Sapphires of September



Image via Simply Gemstones



Kashmir Sapphires
Image via Palagems



The Hall Necklace- 195 carats of sapphire
Currently at Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals at the Smithsonian
Image via DCPages



Image via GemSelect



Hey, wait a minute! What are those fancy colored stones doing in September's Sapphire post?


Well, it turns out that sapphires are composed of the aluminum oxide mineral corundum which comes in a variety of colors depending on trace amounts of other elements such as iron, titanium, or chromium. But be careful now because corundum heavy on the chromium is actually--- wait for it ---- a ruby. So- sapphires can be almost any color, depending up the traces of other elements, unless they are red. Red sapphires are not sapphires, they are rubies. And then there is my very favorite gemstone (so far!) the Padparadscha sapphire, the drop dead gorgeous pink-orange gem in the upper right corner of the photo above.



So now you may be asking yourself if September's birthstone must be blue? In short- no, it doesn't. But blue has been the most popular color for sapphire. It is also the most common color of sapphire, which is why sapphires, no matter their color, are called sapphires, from the Latin "sapphirus" for blue though a few other sources attribute the name to the Persian word "safir", meaning "beloved of Saturn" Blue sapphires get their color from iron and particularly titanium. Sapphires in other colors are identified by that color: pink sapphire, yellow sapphire, etc. Except red sapphire because that's a ruby. Are y'all trying as hard as I am not to be confused?



Image via Molecular Expressions



Sapphires are formed when corundum crystals are exposed to high heat and pressure. They form in various igneous (cooled magma) or metamorphic (rock subjected to heat or pressure to such an extent that it changes form) rocks.





Corundum



Sapphire bearing corundum
Both images via ehow



Corundum has a hexagonal structure and is second only to diamonds in strength. Because of this strength, corundum does not easily wear or erode and is often found in alluvial deposits. This means the stones, having been formed deep below the earth's crust and brought to the surface by volcanic activity, wash out in streams and other waterways, some that no longer exist. These stones are sometimes "cemented" to the existing matrix but mining this type of sapphire is difficult. Because of sapphire's specific gravity (measurement of density compared to that of water), they do not generally travel too far from their source in an alluvial deposit.



Worlds' largest star sapphire, the 536 carat Star of India. About the size of a golf ball.
Image via Weldon





Sometimes corundum will form with needle-like inclusions of Rutile. When these needle-shaped inclusions reflect light in the shape of a star, which appears to travel over the surface of the stone when cut. This is called asterism.

So where do we find sapphires? All over! Top producers of this gemstone include such places as Brazil, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Thailand, Madagascar and Australia.  Even good ol' Montana gets in on the act.

Image via The Natural Sapphire Company

For centuries, Sri Lanka has been the primary source for fine gem quality sapphires though Madagascar became the world leader in production as of 2007. Sri Lanka, where mining has occurred for over 2,000 years,  maintains strict regulatory controls over how and where mining may take place in order to prevent destruction of the land. Sri Lanka also monitors their workers to ensure that they receive fair treatment.

Myanmar (Burma), which produces some of the world's most beautiful rubies, also produces very fine sapphires. These stones tend to be very deep blue in color. As we  learned with Rubies, many countries have called for a ban on trade in Burmese gems due to human rights abuses such as forced labor and child labor in Myanmar.



12mm Kashmir Diamond Ring
Image via Better Than Diamonds

Then there are the Kashmir sapphires. Let me quote from The Natural Sapphire Company:

Kashmir sapphires were found in a very remote mountainous region of India in the late 1800’s. The stones were in most cases exceptionally fine quality. The color tone term “cornflower blue” was coined from these stones. The term is generally described as “velvety” or “sleepy” being that the color is very soothing and appealing. The deposit was exhausted by the 1920’s and there have been no new finds in the Kashmir area.

For this reason the prices for Kashmir sapphires have been wildly valued. Prices can be 10 times the cost of a comparable blue sapphire from another country.

