Paper Pulp (Paper Mache) Bird House

This is made by shredding and boiling old news papers until the fibers break down. Then I mulch it up with a mixer. After draining, I add a little flour and a lot of craft glue, salt and clove oil to help prevent mold during the curing and drying process.

Multiple layers are patted over a milk carton armature, allowing for plenty of drying time in between layers.

Once it's all done, I coat it with many layers of linseed oil, then more sealing with acrylic. I didn't paint this one other than to give it the appearance of having a broken down fence on one side and a tree on the other.

I added a clean out door, plenty of holes for ventilation and drainage. And it will hold up in the weather. Although I'd bring mine in during the harsh winter and I prefer to hang mine under the eave of a barn or shed or off the edge of a porch.

Every batch of this paper pulp is different in color and hue. Occasionally I add dried herbs to the mix if I have something about to go stale in the pantry. You can also use dried onion peels or coffee grounds. There's so much room for imagination.

I totally enjoy working with this medium. It's great for turning old newspapers into something for little critters to live in. It's very dry and cozy inside. The wax-coated soy milk carton adds extra protection.

I'm working on several other projects simultaneously (as they take quite a bit of time). Stay tuned for pictures and updates.

Below, a Peace Sign Wall Hanging, also made from the same materials.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/RachellesThings

The Empty Nest

Last year I watched cardinals nest and lay eggs and managed to get some very nice shots through my bathroom window of the tiny little chicks. [See Cardinals Nesting]

The year before I watched mockingbirds nest in the vine arbor off my back porch. Most years, in fact, I am able to enjoy watching birds nest and feed their young.

This year I was happy to discover a Brown Thrasher nest in the Jasmine vines in the back yard. As I usually do when I am able, I took some pictures of the nest and then the eggs that were laid and even managed to get some shots of the newly hatched chicks.

But then... woe is me... I went out a few hours later and all five baby birds were gone. Just like that. Gone!!! 

No way they left the nest. They were only two days old. I checked the ground around the nest wondering if by some odd chance they fell out or were knocked out. Nope. No baby birds.

Later that afternoon I got the answer to the puzzling disappearance. A big fat squirrel was climbing around there, looking for lunch.

{sigh}

Poor birdies.

Though I do like squirrels they are a bother this time of year. They eat all my bird seed and now they've even taken to eating the birds themselves. 

Oh well. There's always next year.

Here are the shots I managed to get, in order, from building of the nest, setting on the nest, five eggs, then five baby birds and finally, the empty nest.

My Etsy Shop

Things on the blog here are slow. I know. I haven't been posting. It's difficult to get motivated to write. Life is hard.

But, on a happy note, I finally opened my Etsy shop. So far there are only a few small things listed. I am currently working on several larger projects. Nonetheless, it's a start.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/RachellesThings

To find out more about these items visit my shop at the link above.

 

Busy Busy

I thought I would post a brief note letting you know that I am very involved in various studies right now.

I finished an accounting class and am currently enrolled in an HTML class and a Grammar for Writing Refresher. Also I am in the middle of a class called The Fundamentals of Christian Theology and as well as a very in-depth (year long) certificate course in Biblical Studies.

Between that and other life issues and tasks, my days are pretty full.

Dream Control

"Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes.
Because for those who love with heart and soul,
there is no such thing as separation!" 

~ Rumi

Helena Steiner-Hornsteyn

I get an occasional newsletter from Helena Steiner-Hornsteyn. I spoke with her once a few years back and found the experience beyond merely beneficial. It was one of those WOW moments.

So, I got one of her newsletters today and found these two statements, in particular, to be good reminders.

You know, how it goes... you KNOW something to be true. So true that it almost seems cliche or trite, yet you can read it or hear it phrased a little differently or at just the right time and it seems downright profound.

If you start your day with bad thoughts or anger, this is the way the rest of the day most likely is going to be. But if you take that extra minute to feel grateful for what you already have and give thanks for all the good things you would like to come your way during the new day, you are making way for a good day -even a very good day ahead of you. 

It is very important to be grateful for our present blessings before we send new requests to the Universe for more. Remember not only the love and comfort you have experienced in your life, but also those little things we so easily take for granted: walking, talking, hearing and seeing through our own eyes what is going on in our world. 

