The Ramblings of a Crazy Crafter

Some homemade Christmas gifts

2012-01-03T20:40:00.006-07:00

Some photos of some of the gifts I made for people this Christmas. The wine rack was a Pinterest find made from old pallets, home made sugar scrubs and bath salts (another Pinterest find and SOOOO easy), some photo collage work for two friends who are sisters and then finally a bracelet I did for someone who it suits perfectly. All have been given and enjoyed which always makes me feel really good about the season.
Happy New Year All!
Sandiana

Gubser Family Photoshoot

2011-12-10T09:44:00.009-07:00

No crafting lately (well none that I can post at the moment), just some photos from a recent photo shoot that I did for some friends of mine a couple of weekends ago. We had a lot of fun once we let Riley do her own thing. This has consumed me lately but at least I'm getting to know my camera. Still have a lot to learn but it's been fun. I will probably retire this blog at the first of the year. It's not that fun for me anymore and most everyone who has read it in the past now follows me on FB which has been a great advertising avenue for me. My big sis is coming out in January to help me make a photography website so I'll probably spend my time there... then again I may change my mind like I so often do....we'll see what the new year brings!
Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Sandiana

Autumn Reflections

2011-11-04T22:13:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I had a bad weekend. Everything hit me at once, all that has gone on. So much loss, so much to come. I was alone that day sitting at the house unable to escape my own head. So I grabbed my camera, hopped in the car and drove to the desert. One of my favorite destinations close to home, and I hiked on what was one of the most beautiful fall afternoons. At the end of the day I was leaving the waterfall and carefully stepping across stones in order to reach dry ground when a brightness caught my eye. I turned and looked at the water. At that particular time of day the light was hitting the orange and gold leaves of the trees in such a way that they cast the most beautiful reflection on the water. I couldn't believe it, and so I sat there for another 45 min taking photos of the golden reflections in the water as the light changed and eventually faded. In the process I met a really nice couple that asked me what I was taking photos of and then chatted with me for some time while I pet their dogs. It started out a bad day but ended well. This last photo is one I caught at the end of the day and a constant reminder to me that the only true calm and beauty I find in all the chaos at times is when I'm alone in the natural world.

Trying to rise above the bad

2011-10-18T20:22:00.017-06:00

I'm back but for how long I don't know. It has been a bad year thus far for my husband and I and I'm contemplating giving up this blog or reinventing it. I'm not sure what to do. Part of me lately is concentrating on living and making the most of each day instead of spending so much time online. You see, this spring Brett and I lost his mom to breast cancer. She had been in remission for 4 years and it showed up in her liver undetected for several months before she lost the fight. I can't begin to tell everyone what an amazing lady she was and how her passing has created a hole so deep in both of us that I'm not sure it can ever be filled. It was sudden and unexpected and now I've lost my cooking hot line, a fellow adventurer and dear friend. She was the best mother in law a girl could ask for and an even better mother and wife to Brett and his dad and she is missed every day.
After that a series of other things happened that I won't go into but have left us exhausted by life. We've lost some friends this year, but gained new ones, lost family but created new in the community we call home. And thus the roller coaster of life continues; for every down there is an up, but the up is often a slow climb.
We have done our best this summer to try and focus on the good things, and to create some new memories for the positive. Slowly we are making our way to the surface but realizing that each day is precious and should be made the most of with the people that matter the most.
So......some positive from this summer. I conquered another item on my life list and went Zip lining which was a blast (high above the tree tops of Cascade, ID), we took a lot of camping adventures with new friends because nature always heals the soul. And I started earning money by doing photography which all started when I took home best of show, 3 first place, 2 second place, and 1 third place with my photos in the county fair. From there I ended up with a few jobs and some sold nature prints. All of which is making me very happy.
Work continues to be busy, but I'm starting to breathe again and I'm enjoying this harvest season. Plus as an added bonus 2 of our dear friends moved back to Ontario which is always good, and I have new exercise buddies so I've lost 20lbs!

And so, some photos from the positive side of this summer (some of my jobs I've done and some of my adventures- more critter photos to come soon. I'll be back when I've decided the fate of this space...
Until then, Sandiana

....

Can't believe I got this on Film

2011-05-08T19:50:00.006-06:00

Well I'm in the field most days right now and so I don't have a whole lot of crafting going on. There's just no time for it even though I want there to be. Instead I've been working with my camera and I had one of THE most amazing days out in the field last Thursday when I was SOOOOO lucky to be able to capture this beautiful Black Bear yearling on my camera. I watched him for nearly 2 hours before I finally found an open area where I could get a shot of him without getting too close. He heard the first few clicks of my camera and didn't care. He just kept eating and then something on the reservoir behind me got his attention and that's when he looked up at me with a mouth full of spring greens and I just kept shooting. I quickly looked at my camera to make sure that I had gotten something and then disappeared and left him to his meal. He was so beautiful and I have never been so excited in my life. I couldn't wait to call B and tell him what I had captured on my camera. He was in awe when he saw the actual photo on the computer. It is now at the printer and I have purchased a frame for it and it's definitely going on the bragging wall. Not too shabby for this beginner photographer! It reminds me when I'm so stressed out about how lucky I am to call the outdoors my office most of the year, and how each time I'm out there I never know what I'll come across.
You have to take your blessings where you can find them.
Enjoy the spring weather everyone, I'll be back when I can with more photos and hopefully some FO's!
Cheers!
Sandiana

No excuses, Just busy

2011-04-27T20:57:00.015-06:00

It's that time of year when all I want to do is be outside and all I'm doing for work is being outside. So that's where I've been and not inside writing on my blog which I'm thinking of deleting and starting over. I need to reinvent it but trying to figure out how I want to do that. In the mean time yes I have been crafting some, but mostly I've been developing a relationship with my camera which I hope will last a lifetime. I am guilty for sure of being on eternal auto mode. So I took the bull by the horns and decided to take some classes at the local community college. So Although I have been crafting, I still need to download those photos and post, and so all you get for now are photos from my class homework. I LOVE this class, I LOVE this teacher, and I love that I finally understand my camera. Since the learning curve is high, I'm still getting frustrated from time to time and still struggling with certain aspects, but one of the biggest things I wanted to manipulate was shutter speed. So I took photos in 30 degree weather at night and I took photos of waterfalls, and this weekend I'm headed out to shoot another waterfall that I discovered close to home as well as a friend who ropes. I find myself wanting to practice all the time. So here are some beginning shots after my first few classes.
I'm pretty proud of them though I have much more work to do. Finally I'm excited about taking photos again. The giant water spewing hole is called "the glory hole" It's part of the Owyhee reservoir dam system and I am lucky that we have had the snowfall, rain and runoff that we've had because the glory hole hasn't spilled since 2006 when I moved here. Typically in dry years it just looks like a cement tube in the water. As you can see the tube has disappeared and the water is pouring into it. We were fortunate enough that during my photography workshop we knew someone that would let us in the gate to get overhead shots down into the hole and thus play around with shutter speed. It was much too bright however to slow the shutter speed so these were taken at about 1/1000 sec.
Anyway, for now I'm enjoying the weather, enjoying my camera, and I've just sold 2 photos so life is good. I'll be back this weekend with photos of a gourd I sold as well as the much anticipated green shawl which I love.
Hope the weather is pleasant where you call home!
Sandiana

Experimenting with other creative endeavors

2011-02-20T17:09:00.023-07:00

I've been taking a break from my norm lately and trying desperately to get to know this new camera that I have been longing to have and now own, for some time now. Getting a new camera is like a new boyfriend I've decided. You miss the old one because it was familiar to you yet you know you need something that suits your needs a little more (hence the new boyfriend....or camera in my case). You have to be patient, you have to get to know everything about this new thing in your life, and it takes time and practice, and I am not a patient person. It puts pressure on one's self, pressure I don't really need right now but pressure that is needed in order to get to know this new appendage of mine. So I set out the other weekend with my new camera with a pretty complex plan in mind about trying new settings and doing complex things in and around my neighborhood. I had romantic notions of shooting children playing in the park , or old trucks with bright blue paint tainted with the perfect complimentary tone of rust on them and using new settings to capture the vivid textures. A friend of mine suggested just going out and having fun and paying attention only to a different subject matter (as we all know I love to shoot nature photos) with no thought to technique. Just have fun she said. I tried, I really did but I was surprised at how self conscious I felt walking around my neighborhood with my camera. Like people thought I was a stalker or something. I wore a big coat that I stashed my camera in every time I heard a car coming. I took photos rather quickly and not to my liking. I came home discouraged and mad at myself for caring what others thought about my project. I haven't been out since; mostly because if my schedule but partially out of fear that I won't get over this uncomfortable feeling. Then I looked at my photos (some of which are posted here) and I thought, you know, for being in such a hurry and feeling weird about what I was doing, these aren't that bad. They aren't fantastic, but I'm learning. I love the feel of the camera in my hands. I like that when I am shooting I don't pay attention to anything else but what my eye sees and my hands are doing. I would hate to let some obnoxious comments from passer-bys ruin that for me. Why do we care so much what people think? I wish I didn't as much as I do. In any case here are my beginning attempts at shooting in a human environment. I see room for much improvement, but I also see a valid attempt. I'm taking some classes at the local college on digital photography and photoshop. I'm loving every minute of it. My teacher is fantastic and he gives me hope. He liked my wildlife photos that I brought. He said I have a good eye. That alone had me elated. He said he can help me with technique and I am willing to learn. I can't wait. I intend on posting my progress as I go, and I am so thankful that my friend Rachel suggested this creative challenge throughout the year to push ourselves to do wonderful things, but also to simply learn how to incorporate the things we love to do into our hectic work schedules. Because of this I'm learning the balance even if the scale is not always as even as I would like it to be. It's something.
So as part of this creative journey, I've also been dabbling in jewelry making with some local friends. I'm not fabulous at it but here are a couple of pieces that I've made recently that I'm proud of. I'm a minimalist when it comes to wearing jewelry so the chunkier necklace is a bit bold for me. That being said when I put it on I was surprised at how much I liked it and how it really wasn't overpowering like I thought it would be. I'll have more to post on the knitting front soon and other things I'm working on, but wanted to take the time to do something out of the ordinary and share it.
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!
Sj

The learning curve continues

2011-01-23T14:14:00.017-07:00

Well my learning curve continues to grow on both the knitting front and photography. Some days I feel this new camera and I are having a bit of a power struggle. I will prevail eventually though I hope and hopefully before our trip to the Boundary waters Canoe Area in Minnesota in June. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been and I sure would love to be able to capture it as I see it. In the mean time I continue to play around in local areas. Went to the trails at the Nature Center last week and got some photos of some more critters and some leaves which I sort of like. The old house was taken today while conducting raptor routes with B.
In addition I'm posting some new knitting ventures. I am going to do my first sweater this year....yes I just said that out loud to everyone so now I need to follow through. It will be knitted in this Beautiful shade of blue-green Cascade 220 Heathers. I can't wait to get started. First though I intend on finishing this little number; "Falling Leaves Lace Scarf" by Wisdom Yarns. I'm sorry but i couldn't find photos of the pattern online or I would post but it came from their Wisdom Colors Book #1 and is done in blues and greens from their Wisdom Poem Sock yarn. I'm really enjoying this pattern but it is time consuming. I also plan on making many things from this new book "a Fine Fleece" that I bought this weekend in addition to spending a heap on yarn. This is why I try to resist going into yarn shops. I went in there knowing exactly what yarn I needed and how much (telling myself that I would buy nothing else), and then I met a woman who was knitting the most basic but divine-looking sweater and that's how I ended up purchasing the book from which I hope to do the sweater Rhinebeck in the most beautiful shade of green-gray heather. That will be sometime down the road though. My latest mantra "you must crawl before you walk.....patience young grasshopper".
In other news, I made the most heavenly dessert last weekend when I attempted and succeeded in making Huckleberry Creme Brulee. On my last day on this earth I want to be eating a bucket of this stuff! Tonight I'm making a Swiss Chard and Leek tart for dinner. That will make 3 new recipes for January with 2 more to go to complete my goal for this month (yes I realize next weekend is the end of January....wish me luck).
Until next week sometime, I'm out of here. I have more things to accomplish today so that I may take the evening off to relax with some more crafting and daydreams of gardening and sunny days. Winter - I'm so done with you :)
Cheers!
Sandianajones