Blue Sapphires, because they are more rare than diamonds, have long been given for engagements by royalty. Princess Diana's diamond encircled engagement ring, now firmly entrenched on Kate's finger, is perhaps the most famous royal sapphire engagement ring in recent years. Large sapphires are rare and often attract fame and myth. The largest star sapphire is the Star of India at an amazing 536 carats. Discovered about three hundred years ago in Sri Lanka, the Star of India was donated to the American Museum of Natural History by the financier J.P. Morgan. Later the infamous burglar Jack Murphy, Murph the Surf, stole the stone. Its recovery two months later only added to its fame.

And the lore, ah the lore. Ancient Persians believed the entire Earth was held in place inside a massive sapphire stone and that the blue sky was a reflection of sapphires. Buddhist culture believes that sapphires lead to prayer and in many religions sapphires represent the heavens and holiness. In the Middle Ages, sapphires were believed to ward off many diseases and ailments, and were seen as a symbol of purity.

21.55 carat rough cut brown sapphire
Image via IOffer

If you are a September baby, specifically a Taurus (though I strictly do not follow astrology) and you wear a sapphire, it is believed by some  that you will not only be protected from but also cured from mental disorders. For the rest of us, sapphires are said to protect the innocent,  bestow truth, promote good health, and preserve chastity.

Ancient Persians ground sapphire for use as an all purpose medicine and in the Orient, Saturdays were the day to wear blue, including blue sapphires which were believed to promote wisdom. Blue sapphire was also believed to promote sincerity and faithfulness as the stone would dim if one's spouse had been untrue. Tradition holds that God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on tablets of sapphire. Blue sapphires were also believed to have gender, darker stones being female, the lighter stones being male. They were also believed to relieve mental tension and dispel depression.

  

Image via The Image

Pink sapphire is believed by some to enhance romance and relationships. Yellow sapphire supposedly enhances money-making schemes and gives leaders the ability to make right and wrong decisions. Oh? Let's pass some of those out! Yellow was also the color to stimulate intellect and remove toxins from the body. Green has been purported to stimulate the heart and therefore one’s capacity for compassion, loyalty, and trust in others.  They also enhance your ability to recall dreams. Purple sapphires improve meditation and are said to be effective in calming overwrought emotions while black sapphires help to build your career and improve your powers of intuition.

World's largest carved sapphire. Twenty-eight pounds,
about the size of an American football.
Image via Jewellry Monthly

When you're ready to go shopping, look for sapphires that are what's called "eye-clear" meaning no visible occlusions. Always ask to look at a stone of interest under a microscope and avoid those with deep occlusions that may reach the surface. Stones with these deep occlusions could shatter with hard impact. Sapphires are readily available up to 1 carat, larger stones being more expensive due to their rarity. Do not buy stones labeled "Specimen Grade" as these stones are of poor quality and have little value. Ask about any treatments to the stone. Most sapphires are heat treated to enhance color and clarity. The Natural Sapphire Company has extensive information on common treatment methods as well as some interesting before and after photos. Actually, if there is anything at all you want to know about sapphires, go to The Natural Sapphire Company. They even have a place to make your Wish List!  Natural, untreated stones are more valuable but also most costly as they are not readily available. This will generally mean that you do not want to purchase your sapphire at the counter of a department store as they generally do not have information specific to the stones you are considering. Oh! Did you notice I used the plural? Stones, not stone. Just a little slip there. Star sapphires should have a well-defined star and are generally cut in a dome shape (cabochon). The round or brilliant cut stone is usually more expensive than other cuts such as the pear or oval. As with the ruby, color is an important factor in determining value- avoid stones at either end of the saturation spectrum. Think of Goldilocks: Not too dark, not too light- just right.  Synthetic sapphires have been available since 1902. If a sapphire is labeled "created" or "cultured" it is not natural. Look for sparkle and fire. If it looks like glass it either is glass or not worth paying for.



