Illumination Night...Tent City, Ocean Grove

We had a great weekend, one of the highlights was our visit to Ocean Grove.

Ocean Grove, is a popular vacation spot in New Jersey known for its Victorian homes,

 boutique shopping, restaurants and beautiful beaches.

Ocean Grove is also home to Tent City, 

a colony of canvas tents attached to wooden cottages that provide all of comforts of home.

One might wonder why anyone would want to live in a tent for the summer...

Saturday night Tent City came alive with lanterns, lights and a music concert.

I have written about Ocean Groves Tent City before, you can read one of those entries here.

We usually go for a walk here at least once per summer.

The tents are emptied out and closed up in early September.

I believe there is a waiting list of about 15 years in order to buy one of these and they usually stay in families and are passed from one generation to the next.

The people who live here love it!

Wise Words On Sunday

 

Saturday Critters #608

 My Butterfly Bush and Wildflowers are finally getting some butterfly love...

here are a few of my favorites!

- Eastern Tiger Swallowtail -

- Alfalfa Colias - 

- Buckeye -

- Painted Lady -

- Monarch -

- Summer Azure -

- Silver Spotted Skipper -

- Variegated Fritillary -

- Black Swallowtail -

This butterfly is one of mine, I released it yesterday...it posed for one picture and took off with such grace.

This is my third round of releases!

Sharing today's images with Eileen at 

Viewing Nature With Eileen 

for Saturdays Critters

My Temari Ball

 A few weeks ago, I signed up for and attended a 

Temari Ball Workshop at Arrow Acres Farm given by my friend Liz.

I had no idea what a Temari Ball was, but I really love the classes Liz instructs, 

so for me, it was a no brainer.

So here's the skinny...

Temari Balls are a Japanese folk art form, specifically handcrafted embroidered decorative balls.

These balls are made by wrapping and stitching threads around a core, 

creating intricate geometric or ornamental designs.

Originating in China and introduced to Japan centuries ago, they were initially toys but evolved into decorative pieces and even accessories for kimonos.

The classes are small, three hours, and Liz is very attentive/hands on while instructing. 

So finally...lets get to the pictures!

Liz always provides everything you need, clear instructions, pins, needles and pin cushion...

she even prepared the balls we were working on.

I started with the oatmeal colored ball and added the other 5 colors.

- Aqua Blue, Yellow, Light Blue, Slate Blue and Gray -

This was not super simple but it should have been, 

it's easy once you memorize the steps and get into the swing of things.
I have a lot of pictures I took as I was working on this project but I don't think posting them would be helpful and they are a little confusing.

My Garden is doing well...when looking at the garden in its entirety, it looks very straggly.

BUT...

the individual flowers are so pretty.

- sunflower -

- sulphur cosmo -

- garden cosmo -

- garden cosmo -

- zinnia -

- sulphur cosmos -

- garden cosmos -

- sulphur cosmo -

- the beautiful colors of summer -

I Am A Maker

I think the best way for me to describe myself is with the word "maker".

I am not an artist, craftsman, artificer, I am a craft person who likes to "make" things.

I enjoy many forms of art, but I am definitely not an artist...I am a maker.

My favorite hobby is knitting.

Right now I am working on the

Honey Cowl Infinity Scarf by Madeline Tosh

This pattern is free on Ravelry and it is a very simple knit...you only need to know how to knit and purl

to complete this cowl.

The yarn is 100% baby alpaca, hand dyed by Liz, the color is 

Signs of Spring

 

I finished this purple infinity scarf, prior to starting the one above.

It is the same as the green one pictured above.

These two look totally different in the pictures, the top picture better portrays the color.

I enjoy adult coloring as well.

My friend Liz gave me this book.

These are postcards to be mailed, I always put them in an envelope so they do not get damaged.

I recently colored this one for someone special for Christmas.

I am also learning to paint with watercolors...

I am pleased with the Goldfinch, our state bird.

I will have to go back through my posts to see what I have shared here and then I will be able to 

show you the new pictures I have painted.

I also learned a new craft recently, which I am working on finishing, a

Temari Ball

This was a workshop with my friend Liz, 

it is very different than anything I have ever tried or made and I really enjoyed it.

The class was at the farm. 

I struggled some with this, especially once I got home and had to finish it.

Liz is awesome, she answered all my text messages/questions and even sent me a new video.

I am going to share that technique tomorrow,

My creepy crawling caterpillars are doing well, the 3 babies are huge already...

all the others are in chrysalis form.

More fun stuff tomorrow!

Providing Shade

An Osprey is a large, fish eating bird of prey, they are also known as fish hawks.

I went back to Spring Lake to check on our local Osprey pair.

The last time I was at the nest was on June 28th and I shared those pictures here.

Both adults were home and it appeared 2 chicks had been hatched.

It was really hot on July 31st when I took these pictures and I did not see either of the little ones.

One adult Osprey was out of the nest, resting on a nearby pole.

The other adult was in the nest, wings spread wide...

I assume it was providing shade for the chicks.

It was very vocal, either communicating with the chicks or perhaps it was still in protective mode.

An Osprey readily builds its nest on manmade structures, such as telephone poles, channel markers,

duck blinds and nest platforms.

This is a manmade nest platform the Osprey come to every year.

They are large raptors reaching 24 inches in length, they have a wingspan of 71 inches.

I included this picture to show how large the talons are, they were massive looking.

I will return one more time to see the chicks.