Gastropods

Here at the Calcondo,

in addition to ants,

we have snails.

When Tech Guy was a little guy--

and before the tech part--

he found them fascinating.

He took some home to Connecticut

to keep as pets.

But they were slightly out of their element,

and they didn't care much for cat food.

Or snow.

So whenever I see a snail crossing a sidewalk

or climbing up a wall,

I take a picture and email it to Tech Guy--

for old time's sake.

Remember my old friend, Sara Dipity?

I ran into her again.

It was just after I photographed the snail.

I had stopped at the craft store for embroidery thread,

and I found a book with a pattern for this:

A stuffed fabric snail.

I'm going to make one--

right after I get my gazillion other projects finished.

The book is Crafting Tilda's Friends

by Tone Finnanger.

I think I'll name him Snail Male.

Will exercise for yarn

Yesterday Mr. Gadget and I took a walk around the neighborhood as we often do when we're at the Calcondo. There are lots of good places to walk with a minimum of hills....which is my kind of walk. We took a new route this time and set off down a street with wide sidewalks, lots of shade trees, and big expensive condo developments on both sides.

We were just a short ways down the street when something caught my eye and I slowed to a stop.

"What's that up ahead?" I asked Mr. G. "Is that a mirage?"

"We must check this out," I told him in no uncertain terms.

"Would you like me to take your picture by the sign?" he asked. Somehow, Mr. G. has gotten the mistaken impression that I like having my picture taken. I kept my camera safely in my pocket until the next photo op.

We were making progress.

Once inside the small garage that was part of a collection of commercial buildings that clearly seemed out of place among the condos, I discovered a lady surrounded by tables full of yarn, all marked down 50 and 60%.

I bought some festive hand-dyed cotton boucle. I had no choice really. When the yarn gods accost you on the sidewalk during a pleasant Saturday morning walk, there's no alternative.

After we returned home, I made sure Mr. G was comfortably settled on the couch with a beer and a car show on TV, and I returned to the sale for some leisurely shopping, you know, the kind you can only do without a man-in-tow.
This time I had doll embellishments in mind. As I was checking out, the lady told me she'd be there again in a couple of weeks with more and different yarn. I'm sorry I'll have to miss it. We'll be driving north that weekend. I guess it's just as well. Mr. G graciously offers me crafty space in his suitcase, and it's likely he might be considering charging me rent.

AWOL

I'm a bad blogger. I've been playing hooky. Although I did do a blog post a few days ago....only to have half of it deleted before I could publish. In an attempt to fix the wonky spacing issue, I ventured into the land of HTML. I should never have crossed its borders. I don't even have a passport to go there.

I've been very busy during my hookiness. My first priority has been to finish the contest doll so I can deliver it in a timely manner to the people who will judge. Here's a little more info about the contest. It's not really a contest. Art Doll Quarterly magazine has issued a challenge to its readers to create a doll using a bottle, and all entries deemed worthy will be published in the Spring 2012 issue.

I brought my doll along with me to California because the PWWJ are located not too far from the Calcondo and saving the one-way mailing fee seemed like a good idea. I emailed the folks at the magazine to see if they were agreeable to my hand-delivering the doll and they responded that yes, that would certainly be fine, and if schedules permitted someone would give me a tour of their offices. This sounded like a fine offer because these are the people who produce all of the Somerset magazines and I can only imagine the amazing craftiness that is housed there.

My bottle-doll creation is more of an assembly than just a doll. It has some parts that need to be affixed with glue--the proper kind of glue for non-failing stickability. I've selected tomorrow as gluing day and I've instructed Mr. Gadget to have Margueritas at-the-ready in case there's a disaster.

Here is one of the assembly components.


It's a carrot. I don't know if you've ever tried to paint a carrot, but it's not easy. It must be done in stages because there's no way to hang it up to dry.

And while I wait for the paint to dry I've been cutting out felt hearts. I still had red felt left over from the ladybug project and the recent strawberry harvest. I'm probably going a little overboard on all the crafty projects lately, but I gotta say......I've hardly noticed the ants.

The birthday edition

It's party time here at the Calcondo. Just Mr. Gadget, the ants and me celebrating my birthday. The day's festivities got off to a rousing start with a breakfast burrito at Denny's. Later, we'll go to our favorite sushi restaurant where between 5 and 6 p.m. they have half-price rolls. I'm a cheap date.

Actually, I won't officially be a year older till later this evening. I was hopeful that maybe the clock would go backwards just this once and I would no longer be a senior citizen, but that's not happening and I'm plodding one year further into elderhood.