Pink sapphire.
Image via Gem Select



So once you have your sapphires safely within your possession take good care of them. Because sapphires are so hard, they are generally very durable. Common sense tells us to avoid extremes of heat or cold as well as sudden impact. The old saying for jewelry in general goes "Put them on last, take them off first." Finish all of your primping, powdering, gelling, shellacking, and spraying before you don your gems. Best to take them off for household cleaning chores and things like swimming. Better safe than sorry. You can clean sapphires with warm water and mild dish liquid, using a soft tooth brush if needed. Ultrasonic cleaners can also be used. As with diamonds and rubies, store your sapphires in a separate soft cloth bag or in a separate compartment of a jewelry box. Because they are so hard, sapphires could easily scratch other jewelry.

Ready for a tour? Let's go...

Queen Victoria's Tiara, circa 1842
Image via The Dreamstress

Carved sapphire bat brooch. Sold at auction for $2,700
Image via Skinner Auctioneer & Appraisers



Natural (unheated) sapphire and diamond necklace. Victorian.
Image via Duke's Auctions

12-Ray purple star sapphire
Image via Gemology Online

Color Change sapphire.
Left- Incandescent light, Right- Fluorescent Light
Image via Professional Jeweler



Antique sapphire and diamond tiara. $100,440 at auction.
Oops- another tiara? I see a tiara only post in the future.
Image via Christie's



2 carat sapphire Edwardian Ring, circa 1910.
Image via Antiques Hot Spot


And just when I was beginning to think there were no sapphire butterflies, these lovelies came flittering in.

Image via Aspire Auctions



This one has only a smattering of sapphires but was way to gorgeous to leave out.


Enamel butterfly brooch with cab sapphire and old cut diamonds.
Image via Morelle Davidson Jewellry
Call for price. And if you have to ask, you can't afford it.



Multi-color sapphire and diamond ring.
Image via American Ring Store

Image via Perfect Jewels

OK- that's it. I can't take any more- too gorgeous. Bling overload!


Image via jzlikesab



Happy Birthday (some belated I'm sure- my apologies) to all of my September Butterflies. Like sapphires, you're each multi-colored and very precious.

And thank you all for visiting today. I appreaciate it.
See ya next time!

NOTE, 9/18/2011- After posting, I received an email from Anonymous with the following link regarding the Natural Sapphire Company, which is quoted in this post:

http://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.us/rebuttal-to-blog-posting-by-the-nsc.php

My Sapphire post went up on the12th. The above referenced post on The Natural Sapphire Company blog (find it under the "Company" tag) also went up on the 12th. Anonymous emailed me on the 13th. Pretty on top of things. The rebuttal post linked above is not dated as far as I can find and who actually wrote the rebuttal is not directly identified either. Not even when you send them an email via the "Contact US" tab on the page, which I did not do because, you know, who are they? Every other link on the other pages that I clicked on took me to Wild Fish Gems. I'm just sayin' what happened.

Anonymous wants us to be aware that there are some shenanigans going on over at the The Natural Sapphire Company. Apparently there have been complaints about credit card security, properly filling orders, stone substitution, doctoring photos, etc. I have been trying to figure it all out with some Internet research and, as with most things that hit the legal system, it's hard to do. Quite frankly, I do not have the time or interest in sorting out the legal troubles of the NSC. So let me say the following:

• I have not done business with The Natural Sapphire Company and do not know anyone there. For that reason, I did not recommend doing business with the NSC in this post.
• Business practices aside, the information about sapphires from the NSC appears to be legit. Since I am not a gemologist, I generally try to double check information so that it is correct for you. I stated that you should check out the NSC if there's anything you want to know about sapphires. That is not a recommendation to do business. Please let me know if you can verify information about sapphires quoted here from the NSC as not true.
• I am not defending the NSC. Illegal activity by anyone should, by all means, receive it's just rewards. Anyone who purchases costly items (or any item) over the Internet is kind of taking a risk. We should all know that by now and I do hope that you are being cautious.  I would want to see my bling in person before buying, instead of trusting a photo, so sending off several thousand dollars over the Internet would never be an issue. As if...  I am, quite frankly, just a bit put out with Anonymous, whose email may or may not have been part of the smearing going on between the two parties- I don't know and have no way of finding out. That's the problem with signing things anonymously. I say "put out" the way a child who is having a good time playing would when reminded by a parent that bedtime is coming, that caution needs to be taken, that chores are awaiting, or sugar is not good for us. "Awwww Mom, we were just looking at the bling." If legit, I truly do appreciate Anonymous's desire to caution us, otherwise it's kind of a buzz kill.

