squirrel momma

My Black Thumb

Thanks for the feedback on my little dog--I think it's unanimous that he's a Scottie, which would make sense as they were a popular knick-knack back then.

Now moving on to my lack of gardening skills.

Ahem.

I would like to blame what I'm about to show you on lack of sunlight, but as you can see in the photo the tomato plants on my front steps get blazing sunlight for at least part of the day. For some mysterious reason, however, the tomato plants only produced one tomato apiece, and the marigolds refused to bloom.

Not only that, but those two tomatoes never ripened, and were so green and hard that even the squirrels wouldn't eat them.

Obviously, I am only capable of growing weeds.

Hmph.

Score, Part II

I have to show you the little dog I got at the antique market on Sunday, because I need someone to fill me in on what breed he is:

I thought a terrier, but then I changed my mind. Schnauzer? Too short. I've pretty much exhausted my minuscule dog breed knowledge on this one, so feel free to tell me what's what.

And in other news, the PACKAGE arrived today!

The PACKAGE was a treat for myself I ordered from the Etsy seller Sawako Hayakawa, whose shop is called Alleluja. I could barely stand to wait for it to come all the way from Tokyo (and I think my mailman was tired of me waiting, too).

Let's take a closer look at that stamp, shall we?

Well, obviously a package with a squirrel stamp on the outside must have something wonderful on the inside.  And it did, wrapped in soft wool felt.

Here's my little cat, who is both a pendant and a pincushion.

Yay for packages with squirrel stamps!

Score!

The last couple of times we've hit the Allegan Antique Market we haven't had a very good haul, but yesterday we hit pay dirt. Among other things, Squirrel Girl found a jewelry box, Nut Boy got a mini pub-style dart set, and I scored not only a cast metal terrier from the 1920's (I am a complete sucker for metal animals) but also...

A teeny tiny ceramic gnome! He was originally a candle holder, but as soon as I got him home I felt it necessary to make certain modifications...into a pincushion.  Surprising I would do that, isn't it?

Indy Jr.

Yesterday Nut Boy marched into the backyard, his giant coil of heavy duty marine grade rope slung over his shoulder (yes, I have a son who saved his allowance to buy a giant coil of heavy duty marine grade rope).

I was sewing, not paying much attention to what he was doing over by the treehouse, until I heard him start humming the Indiana Jones theme song.

When I looked up and saw him swinging back and forth from his homemade rappelling harness I have to admit my heart stopped in my chest.

Then I took a deep breath and reminded myself that if he fell it was only going to be a few feet, onto the woodchips, and he did much crazier things on the playground at his school. But really, how did Indy's mother survive it?

And Yet Another Book Recommendation

As you are well aware of, there are really only three things I care about: making stuff, food, and reading. I'm short on time--we're about to leave to take Squirrel Girl to cross country camp (yes, she loves going to a camp every year where they run up and down hills all day long, except for when they stop and talk about how to run up and down hills all day long)--so I'll just tell you about the book I'm in the middle of.

Imagine Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry* set in a little English village, with a precocious 11 year old girl as the narrator. Or perhaps Wednesday Addams plopped down in the middle of a Miss Marple mystery. Then you'd have The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.

I don't want to give anything away, but the scene with Flavia de Luce, junior mad scientist, tampering with her older sister's lipstick is fabulous. I can hardly wait to find out the results.

*And if you have never seen The Trouble with Harry, you have to go rent it right now. I order you to.

Upcycling Fireworks

For one week out of the year, in early July, our family gives in to barely restrained pyromania.  This year, however, we were bothered by all the plastic trash left over from some of the fireworks, especially the "champagne bottle" poppers.

  

Nut Boy was the one who came up with the genius idea of turning them into robots.

He's even got a name for them: Pyrobots!

Sprouting

I've been sprouting some tiny seedlings.

Miki and Misaki (who are each about 4.5 inches tall) have already found homes (thank you!), but I'll be doing some more gardening over the next few days.

Another Parliament

I am about to lose my marbles because the box of crickets I picked up today for our lizard has a chirper in it.  It's been going at it all afternoon long.  Chirp, chirp, chirp.

Chirp.

Grrrrrr.

But before that long fingernail of distraction began scraping down the chalkboard, I did manage to photograph the newest flock of owls. Otherwise known as a parliament.

I also have a little bat finished, but I need to cut out a background for him. And some plant people are in the works, but Nut Boy declared the first one of those off the production line needed more detail, so I have to redo that. Yup, I take artistic advice from a ten year old.

Now I think I need to go feed Bob the lizard an early supper...