Week 52 ~ Saying Goodbye

This is the final week for Focus on Life... year  1... I have posted every week....

I'd really rather not say goodbye to this group!  It's been a lot of fun... Sally announced last week that the group would be continuing. The 'blog' signups for year two have started so some of us won't be saying good-bye! 

What have I said goodbye to this year...  My tacky country kitch kitchen

The sink is just out of this picture to the right.  You can't really see the vinyl wall paper with little blue houses all over it  (GACK)

Same wall, same counter top refinished... window used to be above sink and didn't look outside... oven hood will be put back together after tiles have been grouted... stove is where the sink used to be  Fridge is now where all the drawers are in the 'country kitch kitchen'

My mother said goodbye to the condo that they moved in to in October  2010, when she was moved into extended care , (shortly after her 90th birthday) dad is wait listed to be moved into the same complex.  So the condo will need to be cleaned out.....

To see what other people have said goodbye to click on the following links!

Week 51 ~ togetherness

Once again I am totally reinterpreting the prompt...  'Togetherness"

What is a north American toilet without toilet paper

We're always happy when these are together!

The cats have chosen who they want to be together with!

I'm actually trying to knit!

What we usually spend New Years Eve doing... I got started early this year!

To see how other people interpetted togetherness click on the following links!

INLINKZ CODE FOR WEEK 51:

Ornament swap and hop...

If your looking for 'week 50'  ~Pops of Red..scroll down!

Another blog hop facilitated by Sally Russick... What would you have seen on this blog without her prompting this year?  VERY LITTLE!

My partner in the Swap was Paula Kramer (Cave Creek Beads) from Arizona... would love to be in Arizona today as it's offically COLD here!

Paula sent me two beaded ornaments  I should have photographed them separately ... a sparkly white beaded icicle  doesn't show up on a white background and a dark blue star doesn't show up on an open wire tree!

Ornaments hanging on the side of my photocube...

Ornaments straddling a beaded ball that my mother bought in India years ago.... (the icicle is trying to spin... so wouldn't focus!)

Almost in focus together on the tree.. Aren't the pretty?

The ornament I sent her.

My computer decided to be helpful and changed what I originally wrote which was 'Two lovely beaded ornaments" to "Two Love Beads"... sorry computer I did notice your attempt to hijack my post!

Too see all the other handmade ornaments follow the links below!

Sally Russick and Beth and Evie McCord

Erin Prais-Hintz and Melissa Trudinger

Karen Williams and Shirley Moore

Lori Finney and Alicia Marinache

D Lynne Bowland and Paula Kramer

Kim Bender Hora and Jenny Davies Reazor

Becky Pancake and Lori Anderson

Veralynne Malone and Therese Frank

Tanya Goodwin and Sandi Volpe

Jeanette Ryan and Rochelle Brisson

Patti Vanderbloemen and Susan Kennedy

Week 50 ~ Pops Of Red

Focus on Life ... week 50

My entire kitchen bathroom reno was designed around pops of red... It all started with a tiny bright red fibre-glass bathroom sink that I found on the deep discount table at the local hardware store...

So much for cheap... I think those red glass tiles more than made up for the cheap sink!
(my Christmas hand towel from Sears with the red light bulb!)

Part of the refinished original kitchen counter..
 the cutting board and  'silicon' colander were a gift from my son a couple of years ago.  The back-splash tiles are being put up today... They're limestone in the kitchen ... not red glass!

The fish is cast paper.. I bought her on the outer-banks last fall...  Yep she's on the kitchen wall above the toaster... her lips match the toaster perfectly!

I saw this toaster in St John's NL 18 months ago... and decided it needed a new home

To see how other people interpreted Pops of red click on the following links!

week 49 ~ Add a Little Sparkle

Only three weeks of 'Focus on Life' left after today!

Haven't decorated my wire tree yet...  Thommy thinks it's her new hidey hole!

Top right picture was not a planned image!

Sparkling new floor... Actually it's the original kitchen floor from when the house was built in the 40's refinished!