So have a good time looking at the pretty sparkly things but do keep an eye on your wallet.

Ten Years

Image via Our English

I was at work that beautiful early autumn Tuesday. The skies were clear as crystal here on the east coast. We watched the events of that day unfold with our patients. Some of us gathered in one gentleman's room, watching the television and discussing how anyone could accidentally hit the Trade Center. We were hoping it was an accident. Then we saw the second plane fly into the second building. We just stared at the TV for some time, no one daring to be the one to say it. Then the patient said quietly, "I think I'm going to be sick."

One of our Vietnam Vets began having nightmares that night.

On Wednesday, as happened in so many places, someone called in a bomb threat to the building adjacent to ours and we spent the morning evacuating patients. We knew it was a hoax yet there's that tickle in the back of your brain that says "But what if..." so we evacuated patients to the offices and waiting area on the other side of the building. One patient, his room closest to the adjacent building, refused to move. He was depressed. He wasn't moving. Our Vietnam Vet began hallucinating.  A ninety year old cardiac patient began crying and having chest pains. "Why would someone do this" was all she would say for the majority of the day. She refused to be moved back to her room after the building next door had been cleared.

That afternoon I learned that I knew someone who had been in 1 World Trade Center.

On Thursday I sat in the Emergency Room with a long time co-worker and friend as she was told that her husband had died of a heart attack on the golf course. She physically collapsed, just like the Trade Center buildings. To say that week sucked is putting it mildly and yet I was unscathed compared to others.

Image via My Portion

I used to say, at the time, that I was so glad I didn't have to explain all of this to my daughter, who was a toddler at the time. This past week they have been discussing the attack during chapel, Bible, and geography at her school. She has been asking us so many questions, tough questions. I see her sitting, staring away, and when I ask her what she's thinking about she says "Oh nothing" but a question about the World Trade Center follows soon afterwards.

I wish I could make more sense of this, ten years later. It is so hard not to let your heart be consumed by fear and hate. But as a Christian my response cannot be hate. Nor can it be fear. It is a conscious choice not to succumb to these emotions because I have chosen to trust Him. God allows us to choose and of course He wants us to choose Him, to love him of our own free will not coercion or fear, because He loves us with a strength that is overwhelming and humbling. Because He gives us free will, it naturally follows that not everyone chooses Christ. There are other voices in the world to listen to- to choose- and because of that there is hate. We all deal with it. And because He has given us free will, He also expects us, each of us, to bear the consequences of our choices. Unfortunately, that often means that others bear the consequences as well.

It's tough, this deciding to believe and to trust when some things in life are clearly unknowable, illogical, and terrifying. It's tough to answer a middle schooler's questions. How many conversations have we had about this in the past week?  I can see the fear and puzzlement in her eyes. I can see her struggling to make sense of it. How do you explain? I take her in my arms and say, "I don't know honey. We know what God has told us and I believe He will get us there. And one day God will take us in His arms and tell us 'You're safe now.'"

Say Something Nice & Then Play Some Music

I don't know, September has been odd. I've been soooo busy with soooo many projects. I started off the Labor Day weekend by sleeping for 15 hours straight. It was glorious, let me tell ya, but I've been completely out of sync until yesterday. I think it was yesterday. Was that Tuesday? Anyway, I thought about posting today with a "See ya in a few weeks when I get it together" message but I just love The Jungle and all of you, my sweet butterflies. So instead, I'll share a couple of videos with you. The first is "Say Something Nice" by Improv Everywhere, a "prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places". Yea, I had a boyfriend like that once in college, but I digress. You can check out the back story on "Say Something Nice" here.

Just love that quirky fun from people's hearts.

The next video is totally different and will not necessarily appeal to all of you. It's sort of a music geek thing. Now the truth is out- at the heart of it, I'm pretty geeky, nerdy, dorky. Which makes me think of this cartoon (though I am not a Magic: The Gathering player)---

So anyway, thanks to my parents, my family has some strong musical inclinations. We all have played one or two instruments at one time or another, some (present company excluded) are gifted singers. We all have definite areas of interest, preferences, and abilities and those areas cover a lot of territory, musically.

