"Where The Wild Things Are"

Marble Man and I took a vacation last week, and ended it with a very pleasant safari into The Wilds, a nature preserve in Southeastern Ohio.

We minded the signs, and kept ourselves out of reach of the natives.

I'd hoped we'd saddle up and ride some of these, but these guys don't work for their chow.

Bactrian Camels

This refuge is ah-MAZ-ing with 10,000 acres (the largest preserve in the country) and some very rare beasties. The Wilds is not run like a zoo; they aren't in it for money. They are all about research and conservancy.

Sable Antelope / White Rhinoceros

Not too long ago, rhinoceros in zoos were developing foot troubles, to the point of being unable to walk. After transferring some to The Wilds, where they got to walk on soft ground, the foot troubles disappeared.

Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros

Now, thanks to the hard work of the staff at The Wilds, rhinos in zoos have soft, padded surfaces on which to tread.

There are breeding programs for endangered species, some of which are mid-sized carnivores. Those these pretty kitties were lounging and being photogenic for our visit. Nothing fierce here...

Cheetahs

This little fella (called a Dhole) is very shy - we were told we were lucky they came out to show off for us at all.

Dhole

Mostly, they have endangered species, including the Pere David's Deer, which has been brought back from the brink and is being reintroduced in its native China.

Pere David's Deer

A small herd of wild horses clogged up the track, causing us to halt our trek. We were surrounded for quite a while - they were close enough to pat, but don't do it! They bite.

Prezwalski's Wild Horses

I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this preserve, a little bit of Africa's Serengeti Plain right here in our heartland.

Zebras

The only thing I wasn't prepared for, was the rough ride in our open-air safari truck. We went over some ruts and bumps that made me feel like my upper and lower halves separated only to be reunited with some violence. If you visit, and I really hope you will, take some Ibuprofen or muscle relaxers BEFORE you climb on the bus!!

Persian Onagers

It was worth the discomfort - I can hardly wait to go back.

Scimitar-Horned Oryx

If you plan to visit, you might want to book your tours in advance, as it's a popular place. They have a new zip line tour (2 1/2 hours over 10 zip lines through the park), which just opened and is sold out for the first month already! We really wanted to do that...


copyright 2011 Shibori Girl

Butterfly Beauty in Durham, NC

This week we're enjoying my mother's company here in the Steamy South. Trying to think of air conditioned activities we could do while showing her the area, we decided on a day trip to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC. This is a wonderful museum full of "touch me" exhibits for little ones, including a gorgeous butterfly house. If you call ahead, you can find out when staff will release newly hatched butterflies.

We were greeted by charming metal sculptures of insects as we approached the entrance to the butterfly house:

Tired? Have a seat on a clever butterfly bench...

The butterfly house contains several different ecosystems ranging from desert to tropical rain forest. Marble Man looks right at home in front of a Lobster Claw Tree from the tropical area:

Look up! Fluttering all around us were delicate natural wonders.

The interior of the house has a controlled, comfortable temperature. Running around on the ground is a group of funny little partridge-like birds which eat the unwanted bugs that this venue tends to attract, as well as a collection of song birds that eat dead butterfly carcasses.

We arrived in time for the release of the new butterflies. Here I am, handing one off to a little friend. This insect was so new it couldn't fly yet. We watched it exercise and air out its wings until it took off on its own.

Aside from butterflies, this part of the museum also houses a collection of creepy crawlies of the HUGE variety. We're talking about African Walking Sticks that were 12 inches long, tarantulas as big as my hand, and a whole tankful of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches - a pretty high "Ick Factor", but interesting too.

My favorites were the Poison Dart Frogs. So colorful and funny.

After four hours of being in the company of over-wound rug rats, we were ready to head home. On our way out, we came upon this group of youngsters working on building a huge tower of small blocks. A frame from a short video shows them putting on the blocks, one-by-one, and holding their breath with each addition.

The tower got so tall that the other, taller, boy had to continue. Shortly after he took over, it all came tumbling down.

If you are in the Durham, NC area, you should stop by this lovely museum. The exhibits are well designed. There's lots to learn for children as well as adults.

copyright 2010 Shibori Girl

Twice Loved Dolls & Trucks - Charity Begins At Home

Aunt Mari (center) with Head Start Program workers

Last May, Marble Man and I took a trip throughout the Northeastern States. One of our stops was at the home of my beloved Aunt Mari and Uncle Ken Share. It had been FAR too long since our last visit together and this short visit was enough time to learn about my aunt's non-profit charity, Twice Loved Dolls & Trucks.

