February 7

This morning my coworker's father died very suddenly, very unexpectedly.  I sure hope Rebecca and her family are doing all right tonight.

This afternoon we had to put our 18 year old cat, Mittens, to sleep.  She had an adorable pink nose and wonderful whiskers.  I keep expecting to see her around every corner probably because she always was for years and years....  Mary

February 6

There was a review of a book, Connectome by Sebastian Seung, in this weekend's Wall Street Journal.  The reviewer, Daniel Levitin of McGill University, described the book as "the best lay book on brain science I've ever read."  Since I'm a lay person working with neuroscientists all day long, I figured it might be a good read so I ordered it from Amazon.  (The library doesn't have it.)  I came across a cool electron microscope image of a myelinated neuron on Google, so it inspired today's circle.

Eileen brought this lovely glass piece (1.25" x .75") from the oldest voodoo shop in the French Quarter.  A local New Orleans' woman artist makes these tiny pieces.  It has a lovely feel in the hand, cool and smooth.  Like all glass, it is slightly heavier than you would expect for its size.  The weight of my beaded pieces always surprise me.  All those tiny seed beads add up....  Mary

February 5

The hardest working birds in the world are chickadees.  They stay here all winter and work our bird feeders endlessly.  Probably anthropomorphising but I swear when the feeder at the kitchen window is empty, the chickadees land on it and scold me until we fill it again. 

We're two nights away from the full moon, but the sky was so gorgeous tonight.  What a shade of blue.... Mary

February 4

The town I grew up in used to be the "Glass Bottle Manufacturing Capitol of the World".  There were even signs as you came into town that said so.  This was before the aluminum beverage can.  My great-grandfather (my father's mother's father) was a glass blower in one of the factories.  Twice a year, the glass furnaces would be shut down so they could clean out the glass that had accumulated.  When they did this, the glass blowers were allowed to use this glass to make anything they wanted.  They made glass canes, chains, paper weights.  Most of these items were broken, discarded, lost.  (There are some in the town's historical museum.)  Thankfully my father saved one of his grandfather's paper weights which I now have....  Mary

February 3

Create every day even if it's messy, even if it's down right bad. 

The beaded icon is my "regular" art.  It's been awhile since I began a new piece.  Seems like it's time....  Mary

February 2

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the higher than usual temperatures and minimal snow, but I really don't want my jonquils blooming in February.  A little snow cover wouldn't be amiss...  Mary

February 1

It doesn't matter what the calendar says, February is the longest month of the year.  And this year there's even an extra day.  I have high hopes for this February since we're in the middle of the winter that wasn't.  Perhaps we'll get through it quickly and painlessly.

I got to flip the calendar in my office this morning.  This month's image is tulips.  I just have to remember to breathe whenever I look at the image....  Mary