the Easter bunny makes an early visit... or does he?

it's not even Easter yet ... although it seems we've had a visitor who left his mark ... could it be? Looks like someone's been busy coloring eggs ... but wooden eggs? Perhaps he couldn't find a chicken!



behind a bowl of tulips I spy a possible suspect! But, Easter's still a week away? What's he doing here?



still... the tulips seem to know something's up! Just look at them! They seem to think spring has sprung...



ahhhh... what's that! ... there's the culprit ... in a flash of green!



a basket of eggs....



cherubs?



spring grasses? Wait! That's no Easter rabbit!



but my own Mr. R. ....the Easter Parrot, no less! Wishing us all a blessed week filled with a dazzle of spring flowers and basketfulls of colored eggs and treasure hunts in dewy green meadows...



can anything come close to a basketful of pastel-painted eggs? A few things... like this sweet little spring necklace with periwinkle, freshwater pearls and glistening citrine, just might!



thanks for dropping by!

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!!

~L

good reasons for loving fridays

i'm home today!


hooray for Fridays ... I say. And who doesn't! I suppose someone who's Monday began on Friday wouldn't like Friday's too much, unless of course they had a job which entailed testing chocolate or ice cream or mattresses, or how long it takes to fall asleep under a down comforter, or playing with puppies all day. I suppose then one would love their Monday which was really Friday for everyone else, and then the people who loved Friday wouldn't like Friday so much anymore because they couldn't wait wait to get back to their ice cream and chocolate, mattresses and puppies. That said ... what the heck is this post all about anyway?

oh yes, today is Friday. And I have many things to do, but being a free bird on Fridays I flutter around and do the things that give me great pleasure, one of which is shopping for silver findings, such fun, and the others entail eating comfort food like macaroni and cheese and playing with my two unmannerly parrots, my sweet doggies and extremely chubby cat. Such things don't really take getting used to. They are sort of the frosting on the cake of life. Such things are Fridays made of!

i happen to have a rather stealthy parrot climbing up my back right now. He's tired of seeing me type, because he wants me to take him to the kitchen where he can really have some fun. Mr. R is a Dusky Headed Conure and he is very silly and full of play. Problem is, parrots, unlike dogs and cats, rarely nap. They can play non stop all day like a child with ADD ... and with the same attention span, or lack thereof! Needless to say, parenting a parrot is not for the faint of heart, nor the sleepy. The one really good thing is that you can, of course, lock them in a cage and toss away the key ... then go take your nap. I suppose if you are thinking seriously about getting yourself a parrot, that is, something a bit more troublesome than a parakeet or cockateil, I would recommend you borrow one for a month from a friend. At the end of which time, you may have a change of heart! Lovely though they are ... breathtakingly beautiful, in fact, they are also very bright, constantly searching for fun, food, something to chew, and companionship. They don't like being alone but prefer to be in the midst of the flock with all the accompanying noise. And if there is not enough noise, they will gladly create some for you!

right now, ms. L is chewing on my mouse, and mr. R is climbing up an electrical cord. Ahhhh yes. The wonder of parronting.

as you know, i've been working hard to keep up with my New Year's resolutions ... well, thank heaven's I have a whole year. But I have been doing my 4 days a week of exercising ... which by now has merely caused me excruciating pain in my upper arms and thighs! Practicing my guitar, per my son's instructions ... which has left me with burning fingertips that waver between shooting pain and absolute numbness (just wait until the calluses form, he says! I've been reading my books ... now I have two going and finding it hard to get in that 1/2 hour a day! I can, alas, make macaroni and cheese, a good Greek salad and a pretty tasty shrimp curry.

Today, I'm thinking that chocolate brownies would make a quite tasty vegetarian dish ...

I wonder if I have any baker's chocolate? ....

a very misty Friday

home today and i hardly know where to begin. It is the day to bring down the tree and remove the last vestiges of Christmas....



time for the penguins to stop their chorus for another year...



the wreaths on the chandalier must go ... and copious dusting must ensue...



the ornaments must be wrapped and stored...



the little tree, once lush and fragrant is now dry and eerily combustible seeming! it appears cramped in its little corner, sans brightly wrapped gifts beneath it's boughs, now dropping needles and begging to be returned to the earth in the annual "Kelly family" ceremony ... the burning of the tree (before it burns us, of course!)... we, a secret band of pyromaniacs, watch enthralled as the first match is tossed and it goes up in flames with a gasp ... that could've been our living room, we each consider wide-eyed! Still ... always a sad day this! (You're not convinced)



out my window, the cedar is still green and the hazelnut bare... the sky is a dusky grey, the landscape blurred by the rising mist from the earth...



another year begins for us all.

