Owl Tree Designs

“Well, I’ve wrestled with reality for thirty-five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it.” –Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey

This has to be one of my favorite quotes. I love the movie Harvey. I know, it’s old and it’s silly, but I love it. If you haven’t seen it, you really should. You may not like it, but I think you will. It’s in the same style as Arsenic and Old Lace. Lots of situation comedy and a Pooka. Pooka’s are mischievous. Let me explain with another quote from the movie.

Marvin Wilson, sanitarium orderly: [Reading from a dictionary] “P-O-O-K-A. Pooka. From old Celtic mythology, a fairy spirit in animal form, always very large. The pooka appears here and there, now and then, to this one and that one. A benign but mischievous creature. Very fond of rumpots, crackpots, and how are you, Mr. Wilson?” [Inverts and shakes the dictionary] “How are you, Mr. Wilson?” Who in the encyclopedia wants to know?

Now, if I’m honest, another favorite movie is Mousehunt. I was a knitter before carpal tunnel syndrome set in, and I love the quote, “A World Without String is Chaos”—Rudolph Smuntz,  Mousehunt. What knitter could resist that?

Speaking of mice and Pookas and other animals, it’s been a good year for wildlife at our house. Earlier this year we watched a pair of birds build in the nesting jar on our back porch. They moved so fast we couldn’t get a good look at them for a couple of weeks, but we could see blue when they flew by. We thought it might be a bluebird pair, which would be weird as they usually nest in deep boxes. We finally got a good look at them and they were tree swallows! I sneaked a few pictures of the nest. The parents did NOT like that.

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I think they were tired of having their picture made and one mooned me the last time. Baby bird moons are covered with feathers, though, so they’re not that bad. A couple of days after the last pic they fledged and were gone. Since then we’ve seen a wren checking out the jar. They’re the usual occupants and have made their nest there now.

We bought the jar in Old Williamsburg about 25 years ago, and it has been used every year since. I would love to have more, but I don’t have a local source. Any potters out there who are reading this, you should think about making these. I know they would sell really well.

We wondered what was digging the dirt out of my strawberry jar, below, then we found out. Nicely camouflaged little guy, but very messy.

We are remodeling our screened porch into a sunroom. No more screens and no front porch full of pollen and dust! I found an Imperial Moth on the front porch one night and Carl found another a couple of days later. I got pictures during the day while they were asleep. It’s the only way to keep them still. They got in easily while the screen was off the windows.

The small butterfly on the Brown-eyed Susan is a Pearl Crescent. These moths and the butterfly are almost at the extreme ends of the scale of the size of moths and butterflies. The Imperial moths are about 6-7″ across and the Pearl Crescent is just over 1″. There are a few who are larger or smaller, but not many. I feel lucky to have found these. We have many Pearl Crescents around, but I hadn’t seen an Imperial moth for years.

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I’ve been working on some sewing projects, but it’s been slow. I get mostly repairs and alterations done, but I’ve managed to get a few new things made. Nothing exciting. Mostly baby items–hats, blankets, a snuggler and some sock toys, some of which went to India with my friend, Chetna, for her nieces and nephews. The rest are at Locally Grown Gallery.

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And I’m sad tonight. My favorite sandals came apart. They’re several years old, but I was hoping to make them last a few more years. I’m going to try to repair them with a good cleaning, some ShooGoo, and a clamp or two. Anyone out there with experience doing something similar? Can you give me advice?

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Until next time, have a great day, week, month and year.

Meet the Brandt’s Boulevard Wallet from Chris W Designs. I tried it for the first time last week and I like it. Don’t love it, but I like it. I’ll make it again, but I’ll change a few things in the construction process to make it a little less bulky in the seams and have a little neater finish. I’ll try to post a tutorial if I get it figured out.

The top half has a zipper coin pocket and a padded cell phone slip pocket. The bottom half has card slots, a pocket for bills (paper money, receipts, etc), and a clear ID window.

The back looks a little wonky when opened, but it looks fine when closed. I think the Peltex™ insert was a little too big.

All my lovely Phalaenopsis orchids are in bloom. Two minis and three regulars.

So far my dendrobium aggregatum shows no signs of blooming this year. I’m still hoping, though. And it loves its driftwood and its little neighbors.

If you notice my poor fern below the driftwood, it’s in terrible shape. I have another one just outside the picture that is in bad shape too. Ants got into them last year. Argh! I thought they had laid eggs in them. I know they carried in scale bugs. One week the ferns were bug-free and the next they were covered. So, I’ve repotted them and killed all the scale bugs with alcohol spray. Now, I’ll keep an eye on them and see if they come back. So far so good and it’s been a week. I hate scale bugs.

Those wispy little seed heads on the right are from an air plant that my son & family found on their Florida vacation. The group was in a little intertwined knot around a dead branch and when the branch broke it fell to the ground just for me.

It’s been interesting weather here for a while, and from what I hear, all over the country. We’ve had flooding like I’ve never seen before. Our average rainfall for a year is 49-55 inches. Saturday alone, we got 17+ inches.

The city of Kingston had a boat slip docked at 58 Landing (a boat launch area and walking path along the Watts Bar Lake and Highway 58 in the town.) It came loose and floated away a few miles. It’s back today, but they’re still anchoring it. The water looks like thin mud full of trash, trees, and branches. The water level of the lake is usually very low in Winter, but it’s now more full than in Summer.

It has been a very strange season. The weather was cold last week, but for the last two days, it’s been in the 60s and 70s. It’s supposed to be cold again next week.

On a lighter note, my phalaenopsis orchids are still blooming. Three are in bloom and two more are on the way. My white one is winding down, but another pink one is blooming.

And to end my blog today, a comical view of my grandson. Kids do the weirdest things.