Playing Catch Up

First on my list are the winners of my Blogoversary, 100+ followers, 400+ post Give-a-way (that was a mouthful)!

• The winner of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women is Crafty Christina.
• The winner of the first three Matthew Shardlake Historical Mysteries is Pixiewinkle.
• The winner of the Hooked on Murder book by Betty Hechtman is dosfishes.
• The winner of the 10 recycled cards and envelopes in the reusable box is Kate T.
• The winner of the small stone trinket box is the Queen herself, Kim Mailhot.

Please send me your address. I will send the gifts off as soon as I can and a big THANK YOU just for being YOU!

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Next: Where have I been?

Have you seen these tutorials? And this is just a few. They've been going on for weeks!

Alma Stoller

Judy Perez

Lyric Kinard

Diana Trout

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Snippets:

Weather: It is summer here. Hotter than the hinges of Hades and with humidity.

Plans for the Day: Sit back, relax, read, watch a little baseball on TV. Have a steak to celebrate Father's Day.

Mr. Dragon: All the tests the last two weeks came back negative. He did have a pleural effusion that had to be drained, but that is often seen in patients who have this surgery. We were reminded once again ... he had LOTS of surgery. Getting a little stronger with each day. Baby steps.

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Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

Camera Critters

Camera Critters is hosted each Saturday by the lovely Misty. Be sure you visit to see more critters!

I'd like to introduce you to one of my favorite critters - the fossa.

This male and female live in the small cat area of the Houston Zoo.

The photos were taken at during a special event at the zoo. The keepers gave each of the small cats a treat while they talked and answered questions about them.

First the photos and then information about the Fossa.

Here's the female working on getting to her treat.

This is the male Fossa.




The female Fossa taking a short rest!

A relative of the mongoose, the fossa is unique to the forests of Madagascar, an African island in the Indian Ocean. Growing up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) long from nose to tail tip, and weighing up to 26 pounds (12 kilograms), the fossa is a slender-bodied catlike creature with little resemblance to its mongoose cousins.

It is the largest carnivore and top predator native to Madagascar and is known to feed on lemurs and most other creatures it can get its claws on, from wild pigs to mice. Unlike mongooses, and more like felines, the fossa has retractable claws and fearsome catlike teeth. Its coat is reddish brown and its muzzle resembles that of a dog.

The fossa is also equipped with a long tail that comes in handy while hunting and maneuvering amongst the tree branches. It can wield its tail like a tightrope walker's pole and moves so swiftly through the trees that scientists have had trouble observing and researching it.

The elusive fossa is a solitary animal and spends its time both in the trees and on the ground. It is active at night and also during the day. Females give birth to an annual litter of two to four young, and adulthood is reached after about three years.

Madagascar is home to an enormous variety of plant and animal life, and a number of species are unique to the island—including over 30 species of lemur, the fossa’s prey of choice. Explorers first arrived on the island some 2,000 years ago, and scientists believe that they would have been met by a bizarre assemblage of now-extinct beasts, including lemurs the size of gorillas and a ten-foot-tall (three-meter-tall) flightless bird.

Presently, fossas are endangered creatures due to habitat loss. Less than ten percent of Madagascar’s original, intact forest cover, the fossa’s only home, remains today.

(Text information from the National Geographic.)

Postcard Friendship Friday

Postcard Friendship Friday is hosted every week by the lovely Beth. Be sure you visit!

Back to San Antonio and the linen look postcards I found in the closet.

What wonders one can find when cleaning, searching, looking for something else!

I'm not sure you can see it on this card, but Breckenridge is spelled Breckinridge.

The Bear Pit card was the only one with a description (sort of) on the back.

Happy PFF!

Good Morning!

Teacup Tuesday

Today is my first day with the meme Teacup Tuesday!

My mother was the teacup collector, not me. I kept several of her cups, but most I gave to her friends and fellow teacup collectors. However, I do LOVE tea and tea pots, so I thought this was a meme I'd enjoy. Thank you Martha for being our hostess.

We have a dear friend who visited his family in Taiwan shortly before Mr. Dragon had his surgery. He visited with us in the hospital and brought these wonderful gifts.

Almost too pretty to open!

Look what was inside!

They are lucky cups.

The lucky cup originated in the Sung Dynasty.

Made of porcelain clay and fired at 1260 C after shaping.

How to make it "sing"?

Just pour tea or water in it, one hand holds the bottom of the cup and with the other hand use your forefinger, rubbing the edge of the cup slowly and gently, and the cup will create melody.

And it does!

What about the design?

"In our memory, we could often see the colorful floral print bedding in the old granny's home, which was very trendy in Taiwan during the early 50's. True red color with peony, floral prints which represent luck and wealth, are often used on the beddings of the newly wed couples. Shin Tay Yuan Co., Ltd, with 38 years of experience in the transfer-printing industry for ceramics, brings the retro floral print into the new era by application of the prints onto the ceramics for daily usage."

Jim knows how I love ceramics and also included this wonderful book on the exhibition of Blue and White Wares. Like so many other cultures, there has been some dismay over the loss of their artisans, with mass produced wares. These exhibitions bring together ceramacists who keep the art alive.

I wanted to include this wonderful blue and white multi-functional tea set from the catalog.

"The set has 12 individual pieces, including a fruit plate, a candy box, tea plate, tea pot, tea cups, tea saucers. It combines practicality, an attractive appearance and is easy to put away!"

Be sure to visit the other Teacups on Parade!!!!!

Joy To You!