And then there's Mr. R... the imperious green conure, for whom this....



is just another day to make trouble!

With that... i begin the list:

learn to play an instrument -- number one son has offered to teach me guitar! i begin by learning a strange rock riff he feels will 'limber me up' ... sore fingers and tennis elbow later ... ouch?

make three new pieces of jewelry each week ... oh, that one's easy! Right?

take a photography class to shoot my jewelry better

take a class on birds nest rings (the ones with the big, fat gemstones wrapped in silver wire)

learn one excellent vegetarian recipe a month. (Oh, I must've forgotten to mention i went veggie this summer ... for the LAST time!) Not so easy when one must cook meat for the natives. But my thinking is, a good palatable vege dish will perhaps replace meat for the natives, too!

lose weight ... i shall say no more!

exercise 4 x weekly! (good heavens! who's writing this list, anyway?)

write one paragraph per day, whether it be poetry or prose

complete daily studies of A Course in Miracles

take 1/2 hour to read my favorite books each day!!!

take time to have fun with my friends WEEKLY! Go to breakfast, dinner, drinks, dogwalking or laughing over the phone

go to the stables once weekly to be around my favorite animals in the world

invite a friend to dinner at least once a month!

volunteer ... the humane society?

toss out all non-essential things in my home ... give them to the Good Will ... simplify!

purchase a good, sturdy bike and stop driving to the grocery store ... use pedal power!

do the 21 day Master Cleanse! Gaaahhhhh ... this will most certainly be the subject of many blogs entries!

Sign up for the Masters in HR Certification at UW in September

Sit for the SPHR certification exam by summer

get a pedicure before summer

relax more....

have more fun....


(sigh....)

Christmas Sale

if you are considering buying jewelry for someone this Christmas, I'm having a sale at LoraKellyDesigns.com through the 25th. You might want to drop by and see if there's something you like. Be sure to click on the "specials" link so you go straight to the sale items.

i will be adding items through the season, so be sure to check back. If there's a particular item you are interested in, send me an email at lorakellydesigns@aol.com and I'll let you know what date it's slotted to go on sale!

keep in mind ... all items are "handmade in America" and if they are to be gifts, I provide free gift wrapping. If you want your gift shipped directly to the recipient, I'll be happy to do that for you, I will also wrap it and include a persnalized card! Just email me at lorakellydesigns@aol.com and tell me if it's a gift and if you need direct shipping.

all items are shipped USPS Priority Mail ... and I've been told by the post office to allow 6 days during the Holiday season.

on another note ... I have yet to get my house decorated! Although I do have a beautiful evergreen wreath in the living room smelling things up nicely and plans for the Christmas tree hunt are culminating on this Friday! THEN it will feel like Christmas. I do plan to decorate the studio as well ... so I'll be sure to take photographs. Although I can't imagine much making that place seem cozy while temperatures are in the 30's!

I took both parrots to the studio yesterday. Word of caution ... never take parrots to a bead studio. We'll leave it at that.

goodwill and peace to all!

~L

it's all a matter of perspective

spider bites aren't fun, among other things

if it's weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all ... anyone remember Hee Haw? No? ... never mind. Still, luck, or rather the lack of it, seems to be the theme of the month of August for my human and animal family. Quite a few posts back I'm sure I mentioned "the Irishman's" visit to the doctor wherein he (we) found out he was not only allergic to the birds, but also to the cat and the two dogs! How nice.

Over a month later and several prescription medications consumed he is still not one ounce better than he was the first day he decided to go get needle poked by an overzealous receptionist (I swear), and told that perhaps he had a very slight allergy to our non-human children ($700 later). (Imagine being told you are allergic to your children?) Okay.... not the teenagers (whom I realize we all have allergic reactions to now and again) but rather your little toddlers? That's what it was like! An additional $300 in Heppa filters later, he's still coughing.

