Kestrel News

picture credit: dilmanns.com

This is a kestrel and we have a kestrel nesting box in our yard.  Last year we had a pair that had 4 babies.  That was pretty neat and we hoped for it to happen again. This year they came to the nest and layed eggs and then we found the female with a broken wing.  We ended up taking her to fish&game.  They will repair the wing and then release her.  We didn't know if the male would be able to hatch the eggs or not. We looked in the box last week and found a mess. There were 4 eggs and a dead starling in the box.  This is what we think happened.  The starling entered box, killed the kestrel eggs and laid some of her own.  Then the kestrel came back and killed the starling.  A sad story for sure. The starling eggs are like a stone.  

Here they are in a nest I had. I put them in it just to take the picture. I am hoping that a new pair of kestrels will set up base here next year.

Good news on the health front, finally. Yesterday was not good, I was feeling dizzy so I went back to the Doctors and my BP was 80/50. That is pretty low for a person with high blood pressure. I stopped taking my meds and went back today and it was 110/73 which is much better. So now I am going to stay off the meds till after the holiday and see what happens. Low blood pressure makes you really tired and you don't feel like doing anything. Other good news is that my blood sugar has gone down. That is something I have been working on so I am happy about that. It feels great to have some energy back.

I am in a cleaning organizing de-cluttering mode right now. I have my weaving room half done so I am anxious to get back to it

What leap do you wish to take?

Its  Wednesday and I have missed wishcasting the last couple weeks with so much going on.

This week  Jamie asks this great question.


What leap do you wish to take?


Oh what a great question.  My wish is fairly simply in idea but perhaps not so much when putting it into action.  I wish to leap over all the obstacles that I feel are holding me back from my creative dreams. I write about things a lot but I don't seem to make plans or follow through. I'd like to leap to the other side where everything flows easily and I am living that dream.

Creativity Boot Camp Day 3

















Today we looked at Creative buzz killers, those things in your life that stop you when you just get going or prevent you from being as creative as you would like. Our prompt for the day was multi layered so I did a textured page and added the buzz killers for me. Then I changed the words around to make them more powerful for me. The page has tissue papers, paint, stamping and more paint and stamping.

More Journal Pages

I am still doing a couple journal pages a day trying to finish up the book. This one is just some random scraps and when I threw the heart up there I thought of Kim and her Big Love which led to writing about slogans.

















In this one I had multiple layers of paint and stamping and I really liked how it turned out. Then the image seemed to be the exactly the same color. I like how they matched so well. I ended up journaling about a new situation in my life. Since some of you will enlarge and read I guess I had better just tell all.


I had my surgery follow up yesterday and yes they found something.  It is an early uterine cancer and they believe a hysterectomy will take care of it.  I will be having surgery next month. Now this is not what I hoped for but if you are going to get cancer you do want it in the early stages so its easier to cure.  So I am grateful for that at least and whatever other lessons it has come to teach me.  I may have to postpone my trip to Ireland and I am not happy with that but it is what it is. It doesn't mean I won't go but perhaps not at the time I had planned.

Kim had sent me some of her Rock My World rocks to pass around on my adventures but I think I will keep this one for myself.. I am sure she won't mind.

Then I went for a walk in the backyard and found this. A gift from the Universe.

When you compare it to this other owl feather I found its really small although it could have come from the adult bird I like to think it is a feather from the baby.  If I go out at dusk sometimes I can see the owls again.  It feels great to know they are still out there soaring and living their lives.

Adding color to a mandala

I did this zentangle like mandala the other day from the stamp in the center. I do like starting them out that way.

This is an old drawing. I have been wanting to add some color to my drawings and was a little bit afraid to do so. For some odd reason I thought it would ruin it. This is watercolor and I really had fun adding the color. I may add more or just stop where I am.

Health Issues

I thought I had better let you all know what has been going on with me. I have not fully gone into menopause so at my Doctors advice I had a biopsy of the cervix on Monday.  Results came back today and they did find some abnormal cells.  Now I am scheduled to have a D&C to take a bigger sample.  Then they can determine if its just a few abnormal cells or a bigger problem.  Its not quite the way I had intended to spend my time but it is better to have information and then you know how to deal with it.

They do say that Art heals and I will be putting that to the test.  I am working on a secret project that I can't share so I had better get to it... I hope you  find some time for Art today.