Dreary Weather and Finished Objects

2011-01-16T20:10:00.010-07:00

Well the holidays are over and I am slowly getting around to finishing some projects and starting some new ones. This year I've started a challenge with Rachel that involves crafting, cooking, exercising and of course photography. For me it's a way to stay motivated and making sure I'm taking time for things I enjoy outside of work, and at the same time sharing something great with my best friend (who despite only living 2 hrs from me) I don't get to see very often. I recently got a new camera for Christmas. I must say it has so many more buttons and features on it than I have ever had on a camera I've owned, and while I'm feeling a bit frustrated and overwhelmed by trying to learn this new camera, I'm also looking forward to playing with it and mastering some new techniques....I hope. The learning curve will be high for sure.
So this weekend I attempted to go out and work with my camera a little. Needless to say the weather would not cooperate with me. I mean Hello Mother Nature, don't you understand that I don't get 3-day weekends every often where I actually have time to go play??? So B and I were out and about in dense dense dense fog, and I was feeling down and hopeless. Out of the whole 3 hours we were gone I got these three photos and fortunately one was this cute and furry little guy who chose to pose for me.
After taking his photo I retreated to the comfort and warmth of my couch and got the finishing touches completed on these projects. The coffee jacket is some one- skein wonders and the scarf is for a friend and it's called "The Irish Hiking Scarf" and can be found on Ravelry. Both of these projects were simple but fun to knit.....well simple if I kept my focus and didn't lose my place that is :)
Today it is still raining, and still cold and I'm about to crawl into bed with a good book and some tea and call it good for today.
More to come...........

Playing in the snow, making wreaths and more Wildlife eyecandy :)

2010-11-30T19:42:00.013-07:00

Well it definitely feels like the holidays around here because we have had more snowfall in the past few weeks than I think we have since I moved here. It has been crazy and beautiful and stressful to drive in on my hour commute, all at once. Today we are due for 8 inches, and I got to drive home from Boise in it which was "interesting" to say the least. But now I'm home with a glass of wine watching my backyard turn into a snowglobe so I thought I would share some of the beauty of my recent crafting and wildlife adventures. Thanksgiving weekend I ran the 5K Turkey Trot that morning in 11 degree weather (notice the horrible photo of me pre-snow). On Saturday I thought B and I should rake leaves only to look out my window and see 4 inches of the white stuff on the ground...what is a girl to do when her yard maintenance plans are wrecked?.... Well she eats blueberry pancakes and then tries her hand at horticultural design. No I did not beat up Martha Stewart and steal her wreath, I actually made it myself with the extremely talented and informative help of Susan at Andrew's Seed Nursery. If you're ever in Ontario Oregon, go and see this amazingly knowledgeable family at their garden nursery you won't be sorry. They held a wreath making class in the seed barn portion of their shop that was built in the 1920's. So my friend and I sipped hot chocolate, covered our digits in sap and watched the snow softly fall outside as we made our wreaths which made for a relaxing afternoon. Then of course I had to play with the dogs in the snow and Bo was the only one who stayed still for a photo.
I've also been conducting some raptor surveys on the weekends. B went with me on Sunday and we saw a lot of wildlife. Though these aren't the best photos, I was still happy to catch these guys on film (from the car)....Side note: Dear Santa, it would be really stellar if you could get me that fancy camera with 50 different zoom lenses so I can pursue my National Geographic career,make a ton of money, and retire on an island in the Caribbean Thanks!
This last little guy was my resident Cooper's Hawk who views my bird feeder as his own personal McDonald's and frequents it quite often though this was the first time I've seen him this year which was a treat. My photos shot from my bedroom window of him in the tree were too dark, so once he landed on the fence I did a rather chilly belly crawl on the deck to get a photo of him....again Santa, that zoom lens would be mighty handy, and would save me hours of picking splinters from my belly button.
And there you have it, a nice way to kick off the holiday season with a shot at a new craft and some of my favorite critters!
Happy Holidays All
SJ

Snowing outside, flowers blooming inside

2010-11-21T14:36:00.011-07:00

It's been a long time since I've posted and I wouldn't blame you if you've abandoned me, but I have a very demanding job and schedule, and haven't had much time for creativity so I didn't have much to post. I've been diving more into photography lately (those these photos aren't my best - horrible lighting and snow coming down on me had me shooting fast to protect the camera), but recently I got my first paying photo gig and with any luck, I'll have me a new fancy camera by Christmas! In the mean time I have been working on this gourd project for my mother and father in law for FOREVER! I wanted it to be perfect, and perfection takes time. Still not sure it's done (in fact I added more color after the photos were taken), but B says it's time to let go, time to put it in the mail and be happy with what I've done. I'm actually pretty pleased with it. Done with wood burning and colored pencil, all Illinois prairie flowers, and my mother in laws 2 favorite insects. I'm so glad to be done with this project and on to something else I hope. I'll be posting some cool photos from some recent adventures in the coming weeks. B and I have had a wonderful fall, and even though I should have stayed inside on the first snow of the year and knitted, I couldn't resist, having a snowball fight with B, and taking my dogs to go play in it. Knitting will come soon.
Hope you're all well and enjoying this holiday season!
Cheers!
Sandiana Jones

Where has time gone?

2010-10-05T20:22:00.002-06:00

Well I've been busy to say the least. I've neglected this blog, my laundry, my weed problem in the garden and my crafting. That being said I have traveled quite a bit this summer, spent time with friends and family whom I miss very much. I even managed to make it home to Chicago to see my 97 yr old hoot of a grandma who recently underwent a major surgery, and for a while there had us pretty scared, but seems to be recovering physically at least. I was so glad to be able to spend time with her and the rest of my family. I did knit while I was at home and will have photos to share next week. However, that feeling of panic returned to me when I came back from Chicago and realized all the veggies and fruit that awaited me. So I have been chained to the kitchen, processing pound after pound of peaches, pears, apples, carrots, tomatoes...you get the idea...... I both love and despise this time of year, but such is life. Fall seems to be literally falling on me and I can't seem to find time to breathe and enjoy this fabulous Indian Summer we are hosting. This weekend B and I will celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary in New Mexico. It was actually the 1st of Oct. but we decided to treat ourselves to a miny vay-cay down to Las Cruces to see 2 of our great friends get married, and visit with a friend from my days in Texas. I can't wait. It is a much needed break of hiking, warm weather, friends, joy and wine! And then I will be back. Hoping that no one has forgotten me in my absence. I;ll have photos of gourd work, jewelry and knitting but for now I leave you with a sunflower unfurling in my garden from last month. Here's hoping I can unfurl from this business and stretch my petals towards the sun soon!
Cheers!
SJ

Work in Progress

2010-07-07T10:05:00.012-06:00

Well as promised, here is the elusive gourd which is still a work in progress. I can't seem to decide to just be done with it. I had promised B's parents that it would be done in time for their departure this morning but alas it is not. Originally we talked about toying with some colored pencil on it and just doing periodic sections of color on the gourd. However, while sitting on the porch last night, hanging out with them and trying my hand at the colored pencil technique, we all fell in love with the effect! At which point I told them that I simply had to color the whole thing or I wouldn't be happy, and so I am going to finish the color work on it this week, put the clear coat on it and send it off in the mail. At which point I will post some better photos than these. By the time I went to photograph the pre-color phase of the gourd last night, it was pretty late and so these photos are not the best and there are far too many shadows but oh well. It's a work in progress what can I say. Oh yeah and I realized I didn't have the lid on straight....trust me the images do match up I swear. I'm also toying with adding some more grasses via wood burning but we'll see how I feel. For now I must say that I am stoked about the colored pencil effect. I had no idea it would look so good on a gourd, and I plan on doing more of those.

Stay tuned......

Sandiana

Happy Birthday to Me

2010-07-06T13:40:00.014-06:00

Today is my birthday. I've been on this earth 33 years now, and most of the time I'm good with that. This past weekend I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the weekend in Portland with my sister and my adorable nephews. We had a blast but most of all we laughed and ate cupcakes at my favorite cupcake place in the world! I decided that today I would post photos that correspond to some things that I like and that I'm thankful for (trying to be more positive in my old age and all....). These are kind of in order of the photos.

1) most of these photos have blue and green in them. My favorite color is Blue. My second favorite color is green

2) I love cupcakes especially when shared!

3)I am in love with the pacific northwest! and so happy to live here

4)I hope to one day meet up with this guy in his natural habitat, because I am also obsessed with visiting Africa

5) I Heart the Ocean and I'm so happy that it's only over the mountains from my house.

6)I love photographing, smelling, receiving and giving flowers of any kind.

7) I really like waterfalls especially those surrounded my large rocks dripping with moss.

8) Wildlife is my hobby, my job and my passion, and anytime I can be up close with nature I'm really happy!

9) I like being silly and don't do it nearly enough. Thank goodness I have the boys to show me how it's done.

10) I don't have a photo here, but I have a wonderful husband, a wonderful family and wonderful friends. Tonight I also get to spend my birthday with my very cool in laws who traveled very far to see B and I and stay for my birthday, and have put up with my crabbiness from a long week at work and frantic over-scheduling from last week that left me stressed and grumpy. We have a nice evening of dinner and some porch time planned before they head back to Illinois tomorrow.

I've decided that this year I want to try and accomplish 33 new things or new places or new challenges. I'm off to a good start, and I'll post my progress here, but I thought who knows....if I can make it to 80 and accomplish 80 things in one year....wouldn't that be something!

Thanks everyone for humoring me on my birthday!

Sandiana

And summer begins.....

2010-06-21T09:48:00.007-06:00

Can you think of anything more wonderful than a whole flat of fresh picked strawberries warmed by the morning sun? Me either. I decided to kick off the first days of summer by going to a near by farm with my friend Michelle on Saturday to pick our fill of strawberries. The weather was perfect. We've had such a crazy wet spring filled with cool temperatures and crazy storms that I'm not quite sure how this spoiled cold weather gal will handle the 85-90 degree temps forecasted for this week. I took advantage of the cool weather while I could though this weekend and got some much needed gardening done, the garage cleaned and then I spent 2.5 hours washing, cutting and freezing my way through 25lbs of strawberries. They are now happily packaged in the freezer waiting to be made into jams, pies and anything else I can figure out. B and I did however, steal a small bundle of them to make us some strawberry shortcake with Lavender cream; a reward for all our hard work this weekend.

