feeling artsy? things are looking up.

posted by jennifer:

in my home, i look at many areas as blank canvases.  a spot of real estate to be touched with a bit of beauty.

because i look through such a lens... a lens that is often wondering what i can do to add a bit of life and color, a few of my ceilings have been graced with art.   while two of the ceilings have just a touch or two, one of them is completely covered.  

the first pictures are of the ceiling above our bed.  all i did was paint a moon, and some stars.   i then cut letters out of gold foil.  then i just used tacky glue to adhere them onto the ceiling.  i did this ceiling about 10 years ago, and once i have had to break out the glue and fix some peeling letters.  easy peasy.

the next pictures were taken in our hallway.   this was a bit of leap.  not only because of the ceiling, but more the wall color.    red, with just a hint of a pinkish/orange ting.  i still love it. and it has been, oh, i am terrible with time... maybe 8 years??

the only reason i remember how long ago, the ceiling in our room was done is because i had my now 11 year old contained in the hallway by way of child proof gates when i was working on the room.... so i could see her/she could see me... but she would prevented from joining me up on the ladder.  she always has been a climber.   she was close to a year old at the time.

the hallway ceiling is a stunner.  but, full disclosure..... it has taken much more maintenance.  it may be because it is so close to the bathroom, and the steam from a family of five taking showers and baths hit the ceiling on such a regular basis (can you see the bubbling on some of the surfaces?)... or maybe i just didn't prep the surface correctly...well let's be honest, i doubt i did any prep work.  but for whatever the reason, it needs annual care.

when i did the ceiling initially, i used modge podge, and had the entire area covered with pieces of origami paper as well as pages from books, and other random scraps of paper.

about two years later, when doing my annual maintenance work, i decided to make some changes.  i added some fabric panels... fabric stretched over pieces of foam board, i added some family photographs, and whatever bits and pieces i fancied at the time.  the piece of fabric of the madonna, covers the access panel to the attic.   i admired a curtain at the home of one of my book club friends, and she gifted me with a piece of the fabric she had used to make the curtain.  i knew she would appreciate it being added to the ceiling, since she is an admirer of my hallway.

i guess the good thing about the hallway ceiling needed work every year, is that i can add new pieces to it when i am working on it.   an evolving piece of art....

things are looking up.

cheers!

Happy Saturday.

Hello!

Wishing you all a Jam-Jam-Zin-Zin day!

Dragon from the black lagoon

My coconut swirled the first time I ended up with an alien looking creature in my hand while cleaning my pond.  It startled me and I involuntarily flung it back into the pond muck.  

Holy crap, what was that?

I had not put any such thing in my pond!

The next time I cleaned the barrel pond of years ago, I was on guard for the bizarre looking stranger.  Sure enough, I scooped up another one in the black muck from the bottom of the barrel.  This time I held it long enough to identify it...a dragonfly nymph.

Of course!

Cover this dude in black muck and it adds to the "get that out of my hand" signal my eyes sent to my brain.

The legs are locked into the position the nymph was in, as it as it hung onto the reed and arrived in the world out of  its waterborne life. The legs also take on this shape when while flying and the dragonfly catches its prey.  The legs create a cage around the caught insect so it cannot escape.  

Dragonflies are thought to be sinister in Europe and in some areas of the Southern U.S.

But for Native Americans, the Japanese, the Chinese and many others, dragonflies are admired and respected. 

I side with those who see these agile fliers as a symbol for courage, strength, swiftness, agility, and happiness.
Dragonflies symbolize the wisdom of transformation and adaptability in life.
The Japanese have a common name for almost all of the 200 dragonfly species that are found in Japan.  I don't even know the common name of the dragonflies in my own pond.  But I'm delighted they grace my garden.

Dragonflies are harmless.  And they are fascinating. 

Their eggs are laid in water and the larval stage, when they look so creepy to me, lasts 2 - 3 years, but can be up to 5 years.

When the nymph is ready to metamorphose into an adult, it climbs out of the water and up a reed.  Exposure to air starts the breathing process.  The larval skin splits and the dragonfly crawls out.  

I recently saw a nymph fresh out of its exoskeleton, as it hung on a pond plant reed while its 4 iridescent wings dried and hardened. 

What a packing job!  That dragonfly was inside this casing.  The abdomen was packed in like a telescope.  

You can see the bulbous eyes well in this picture.  These eyes contain as many as 30,000 lenses, which along with the wraparound feature give the dragonfly nearly 360 degree vision.   These eyes help the dragonfly intercept their prey mid-flight with a 95% success rate.   Also visible is the opening where the mature nymph emerged as a dragonfly.

These delicate, yet powerful, 4 wings each move independently of each other.  Dragonflies can propel themselves in 6 directions--up, down, forwards, backwards, and side to side.

