This is me, repainting our fence on Saturday morning. There’s something so satisfying about doing outside chores. Amazing how slapping a little red paint on a fence can brighten your day and make you feel so productive.
A nice late spring activity. Still cool in the mornings!
But summer is almost here.
I can tell by these 4 things…
1) Hummingbirds gathering outside my window where I used to hang the feeders (I stopped feeding them when the cats moved in my house along with my family in 2021…just too many nests too close to our house – way too tempting for those little huntresses)
2) The soft clicking of the cicadas in the pinon trees (by June this will crescendo into a sound you have to yell over to be heard).
3) Oak trees leafing out in the mountains 15 miles away, turning all the brown patches green.
4) Mosquito larvae in the horse trough (I just read you can use goldfish to control them! My grand kids are already thinking up names for them. The fish, not the larvae)
And because it’s almost mid-year, it’s way past time to get all my new designs up, too. This includes…
Mama Possum and her Babies!
I am a huge possum fan. One of the few disappointing things about life in New Mexico is that Opossums don’t live here.
When I had my semi-tropical yard back in Florida prior to our southwestern move, I witnessed all sorts of semi-urban wildlife antics. Including those of our only native marsupials.
Like that mid-summer afternoon in 2015 when a Mama Possum carrying 8 babies on her back waddled across our yard, barely ahead of a persistent suitor. What was he thinking? She had my sympathy. Babies were clinging on for dear life while lover boy, who seemed oblivious to her state of maternity, remained in hot pursuit. Ed and I cheered her on from our vantage point in the studio. But near the back of the yard they all waddled out of site, so we didn’t see the end result of his misplaced passion.
That incident remained with me, especially the novelty of watching a mama with all those little ones clinging to her back.
Enter my New Opossum Designs
I’ve wanted to make a mama possum design (with babies) for many years. Early this spring I carved out time to design her at last! And while I was at it, I made a new baby possum (called a “joey,” same name as a baby kangaroo) hanging from his tail. Incidentally, the babies really can hang from their tails when they are very young. I find this charming, and couldn’t resist making yet another “hanging baby possum” design.
Other New Designs in the Wings…
And some of them really do have wings. Like my sterling silver doves, hummingbirds and enamel robins. You’ll see them sometime in the not-to-distant future!
I’ll keep right on rolling out my newest designs. But I’m not going to lie, it may take a while. My son is my photographer, but he’s also running his own business with his wife, being a great dad to 3 young kids, renovating our home, and doing all kinds of extraneous chores.
So it may take another month or two.
But, little by little…
Other news, on a different front
I’ve started teaching my online jewelry making class! A whole new dimension to my life, and super rewarding in a completely different way.
What late spring activities are you up to? I would love to hear from you!
Warm Wishes from Your Animal Loving Artist,
Merry