The other photos above are random thistle (because I was out running with the dogs, saw it and liked it), and a recent garden project that I am quite proud of. I went to the local nursery where they had a much fancier strawberry pot/birdbath combo complete with plants for $179. I decided to construct my own cheaper version of the same thing for a grand total of $45. I'm so pleased with the way that it turned out and even more pleased that the Irises bloomed this weekend.

On a craftier front, I got some much needed work done on 'the gourd' that is a gift for B's parents. They are coming into town this week and it must be done in time for their visit. Because it's almost finished I have decided to hold off posting photos of it. I don't want them to see it before they get here and I want it to be a surprise for everyone else. I will say that I am SO happy with the way that it is turning out. I have really put my drawing skills on gourd to practice with this one. So stay tuned, more later. For now I have to get through a long and busy work day, all the while anticipating the Jewel and Brandi Carlisle Concert at the Boise Botanical Gardens tonight! Can't wait!

Cheers!

Sandiana

Ahhh this desert that I have come to adore.....

2010-06-16T14:28:00.019-06:00

So far the summer field season has started off with quite a bang. I have managed to weasle my way into some pretty cool wildlife experiences this summer, and some of them happened to me by accident. Either way I'm enjoying the photo opportunities as they come and being able to share them with you all is an added bonus. Hopefully this will make up for the fact that I haven't posted a single crafty item since Feb. I actually do have some on my camera, just not downloaded yet, but I digress.....

This past Saturday I was asked to tag along on a BLM banding trip for Ferruginous Hawks. I've never had the pleasure of seeing these guys up close so of course I said yes. We banded several hawks of different age stages since their hatch date, and each time I was able to get some cool photos, here are some of those. The badger and rattlesnake were added guests at lunchtime on the hawk banding trip.

Then, yesterday I conducted a wildlife clearance survey for a project with our veg ecologist. I had seen a pronghorn doe earlier in the morning watching us and I assumed she had a fawn with her, so I gave her plenty of space. Little did we know that she had TWIN fawns and they were not with her, but rather right in our path. I was taking a photo of a plant when I heard this strange noise, and then heard Sarah say "please don't come by me, I'm not your mom". I looked over and was shocked to find these two little fawns bleating for their mom while walking towards Sarah. I was able to snap a few photos before we bolted out of there so mom could come back. I never saw them again on our way back so I'm guessing their reunion with mom was successful. And I walked away amazed and excited that I had the opportunity for such a surprise. Even when things are stressful at work, it helps to know that I do something for a living that allows me these little glimpses into a world SO much larger than me. It keeps me motivated through the rough stuff I think.

I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed the experiences. May you all be having a nice summer!

Cheers!

Best Friends Forever

2010-05-26T16:20:00.012-06:00

This is my new friend Michelle and her beloved four-legged companion Sadie. They have been together since Michelle was 19. They go everywhere together and have hiked many mountains and sat on many miles of beach on the Oregon coast which happens to be their favorite place. Sadie is 15 and has been diagnosed with the worst possible form of cancer in dogs. It’s in her bones but more specifically her shoulder. It’s literally devouring her bones and muscle tissue, but not her spirit. This dog is like none other. Tenacious doesn’t even begin to describe it. I look at her and sometimes think that she is staying alive because she knows Michelle will be heartbroken without her. It brings me to tears. What a beautiful couple they make huh? Sadly, Sadie is fading fast and within a week Michelle will most likely have to make one of the hardest decisions she has had to make. I was asked to come over and photograph the two of them together in Sadie’s final days so that Michelle will have something to hang on her wall and remember her faithful companion with. I can’t begin to describe how difficult this was for me (thinking about how I couldn’t live without my own two four legged critters), but how privileged I felt to be invited into such a private moment as someone who is only so-so with the camera. I was nervous about getting just the right images for them.
I was even more nervous when I handed over the CD of images to her a few days later. Yesterday she called me and thanked me over and over; saying how much she loved them all….even the oops ones.
This is what I can give back to someone who is about to lose their best friend in the whole world, because I never know the right thing to say even when I have lost those I have loved. There are no words really. I will say this, though that Miss Sadie is a Very Special girl and even I am going to miss her more than I ever expected to. Peace to you bothSandiana

Into the Woods

2010-05-20T08:55:00.007-06:00

B and I went camping this weekend instead of me staying home and working on the UF gourd. It was beautiful weather out and I couldn't resist the opportunity to hike in the woods and sleep under the stars. It was a blast, but unfortunately we had a couple of SNAFUs along the way that were quickly remedied in the most McGuyver of ways. As is typical I took a lot of photos (some of which are seen above), and I will hopefully be going through them all soon and picking out some favs for the much anticipated photo wall in my house. (I'm painting the walls this weekend which is at least a step in the right direction). Other than that I'm extremely behind on my blogging and reading of other people's blogs. I think I have something like 600 blog entries to read through, but that's what field season is like for me. Hopefully you haven't all abandoned my blog for good. I will be taking some in progress photos of the gourd this weekend as i promised to do about 2 months ago. I have to post some craftiness soon or you all might get bored. Anyway, hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather!

Photo Heavy Spring Post

2010-05-09T07:19:00.024-06:00

Another beautiful trip to Hells Canyon last week. I can't believe how everything has changed in just 2 weeks, but such is Spring I guess. I love being up there in the spring. The weather and the landscape is so dramatic and in a month it will all be hot and brown. Enjoy it while you can. I was lucky enough to be with my coworker Patty who loves my photos and is extremely patient in letting me capture things. She was even willing to pull off the road for me to get these fields of Yellow (Arrowleaf Balsamroot). The weather was so dramatic that it made for beautiful backdrops. As I shot these photos I was thinking that although I may not be the best photographer on the planet and I need more education on how to manipulate my camera for better more dramatic photos, I think I do pretty well in the mean time, and for me, my camera has become a tool, a friend of sorts which helps me to document not only my life but the life of others and the world around me. I recall living in Texas and my friend's mom was sick with cancer. Just before she died she had an all girl party at her house. We had wine and cheese, we laughed a lot. I brought my canon and some black and white film, and i hung in the shadows of her beautiful garden as I took some of the most candid and vulnerable moments on film with she and her daughter, daughter-in-law and best friend. It was something I could give back to them for making me a part of their family. I had no idea she would not be with us a few months later, and I was glad to be able to frame those photos and hand them over to my friend after her mom had passed. To me, that's what's more important. Today I am going over to a friend's house to take some photos of her and her beloved dog Sadie. Sadie has cancer and in less than 2 months will probably be gone. This will be hard for me (as it makes me think of my own two critters and their mortality), but I think it will be a good thing for my friend to have when Sadie is no longer here. She and Sadie have traveled all over and hiked many mountains and ran on many beaches. She will be very missed, and my thoughts are with them both. And so, when I have no idea what to say, I know what to give.
Enjoy the spring, and capture it as you can!
SJ

No Crafting But I have CUTE BABY OWL PHOTOS!

2010-04-10T10:04:00.003-06:00

This is where I spent my Friday. Check out The Adventures of Sandiana Jones for photos of baby screech owls and more nature eye candy :) (I know, 2 posts in one week, I'm gettin' all crazy on you!)
Have a good weekend everyone!
Sandy

It's been a while, how are all of you out there????

2010-04-08T08:40:00.005-06:00

Well, once again it's that time of year for us wildlife bios. Field season - the time when your dishes go unwashed for days, you're out of underwear and socks with no time to do your laundry, and the days blur together. It's only beginning and then I throw gardening season into the mix and I'll be lucky if I can formulate a verbal sentence let alone blog. But I'm trying people, I'm trying so please be patient. I have many photos to share (some even of the crafty nature) and a lot of field photos since that's where I live these days. I was recently fortunate enough to participate in a Sage Grouse capture which was so incredible, and you can see photos and hear about HERE. Whilst trying to find balance in my life I am also trying to figure out how to merge my 2 blogs so it's easier to keep up on. I haven't figured out how I am going to do that since there are aspects of both that I'm attached to and I don't know which one to merge with which one. I started the Adventures of Sandianajones (a nickname I have aquired through my random acts of wildlife research) and it helped me get through a difficult time when I was living in Texas. I don't want to give it up entirely but my craft page seems to get more attention....what to do, what to do. Anyway, the merge probably won't happen anytime soon, so in the mean time I'll post links in these posts (like I did above) or you can go to the other blog (which hosts most of my adventures through work and fun and not so much the crafting) via the post on the side bar. Whatever works. I'll get it all figured out sometime just not anytime soon. Hope you all are still hanging with me and hopefully this weekend I'll post some photos of the gourd I've been working on, it's not finished but I thought I would throw you a bone for your viewing pleasure and hopefully you'll give me some feedback as I continue to work on it.

Oh yeah- the photos above are from my recent trip to Hells Canyon for Bald Eagle nest surveys. It was absolutely beautiful down there with all of the spring blossoms in full bloom. Will post more photos from that trip as well as the ones I hope to take on my float trip next week. It's a nice place to visit if you ever find yourself in these parts.

More to come, thanks for hanging with me.

Cheers!

Sandiana

VACATION BRAIN...situation extended

2010-03-10T07:22:00.009-07:00

Hola Peeps!

I sincerely apologize for my absence. Got back from a fabulous vacation in Mexico a few weeks ago and jumped right into field season, trying to unpack and find my floor space in my house, returning emails and phone calls, and now attending a wildlife conference all week. That and B came back with Bronchitis (fun) and I now have a cold. I will have more for this blog in the coming weeks. Finished artwork, artwork in progress, and more photos. Next weekend I will be painting my living room and hallway, and then A big attempt to start the photo wall in the hallway. Some of the prints are done, but needing to be framed. Stay tuned.

Oh ya, and then there's gardening season around the corner (do I sound stressed in this post?) - Oh and wait! I bought a food Dehydrator this week and my mouth is totally watering at the thought of all the dried fruit and fruit leather I will be making.

No I did not have any crack this morning, just cold medicine and coffee which I'm sure is not a good combo. Anywho, enjoy the above photos, and just know that I have 876 more where that came from.

~Sandiana Jones

Adiós mis amigos!

2010-02-12T08:12:00.006-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted but work has been crazy and so has any free time that I have these days. However, I'm finally leaving it all behind for a week in beautiful Playa Del Carmen Mexico with B. It's our first time there ever, and I couldn't be more excited. Our field seasons are going to be crazy this year and during that time we usually only see each other as I head out the door and he heads in or the other way around. So we figured we might as well have a little vacation now before the madness starts. To get myself in the mood I made a few of these brightly colored fish scrubbies from some bright scrap yarn I had. The photo was taken in the last light of the day that I could catch so they aren't as vibrant as they are in person, but they were fun and easy to make. Rachel inspired me to do this after she sent me some with my Christmas package and I simply had to try them out for myself. They are now on their way to Illinois to 2 adorable little boys that are turning 1 and 3 this month. I thought they might be a fun little thing for them to play with in the bathtub just to let them know I'm thinking about them and their parents while living so far away.

Anyway, I will be back in a week with more photos to post of Mexico, but in the mean time I will leave you with chorus to one of Brett's favorite songs which has now become one of mine:

" I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand, not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand.... life is good today, Life is good today!......Adios and vaya condios!"

Hasta

Mis Amigos!

