Ice and fire trees

Ice and fire trees
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

The sun was captured beautifully in the ice that enveloped each branch. I'm down in the valley where two sledding hills meet.

Iced cherries

Iced cherries
Originally uploaded by Heidicrafts.

While the kids were sledding, I wandered the park looking for "cool" shots as the sun sank lower. I happened upon a cherry tree of some sorts. If' I'm wrong, please correct me.

Pop over to my Flickr account for more images.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Here's how it looks this midday.

Our house is between the left foreground tree limb and the limb across from the postal truck. Our outdoor car is through the downed limb branches and twigs.

I've helped pull four branches or limbs from the street onto curbs or yards. Ganoush, Skunk, and I were outside when we heard the tell-tale crack and saw a limb fall at the white house on the right, down by the curb.

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What is falling is rain, but it freezes on contact, so everything is icicles. We had a brief spell of ice pellets, but now we are back to rain.

Icicles on the clotheslines.

Ice on the trees and icicles on the power lines leading to the house. We just learned from CHG last night that there are two insulated wires and one uninsulated neutral wire.

CHG noticed intermittent flickers on the basement lights and his PC since the installation of the generator panel. We learned yesterday afternoon from our electrician that he found the cause - the neutral wire to that circuit breaker was touching the screw but wasn't actually clamped under the screw as it should have been to make a connection.

So last night, CHG explained to us how the power is carried along the wires. I can't explain it here. I didn't learn it that well.

Ice encasing the bushes at our neighbor's yard.

Brownie ceramics

Ganoush and I went to the local high school for a Brownie activity of glazing ceramics for only $5 per item. The Brownie leader works at Local HS and worked with the art teacher for this opportunity which is much cheaper than the ceramics place we have been to twice in November.

Ganoush painted a plate (excerpt at left) and I made a mug just for me (see below). She was told to write her troop number and name on the back of the plate. She chose to write both on the plate's large rim instead.

Ganoush jumped into the middle section, writing out the "green" letters in her message and pattern just by mental vision and without a guide on paper or plate. She made a mistake and got frustrated. The Brownie Event Leader and I both showed her that she could just wipe off the glaze and start again. We wrote out her message on a handy paper towel and assigned each letter a color according to her pattern.

Pencil marks on bisqueware disappear during firing, so any necessary guidelines can be drawn right on the piece. On my mug, you can see the R and W notes to myself for painting the handle in a Red and White candy cane stripe.When her guidelines ran off the plate center, I offered to make some letters for her if she wished. I rewrote C and KIES.

I wrapped my hand around the mug as if I was warming myself, then I traced my hand. If we had been at the usual, more expensive pottery shop, I could have written more in detail with their puffy paints. But that's the price I pay for spending only $5 instead of $18 per piece.

Ganoush wanted me to duplicate the rings on my own hand to the hand on the mug.

Christmas Countdowns

Lisa Vollrath is again featuring her Christmas Countdown of free Ephemera sheets for digital or tactile art. All she asks for in exchange is a link on a blog or on an e-mail list, spreading the word.

Another artsy Advent calendar offers a crocheting pattern every day, here.

Lots of crafts goodness and more in Advent Calendar form from Homeschooling.about is here.

A Google search for Christmas Calendar provides myriad of options. I like the Bach calendar.

And here is a guide you can alter to make your own.