the heat x 2

The heat according to my car yesterday afternoon.



























ONE hundred and seventeen.
One HUNDRED and seventeen.
One hundred AND seventeen.
One hundred and SEVENTEEN.
One hundred and seventeen!

One hundred and that is just ridiculous.

It was actually suppose to reach 118 in the 'valley' and since we don't technically live in the valley, it was much cooler here at 114.  I was driving back from Flagstaff yesterday and the closer I got to Phoenix the higher the temp climbed. It hit its peak at 117 just as I exited the highway towards home, where it was a cool 114. This morning, at 9 am, it was already 95 and predicted to climb to 111. That folks...is what I call heat.


And so is this.

The Heat.

The new Sandra Bullock movie.

I saw this friday night and it is hilarious. And sitting in an air conditioned movie theater is the best way to enjoy the heat. There are a record number of swear words and potty mouths shooting off those swear words and guns shooting everything other than swear words, but in spite of all that, the movie is a good one. These two women, Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy are really good together. I think this is a Hollywood match that we will see more of.

So, that is heat x 2.

On a more random note.

Have you heard of this new exercise craze?

 Hoopnotica.
Hula hooping to trim your waist! Tone your abs and arms and burn calories while having fun! I use to love hooping the hoola when I was a kid, so I'm thinking this could be for me. Hooping to music and video instruction all in the comfort of your own home! I think toning my waist and trimming down the ol' muffin top while having fun sounds great.

I suppose if I decided to try this, I would need to do it indoors though, because right now...in this heat...if I were to hula hoop outside..besides trimming... I might just bake that muffin top!

a bunny, some birds and two other flying things

Since the bobcats have not been around lately and didn't choose our yard to raise a family this spring, we have a lot more birds and bunnies. The owls haven't been around as much either, so all the little creatures are partying! You know, because they are thankful and all that they aren't someone else's lunch. This morning, the party was in full swing!

This little bunny was extra curious. I've never seen them venture out of the grass or rock area, especially never onto the back patio.

And then, I look over and see a mama quail. She is in the lead, while dad follows behind or stands guard somewhere close by chattering to the little group.

See the tiny little babies? They are only about 2-3 inches in length. So darn cute. They follow along as fast as their little feet will run.

The mama flew up to the top of the fence. I don't think these little ones are quite ready to do that just yet, but maybe she was just giving them some lessons. We knew there was a newly hatched nest around, because over the weekend we found a newly hatched baby that had drowned in the pool. Chuck was actually swimming and had just cleaned it when I came out and saw it floating in the deep end. It had already drowned when he scooped it out. So sad.  I saw one a couple of weeks ago that was probably a week or two old, a little bigger, go right over board when the gang was running by. It just plopped right over the edge. Rachel managed to scoop that one out and rescue it just in time. It was swimming around like a little duck, paddling its feet as quickly as it could. Who knew a baby quail could swim like a duck?

The dove are here by the dozens. We are assuming this one has a nest up on top as she spends a whole lot of time up there. The birds do love the saguaro fruit that is there after the blossoms and peck and eat it all the time. But, this particular dove just sits up there by the hours, making us think there is a nest. I've mentioned before that some of these dove are not the sharpest birds in the nest, as they lay their eggs in the goofiest places. Like on top of this cactus, right out in the open, where the hawks and crows will easily find the eggs.

At least they make a bit of a nest with small twigs. The quail just plop their eggs in any planter, under any bush or in an empty clay pot.

This one was guarding the red fruit from the other little bird that thought MAYBE it would try to get a little snack. I'm not so sure sharing is real important to the dove.

That brings me to our cardinal parents. They are trying again to be successful with a nest on our front patio. In the wisteria vines. So close to the door that she must drive herself crazy flying in and out each time we come through the door. Although, the last couple of days she is being more brave, or more protective, as she is staying put longer and longer as we walk by. This morning I snapped these two pictures, through the glass window and the screen door.

I'm trying really hard to "ignore" her, in the hopes that these babies will make it. 

And then, while watching the baby quail and the bunny this morning I see this little guy zipping around on the back patio. I think he was trying to get a drink from some of the flower pot trays.

Then he jumped up in the pot and I wondered if he might be the little culprit chewing on some of the flowers. Just as I pondered that...

He took a flying leap!

Super chipmunk!!

Speaking of super...did you see that SUPER moon flying in the sky this weekend?

Super cool!

solstice

                             Happy first day of summer!

my new space

Here it is. The news about my exciting new adventure! 

I've always loved antiques, collecting vintage goodies, and just old things in general. With my art background, my long-ago retail experience and my desire to fulfill a dream...

I'm joining a new shop that is opening in Phoenix and starting my very own little vintage corner.

In fact...keeping the theme of this moment in my life, this little corner is aptly named

I have been hunting up unique finds, painting and gathering it all in a shop called 

Rusty Saturday. I met them at a vintage sale close to my home and finally decided to make the leap, be brave and contact them about renting a space in their new shop.