The Sun is Shining

A very emotional performance by JJ Grey of Mofro.



How many more days can you hold out
How much longer can you wait she asked
There was a time I thought I, I could answer
But my tongue gets tied as my thoughts drift away

Glory, Glory – Hallelujah
The sun is shining, shining down
Glory, Glory – Hallelujah
I'm alive and I'm feeling, feeling fine

All those simple thoughts all those peaceful dreams
Share the space with a hard worked, hard worked day
But it's the little things, the little things not expectation
That make life worth living, worth living
Glory, Glory – Hallelujah
The sun is shining, shining down
Glory, Glory – Hallelujah
And the world Lord, world is fine
Glory, Glory – Hallelujah
The sun is shining, shining down
Glory, Glory – Hallelujah
I'm alive and I'm feeling Lord, feeling, feeling, feeling fine

Here's a short quote from Grantley Morris. I really enjoy reading at this site. this was the quote for today. It really struck a nerve. Though, sometimes, as odd as it may seem, there isn't a lot of choices in this regard but it's true and worth posting.


Grantley Morris
 
To suppress grief is suppressing not just part of
our humanity but a part of us that is in the
image of God. Rocks and robots don't cry. Jesus
did. The one in whom "all the fullness of the
Deity lives in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9) wept -- often.
 
Taken from
www.net-burst.net/hope/christian_grief.htm : "Real Christians Grieve"
 
© Copyright, Grantley Morris. May be freely
copied PROVIDED the link and this copyright notice is included.

Anniversary

When hubby and I got married, we ended up with two anniversaries.

We got married in a civil ceremony on Friday February 13 and then had a celebration the next day, Valentine's Day, which included a short ceremony called "The Blessing of a Civil Union"

We were together for almost 18 years and would have been married 15 years today. I sure do miss him.

 

Bless his heart. His hands were always cut or scratched or banged up from hard work. I loved those hands. He wasn't the tallest or biggest man around, that's for sure, but those hands were big and strong, nonetheless. Hard working hands, that I appreciated so much.

He loved this song. We used to dance to it sometimes while we were dating and he would play it on the guitar for me.



Song of Solomon 8:6

Put me like a seal over your heart, Like a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death, Jealousy is as severe as Sheol;
Its flashes are flashes of fire, The very flame of the LORD.

Caught by our own thoughts,
we worry about everything,
But once we get drunk on love,
Whatever will be, will be.

~Rumi

Dreams Do Come True

Someday...




And what a wonderful day that will be.

Love Spoke of Love

I looked into her eyes.
I saw a fragile heart
Inside this brown eyed girl
With the pretty smile.
But the pretty smile waited...
The pretty smile hesitated...
A question had been asked.
I answered with the simple truth...
Brown eyed girl...
With the fragile heart...
I love...
You.
What kind of love is this?
Only you and I can tell.

- Love 

I Finally Understood...

Quotes

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead... his eyes are closed.

- Albert Einstein 

Eternity is with us, inviting our contemplation perpetually, but we are too frightened, lazy, and suspicious to respond; too arrogant to still our thought, and let divine sensation have its way. It needs industry and goodwill if we would make that transition; for the process involves a veritable spring-cleaning of the soul, a turning-out and rearrangement of our mental furniture, a wide opening of closed windows, that the notes of the wild birds beyond our garden may come to us fully charged with wonder and freshness, and drown with their music the noise of the gramaphone within. Those who do this, discover that they have lived in a stuffy world, whilst their inheritance was a world of morning-glory: where every tit-mouse is a celestial messenger, and every thrusting bud is charged with the full significance of life.

- Evelyn Underhill

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

- C.S. Lewis

The Bells of Heaven

The bells of heaven ring
To wild and beckoned souls
As one would kneel
At the mere sound
Amply passing through ears
And inward
Where the true hearing is

Of joy that rips the heart
And ragged renders it
Like deeply shaded night
Dipped in ink, specked with gold,
As swirls of ripe perfumes
Of olive, of myrrh, of bay
It moves in shapes of ponies bright
And leaping dogs and riders

© Rachelle LeCount

Consider Job

A question arose during a discussion with friends regarding the Book of Job and I think it's an important question. It's also a question that is debated in regard to all scripture, and that question is "Is it TRUE?" 

