T Stands for Windy & Bird Feeders

    It's time for T Stands for Tuesday-find link in my sidebar, anyone is welcome just share a drink related photo in your post.

  Since early Saturday evening it has been non stop strong winds here-my guess is over 25 miles an hour, and up to at least 50. I am typing this post up around 4:30 pm Sunday and the wind has not stopped. Driving me crazy and on edge for sure-I do not like wind like this.

  Not much happening here, except I am still spinning most every day-getting a more even yarn each time I spin now . I am still spinning the Nash Island Maine rare wool that I shared last time. These sheep live on an island mostly to themselves-until they need sheered and taken care of. I am up to 4 niddy  noddy's full now.

  I love the feel and texture of this wool.

We still have had no rain now for several weeks-I will need to get the garden hoses up out of the basement and hooked up so I can water the perennials and bulbs this week. I did get one side weeded on Saturday, and I planted my German Chamomile and red yarrow that I grew from seed in the bottles.

  This is the first blooming Iris

    Larry has been making us more bird feeder poles along with the one I just purchased.

   I am finding more items available at Wal Mart online-with free delivery as well-right to my door. It is where I found this stand, and on sale I also found a better quality bird seed at their online store too-and they carry it down the hill and steps for me-smile 😀

This was a nice tall stand and has these four decorative hangers. It also came with a little basket for seed or fruits-thinking oranges for the orioles, a bird bath plastic dish, a suet holder, and a small tube seed feeder. Some of these other parts Larry is making us new feeder poles along with some vintage parts. This is one of them-looking through our wall of windows that faces the lake-these windows go all the way to the sides of the this wall both left and right. So of course I fell in love with this view. We do get hammered with boat traffic in the summer though-but I tell myself its only 4 months out of the year  We need to replace this deck-as it is in bad shape.

I thought I had another photo of the other stand he made for me-but it is above this squirrel in the corner The squirrels and chipmunks are huge pests here as they have no predators at the lake-so we have to chase them off in the mornings when I first fill the feeders.

  I am still adjusting my new camera for zooming in, but we saw a sailboat over the weekend

     Sunday was a nice day for us. Our friend called to say he wanted to bring us lunch and for us to meet his new fiance. His wife passed a couple years ago from an operation on her lungs. She was my friend that drove me to Yellowstone Park back in 2017 because I wanted to see the park so badly. I have always been so grateful for that trip.  His  fiance was not at all what we were expecting, but we liked her allot and they seem very happy together. The lunch they brought was from a bbq smokehouse near us that was really really good-totally forgot to take photos. I made brownies in the morning to serve

   After they left I poured myself a small glass of this wine. I really like this brand and it is not very expensive and good tasting. I have open now the Pinoit Grigio-my go to wine is usually a white that is a little sweet to dry.

 It has been so cloudy here this past week that I have no new sunrise photos to share. One evening though the sky just before dark was pretty amazing.

      Same evening another photo

  Happy T

T Stands for Tuesday & More On Botanical Inks

 Happy T everyone, find link to our hostess in my sidebar, and share a drink related photo to join in the fun.

  I almost didn't post as I don't have too much to share this week. I did allot of reading about botanical inks both online and in the book Make Ink. There are several different but similar ways to "brew" up the inks-so I think you just have to have fun with it and see what happens.

 Along the way I found out about botanical watercolor paints made from flower petals here This was so interesting I will need to try it.  I wanted to make turmeric ink but sounds like it could be a real mess as it stains. I have found recipes for alcohol or water based but I think I will pass on this one.  I have read that dyer's coreopsis flower petals will make a pretty orange ink, and dandelions, marigolds, and daffodils will make yellow ink-I will try those this spring-article found here about how to make these. I was surprised how many blog posts are out there online sharing how to's for making these botanical inks. I also ran into artists making their own botanical paints.

  I mailed out a few slow mail letters Friday and Saturday with my blackberry ink. Fun to write with for sure-It wrote as a light pink but as it dried it changed colors to a soft purple. Fun!

 Sigh-- I am not happy with my newest glass dip pen I picked up on amazon. The nib is not as fine as the one that broke. It does take the black walnut ink and India ink pretty well but not the blackberry ink. 