Since I'm kind of geeky, I love the computer nerd things that folks do with music. I mean have you seen the guy who programmed his scanner to play Bohemian Rhapsody? I love that song, no matter how you play it or who sings it. Anyway, I started piano in early grade school and the trumpet not too much later so I'm familiar with musical scores. They are another form written language that can be read and interpreted and I've always found them visually beautiful.



Image by Associated Press via TampaBay



So I love what this guy does with a thing called The Music Animation Machine MIDI file player. I know, you true audiophiles out there are rolling your eyes at me for just now finding the bandwagon and you're hoping I don't get on. Too late!! I downloaded the program and have my first attempt all planned out, but with things being soooo busy and Christmas tapping at the window... who nows...


I can't explain this well enough to do it justice, other than to say that it is a visual representation of what you are hearing. OK, that's a musical score, but this is dynamic so that you can see exactly where the musicians are and who is playing and who is playing what. It's a written language being spoken out loud before your very eyes! How's that for cramming in all the senses? I can hear more of the music by following that bar graph. Do take a listen and I'm sure at least some of you will find it interesting. There are a variety of songs posted and though Beethoven's Fifth is not a particular favorite of mine it is familiar to most of us. Plus I played this in an orchestra once and it's a hoot for trumpet players!!

Thanks for visiting today- I am so thrilled with each of your visits. I have been doing a little cooking and a couple of crafty things so maybe I can get those, plus September's birthstone, posted before, oh, I don't know... October.

Now go say something nice and then listen to some good music with your eyes closed.

So What About The Bowl?



We found this lamp in one of the (now burned to ashes) sheds after we bought our old farm place. I know nothing about milk glass other than it comes in other colors besides white and sometimes has hobnails. Our lamp is wired for electric so I'm not going to go out on a limb and call it a rare, very old piece other than the previous owners of our farmhouse seemed to have been pack-rats collectors of American Stuff and I'm sure it's old. Just not Valuable Old- maybe 1950's.  I did find one exactly like it on ebay with an asking prices of $30.

Image via ebay

There is a tiny row of hobnail at the top of the shade but the lamp has the feel of a mass-produced item. There are no maker's marks on the lamp. There are no chips or cracks but I did- gasp- spray paint the brass because, well, it was rusty and ugly and I wanted to spray it. The lamp casts a nice soft light when turned on, especially with a 15-watt bulb. My husband is not a read in bed kind of guy (too bad for him) so we rarely turn it on.

I've never been particularly drawn to milk glass other than to know that it's different and sort of nice and seems like all of my older friends and family had it in their homes when I was growing up. So I thought it was for old people. Isn't that funny, because now my professional field is Gerontology....   But like I say, it was never anything special to me. Take or leave it. There is this photo, however....



Image via iNetGiant


Now that's a pretty lamp.



So the thing with our bowl lamp is, what about the bowl? It has been receptacle to the baseball that my husband caught off an Andy Van Slyke homer at a Pirates game years ago but other than that.... what? Does anyone know what is supposed to go in the bowl? I did see a photo once of one with plastic flowers in the bowl but plastic flowers aren't really my go-to decor choice. Our bedroom is currently decorated in Late Hodge-Podge: both of our childhood dressers (painted a matching field green), a treadle sewing machine that belonged to my husband's grandmother, complete with drawers of sewing notions and all the accessories, and the bed but no head board just a Chinese worker shirt hanging on the wall that my folks brought back for Big Un. It never fit him- the Chinese seamstress who was suppose to custom make the shirt for my husband refused to believe that any human actually had those measurements. Guess there aren't that many 6'6" Chinese folks with the wingspan of a Condor.

Any ideas or suggestions- seashells, ribbons, pine cones, Hershey's Kisses? Because since we think we have decided to stay here maybe two more years, I will soon be putting The Master Bedroom Master Plan into action.

Please, because Zippy is the only one who has come up with anything so far.

