A Time Portal for Arachnida

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To enlarge it

I've never seen spider webs quite like these I spied at Edgewood Park last week.


Time portals for Arachnida, perhaps?

Ohlone Autumn

Ohlone Autumn

Edgewood Park, San Mateo County, CA

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Every time I'm sure I know what's ahead of me on the path, I get surprised.  

Election Day: Guaranteeing Myself More Whining Time

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OK to Download and Print as Poster

      Listening to Christopher Phillips and Michael Krasny on KQED forum, talking about the Constitution Café Project inspired by Phillips’ new book, Constitution Cafe: Jefferson's Brew for a True Revolution. 

     Many called in to discuss what they thought needed to be added, subtracted or modified about the United States Constitution.

     Can we fit in somewhere, that if we don’t vote, we can’t complain about any messes we've gotten ourselves into?

Sewing: Hanky and a Flu Shot (No 2 of 2)

Click on the handkerchief above to help yourself to the whole hanky

Help Yourself to Another One of my Virtual Hankys: My Mullein Mélange

     A couple of virtual sewing* projects help me make the seasonal transition from our California Indian Summer to a, hopefully, rainier cold season. Hopefully that 'cold' part is just going to refer to our slightly lower temperatures, not the stuff that sends me to bed with a big pitcher of herb tea and a Jane Austen novel for the day. I'm also hoping that flu shot I'm getting today will make the cold season flue-less. 

     This article, Flu Shots: Far From Perfect, Still Advised,  (I listened to it as a Health broadcast on NPR, and it's based on an article in the Lancet) had a lot of news about the future of flu shots, for those of us who following the guidelines of the mainstream medical community. I'm really looking forward to the day when the flu shot is something I get along with my every-ten-year tetanus vaccination. Until then I'll get my yearly shot and stock up on virtual hankys.
     I designed the handkerchief above using Photoshop and a photo of some cotoneaster berries I took in my garden. I'm sorry I don't recall where I got the free download of the Pony Express stamp.

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     Tonight I'm going to try cooking some Cornish Game hens for supper. Does anybody else besides me remember when they were in vogue? (It will really date me if I tell you that I remember when they were a hot foodie item.) Did their ancestors really come from Cornwall, or are they just little chickens? :-) 

     I made a number of jars of apricot jam this summer. Luckily I'd biked instead of walking over to the the farmer's market when one of the farmer's offered me all of his leftover squishy apricots for free (!), and my bike has a good sized front basket. So I'm going to pop open one of my jars of homemade apricot jam to make a glaze like the one in this recipe.

      I'm expecting we'll have some leftover chick- I mean Cornish Game Hen meat. So tomorrow, I plan to try out Nellymary's idea from today about using up leftovers on pizza You all remember Nellymary's blog, right? She lives in the land down under. Do Australians still call it that? I'll have to ask Nellymary. She calls her blog, Just Like My Nan Made. I subscribe to her entries by email, in the same way that people can subscribe to this art journal (look for the subscription link in the upper right part of this blog).

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You might also enjoy this mini Time Travel story

Indian Summer at Edgewood

Part 1: Creekside

Part 2:  Oak Apples

Part 3: Rose Hips

* Sewing: I haven't tried this yet, but am thinking about two ways to convert the full sized design to the real thing. One would be to put one of those fabric sheets into my home printer. I've only tried this once and I had a hard time removing the backing. I wonder if it would work better if I soaked it off?

     The other would be to have it printed it at Spoonflower, where I've made some really pretty fabric with my own designs. They have a variety of fabric to choose from too.

     If you click on the illustration, you should get the larger version. If you have any problems with that, send me an email (laurelshimer AT gmail DOT com) and I'll send you back the full-sized jpeg. Just let me know which hanky you want (or if you want both).

Sewing a Virtual Handkerchief: Help Yourself (No 1 of 2)

Click on the hanky above for the whole picture.

Humm.... too bad that the chills of winter won't be as much of a fantasy as the virtual handkerchief I created with a mélange of Mullein from my garden.


Help Yourself to Another One of My Virtual Hankys and ideas about turning both handkerchiefs into the real thing: Hanky and a Flu Shot (Pony Express and Cotoneaster Berries). 

You might also enjoy this mini Time Travel story

Indian Summer at Edgewood

Part 1: Creekside

Part 2:  Oak Apples

Part 3: Rose Hips

Surviving: Halloween in the Rest of the Animal Kingdom (part 3of 3)

Adventures of Halloween Mouse

Part 1: Now that's Scary!

Part 2: Trick? Or Treat?

Part 3: Surviving Halloween

Click on the Illustration Above to get up close and personal with Halloween Mouse

     For some of us animals, November 1'st is a matter of brushing and flossing extra-carefully, and tossing the rest of the chocolate in the nearest bin. Then there are those of us, for whom, snagging a treat could be more than just scary.

     Was anybody else out there as concerned as I was for the survival of Halloween Mouse?

     She made it! Mazel tov, honey.

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Thanks to Sage from from SageRock Digital Marketing, for sharing this lovely mouse image with me. I'm enjoying reading Sage's most recent blog entry on "Content Marketing",  and thinking about how I might use her ideas to attract the attention of time travel adventure romance readers, to my amazon Kindle book, My Heart Beats Faster in Past Times. 

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If you Enjoyed this, you may also like.....

Indian Summer at Edgewood

Part 1: Creekside

Part 2:  Oak Apples

Part 3: Rose Hips