For Those of Us Who Have Labs

A Boy and His Dog

You've got to watch this if you have a Lab....and watch even if you do not. Your day will be a little brighter.

Until next time, God bless.

Leaves of Three. . .

After Thanksgiving dinner, I wanted to take some pictures of Houston trees and vegetation which is always green and lush no matter what time of the year.


Across the yard, there was a wonderful opportunity to take a walk through some uncleared brush. I got about ten feet into the area when I looked down only to see "leaves of three, don't touch me" or poison ivy most likely. I slowly backed out.


Plan A could no longer be followed, I went to Plan B. I found these flowers in the grass.

Something about this photo appeals to me.


Huge elephant ears.

A tree with red berries . . . everyone was too busy for me to ask the name.

Until next time, God bless.

Straight Out of the Camera Sunday

Straight out of the camera and straight out of the garden. After this shot, the broccoli was cut up, steamed, buttered, salted, peppered, splashed with lemon, and went straight into my mouth -- all of it.

For more Straight Out of the Camera Sunday photos, go to Murrieta 365. The only requirements to participate are that photos must be taken by you and not tweaked.

Until next time, God bless.

Thanksgiving 2009

We had the great pleasure of being invited by my best friend since the 7th grade for Thanksgiving. In turn, we had Thanksgiving at her daughter's house.

My friend's son-in-law is one of seven siblings and all gather at his house along with other family and friends. I photographed eight tables and may have missed one or two.


We started off with mushrooms filled with sausage and cream cheese, prepared by a grandson. I could have stopped right there.

Food was everywhere. Hubby and I have never seen so much food, but then we come from smaller families.

Sides overflowed onto the kitchen island.


Desserts. There was another cabinet for desserts. This photo was taken early, before 2/3's of the family and friends arrived. Both cabinets were covered with desserts. I had the Italian Cream cake, pictured in the upper left corner. :D

One brother went to Texas and the other brother went to A&M. Vincent arrived wearing an A&M shirt, but the older brother got him to change into the Texas shirt. lol


Thanksgiving in Texas must included football in the background if Texas and A&M are playing.

Trying to find the delay switch for group family photos with Grandma.


This is one of many group photos. Doesn't Grandma look totally delighted?!

!
We had an incredible Thanksgiving thanks to my dearest friend and her most gracious daughter and son-in-law. I hope you did too


Until next time, God bless.

Measure Twice, Cut Once, Part II

Each tile has 5 separate pieces of glass for the second layer.


There are 10 tiles and each tile requires 2 gray, 2 light coral, and 1 piece of crystal clear glass. I'm being extra careful in setting up to cut; I'll need 20 pieces of gray.


Measure twice, cut once: A black sharpie was used to mark 3/4 inch cuts; then to be sure I had the correct width, I placed the pattern on the glass.

I used the grinder on all the cut pieces to knock off irregularities and to even up the edges to match the white base piece of glass. Each piece was thoroughly washed in soapy water and rinsed.



To be absolutely sure no fingerprints are on the glass, each piece is wiped down with alcohol.

All tiles assembled and glued with a glass glue which, by the way, does not hold very well. The tiles are fired upside down to keep the lines of glass straight. The glue was supposed to hold it together when turned over -- it did not. I'll have to speak with my glass guru to see what I'm missing. :D


Stacked up and ready to carry out to the kiln. I can only do two tiles at a time in my kiln.



Yippeeeeeeeee! The lines stayed straight and match up. Matching up was of great concern to me since I have to rebuild the tile upside down and cannot see clearly through the white opaque glass.

The edges will probably be cold worked to even up. We'll see after the last firing when the entire tile is capped with a crystal clear glass.

Eight more tiles to go in the first firing. In fact, two are in the kiln right now. We are leaving tomorrow to visit my good friend in Houston. So, it will be next week before the rest of the tiles are done. Then, it is over to the glass shop to use the sandblasting machine. More steps to come but, frankly, do not know how many more since this is a try this and that to see what I like. lol

Happy Thanksgiving to all. If traveling, I pray travel mercies over you for your safe trip going and returning.

Until next time, God bless.

Measure Twice, Cut Once, Part I

It is back to the drawing board to design 5 feet of back splash for our front bath redo.



This is the second trial before firing where I used a glass paint and then sprinkled some powdered glass over the wet paint. It did not work out like I hoped. More than anything else is the fact I cannot draw very well and paint bled underneath the stencils. lol It was back to the drawing board again.



But, when using a powdered glass, you need to wear one of these. You do NOT want powdered glass in your lungs.


I came up with another idea that does not require drawing. I cut a pattern to make sure the dimensions are correct. The tile is 4 x 6 inches and 10 are needed.


Cutting the 4 x 6 tiles.


Twelve 4 x 6's are stacked, giving me two extra to use for testing and samples.

After cutting, the grinder is used to knock off irregularities on the edges.

To keep the lines straight when firing, the tile is stacked upside down. Not to waste a firing on just one piece, the glass squares on the side will round and be used as accents in other projects, maybe even this one.

Aha. This looks very promising. The middle requires a design, but this the basic tile.

You see! The squares became dots.

Stay tuned for Part II because I'm off to cut the next layer of glass for 10 tiles. The second layer will required 5 separate pieces of glass.

Until next time, God bless.

Straight Out of the Camera Sunday

To enter Murrieta 365's meme of Straight Out of the Camera Sunday, the photo must be taken by you and no tweaking except for cropping.

The 360 Bridge over Lake Austin in Austin, Texas

Yesterday was a marvelous cold and misty day. I had to cross this bridge while on some errands. To get a panoramic view, go here.

Visit Murrieta 365 for more Straight Out of the Camera Sunday.

Until next time, God bless.

Ageless - Brenda's Photo Challenge

Ageless

God

Sunrise

Sunset

Earth

Wind

Water

Wood

Fire

Pop over here to see the others who entered Brenda's Photo Challenge.

Until next time, God bless.

Fall At The Ranch

Fall at our place isn't spectacular, but here it is.


Bur Oak - the last to leaf out and the first to drop its leaves.

I cannot remember the exact name, but it is a daisy and deer resistant. That particular butterfly loves this bush. You don't see them when walking towards the daisies, but when you walk up, hundreds will fly off


A scissortail nest.

A lone sweet william holding on.


Hummingbirds love this one. You'll see many a fight after one of them has staked out his territory over this vine.
A few gourds are not yet ready to be cut. Normally, we do not have grass by this time of year, but we've had an extra wet fall.


Cabbage in the garden which has been attacked by a green worm. I did not check the cabbage for about a week since we've had so much rain. It was a mistake because the little worm turned the leaves into lace. lol

Look at this: broccoli growing. I've never seen broccoli except in the produce department. I'm all excited.

Until next time, God bless.