To see what's sparkling in other peoples lives this week check out the following links!

Week 48 ` Giving Thanks

Focus on Life... Only 5 weeks left including today's

Not being an American... this isn't Thanksgiving weekend.. So what did I have to give thanks for this week

The nice Canada Post delivery person showed up with my new computer!  

So here is my "computer unpacking -  collage" including a picture of the 'postie's ' car backing up the driveway!

When did computers join the age of disposable commodities?

To see what other people are giving thanks for this week click on the following links!

Week 47 ~ CENTERPIECE

Focus on life.....  Only 5 more weeks of prompts before I have to come up with my own ideas of what to write and photograph every week!   The 'Focus on Life' blog post could easily make it as the focus of my week... so not sure what I'll do next year... who's going to take over when Sally's done?  

Here's a look at what I think of when I hear Centerpiece.......

Top picture is the dining room table...  which I cleaned off Sunday before I got Sally's prompt... Hasn't been totally usable since my 50thy birthday (2006)  Unreliable Internet is causing all sorts of surfaces I haven't seen in years to be found!) Bottom image is kitchen table... meet Stanley He's the resident scare-crow and is very quick to point out that there hasn't been a single crow dead or alive in the house in the 4 years since he took up residence... in spite of lack of crows his plants aren't very healthy! (as per most artists there is both a bottle of weld bond and a tube of silicon on the table!  There was also a spiders web this morning going from the salt grinder to the light fixture... I used the salt last night at supper!)

But here's what I think of when I apply Sally's definition

 The central most important feature of my day... 

This picture was taken Christmas Day 2008.. normally I spend an hour reading in the hot tub after supper.. unless it's raining haven't figured out how to keep the book dry when it's raining ... or if it's too windy  my hands freeze.  Love watching the moon rising and the clouds in the evening

You'll have to settle for a day time view from the hot tub... actually lying down on the deck trying to get the angle I would have if I'd been in the hot tub....

No I don't have my computer back... my house is getting clean!  My laptop...puts words anywhere any everywhere goes on and off line and is thouroughly annoying... One hour a day is all I can handle!

To see other people's 'centerpieces' click on the links below!

Week 46 Reflections

Week 46   Reflections

Lobster season officially started on Tuesday... however our weather on Monday and  Tuesday was not conducive to being out in small boats....  We were watching these traps being loaded onto a scow on Wednesday morning... I had no sooner come into the house after taking this picture when a squall blew through! 
This was suppose to be longer but my ethernet card (connection to the internet) fried about the time I was going to write this...  So I'm using a tiny laptop... after trying to get my other computer to work for the last couple of hours!  So I'm reflecting on life before the internet....

Week 45- Industrial Photography

Focus on Life... week 45 only 7 more weeks, will I make it without missing a week?

Living on a small island where the main industry is fishing  My industial photographs are pictures of fishing gear between seasons.....

 part of a flounder rig

scallop dragging gear

:Lobster traps that should be in the water soon, as lobster season starts on Tuesday!

To see how other people interpreted Sally's prompt check on the following links!

Week 44~ Saints, Souls, Sugar Skulls and Scares

Focus on Life: 8 weeks left until 2014 is over... Where has the year gone.. Have I posted even once this year where Sally Russick  didn't give me the prompt... what will happen to my blog next year? Now that is really SCARY!

Peter peaking over the shrubs, We've had him for about 10  years... he was vandalized once by humans and once by deer...  It's really hard to sew patches onto a giant pumpkin!

Peter and the Punks... the punks get to stay out until Christams I bought them santa hats at the $ store  My son thinks I'm totally weird!

I actually made these beads last year...
Should make more as they are fun to make!

Hey mommy this is a Hallowe'en blog... don't forget me!
Little Miss helpful ... just doing her job!

To see how other people interpreted this weeks pormpt click on the following links!

Week 43 - In the Shadows

Focus on Life  Week 43 of Sally Russick's weekly photo prompt!

