Bella with insomnia

Last week Mark was travelling abroad, to either Atlanta or Montreal (he does that quite often, so I always get confused with dates and locations). I, of course, stayed alone with Bella. She behaved OK in general, and my brother-in-law even took her for runs and so on. So, she was fine.

The night before Mark's arrival though, she got completely insomniac. Restless. Whimpering and walking around and jumping and throwing her toys everywhere. For two or more times she wanted to go outside to the back garden. And it was already LATE. Past midnight. Being outside, there was an almost full moon, which made me dread that she would soon start howling because she was walking around, wagging her tail and looking very impatient.

This predicament lasted and lasted. At one stage I Skyped my Mom, who saw Bella playing and jumping like a little mad thing in the webcam: "Andrea, isn't there a way to give her some beer or something???"... Of course not. Restless she was. I even forgot about using some lavender to calm her down. That usually works.

Anyway, when it was almost 4h30am I was exhausted and decided to bring her to bed, using a little chewy bone as a bait. She came to bed with me, I laid down, but still she would not stop. Jumping all over me, biting my ear, grunting like a little pig. Until I had the idea of holding her and have her laying down beside me. I kept holding her, cuddling. And I started to sing lullabies! Brazilian lullabies ("O Cravo Brigou com a Rosa", "Sapo Cururú", and some songs, making up lyrics and even melodies). I noticed that when I paused, she wouls scratch my arm with her little paw as if saying "Continue, please"... OK, sing, sing, sing... After 15 or 20 minutes she was fast asleep. And stayed so until the morning when Mark arrived!

So, lullabies really relax! My Mother said the next day I should get some CDs ready for her (what??? Okaaay...). Anyway, here's one little picture I took on that night. That's how she was behaving!

Bella loves Murakami...

I received my Takashi Murakami pillow two days ago! It's so adorable. Bella however, thought it was for her of course! Whenever something arrives with the postman, she thinks it belongs to her. In this case, the pillow is soft, cuddly, clourful and warm. Just the way she loves it!

I took some lovely pictures of her trying to have it...

Le Petit Prince

"The Little Prince" was one of my favourite books when I was young. And still is.  Of course, I still remember seeing Gene Wilder playing the Fox in the 1974 Stanley Donen's production. Beautiful.
And being a big fan of SuperPoke Pets, I decorated my very own Little Prince's habitat starring my dragon Ryu-chan! Here it is...

"If for example, you came at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as  the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am!

But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is ready to greet you..

One must observe the proper rites. . ."

 

(Antoine de St. Exupéry, "The Little Prince")

Late again... And a new necklace (はなび)

Again, I spent too much time without blogging. This is a shame, since it's something I enjoy and feel it's important to me somehow. But I've always been known by the lack of "continuity" in most of the things I do. Unfortunately. I try to change that from time to time, but it is hard and frustrating. Again, and again, I will try it. Maybe one day I will elaborate a bit more about it but, right now, I need to do more and perhaps think a bit less!

Since my last post and today, I made another necklace. Or perhaps I made it before, not sure right now. Somehow, I forgot to post it, I don't know why. I mean, I probably had some lapses of memory during that time, involved as I was with all the colds and flus that never cease to get inflicted on me, ha ha! Seriously though... Lately it's all about colds and flus (and a diet), and my pretty Bella!

I decided to call it Hanabi －はなび。The word means literally, "fireworks" and it was given to the piece because of its colours. Reds and golds and deep night, ultramarine blue, very much like the night sky where fireworks during Summer festivities occur.　

Here's what I used for Hanabi...

- 1 large and quite heavy oblong Murano glass bead in gold foil with speckles of red, green and blue coloured glass and two round ones with the same kind of work;
- 2 medium round Chinese vintage Cloisonnée beads in the same shades and with a flower motif in shades of pale pink;
- Several, several, several Swarovski bicones in different sizes, shades and effects;
- My usual signature stardust antique gold plated small round beads near the clasp;
- Ten antique gold, plated bead caps around the cloisonée and Murano main beads;
- Tibetan gold plated hook clasp.

And here are the pictures...

Some details of the necklace are shown below. On the next two pictures we can see the details of the focal Murano bead. It measures approximately 40mm and showcases a different style of glass work, very similar to molten enamel...

Follow the auxiliary Murano beads, round and smaller, but with the same kind of finishing... Note as well, the Swarovski bicones and the stardust spacers...

In the next screenshots, we can view the cloisonée beads, and hook clasp in more detail. These cloisonée are very pretty, heavy and hard to find nowadays. The contemporary ones are normally quite light and look very hollow indeed, and the artwork is not nearly as detailed. I love the fact that the colours are so delicate and displaying midtones, like a real painting...

As I mentioned before, the Muranos feel quite heavy. However in the overall result, the necklace itself feels very light and looks quite delicate, oddly enough. I might try and take other pictures since these are a bit too dark and the colours don't seem quite right. The final piece is much nicer in real life though!