It's Summer So It's Slaw

I'm not so much a fan of most mayo-based cole slaws because it's so easy to go way overboard with the mayo. I like just enough mayo to hold things together a bit. I don't like my cabbage doin' the backstroke in mayonnaise while I'm trying to eat it.



With all due respect and acknowledging that we all have our own foodie quirks, no, I wouldn't eat this- I just can't get past all that mayo.
Image via Kitchen Scrapbook

Not a big mayo gal. Potato salad rarely- just the way my mom makes it (the kind with the vinegar, not mayo- I'll share it with you some time). Chicken salad only if the cook is extremely judicious with the mayo. Egg salad and macaroni salad- under no circumstances. Cole slaw- again, gotta go with mom's on this. Except that I have been trying out some new cole slaw recipes this summer. Red cabbage slaw- excellent. And this nice little recipe I tried recently from Taste of the South Magazine. I picked up a copy of their special edition for the summer, Southern Favorites, and that's where I got this recipe for Bell Pepper Slaw.



Image via Taste of the South





The magazine has a nice photo of the slaw in a jar and the directions actually say to mix it in a big glass jar. Well, my big glass jar is a plastic juice jug so I did this in a bowl.















Before we start, let me make a comment about the photos in today's post. I decided to blog this after I started making the slaw and since one camera was on the third floor and the other had a dead battery, I went with Hipstamatic on the iPhone. It was an experiment. Y'all are into that, right?


So, let's get this slaw under way. You need:


1 (10-ounce) bag angel-hair slaw mix
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 large orange bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 large yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 large purple bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup white-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano

The magazine instructions say to put the slaw, peppers, and tomatoes in a glass lidded jar and shake to mix. OK- well. I put them in my old faithful big white mixing bowl.



I could not find purple bell pepper so I used a quarter head of red cabbage.

Don't forget the tomatoes, though if I made this again, maybe I would. Depends on my mood.

Lots of colors for your plate with this slaw!

I did use a quart canning jar to mix up the dressing. Shake it up good and hard, then pour it over the veggies.

There you go- one colorful slaw.

What would I do differently? Well, this recipe makes up a great big batch of slaw- just so you know. Maybe leave one of the peppers out (I know, I know) or use half of each kind if you don't need to feed the entire army. The three of us ate slaw for a couple of days. I tried to slice the bells as thinly as possible and sometimes that turned out better than others but I think I would chop them up a bit. The long slices were somewhat cumbersome to get on the fork and into my mouth- maybe that's just me. And I'm sort of on the fence about the grape tomatoes- they are nice but this slaw would be fine without. Finally, the dressing seemed to need ..... something. Definitely use fresh basil and if not, add some good ol' slaw stand by- celery seed.

Oh don't get me wrong, it's a nice recipe and it made it onto the Keeper list.

Just look how colorful and visually pleasing it is on the plate, even with some of that garish Hipstomatic filter knocked back.

And my husband's grilled chicken ain't nothin' to sniff at either. So try this recipe- let me know what you think.

Gosh- can you believe we're winding down the to the end of our summer? Pretty soon I will start to see little groups of Monarch butterflies gathering in the yard slurping greedily at the feeder, stocking up, or short little trains of them flittering past on their way to Mexico. I wanna go too!

Thanks for alighting here beside me today- y'all know I appreciate each visitor to the jungle. See next time for a glass of milk. Oh, no wait, for milk glass.

Sinister Things Going On At Our House

We live in this really old beat up antique house. It's an old farmhouse, soon 200 years old. We've done a tremendous amount of work on this house- nothing fancy or elaborate mind you, just trying to get it up to date. Have you wired a 200 year old house for modern living, which includes Internet and more than one outlet per room? Shesh! One thing, however, (OK, not the only thing) that we have not been able to change about this house since we became the current caretakers...

Photo by Augusta Serno via Flickr

... are the mice. That's just the way it is in an old house out in the country in the middle of a horse field. They love the Internet, by the way.

We did get the Sexy Psycho Serial Killer of a cat that first spring in the house and she truly was a prolific hunter in her younger days. Now she's a casual hunter. But she lives outside, which doesn't help us too much inside, and the Chihuahua, well...

