gear monkey jewelry, frogs and a dinner "out."

Well, I've taken a break from working on the scarecrows, since I do have a bit of time before Fall falls.  Thank Goodness!  Recently in a magazine, I read an article about the jewelry stylings of an artisan that were unique and interesting. At least I found them so.  To me, the unusual elements, coupled with the 'random' connections made for a challenge.  It was like collage, which I love, but in jewelry form....necklaces to be precise.  So, I gave it a try, and found it much more difficult that I imagined to make the pieces look "thrown together."  I'm not sure that they will appeal to a broad spectrum of jewelry wearers, but for someone looking for something truly unique: may I present what I am calling my, "Gear Monkey" line.

I am making these necklace photos large so that its easier to see the individual elements and details.

A few unique offerings in this piece include parts from an 'old' push button telephone that I found a garage sale and disassembled.  Not being telephone savvy, I can't say what the pieces are called, but to point out, in the center, near the top, is a long metallic piece that has beads attached to the front of it. This metallic piece was originally part of the guts of the phone. Also, of note, a face watch, disassembled with gears linking to the chain and hangin below. A key, a small light bulb attached to a spring and soldered in place. So, as you can see its really a mixture of unconventional elements along with some more familiar offerings like beads and the angel charm.

This second necklace ended up having a nautical theme. Elements again include both the conventional and unconventional to make a unique piece.  These necklaces are fun to look at, and like any good collage, keep offering new things to find which may have been missed at first, or second glance.

Now for the much awaited frog update. My darling eldest child came home a couple days ago, after I was already in bed. Hearing some commotion in the living room, I went to check, and found Michael and Kallie looking satisfied over the introduction of a "new" frog, which Michael had discovered and had been kind enough to capture for me.  We named this second frog "Sport" as he is very active, quick, and has the high jump down!  Introducing the second frog ended up causing me some concern as after they initially encountered one another, both frogs went into hiding for about 3 days.  They were eating, but not moving around the cage other that to seek their food.  You can imagine my elation (or maybe you can't...my family is beginning to think I'm nuts) when I checked on the two frogs last night and found them sharing a dip in the vivarium's pool.  I was so happy.  I had to take pictures, of course.

This is our disabled, Luda.  The frog that started it all.

Luda is on the left of the photo with Sport on the right.  We do have one other frog, "Peeper," which stays in a separate vivarium until [it] grows (we still don't know the sex of our little friends).  I don't want to take the chance that Luda and Sport will think Peeper is food. I really don't think she'd fit down their throats, but I've read a bit (quite a bit) and frogs can be quite persistant, so even if it didn't work...no point in stressing them out unnecessarily.  Soon I will post pictures of their vivarium. I was so happy today to get a substrate manufactured especially for this enviornment and the safety and health of the frogs.  It also looks really great!

And finally, our dinner out.  Its just another take on the enjoyment we are getting out of our back deck this season.  With a salad made of lettuce and carrots from our garden, with store bought vegies thrown in to complete the vegie diversity, and egg-salad sandwhiches on those tiny deli rye breads, Tony, Kallie and I had a really lovely dinner together. We lit the tikki lights that brother Eric had given Tony for his birthday, as well as the fire pit, which was perfect as that particular evening had cooled off just enough to make the added heat a welcome addition to our dining atmosphere.  Kallie told us all about a recent vacation she had taken with a friend (and  her friend's grandparents) in which they took a speed boat trip and ate at a buffet as part of the charter.  We actually, took our time and lounged, enjoying one another, our good food, Tony's fire pit and tikki's and just having a quiet evening in the country!

Thanks for visiting...I'll be back soon!