It's often argued the Scripture is allegory. Others say it's entirely literal. Personally I think it's far more literal than not. However, I also believe a thing can be both, simultaneously... double layered and multifaceted.

While the book in question is generally considered to be a didactic poem set in prose form, and not literally true, who's to say for sure? 

John Gill (who I happen to agree with more often than not) has the following to say about The Book of Job. (see next post)

"Though all good men are afflicted. Yet sooner or later they are delivered out of their afflictions; and that it becomes them to bear them patiently, and not murmur at them; nor complain of God on account of them, whose ways and works are unsearchable, and who gives no account of his matters to men, but is sovereign, wise, and just, in all he does; and whatsoever is done by him issues in the good of his people, as well as in his own glory, as the event shows. This book may be considered either as an history of the life of Job, in which an account is given of him in his prosperity; of his afflictions, and how they came upon him; of a visit paid him by his friends, and of the discourses that pass between him and them, and of his restoration to greater affluence than he enjoyed before: or as a drama or dialogue consisting of divers parts, and in which various speakers are introduced, as God, Satan, Job, his wife, and friends; or as a dispute, in which Job's three friends are the opponents, himself the respondent, Elihu the moderator, and God the umpire, who settled and determined the point in question. It contains many useful things in it concerning the Divine Being, and the perfections of his nature, his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and sovereignty; concerning the works of creation and providence; concerning original sin, and the corruption of mankind; concerning redemption by Christ, and good works to be done by men; and concerning the resurrection of the dead, and eternal life."

This is a powerful story, regardless of whether you see it as literally true or not. There is no evidence that this man, Job, truly existed or that this is a "true story" in the most literal sense. Yet it hardly matters because the story is nonetheless TRUE.

No matter what we face in life and no matter our losses and sufferings, consider Job. Also consider God's words to him. Some say the story is depressing and it bums them out or makes them sad. Well, folks, that's life. Think about it. That's life. We can suffer the loss of spouses and parents and even children but CONSIDER JOB. And then consider the end of the story. In the end, God repays Job for all his losses. Still doesn't sound FUN? Yeah, well... I figure Job would agree. His losses were painful. But God is all powerful, all knowing and full of compassion and in the end, when it's all said and done, God WILL repay all our losses and twice over. No, MORE than twice over.

Perhaps the story is merely parabolic. Yet if so, it diminishes the meaning and the TRUTH of the story not one bit.

Consider Job. Consider how many people suffer in this world, both past and present. If you've suffered loss, perhaps you think it doesn't help to consider those who have lost more. Our personal losses often seem to us to be worse than the losses of others. Yet here is a man who lost everything. And many many people do lose everything. Not just one spouse or one child or two parents but tremendous loss that I pray to God I never have to experience.

This is a powerful story. A great read. If you haven't read it, you really should.

The Book of Job

A song by Mark Altrogge that acknowledges God’s unfailing majesty and character even in our sadness, sorrow or days of difficulty.

A song that's very special to me.

Know

did you know
if you speak the words
they may be heard
you should know
when you look too closely
your sight becomes blurred
and could you know
if you let yourself love
you'll become like a bird
so you know
what it means to be weightless
like promises stirred
and then you know

- Rachelle LeCount

Northern Princess

Wrap thyself in thy gossamer garments 

Oh white fairy princess from the north country 

And fly to yonder mountain 

On the beams of the shining moon.

- Love

Mystery Companion

---------------------------------------------------------- 


Every man has his secret sorrows
which the world knows not.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"The birds have flown to freedom,
the cage lies empty.
Your happy songs bring to me
the scent of heaven.
Please keep singing." 

~Rumi♥

The Wood Song

In Thankfulness and Gratitude...




-----------------------------------------------------------

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

- Kahlil Gibran

Easy to Do

it was a simple task at the time
dividing clouds with beams of light
that shot from our finger tips
or to first set foot
on that far globe near the warm cave
nor was there need for slats and boards
in order to glide through air
or float atop waves and ride tides
so easy a thing it was
to connect the stars like dots
that only spirits ever see
yet more difficult to remember
since it was all before we were born

Rachelle LeCount