Jewelry plus This and That

JEWELRY
I have been working on some jewelry.. I had two big (35mm, point to point) diamond shaped beads. Each one was gorgeous, but I wasn't sure what to do with them. Finally I put something together.. not sure how I like either one, but I'll post them anyway.

On the left is "Bloomin' Blues" . The focal bead is black with a reactive frit swirled on it. The colors don't show up very well here, but they include all the colors of the beads on the strings plus more. It almost has an inner glow about it!

On the right is "My Safari" - you know, the one you imagine, without the bugs and heat, where you could actually wear jewelry!. Another focal using a reactive glass, only as a stringer this time. Lots of scroll work and lots of nifty colors popping, including a lovely pale turquoise, soft orange and lots of variations of tans and browns. I have smaller matching diamond beads that I'll be making into earrings.

These are not my usual style of jewelry, but I made the beads and decided I needed to try something new to do them justice. A stretch is always good... just wish I had some more experience with this type of stringing...

THIS
Do you know what these guys are? They are Guinea fowl - originally from Africa. They are pretty ugly (the proverbial face only a mother...), but they eat tics and we have very little problem with them around here... even in our woods, although our dog, Rudy, managed to pick one up very early in the season before we had started the drops on his fur that seem to keep them away.

In our area, farmers often have Guineas to act as "watchdogs". We only have three since ours tend to be suicidal, but on farms they run in packs of 15-20! They set up such a racket when someone comes in the driveway or farm lane that they certainly alert the people who live at the farm, not to mention various neighbors!

THAT
Our son is planning to move out on his own next week. Well, more or less on his own, he'll be moving into a house that we own. It was rented and has just become available. It's only for two months, until he leaves for college in August. I remember when he was little and I couldn't imagine him ever living away from me. It made my heart physically ache to even consider the possibility. People told me that when the time came, I'd be ready and you know, they were right.

He was gone for the fall session last year in Rochester. It was a tech school and various factors, not the least of which was the weather, brought him home to a semester at a nearby state college. I was happy to have him home, but in the time that he has been home, he has lost a lot of the independence he had gained while being away. And, you know, empty nesting it isn't all that bad either...