Another Rough Day at the Office

2010-01-27T21:39:00.013-07:00

When I started today I wasn't looking forward to being out in the field, which is uncharacteristic for me. It was supposed to be a foggy, dreary, rainy and unseasonably warm day. I knew the rocks would be slick and I also know I've been having some rough days with this bum knee of mine. Rainy days are not my friend because of this bum knee. As I type this I am sitting with my leg splayed and a bag of ice on the knee. That being said, I had my annual check on some fencing in one of our wildlife management areas today. We're desperately trying to heal the landscape and we have some certain members of the public that seem intent on destroying things. So once a year I hike in this beautiful piece of country and check the fence. I get dropped off by boat and spend half an afternoon enjoying the outdoors with my camera and my thoughts. Not a bad day I would say. I brought my camera today in hopes that I would catch some more Mule Deer or an Eagle on film. Nobody was out an about today, Feeling uninspired, and blah I decided to challenge myself to find some color and inspiration in the muck of winter. That's when I stumbled upon a huge field of boulders covered in lichen. I find lichen extremely interesting, and beautiful. I ended up (as you can tell from these photos) spending a good 30 min waiting for my boat ride back, and photographing all the interesting lichen on the boulders. I love these photos. I love how they look like giant boulders covered in moss but really they were no bigger than a small stone or pebble. I love macro setting.

Anyway, it's past my bed time, Bald Eagle Nesting surveys are coming up in March, and I can't wait to get back out there again with the camera! In the mean time, this weekend I will actually post a glimpse of a special gourd project as well as some tropical looking knitted fish.

Good night all!

S.Jones

Random January Musings

2010-01-26T08:07:00.008-07:00

Life has been busy since returning from the holidays. I have much more to post but lately no time it seems. My plan is to post once a week. So far though I have been so committed to my new healthy life plan that I have spent all my time after work either at the gym or cooking and then going to bed. I have some 2010 goals to share, I have more FO’s to share and I need to get back out with my camera some more and post some more photos. I would also like to introduce some more color this week. I am starting to feel the winter blues, with all this gray around and I find myself thinking of ways to incorporate bright colors into my day. One of my very best friends sent me a fantastic care package in the mail the other day. Among all the goodies in there was a pair of brightly colored stripey socks. I LOVE these socks. If I could wear them every day from now until summer I would but I don’t think anyone would appreciate that kind of odor.

Anyway, I digress…. ,I have decided that I need to start getting more creative with my photos of finished knit objects as well, but when you leave the house before the sun comes up and you come home after the sun has gone down, there seems to be no opportunity to shoot in natural light except on the weekends. Still I dream of photographing a bright orange pair of socks up against the blue sky or a bed of sunflowers. Then again I would have to learn to knit socks and I would have to grow some sunflowers.

And so, until I can find my creative juices again, I present my newest FO, “The Irish Hiking Scarf” in a nice subtle variegated cranberry color….. my first attempt at cables (Loved doing cables btw….I had no idea they were so easy). Oh yes and it’s on the fence again. I do love this fence though. It has so much character and color to it, that it does really highlight my craft projects well. Still change is good and more interesting, and I need ot find more inspring ways to photograph my work. I’ll see what I can come up with. I’ve often thought of using my pooches to highlight some of my knit goods, but they always want to play or chew on the item and not sit pretty for the camera. The joy of having labs. Anyway, there you have it, my latest crafting item with more to come.
In other news, I almost had a tree in our backyard crash down on my house. We were very lucky. There was a big storm the other night with high winds. At 1am I woke up suddenly to a loud crashing sound outside my window. It scared the living daylights out of me. Brett was still awake in the livingroom watching a movie and I ran out there yelling “something really bad just happened outside and I’m afraid to check it out, you’ll have to do it!” He walked outside and said “Well the old willow fell down, but strangely enough and fortunately, there’s no damage”. I can’t believe there was no damage. That tree fell in the only place in the whole yard where it couldn’t hurt anything or anyone. We were really lucky. It could have fallen on the house and our bedroom is all the way at the back of the house on the side where the tree would have fallen. Crazy. So here are the photos of the tree before we had someone come and cut it down and haul it off. I’m glad to see it go. It had been dead for sometime and now it opens up so much more space in the yard. Good bye eye sore, hello easy mowing!

More to come, have a great week all!
Sandiana

Frosty Morning

2010-01-05T09:19:00.013-07:00

Woke up on Sunday morning to a winter wonderland. We have about 6 inches of snow on the ground but are in the middle of an inversion which caused some serious fog Saturday night. The termperatures were low enough on Saturday that the fog froze to anything standing still and the result was amazing. I couldn't help but get outside early and take some photos around the house. Hoping for more white stuff in the near future. I'd like to actually get my snowshoes on this year and this icy crusty stuff just won't do.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays

2009-12-29T15:15:00.011-07:00

Ahh, it was an interesting, frustrating, wonderful Christmas season for us. read about our little adventure here.

And until I can get my photos downloaded of Christmas projects made, and in the works, I'll leave you with some of the photos I took while at home. Oh how I do miss the oak and maple forests of the Midwest sometimes. Good thing I can visit them once in a while still !

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Sandiana

A Frosty Hike in the Woods

2009-12-10T08:38:00.018-07:00

Another brief break in the holiday madness to share some photos I’m pretty proud of. Yesterday I had a wildlife program meeting with IDFG here in Boise at their Nature Center. Every time I have one of these meetings I always bring my camera and take a hike on the nature trail after the meeting is over. I was in the right place at the right time yesterday. I was the only fool crazy enough to hike around when it was 11 degrees out so I was able to creep up on some of the area wildlife that were taking advantage of the lack of humans on the trail. Here are some of the photos from my outing yesterday. I absolutely LOVE winter, no matter how cold, I love getting out during a time when everything is sparkly and beautiful.
Happy Holidays!
Sandianajones J

Still here but barely :)

2009-12-07T08:52:00.010-07:00

Oh look I am still alive huh? I know you all probably thought that I had fallen off the face of the earth but rest assured I am still here, just more swamped with work and holiday activities than ever. B lost his grandmother before Thanksgiving which kind of threw us all off this year. It was a very sad time especially for me. I was not able to make it back to the Midwest with him to say goodbye and that was hard. Between 2 hunting trips prior to all of the family stuff and then going home to be with his grandmother in her final days and then the funeral, he had been gone a month. He returned to me and the dogs late last Monday and now we are desperately trying to return to normalcy while trying to prepare and finish up last minute details for our return trip back home for the Holidays. It definitely won’t be the same without Grandma Maxine this year but we are looking forward to spending time with the rest of our family and friends. Seems that this becomes more and more important to me each year, and I fully realize how precious time well spent with all of them is. Time passes too quickly and things happen so unexpectedly all the time. A reminder that life should not be taken for granted. In all the craziness though (and crafting which I am unable to post at this time), we did take a break and head up into the mountains for a Christmas tree. It was a nice mental break for me. Up until this point it really hasn’t felt like Christmas. It just came too quickly this year. I really needed a mental break this weekend and hiking around in the mountains just me, B and the doggies was just what I needed. I’ll share a couple of the cool photos I took from that trip just so I have something to post until life settles down a bit. I probably won’t post again until after the holidays, so here’s wishing you and yours a very happy, safe, and wonderful holiday season!
Cheers!
SJ

2009-11-11T10:29:00.003-07:00

I love this photo. This is the last little survivor of this year's garden. One tiny little cone flower that said "I'm not done yet" and is still shining bright amongst withered leaves. I think it's appropriate for today's post. We are all survivors. I am amazed at how; just when I think I can't take another piece of bad news, or another thing going wrong, somehow I find it in me to deal with whatever comes and do what I can to muddle through. Somehow I watch the people around me survive cancer, loss of a loved one, heart issues, money issues etc, and sometimes I can't fathom how they do it but they do, and I am always amazed. B and I had a recent scare with a very dear friend of ours, and we continue to wait for news on how B's grandma is doing as well. She's still in the hospital and very weak and it's making it very frustrating for us to be living so far away. Those of you who know me, know that my friends and family are my life, my friends are my family, and I have a very tiny circle of very close friends that I would do anything for...ANYTHING. This whole blogging adventure has taught me though that there are tons of wonderful people out there that I am happy to call my friends and that even though they aren't right in front of me (some I've never met), I would do anything for them too. These past few days my email has been flooded with warm thoughts and well wishing from strangers; friends :) Your wonderful emails and kind words have really helped me. So thank you! We're not out of the woods yet but we did hear that the worse case scenario for our friend was in deed not the case and that was a huge relief. He has a long road ahead of him but he'll still be around for me to harass looks like and I couldn't be happier. We're hoping B's grandma makes a good recovery as well and we hope she'll be able to make it out of the hospital soon. She's very important to us. In the mean time I'm going to take a lesson from this last flower and continue to help my friends and family muddle through their challenges as they have done for me, because "we're not done yet either!"
Thanks again for everyone's support. Here's hoping you're all happy and healthy!
Cheers
Sandianajones!

Legends of My Fall

2009-11-05T11:35:00.012-07:00

Well despite the busy Autumn I've had I did manage to get out with my camera though not in the fashion that I would have liked. If I had my way I would have spent a whole afternoon focused and choosing the composition ever so carefully; paying close attention to objects in the background. Instead these images were caught on the fly; a walk to the local coffee shop near my office, as I got out of the car at home and noticed how the light was hitting a certain leaf (I've started carrying my camera with me daily for such occasions), etc. None of them are particularly breath-taking to me, but the subject certainly was and I felt that by looking at a lot of these I am just viewing them as a memory instead of a work of art capturing a particular event or journey. It also serves as a great reminder how quickly autumn and time in general can pass, and that not taking the time to capture it in the manner in which I'd like leaves me feeling somewhat empty.

This will forever serve as my reminder to slow down and not let things pass me by. I'll let you know how I'm doing next year :)

-The Forever Work in Progress,

Halloween, 1 FO and other random crafting

2009-11-03T08:13:00.017-07:00

First let me just start off with this little cutie sporting my latest FO. You’ve seen the photos of the blanket, but doesn’t it look so much better on this little munchkin. This is the beautiful daughter Katherine (or as I like to call her Kitty Kat) of one of my dearest friends Jenny. I haven’t been down to meet the little darling yet, but hopefully after the holidays.
The rest of these photos are from Halloween. We had so much fun this year. I haven’t really celebrated Halloween in some time and it used to be one of my favorite holidays (and now it is again). My dad loved Halloween and he used to make a huge deal out of it when we were kids. This year, although I didn’t go super big, I did a little decorating, carved some fabulous pumpkins and made this spiderweb chocolate cake.
On Halloween we headed over to Shaney’s farm for a huge bon fire and some seriously delicious Dutch oven cooking. What a good time. And now it’s November….holy crap it’s November, I need to get over my chocolate and sugar induced hangover and start working on Christmas presents. I’ll post objects that I can when I can but in the mean time I will fill these pages with Pretty images of leaves and a dying garden as I reminisce on the wonderful Autumn we’ve had and prepare for winter.
PS: More Halloween Photos of my goofy friends and Brett’s “interesting wardrobe malfunction”…Ahem. Can be viewed by clicking HERE.
Cheers!
Sandiana

Fall Eye Candy From Chicago

2009-10-18T17:39:00.017-06:00

Recently I went home for a little Family visit.

