Mother's Day Online Ordering Countdown

With Mother's Day just under two weeks away, it is time to get your online gift orders placed so that they will arrive in time to surprise that special mom on her day. This year Mother's Day is Sunday, May 13. Whether you know a brand new mom, empty nest mom or grandmother, it is nice to make them smile on this recognized day of celebration of mothers.

All items listed in my EDCCollective and EclecticSkeptic Etsy shops are ready to ship. If you see something you like, don't wait. I will be taking most of those items to a festival this Saturday, May 5. Pick out your favorite before someone in person does and give USPS the best chance of getting your order to you in a timely fashion.

You will find a wide range of potential gifts, from jewelry and accessories to photographic art in many forms.

Artist Spotlight - Susan Ashley No. 2

I'm a little behind in sharing some pieces of art I have acquired over the past couple of years. One of them is another piece of gourd art. It is my second piece from Susan Ashley. I was set up next to her at a show a year or two ago and one piece caught my attention early on. While she sold several pieces of her work that day, this piece was still there shortly before closing so it had to come home with me. This gourd has cording woven on the top of it like my first purchase from this artist, however it has more of a Native American inspired style than the classic look of the first one. From the outside, this gourd is very natural looking with the subtle earth tone shades of the gourd, feathers, leather, stones and woven portions. The inside holds a surprise, a beautiful, shiny dark green interior.

You will be able to view eight pieces of Susan's work, including antler and pine needle baskets and some gourd art, at the Inspired by Nature exhibit coming up in Mansfield in May. Her work, along with some of mine and four additional local artists will be on display at the Mansfield Performing Arts Center from May 7-22, with a reception from 6-8pm on Saturday, May 12. Viewing hours during the remainder of the exhibit are 8am - 4:30pm, Monday through Friday. Come out and be inspired.

Design This - More Heart Earrings

This custom request came from a vendor I met at the first Olde Town Christmas Craft Show that I set up at. We were across the aisle from each other for a couple of years and struck up a friendship. Almost four years ago I made her some custom earrings, predominantly hearts. This past year when I ran into her at a show again, she said she was interested in some more earrings. We had the chance to discuss what she was interested in when she visited me at the Happy Holidays Pop-Up Market this past December. I showed her my selection of heart beads made from a variety of materials.

My friend chose hearts made from opalite, millefiori glass, turquoise colored howlite, cloisonne and some crystal stars. We discussed what type of ear wires she could wear and we decided that I should send her some mock ups of the beads she chose as earrings paired with complementary beads and ear wires after the first of the year. After completing the mock ups, I took pictures of them to send to her for approval. She liked the designs and chose the small yellow glass stars to go with the crystal ones. I took a picture of the completed earrings before we met and I delivered her new earrings to her.

If you are interested in a custom pair of earrings, necklace, bracelet or other piece of jewelry, please contact me to see if I have what is needed to create what you are looking for.

Oak Pollen Season in Full Swing in North Texas

Whether deciduous or evergreen, oak trees all over North Texas are helping create a yellow dusting on surfaces outside. Clusters of catkins appear as the new leaf buds begin to break. As the male oak flowers mature, they send out pollen to ride the wind and hopefully reach a female flower. The female flowers are inconspicuous and do not enjoy a beneficial relationship with pollinators such as bees and butterflies. Because wind pollination is a rather haphazard method, a LOT of pollen is produced by the male flowers. Park you car under an oak tree while the catkins are shedding pollen and it will develop a thin yellow coating on it.

The images in this post are of a live oak. You can click on them to make them larger. The pulled back view gives you an idea of just how prolific the male oak flowers are. You can also see a handful of last year's leaves still on the tree as the new growth has gotten a good start. Live oaks don't lose their leaves in the fall like other oaks. They stay green all winter and are thus labeled as an evergreen tree. Come spring however, last year's leaves begin to shed and the new ones begin to grow.

I labeled the close up image of the new growth on the tree so you can spot a female flower surrounded by a profusion of male flowers. Obviously I did not label all of the male flowers in the picture. The close up of the carpet of leaves under the tree shows fresh spots of pollen on the leaf surfaces about two days after a two day, almost three inch rain event. That rain definitely helped clean off surfaces like my solar panels. Good thing, I had noticed just before the rain that they had a thin yellow film on them. Now they should be much more efficient at turning the sun's rays into electricity.

First Day of Spring 2018

A couple of hours ago, it officially became spring here in North Texas. Except for the brisk north wind, it is easy to concur that spring has arrived. Today we have sunny blue skies. My early spring blooming bulbs are done blooming and now my azaleas, "Candy Stripe" creeping phlox and redbuds are in full bloom. My bluebonnets and wisteria are beginning to show some color too on this First Day of Spring for 2018.

It is time to put tomato and pepper plants out in your vegetable garden and you can still plant some annuals for spring color. The warm season annuals are likely a few weeks away from being in your local nursery. Pull out any winter weeds in your garden beds before they reseed and replenish mulch as needed. I little maintenance gardening now will provide a great backdrop for the continued unfolding of blooms throughout the year.

Happy gardening. Happy Spring!

Pi Day and Albert Einstein's Birthday

I wonder what type of pie Albert Einstein liked best? I think it is pretty cool that such an important scientist was born on a date that translates to the first three digits of the mathematical constant pi.

For those of you that enjoy a bit of math humor or want to indulge in some math or science geekery, check out my EclecticSkeptic shop on Etsy. In celebration of Pi Day, 2018 all orders received before midnight on 3/14/18 CDT will receive a 10% rebate, excluding shipping, from EclecticSkeptic.

Mark Your Calendar for the Return of Daylight Savings Time

It is almost time to spring forward again, even though it is not yet quite officially spring. Daylight Savings Time starts again on Sunday, March 11, 2018. I will enjoy the later light, although IMO, April was a much better time to do this because the daylight portion of the day is longer by then so as not to plunge us into darkness as bad in the am. Unfortunately the powers that be changed the dates for both time changes a few years back. Try to get to bed at a decent hour Saturday

night to make the change a bit less taxing. Make sure you get all of your clocks and watches updated this coming Sunday that don't automatically spring forward an hour, so you will be on time to go back to work or school on Monday.

All of the clocks pictured are creations of Eclectic Design Choices and run off AA batteries in a USA made quartz clock movement.