award winning alpacas

When Catherine and Nicholas visited and we went to Green Bluff to see the alpacas at Supersuris Ranch, I took these photos of all the amazing ribbons. I can't get enough of the colors.

Brought to you by the letters P & M.

This is a detail from Nomade, a painted stainless steel sculpture by Spanish artist, Jaume Plensa, installed in the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines, IA. I wandered through the park with my friends Dan & Rachel on a rainy afternoon. Rachel and I were both wearing canvas shoes--fools!--and while I can't speak for Rachel, my shoes are now the grossest things ever. Sorry for any shoe ruination you may have experienced, Rachel. Anyway, while standing inside this sculpture and reading all the angsty teenager graffiti, Rachel spotted something. She has such sharp eyes...

I live in a land the Praying Mantis love.

Recently, Ben and I started seeing these little guys around town. Praying mantises! This is a new experience for me, and I'm super-excited. Side-note: I have a cricket in my office (which is, apparently, good luck?). I don't exactly want to hurt it, but I also don't want it in residence any longer. I'm thinking about bringing in a praying mantis to do the vile deed. I would, of course, catch the insect assassin and release it back in to the wilds of Los Angeles. As for the mantis above? It was the first one we saw, just hanging around our hibiscus tree while I was succulenting in the garden beds...

beastie badges

grizzly bear brooch

Look at these cutie pie badges by illustrator Elizabeth Pawle! Which do you love the most? The shifty-eyed grizzly? The startled badger family, all in a row? The snoozy kitty, wrapped up tight? Or the tiny-legged inquisitive corgi? I can't single out just one because they're all so precious. Well, if I were forced to choose, I think it would be the grizzly because something's going on there. He has a secret for sure, and he thinks you're onto him. Why can't you see his paws and claws? Because he's hiding them...a precursor to attack, I bet. Dangerous badges are the best badges--that's badges, not badgers. You don't need to specify that badgers are dangerous. I mean, that goes without saying. Same applies to bears. 

parade of badgers brooches

pocket totems

Seriously. I love these sweet pocket totems by Danielle Pedersen of Handy Maiden. She sculpts her animals from polymer clay and then meticulously paints each one. Their vastly different expressions, some serene, some hesitant, some perturbed, are incredibly endearing, and I think Danielle makes wise animal choices, too. I want to live inside her tiny sculpted world and hold hands with her hedgehogs and servals and lynx...and hold trunks with her elephant.
Dream come true. 

hedgehog pocket totem

serval pocket totem

lynx pocket totem

And I think everyone should receive an Extraordinary Mallard medal. 

extraordinary mallard medal

I've been admiring these for a couple months and even though I don't need a pocket totem, I just keep thinking my life could only improve if I had one of these little beasties riding in my pocket. I'm sure you'd agree. 

tiger pocket totem

For more sculpted clay sweet babies, sweet babies, visit Danielle's etsy shop.

zut alors!

I felted this narwhal as part of Catherine's Christmas present. I also felted a colossal squid for Monika. Of course, I took pictures of neither squid nor narwhal, so I'm forced to rely upon the proactive photography of my sisters in order to document the little beasties. Hmm. Still waiting for some squid shots. Oddly enough. Monika. Monika...

urchin business

Monika promised me a trip to Malibu expressly to harvest recently deceased sea treasures. 

Yes, I am talking about sea urchins. 

We each filled a large ziplock bag with these beauts.

Large and small, they were everywhere.

And because we were really only concerned with urchins,

we didn't spend too much time looking at other stuff...um, like the ocean.

Or this stellar sandstone formation.

Ok, we spent a little time, but we were way more concerned with the urchin intake.
You know, into the ziplock bag, into our purses. Yes, a purse full of urchins. Two purses, actually.
And all on the sly. Ben was none too pleased when we unveiled our urchin bounty and then proceeded to set them out in the front yard to "dry"--a process which mostly involves being swarmed by the giantest flies you'll ever in your long life see. Also, the smell is something I will never forget. Let me tell you, we Nicolai girls have smelled a lot of dead things in our time, but sea urchins may just take the cake as the deadest smelling things ever. Yowzers. Seriously, yowzers. 

These are my urchins at Mom's house in Tacoma. They are "drying" on the back porch.
They made the plane trip home double-ziplocked inside my purse.
Bruno ran away when I let him smell one. Smart cat. 

Splendid spiders

Consider yourself warned.

Yes, I realize I have been posting quite a bit about spiders lately. At least, I feel like I have. And there are several things about spiders I have not posted (you're welcome?). But it's fall, and the arachnids are out in force and must be documented.

At the top of the Sisters in California to-do list was a trip to the Natural History Museum of LA County.

Of course Monika and I wanted to see the dinosaurs and the natural history dioramas featuring long deceased animals, but I was also waaaay excited to check out their Spider Pavilion.

It's possible that Monika was less excited, but the spiders quickly won her over.

Especially, this little lovely: the Nephila clavipes, commonly known as the Golden Silk Orbweaver.

Just look how excited Monika is!

Isn't nephila a beautiful name? 

We think so.

If you listen closely around 29 seconds, you can hear me voice some concern. I mean, I really wasn't that concerned. These spiders aren't poisonous, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't have squealed and fallen over backwards if one happened to touch me. Just saying...

Hooray for spiders!

Spider sense

Here's a little spidey just hanging out. 

Jeepers creepers, look at those peepers. 

print crush

I have a monster crush on the artwork of Michelle from the blog unitedthread.  She has a super-sharp eye for all the precise patterns and details found in nature. Her stuff is gorgeous. You should definitely investigate. 

moths by Michelle of unitedthread

brown pelicans by Michelle of unitedthread

cloche by Michelle of unitedthread

hive by Michelle of unitedthreads

citrine crystal by Michelle of unitedthreads

Visit unitedthread on esty for more of Michelle's wonderful work. Love, love, love it all.

snake box

Yup. Exactly what it sounds like.

A box containing a snake. 

Don't panic! 

It's actually a snake skin. 

Or, to use the proper terminology, a shed. 

And I found it in the bushes in front of Mom's. 

We have a whole family of garter snakes living at Mom's. 

They come back every year because they like us so much.

We like them too...well, Mom only sort of likes them.

But don't tell the snakes that...it would break their tiny hearts. 

spider sense

I've always considered August spider season. As soon as we enter August, there are spiders everywhere.  Everywhere. Here are a couple of my recent spider visitors. Look out!

Showed up on my shower curtain. 

Made her home in my doorjamb.  

Popped up in the sink overflow at Mom's. 

Yup, the spiders are out in force.

More Manito

Manito Park is lovely in the summer. I was especially exited because all the poppies were out, and I love poppies. 

I love this other stuff, too. 

Hey, here's some advice: wear sunscreen.