I love going home in the fall. It's so pretty in Illinois in October which is why B and I decided to get married there in one of our favorite parks in Illinois, in October some four years ago. You can't beat the scenery! While I was at home, I took a lot of photos.....obviously (thinking of changing the blog background btw, don't like how the photos drown in the blue....), I spent a lot of time with my mom, sister and brother in law, brother, nephews and Grandma as well as a variety of their furry four-legged critters. So much fun. It rained 2 days while I was there but other than that the weather was wonderful.... cold, but wonderful. I even bought some yarn while I was home and brainstormed designs on a gourd with my sister who is commissioning the work for her Entry way. Hopefully in the next few months I'll have some progress photos to share on the wool blanket that I'm making for B and me as well as Laura's artwork. I'll be back later this week with more Fall eye candy to get everyone in the mood as well as photos from the Corn Maze and Field of Screams that B and I went to the other night with my friend Sarah and her boyfriend Peter.

Later Taters!

Sandiana

Today Some FO Eye Candy, Tomorrow, some Autumn Eye Candy

2009-10-14T21:47:00.006-06:00

Well I finally finished this adorable blanket for my new little niece Kat. One of my best friends in the whole world welcomed this sweet little miss way back on Memorial Day weekend. I was in the middle of field season at the time but I was able to finish this just in time for the cooler weather of fall when she can get the most use out of it. I'll post the specs on it sometime soon or at least a link to my Ravelry page, but for now at least you get the photos. Jen has promised to take some photos of baby Kat with the blanket soon so I'll post those when I get them. I will say this piece was a no brainer, just took a lot of time because it was so large, but I'm pleased with the way it turned out. Pastels aren't really my thing, but I loved this yarn and thought it absolutely perfect for a sweet little girl. Congratulations Jen and Will! Can't wait to meet the little miss.

SERIOUSLY????!!!!!

2009-10-05T11:44:00.002-06:00

This year's Christmas Card ..... Check! Yeah people, no joke, this photo was taken by yours truly this past Saturday on what was supposed to be a Fabulous Autumn camping trip. Read about it here : The Adventures of Sandianajones. I was glad to be home from a weekend of wet, cold camping. Yesterday was wonderful. B and I weathered the storm and picked up our pumpkins at the farm, then we holed up in the house for the rest of the day, I made a fabulous fall crock pot dish, and I finished Baby Kat's gift (will post photos after it is received by her mom).
Got some new cool projects in the works now that it's hibernating/crafting season.
More on that later
Cheers!
SJ

Happy Anniversary to Us!

2009-10-01T08:12:00.002-06:00

Four Years Ago I married this pretty cool guy, and you know what? I still think he's pretty cool. Check out my anniversary post at www.sandianajones.blogspot.com!

Hooray for Us!

SJ

My Dogs are famous! Check it out.....

2009-09-29T12:05:00.003-06:00

Ok not really, like super crazy famous (like you'll see them on the next Charmin commercial or anything), but still exciting to see them on African Kelli's website this morning. I had contacted her asking if she would make me some of these fabulous pooch pouches for storing doggie waste bags in (they attach to the collar....DUH), because I am in constant need of bags especially on the trail. She was so sweet as to pass along 2 that she had just made. She asked me to take some photos of the dogs sporting their new collar additions and I was happy to oblige!
So there they are Sage and Bo. How cool is that. And what a great blogger friend to have sent me these cool and handy little gadgets.
Check out her site if you haven't by following the link above. She's constantly inspiring all with her cooking, crafting and gardening.
Have a great Day all!
SJ

I'm still alive I swear

2009-09-16T08:27:00.004-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts right now I am barely keeping my head above water this week. It’s been an extremely busy couple of weeks and with bat trapping and working my normal day job I have been keeping a nocturnal schedule as well as my day schedule which has left me empty of energy. I’m hoping to regroup this weekend and I will be back with stories from a weekend of furry flying critters, a trip to the art in the park (and the stunning new vase I bought), a local wine festival with music and friends, and more on canning, and trying to balance work on top of the other demands of life.
Oh Fall where are you so I can take a breather???

On another side note: How can anyone be afraid of this little guy? I must admit, though I am more tired than I have been in a long time, I am enjoying trapping bats again. You definitely see some cool stuff at night and lets face it. No matter what I do I don't think I'll ever be a morning person which makes my current work a bit difficult.

More soon,

Holy Busy Weekend Batman!

2009-08-30T21:41:00.020-06:00

My Saturday started like this:

And This:

You know, kinda working on my weeds and drooping sunflowers, but mostly taking photos and marveling at the honeybees who continue to work despite the fact that I've gotten all I want out of them, I have a garden loaded with veggies and my neighbors have trees loaded with peaches and pears that I continue to can as fast as they give them to me. Then B said to me "Hey, Sears is having a sale on freezers, and wouldn't it be nice to actually have all of your berries and my meat in our house instead of at the neighbors?"

Which lead to this:

Hello Beautiful, where have you been all my life! And look at how cozy my berries look in your tray

While I patiently waited for my freezer to get cold B and I took a trip up to Baker City for a friend's baby shower. It was a lot of fun. It was outside at friend's Katy and Mitch's place out in the country, and lucky them, their backyard faces the Elkhorn Mountains. We watched as a brief summer storm came through leaving us with pink clouds and a beautiful rainbow. We followed that with a campfire and didn't get home until 1am. I wanted to fill the freezer then but B convinced me I was nuts and I should go to bed, so I did.

Sunday I went to my very farm in the whole world. I swear these people know exactly what I need. I was on a mission to finish my salsa making today and my second crop of tomatillos is not ready, so I went to this lovely place. Please marvel with me at the beautiful colors in these bins!

And then I went home and turned into this :

And I began Making Salsa, Raspberry-Peach Jam, canning peaches, pears and tomatoes and hoarding them away in my pantry, here is a sample of my handy work:

And my day ended with a quick bike ride with this as my backdrop:

And all the while my beloved pooches did this:

Lucky Dogs!

Another weekend, more produce

2009-08-24T08:42:00.003-06:00

A quick update: Busy as usual and trying to do too many things at one time while trying to maintain sanity and make sure I have clean underwear. I am in the height of canning the summer stuff right now. This past weekend, I went kayaking and swimming by myself at Black Canyon Reservoir which was fun and Brett and I got together with a group from the BLM and pretended to be 5 yrs old for the day at a place called Wahzoo in Boise. Brett and Shaney battled over laser tag, I drove as fast as I could a million times on the go-carts and we all took turns hosing Brett down on the bumper boats before trying our hand at a pretty cool mini golf course. I normally hate these types of places, but it really wasn’t crowded at all and I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time which makes me sort of sad. We ended up staying out from 3pm-11pm which is late for us these days!
Sunday we were going to go tubing but my neighbor called and begged me to come relieve him of some of his peach crop. This was my first time canning peaches and they turned out well. I’m going back over there tonight to pick some more because my friend Gillian gave me a fabulous recipe for Raspberry Peach jam (BELOW).

Low Sugar Raspberry Jam (or Raspberry-Peach Jam)

5 cup-sized jars
4 cups crushed raspberries (or 2 cups raspberries and 2 cups crushed pealed ripe peaches)
1 cup unsweetened apple or grape juice
1 package of No Sugar Needed Pectin
3/4 cup of honey or agave nectar, or 1 1/2 cup of all natural cane sugar (or omit altogether)
1/2 tsp butter (to reduce foaming)
1 tbsp lemon juice (only if making the raspberry-peach jam)
1 home canning kit

In medium-sized saucepan, combine the crushed fruit and fruit juice. Stir in lemon juice (if required), butter and the pectin until dissolved. Over high heat, bring mixture to a full boil, stirring frequently. If using, add the sweetener. Stirring constantly, return mixture to a full boil. Boil hard for 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and skim off foam, if necessary. Fill and process jars as detailed in the Pickled Dill Carrots post, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace.
Remove bubbles, wipe jar rim and place hot disc on clean rim. Screw band down until resistance is met.

Boil in canner for 10 minutes. Wait 5 minutes and remove jars without tilting. You should hear the lids pop as they seal. Cool upright for 24 hours and refrigerate any that has not sealed, for immediate use.

Enjoy within a year. Makes a lovely, homemade gift.

I can’t wait to make this stuff. I only did a few jars of peaches yesterday because they take so much time but I also made some kick ass homemade salsa. Our jalapeños are really spicy this year so Brett was pleased with the heat level of the salsa. I plan on making more this week because I have tomatillos coming out of my bum! (Not really) J Will post more project photos soon but right now I need to focus on all the veggies and fruits that I are currently screaming at me to do something with them.
Hope you are all well
Cheers
SJ

The Fruits of my Labors

2009-08-19T20:01:00.023-06:00

First, the things that have been keeping me so busy on my toes (at home anyway) besides my regular job of being out in the field all the time rescuing injured birds, and trapping bats. Yes it has been a busy garnden season, more than I ever thought it would be and I think when all is said and canned, I will be happy to embrace the fall and lay the gardening to rest. For now though I scramble through bad days and good days to try and take the time to enjoy the many colors of the rainbow that keep pouring from the stems in my garden. Above are some of my favorites that now reside either in my pantry, my freezer or my stomach:

A Break in all the gardening lead me to Baker City one weekend for a crafting day with some friends I have recently started to spend time with again (now that our field seasons are winding down). We were recently reunited through the death of a dear friend and co-worker who we all love and miss very much. My friend Shaney who knew him best took it pretty hard. She being a recluse much like myself has been hard to get out of the house. Slowly though, she's looking more and more full of life and coming out of her shell for events like this. It was wonderful. We all made a dish from our gardens for lunch, and then spent the afternoon in the country at Katy's house, making jewelry and listening to bluegrass, and I got a much needed boost of energy and inspiration that I have been lacking for some time which lead to the following creations :

By request, another burnt vessel for my neighbor Jan's birthday.

And.......

A necklace for my mom's birthday. It was recently received by her and she loved it!

And Finally:

This spirit horse gourd with a new antiquing technique and trimmed with real horse hair and turquoise beads, for Shaney's birthday who's life revolves around her horses. It was also a big hit.

And for me......well, I've had some bad stuff happen this summer, but I'm working really hard to try to find positive things to keep me going. Here is what I am currently looking forward to:

-Re-vamping my blogs and opening up my art for sale through friends on Facebook

-A trip to the Strawberry Mountains Wilderness for mine and Brett's 4 yr Anniversary

-Caving at Saddle Butte with some friends from the BLM on Labor Day weekend

-A Canning party at my house where we all try our hand at jams and canned fruit

- And A big trip to Mexico in Jan. for Brett's birthday.

The rest will come as it always does :)

Cheers

The last days of summer

2009-08-19T07:37:00.006-06:00

This summer has been about scrambling to find time to do the things I have to do, to find time to spend with people I care about and to find time to do things I want to do (which usually takes back burner). With so much travel and catching up from travel, I haven’t spent much time in the garden other than to harvest vegis here and there and mow the yard. I can’t believe how the garden has transformed. Sunday I decided to enjoy the beautiful weather we were having and sit outside in the garden and read. All this time I thought life was pretty boring out there and despite my attempts to attract critters to my yard, none resided there. I was wrong. Within my hour’s stay I saw 3 hummingbirds, a willow filled with goldfinches and this beauty hanging out on my sunflowers that are now almost as tall as my house. I didn’t get to photograph the birds, but this nectar loving wonder stuck around long enough for me to run inside and grab my camera. Enjoy! I will be posting photos of my recent art projects this week but for now just look at the pretty butterfly and enjoy the last days of summer, I know I will.

