Pacific Tree Frog

The Pacific Tree Frog, or Pacific Chorus Frog (Pseudacris regilla), is a teeny-tiny frog with a GIANT voice. I enjoy their songs -- other family members definitely do not. The adult frogs range in size from 2-3cm; the young frog above is about 1cm. He is pictured near a one-teaspoon measuring spoon, and this picture was taken just after losing his tail (August 2006).

The Pacific Tree Frog's "song" has been compared to rusty gate hinges, and is frequently heard as background noise for watery scenes in films. We first heard one or two frogs in February, but our recent warmer (52 degree) weather has prompted mating calls. The backyard and pond is a cacophony of froggy noise from dusk to well after midnight each night, and they only seem to stop when something large looms overhead. Springtime!

2009 Breast Cancer Bead Quilt Project

Whew! I just made the deadline for submitting my breast cancer bead quilt squares last week. I completed six peyote squares with the 2009 heart theme.


I had planned to use several different stitches to make the squares this year, but had so many problems with "wonky" beads that I fell back to my "comfortable" peyote stitch.

These and other donated squares will be stitched together by Jeannette Shanigan into multiple quilts. The quilts are then donated to the Bead Artists against Breast Cancer auction held during the annual June Bead & Button show in Milwaukie. In 2008, 960 squares with a rose theme were donated and stitched into 20 quilts.

Beaded squares and completed quilts can be viewed at Jeannette's website,

http://shanigansbeadshenanigans.com

Beading for a Cure (BFAC)

Chili Lime Tango, my 2009 BFAC project
(photo by AJ Reardon)

Layne's Legacy - Beading For A Cure is a non-profit 510(c)3 registered charity founded in honor of Layne Shilling, a beader who lost her battle with colorectal cancer in November 2002. Each year, participants purchase an identical kit containing a variety of beads. At least one of each bead must be used in the finished project and the bead artist can only add one other type of bead to the project. The completed projects are then auctioned off on eBay each March. Resulting proceeds are donated to the National Colorectal Cancer Research Association in Layne's name.

Other completed 2009 projects can be viewed at http://www.beadingforacure.org/gallery09/gallery09.html

The auction schedule is at http://www.beadingforacure.org/auctions.html

Current eBay auctions can be seen at http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/beadingforacure

Snow Day

Nila and Rose sunning on the deck last summer

We're experiencing typical Pacific NW weather today -- sun, rain, snow, hail, temperatures in mid-40s.

So this would be a good time to remind myself of the sunshine we should be seeing more often in another month or so.