It's about time time...right?

I've loaded my space and tagged and tweaked everything and now the little corner is just waiting for the doors of the store to open. I made the collage sign to mark my space in the shop.

 Little touches here and there that are just so me! A little rusty, a little lacy, a little bookish, a little  musical and always a lover of gardens, birds and pretty dishes.

I'm hoping that people will love my collage tables as much as I do. Is it wrong that I made these things with the purpose to sell, but now I am a bit attached and almost hate to see them go?

One of my clipboards.

I tried something new. A large art collage piece for the wall. I like how this turned out and I love the addition of the rusty wire. I think these hanging just as is will be nice, but a person could tuck photos or other little keepsakes between the wires as an inspiration board.

A view from the other side of the room. The Rusty Saturday girls have this great painted number table sitting next to my stuff. I like the way it all looks together. When I left yesterday, I was the only one set up in this room. The other vendors are suppose to set up today and tomorrow. It will be exciting to see "the neighbors'" things when they fill up their space.

It was a little hard to do this on my own, without my ever-vintage-loving friend Lori who lives in Colorado. We have enjoyed our sales together and hope to still do more. We are hoping to get more of her things (there are a few pieces mixed in with mine)  to add to my space.  I appreciate her and my sisters and family who have encouraged me and supported me in my latest venture.

I will be adding photos of projects here on my blog from time to time, and of course I will continue to chase wildlife around my yard. I hope you keep up with me!

For anyone in the area, or anyone that might like to just jet in to Phoenix, there is a friends and family event this Thursday from 5-8 pm. Saturday, the 15th is the grand opening day! Come by and see us!

Also, I now have a facebook page for my new shop. You can follow and 'like' me there.

Cheers!

sneak peek full reveal

The sneak peek photo on my last post was a close up of this project that I did with Leah. She and I found an old drop-leaf table at a yard sale for $15.00! It was exactly what she wanted for her new apartment. Small in size when the leaves were folded down, but able to seat her family when we head north to escape these hot, hot summers.

Here is a before picture. Although, it isn't really this wonky in size. I'm having trouble with phone pictures loading to my computer in the correct format these days. 

 While the table sat in the garage for a couple of weeks (I was working on some other things for my exciting new adventure), both Leah and I got the very same idea for it. 

We decided one of my collage projects would be pretty darn cool on a table like this. So, with only $15.00 invested in the table and since it wasn't a real great valuable antique, I decided "why not?"  I gathered pieces from my stash of old maps, sheet music, dictionary pages and other unique pieces of paper. And then I got to work. 

After laying some things out on the table, measuring a little here and there and getting a plan of action, I started the gluing process.

And in between helping me place the glue soaked papers down she was taking lots of pictures. Most of which I am very happy to not share with you here. 

However, I will say, one has to be pretty skilled with the camera to photo bomb your own shot!! Good one, Leah!

This shows you what I thought of most of the pictures that she took of me. 

Here is one side almost complete.

We were inspired to sing a little, dance a little, glue a little and laugh a lot! The glueing part was actually quite a lot.

Soon, two sides were almost done on the drop-leaf table and we were mapping out the middle section. (sorry, I had to say it once!)

And as it was getting later into the night, I randomly chose some full sheets of music and placed them  on the table to see if we liked the way it looked.

That is when I noticed the title on this sheet of music. Whoa Nellie!

 In state-ly measure!

And if that wasn't all crazy and ironic enough...as I'm adding some of the small layers, like butterflies, flowers, and some definitions from the dictionary that she chose... this one being the definition for butterfly...

... as I'm running my hands back and forth to be sure the definition piece was secure, my eye catches the definition two words down from butterfly. 

butterfly table.  'A small drop-leaf table with brackets shaped like a butterfly's wings'. 

Seriously? This was all unfolding in a very interesting way. I've never heard that description before about a drop-leaf table. And there it was,  right under the butterfly fish whose definition ends in these four words... 'partially covered in scales'. (Take note of what I just typed there.) Ok, enough already!

Soon, we were on the road to completion. Ahem... And then more literally, we were soon on our way up the highway to move her back to college town. Summer class started this week. She has a cute little apartment that we will enjoy visiting. And quite possibly, having a meal or two somewhere over California. Or New York. Canada perhaps?

 The completed table. Along with two chairs I found for $5.00 each.

                                One of a kind. Unique and rather stately, I'd say.

 We were pretty excited about the way it turned out. It will definitely be a conversation starter and I can imagine lots of worldly stories will be told while sitting around that table.

A fun project!

Check back in a couple of days.
Pictures of my new adventure will be posted!!

sneak peek

This is just a peek of the project I recently worked on.

Check back to see the completed project and to hear about my new venture.

~norma~