... great as he was he had issues.

We used to set out traps and every morning we would "run the trap line" collecting carcases. Sorry if that offends any of you but please don't suggest we use no-kill traps or send mean emails. Trust me, the world will not run out of mice. I'm not even going to tell you the record for most mice in one day, set soon after we moved in, because it would make us look like Ben and Willard. It's just a farmhouse thing. Once, before the third floor was finished and we used the bedroom closet up there strictly as a closet but hadn't moved into that bedroom yet, I discovered one of my boots half full of dog food. Dog food is on the first floor, not the third. And that fringe on the rug in the computer room?

Oh well, who needs fringe? We trapped mostly in the fall and winter, spring and summers weren't so bad. And since we have acquired Remy the Rat Terrier...




(Seen here listening for the mouse to squeak again)



... the vermin haven't been around so much. We hear them scrambling in the walls in mid-winter but rarely see them any more. So you can imagine my surprise to find signs of mouse activity.

My husband and I each have a basket under our respective bedside tables for our Books-To-Read collections.

OK, I have two baskets but that's not the point. As I was cleaning up around there the other day, I discovered signs of nefarious activity.

Mmm huh-- chewing activity. And then something got stuck in the vacuum cleaner nozzle.

And then I found her, lurking under the bedskirt.

I don't play with Legos and Zippy is not allowed to haul her Legos up to our room. I mean, have you stepped on one of those things in the middle of the night in bare feet? So how did she get there? What would a sweet damsel, usually in such fun distress on the Lego Pirate ship, be doing in my bedroom?

You don't suppose there's something besides mice scurrying about in the night, do you? You don't suppose there's something much more sinister going on...

... like maybe they're nibbling away at my book basket in revenge for vacuuming up all their friends.

Oh that would hurt me deep. Maybe I should lay off the jokes about needing more vacuum cleaner bags every time Zippy gets more Legos.

And now- true confessions time. Half way through shooting the pictures for this post, I totally got it. I totally got why my Zippy loves Legos. They are really fun to play with. Yes, that makes me some kind of Lego Geek and the Nerd Quotient is already pretty high in our house. So be it. But honestly, you should give Legos a crack one afternoon when no one is home. Just be sure to get them all put away in the right place or Somebody is going to want to know, like the proverbial Goldilocks, "Who's been playing with my Legos?"

Starfish Suncatchers

Sorry about the wonky colors and photos in this post. I just couldn't get them right.

Every now and then I get on a Shrinky Dinks kick and I must be entering one of those phases now because I keep thinking of ways to fool around with Shrinky Dinks. I came up with this Star Fish Sun Catcher after seeing a post about star fish. This project was originally made for The Creativity Greenhouse, my other blog (because I like make myself insane by trying to keep up with two blogs) and you can click on over there to get the tutorial and all the discussion. Y'all know I get chatty so there are a good many hints and suggestions for working with the Shrinky Dinks. There are also some templates you can download for free to use with this project.

The only difference between this sun catcher and the one made by the tutorial on The Creativity Greenhouse is that the pieces of this one are joined together by jump rings instead of simply strung together with dental floss. Yes, I said dental floss. It's way easier to use dental floss for kids or folks who may not be able to work with the tiny little jumps rings and the tools. But do use beads that have some sparkle or an AB coating on them to get a bit of twinkle going. So go over to The Creativity Greenhouse and take a peek at the tutorial, grab the free templates if you would like, and fire up the oven.

I worked on this project during the height of our heat wave with all that terrible humidity. And as we live in an antique farmhouse, we don't have air conditioning. I was up at 2:00am a couple of times so I could fire up the oven without giving myself heat stroke. My family thought I was nuts but like I said, I'm entering a Shrinky Dink manic phase. Expect more.

Thanks for fluttering past today-- I'm always so grateful for each visitor to the jungle. This is a short post today and mainly re-directs you elsewhere but it's been a busy back-to-school week around here. Trying to get into the routine again, which means 4:30am. I could just stay up and craft!!!

See ya next time.