     I took the name off the box of the glass ink pen that broke and for the heck of it did a search at Amazon-and found it! Several different colors to choose from and half the price-$9.00. At check out said they were on sale for $4.00-wow that makes me happy-this one has a finer nib that is nicer to write with. I should go back and buy another one for that price lol.

  I have lots of small canning jars but none of them are quite right for ink bottles. So I broke down and found 4 ounce narrow bottles that I think will work much better for the inks with screw on lids. 

  I haven't been feeling well since mid December, I can't seem to get warm, my b/p is a bit high for me too, and my chest is still tight and congested and my temperature is running around 95.6. My normal temperature is 97.6 so don't know if that lower number is a concern or not.   I can't get in at all to our family doctor-sigh so last Friday I remembered there is a brand new health-dental clinic that opened up last year near us-so I thought I would call them. They can get me in but the doctor was going on vacation for a week so I will need to wait another week.  I do feel better at being able to get an appointment at least-never in my life have I ever had a problem getting in to see a doctor when I needed one.

My drink share the week is hot cocoa-I still have cocoa mix I made last year and mini marshmallows-so perfect to warm me up I kinda got it too hot in the microwave so it spilled over, made a bit of a mess too on the sides of my cup.

The smaller birds are really loving the new bird feeder-so far the squirrels have not bothered it during the day-I do bring it in every night as we have raccoons here too who would destroy it on me. The downy woodpeckers love this small seed too

and a little practice with blackberry ink and Winsor Newton watercolor inks This was playing around from the book I have been using again-the purples are the blackberry ink

Happy T  and have a good new week

T Stands for Handmade Ink

   Hi Everyone, and welcome to my Sunday-T Post.  I usually write up this post on Sunday so it's up a day early for friends across the ocean, and Sunday just seems to work out for me too.

   Find link in my sidebar for our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth where we share a drink related photo in our post for Tuesday

  After joining in on the 5 day challenge on Sketchbook Revival I realized I want to explore more handmade inks, watercolor inks, and my watercolor paints for my painting journey. If you are on Facebook their group is an inspiration to view the art there. I was really amazed and inspired with all the creativity for this 5 day challenge.

  Since I had mentioned I was using my own black walnut ink in my pieces, that opened up discussions in comments under my shared post. I knew about coffee ink but have not tried that yet-in comments an artist says she loves a good quality instant coffee as easier to make the ink as dark or as light as you want. I also learned in comments about using avocado pits to make a pretty ink.  Wow that has me inspired again-as I do miss all the natural hand dyeing and eco printing I did at the woods house.

I searched online and liked this tutorial the best  I will be making this one soon

  I learned of a new to me book on making inks I have this one in my wish list and I found this interesting review here for this book. The reviewer kept mentioning these inks would not work for fountain pens-I am thinking that would be a given.

  I already have this one in my library and it is an excellent source for inks too I really love this book and have referred to it often

So I am thinking since in the past I have done allot with natural dying, eco printing and more-that my next adventure will be making more homemade inks. Making one from berries sounds fun too.

I really liked this tutorial when I was searching online for information- very informative and professional too

One last link to share-one from Martha Stewart-simple and right to the point of just doing it. click here

  Besides working on painting better I really want to learn how to draw better. Actually I need to learn How to draw.

    I like the look of drawing with inks and then go back and watercolor.  My friend from France that I have been chatting with on google chat-referred me to the book Drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards 4th edition. When searching for a used copy I also found a work book to go with the book. This book is a best seller worldwide and has helped allot of people. I am anxious to get into this one. I also found a you tube where the artist is working through the book Here is the first episode

 For my drink share this week, when ever I shop at the small local grocery store I check out their water section--as it is always different. This pretty can caught my eye and it was good tasting too. They never seem to have the same products though when I go next time.

and the back of the can

   It has been really nice the last couple of weeks to be out of the below 0 degrees F temperatures-but it isn't so great for someone with allergies-up and down temps, very cloudy, fogged in and humid. I won't complain too much though better than super cold, ice or snow. 😀

The birds are enjoying their new feeder-a gift from a friend

Weekend sunrise

 

  Happy T and new week if you wish-click here for eagle pair video, wolf moon, and monday's art practice