So I moved the birds upstairs. Oh my ... lucky you weren't here THAT day! Lucky no one was. The dogs hid, if that's any indication of how fun it was. You see, the bird cage is very large because it contains two parrots. So, I let the parrots play on a bookcase while I emptied out the cage, dragged it through the kitchen, knocked down several cups and cherished pottery pieces in the process, cursed, got the freaking thing down the stairs, and zapped it with the power hose. In the meantime, the parrots were unusually quiet. Good, you're thinking, right? No. Not good. Parrots being much like small children.

I then cleared out a nice spot at the top of the stairs by the big window where they could watch the workmen on the lot next door build the 18 houses that will destroy the neighborhood ... but that's another story. Then, back downstairs (there's 13 of them by the way, weird, huh!) and down another three to the patio where I then hauled the dripping bird condo back inside, took out several more precious nick nacks, and hoisting the thing half on back, precariously slipping on the wet stairs, lugged it up 13 stairs where I did battle with the thing (and they say most accidents happen in the home ... wonder why?), all the foul words I was merely thinking did in fact escape my lips (no sign of the dogs at this point), and finally after much repositioning and dagger looks at anything that moved in the vicinity, I got the thing situated. Then I packed up and down the stairs another three times to gather the grate and perches and feed dishes until everything was in place and perfect.

By the time I got back to the computer room which was the previous home of Mr. R and Ms. L ... there was a pile of confetti (I think that might have been a very thick book about hypnosis) and a half eaten bookcase. Luckily, I didn't like that bookcase very much because it was one of those put it together yourself Target specials. So ... I'm still relatively sane at this point.

After situating the birds in their new home, which they were very suspicious of and perched precariously on the door and stared at me in utter confusion and uncertainty without so much as one indication that they might actually ever inhabit their old condo in its new location ... I went back to the computer room to "de-bird" it. This took me most of the rest of the day. The birds watched from their perch at the top of the stairs. Worried expressions lingering on their brows. Yes, birds do actually have brows.

By the time the allergic Irishman got home, you'd never know a bird lived in our house, what with a pristine environment and heppa filters blowing fresh air all about the place and not an animal to be seen (the dogs and cat were still hiding) ... except for the fact that two very nervous parrots were screeching from the top of the stairs ... it sounded something like "HELP ... SAVE US!"

I swear it was the very next day when I noticed our little Esky, Mr. E., who'd finally come out of hiding to eat, came down with a terrible rash all over his body following a reaction to his flea medication. I clipped away at least twenty-five pounds of hair and still couldn't find his skin ... but eventually, after continued snipping and pulling and coming to understand what a sheep shearer must feel like, I did ...and slathered his rash with neosporin, the wonder drug of the century. At this point our dear Mr. E resembled something like a French poodle who'd received his last hairdo at the nearest hedgeclipper's. Needless to say he was mortified to go out in public.

The very next day, truth, our beautiful golden Shepard Ms. S was bitten by something, I think it was a brown recluse spider ... and suddenly her eye, cheek and nose swole up (I do realize swole is not a word, however, here it fits quite nicely) with blisters that popped and began to bleed. Gahhh! At this point, I had to chase her with the neosporin.

Okay, perhaps two days later, Mr. E's "hot spots" were not doing so well, despite neosporin, Reiki treatments and oatmeal baths ... and so it was time to bite the bullet and go to the vet for a cortisone shot. However, the vet thought it would be very nice to shave his tail, to help heal one of the more severe "spots." I had to hold Mr. E because he was growling like a hyena, bearing his pearly whites, and acting totally in character. But if you'd seen what that vet did to his tail, you'd sympathize. Now he looks like a weird white lion with a naked tail and a baboon's bottom. Every time my eyes happen to fall upon his backside he is prone to growl at me or look certifiably embarrassed. The very nice vet also gave us some antibiotics to help him heal quicker.

In the meantime, Ms. S's spider bite has spread. I looked it up on-line and there are horrid photos of spider bites! Now I'm feeling very frantic and slathering neosporin on her every two hours, and giving her Mr. E's antibiotics. She runs from me every time I reach for the neosporin and tries to hide her huge bulk under the bed.

The Irishman, by now, has gotten no better at all and continues to hack like a 30 year smoker and has given up all faith in the medical establishment. But back to the doctor he goes, and now they think he's aspirating or maybe he has acid reflux. GAHHHHH ... he takes a new bunch of pills (these are purple) and once again there is no response. He goes back to the allergy specialist's nice receptionist ... apparently there are shots that can give you immunity. Really? Who knew? Immunity to what? The birds? The dogs? The cat? Acid Reflux? Aspirating?

