Fall has Fell...

Living in the woods has its advantages - fall color is one of them!  Behold:

Note the fish hospital in the front of the pond.  Yes, Kamen is still not well, but holding on.

Now for a close up of the leaves:

And Danielle - remember those goofy pink flamingoes from Naperville?  Well, guess who flew south for the winter?

And a couple of more pix - this time of the feline variety:

Sootz in her usual spot.  You know I cannot sew without her.

And last (but not least), this picture tells the IQ of the subject:

What has this cat so entranced is the leaves falling outside.  Yes, there is absolutely NOTHING between those ears (but we love her anyway).

These pictures were by popular request from Japan.  Danielle - we MISS YOU!

Happy (?) Birthday

Yes, it is the day of my natal feast. You would have thought that your special day would be a good one.
WRONG!
First of all, 2:30 AM there is this tree frog singing right outside our window. Didn't matter what I did, he kept it up. Couple that with the hubby's snoring and there was no hope for sleep. YES - 2:30 AM!!!!
Next, I go up to my sewing room to find one of the cats decided to pee on one of my tote bags. So, I decided to try and organize the sewing room and ended up sitting on the floor in tears. I can't find anything, don't have a clue how to organize it and it's a mess.

This is the main reason why:


I R in yur room shedding on yur fabrik!

Anyway, I wanted to share a story - a love story.
We do have a gorgeous backyard complete with large koi pond. About 2 years ago, we had an attack of "Ich" a fish disease. We lost many of our fish, but 3 survived including our large koi, Kamen (Kamen means "mask" in Japanese - he looks like he's wearing a mask). Kamen kept stopping and going belly up, but our little koi Sakaki kept pushing him along. Whenever he wanted to give up, she nudged him and kept him going. Eventually, he recovered and they became quite an item (they have the children to prove it).
Yesterday, we saw the telltale signs of Ich again. David ran out to get the salt and fungicide, but Kamen is really stricken with it (its strange - none of the other fish have it). Sure enough, there is Sakaki pushing him along. Whoever believes that fish don't have feelings haven't see these two.

Sakaki is the large butterfly koi and Kamen is the gold one.

Get well soon, Kamen! We cannot imagine our garden without you.

Has it been that long?!

It seems like the older I get, the faster time goes by. I cannot believe it's been 9 months since I posted (why didn't 9 months go by that quickly when I was pregnant?).
Anyway, this picture is for my daughter who is literally on the other side of the world in Nagoya, Japan (hence the clock).

Danielle - some things never change!



Now on to new business...
I've just come back from MM&M in Richmond, KY where one of the most talented and sweet doll artists was teaching - Pam Grose. (More on the other 2 AWESOMELY fabulous teachers later). I found out during this trip that this was Pam's final teaching trip to America. WAH!

However, a dear friend of mine (who also happens to own the most fabulous fabric shop in all of America and it's nearby in Shelbyville, KY) is going to host Pam one more time before she heads back down under. I'm posting photos in case anyone wants to venture into horse country and enjoy the hospitality of Leslie's shop (along with her business partner, Wanda and manager Amy who will spoil all of you ROTTEN). This is the doll Pam is teaching:


And a close up:


Leslie's shop is Making Ends Meet and the shop phone is 502-633-9382.
The information for the class can be found at http://www.makingendsmeetky.com/index.php3?pageid=75

Won't you come join us?

We Got Da Power!!

After THREE days without power and temperatures in the teens, we were more than happy to sing this song when the lights came back on. We have gas logs in our fireplace and a gas cooktop. After the first day, we were able to snag a small generator which operated a space heater. By the third day, I couldn't feel the end of my nose or my toes.
I did take two pictures for posterity.
The front view:



The backyard:



After the visit by Hurricane Ike in September, we couldn't believe that we were hit by bad weather. We also had an earthquake in our area last year. All we need is a tsunami and a volcanic eruption and we've run the gamut of natural disasters!

Back to playing - stay warm and safe!