Wolf's Den

Was cleaning out the back room closet and found a scrapbook with lots of photos of friends from Okinawa, cards and a few like this. We have so few of her when she was younger.



Dante-Inu at age 3. May 1997. She was obviously blowing coat.

This was my paternal grandmother, the last grandparent on my dad's side. Seems the dementia had gotten really bad the last few months, and it was to the point where she'd forgotten how to even swallow.

She didn't know anyone anymore- didn't remember me 2 years ago when I last saw her in fact.

They had her on morphine towards the last few hours and called my cousin Kimberly in to be with her. Around noon/1pm, she just slipped away.

They brought her back to Battle Creek from Grand Rapids (in Michigan), to the funeral home where her arrangements had been made awhile ago, and had a small family service. She's likely being cremated as I type this.

I have a lot of fun memories growing up and spending summers at their cabin. And that's the best way to remember her.

I took myself outside, weeded my front Iris bed, a couple containers, pulled out the #$%%^&#% Chamomile that's insistant upon taking over, trimmed the Horehound of dead ends and propped the Lavender and Rosemary back up- they seem to think it's their duty to hide the walkway or something, who knows.

Got a big bucketful of weeds(well, Bachelor's Buttons I didn't want crowding out the Irises this year) and dead stuffs for the compost bin and I smell like Rosemary.

The Lilac is covered in blooms that when the wind blows just right, the scent of which drifts into the house. The Wisteria I can see from my desk is just starting to open its buds and it's covered in them. The Clematis on the fence is bud loaded and the few along the porch and slowly waking up.

The back hill is covered in violets. They're competing with the Dandelions for a lovely riot of color. The Forsythia is just finishing blooming and the Mock Oranges are slowly budding out. There's a bee, probably a resident Carpenter Bee (I have a section of fencing in a remoter area of the yard where they started a colony. It was moved there from closer to the house expressly for that purpose. They're great pollinators and as long as they leave the house along, I'm good with them being here.)

The Rhubarb is leaving out, the 5 HollyHocks that I started from seed gathered from my dad's gardens last year, are growing rapidly. One of the Bronze Fennel is coming back. There were 2, but they're roughly 5 years old, so not surprised one isn't coming back this year.

The Dwarf Azalea out front under the white Buddelia is about to burst into bloom, which means that up the mountain at Happy Hollow Gardens, they're likely about to bloom as well. Would be an excellent time for a ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

There's a pair of Goldfinches visiting the feeders this year. The Carolina Wrens haven't returned to build a nest on the porch, unfortunately. In fact, I haven't seen them lately.}:(

I do need to trim some dead ends on the Lilac and Wisteria, but for now, I'm just enjoying the sights and smells.

For the April Daring Cooks Challenge, Lisa from Parsley, Sage and Sweet has challenged us to debone a whole chicken, using this video by Jacques Pepin as our guide; then stuff it, tie it and roast it, to create a Chicken Ballotine.




This was an interesting and fun Challenge. Very tasty too. And not as difficult as it sounds really. I watched the video twice through the day I made the Challenge. Then, I had Mark on hand to pause it as needed and had the whole chicken deboned in under 15 minutes. Not too shabby for a first try, eh?

( More! )

Safety First!
Handmade Kumihimo Cuff
7" long x 2" wide

Fits wrists 7" to 9"

* * *

Tired of not coordinating your accesories with your safety orange hunting vest? Missing the neon orange of the 80s? Want some dayglo orange for that rave coming up? Want to dazzle the school kids at your crossing guard job?

Look no more!

Safety First! is a handmade 8 strand kumihimo cuff made from dayglo/safety orange yarn, I believe to be 100% acrylic, possibly acrylic/wool blend. This awesomely bright yarn is from the Team BNA Traveling Swap Box and found its home with me.

This is a fun cuff! It features a gloriously cool handmade stoneware flower by Lisa Peters ART, securely attached to the cuff with a Czech glass druk bead in teal with a vitrial coating. The flower itself color coordinates with the cuff itself, with a glazing of cobalt, hints of teal and bright orange.