He keeps asking me, like I actually know something, what do you think it is? They've x-rayed, they've poked, prodded, checked his throat, his esophagus, his larynx, his lungs ... it appears he's coughing for no reason at all! I think a minute and look him in the eye. I still think it's the birds, I say. So now he walks around the house with a mask. Should we move the birds out of the house? I ask. No, he says, I love those birds! Are you crazy? I'm getting those shots! But in the meantime, he wears the mask and takes the purple pills, just in case the doctors do know what they are talking about, but which I very highly doubt.

Amid all these goings on, the birds, who have yet to truly accept their new home, repeatedly leap from their perches to land at the bottom of the 13 stairs, sort of like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when they leaped off the cliff into the raging river miles below! I can just hear them say, "but I can't fly ... so what, we'll probably die from the fall anyway!"

In the meantime, the "young man" has turned his ankle skateboarding for the umpteenth time and is hold up on the couch or in bed with his foot up in the air and wrapped in ice or generally wimpering and limping about the place and begging for room service.

This week, with all of the forementioned taken into account, despite painting, making jewelry, preparing for a houseload of company, I'm running up and down the stairs with two insecure birds on my shoulder, caring for two-legged and four-legged patients like a much friendlier version of Nurse Ratchid ... ( right about to fly over the cuckoo's nest myself!) Just picture me chasing down dogs, cornering them, slathering on neosporin and stuffing hot dogs loaded with antibiotics down their throats. It doesn't actually bare thinking, does it?

Trouble is, I'm not sure at this point if it was the teenager who got that last antibiotic stuffed in a hot dog or the Irishman who got the neosporin slathered on his eye. And who, for godsakes, took the last purple pill!

A spa sounds "real nice" right about now ... actually a small cave in the Andes shared with nothing but a family of roving coatimundies sounds heavenly.

Sigh....

Note: For those of you who DON'T remember ... here's words from that infamous country variety show of the 60's featuring Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, Roy Clark, Grandpa Jones,and a whole slew of old time country-western singers which I must say I loved to watch and who's huge audience base shall forever baffle mankind, science and the arts, while somehow managing to remain time immemorial:

"Gloom, despair and agony on me
Deep dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all
Gloom, despair and agony on me...."

That's about it.

remembering a feathered friend

last year I lost a beloved friend to the wind. A parrot. It was a terrible accident, all too familiar among bird owners, forgetting her wings had grown out, my husband who'd been carrying her on his shoulder all afternoon, walked outside in a rainstorm for some simple task, and she spooked and flew into the trees. Having no experience with flight, having weak breast muscles, a heart not accustomed to bouts of flight, a life in captivity ... well, the odds were against her. We never found her again despite days of combing the woods and calling, placing posters everywhere and her picture on the internet. The storm raged on for several days. We lost hope. Hawks and eagles frequent the area. A beautiful blue-green bird would hardly go unnoticed. Especially one who had trouble navigating the skies.

Arwen was a rescued bird. She'd lived in a small cage with a previous owner who finally decided she didn't want her any longer, she was loud and aggressive, apparently, and sold her to a local pet shop. I visited that shop one day to buy a toy for my dog. Arwen jumped on my shoulder and with her face nearly pressed into my cheek, stared sweetly into my eyes. Well, what could I do? I had no previous experience with parrots, but decided I couldn't live without her. I took her home that day. She was an absolute joy to our lives.

Sadly, we didn't have her long enough... hardly knew her ... but completely loved her.

Sometimes when I walk in the woods near my home, as I did today, I have a pang of emotion that runs deep. So many times when she was afraid it was necessary for her to look directly in my eyes for reassurance, sometimes crawling inside my shirt to peep out from my collar and survey the world from that safe place. I'd promised to protect her forever from the loneliness she'd come from, from abuse, from any imagined harm that might befall her, confident that she'd be with me forever... for her, a good 40 years!

She was just a bird, you might say. But if you've never lived with a parrot, you could never know the intense, loving bond that is formed with these amazing, intelligent birds. As great as that with a beloved dog. Perhaps even greater.

I have two young parrots now, just a year old. Both as sweet and smart as can be. The bond is already stronger with these two, because they've only known love and kindness and both lack the mistrust that Arwen possessed when she first came to live with us, having previously experienced how deceptive a relationship with humans can be. These two play exhuberantly and fearlessly, laying on their backs with their feet up in the air, silly and childlike. Many parrots mate for life and their flocks are tight family groups of older and younger siblings. Aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers ... just like ours. Thankfully, these two will never know anything but friendship, kindness, gentle hands, and loving care.