So have you heard about Carmageddon? Most certainly if you live on the west coast--especially around the L.A. area. Those highway people are closing the 405 freeway (between west L.A. and the San Fernando valley) for the weekend for bridge work. This is one of the most-traveled freeways in the country, so it's bound to be a real cartastrophe. JetBlue will be helping out with $4 flights ($5 for extra leg room) from Long Beach to Burbank--flight time 20 minutes. All seats have now sold out. Mr. Gadget and I plan to stay put and enjoy the action on TV from the comfort of our sofa.

I'm still working on my contest doll, although mostly I've been brainstorming on how to finish it. I decided to change a couple of things--to add more whimsy. In the meantime I've been doing some crochet.

This is a miniature version of the pattern I used for the felted flowers. I couldn't find a good green thread for the leaves, so I crocheted them out of off-white and painted them. I added a few beads and sewed them to a small barrette backing. I might also use them for doll embellishments. Grandma would be proud to see how well I navigate with my tiny metal crochet hook.

So now I'm thinking I should do a little preparing for Carmageddon. I'll pack in some bottled water, a few blankets and a kerosene lamp....just in case. And a few Twinkies.

Garden magic

Was I ever surprised when I went outside this morning and discovered strawberries growing on my fig tree. Maybe with some luck, or a little green-thumb magic, I'll be able to get my sad little lemon tree to produce avocados. Or better yet, twenty-dollar bills.

There's not much new here at the Calcondo. Mr. Gadget and I went for a long walk on the beach yesterday morning. That's one of those favorite activities of dating couples.......long, romantic walks on the beach. Mr. G and I remember those days. Yesterday, when we got back to the car I was sweaty and had a strained big toe. So much for romance.

I've been having trouble getting my blogging mojo going. Maybe it's the feng shui. Maybe it's the misalignment of my planets. Or maybe it's because I'm a right-handed person trying to function on the left coast. Whatever the matter is, I'm sure it will all be resolved soon. Maybe I'll try some stewed prunes.

Cali-craftiness

Mr. Gadget and I arrived at the Calcondo on Sunday and have been settling in. He's been checking out the electronic gadgets to make sure they're all up and running, and I've been recuperating from jet lag. It's a tough job.

Soon after arriving we took a walk around the complex to stretch our legs and see what's new, and I found this bit of craftiness parked at the curb. So clever, don't you think? My grandma could have crocheted this in a jiffy with her eyes closed. Not me. I'd need a pattern and plenty of tutoring.

Another thing we like to do is catch up on the condo news. This is done by collecting 4 months worth of weekly newsletters from the floor in front of the front-door mail slot and putting them in date order. We hate to get ahead of ourselves. We're always amused by the antics of the folks who runs our homeowners association.

These folks are much like a pot of homemade soup. You throw all of the ingredients in the pot, heat it and stir it for a while, and then put it in the fridge for a cooling off period after which you use your skimming tool to remove most of the top layer--the one that causes clogged arteries and high blood pressure. I find this recipe very unappealing. Maybe I'll donate my soup pot to the thrift shop just to be safe.

One newsletter tidbit that did catch my eye was the notice for a newly-formed knit and crochet group. This sounds more like my cup o' tea. Maybe someone there will have the pattern for the crocheted seat cover. I wonder if it could be tweaked to fit my beach chair?

A little story

Once upon a time there was a family--mama, papa, sonny and daughter--who gathered one pleasant Sunday afternoon on the back deck for a BBQ. It was quite hot that day, so papa used his remote control to extend the awning. It was just one of many remote controls he used to maintain control of the various things in his life.

Even the family tortoise sought out some shade.

Things were going along quite pleasantly when all of a sudden mama had a wild idea for something silly to do. Silliness was often what she resorted to when papa got a little bit out of control with his control issues.

She was thinking of the rock-wall-building crew who worked every day from sun-up till sun-down erecting beautiful stone walls around the condo complex.

She thought it might be fun to bring a little fun and entertainment into their daily grind of cutting and chiseling and hefting those heavy rocks. So she summoned sonny to help her hatch the plan.

"Sonny," she said, pointing to a nearby pile of rocks, "go over there and draw a funny face on one of those big rocks with this black permanent marker."

So sonny, who occasionally minds his mama, set to work.

He drew a face that would surely brighten the day of the rock-wall-building guys.A few days went by and mama noticed that several of the rocks had disappeared from the pile, including the one with the face. She had no idea where it had ended up, and was pretty sure it would never be seen again.

But she was wrong.

And everyone lived happily ever after. The end.