"Only the Shadow Knows for Sure"   Sorry couldn't resist... If you recognize the quote your probably at least as old as me... (although the program was rerun in the 80's which is when I heard it!)

I went outside on Wednesday morning to take shadow pictures and realized after a few minutes that the most interesting shadow was the one that I was casting while I was taking pictures sitting on the steps!

I hate mornings in October... I want daylight savings time to end when it used to...  I don't care when it gets dark in the evening but I hate it still being dark at 8 am in October... Actually if you get right down to it I don't see the point of DST at all!  End rant!

Week 42 - All in a Day

Focus on Life week 42

Mmm How to deal with this, I'm a self employed gallery owner and jewellery artist....  So some days I make beads.. 

In the summer I always start and end the day by putting out open flags... this season of the year it's by chance or appointment!

These beads were made for someone... well I needed 9  think there's 22 or 23 there (my hearts are free form no mold! other than what grows on them when I forget them in a bucket of dirty water)

Some days I make components

occasionally I even make them into pieces of jewellery!

Enamelled components for a gallery show in SK

(I cut out the cow skulls using a blanking mold and my hydraulic press!)  Enamelled pinwheels made into earrings... yes they do spin!

Most days in October I pick grapes

OK the grape vine picture is from Sept when the grapes were green... but it's pouring rain today so ... Big picture is processing grapes to make a orange cranberry pecan loaf using 'concord' grapes...I probably bake 3 times a year...

Most evenings I knit

These Socks are a triple first... First time  I've knit from the toe up, First time I've knit two socks at once, and First time I've knit socks using circular needles.... These are for my husband... they ended up a bit big!
 Two at once is fun, knitting on circular needles sucks, and I quite like the way the heel looks on these.... 

One evening this week some of the resident deers wandered past during supper

She had two fawns earlier in the summer but one seems to be gone, also she has been running around on three legs most of the summer... still is so I'm not sure how she'll do this winter!

And I read.... Most evenings in the hot tub...

This week was book bus week, the bus comes to the island once every 4 weeks, I missed the Sept stop...
The top two book are by Alan Bradley... a series about a 12 year old girl in England trying to figure out creative ways to 'kill' her two older sisters.  I usually get about 10 books and get through 7 or 8....

But I start everyday by feeding my fish, Sophie , winding my cuckoo clock, and grabbing a cup of coffee... I actually end the day by turning off Sophie's light and winding the cuckoo clock again, as it was hung two inches too low to make it twenty -four hours!

I had this post all queued to post tonight then realized I forgot to mention the hours I waste on the computer every day... no need for pictures you all know what a computer looks like!

To see how other people spend their days click on the following links!

week 41 Connections

Focus on life week 41 and yes this is my 41st post in this blog hope... I haven't missed a week ... yet.........

Some weeks it's hard too look beyond Sally's pictures for original ideas especially when one makes jewellery... so this is my cop out picture....

 The toggle 'connection' for my blue iceberg beer bottle necklace.  The ring is the neck of the beer bottle fused...

Here's the brown version of the necklace
and here's some of the beads pre necklace

And this is my version of connections... a duck  marionette  that I bought the fall we moved here for my (16 year old) son.  This is the patriarch duck every family that is even vaguely related to me also has received one of these ducks.  Mine likes stealing  cat food. 

This is Emm think he's about 9 weeks old here!
& yes that duck just stole his food... He'd like to connect his claws to that evil marionette!

Emm refuses to share now with duck... floor in kitchen is still missing flooring!  'Duck' does get to go for regular walks....

To see how other people are connected click on the following images!

Week 40 Give us a smile....

Focus on  Life....Today Friday October 6 is 

World Smile Day...  

I love Simon's cat videos... found this picture on FB yesterday after attempting to take pictures of my cats 'smiling' 

 Thought it was appropriate for this weeks prompt!
(Thanks to Simon Tofield for creating his cartoons!)

