What a tranquil, lovely spot you found to make home, dulcimerduo! Your totem is very pretty. I love how you incorporated the round pieces. I always think it is fun when people put a figurine underneath a bigger glass piece. Definitely gives the totems more character! Like the rest of the folks, I just love George! I'm glad he managed to fit in your Honda Civic! Only a Garden Junker would be so determined to fit something that size in a small car. he-he I can't wait to see pictures of your new and improved pond too! Here's a funny observation ... I was looking at the picture of your pond and I was wondering about the little gnome standing on the branch of the tree ... that was until I realized it was your DH pushing a wheelbarrow in the background! lol! Years ago, in one of my magazines, they had an article of how someone totally enclosed a mobile home to make it look like a cute cabin. It was located on a lake and they made a screened porch along the whole front of it. Looking at the finished enclosure, you would never know there was a mobile home under it! I could kick myself for not keeping the article. It looks like you have a similar idea! Please keep the pictures coming!

Lookin' good, marylee! I like how you used the little pitcher on top & co-ordinated the colors/patterns with the next pc...the flowered pot. They look really nicely porportioned even w/your plates turned downward...you'll appreciate that in your own gardens as the "messiness" of nature is so much less. These 2 will be just GORGEOUS in among your flowers! TFS! Jeanne S.

Oh, you are all such kind enablers and I thank you so much for your nice comments! I do love making totems, not really sure why. I've done a lot of other crafts but like this one A LOT! LOL My current "reason" I can have more totems is because we are in the process of enlarging the garden! Some might call that rationalization but I won't go there. Karen, that crystal horse is one of a pair I bot for $5 for both. I found the same ones online for $50 each. Almost hated to use it in a totem, but your know how it it with a pretty piece of glass. I'll offer that one for sale, there are lots of "horsey" people around here so it should sell. Marlene, it's reassuring to know I'm not alone in this fun hobby even if we are all "crazy". Looking forward to seeing your new creations. With the new garden I'll have almost unlimited room for garden junk. Scary thot isn't it! Vickie, yes, I have lots of spots of dirt for sure and really don't see this hobby ending. Susie, I may sometime in the future have more totems than plants! Toomuchglass, these things almost seem to make themselves and even tho I sort of plan them I'm not really sure what they'll look like til they're done. Thanks again everyone.

lukkiirish, you've got great advice from Bill and Mongo. I just wanted to add my 2 cents worth, as we just finished building a slate shower, with gauged slate, and honed 2"x3" slate shower floor. The most time consuming aspect of slate as Mongo said, is the sorting/culling through the boxes of slate to find a uniformity. Our shower needs meant we needed around 130 sq ft of slate. We ordered 150, and needed 20 more as two of the boxes were cracked in 1/3's, and some were just.. ugly lol. Hubby was the one to pick the African Gold, but I wanted more of the rusts and golds. I think we did a good job of picking out the right assortment, but it's very hard to tell what each tile is going to look like until it's washed. Yes our walls are "rough", what with the split faces, and the veining/clefts. I took a wide edged putty knife, and went at each and every tile to make sure there was nothing loose, as I didn't want layers falling off after install. I will have some of that happen I know, it can't be avoided, but it's some very lovely stuff! Back buttering almost every piece (each tile is completely different from the next like mongo said. Thickness wise, size wise, and colour wise), laying out the "pattern" of colours, and praying that it was going to work esthetically was hard, but worth every minute of it. Some of our tiles have come into their own colourwise with the grouting. I had sealed each tile face before they were installed, but I think the moisture of the grouting meant that some of the reds/rusts became more obvious after install. We sealed 3 times with a colour enhancing sealer, and so far it's holding up well. I sure wouldn't have put our large wall tiles (even though the tile merchant said they could be floor tiles) as I don't see how it would be possible to sweep effectively. Yours may very well be more uniform than ours. I know everyone here is sick of seeing the pics, but I will show you a couple of our post reno pics of the shower. Shower curb and floor. Installed, sealed but not grouted. Finished..mostly LOL Oh, and as the second pic shows.. yes we kerdi'd the whole darn thing.. and love the stuff! (no we didn't kerdi the top of the tile LOL, just used left over pieces as runners when painting the ceiling).