Monday, February 18, 2008

Lawn and Garden Show a Good Diversion

Following in the footsteps of other garden artisans we've talked to, we participated in our first Lawn and Garden show this past weekend. The crowds were great! Obviously everyone is sick of winter and anxiously planning for Spring. There were only a handful of artisan vendors as most of the booths were commercial establishments. We did OK and met a lot of wonderful people. We were also approached by an artisan/store owner so now our items can be purchased in Abilene, TX! Check out www.txbutterflies.com for some really nice handcrafted butterflies!

The local newspaper had an article on my acceptance as a Best of Missouri Hands Juried Artist. You can read it and see a picture of my mug at http://www.westsidestar.net/articles/2008/02/17/westside_news/24.txt

Hummingbird fact for today: Normal body temperature is about 103 degrees F (40C) but it can drop to 70 degrees F (21C) at night.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Bah! Groundhogs!

Everyone is saying that the groundhog saw his shadow, which means there are six more weeks of winter. But guess what? If the groundhog DIDN'T see his shadow, spring would arrive on March 20! The good news in this is that hummingbirds will return to Missouri in just about 10 weeks, and to states and provinces north of Missouri within a couple of weeks after that. With the Springfield Lawn and Garden Show next week, we're getting antsy for spring. The weather doesn't seem to know what it should do, either. Today, high near 70 with rain storms moving in, and snow accumulating Tuesday night. Good grief!

Hummingbird fact for today: Hummingbirds are assigned to their own family under the Linnaeus system of classification – Trochilidae – from the Greek trochilos, small bird.