"Since 1999, the first Friday of October has been named World Smile Day.
The concept was the brainchild of Harvey Ball, a commercial artist from Worcester, Massachusetts. Harvey is best known for creating the iconic Smiley Face symbol and after being concerned about the original meaning of his design being lost through over commercialization, he came up the idea of World Smile Day.
According to the official website, Harvey "thought that we, all of us, should devote one day each year to smiles and kind acts throughout the world."
Will you be doing anything to mark World Smile Day? "

Here's my cats smiling!

Think Emm is auditioning for Grumpy Cat

Yea I'm Cute!  & I'm Smiling!

If you turned this thing on it would be a lot warmer!

This would be a lot more comfy if she'd get rid of all that 'test' jewellery!

Check on the following links to see other people's smiles! :)

Week 39 "hit me with your best shot1'

Focus on Life week 39....

Well since I'm not at home and this lap top has no pictures on it ... my best shot is limited to what I've taken in the last week..... or so

Not sure if these are my best but they are sort  of neat

I thought that this was a really neat driftwood sculpture... it's actually cast bronze.. It's in the Chattanooga sculpture garden!

This is actually drift wood it's the Ocracoke  schoool mascot

(taken after dark with a flash!) 

To see other people's best shots click on the links below!

Week 38... "Quiet Moment"

Focus on Life...  Quiet  moment... Do those actually exist in the modern world?

Once again my mind was a blank... I've been sitting in these chairs outside my room all week, but it wasn't until last evening while I was 'counting sheep' that it occurred to me that they were the perfect subject....  Let me present the rocking chairs on the deck of Spark's Lodge at William Holland lapidary school.

(Young Harris GA)

Rocking Chairs!

What am I doing here?  Learning how to use the hydraulic press that I got a really good deal on 4 years ago but have been too chicken to use!

To see other peoples quiet moments click on the links below! or check out Sally's blog  the studio sublime

Creating with Cabachons

Another blog hop thought up and brought to you  by Ms Sally Russick of the Studio Sublime.  I like having to get my mind around these challenges but... I never sell the jewellery that I make...  It's hanging off the edges of my photo cube and I have run out of room...

No more challenges... when I submit my name just email me back and say I can't participate...  I need some sort of no more jewellery challenge therapy group!

What did I do this time...  Well I didn't follow Sally's cabbing instructions.. that would have been too easy... I got my first cab from Paula Kramer, she was gifting some polymer clay pieces that she bought... This cab came in two sizes I of course had to use the big one... Oh and did I forget to say that those are size 15 seed beads!

I make lots of little pyramid beaded beads and decided that I would just enlarge one side of the pyramid to make the back for the cab....  well even though it looks triangular it really wasn't....  I persisted started over a number of times... will I ever wear this NO!

My second piece I actually like... it will be worn!

This bead got chosen because it had a tiny crack...  BOO I call these beads fresh from the weir... they are suppose to represent sardines in a can, I flat lapped the back of the bead  the claws are soldered into holes that I punched into the back plate.  I actually added some chemical bonding (glue) to the top and bottom of the cab... mainly to hide what was still visible of the mandrel hole but also to secure it to the base

The chain is all handmade components.

To see what other people made click on the following links!

week 37 - in Motion

Focus on Life in Motion... Now I know I have taken some great pictures of the cats yawning but after laughing at them I delete them so instead of seeing motion here's some pictures from the ferry a couple of weeks ago of my husbands sail boat Eurydice (aka Money Pit) waiting to pick me up and take me to the Roosevelt Cup reception at Prince Cottage... this is definitely the highlight of the sailing season in this area and the only thing I close the gallery for to attend!

Pictures of Eurydice  taken from The island hopper as we approach Campobello NB

This is the Island hopper 11 a private ferry that runs from Deer Island NB to Campobello NB,

The ferry is a barge driven by a tug that swivels so it is always going forwards...

Monkey pit coming home from a hard days sail!  Oops Eurydice coming home from a hard days sail! (Boat looks much better with the sails up!

Click on the following links to see how other people interpreted in motion!