Stink bug season

Mr. Gadget and I were trying to enjoy some summer-like weather today on the back deck, but a rowdy bunch of party crashers spoiled our fun.  Stink bugs.  No need to show you a photo since they aren't particularly attractive.  They didn't, however, seem to be bothering this small frog who was napping on the top of a deck chair.  He was sleeping there for so long we worried that he might have expired,  but he hopped away when tickled.

My witch progress has been slow.

I wasn't sure I wanted to go any further on this one.  And no, she's not having acupuncture treatments.  Those are long doll needles holding her driftwood arms in place.  Because of her tallness (she's about a foot high) she was becoming a little tipsy...even though she was nowhere near the liquor cabinet.  Mr. Gadget noticed my things-aren't-going-as-planned face and went to his room-o'-gadgets in search of a fix. He came back with a small wood base....to which I quickly affixed her.  She's much more stable now and could probably pass a sobriety test. Here she was yesterday:

 



And here she is today....still a work in progress.

 

A week from today I have to deliver my dolls to the old hotel for the craft show over Columbus Day weekend.  I should have them all finished in plenty of time....as long as the stink bugs don't get me.

Catting around

Here's a fat black cat for Halloween,

and all of the days inbetween.

He'll sit in the window and talk to the birds,

and turn a deaf ear to your x-rated words--

in exchange for a mouse with whipped cream.

A walk in the woods

She's a little unconventional--

this witch of my own design.

She came to life in my sketchbook

while imbibing in the fruit of the vine.

 

No shopping trip was needed.

Finding body parts was a breeze.

I rummaged through my crafty stash

and foraged through the trees.

It's magic

I stand corrected.  I said we had mold spores on our front porch rails.  They're actually mulch spores.  They sometimes reproduce in bad mulch (a/k/a cheap mulch), or as a result of bad blood in the neighborhood.  Have I mentioned our next-door neighbors don't speak to us? We're blaming them for the spawning of the spores.

Mr. Gadget, who never believes me when I tell him how easy it is to get an answer to any question on the internet, finally ask it for an answer about getting rid of the spores.

"Have you ever heard of a magic eraser?" he asked me.

"Yes," I said, "and I have some."

So after spending a few minutes out on the front porch, he came inside with a bounce to his step.  The spores were magically gone.  But I'm confident they'll be back....unless there are some meaningful peace negotiations.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm spending some time on the bench per the advice of my needle-felting coach, but I'm still keeping a couple of fingers in the game.

I've been sewing sequins and beads and strings to the Santa ornaments. So I guess I can look forward to having this happy bunch hangin' around in the Treehouse till the next craft fair.


  

On the DL

How very disappointing.  I've been benched.  The needle-felting coach has assigned me to the 15-day disabled list. I have pain in my right upper arm and shoulder from repetitive poking motion.  The trainer thinks I'll be back in the game in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime he says I need to stay out of the stadium and find a less-aggressive sport.

So I'll be back in the Witchworks for a while.  I ripped off the yellow hat that I didn't like, and, come to think of it, that might have aggravated the already-sore shoulder. But I think she looks much better now. 

That purplish color highlights the color in her cheeks and her red bloodshot eyes, don't you think? The eyebrows might need a little work but I should have plenty of time to tweak them now that I'm riding the bench.

So I'm a little peeved at the moment about my prescription medication program.  I had one of those mail-in arrangements that was running almost too smoothly...you know, one of those kinds of things that you feel incredibly lucky about because hardly anything runs smoothly in this world that technology has made much too complicated.

Now it's all gone haywire.  I'm having to make phone calls.  I hate that.  I try to ask intelligent questions, but the answers usually come with a foreign accent and complications.  Maybe I really don't need these medications.  Maybe my doctor is just trying to put one over on me.  Maybe I'll ask her that when I see her in a few weeks.  Maybe not.

And if all this isn't enough, now Mr. Gadget tells me we have mold spores on the front step rails.

I'm all aglow

You've probably seen these.  They start appearing big time in stores this time of year.  Battery-operated candles.  With timers.  And remotes. Plus, they flicker and emit a pleasant vanilla fragrance.  Mr. Gadget brought some home from Costco the other day and put them around the house.  He set them to come on around 7 in the evening, and go off about 11.  I like them, and they give me a sense that I'm in church....so I don't actually have to go.  That can be a real plus for someone who's working overtime in the Witchworks. 

  
And speaking of that, here's one I'm working on now.  I would really like to finish her, but I'm not happy with the hat color.  You know how I'm never happy.  There's just not enough contrast to suit me.  The yellow matches some small yellow moons in her outfit, but it doesn't complement her face.  I'm thinking of ripping the hat off and starting over.  It's glued on and should come off easily with a little force....especially if I'm thinking about the world situation or the most recent pathetic performance of the NY Yankees.

I came up with a great solution for affixing hats to witch heads.  I used to glue the hair on and then the hat on top of that, but hair is not an easy thing to glue something to.  So now I glue the hat on the bald head and then just glue some hair on the head around the bottom of the brim.  Dollmakers everywhere have known about this little trick for years...maybe even centuries.  But I'm a little slow.  I think my batteries are going...

Squash season

This is Sylvester the pumpkin man.

In Farmer John's patch is where he began.

Though he's mostly just sticks and vines,

he always likes to dress to the nines.

'Twould be a pity if he'd ended up in a can.

Moving right along

In an effort to give you something slightly less offensive to look at than the green-faced witch, here's a picture of our dead grass.  If only it had a green face.

And speaking of the witch, I'm not at all happy with her green-grass complexion.  She'll be getting an exfoliation treatment followed by a complete makeover just as soon as my new order of fiber arrives.

I wasn't sure what to write about today.  I considered telling you about Mr. Gadget's most recent injury.....a result of trying to open a box of raisins with a butcher knife (no ER visit required), but then I thought better of it.  There's no sense in embarrassing him more than I already have in my years of blogging.

So now I've cranked up the Witchworks here in the treehouse.

I'm working on a couple of clay-faced witches for the old hotel craft show that's coming up in October.  As usual,  I'm not entirely happy with them.  But I'll try to be patient and trust that they'll be presentable once they've come to life.

I'll be breaking away from the Witchworks tomorrow to have lunch with some neighbors here in the condos.  One of them is hosting the affair in an effort to cheer up another who recently had a fall that required two surgeries. This has served as a stark reminder for me to be more careful because I, too, am prone to falling.

One time I fell out of the car.  Mr. G and I had stopped at a 7-11 and when I returned to the car with a carton of milk, I reached over to grab the handle to close the door and I toppled out.  Fortunately, nothing was injured except my pride.

Another time we were heading for the train station in San Diego.  I tripped on the railroad tracks.  But luck was with me again and, other than seeing a few stars, I was fine.  Besides, it was just the commuter rail and not the Amtrak...