Fire in the Sky

sunset and moonrise

Here's a couple pics from earlier in the week, and of course its because of the smoke in the air that they look like this. We've had more clear days lately. I haven't even checked the news to see what fires are still going. Like I've said before, and I'll say it again, we've been lucky so far--no fires near us. I live near a road that people take to reach part of the American River. We always seem to get at least one fire near the river canyon where some idiot obviously throws out a cigarette or something to start the fire. I don't know how many times I've been on the freeway and I see some idiot hauling his trailer full of toys and the connecting chains are dragging on the ground shooting off sparks. Duh! all it takes is a little spark (like Smokey the Bear says) to start the fire, and they just keep driving oblivious to what they cause. Ok enough of that!

I put together a sewn paper banner, my first, but I'm not too happy with it. I wanted to use some embelishments I already had on hand and incorporated them with some of my trims and papers. I decided to start out small and used the word "NEST" as my inspiration. I'll be putting it in my etsy art shop.

A confused butterfly

The Heat, Smoke and Lack of Creativity

We’ve had such a mild summer I guess I’ve been a little spoiled. Until NOW! OMG its freakin’ hot, feels like Arizona (except they have dry heat there, lol). I’m here in the Sierra Foothills (about 2300’) and for the last couple days its been hot, hot, hot. We do have central air but I don’t even want to imagine what the PGE will cost with running it. According to the thermostat it’s about 104 in the shade. Add to that, we’ve had smoky skies for weeks (a day of clear air here and there), but at night you can smell the smoke in the house if you leave a window open. The kids and I like to walk in the evening but haven’t for weeks because of the smoke. I’m getting “cabin fever” stuck inside. ARGH!

My good for nothin' cat who has survived the perils (coyotes, etc.) of country living for about 12 yrs now, decided to leave a present on the porch the other day. It must have fallen from the sky, 'cause I know she's too lazy to hunt. A quail was left intact for me to find. It had the prettiest plumage and I saved a few feathers. I wanted to take a few pics and when I set them out they fell into the shape of the bird (somewhat) so I grabbed a few things that were right there on my desk and created this hommage to the quail. Don't get me wrong, I really do love this old cat. A couple years ago she was attacked by one of my jack russells, and I sat with that cat overnight and then nursed her back to health, so we have a special bond.

Trying to keep my garden green in this heat!

I haven’t been able to create anything in the last week, can’t get any ideas, or maybe there’s just too many ideas, I can’t settle on any one thing to start. I think I’ll look thru my old Somerset Studios issues to see if I can get any ideas, if not, there’s always the eye candy.