Volunteers working on toys

~~~

Our interview:

SG: First-off, when did you begin your twice-loved dolls venture... what was the event that gave you the idea in the first place? Secondly, how did you begin? Did you begin on your own, or did you have people helping from the start?

Mari: Around 1997 I was a member of a Catholic Women's Group. Through discussion of our personal goals I expressed concern with the over-abundance of things in the USA for some children and a great lack for others. That fall I started getting a few donations of used dolls from acquaintances. The group helped me to clean the 30 dolls to nearly new condition. We gave them, wrapped and tagged to a group of homeless children who were part of a Head Start program at a church in White Plains NY. That was the beginning of Twice Loved Dolls & Trucks! I've built & continued this every year since then.

SG: Are there organizations that you work with directly?

Mari: Over the years, we have supported quite a few organizations: Blythedale Children's Hospital, Head Start programs, Church groups as well as private people in need.

SG: What are your sources for toys? What types of toys and books are you looking for specifically?

Mari: We receive donations from churches, from people who have seen my posters, from family and friends

We do not solicit or take money contributions.

We take rubber dolls, plastic dolls, trucks of all kinds, blocks, puzzles, doll clothing, & toys with no small parts. We also take books suitable for 2-6 year olds.

NO STUFFED ANIMALS PLEASE

SG: Where should people send toys for donation?

Mari: People can send toys to 7 Fenimore Road, Scarsdale, NY 10583.

~~~

Volunteers with restored toys (Aunt Mari is on the right)

Aunt Mari has donated toys through the police and fire stations to individual kids who have been devastated by fire or horrendous crimes that have touched them and their families. The toys are gift wrapped by hand and given individually to each child.

If you have kids, or know someone who does, who are transitioning from one set of toys or books to another, please consider sending them to Twice Loved Dolls and Trucks instead of setting them out at the yard sale. You'd be doing a wonderful thing for some children who find themselves with nothing.

Thank you!

copyright 2010 Shibori Girl

Where Have I Been?

In preparation for the Tracton Clan's (seemingly) annual trek up to Atlantic City for a week, I was holed up in the studio trying to finish up a bunch of new polymer clay pieces. I enjoy showing new work, and it appears the family enjoys seeing it. So, I came prepared:

Brooches

Pendants

Bracelets

My back gave out 10 days before we were due to leave. Rediscovered pounds and the stress of sitting at my work table for hours-on-end doing physically demanding work caused my low back to punk out on me. I needed to park myself on a heating pad on the sofa instead of my work chair. Faced with hours of mindless sitting, I decided to get back to my roots, so to speak. I began this fabulous collar with a Prudent Man Agate cabachon at the center.

Soon it became clear that I was seriously in love with this necklace. Halfway to the end, I decided to keep it for myself and let it get wild. This piece is now in my private collection and gets taken out to dinner as often as I can talk Marble Man into going.

To make up for keeping a big piece, I made this lovely beaded cuff, which you can find for sale in my Etsy shop.

