Sweet Pea Song, my computer, is whining loudly. She's quite hot to the touch. At least we're not in Death Valley right now. Weather experts say it's 130 Fahrenheit. Ouch! In our neck of the woods, the temperature has inched up to 102 Fahrenheit. Seven degrees less than yesterday's high point. Hopefully, that's the highest it gets around here for the rest of the year. Tomorrow, the temperatures ought to start dipping  into the 90s and  stay that way for the rest of the week. Yippiee! The heat has kept me indoors. So, I've been playing with new things. Embroidering (kinda), for one. I drew an elephant on what was once the bodice of Mama's dress and outlined it in green backstitches and regular stitches.  This is my first piece since I was 9 or 10. I finally have the patience and attention span to keep on practicing hand and embroidery stitches. So I think. Back in February, I bought a set of watercolor paints. On Saturday evening I started playing with them....

Once upon a time there were people who collected other people's trash and resold the items. Some of these early recycling entrepreneurs were said to go down the street calling out something like "I'm here for any rags, bottles, and bones." Rags, bottles, and bones. For me, it would be books rather than bones. But, I'm not looking to purchase any rags, bottles, or books. Not at all. I mention the phrase because the past week, I've been repurposing fabric scraps, wine bottles, and old books. RAGS The elephant scene (above) is my first try at fabric art. I machine stitched everything but the the red flowery thing, which is the top of a tree, onto a purple napkin. The zipper is the second, if not the first, one I've ever sewn. I have several more purple napkins and a whole bunch of scraps so I might experiment with more fabric art. We shall see. BOTTLES Last year I decided to make a garden border with wine bottles that I collected mostly from our...

I hadn't planned on coming back to the blog today, but now that I've changed my header with my new title,  I believe it behooves me to write a few words. Or more. Before I ramble further, Midget the Turtle Elephant wishes me to write that she says, "Hugs, Everyone!" I've thought about renaming my blog for quite a while. Lazily thinking, I was. Then Sports-Editor Dude Friend, sporting a broken foot, tapped his cane as he declared (not in these exact words, but close enough), "No more ladder climbing, Susie. We're too old now. No more." Dear Dude broke his foot when he fell off a ladder while trying to get into his house.  That was several months ago; he is walking fine, the last I saw. Have I forsaken ladders? Shrug. I am the Mama's daughter after all. So, what do you think of my new blog title: Barefoot Susie ? I also considered Young Old Fart and Deadheading Daisies. FYI: I may be making more changes to the blog over the coming days. ...

Today I'm sharing a couple of pages from my art journal which I started a few months ago. I keep this journal and a box full of colored pencils and pens and a heart-shaped box of crayons near my seat in the living room. The journal gets opened at night when I'm not interested much in what's on TV or when I suddenly get a yen to draw and color something. Lately, for reasons unknown to me, elephants have been finding their way out of my imagination. I draw them on paper . I paint them on plates . I'm considering creating an elephant figure out of some of the chicken wire in the backyard. Freida is the name of the elephant up there in the photo. The Husband named her. Freida is a cutie with her curly bangs, red hoofs, and red ribbon. I wonder what kind of adventures she has been on. The singing gourds in my drawing were modeled on two dried gourds that Godmother Pat and Darling Jenn painted for us at our #21 anniversary party in September. See the lovely gourds...