Creative Tuesdays: an egg tree

Creative Tuesdays
I didn't know the kids were coming for Easter, twas a last-minute decision. I hurriedly hung my eggs.
This is some old wool I bought at a Zellers store that was closing. It is interesting, in that it shimmers in the wind (you can see it in the video, below). The eggs were from the dollar store.

I remember, in the teaching years, doing proper egg colouring with wax, a stylus and dipping them. I would have art centres in my classrooms. The kids would rotate in and out of the centre, using the heated wax on top of an electric heater. They were real eggs, not blown as they are stronger. They so enjoyed it. I haven't done this since I retired in 2006. They are great memories, though.


egg tree from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Winter is serenaded as it leaves!

Spring from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Red wings are singing, grackles, purple finch.

After some ice rain (0.8"), the trees were clacking as the ice fell. The birds were singing. Starlings and red winged blackbirds are ubiquitous.

Do you recall my apple trees?

Daisy & I planted them last fall

Placed branches on them

Yes, I planted two last fall. I was hopeful, but not optimistic. [ I planted two apple trees!]

Thankfully, they are quite tall. Guess who has been trimming them for me? They can stand up on the snow we had, and reach up, waaaay up!

I took photos of them before March Break (Mar. 13th), and our grandsitting took over my blog posts as we celebrated our fun!

They are hard to spot, the trees, but they are on either side of the old wagon wheel.

What I did was take the large pine branches, felled from our last ice storm, and propped them up to cover the lower branches of the apple tree. We shall have to wait and see.
Isabelle and I talked about how the branches on the ground prevented the snow from getting sunshine and melting.
 

THEN, the ice storm, March 24th


In the meantime, Bambi is getting frisky!

Sunday Sketches: polka dots

Happy Easter
to those who celebrate!

I began sketching around 2012. I mean regularly sketching. I always taught sketching to my elementary students, from all my classes: JK up to gr. 8. It's a fun hobby.

My client, who had ALS, was in bed and every Thursday afternoon I would visit and sketch while I was sitting there. He often had a nap in the 2nd hour I sat with him. It became a regular part of my week and I enjoyed it. If I didn't include my quirky little alien, he'd comment on it! I so enjoyed him. His was a wonderful Celebration of Life. He was dearly loved and respected.

This week, I had polka dots in mind. I'm not sure why.
I was sitting with my current client, with glaucoma she cannot see my art, but I tried to sketch her dairy barn. It didn't take! I ended up doing some dots in crayon. I took a photo of her small and large barns and shall attempt it later. This is the milk house.

When we were first married Jerome’s father would bring the milks cans to the milk house, where I’d wash them. He wanted me to milk the cows, but I wouldn’t have any part of that.
 I was married in 1942, we moved onto the farm in 1943, when we bought the farm from Jerome’s dad. He moved to Kingston, where he died in 1968.

She, as age 92, has many African violets, just like my father. I've taken two leaves to try and propagate a cutting! We'll see how that goes.



We looked after the grandies last week, and I (too late) bought some new thin and fat markers, as well as new pastels for our pretend art school. Alexandra's Sunday Sketches! 

pastels

Pencil crayons

Fat markers

Turkey vultures on clean-up duty

Yes, a sad sight, but they do clean up. They are huge creatures. I realized what they were after, when I spotted them on the fence.

It looks like a marmalade cat was smucked by a car. Drivers go pretty quickly on the way from Kingston to Ottawa. We've lost 2 cats to this.

Buster Brown has left town

Here are some old photos of Buster with kittens, Daisy and Dorah when they first arrived. He used to groom them.

Buster has been a character. I love him. He's on Prozac (flueoxetine) to settle him down. It seems to have done so. There was a time when he was spraying in frustration, when we didn't let him out at night. That stopped. I found him 3km up the road once upon a time. He likes to travel. He has been 'doctored' as my 92-year-old client calls it! (I love her!)



He's been chasing the girls, Annie just whacks back at him, as does Daisy. Daize is 7 lbs, the other 3 are about 12+ and Dorah could stand up for herself, but she's just being a victim. I swear, I've seen this in my students. She is scared, got twitchies, and cowers in fear most of the time Buster is around. Daisy and Annabelle know how to read him, and understand when he is ready to battle or not.

Buster's been on Prozac (flueoxetine) for months and it does seem to calm him.
Buster is (I think) jealous of them. He trees them, when they are outdoors. But Daisy is jealous of him, too. I was grooming Buster, and she hopped down from a chair, and came right between us.

Dorah has been peeing upstairs, rather than downstairs in the litter box. She's afraid to go downstairs, where Buster sleeps in the day as he chases her.

She twitches, itches, and over grooms, and is very agitated.

Dorah from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Dorah, Daisy, Annie at play. This was in January.

Cat tails from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Buster was taken into the Cat's Meow for a week's respite. We dropped him off at the 'spa' as we call it. He was affectionate, loving with me, and David (the co-owner) we both picked him up and snuggled him. Buster knew what he was in for and paced the room. He won't be happy. He needs to roam. There is a door, where he can sit outside.



After 3 days in the vet hospital, Dorah came home. She's on Prozac now. She is much calmer. I don't know if it the meds, or just Buster's absence. She did cower under the bedside table for a few hours.
We'll have to figure out what to do. Buster's time out is for a week.

If we can keep Buster there for two weeks... in the hotel, maybe he'll calm down.
Dorah is managing her cystitis. She's still twitchy and I'm having trouble getting her to take her meds.
JB has bought over-the-counter Feliway  at the pet store. You plug it into the wall socket.

We'll try Buster back next week, with the pheromone spray after that. We shall see. I am trying not to cry, or think of it. One day at a time. This we plug into the wall. It works like an air freshener. We shall see.
 We're going to offer Buster for adoption to test the waters, if nothing changes. The pheromones should help the girls, as well. Daisy and Annie have some hearty debates!