Keep checking my shop for new listings. As the summer progresses, I'll be adding the clay pieces shown here and some other exciting work.

~~~

The good news is that my back is doing MUCH better. Weeks of rest, some better-living-through-chemistry in the form of muscle relaxers, and losing some weight has done wonders. Yes, the weight loss battle is back on... I decided to track it on my foodie blog. If you are interested, you can click the photo at the top of my right sidebar. Otherwise, I thought it best to keep it off this blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

copyright 2010 Shibori Girl

Wanderlust Satisfied

Every few years, Marble Man and I get the itch to hop in the car and drive to some far-off point yet undiscovered by the two of us. When Pooch got so ill, we had to put that desire on the back burner because we couldn't travel together. Pooch has been gone a year now, and we spent the past couple of months planning our road trip. This was the challenge: we'd be gone 15 days, traveling in a two-seater convertible with a micro trunk. How to pack? We did it, but had to do laundry every three days.

My dear Uncle Tom requested a visit last year which we were unable to do. He was first on our list for this trip. We drove to Rochester, NY in time to see the lilacs in full bloom in Highland Park.... Gorgeous.

Since we were so close, we took a day trip to Niagara Falls. I was there as a teenager and Marble Man had never been, so it was a must-see destination.

Canadian Horseshoe Falls, Part 1

Canadian Horseshoe Falls, Part 2

American Falls (shot from Canadian side)

Man, that's a lot of water! This was surely the highlight of our trip.

The rest of our travels took place in the Northeast:
Poughkeepsie, NY
Riverton, CT
Scarsdale, NY
Hopewell, NJ
and we finished up in Philadelphia.

We visited many friends and family who haven't seen us in lots of years... it was great to see you all.

Since so many folks on our itinerary hadn't seen us in eons, I brought a box of my recent jewelry pieces to show. I had no idea I'd be selling pieces left and right! I feel like I littered the Northeast with sparklies. Now that Katie's Traveling Trunk Show is finished, I need to get into the studio to make more of everything. All the polymer cuff bracelets went, as did some of the clay tile bracelets and earrings, and more than half of my new polymer clay pendants! Thanks to everyone who bought pieces. I really did bring them just to show. :)


copyright 2010 Shibori Girl

Santa Brought Joy To My World

Happy New Year, Everyone! My new year is certainly off to a happy start, thanks to Santa Claus and Marble Man. For years, I've wanted to try using polymer clay to make beads, but haven't been willing to lay out the cash for all the supplies and utensils needed to do it right. I've had this in my shopping cart at Amazon.com, along with it's cousin, for over two years now, just waiting.

This Christmas, Marble Man (my enabler) bought them for me. He also threw in a new toaster oven so I can fire my creations without poisoning our kitchen appliances. What a guy! I added in some Christmas cash, and that was enough to buy a pasta machine and a small selection of clay colors. Ready, set, PLAY!

The books have very clear instructions and helpful photos to go along. After a couple of false starts, and about 4 hours of time, I finished a beautiful cane in a kaleidoscope design. I sliced off very thin slivers and applied them to a base bead of plain clay. Voila! A set of gorgeous beads ready for the oven.

Click on the image and you'll be able to see more details

Puffed up with confidence after this first attempt, I moved on to a flower cane...

a little more complex than the kaleidoscope cane, but very rewarding when finished. The canes are built from lots of layers of clay. When the first stage was complete, the cane was about 2 inches across, and about 4 inches long. The next step involves squeezing that fat cane down, and rolling it to reduce the diameter to about a half inch or less. That initial fat cane makes a VERY LONG final result!

I used it in a similar fashion as the kaleidoscope cane, slivers on a bead, but wasn't in love with the result.

For the next bead, I made an oval shape of clay. Then added thin slices of my new flower cane, and nestled in some slices of the kaleidoscope cane for fun. I topped off the ends with overlapping leaves made from a blended piece of clay (yellow to green), and I have a pretty wild focal bead.

Today, I fired up the computer and spent some time on You Tube where I found some really good instructional videos. I chose a veined leaf cane as my project for today, and boy-oh-boy, that was fun.

I have visions of using these as fringe ends for a future bead-embroidered necklace. It's spectacular in my head -I just hope I can make it happen. Stay tuned...

copyright 2009 Shibori Girl

What's Cooking Sunday / Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Marble Man and I found ourselves way ahead of the curve this year:

lists have been checked, and double-checked
gifts are wrapped and mailed
the tree is up

Lots of time left over for baking cookies. Marble Man has so many favorites, that I asked him to narrow his choices to two types.

His pick for this year:

Vera's Checkerboard Cookies

Chocolate Crinkles

Chocolate Crinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
makes 52 cookies

2 C plus 2 T all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C butter, room temperature
1+3/4 C granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 squares unsweetened baker's chocolate (1 ounce per square), melted
1/2 C confectioners' sugar

Mix flour baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat butter and granulated sugar with electric mixer until fluffy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time until mixture is pale yellow, then vanilla and chocolate until blended.

Gradually add flour mixture, mixing just to blend. Refrigerate dough 1 hour.

Lightly grease cookie sheets. Shape heaping teaspoonfuls of dough into 1.25 inch balls and roll in confectioners' sugar. Place on cookie sheets 1.5 inches apart.

Bake about 12 minutes until tops are puffed and cracked. DON'T overbake! Cookies are quite soft when hot but firm and chewy when cool. Remove to rack to cool.

Per cookie:
80 calories
1 gram protein
12 grams carbs
3 grams fat
20 mgs cholesterol

Enjoy! (Just don't worry about that last part there. ;)

And while you toss some treats together for your family, here's a little Holiday fun to keep you company: Tennessee Ernie Ford singing for a group of children.



His son (sitting next to him) is so into the song that he has to really work to keep from cracking up.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

~~~

And now for a short programming note: From now on, all my cooking posts can be found at my NEW blog. The new page is entirely devoted to cooking. I'm in the process of transferring all my old cooking posts over there.

It will be MUCH easier to organize the posts and for you to find an old one you might be looking for. I hope you'll add it to your blogroll and visit often. :)

copyright 2009 Shibori Girl

What's Cooking Sunday / Bratwurst and Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage

This winter, Marble Man and I signed up for a fresh-meat-and-eggs co-op through Fickle Creek Farm, one of the vendors at our local Farmers Market. The meats have been incredibly delicious, and the eggs colorful - brown, blue, green... and also delicious. Every two weeks, we head to the market to pick up our assortment of sausages, roasts, chops, and chickens. This week's sausages were bratwursts, and I think they were the best I've ever had.

I cooked them in beer with lots of onions, and a side dish of sweet and sour red cabbage. *Slurp* So good!

Bratwurst
serves 6

6 large bratwurst
water
1 C sliced onions
1 C beer

Prick each sausage before adding to a large skillet. Pour in enough water to cover the sausages with 1/2 an inch of water. Partially cover the pan and simmer until the water has evaporated. Be sure not to let the water boil - this will cause the bratwursts to burst. Uncover and cook the sausages in the small amount of fat remaining in the pan to brown. Add onions and saute until translucent. Pour in the 1 C of beer and simmer another 5 minutes. Serve with spicy mustard on the side.

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage
Serves 6

1 head red cabbage, shredded
2 Granny Smith apples, cut in small wedges
4 slices bacon, diced and fried
3 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. vinegar plus same amount sweet pickle juice
Salt and pepper

Fry bacon. Leave fat and bacon in skillet and add remaining ingredients. Cover tightly and get it hot, then turn down heat and cook slowly until tender. May be fixed ahead of time and reheated. This would make a wonderful Christmas Eve dish.

Enjoy!

And I want to thank everyone who weighed in on my new image signatures. I will see what I can do to make them less intrusive.

copyright 2009 Shibori Girl