Fleur-de-Lis

Fleur-de-Lis
Medium: Watercolor
Size 2.5 x 3.5
by Ranie Patridis

MY MOTHER'S GARDEN

Her Heart is like her garden,
Old-fashioned, quaint and sweet,
With here a wealth of blossoms,
And there a still retreat.
Sweet violets are hiding,
We know as we pass by,
And lilies, pure as angel thoughts,
Are opening somewhere nigh.

Forget-me-nots there linger,
To full perfection brought,
And there bloom purple pansies
In many a tender throught.
There love's own roses blossom,
As from enchanted ground,
And lavish perfume exquisite
The whole glad year around.

And in that quiet garden-
The garden of her heart-
Songbirds are always singing
Their songs of cheer apart.

And from it floats forever,
O'ercoming sin and strife,
Sweet as the breath of roses blown,
The fragrance of her life.
Alice E. Allen

Crystalline

The Snow Queen of the Year

Her name is Crystalline designed by Kathy Lees.

I won this free class and had a ball making this doll. It was the dead of summer and I was to make a snow queen. I soon discover that due to being summer it was very hard to find winter items. I did a lot of improvising for this doll.

A lot of hand work was done on this doll her blouse is all hand crochet with hand sewn beads on it. The Staff is a dowel with hand crochet snowflakes on the end which I heavily glue glitter on.

The skin tone on this doll is shades of blue to represent the icy coldness as you can see her hair is with beads. The cape she is wearing is quilted machine fancy stitching all over it. This doll is attached to a wood stand. I enter this doll in our local fair, I won a blue ribbon, Best of Show and First in Division.

Fox in a Tree

Ever seen a fox in a tree?

Well you have now. Our dogs were barking and barking and barking. We kept hearing this unusual sound which we discover latter was the fox bark. If you want to call it that. Mike went out side to see what these dogs were barking at in our yard. Goodness gracious there was a fox in the tree. That fox had climb the tree branches to get away from our 2 dogs. Thank goodness the branches were low down to the ground so that the fox could climb up the tree.

Of course Mike took pictures that fox looking down at him was not to happy either. We tied the dogs up so the fox could get down and move on to where ever.

Dolls~Raggedy Rag Dolls

Three Best Friends they are sitting there together giggling telling their secrets to each other.
designed
by
Ranie Patridis

Poem~A Bag of Tools

A BAG OF TOOLS

Isn't it strange
That princes and kings,
And clowns that caper
In sawdust rings,
And common people
Like you and me
Are builders for eternity?

Each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass,
A book of rules;
And each must make-
Ere life is flown-
A stumbling block
Or a steppingstone.
by R.L. Sharpe

Photography ~ Boss Hoss Day Trip

OLE SHOE TREE

Ole shoe tree how are ye
Standing there so tall and graceful
On your limbs hang graceful moss
Oh my, what is that?
Is that a Shoe I see
Not one but hundreds of shoes
hanging from your graceful limbs.
How did those shoe get there?
Does anyone stop like me
To admire your graceful trims.
Ole shoe tree how are ye?
by Ranie Patridis

This tree was loaded with shoes and long moss. I would guess there are 50 pairs of shoes or more in this tree.

As we stood under this tree admiring all these shoes
I just couldn't believe that some one would throw perfectly
good shoes up into a tree. There was a pair of shoes laying on the ground. I don't know if it fell out of the tree or someone just didn't get that pair onto the tree. The shoes look like they would fit a young child. Mike and I took turns trying to throw the shoes up into the tree but the strap on it was too small for the branches to catch it. We finally gave up as I was taking more pictures I kept looking at the poor little pair of shoes all alone on the ground then suddenly I notice a branch I could reach and I very carefully gave this little shoe a place among its piers. ..giggle..

It is a site to see, if you ever get a chance this tree is on Hwy 36 in Humboldt County.