Next time I play "Super Heroes" with my grandchildren, I am going to be 
Ball- of- Fire- Dragon.

 My super powers will be:
I am a fast and powerful helicopter-like flyer.
I can fly upside down, if necessary.
I can fly further than any other insect.
My jaws open as wide as my entire head.
My hinged & serrated jaws immobilize & mash.
I have 30,000 lenses and see things in ways humans can't.
My legs curve around my prey to create a cage that prevents escape.
I calculate to intercept my prey.

Super powers, yes.  But not fictional. 
Mosquitoes and flies don't have a chance.

t.t.f.n. ~ Carol

bloody bloomin' plant

posted by:  jennifer

years ago while at my grandpa wagner's house, my mom and i were looking at a very pretty flower growing in his planter.   neither of us had ever seen one like it before.  we asked him what kind of flower it was.   he got a little agitated and responded "i don't know.  it's a bloody bloomin' plant." 

this popped up in my head yesterday.... because i have a shrub blooming in my front yard that is stopping traffic.   literally.  a car stopped in the middle of the street yesterday morning.   looking towards our house.  i am guessing it is because of this beauty.  but, i started thinking that i didn't even know what kind of plant it was.  

and i don't think i have enough moxie to tell someone that it is a bloody bloomin' plant.  i wish i did.

so i decided to research it.   this plant is really very plain when not in bloom.   bordering on ugly if truth be told.  but when it decides to bloom it is breathtaking.  the bees think so too. 
in my experience the blossoms only last a week or so.  leaving only a litter of purple spent blossoms on the ground.  

ceanothus maritimus  or "valley violet".

or bloody bloomin' plant if you are feeling feisty and you can't remember what it called.  
either works for me.


cheers!

the honeymoon must be over

posted by:  jennifer

so you may recall that a several months ago i discovered my oven was jewish.  being as it had put itself in sabbath mode (okay...maybe i pushed some random buttons in a frustrated fit... it happens sometimes... but if i did it was an accident) but back to the story.   we had a power outage several months ago.  when the power came back on, my oven was in sabbath mode, and i couldn't turn it on. i thought that i was going to have to pay some guy a $70 service call to undo whatever i had done.  that is reverse the buttons pushed in a hypothetical fit of frustration.   well, we had the repairman out, and it turns out that when the power came back on it fried the circuit boards... it could be repaired, for the low, low price of $670.00. 

 so good news.    i didn't spend a repairman $70 to right my wrong.... i paid a repairman $70 to tell me it was time to buy a new range.

i decided to buy a range that did not have any electronics on it.... no light, no clock, no electronic ignition. all of which means that it can be used during a power outage.  and no circuit boards that can fry during a power surge.   we bought a premier bck100op freestanding gas range.  i am very happy with it.  i ended up buying an oven thermometer so i could see how accurate it is.  it is quite accurate.  i have had to train myself not to look to the oven display to check the time... there is no oven display, but i have finally learned.  and  i am really liking the white porcelain. so shiny and bright. 

you see, for the first couple of months i was doing a very good job cleaning it daily... or as needed.  but as i looked at it today, reality set in, and  i think that the honeymoon period may just be over.

sigh.

well, i think i should head into the kitchen... grab the comet and see if i can't put some shine back into this relationship.  

cheers!

Ojai Fish. A New Painting.

Little Ojai Fish

(Not so little really. 36”x36” acrylic, ink, gold leaf and paper on canvas)

XO,

April

no worries, doll

posted by:  jennifer

i know, i know.... just last week i posted a list of 99 worries and now here i am with this post.  this is the life inside my head.   and anyway,  this really is a remedy for those pesky worries we all get... especially those young people in our lives who are worried about having a bad dream, or are afraid of the dark, maybe about an upcoming event at school.

the other day maya was telling me she didn't like to go to bed because she was afraid she would have a bad dream.  we talked about it, and then i remembered something i had done for emma when she was close to the same age.   

i had worry dolls when i was young, and so i thought i would get some for emma... this was back oh, 5 years + ago.  and when i looked into getting some, i was unimpressed.  they were so not cute.  i decided to make some for her.  she loved them... especially after she added eyes and a mouth to each of them... i hadn't,  and she likes things to have a face.  

so the other day, when i decided that maybe worry dolls might help maya, i decided to make her a set of them.   i thought i would share how i did it.

they can be as simple or elaborate as you care to make them.  mine have a basic body, and fancy attire.  the thing to remember is to think small.   i gave 5 to maya, and they all fit into a small ginger mint tin. the size of an altoids tin.  oh, and also, try not to spend any money on the project.  i used sticks from the yard for the bodies, and scraps of ribbon/trim/lace for their dresses. i used embroidery floss wrapped around the stick and glued down for the tops. and check out the hairdo on the one in the white dress.  a small tassel makes a great bouffant.   

sweet dreams baby girl....

and cheers!