I guess this month I've thought much about her loss. I know there was a lesson to be learned. Something about letting go of attachments in a universe where death and loss are everyday occurances. As are exquisite beauty, birth, compassion, virtue and hope.

Had it not been for Arwen choosing me that day, I would've never known about parrots. I would've never made the decision to bring two of them into my home! The door of their cage is opened every morning until they go to sleep at night. They have their play area, and plenty of toys, and then they have me ... their biggest toy. Their favorite toy, too, I might add.

Just as I am writing this loving tribute, little Mr. R., the dusky headed conure, popped the Escape key right off my laptop! Just in case I waxed too poetically!

(Above is a photograph of Arwen in my husband's hands, getting a head rub! But it took time to get her to this point ... initially she wouldn't allow anyone to touch her back. Once she came to trust us, this was one of her favorite things!)

Sunday afternoon, after much talk of rain... the sun shown and the day was warm and beautiful. And again, this morning is perfect. Not too warm, nice and breezy. I haven't decided whether I will continue my painting spree or reorganize my shop today. (I just learned last night that "spree" was an old Scottish word meaning "cattle raid!") Neither enterprise seems particularly appealing today ... a third option is to take the day off and head to the seaside. But that wouldn't be very productive, would it?

Still weighing my options. May your day be fabulous!

~L

a new display mannequin

i was so excited to receive my new toy in the mail last night. Yes, I said last night, because it arrived around 7 pm on the evening of our ever-celebrated Pizza Tuesday! A knock came to the door just as I stuffed my mouth with mushrooms, cheese and tomato sauce! I opened the door, smiling with pursed lips and using hand signals as hot cheese burned a brand into my palette ... and there was the UPS guy in shorts (aren't they lucky?) bearing a cardboard box for LoraKellyDesigns! Just like Christmas!

I knew what it was as soon as I saw the Venus Display Mannequin return postage in the upper left hand corner and could barely contain myself while doing my best to remove three layers of that shiny mailing tape (which runs neck in neck in annoyability to duct tape!) In the end, I prevailed!


Look what I got! Isn't she lovely? I actually received two lovely ladies ... well, really I only got their upper torso's, not sure what happened to the rest of their bodies. In case you wondered, they will by no means replace the lovely blue fairy Flora! Never! Despite her unfortunate mishap with the slates, she is still as lovely as ever and holds a special place in my heart. Still ... I'm really excited about the new girls! This one photographs well, doesn't she?




My next photograph has nothing to do with mannequins or display models or blue fairies but is actually just an adorable picture of my two beloved parrots, that I hope you will indulge me by viewing; Ms. L (on the left) and Mr. R (on the right) ... both wanting their share of pizza and wondering why they must pose on the back of the chair when they'd much rather be sitting on my shoulder and attempting to pull pizza from my lips. Yes. They are THAT bad! Horribly spoiled ... I admit, but ... cute beyond words. And sweet? Well, indescribably.

Even though I design jewelry and spend a great deal of my time with stones and beads and findings and the like, I rarely get a chance to wear jewelry myself at home for one reason, these two bothersome birds! They love to be with me as much as possible which means, when I'm in the house, they are usually on my shoulder. From there, they have an excellent vantage point should they wish to partake of a lovely earring or pendant, and although they may look like gentle creatures, there is nothing they enjoy more than destruction! It's a parrot thing, nothing personal. And shiny, colorful beads offer just such an invitation. I fondly refer to them as "The Destructors!" ... sort of a super hero status that fits them well.

Ms. L is the more timid of the two and steps about like a delicate princess with a hoidy toidy attitude, Mr. R's nickname is "Kerplunk!" in that he's a sturdy little lump of a fellow with no airs or graces and who lives for fun, food and friendship. The order depending on his mood.

(Spell-check had great difficulties with this blog entry today! It is so confused by my challenging language! It really loved "annoyability" as you can imagine!)

You've obviously realized I am an animal lover, as so many of you are, I can tell by your blogs. And so I am glad and proud to be in good company.

Thanks for stopping by!
~L

feathered friends

Ms. L and Mr. R ... double trouble... who have found themselves a pair of glasses to disect having been shooed away from the keyboard, suddenly realize the camera is upon them!