That is amazing! Send some to my yard :-) When a garden is left pesticide free then nature has a way of balancing all those evil bugs. I mentioned on the discussion forum that my swan milkweed (aka:family jewels) was killed by the oleander aphids - on the good side, I had lady bugs galore this year. Yep, didn't even have to buy any to release, they came naturally. Have you seen any milkweed bugs yet? First time I saw one I thought I had a rare species of bug *LOL* very colorful little guys, but harmless. They like to eat the MW seeds. Edna

Don, he wasn't my first parrot....He could be likened to finally getting a Porsche, if you're into cars. I brought him home when he was 5 weeks old.... about mid-April, 1999. Here is his baby picture when he came home. I'd been going over to my friend's house (the breeder), to hand feed him when she pulled him from the nestbox. I continued to hand feed him, with what is called "abundance feeding" so he weaned himself, at 22 weeks old, without feeling deprived. He weighed 600 grams as a well fed baby boy, and he weighs that now as an adult. He has beautiful feathers, no fat, great muscle tone especially in his breast which allows him to fly efficiently.....but consider that birds are so aerodynamic, with hollow bones, hollow feathers, they eat moderately frequently, also poop frequently and do it almost EVERY time before they take flight....which is a clue to imminent flight, by the way.

Hi texasfern, thanks for the info - I know what you mean about heat. It's blistering here in summer too. The two bowls I am doing are also ceramic bisque fired. I got them at the thrift shop and just couldn't resist them since they were a nice big size of 15 inches in diameter. I didn't know what cone I could fire them to so I couldn't glaze them for fear they'd melt. So I decided to mosaic them. I should have used a plumb bob when I marked the center instead of just eyeballing it from above the rulers. I'll do better next time. I also work in ceramics - handbuilt pieces from slabs to Cone 10 thus far. You can see some of my work at the link and I have a ceramic blog under the same title. I took a ceramic bead class - now that's really fun, because beads are small and easy to deal with. Right now I am getting my kiln (skutt) connected up so I can do the ceramics at home instead of just at the college and a friend is building me a slab roller, but that is a whole other topic I guess. Do you seal your pieces after you grout them - particularly the birdbath? If so what do you use to seal them? How do they do holding water, does the grout stain or get any algae buildup with use outdoors? You've given me an idea about going to the tile store I used for remodeling my house (2 bathrooms and our living room) and seeing what they throw away. They threw away 4 pieces of slate when I did my living room right in the trash can - I wasn't doing mosaic then so I didn't even think about it. I could have done something really neat with all those pieces. And I have a wet saw - not sure how easy it would be to cut the pieces real small with a wet saw though - I might try it though. Well I have all my ingredients and tools set out to start grouting the turquoise bowl - so here goes. Wish me luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Starr Gallery

Glad you have enjoyed them - I had a good time rediscovering them all over again as I flipped through so quickly. I'm going to see if DH or my MIL can take the kids away for a few hrs. so that I can enjoy them over a cup of tea in peace & quiet & plan some more. I think that I really noticed some recurring theme's in what I like - especially color wise w/ all of the green, purple, pink combo's. In fact the page that says Floral Essences w/ a pic of the lady in the green dress is about to help me round out my color palette for downstairs! Her green dress is similar to my LR wall color. Her basket: close to the shade of brown that I've chosen for the top 1/3 of my kitchen walls. The brick wall: My house is brick I was trying to pick a red for my DR but the consensus on the forum is that the deep reds I liked were too dark for my dark trim BUT when I saw that pic I thought "Why not a color similar to the flowers in her basket?"! The whole pic flows so I know it would look good in my house as I already have so many colors in the layout. Color inspiration can be found where you least expect it! And it looks romantic but still earthy. As for my organization: That's a long way coming but thanks! I just used a 3 hole punch one weekend & just shoved my tear outs into 2 binders that I found laying around. I slipped a piece of blank white paper between each article to separate them. I still have tons to add. Soon I will begin looking for some decadent binders to organize them in. A few for decorating, gardening & entertaining. Right now they're all mixed together w/ no rhyme or reason. I need to add the little white thingies to the holes to reinforce them & I've learned that if I break the binding of the magazine I can easily pull out an entire article out w/o having to use scissors to score the pages & risk an uneven tear.