Needle Tatting and other Nonsense

As you likely guessed it was another boring day in tat land. The rush mask order did appear though, so that was the tatting task I engaged in as soon as it arrived. Before it did though, I opted to craft a bit with the vacationing children. my brother, the former photography instructor, had given us some empty film tins. We used the contents of one Michael's grab bag full of scrap booking stuff to cover then since I don't scrap book.

I figured they could be jewelry or keepsake boxes for the kids. Beside playing with Modge Podge is fun and eats away at least an hour that would have been spent watching TV. Sure, they didn't turn out great and I made the mistake of using a paint soiled drop sheet that transferred it's colors to the tins, but hey, the kids had fun and it cost me nothing but time.

I also thought I'd use this tatting free day to share a few other things that have been going on round these parts. Right behind the houses across the street from us is a creek and a bike path. This is wonderful for walks and it attracts a wealth of wildlife right to us. We're currently raising tadpoles as they morph into little frogs and our house, just yesterday, began to host grasshoppers all over it's exterior. Not in a creepy, swarming, locust way, but there were still dozens.

The last bit I wanted to share is about the Cliff Swallows. Just a couple of weeks ago, large quantities of the birds began swarming our neighborhood. When I use the word 'swarm' here I am not being overly dramatic. There have been clouds of them that easily reached triple digits. I took this video of them on the back of our house almost a week ago and it is tame compared to what we've seen everyday since then. They are now building mud nests on dozens of houses in the neighborhood. Personally I enjoy them, but the poop is a factor and we'll see how the summer goes I guess.

I do still have that mask to finish up today and hopefully I won't melt in the heat. I might get around to the grab bag for a new piece or I might craft with the kids again. Then again I might just sprawl on the couch and lament the heat. Really, it could go either way. I hope you enjoyed this diversion from the usual today. I just figured it would be more entertaining that babbling.