Mosaic Mom

Here's the mosaic pumpkin, mosaic jack o'lantern, all grouted and ready to go.

OCD! OCD! I separated seeds from a commercial sack of bird food so I could mosaic them individually. Results are pretty good. What do you think?

At our feeder these days it's same old same old...just doves. A mockingbird has claimed territory around the old well. It used to be in the fall that giant flocks of birds would gather as the harvest went on in the fields in the muck. But the farms are closed now, so no birdfest.

Snake Story 1.
Out checking on the new tomato and pepper plants, I espied a twig engangled in the chicken wire fencing.

"How did that get there?" I asked myself as I reached to remove it.

It moved!

It was either a pine snake or a corn snake. About 20 inches. It gave me a look as if sad to have been found out. But I was more interested in a fellow out in the neighbor's cow pasture with a kayak, so I ignored the snake.

And yes, you read that right. There was a fellow with a kayak in the neighbor's pasture. Sit still long enough and the world marches past your door.

Snake Story 2.
Focusing intently on finding an interesting doo-dad for with to mosaic and wham-a-blam-blam!

Blackie Junior, famed of previous posts, had struck at a lizard on the screen door...and missed...and then try as he might couldn't get outside. The crack in the door was to his right and he was determined to go left...and towards me.

"So not good," I thought. But in the time it took me to search for a broom, he'd backed up and exited.

Other jots...

the carrots are germinated. The Beets have not yet. I think the marigolds were a bad seed lot. Had a bad go of marigolds last year too when they turned out to be turnips. I think I will select a different fall flower.

Made three Christmas wreaths for the craft fair and when I finish the door holder, I'll be done! Yay! I'll have enough items to fill a table.

Here's another look at the mosaic turkey for a centerpiece on the Thanksgiving table...if it doesn't sell at the octoberfest craft show!

Because everybody needs a mosaic tom turkey on their table for a centerpiece!

If you google mosaic shoe, several of my shoes will show up...but not the mosaic boot. So I am here repeating it so that fall festival crafters can enjoy!

Mosaic Mom and Plant Daddy are having a fight.

Are we having a fight about money?
No.

Are we having a fight about redecorating the house?
That's a good guess but, no.

We are having a fight about how the tomatoes should be spaced in the garden.

Once I got all 21 plants planted, I decided they were too close. They are appx 30 inches on center.

Plant Daddy thinks this will be OK.

When he goes to work tomorrow, I am going to sneak out and move 10 tomato plants and make that spacing 36 to 40 inches. I do not want to be crowded once all those plants have to be harvested.

In the last few days we have also seeded carrotts (Danvers Half-Long)and Contender green beans. Planted out Dusky eggplant and 2 Dixie Yellow Squash and 4 Black Beauty Zucchini.

There were 5 Zucchini...but the bunny got one. Grrrr!

OK, yeah, it's a gopher tortoise, but we can call our "pet" a turtle can't we?

Tubby got so excited the other day when I gave him some lettuce that he pooped!


His poop most resembles horse...from a horse that has been eating out of a pasture not out of the sweet feed trough...anyway! Tubby just moved his burrow again. Does anybody know why he moves occasionally? It it because he has to give the poop time to compost a little? Maybe the smell would attract predators? So he moves when the pile builds up? Who knows?

Speaking of predators...we thought we had seen a bobcat out on the south line last week, but we have since seen a small coyote and think maybe that's what we saw. Not sure. We have 12 to 14 quail hanging around in our fence line and they would be yummy for any predator.

I made this mosaic strawberry jar several years ago for a friend in Orlando.


We ended up with 16 writers at the Palm Writers group last night! Wow! and 4 were new members. Can't wait to see their stories.

Nobody writes alone. Everybody has to have an editor! Plant Daddy and I are glad to have each other for review and feed back. Everybody needs somebody to help prepare a manuscript.

I once read thet TC Boyle has a group of readers. They have to sign confidentiality agreements, then they can read his drafts. Man o Man, wouldn't I volunteer for a seat at that table in a heartbeat!

Finally finished and polished and ready to plant the strawberries!

It's a wild design isn't it? A real focal point though.

I'll see everybody at Palm Writers Group, Lake County's Best place to be every third Monday, tonight at 6:30 at the Sorrento Library.

It was an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, yellow polka dot...Mosaic!

This strawberry jar cleaned up really nicely...black grout is so hard to work with. My fingernails are still filthy. Final photos soon.

I'm not sure...but I think I saw full-on sex in the parking lot at Publix today.

The chick was in the back seat bobbing up and down...was somebody underneath her? I don't know. I don't want to know. But that was the most suspicious thing I have ever seen.

The pimp was in the front passenger seat of the car and kept glancing backwards....Eeewwww creepy.

Then I stopped at Ace Hardware on the way back...no onion sets till October...sigh...anyway...there was a strange teenaged youth loitering in the parking lot. So I waited by the cashier till he moved on.

Yes, he moved on down and set up shop at the picnic table in front of the store. And by the time I got in the car and buckled up, he had a customer.

