In the blink of a Summer

Hello friends!

This lovely Summer has sped by, full of goodness and running hither and yon. So much to catch up on here, maybe just a couple of highlights for now.

The very lovely and rather feisty Jess from Teddy Bear's Wednesday flew all the way from Melbourne, Australia to Portland, Oregon for a visit! We had a fantastic time, so good to meet her "in the fur" as she would say. She even came along on our annual trip to Pickathon, a local music festival. It was a truly special visit and wonderful to spend time in the garden chatting away. Jess and The Buddha Cat made fast friends and since she has left, he seems a bit down. Jess has also got us shouting "Aussie Oy Oy Oy!" at random moments around the house. Thanks for everything Jess, so glad you came to visit our silly family, we were so happy to have you here!

We have been enjoying the harvest from our garden, even though we have been a bit neglectful of it. Thanks to The Engineer and his buddy, we have a new beautiful fence in the back yard, thanks darlin'!

And of course, this one has been growing like a weed.

Oh my, I can see that I am out of the habit of this bloggy business, I'm going to have to sharpen my skills and get back into the swing of things. Looks like it's time to plug back in and see what all of you have been up to while I went underground!

Do tell, what have been some of your highlights of the last couple of months?

Silly old bear

Meet Mr. Whiskers

Sometimes you get lucky and meet someone through this wild and wonderful world of bloggers that becomes a fast friend, even though you may be geographically challenged and sharing a cuppa face to face is not possible, you feel as though you have known each other for ages. I have been so lucky in this respect, I feel as though I have received a gift of great bounty in friends from far away places. The fact that these friends are also incredibly talented, terribly creative, and makers of magical things, is truly inspiring.

Jess from Teddy Bear's Wednesday is one such remarkable friend. She is a maker of extraordinary creatures, most notably of the bear variety, but she is hardly limited to just one species. You can take one look at her Etsy shop to see she has a gift for creating critters with personality and panache!


One day whilst perusing her instagram feed, I spied the beginnings of a bear, he was just a head at this point, but I knew he was going to be quite special. Later I saw that she had posted about him on her blog and I knew he had to come live with me. So, I promptly put in my application for adoption and was thrilled to be accepted. Fashioned after the old Steiff bears, Jess hand dyes the mohair, stitches all by hand, meticulously ages the bear and gives each one his/her own unique personality.

This is Mr. Whiskers settling in to his new home having a bit of jet lag and a laugh with an old straw hat he found in one of my closets.

Here is what Jess had to say about him:
"The moment Mr Whiskers became a head, i knew he was a Pop, he was a bit of an old man bear. And as he grew into more and more of a whole bear, i knew that he He likes his mocassins, his cups of teas with 4 sugars, tinkering in his shed and is a bit of a dunker ( biscuits/cookies in tea).
That every Saturday he likes to buy a lotto ticket, he's a long suffering Richmond supporter and is fond of the ocassional punt on the horses."


I have since discovered that his first name is Otis and he is a brilliant addition to the little green cottage. From the moment I held him in my hands, the perfect feel and weight of him, his funny old pop ways, his blue cardi...well, it was love.

Thank you Jess, you are an artist!

Oh, and we may be having that cuppa face to face after all!