Spring Babies and Cupcakes

I am getting ready to celebrate a very important day for me, the anniversary of the day I became a mother.  My darling daughter Emma turns 17 tomorrow. We knew Emma was special right from the beginning, there were all kinds of unusual events associated with her coming into this world. On top of everything, she was a breech baby that could not be turned (oh yes, they tried, they really tried!) and was born by C-section on the date of our choice, a date we thought was entirely suitable to all the rarities we had experienced with her, Friday May 13, 1994.  Needless to say, 13 is a favorite number for us :)

With Eric, camping out. Yes, her hair is still that curly.

Emma is spending most of her birthday in tech rehearsal for a play in which she is performing,  so Jim made dozens of cupcakes today for Emma's cast and crew. I had fun sprinkling all kinds of candies on top.  I love the colors against the vanilla buttercream frosting, so joyful and fresh, the essence of spring and of children and of many happy memories. I will make her favorite cheesecake this afternoon, and we will be busy wrappng and decorating later today. During all these preparations, I hold in my awareness an appreciation of just how blessed I am.

Irish Blessing. Happy St Patrick's Day!

As say the Irish:

May joy and peace surround you,

Contentment latch your door,

And happiness be with you now,

And bless you ever more.

a satsuma by any other name..

I am ill.  This is what my husband brought to tempt me:

Isn't it perfect? 

As we approach the holiday season, it reminds me of the apples and oranges we children always found at the bottom of our Christmas stockings, and which still appear in our stockings year after year.  What a thrill it must have been to see such a jewel in your stocking centuries ago.  As we head into the American Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, today I give thanks for the California farmers and the many others along the way, right up to and including my husband, who played a part in delivering this beautiful get-well satsuma to me.

I do believe in fairies, I do, I do

Do you believe in fairies?

We do! We do!

Our big news last Friday was that Eric has been cast as Michael in Seattle Children's Theatre's holiday musical production of Peter Pan, running November 2009 through January 2010. We spent the weekend celebrating and being happy about this great good fortune for Eric.

Be sure to join us at the theatre this fall! But before then...

Both Emma and Eric are performing in Seattle Children's Theatre's Summer Season, opening in July. This is a wonderful opportunity to see affordable and great theatre featuring talented youth performers. Eric will be performing in Alice in Wonderland, and Emma will be performing in Romeo and Juliet (coming in August). Emma and Eric have been students at Seattle Children's Theatre for many, many years now and we can't say enough good things about this organization and the people that work there. SCT has a piece of our hearts...

The excitement made work on Bumbershoot Designs and Bumbershoot Supplies take a second seat this weekend, but a few things did occur. I'm expecting more shipments of the vintage 1940's - 1950's hand painted Japanese flowers this week, more occupied Japan glass flower cabochons, and look for the following on Bumbershoot Designs over the coming week...

Kittens and pearls and flowers, oh my!

An update on several items...

First, and most importantly, I celebrated 15 years of being a mother on May 13, Emma's 15th birthday. What more can I say?

Second, our kitten foster babies. They are growing like weeds, trying to scale the baby gate blocking them from my office, eating each other's tails, eyes still interesting shades of blue, still completely and totally adorable as only kittens can be! Emma has some GREAT pictures on her blog, the blue sheep knits, here are some links:

Sisters, sisters

Under Pressure, and...

Our one little boy, who is now going by the name Freddie, is so people friendly, he allowed Emma to dress him in a (supposed to be) baby cap she knitted, see his picture here:

The Curse of the Koigu

Third, while I work on preparing my paper arts for prime time, I've introduced to Bumbershoot Designs a new line of jewelry made from vintage faux pearls. Below is a convertible necklace-bracelet, with an optional tie made of vintage French ribbon from - yes it is truly written on the spool- 1943.

Head on over and have a look!

And fourth, flowers. I've just received an order of hand painted, Japanese, acrylic flowers for Bumbershoot Supplies. Vintage 1940's to 1950's. They just don't make 'em like this any more. These will be listed over the coming week, on both Artfire and Etsy, but here's a preview. They are spectacular!

And my current personal favourite, the daisies....

Al's Plum Blossoms

I really miss Al. He was our neighbor across the street and he passed on just over 2 years ago. Al was a presence in our lives in a number of subtle ways. When we first began homeschooling, Emma and I did a unit on the American homefront in WWII. As part of the unit, we went over to have a talk with Al, who was a WWII vet and who kept a diary of his missions, right after D-Day. We got to read his diary and see his flight jacket, with “Thelma” (his wife's name) stenciled over the heart. Frequently when we were working in our yard, we’d get a visit from Al, and often received great bags of Italian plums from the other plum tree in his back yard. They made up into great jam, which we returned to him, along with other treats, every Christmas Eve. Al had several strokes over the years, and had back issues, but rarely complained and remained vigorous. We even saw him up on the roof of his house not too many years back. He is our role model for growing older.


I think of Al a lot this time of year because his plum trees are in full bloom and they are spectacular. He planted 3 thundercloud plum trees in front of his house many years ago “because Thelma wanted them”. The picture above was taken 2 days ago. We now have the blossom snow and wafting fragrance that these trees bless us with each year. Thanks to Al.

Al’s Plum Blossoms. Vintage Flowerdrop Earrings (below)

Thank you and an Irish Blessing

Our first ever sale was a resounding success! Deep, heartfelt thanks to those of you who purchased, spread the word, and/or sent positive energy in our direction. We are great believers in the power of positive energy...

The beginning sales in a new venture are very, very special. This pendant below, inspired by our gorgeous rhododendron, was photographed by Jim and I remember we were so pleased with how the composition revealed the beautiful "rhodie" flower.

Bird Song, below, wins the prize as the most photographed piece of jewelry in our entire shop. It seemed like Jim took hundreds of photos of this one as he worked out our assorted lighting conditions.

Some of the components of Moon Viewing at the Japanese Garden, below, were given to me as a surprise gift, and it is great to be able to share this generosity.

One of the cool aspects to this sale is that customers were located nearby, so I was able to hand deliver many items. It was great to see the jewelry with the purchaser and to be able to meet and thank customers in person. I learned that Hummingbird, below, is going to a party...

And Crystal Clear, below, is well suited to professional meetings.

Thank you all again. As say the Irish:

May joy and peace surround you,

Contentment latch your door,

And happiness be with you now,

And bless you evermore.