying shades of cobalt blue, may be hard to tell apart, the bit I used today had a beautiful flame! Operation SHOVEL will be resumed later...finding the dining room table was enough excitement for one week!

August 8; We had a very loud Thunder Storm last night about 2 am, actually I thought it was going to rain mid afternoon it got so dark! Seems to be a few more people around this week than last week.... No beads today, I have started on operation SHOVEL... the object is to discover what colour and materials my floors and counter tops are actually made out of! Today I found the dining room table... While I had it bare I even oiled the wood!

August 7 Actually gave you 2 hints today.... Yes the first word is 'A' so you only have another 20 letters to figure out! I am being very helpful to anyone who sends in guesses! (At least I think I am, they might not agree!) Today is a holiday in Canada, I've always thought it was the August Bank Holiday but the radio here is calling it New Brunswick day... Unfortunately for those of us that are self employed it's just another day!

August 6 If anyone gets it right today.... I QUIT!!! Another sunny morning, may do beads later once the sun moves a bit.... I need earrings again.... I started my day yester day with a cup of Instant Coffee (Gag splutter....I'm sure there must be some REAL coffee in this house somewhere) Now if there is a problem with living on an Island the lack of Starbucks on every other corner just might be it!!! Anyway I took my cup of brown swill out onto the deck with a book sat down on the chair... you guessed it there was an inch of water on the chair, I had a heavy denim sundress on and it took me two hours to dry off... and yes I could have changed..... Today I have real coffee G brought some home from SJ last night, so I should be good for another couple of weeks! And since it didn't rain last night I probably can sit on my chair in the sun this morning!

August 4 Guess I'm just so busy waiting around for something exciting to happen that I forget to update! Or a more likely scenario is I haven't done anything so..... I did make beads today and yesterday I spent the entire afternoon in the dungeon... My Iris panel has a a big chunk taken out of it... guess that's not tecnically true either as I started with nothing and now have something so.... anyway it's coming along nicely, probably because all the flowers are at the top and I'm starting at the bottom left corner!

But my real excitement yesterday was gettint an email from Paypal ... telling me that Paypal had ruled in my favor I bought something from one of the better known (or should I say notorious) glass artists sites.... after 3 weeks I had heard nothing sent a couple of emails, still nothing so filed a dispute with Paypal, raised that to Claim level 10 days ago and got an email last night saying they had ruled in my favor BUT.... there was no money left in her Paypal account, why doesn't that surprise me!

August 2 Today is HOT...and humid... so much for our one COLD day! I got another right answer for SOTR... so next time you have a choice I'm going to give one letter out of each word, but it won't be the first letter of the word or I'm going to give you some obscure 12 or 13 word quote... which would you prefer!? Today's bead picture is the bead I made yesterday after I caught my corplast on fire... I have corplast in the windows to block out the sun... well my rod rest has been moving closer and closer to the corplast and yesterday I managed to light it on fire, being plastic I assumed it would just melt... WRONG it burns very nicely, so I grabbed the corplast and stomped on it... I hardly ever wear shoes, but I was yesterday! Although G figures I could do one of those walking in hot coal stunts no problem, so stomping out flames with bare feet should have been no big deal! Now mean while the poor wanna be bead was being waved around out of the flame, so about half of the disks broke off, so I lumped on more glass and mooshed it! Picture has little round bead that I was suppose to be making and flat offering to the fire gods that I made instead! {Why is the phrase in the middle of this pink.... because the computer won't let me make it black!}