~SJ

Happy Birthday To Me!

2009-07-07T07:56:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was my birthday. I thought it was going to be horrible, what with it being Monday, and having to work all day out in the heat, and having had a crummy week last week…..but I was pleasantly surprised. It was actually a great birthday. It was nice to not be in the office. Instead I hiked around in the field all day with my coworker Sarah who’s the best. She made me wonderfully gooey and delicious brownies which we both pigged out on, on the way home. I came home to a mailbox full of gifts and cards which is always good, and Brett took me out for a great dinner followed by ice cream cake with a sparkler on top! Plus…..I must comment on how great technology can be. In the last couple of months I have become reacquainted with a bunch of really great people that I have been missing and wondering what happened to them over Facebook. I normally hate these types of things, but this isn’t like MySpace or twitter or whatever. It’s only as cheesy as you want it to be. Anyway I’ve found some of my best friends from the past, including some folks over in Australia and Hawaii that I met while in Samoa, again over Facebook and we have been emailing regularly now, AND I’ve made new friends too.
I came home yesterday and found my inbox flooded with birthday greetings and wishes. It was really great. Brett got me a Dutch oven for my birthday. I had asked for a fly rod, but upon purchasing my new camera I decided that he should wait until Christmas to get me my fly rod. He however, decided I had to have something to open so he got me the Dutch oven. I recently took a Dutch oven cooking class and decided that I would love to have one for camping. When I get back from vacation I’ll have to post some of the photos of my friends Shaney and Dan teaching the Dutch Oven cooking class. Shaney and Dan are masters at this. They spend a lot of time in the back country either on horse packing trips or river trips and they always bring their Dutch Ovens for gourmet camping meals. Their chosen coals are actually cow patties most of the time. Shaney’s says it’s because you can find them everywhere out here. Not sure I would do the same but whatever works I guess. It was a lot of fun. In the class we made some sort of Swiss steak thing which I didn’t eat, enchilada casserole, chocolate cake, cobbler, potatoes, and corn bread. It was awesome. Brett even found and printed off some vegi-style recipes for me to try. I can’t wait to get cooking. I think we may even bring it to the coast. In addition, I also received, my new camera….So much fun, some books I wanted, some homemade gifts from my friend Pam and my sister and some wine… always a good idea!
Brett and I went camping this weekend for the 4th. We found a really beautiful spot along the Malheur River on the National Forest. I will post some of those photos this week when I get a chance as well. We took the dogs with us for the first time too and they had a blast. It was a success, they were well behaved and we’d definitely do it again.
More info on the craft and garden front to come too. I’ve been busy making birthday gifts since everyone seems to have been born in July, and the garden is progressing nicely, though all of this posting will have to wait until I get back from the coast. My little brother is flying out from Chicago on Thursday, and we are all headed to the Oregon coast on Friday morning to meet up with our good friend Jon, our neighbors Dave and Jan and Jan’s sister Dar and her husband. We’ll be crabbin’, beach combin’, hikin’ and relaxin’ I can’t wait.
More when I get back!
Cheers everyone!
Sandiana

My how the Summer flies

2009-07-01T07:59:00.007-06:00

Where is the summer going without me? I realized today that I haven't posted to this blog in some time, yet I have been doing some stuff. I've been so swamped with out of town field work and gardening that I haven't had time to organize the recent photos that I have taken and post something worthy of posting.

I will get back to it I promise, especially since I got a new fancy camera for my birthday. I can't wait to see all that it can do, and to share it here with everyone. Anyway. In the mean time I've mostly been out tromping through pretty country and taking photos while conducting wildlife clearances for work, so this is all I have to show for now. I've also recently completed another burnt gourd vase for my neighbor who's birthday is today, and I am almost done with My dear friend Jenny's baby gift which I won't post until I know she's received it in the mail. Congrats Jen on your beautiful baby girl!

I'll be absent again for a while. My man and I are off to camp in the woods this weekend, soak up some sun and play in the lakes and streams, then next week we head to the Oregon coast. I can't wait to be eating fresh crab, playing in the sand and drinking wine with my brother, and friends Jan, Dave and Jon. Brett and I are really looking forward to some down time.

More Later!

Oh How I Love the Colors Of Spring

2009-04-27T08:22:00.015-06:00

And you all wonder why I have nothing to report about crafting..... that would be because I've been outside. With all this beauty going on outdoors who wants to be inside slaving away? I hope to have some updates on the baby gift I'm making for a friend soon as well as some updates on the gourd that I am making for my in laws. Unfortunately I have to go out of town for a while for work and then finish up getting my garden in when I return. Hopefully after that I can get back to the crafting and more updates.

Tis the season to be really busy! Hope you are all well and enjoying the springtime!

Cheers

New Gourd for Charity

2009-03-30T17:40:00.005-06:00

It's feeling good to be back in the craft room again even though I know this will change when the field season gets here. This was actually a spur of the moment project, and one that I didn't feel would turn out right because I was in a hurry to get it done. My brother is a director of an assisted living place in Woodstock, IL, he loves his job and he is very proud to show off his big sister's artwork at a fundraiser that they will be having on April 4th for their establishment. He came to me a month ago and asked me to make something for the silent auction. I was happy to do it but running out of time to work on things. I ended up finishing it just in time for my sister to take it home with her after her visit out here this weekend. I'm pretty proud of what I came up with on such short notice. I'm even thinking of making one for Brett and I some time. Anyway, this is the latest project going on in my little craft lab. Hopefully there will be more to come. Stay tuned.

The First Signs of Spring

2009-03-19T21:09:00.003-06:00

This is Today's Photo. It was a beautiful day out today and I had a meeting with the Idaho Game and Fish Watchable Wildlife Program Coordinator at the MK Nature Center in Boise, which is perhaps one of the coolest nature centers I've ever been to. I took a hike on their trail that goes through a series of streams, rivers, marshes and ponds, and at the end of it all were many gardens which were mostly brown except for these little beauties peaking through the dirt and rocks. I couldn't help but stop and take a photo. I took many more but I chose this one as the photo of the day. If you want to see the others you can also find me at sandianajones.blogspot.com It's the other blog I keep that deals with the everyday details, adventures, and the not so pleasant aspects of my everyday life.

Welcome Spring!

Christmas in ..... March ?????

2009-03-15T15:36:00.001-06:00

Welcome to my parade of Christmas crafting. Better late than never eh?! Actually these were done a long time ago but I forgot to post photos so I thought I would post them now while I am trying to organize all my photos on my hard drive. So there is...for your enjoyment, a pair of fingerless gloves knitted for my friend Julie, a paper cutting (framed ) of Wrigley Field for my brother, who, despite them never ever winning the World Series, remains an ever-loyal Cubs fan. And last but not least are all the ornaments that I made for family and friends this holiday season. Not all of them are holiday themed, but I tried to cater to their personalities, passions, and hobbies. I continue to work on some gourd projects as well as some drawing and knitting but I have nothing far along enough to post. Except for the photo of the day as I continue to become familiar with photography and my camera through lots and lots of practice.

Enjoy your weekend

Spring??? Projects

2009-03-09T20:15:00.001-06:00

And so it appears that Spring is not yet ready to join us, which is ok by me. I'll wait for her patiently and in the mean time I'll enjoy winter's last parade. I have been really busy with work but have managed to dip into my creativity again and even start drawing. This is a picture of a Dunlin (which is a neat little shorebird) that I have started.. It's just a basic sketch but soon I will be adding color. Oh and these are some candle shields that I made for my friend Rachel for Christmas that I forgot to post. I also made a number of Christmas ornaments which I have not posted yet and will try to do so this week because I'm pretty proud of how they turned out. Other projects in the mix that I cannot yet post (because of the people that read this blog), are 2 gourd projects, another drawing and a soft and pretty baby item for my friend Jen who is due with her first little girl around Memorial day weekend. So I've started going back to knitting class, and I have been out a little with my camera. I want to try the concept of a photo a day (noting how and when I take each photo so hopefully I will learn what I'm doing, and do it better), but with the way my schedule is right now, it appears that I will be doing more like a photo a week. For now, here is the first photo of the day which I hope to post to flikr once I get it all organized.

This was an accident photo that was taken 2 days ago, but I still kind of like it. I couldn't get the camera to focus but I took it anyway, and this is how it turned out. I don't know if I like it now as much as I thought I did but I decided to post it anyway as a reminder of mistakes, and how to learn from my mistakes in order to become a better photographer. Look closely by clicking on it and you can see some foggy birds in the branches

Peace,

Winter Photos

2009-02-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, you have to chase winter. Our winter happened in December and since then we have had crummy stints of ice, slush and light flurries, but the thick beautiful snow is gone from the valley. So since I didn't get a chance to take advantage of it early on, I decided to grab my camera and chase it down this past weekend, just an hour and a half north of us. It was a perfect weekend to get away and go snow shoeing up on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest outside of Sumpter , OR. It was like a postcard up there, and these photos don't do it justice. So though I have no artwork to post (I will post my Christmas projects soon....yes I know I am really behind on that), as of recent, I decided to post some photos from the trip. Looks like winter isn't over yet, and I'm ok with that.

S. Jones :)

More Gourd Work

2008-10-30T22:03:00.001-06:00

Well I've been busy lately but not with Christmas presents but orders. Brett's parents have their annual Pheasants Forever banquet next weekend and they asked me to do some art work to sell at the event. So I made them a bowl that looks like the one I last posted and then I did these two necklaces. The fern was quite the challenge but once I started I couldn't turn back. It was some of the most intricate carving I have ever done and took me quite a while to finish but all in all I am really pleased with the outcome and I hope they are too. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be posting a lot more as I have a ton of projects in the making for gifts.

For now, Happy Halloween everyone!

Making a Come Back!

2008-10-25T08:48:00.001-06:00

Its been a long time since I've posted, but I am starting to get back into the swing of things now that I have some more time and its starting to get cold and yucky outside, gardening season is over and Christmas is coming up. This, although I have done one similar to it before, was done for the Malheur County Chapter of Pheasants Forever. I am pleased to announce that it sold on Silent Auction for $85 and I think it would have gone for more but there was a very low turn out this year at the banquet. Still it makes me feel good to know that someone else appreciates what I do. So this is a post in the line of many to come for this fall/winter season....I hope.

Have a great Weekend Everyone!

Rainy Day Weekend and Blog Catch Up

2008-09-28T20:59:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday I woke up, looked outside, and this is what I saw. A rainy, chilly morning. For some this might be common, but for those who live in the desert, this is a fantastic phenomenon, and a sign that fall is upon us once again. So I took that opportunity to work on inside projects, but first I thought it best to curl up on the couch, work on some knitting and sip on some hot coffee and watch one of my favorite movies, Juno. After that I got busy canning all day. Brett and I had a lot of tomoatoes and some green beans from our own garden, and tons of basil which we turned into pesto, forze on a cookies sheet and cut into cubes to vacuum seal and place in the freezer until we want some for our pasta. We then headed to a local farm stand to suppliment our stash of green beans, and there I found the corn, and a whole box of apples, and that coupled with my pears from a friend, made for some sweet apple pear sauce perfect for vanilla ice cream. All in all we canned 6 cans of green beans, 4 cans of corn, 3 apple pear sauce, and froze one batch of pesto. We were back at it again this weekend although this time I made apple pie filling for canning, and did more green beans. This is the last weekend of canning (so glad to be done with it) and then maybe I can get back to my crafts, and have some things to post. This is a really busy time for me, but should slow down soon.

