§ I'm Being Crafty....

...I've been accused of being crafty! In a whole 'nother sense. But this time, I chose to work on a piece of driftwood that I found while walking the shores of the beach in Port Aransas. I saw the round 'knot' area of the wood and thought it's ideal for what I've been wanting to try [a pom pom]. I've seen many online, coveting them, but never ordered any. I thought I'd give it 'a go' first to see if I could create something out of 'nothing'.

I cleaned off the sand, allowed it to dry for several days before beginning. Then, I asked Bud to let me borrow his carving knife. Not wanting to do much whittling, but enough to get the shape of a nose!! Of course the nose is not even close to a cherry described in " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' -a bit more bumpy if you ask me. LOL

I chisled, I sanded, I painted with my acrylic paints, I touched up here and there, and when finished I sprayed an acrylic sealer [gloss]. His beard is too long, but the jolly ol' elf IS ANCIENT. His beard just keeps growing and growing...

PS...Congrats to the Houston Astros: World Series Champions.

§ Smiley Face: Face to "Face"...

It's been typical wintry days here the past week or so. Damp, gray, dismal, and chilly! We are supposed to have a warm-up, with clearing skies for a couple of days, only to have another cold front move in for the week's end. Needless to say, I'm not getting the walking in that I should be doing. Sunday morning, tho, I had to get to the store for milk [if they had it in the coolers] so, I opted to stop along Ocean Drive and walk along the road to the Army/Navy base and peruse the mudflats for wintering waterfowl. I spotted hundreds of skimmers and brown pelicans, gulls, godwits, herons, grackles, sandpipers, dowitchers, terns, ducks, egrets, stilts, willets, and more birds. This is what else I saw...

Intermittent sun trying to come out, fog, nature's winter kill on many plants and wildflowers, etc.:

...as I walked, I could see in front of me, along the bay's shore, fog rolling in. It was swirling rapidly toward my face....beautiful!!

When, I was done, and my outer garment was damp with dew and clinging to me, my shoes heavily laden with mud from walking the mudflats, I headed toward the road to clean my shoes before getting in the car, only to sit on a boulder along the roadside, looking down, face to "face" [literally] with a saltwater, soaked, piece of plywood. Can you see the smiley face?!! I took it home. I would like to think it's a good omen for days to come!?!!

As the wood is drying out in the garage as of Sunday, I am inspecting it...no, it's NOT something carved in the wood...it's a natural phenomenon!! Eventually, I will clean it up, shellac it, and have it hung on the wall somewhere to remind me of a happy day ahead!!