Time to Spring Forward under the Worm Moon

March's Worm Moon setting - as seen from my west driveway

Turning the clocks ahead has made me a little blurry this morning...kinda like this pic!

Native Americans, who used the Moons to track the seasons call March’s Full Moon the Worm Moon. It's my favorite because it signals the coming of the equinox – the balancing of light and dark, when the Sun is at the midpoint of its extremes.

Right about now, the ground begins to soften enough for earthworm casts to reappear, inviting the return of robins and migrating birds. These signs announce the beginning of the gardening season and my inclination and enthusiasm to dig in the dirt returns.

This is also the time when other lights dot my landscape. Greenhouse lights pierce the dark; they are on day and night coaxing seeds to sprout and grow tall. On closer inspection this morning, the tomatoes are up and the peppers are popping through the soil. BLTs are not so far away that I can't imagine the taste!

NOW: Victorian Lace Eggs in COLOR

COLORS Nature never intended

I've experimented with this idea for a while. Like so much of my work, I am prompted by clients to expand my repertoire to include a broader range of design - and especially color. Tricky thing though. I've finally found pigments that work with the chemicals and the process of shell carving! I'll be adding a softer range of pastels as soon as I can figure out how to get even color coverage without building up unmanageable layers on the surface of these delicate shells.

Citrus

Raspberry

Blueberry

Watch for these soon in my ETSY shop. As soon as Easter orders are out the door and that bunny has left the building, I'll be going full speed ahead with this project. Oh, happy spring. It's time to look at old things in a new light.

Take a different path in the warming days ahead. 

Let spring work its magic on you all.

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs!

The incredibly warm February weather we are enjoying in the mid-section of the country is a gift beyond measure. Pussy willow catkins are plump and silver. Warm southern winds are waking daffodils from winter’s cold hold on them. Moss is greening and the forsythia buds are swelling.

Neighbors are out and about, months before the traditional break from hibernation. Best of all, my cats are spending less time underfoot and more time chasing squirrels from their territory.

For me, ‘tis the season of eggs, eggs, eggs. Blowing them, carving them, selling them! This year I have finally found a reliable source for the rare and exquisite Tinamou eggs I’ve sought for so long. The eggs come from a breeder in Chile, where these once wild birds are now being raised domestically. Their shells have a striking glass like shine. Elegant-crested Tinamous lay a deep green egg while another member of the species, the Chilean Brushland Tinamou, lays a purple/brown/black egg.

I started to carve them the day they arrived!

My work is featured this spring in two national publications.

You’ll spot my hand-carved Victorian Lace eggs in the Favorite Things section of the March/April issue of Victoria Magazine and on the front and back covers of the Guidepost publication, Angels in America.

I’m grateful for such publicity, but it means busy days and late nights ahead. 

It’s a good thing I love my work; there is plenty of it right now!