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Radiant Rainbows! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

The monsoon season is still going on here in the Desert Southwest.  Most every afternoon, the sky clouds, the wind starts to howl, thunder can be heard and lightning seen . . . and if we are lucky, rain falls.  As happens so often here, our house can get a deluge but a friend just a few block away may only get a few sprinkles.  If the rain ends at just the right time, a magical rainbow can be seen towards the east.  Sometimes a paler secondary - or even very pale triple - rainbow forms.  A colorful, visual gift!  The photo above shows part of a double rainbow (that tried to turn into a triple rainbow).  At the end of this post is a single rainbow, both taken with my trusty camera.

Make it a Handmade Summer! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

Do you love unique handmade items such as  jewelry, dog bandanas, hand painted tags, copper components and hand knitted tops?  You can find a wide variety of of artisan beauties, imaginative pieces that were created from the heart, in this new blog.  Browse the items and then browse the shops of the artists featured here.  Believe me, you won’t be disappointed.  Let’s make it a handmade summer!!!  

Happy Independence Day! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

Independence Day will soon be here, in less than a week.  It was quite an interesting time, a time populated by giants of U. S. history:  George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Richard Henry Lee and many others.  The 4th of July has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1870 (and a paid holiday to all federal employees since 1941).  But the tradition of celebrating Independance Day dates back to the late 1700’s at the time of the American Revolution.  On July 2nd, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence from Great Britain.  Two days later, delegates from the thirteen colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document largely drafted by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia but with help from John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York.

Botanical Beauties - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

BOTANICAL:  pertaining to plants

Many people think that the desert is nothing but prickly plants and blowing sand.  Believe me, there are plenty of prickly plants here in the Chihuahuan Desert, and, at times, plenty of blowing sand.  But there are a whole host of other plants that bloom beautifully and are much more friendly to the skin.  The Chihuahuan Desert is termed a "cold desert" since temperatures often drop below freezing during the winter with occasional snowfall.  It is, on average, higher in altitude (El Paso is at 3800 ft / 1200 m) than the neighboring “hot” Sonoran Desert around Tucson (2643 ft / 806 m) which rarely experiences freezing temperatures.  While Tucson and Phoenix bake for several months with triple digits, summer temperatures in the Chihuahuan desert are more moderate, our hottest month being June. Triple digits, yes, but for only a few weeks.  Rainfall averages less than 10" per year, most of that coming during the monsoon season, normally July through mid-September. Amazingly, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature has indicated that the Chihuahuan Desert may be the most biologically diverse desert in the world!  Our plants just tend to be built on a smaller scale than those found in the Sonoran Desert.