Friday, July 22, 2011

Cool Blue Chalcedony


Sterling, Blue Chalcedony

I love the coolness of this blue chalcedony..perfect for this scorching weather.  Inspired by the lilies all over my garden, heavy with dew drops in the early morning hours.

Available in my shop.

xo Blue Gnome

Hot Diggity Dog!

It's a dead still evening tonight, I'm looking outside as I write this and there's not a leaf moving on my neighbor's gigantic maple tree.  Ugh.  Although today was a cooler 33 degrees (36 with the humidex..) it's still a scorcher.  Yesterday apparently broke all sorts of records in this province, a crazy, oh-my-god-it's-the-end-of-the-world 50 degrees with the humidity..what kind of insanity is that??  I guess after a day like that, today should really be a breeze..


My poor, thick-furred puppy dog is not a happy camper in this weather, her proud Akita tail has been drooping these past couple of days, it's too damn hot to even put in the effort to lift that thing.  I've built her an air-conditioned "hobo shack" of sorts upstairs, a heavy wool blanket screwed to the doorway of the smallest bedroom so she can come and go as she pleases.  I've found cookie crumbs on the floor up there..which is actually quite cute..because it means that she grabs her cookie from her bowl in the kitchen and trots upstairs to her cool den so she can enjoy it in the a/c.  I've often wondering what I might capture on film if I set up a nanny cam while I was out of the house...then again maybe it's best that I not know.  It might freak me out to see her turn on the T.V. and browse through my Architectural Digest magazines while I'm out..our relationship would never be the same.  No, better left alone.


This extreme heat alert is supposed to be called off later this evening, tomorrow bringing more seasonal temperatures into these parts.  The grass is turning brown, shrubs are starting to wilt...we need rain and lots of it.  Maybe it's finally time to break out that rain dance in the backyard.

Hope you're keeping cool where you are.

xo Blue Gnome

Friday, July 15, 2011

Small Luxuries


Another beautiful, blessedly cool morning.  The backyard is still wrapped in a light blanket of shade and the puppy is still happily chasing squirrels in her sleep.  Big, warm fuzzy paws twitching..sighs of pure contentment.  Everything is exactly as it should be.

 A sleepy garden..getting ready for another hot, summer's day.




I purchased a couple of gorgeous handmade pottery mugs a few weeks ago and with the end of the postal strike, finally received them this past week.  The size is absolutely perfect for a lovely cup of tea, the contours of the cup fitting wonderfully in my hands, the colours of the glaze..achingly beautiful.  It's been too damn hot and muggy to enjoy anything other than a beverage brimming with ice cubes lately..I've been waiting all week for a morning like today to use my new cup and my tea has never tasted better.  Earl Grey, a splash of warm milk and a dollop of pure, Canadian honey from a dear friend's hive 8 hours north of the city.  And what better to serve that with than a slab of homemade banana bread with a generous schmearing of peanut butter?  After all, one must enjoy all the small luxuries life has to offer.

Handmade pottery available here.  Banana bread not included..

The day is still young, who knows what it'll bring.  But with a belly full of all this goodness, I think I'm off to a pretty good start.  I hope your friday is filled with sunshine, not too much work and the perfect way to cap of the end of another work week.

xo Blue Gnome

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Heatwave

I woke up yesterday morning to a refreshing, cool northern breeze coming in my window and I cannot tell you what a welcome that was!  We've been hit by a heat wave for the last little while and yesterday, finally some relief!  Although temperatures were still soaring quite high the humidity finally dipped and then there was the amazing breeze..aaah..that was our saving grace.  We haven't had any rain here for well over a week now and the neighborhood shrubs are starting to wilt and droop.  I'm hoping for a big dramatic thunderstorm sometime soon, I absolutely love summer storms.

A few years ago I planted a wee little hydrangea shrub the size of a soccer ball in the front, right next to my front porch.  It looked sadly small and out of place, there were five blooms on it then, big bobble heads perched on the end of frail stems that snapped and fell limp after the first blustery day of summer.  I would wrap wire around the bent stems and nurse the blooms back to health, cursing the winds that seemed so determined to crush the poor plant at any given chance.  My hope was that one day it might grow to  resembling anything like the impressive lush shrubs some of my neighbors had in their yards and finally this summer, my hydrangea has come into her own.  The shrub is thriving, abundant with pink, lavender and periwinkle blooms.  So many blooms that I can actually trim them back for the kitchen table.  It stands tall and proud, strong enough to withstand the worst storms we've had so far this summer..I am the proud mama of this plant.  :)

Nothing beats fresh cut flowers at kitchen counter!

Work in the Blue Gnome Emporium studio has been a little slow lately, mostly due to the heat wave and unbearable stillness.  Yesterday however, with the northerly breeze blowing through my shop, I managed to finish a gorgeous ring of lace agate, the sterling polished this time to a showy, bright finish.  Another raven ring as well..with a cool, breezy amazonite upon it's hopeful wing.  Available tomorrow in my shop.

 Sterling, Lace Agate

 Rave Ring - Sterling, Amazonite


Hoping you're finding ways to keep cool this week and into the weekend!

xo Blue Gnome