This is what happens when I forget to close the heating duct in the bathroom that is located right under the toilet paper. Cats. Must. Stop. Paper. Now.

Sesame Street turns 40 today! Many happy returns to one of the coolest addresses ever. I grew up with the neighborhood, so did my kids. One of my life’s best memories is from the time my mom and I took my (then itty bitty) kids to see Sesame Street Live as a a birthday gift…

Took a few photos at lunch. But I probably should have gone to the grocery store at lunch instead of taking pictures. I went to the store after work and saw all kinds of weirdness. Weirdness that I never see during the lunch hour. I’m still laughing about some of it. A lady in the…

Halloweens past. I was home sick today, so I spent a lot of the day couched. As a result, I actually noticed the photos and the do-dads that I have on my sofa table — including these Halloween photos of the kids from years ago. These are probably my favorite photos I have of them….

Went to my favorite bead store today — just in time for a bead show. The focal bead/pendant of this necklace is a Kazuri Bead. I’d never worked with these before. They are hand crafted in Kenya and provide much needed income to the workers. The colors in the photo aren’t exactly accurate; I need…

Not a cloud in the sky. It feels like it’s been so long since we’ve seen blue like this.

Have you ever seen a sweeter face in your entire life? Meet Skittles. She is a service dog-in-training. My colleague is socializing Skittles for the next month before she goes on to the next level of training. She is gentle, shy, quiet and as sweet as her face would indicate.

One of the two big azalea bushes out front has two little blooms! I thought these flowered in the spring? I’m not going to argue — I just dug out my macro lens and had a ball. A few other new photos are on my flickr page.

Sometimes hiding in a bag doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. Especially on a rainy Monday.(Although Murphy doesn’t care what day it is: have bag, must hide.)

Most of my newspaper beads have new homes now. Above is probably my favorite, a combination of the newspaper beads, felt, art glass, shell and vintage brass. Below is an earthier set that also uses the newspaper and vintage brass, but also has wood and some ancient ivory that my Mom brought back from Door…

A fresh batch of newspaper beads — which will (hopefully) find homes in new pieces tomorrow. I love these beads, but they are time-consuming little guys. Today I painted and sealed the beads, which is the last step in a process that typically takes at least three or four days. Photos of individual groups of…

Just when it seemed that this fall was going to be rather dull, the trees in our area have decided to put on a serious show. There are several trees just outside my office window that are downright distracting. And my drive to work is glorious. A couple of other miscellaneous photos from lunch today are on my flickr page….

While traveling for work yesterday, I had the good fortune of going back to see the sisters at Monastery Creations. Needed to stock up on more of their lovely soap! Above is a photo that I didn’t get to take on my first trip to the convent. Love this barn — and it looked even more beautiful in the…

Look at the stars.  Look how they shine for you. And everything you do, Yeah, they were all yellow. (I can’t see yellow any more without getting Coldplay’s song stuck in my head. A delightful song, but I never have understood why they chose to make the video look blue.)

A few finds from my office’s little garden. The flower looks like it’s hiding its face — and this pine cone looks like it has little peace signs inside. Trying to decide if I’m going to try to wake up to see the Orionid Meteor Shower tonight. It peaks between 1 a.m. and dawn….I’m guessing…

Took Sophie for a walk early this morning to get her used to the neighborhood. Since I hike so much, I have to admit that I don’t walk around here very often. But I still saw a lot of lovely things. Our community is known for having a lot of large, mature trees — and…