There was a fellow on TV the other day who was a manager of Simon Properties. "How will we get shoppers to come back?" he moaned.

Here's a clue...Shut down this kind of behavior in the parking lot!
Make me feel safe to come shop.

He's not quite finished yet, but here's the mosaic snowman...made from white Bisazza!

As you know, Mosaic Mom has a terrarium that is 46 years old. It was made for a Girl Scout project in 1962 and has operated continually since then. It contains only Philodendron oxycardium, commonly known as Heart Leaf Philodendron.

A few years ago, Plant Daddy needed some pure stock to work with. What could be more pure than a plant that had been sealed up in a pickle jar for roughly 4 decades? He took some cuttings and made his Plant Daddy Plant Breeding magic and Voila…

Here is a brand new Philodendron…Frilly Philly


See all Plant Daddy’s new plants at his new website…Click here for Professor’s Pride

I just found out the name of my shower curtain fabric...it's Aphrodite...Gotta love that!
Here's a peek!

A really great painter showed up on Monday.

The good news is...the bathroom is now "Chef WHite" (Valspar).

The bad news is...he discovered that the toilet is leaking. Nargh!

Yesterday I went over to the decorator's office. She had nice stuff laid out. I wish I had any ability at all to conceptualize. But I brought home some samples and sat in the shower holding them up one at a time. Only then could I get the idea. She had been right all along.

So I ordered a shower curtain. It will be from this company...Brunschwig and Fils.
Enjoy the view!

Here is one of the projects I got started on this weekend. It's for the craft fair in October.

Painters were here bright and early this morning and by end of day, the bathroom should be done...except I still can't shower without a shower curtain. Found several I liked on-line at Pottery Barn, but they are the wrong size. Too short. This was my favorite.

Today, Saturday, our Internet Service Provider has told us we will be down for repairs. This means no email, no downloading work, no blogging. Sigh!

It will be a good day to get more work done in the mosaic studio.

Today I got 5 flower pots started and 3 computer board mosaics and a mosaic pumpkin for Halloween.

But I spent most of the evening working a faux finish paint job on the towel rack to be installed next week in the new bathroom.

Yes, the project's finally over...except that we can't use the new shower till we get a new shower curtain. And the painter has to come...And the towel bars need to go up and the toilet paper holder and new throw rugs and a rack for the shampoo... and...and...and...

Woke up this morning and Mr. Coffee was dead!

The Bathroom remodel is winding down. You can see here the trim tile is on and the hex tile is installed in the pan and these are waiting for grout today.

If you look you can see the potty just peeking out from behind the glass block wall...Hurray! No more late night hikes across the house at 3AM!

But you see that hose? The cold water feed on the new sink is clogged with PVC glue, so everything is slowed down till the plumbing gets cleared.

Out of the blue yesterday, the phone rang and I got invited to participate in a Fall Craft Show in October. I said "Yes, you betcha!"

Then the coordinator told me to prepare items for Halloween, Fall Seasonal, Thanksgiving and Christmas!

I checked my inventory. Yikes! Looks like I have some work to do!

But there was one piece underway that now begs to be finished!
It's Mr. Mosaic Turkey! Gobble Gobble!


Also out of the blue, I got an email saying my piece was received at a contest I'd entered. So far so good.

In theory, tomorrow is the last day of the bathroom do over. Please let it be so.

I was up and at 'em and painting the walls by 8AM, I got the critical areas where the toilet and vanity were to be installed today, but I will let a professional painter finish the rest.

Today's bump in the road was that the cabinets were delivered and the drawers were on the wrong side. There was no room to attach the waterworks to the top of the vanity since the drawers blocked access.

So the guy had to remake the cabinet on the spot.

Still good progress and maybe all done by tomorrow this time!

How can one small room cause so much disruption?
So much dust and dirt?
So much noise?
Throw so many curves and surprises?
This is where we're at so far...

The shower remodel guy abandoned me today and went off on another job. This is an old trick used by swimming pool contractors...get as many jobs started as possible to mark the territory then take your time to finish. Grrr!

I called in for telephone repair again today. The repair operator lady could barely hear me over the static on the line. She kept saying "It's bad, Honey!" She felt sorry for me and gave me a priority rating...but so far, no repair.

Tomorrow I am meeting with a woman about publishing Mosaic Mom's Tesserae Tales. I am excited about this. Or at least all ya'll now know what you're getting for Christmas presents from me!

I got my first Christmas catalog in the mail just before lunch. Start shopping NOW...was the not so subtle message!

Then after lunch UPS came with my first Christmas gift...My cousin sent me the best stuff ever!

Broken vases and plates and coffee mugs and marbles and glass beads and a sheep figurine and best of all an aqua colored antique tile made in Spain. I have never seen such a rare color. I love it.
I am one happy mosaic artist today...Many Thanks!

This is my shower yesterday.

It looks good compared to what they found today...the floor under the shower pan was rotten. It really was just a matter of time before it would have crashed out from underneath us as we washed!

They are in there using a jack hammer to lift the rest of the floor up...or at least that's what it sounds like...
we'll find out what else is wrong shortly.