Here's hoping for another rainy weekend and some art projects.

Hope everyone is well!

-SJ

Been a long time

2008-08-24T08:20:00.001-06:00

Oh I realize it has been a long time since I have posted any projects that I have worked on, and the reason is that there are no projects currently. I'm in the process of wrapping up my time at the BLM and making plans to start my new job at Idaho Power as their wildlife biologist, and so things have been a little hectic. Fall should bring me a little more free time and some more projects to post, so hang in there with me until then. In the mean time, let it be known that I have not lost all of my creativity entirely this summer, and in fact have been playing with my camera quite a bit. These were all taken with my digital, which I think does a pretty nice job.

One frustration that I currently hold is that I did take my film camera, which I have a bunch of different lenses for and which I still have not fully learned how to use (time issue presents itself yet again), and so I have the opportunity a lot to take some good photos, but its frustrating to me that I think I am taking a good photo and I spend a lot of money to develop the film only to find one good photo in the whole stack.

With the way things are so expensive these days, I don't really have the money or patience to keep doing this and I'm tired of being saddened everytime I see my photos come back all washed out and blurry. I currently own 2 canon 35 mm slr cameras, one which I hold black and white film in and the other color.

After much consideration, I have decided to try to sell one of them this winter in order to purchase a canon digital. I like the idea of being able to see if I've screwed up the photo right away. And while I am a traditionalist at heart and don't want to give up the film camera, I feel this is a good compromise, and I will continue to try to learn how to use the film camera.

Hopefully I can get a good price for my camera because those digitals are expensive.

I have made a goal though to finish this photography book that I have and if I finish it then I can look into getting a new camera.

Wish me luck, and sorry for the novel there.....sometimes I just think out loud.

Anywho, this was Minnesota. So much inspiration, such a nice environment to be and what fun we had up there!

Hope all your summer adventures are great ones!

Cheers

Escaping the office once again

2008-05-30T19:01:00.000-06:00

One of the cool things about what I do is that, if I don't want to be in the office, I don't have to. There is always enough work outside, so when, in my case, your boss and some of your coworkers are driving you to the point of insanity, there is always an escape. Our district is so huge that my office is divided into two resource areas. I work for the Northern, more visually stimulating half of the district (the Malheur Resource area) and my counter parts work for the southern, flatter half (Jordan Resource area). Most people in MRA refer to JRA as the big ugly, but I view it quite differently. I think it has an entirely different set of characteristics that make it just as beautiful, and on the rare occasion that I get to go down there, I like it, and the hiking is a little easier. So I went out with my coworker Mitch who is a good person to spend the day with, and we headed to Jordan Craters for the day (I wasn't able to get a photo of the actual craters which are quite impressive because we weren't real close to them) to do rangeland health assessments. My job was to look at the sage grouse side of things, and learn my plants some more.

It was a chilly and dramatic day in terms of weather. The clouds were constantly changing and it was just a wonderful day to be out. The lack of topography down here makes some people hate it, but I felt like I had nothing but wide open space and with the way things are in the office right now, space is exactly what I needed.

during the day I got to play with my camera and shoot some flowers, as well as this really cool wolf spider and these really curious horses that were too beautiful not to photograph.

All in all, even though I didn't get back to the office until 7:30pm, it was a really nice day to be out even in light of that big dark cloud dumping on us. Up here in the high desert we never curse the rain.

Hope everyone is well

Relaxing Weekend In Deed

2008-05-26T07:15:00.000-06:00

Wow, I've been busy this weekend, but I've also been getting some much needed rest as well. I was supposed to head to La Grande this weekend to see Rachel, who I haven't seen since MLK weekend, because of her school schedule and my work schedule, but I cancelled the trip (again really sorry Rach). I just felt overwhelmed by the end of the week, I knew next week would be a rough one at work and I needed to be away from people this weekend and do the things that bring me peace. So I spent the weekend working on finishing almost all the garden projects, and working on new craft projects. The garden took up most of the day yesterday and there are still a few things to be done but for the most part we sit back and let things grow. We still have to mulch and do some minor landscaping in the front, but the back is looking great (the photos do not do it justice I swear....and just wait until we get some of this grass seed established.....it looks patchy now). I love to be in the yard right now. Things are blooming everyday and we've seen a variety of birds around which is nice.

No photos of the vegi garden yet, but the lighting was poor for photos yesterday which is why these aren't great and why I didn't take a lot of them. The random porch nicknamed the "beer porch" that sits in the back of the yard (it was here when we moved here and I love its rustic nature ), is starting to look like a nice place to sit.

Last night after all the work in the yard I took my kayak out on the river. The water was flowing pretty fast with all the snow melt and so I didn't bring a camera to take photos. It was all I could do to stay in the boat, but what a great evening to be out on the water alone. Lots of great bird watching some of which included: black crowned night heron, osprey, egrets, wood ducks, buffleheads, and my favorite migrants (I'm so glad I saw them since they will be leaving in the next few days), a Bullocks Oriole, and Wilson's Warbler.

I came home from kayaking, and Brett had made a fabulous dinner, which we ate out on the porch, had a glass of wine and sat in front of the fire out in the yard and listened to the crickets. It was wonderful.

Today I have to finish up the remaining garden projects, but first I am heading out with Jon and Brett to wittiness what I refer to as the hillybilliest of all hillbilly sports....Carp killing by way of bow and arrow.....please don't ask, I hang my head in shame as I write this, but apparently this is a lot of fun so I am going to go and take photos so I can show people just how nuts I am for marrying a redneck......I'm joking of course... well not about the redneck part, that part is true, but what can I say he's my redneck, and one of these days I'll have him completely trained I hope

Have a great weekend everyone!

Pies & Peace, Two really good things!

2008-05-12T14:36:00.001-06:00

SO this weekend was the first creative and productive weekend I have had in a long time. Ordinarily with the weather being so nice I would be out biking or taking my kayak out for a run on the river, but it was a tad too chilly and a tad too windy, so I baked, worked on the garden and worked on this African Kelli's peace t-shirt project, which was fun. Here's the link for the project if you care to join in the fun: http://www.africankelli.com/2008/04/23/the-peace-t-shirt-project/

This is a really cool site btw. She's a really neat person who does a lot of good things for those of us less fortunate. Anyway I got inspired to help out with the cause since I haven't done any crafts in a while and I thought that this would be easy enough to jump start my creativity. Inspired by the song "The sun again will shine" by Slackstring (I'm trying to make this my new motto in my current time of job and financial frustration), I made this sun stencil t-shirt. I found an image of a sun and cut it out of contact paper, stuck the contact paper to the shirt and painted with fabric paint and Voila! You have said T-shirt. I am working on 2 more as well but they aren't finished. I will post photos when they are completed.

And of course every good craft day needs pie! My friend Gillian had a surplus of rhubarb which she happily gave to me, and when life gives you rhubarb, make strawberry rhubarb pie I say! So that's what I did. I made 3 actually and gave one to Matt and Gill, one to our friend Jon and Brett and I had one. It was wonderfully delicious and something that I look forward to every spring.

work continues to be a challenge and a constant frustration for me right now. I am a little overwhelmed at the moment and trying to find some sort of balance where I can get back to my art again and try to make some side cash. I just need 5 min to come up with a plan, but alas, I have to work this entire weekend and so I won't have a moment yet. hopefully Monday when I take the day off. I am in bad need of some regrouping that's for sure!

Hope everyone else is enjoying the spring

Cheers

More photos of pretty Things

2008-05-08T11:06:00.000-06:00

So, another beautiful day out in the field, which was awesome. All the flowers are in bloom and I am trying to get as many photos of them as I can before all are gone. So, here are some photos from my field day yesterday. Some beautiful landscape, A Magnificent red Indian paintbrush (my favorite of all desert plants... and I think the name it really cool as well), Arrow leaf Balsamroot, and this little guy hiding in the shrubs which is a leopard lizard..... and last but not least my crazy cohorts, Gillian (our botanist) and Mitch (our range con who we have now nick named "Son of a Mitch" which he thinks is pretty funny).

That's all for now, hopefully some cool crafts this weekend to share.

Cheers

Spring????

2008-05-01T09:40:00.000-06:00

Spring is here....or is it? Because yesterday I finally got out to the field and it was gale force winds and snowing on and off. However in between the snow squalls there was sun and these beauties. All I've been doing craft wise lately is taking photos, which is ok but I hope to get back to other things. Its just been a very long winter and I am having trouble keeping my focus indoors. So the flowers are from top left to bottom: desert parsley, Woodland starflower, and my favorite: Cushion Phlox which might make it into next years photo contest because I absolutely love this photo with the lichen on the rock and the bright white flowers. My garden at home continues to develop though I have been very hesitant to plant anything since it's still getting down to 30 degree at night and I don't really feel like covering everything all the time. This weekend I do have some projects lined up, one of which is for my sister's upcoming birthday, so hopefully I will have some photos to share after the weekend. Hope everyone is enjoying spring????

Cheers

All about Food.........oh yeah....& one craft item

2008-03-16T09:06:00.001-06:00

THE SCONES!!!!

For a few months now (well actually since before Christmas) I've wanted to make these White-Chocolate Raspberry Scones. I had some on the Oregon coast in October at this really fantastic coffee shop called Dragonfly Sisters, and I have been on a mission to find a good recipe. I never got around to making them for Christmas, but was inspired recently upon receipt of this fabulous belated Christmas gift from Rachel. She got me a cast iron scone maker AND this fabulous book on all different types of scones. The WCR scone recipe did not come from this book but I had to show the book none the less. Don't these look delicious (oh that's not your monitor making the scones in the pan look uncooked btw, they are uncooked, that was the pre-oven shot).

AND then Brett and I made these fabulous Chicken, Spinach and Mushroom Quesadillas the other night that just melt in your mouth.....Fear not people no chickens were harmed in the making of these Quesadillas, and for all my carnivore friends who are overjoicing right now; thinking that I've joined them on the dark side....I haven't. That's fake chicken in there.....STOP LAUGHING!!!! They're good Dang it!

Oh wait.....I did craft once.....it was part of a gift for Rach that incorporated our shared love of nature and Africa. I made her some stationary. I've become quite enthralled with stamping and although I don't think I'll take it to a crazy level as some do, I think I enjoy making cards for my friends particularly with wildlife & nature themes.

I do actually have some projects in the works that I haven't photographed yet. It's hard to keep up with all of this and I want to find an easier way to organize photos, projects, and such on this blog and on my computer. I just haven't taken the real time that it will take to do that. Hopefully one of these days I can get organized and start a project check off list on there so I can keep better track.....and now I'm just thinking out loud, and now you've all lost interest and nobody cares anymore, so I'm outta here, so I can go think alone!

Later Gators!

-Jones

A restful weekend in deed

2008-02-19T20:09:00.001-07:00

I went to go visit Rachel this weekend. Man did I need to get out of town and seeing as how we haven't seen eachother since April of last year I thought it was time to mosey on up to La Grande and pay one of my closest friends a visit. We decided to keep the weekend low key because neither of us could handle a jam packed weekend full of projects, exercise and cooking which is what we typically try to do. I think we both needed to rest but to rest in good company....and it's not like we didn't do anything. We made cake....dense, moist, bad for you but so good chocolate cake. And then......

