Spare a thought

I recently received an email from a pet sitting exchange I am part of, about the Los Banos animal shelter being overwhelmed with dogs. They asked if anyone could foster/adopt more pets, and to pass along the email to as many people as possible, as they were quite literally putting dogs to sleep by the dozen.

This, of course, struck a chord with me, as I love dogs, and I passed it along, and considered whether we too, could help by taking another dog. Especially as it has been nearly nine months (can't believe it!) since Dolly's passing.

It is my husbands turn to choose a dog - as I have had rather a monopoly in recent years, and sure enough, he saw a picture of a female terrier at the shelter, whom he thought would make a great companion. We set about mentally adjusting to the idea of another furry body in the house, considered in great detail the implications - a young dog, teething, training etc. Our own dogs, the baby, and all that.

When he called about the dog - simply know as 'dog 1444' it turned out she had been exposed to Parvovirus, and needed to go into quarantine for 10 days. But his name was taken and it all looked positive enough - the only worry was that the pup had not had vaccines as she was too young and had been stray. Ten days or so passed, and she reached the end of her quarantine period, but on the eleventh day, before we were even able to pick her up - she was stricken with the disease and died within three days. My husband got a call, hoping it was the one about collecting her, only to find out she was dead, and I feel compelled to share the sadness.

This dear dog never had the opportunity to know a loving family, and the small 'mug shot' photo from 'Petfinder' may be the only picture of her ever taken. But as least she was thought about - by us, and we had made a space in our hearts and lives for her.

Recently, on a blog I follow - Where's My Effing Pony? A post talked about 'Rainbow Bridge' and meadow. I urge you to pop over there and read about it, if you've never heard of it. It made me think though - that this puppy will be one of those who receive a special assignment in the meadow.

Amazing how sad you can feel about a little dog you never met! If you have a second, spare a thought of caring for this little passed soul.

On the bench

Here are a few pictures of work currently on the bench.

The cast green is for a redwood tree window - I showed the plaster mold in my last post.

The 'cartoon' (pencil and pen drawing) shows a sneak peak of where the cast clear glass border will go, once I've leaded it all together (also shown in last post)

The other picture is of cut blue glass on the bench, which is being cut for a fused leaded project for a bathroom window - I'll show more of that as it progresses!

Cast away

I know it's all seemed very quiet here, but as ever - it's the opposite. I've been a busy bee with work, so I just thought I'd show a couple pics of what I've been up to.

I currently have two casting projects and a fused window too - so hot glass in the hot summer!

The pictures are of a border strip of cast glass - cast in clear glass. It's kind of organic, with a loose starfish and some pebbles, and the other picture is of a plaster mold, which is how I make the cast glass. Both are from different projects.

If I was terrible organized, the pictures would follow the process - but alas, I'm not! So I shall describe it briefly anyway:

I sculpt a 'positive' out of wet clay (so it looks as I want it to) and then I cast the positive in plaster (this plaster is the 'negative') When the plaster has dried, I kiln wash it (thats the funny purple color on the plaster mold) Then I can fill it with glass and cast it in the kiln. These are 'one offs' as I loose the wet clay when I pull it out of the plaster mold, and I pretty much always loose the plaster mold after it's been cast once (when It comes out of the kiln and I pull the glass out!) So If something goes wrong - I have to start over, which can be frustrating, but there it is!

I will try and post pictures of each project - when they are complete, so you can get some context!!

Seeing double!

Just had to share this crazy picture!

On a recent day trip to Carmel beach, we came across this little dog called Bella. Both us, and her owners could not have been more surprised by the similarity of Bella, and our Cookie. Cookie had just had a trim, but they were the same size, color, eye color - just amazing!

Our Cookie was found as a stray in San Jose, with a broken leg, and terribly thin - we then found her at the Santa Cruz ASPCA, where she had been sent for rehoming. We got talking, and were amazed to learn that Bella had been found, not just in San Jose, but the same street as Cookie - so they HAVE to be related. Either Cookie is Bella's Mom, or a sibling from another litter.

Cookie is the most friendly and sweet dog, but strangely when her and Bella met - they completely ignored each other! like they couldn't even see each other - it was the oddest thing.

A Princess in her castle

We have a plum tree in our yard, and it's never really done much. But this year we have a bumper crop of fruit, I think, because of the wet spring we had.

The branches of the tree have been virtually brushing the ground with the sheer weight of fruit, and today I decided it was time to relieve them of some of their burden.

Marli and I went outside with a large bowl, and I busied her with her Princess castle (more hideous plastic - but once again - she adores it) whilst I reached for the ripest fruit, leaving the rest for another day (and squirrels and jays).

I made the mistake of placing my bowl on her castle, thinking she couldn't reach it, only to be proved wrong, of course. And she was most upset when I insisted upon removing the pits from her mouth, to prevent her from choking. I set Cookie to watch over the bowl after that, on grass that looks very green, but like the rest of the fairytale castle - is plastic!

I didn't mean to pick so many, as there are only so many things I can do with them today, but there were enough for me to have some fresh, stew some for fruit crisps in the winter, and leave some on a neighbors doorstep!

A long, long time ago

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, it was Marli's Adoption shower. I say that, as I am so far behind in blogging, that it is now almost a legend! Life has been incredibly busy recently, as as you all know, when that happens, blogs go out the window somewhat.

I thought I'd just take a second, however, to post a photo or two of Marli's tea, as it was rather lovely. High tea has to be one of my favorite things. I think it's one of the only 'British-isms' I have left in me (oh, and maybe Marmite)

Good friends were invited and we supped on cardamon, earl gray and herb teas. My friend Sima kindly organized it for me, and the food was fantastic, from curried chicken sandwiches to lots of cakes. The table looked lovely, and all credit goes to Mr Colin (husband) for taking such great shots of the table before we attacked it. The tea set pictured here is from the UK, from the 20's or 30's I think.

I have been working on many things recently, including glass designing and casting, and creating a work studio in our yard (now we are currently not moving) so I will try and post more of all of those things at some point.

Mr Baxter continues to come and go, although I haven't seen him much as I fear he was scared by all the banging and crashing whilst the studio was being built.

Baby is into everything and more, dogs are well, and me, well, I'm just exhausted!!

Seven seconds

Oh what to do with seven seconds! Seven seconds is the amount of time I have determined I am able to focus on any one thing, at a time, whilst baby is up and about! This is the time between stopping stair climbing, or phone dialing, or eating kibble. But if I can join enough of those seven seconds together, I might just be able to write a blog post, but only once I persuade baby to stop playing the guitar!

Pictures of actual art work to come. (yes! real work!!)