The ends of this spectacularly bright- and I mean bright!- cuff are handbeaded in peyote stitch, using 6lb FireLine, with Czech glass seed beads in cobalt and teal. The clasp is a silver plated extension chain and lobster claw clasp.

Amaze your friends! Blind the deer or wild turkey or men or whatever you chose to hunt! Flash back to the 80s! Where ever you wear it, Safety First! is sure to turn heads! If not completely blind people!

The first 3 photos are taken in direct sunlight- including this one. They serve to show just how bright this cuff is. The last 2 photos were taken in indirect sunlight. When I say neon, I mean neon!

Available HERE!(For now, Zibbet and Artfire soon.)

Got around to doing the April Daring Cooks Challenge last night. It wasn't as difficult as it seemed. Only took 15 minutes to do the main part. And man was it good too. No, I can't tell you what it is for 4 more days.

I have all my windows open and have had them open, day and night, for the past two days. This is nice. Aries and Morrigan are loving it.

The forsythia out back is in full bloom. The mock oranges are leafing out. The Wisteria vines on the fence, that I can see from my desk, are loaded with flower buds that get larger by the day. Most of the irises have all come back and several of the daffodils and narcissus have either finally bloomed or will soon.

Whatever was causing Caena's skin issues seems to be ever so slowly clearing up, finally.

Almost finished with a new cuff. Just doing the last of the beadwork, then it can get photographed today for listing this evening. This was a fun cuff.



Mark got me a real Mah Jongg set. Hee. Now I just need to learn how to really play.

And I turned 40 today.

Someone thought it was potentially a bug that not all items were showing up in Search.

It's not a bug. It's deliberate.



"Laura from lauramhood says

.
Hi there,

I want to share the same response I posted in a separate thread for anyone that did not see it...

Thanks for the questions. I I can confirm that the behavior you're seeing is not a bug, rather, we're testing a different type of experience with a small percentage of visitors to Etsy.

I'm unable to share specific details during the test because it could potentially influence the results, but please be rest assured that only a low number of visitors are seeing this test and we're monitoring the results very closely with all types of sellers and buyers in mind.

Thanks,
Laura"

WHY?!?

WHY would you do this?!? As a buyer, I'd want to be able to see ALL of my options, not have them arbitrarily picked over for me before hand! Why does Etsy think I need a shopping experience chosen by them instead of by ME? Why does Etsy think ANYONE wants their shopping experience picked and chosen FOR them beforehand?!?

As a seller who regularly buys supplies and such on Etsy, this is absurd! Why is Etsy arbitrarily deciding what I should see instead of me doing that for myself?

Are they trying to drive sellers off the site? Because if their listings are going to be hidden for no real reason, then that's what's going to happen.

I really do not understand this 'test' whatsoever, all it's going to do is hurt sellers in the long run.

And also, how is this not considered a form of Bait and Switch? Which is ILLEGAL. Pay for something, expect to get that specific something and instead get something completely different?

We pay for our items to be listed in search and viewable by anyone who comes to the site for 4 months at a time.

If they are deliberately hiding a significant number of listings, then we are NOT getting what we are paying for!

I do not understand the thinking behind Etsy anymore. First the test combining OUR SHIPPING WITH OUR ITEM COSTS- which confuses the hell out of everyone, as well as shows incorrect pricing on sites such as Wanelo. Then the beta test a new Forum format which looks gods awful and takes away anyone who's muted's ability to report a violation there. And is apparently being streamlined for those with smartphones- iphones and androids only! No Windows phones or Blackberrys or any other smartphones need apply!- and ipads.

And there's the new listing page beta test which shows exactly ONE photo of a listing and isn't clear that there are others or that there may be shipping to other places than what is shown. Oh and changing the autopay to default to the credit card on file INSTEAD of the paypal account that had been selected as the payment processor- THAT screwed a lot of people up and they never once mentioned it until it was brought up in the bugs forum.

And who the devil knows what other tests they're running that we haven't found out about yet.

It's just... ugh.