We ate the cake....of course, what else were we supposed to do with it. And yes we pretty much ate the whole thing, minus a few pieces that were sent home with me for Brett, I wonder if he ever got to taste that???? hmmmm.....

We also knitted (I finally, finally, finally finished one F. glove....and the f does not stand for fingerless at this point; I finished it with Rach's help of course as patience is not my strong suit). We knitted while watching a marathon of friends. What a great way to spend an afternoon huh? Doesn't Phoebe look fabulous in this photo I took of her? Yeah and that's Rachel...and that's all you're going to see of her. She's a bit camera shy :) but look at the beautiful dishcloth she is making!

And behold, the beginnings of a FG.......(I'll post the finished photo tomorrow but I forgot that Rachel took it with her camera so I'll have to take my own to post)

And then there were elk to be visited. Lonely elk with no one to love and pet them....what else were we supposed to do but make them feel better by loving and petting them. I'm a sucker for the girls (Rachel is an elk biologist and these are her subjects and her friends), and I was really going through withdrawl of not seeing them so it was nice to be surrounded by giant four legged goofballs. It's always amusing to me when I step in amoungst them for the first time in a long time. To them I am the girl who smells like dogs (I have 2 that love to lay on my clothes....I don't actually smell like a dog....I hope not at least ), they are always curious and I get lots of giant noses sniffing at my cheeks, my clothes and my hair, which is a bit overwhelming when dealing with an animal that towers over you and could potentially squash you without meaning to. Then I like to think that although I smell of dogs, they remember that I am also the one that loves them too and gives great scratches behind the ears. We go through this ritual every time, and I love it. It makes me laugh which is a good thing.

And the weekend didn't end there because then, after standing out in the cold with the elk, there was Stew, and to be exact, there was Pumpkin & Red Lentil Curry Stew (except we used butternut squash and we substituted 2 cps of the broth for 2 cps of coconut milk...yum!), and there was fabulous corn bread which tasted wonderful and warmed the bones....and then there was more cake of course!

To enjoy the recipe follow the link below and remember to follow our subsitutes listed above if that's your thing!

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1536668

And so I left for home on Monday, very full, very content, and very relaxed....and very sad because I don't know when the next time will be that I will have such a relaxing and easy, and fun weekend with my close friend. Hopefully it will be soon though.

I hope you're all well!

Winter Projects

2008-02-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't been too busy crafting lately because of job and household stuff but I have been busy with my winter projects. The bathroom was the first of many. Ahhhh the joys of living in a rental and an OLD rental at that. I had more before photos but I can't find them because I took them when we first moved here (before I had my handy external harddrive) and so they are on a disc in my stash...somewhere. But let it be known that my bathroom once was a horribly faded shade of the most dreadful pink I've ever seen (and I HATE pink btw) and instead of tile we had a cracked and moldy surround. So the only before photo I have is of the dammage to the wall and black mold (lovely) that was behind the surround. Now I have tile which is really nice, but I have two shades of tile because my landlord is too much of a cheap bastard to replace all of it. So I didn't photograph the tile, but its much nicer than the surround so oh well. Someday I'll have my own house, but for now I have a much nicer bathroom that I painted in Bleached wheat, personalized with some of my favorite photographs placed in dark cherry frames, added some candles and voila I have my own little Zenned out space for relaxing in. So that was project number one on the list.

The second was to get my crafting area organized and arranged so I could work more efficiently instead of spending hours searching for all my materials. Our closets here are really long and narrow with a ton of wasted space in the middle. The solution? Buying some cheap bookcases, putting them together and storing all my belongings on them in an orderly fashion. The result was this:

So next week I plan on tackling our home office, then organizing some of my recipes followed by catagorizing and downloading my music and organizing all my photos (not all in one weekend of course). I am still working on finishing belated Christmas Gifts and although some of them are done I can't post them until they are receieved so instead I'll leave you with a small crafty item that was simple and fun to do. I got the idea from Rach and found the pattern online. It's a Dragonfly Washcloth and I think I'll make some more and keep them in my stash for future gifts. It's a great way to use up all the cotton yarn I have.

Stay Warm People!

Santa's workshop in full swing!

2007-12-17T22:26:00.001-07:00

So here are the wine gift bags that I knitted and absolutely Love! Please pay no attention to my dirty windows... its way too cold out to clean windows. These were so easy to knit. I just CO 60 stitches on Number 7 circular needles ( I think I'll have to check on that) and knit 1 purl 1 until I got the desired cuff, then straight knit until the end. Easy and elegant! My favorite!

Here is another really easy project that I got into : No sew blankets!

I know the colors clash in this photo but I was making them for Grandma, A single guy and a golfer. Can't help it. The each took me an hour to measure everything and match it up before cutting the strips and tying them together. They were a big hit!

And on to more difficult ventures. I swear I was on speed because I managed to get these two vases done in two days, and they are drying on the rack as we speak. I'm pretty proud of me and after this is all over I think I'll sleep for a month! Santa's got nothing on me!

AND finally.... I couldn't leave you all without something for the palate.....sorry I'll have to post the recipes at a later time because it's late and I have to get up for work early tomorrow. But fear not I will post the recipes. I promise. These are too good not to make

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake & White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies!

AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holiday Projects

2007-11-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Holidays Everyone!
The Holiday season is officially on it's way,we've had our first snow, the mountains look beautiful, and I am swamped with projects. I am psyched to be making most of my gifts this year instead of purchasing things from the overcrowded stores. I've been away from my projects for a while and I finally have booked some time to complete some gifts. Hopefully I can stay on track and get everything done in time. The good news is they are all fairly easy projects so I should be able to finish in time. This weekend is a free weekend for me since returning from Thanksgiving in Illinois so I will be spending it baking, and making :)
On Sunday I'll post some photos of yummy food and some of the projects I'm working. I can't wait to get started and since today is my Friday at work I'm really antsy to get out of here and get to work. So far I'm working on some no sew blankets for my Grandma and some friends, I have several knitting projects in the works and I have almost completed 3 gourd projects. Unfortunately some of these gifts are for the readers of this blog so those postings will have to wait until after those gifts have been received, but I'll try to keep everyone interested with other things. I know I've been away a while but hopefully no one has given up on me yet.
In addition to all the crafting I'll be doing this weekend, Brett and I are hopefully going to head out with friends Michelle and Brian on their snowmobiles to go and get a Christmas tree for the house. A $10 permit from the BLM is a lot cheaper than a $45 dried out tree from the lot. If plans fall through for that this weekend we'll be hitting Bogus Mountain instead for some snowshoeing! That is....if I can get everything else done.
Hope everyone is enjoying the weather!
Cheers!
SJ

Birthday gifts

2007-09-09T11:23:00.000-06:00

Oh my dear fellow crafters, I can't believe you have all still hung on with me when I haven't posted in ages. Let me assure you I have been working on things when I get a chance, which isn't often these days. We have a lot of bad news come our way recently, and just the usual overwhelming aspects of work and life, and so crafting...... well even though it makes me feel better and takes my mind off of things, it's not always easy to start or to find the time to start a project. Not to mention we were gone on vacation for a while, got back from that and I left for work to go down south and fly in a helicopter for 3 days characterizing sage brush, which was fun for about the 1st day but after that your head hurts, your neck and back hurt from being in the helicopter for so long, and you just want to go home. It was pretty cool though seeing antelope, coyotes, and bighorn sheep from the air.

So I recently had some birthdays that I had to get presents out for and so here they are. The raccoon contact paper pic was for my grandma and the bookmark and zebra pic were for Rachel for her birthday. I had a lot of fun doing these, and I think they really liked them. It was a nice easy way to ease my self back into getting projects done. Even though it wasn't anything too difficult it still felt nice to be doing something. I am also currently working on a vase for Brett's Grandma, and I will post photos of that soon. This week will be a bit busy for us as we are headed to South Dakota Thursday for Brett's friend's wedding. Definitely not going to get anything done this weekend but what can you do. I'll post some photos from our Maine vacation too when I get them downloaded. Hope everyone is doing well

Cheers!

Sandy

Life is a bit better

2007-07-15T21:20:00.001-06:00

Well, the fire gods must have been appeased today because I did not get called in. This means I actually got to sleep in for a change and I must have needed it because I slept until 9:30am which I NEVER do. In any case I wasn't super productive today but I did finish my moms gift and I LOVE it! I hope you do too. I also threw in some photo of the sky and sun the night that the storm hit that caused all the fires. I'm so amazed at the destruction so far. I went to a fire camp yesterday and could see whole mountain tops ablaze with flames, smoke so thick I could barely see to drive and blackened hillsides to the tune of 5,000 acres and counting. What a bad summer we're having. In any case it does produce some killer sunsets. These photos are point and shoot type stuff and in no way shape or form come close to the actual colors in the sky that night. Brett and I took a drive to check it out.

So today was calm (I needed it so bad) I got some gardening done, some art done and had dinner with a good friend. We also saw the new Harry Potter. I wasn't impressed after reading the books, but it wasn't a bad way to escape the heat.

Well I have to go water and then get to bed. Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Cheers

Sandiana

AUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-07-14T16:28:00.000-06:00

My plans have once again gone up in flames....so to speak. Once again mother nature throws us a curve ball in the form of massive wildfires, and apparently I am the only person in the entire district that is not on vacation ( Go figure) and so I am being solicited for fire left and right. This means lots of money for me, it also means no sleep, no free time, and no crafts. I'm in such a great mood right now I can't even tell ya. I have been working for 2 straight weeks in 102 degree weather. I FRIGGIN' LOVE SUMMER!!!!!!!!!! This would all be fine if I had a trip to Minnesota to look forward to (kayaking all day, hanging on the beach or the boat reading a book and more importantly enjoying COOL temps) but no, I don't get to go on vacation because my husband has a conference to go to and its screwing up all our plans! So yeah, really happy right now. However you should all be pleased that I am sitting in the office right now awaiting my next fire assignment and knitting, so at least that's something.
More Later
SJ

A Case of the Have Nots

2007-07-13T07:35:00.000-06:00

Well here's a nice photo for your Friday morning that my friend Betty took in Texas. She is a butterfly enthusiast and took this photo in her beautiful yard where she gardens specifically for native butterflies. I love the metallic colors. Now on to the have nots (which could be a good name for a band... particularly one that I'm in since lately I "have not" done a lot of things). lately I have not slept well, eaten well, cleaned my house, managed my garden, been in a good mood, and more importantly I have not crafted in ages it feels like. To update all on my lack of progress, I would like to share that I have screwed up said scarf for the 15th time and this time I ripped it all out and started a new one with happier yarn. It's is almost done but has been collecting dust for a week. The swan picture for my mom's birthday is about 95% done. Must finish the water on it this weekend and get it in the mail (her birthday was on Monday btw... however she is in Alaska so she has no idea I'm not done with it), and my goal for this weekend......provided Oregon doesn't catch on fire again (I tend to go out on fires for the extra cash) is to start a particular 2 birthday gifts for a certain individual who reads this blog and has a b-day coming up in August, and to start some new gourds (small projects that have been ordered). That being said I would also like to clean my house, do laundry, go to the farmer's market and work on my coyote paper for publication......I know where this is going as I'm sure most of you who know me well do too. Oh well a girl can dream huh? well wish me luck, I hope everyone is doing well, have a safe and happy weekend!
-Sandiana