A Whole New World (of tartar)

We got a new camera. A whole lot of new camera. It's baffling in its capacity. I feel like this littlest matryoshka, gazing a little stunned upon a new land of possibility.

Nesting dolls from my mother. I love them madly. The littlest here is about the size of a quarter. Good heavens.

I strongly advise my mother to stop reading here. Along with anyone else who has a stronger than usual aversion to rodents.

And this is the tarter on mouse teeth. No, serious. I found this gorgeous tiny skull in the garden. Here is the whole mandible (at least that's what I think it's called... and I think it's a mouse...I'm not really much of a biologist though):
And skull:
Love the tiny fur detail. Scott took the mousey pics, but clearly I no longer have an excuse in lack of camera-power.

Contemporary Art

Just what does my husband do in the service of Contemporary Art? This is a succinct 45 second summation, filmed Sunday after Tada.


How I love him!

Video by PICA's own Brian Costello

New Adventures With Sharp Needles

Men are so hard to sew for. Many of them don't have a finely attuned sense of the transcendently adorable. But one does persist in making them gifts. For my father's birthday I made him this bag out of black duck (that's a heavy cotton fabric) with a leather pocket and bird. The bird is legit; he will probably use the bag for bird-watching. I learned quite a bit about sewing with leather, namely that I don't know how to do it. As I sewed, it stretched dramatically. The pocket began as a rectangle and ended up trapezoidal. I kept trimming and re-sewing, and it got wonkier each time. It finally ended up acceptably, but I'm going to have to work on it more, because I really like leather, and there's plenty of it out there to reclaim.
Here Shanga poses with the bag, suggesting they go for a walk immediately. Isn't she beautiful?

Self-portrait

I don't know. I really love this photo. I always was quite vain about my ears.

Quick Touch

I have neglected you, little blog. I am preoccupied by family and sunshine. I hope you are too, and your readers.

Photo by Scott, naturally.

Oops... More Deer and Eggs

Nothing says crafty godparent like softscupture. At least that was the case in my childhood and I've taken up the cause with these eggs for my Olive. They aren't quite as, well, egg-like as I intended, a little flat-bottomed, in fact. I don't know why. I'll have to work on it. How cute is that fabric?
The background betrays yet more deer in my decor. I feel a little sheepish. But it also shows another terrarium, one that has flourished after all. It's the only fully closed one I have. I wonder if there are different rules for those that aren't a closed eco-system. Probably. Anybody know them?
My issue with fully closed terraria, besides the difficulty of finding bell jars, is that it rains all the time on this poor little deer. And, yeah, it's cool that there's a little water system in there. But poor deer. I'm ready for it to have some sun. And the rest of us.

Happy Holiday...