SublimeBirdy: 2013

Things I've made recently

by Sublime Birdy - 11:23 AM

It's a busy dog coat season and the sewing machine has been running constantly!

Here are some things I've been making for Noodle and Friends... there are certainly some happy and dry dachshunds out there somewhere.

Classic Trench coat with rain cape, epaulets, D Rings, faux button down gusset and closes in the back with a traditional belt with buckle. So, what are epaulets anyway? Since trench coats were originally designed as military garments and became popular in World War One epaulets were designed to carry various military gear or to attach rank insignia.

Red Blizzard Parka with fleece lining and thinsulate sandwiched between the waterproof outer shell and the inside lining.

This Snow Bunny jacket features gabardine wool and soft, fluffy white fleece lining all tied closed with beautiful grossgrain ribbon.

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The Signs of Fall

by Sublime Birdy - 10:01 PM

Buddy the dog spots the first fall leaf. © DFries

Fall is subtly awakening as Summer quietly goes to sleep. Without fanfare it shows up, with its chills, its vibrant colors, its crispness of sound and light. It sneaks in like a thief stealing the daylight, shortening our days and lengthening the night.

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Of cow slobber and dancing bees

by Sublime Birdy - 7:52 AM

Honey bee, almost too heavy for lift off! © DFries

"The most curious fact of the Spiderwort plant is that the middle stamen will turn pink instead of its usual blue when in the presence of small amounts of radiation and maybe even radon."

I’d love to have a weed-free garden full of gorgeous blooming plants but I am not particularly good at planting in the right spots or envisioning the space with the right ones.

I have been known to plant something in the wrong spot and then move it around the next season as if it were a sofa in the living room pushed to the other side of the room, however, the sofa always makes it, the plant doesn’t always survive the violation of being dug up or the insult of its eviction.

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Moses the Peregrine vs. Gee the Mountain Biker

by Sublime Birdy - 9:28 PM

John Gould [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Once you see this video it's amazing anything escapes a Peregrine.

With speeds of up to 200 mph and an all time recorded speed of 242 mph (National Geographic) this is a bullet of a bird.

3 comments

Repurposed Men’s Sweater Vest

by Sublime Birdy - 10:48 AM

Turning a give-away into a Belly-Protecting Doggy Coat

It was just a few short months ago where it was still snowing here in New England, the sloppy kind too, wet, slushy and cold. If I had to drag my belly through that just to go to the john I would be miserable. For that very reason I grabbed an old wool men’s vest to throw onto my low-to-the-ground basset hound terrier to protect her “under carriage” from a particularly wet and slushy afternoon walk.

3 comments

April is the Cruelest Month, Recovering from what life dishes out with T.S. Eliot

by Sublime Birdy - 1:16 AM

April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, missing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
T.S. Eliot - The Waste Land

4 comments

How to grow owls in your windowbox

by Sublime Birdy - 8:29 PM

What you need:

Available window boxes
Some nice soil, perhaps with some wilted flowers for cushion
A good view with some height
Magic

5 comments

Teaching an old dog new tricks

by Sublime Birdy - 10:12 PM

Stealing myself against the carnage that could be inside the house, I touched my hand to the doorknob, to my surprise the door flung open by the man who was my nearly 80-year-old Uncle. He was barely able to control the barking beast that minutes before I was afraid may have ingested his remains. In my worry I had come to check on him as he hadn't answered the numerous phone calls nor the door for the first 10 minutes of my arrival that day. Standing there in front of me now, my once proud and strong elder relative was crying.

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On rebuilding yourself, rock by rock

by Sublime Birdy - 9:44 PM

And just like that I realized he was crazy, and although at that young age I didn't have words for what he was now I would label him alcoholic, mentally ill and violently tempered, unstable. So, because of him, this man I called father, I grew up in a house without any joy, lots of stress and fear. Without foundation I entered young adulthood, I left my childhood home raw and ragged and felt as if I had fought in a war.

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Riding the Highs and Lows of Attention Deficit

by Sublime Birdy - 6:38 PM

And Lessons Learned from Spaceman Spiff

With two ADHD/ADD children and one (fortunately only one) ADD husband, someone at my house is usually looking for something, forgotten something or is running late. Then, on a different day and under different circumstances suddenly they’re right on, making sense of chaos, the best of survivors, creative, bold in the face of adversity. With attention deficit disorder the lows can be so low and the highs so, so sweet. After eighteen or so years of this roller coaster with three people I love I’ve learned to buckle up and ride the ups and downs of this disorder.
My youngest child has escaped the malady, so we are a ratio of two to three, with the power of numbers going to the ADD’ers. Having heard my youngest son, fed up with sharing a room with his disorganized big brother, shout out how he could not stand to live with him another single moment is demonstrative of just how strong feelings can get between the ADD and non-ADD types in my household.

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Looking up on a clear Winter's night

by Sublime Birdy - 7:26 PM

By Johannes Hevelius (28 January 1611 – 28 January 1687) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

For a creative person I’m very bad at identifying constellations in the night sky. Most of them look like the Big Dipper to me and then, when I realize it’s not, then it must be, hmm, let’s see… long pause… the Little Dipper?

Thankfully I have a patient son for a teacher.