Ginny Diezel Studios

Happy May to all of you!  I know I have been missing in action around my blog of late.  Just waaaay too much going on for one person!  Sheesh!  I am back and will blog regularly – I promise!

Pfattmarketplace updates tomorrow, May 10, at 10 am, Pacific time.  It’s spring, the flowers are popping, and it’s time for bees!  Yes, bees!  They are truly our friends in Nature.  Where would we be without them to pollinate?????  I ask you?  So, in honor of these little workers, I have sculpted a couple of bees for your collections.  Here’s a teensy peek!  Show up tomorrow and you can see them in their actual size!  Please check them out on my page on pfattmarketplace, and enjoy all of the artists’ works for this month!  See you there!

Good morning, and welcome to the wildest party going today!  A Fanciful Twist is hosting this wonderful event, so check out her blog, and start your journey, or I guess, continue, if you are already here!

Welcome to my garden!  Mine is not the traditional fare – I have interesting visitors, not just today, but every day!  Be sure to scroll to the end of this blog entry, because there is a lot to see!

Dawn breaks over the marsh behind my house.  You can barely see our picket fence – it’s really open to visitors 24/7, and you’ll see why………

Usually the first visitors to my garden are the mallards.  They fly in or swim up to the bank, and make their way to the yard where I have tossed out corn the night before.  Or, they share food at my makeshift feeding station, on the outside of the fence.  If the tide is out, it’s a long walk to the yard, especially when they bring their babies.  The ducklings cannot fly as yet, so they must be exhausted when they finally arrive.

Squirrels are usually the next visitors.  You can see a stepladder in the picture.  I am called a wildlife enabler by my friends.  I put the stepladder against the back of the house (this is the kitchen window, in front of which I sculpt and paint all day).  The squirrels and raccoons (night visitors)  climb up the ladder to eat what I put out for them.   If I am not watchful, and all of the black oil sunflower seeds are gone, the squirrels will knock on the glass and look inside.  Boy!  They have ME trained!

An overnight shower has given way to a beautiful morning, and the impatiens are luxuriating in the rain and sun!  Aren’t they gorgeous?!

The heads of my everblooming hydrangeas are drooping a bit from the rain, but they will pop up strong as the day wears on.  This variety gives me blooms throughout the summer!

It’s late afternoon, and the geese are strolling slowly up the bank from the marsh, babies in tow.  My!  How they have grown, but they aren’t ready to fly as yet, and so they must walk here.  The nest must be fairly close by…….. Even though they are large, they still make the same sweet noises as they did when they were just a few weeks old.  Usually, one parent always stands guard while everyone else eats.  And, if you get too close to the babies, the parents hiss!  They know me now, so they trust me to take their picture for everyone to see.

Early evening finds my friendly little muskrat.  For those of you who have not seen one, or do not know of their existence, muskrats   are of the rodent family, marsh dwellers.  I would describe them as essentially beavers with rat-like tails.  They don’t build lodges, but rather burrow into a bank.  They are vegetarians, but this little guy enjoys the dog food I put out for the raccoons.  He’s an amiable little fella – great whiskers, delicate little paws, but I bet his teeth are something else!  He likes the watermelon, but prefers the dog food, and will eat right along side the raccoons.   I wish I had a picture of the raccoons eating with the possums who live on the marsh.  It’s an excellent example of species being able to get along without strife.  There is plenty of food which I provide, and so they see no need to fight for something to eat.

The last visitors to my garden party are the baby raccoons.  When they are large enough to be learning about their environment, the parents bring the kids to visit in our yard.  At night, you can see them playing in the moonlight, and you can also hearing the parents giving them instructions, particularly if one strays off in the dark.  Ah Nature!  isn’t this grand!

Well, there you have it!  My garden party which I offer for your enjoyment!  I wish you all could be here to enjoy my backyard, nestled against the marsh.  I live in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and our home is tucked away in a subdivision which is bordered by bustling traffic on one side, and this tranquility on the other.  We moved here 36 years ago, and think we made the right choice.  Our vista is a gift every day of the year.  I hope you have enjoyed it as well today!

Please come back and see me, look at my artwork, visit the sites where my work is available, and visit the many places I have listed on the blog.  You won’t regret your adventures!  And, please let me know how you liked the party!     Ginny

It’s Saturday morning, here in Virginia Beach, and we are feeling strong effects from the raging coastal storm which is dumping snow even thirty minutes west of us.  So close to the ocean, we are warm enough that we won’t have snow until this evening – rats!  The tides are running about three feet above normal, and when I looked out my back door this morning, I saw one of the many beautiful water birds waiting patiently for some minnows.   We have egrets nesting behind our house, and they inhabit our wetlands throughout the year.  Great flocks of Canada geese can be heard, particularly in the evening, and we have wonderful raptors – a bald eagle, several harriers, red-tailed hawks, and the occasional falcon.  I’ve blogged about my little masked friends before – plenty of raccoons in the evening, and then during the daytime -songbirds, squirrels, and a gray fox or two. If you look closely, you can see a squirrel sitting on the tree stump this morning.  I put food out there each day, along with filling feeders and laying a spread of goodies on a wooden plank on the other side of the fence.  The night feeders come to the plank, AND to my kitchen window!  Just too much fun!  If you are a Nature lover, my backyard is Heaven!

This morning’s visitor is fully grown, so I would estimate his size at close to three feet tall, with a magnificent wingspread!  I wish I were a camera-savvy person, so that I could capture one in flight as it takes off from the marsh.  I guess we’ll have to leave that for the National Geographic channel!

Hope where you are you are safe, warm, and content!  Winter has arrived here!

If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you know that from time to time I have posted pictures of some of the wildlife in my yard.  We live on a marsh, and it is simply gorgeous every day – the trees, the wildflowers, the wildlife — something is always flying over, or walking through, or crawling by.  Certainly, at this time of the year, we have many little fledglings learning to be adult birds, AND we have baby ducks!  This little family has survived natural predators and everyone is thriving.  They literally grow by inches each day!  I don’t always see them during the day, but as I work in the kitchen at my bay window, I keep an eye out for them, and today, they and Mama arrived – a bit later than usual, but they are here!  I rushed to get my camera to snap a picture for all to see!  They have nested down the bank, but not so close to the water’s edge that the eggs or very young ducklings could have been taken by snapping turtles.

My personal feeling is that Nature balances and provides, and it is only when Man intervenes that things are thrown off balance.  I believe that we must live in concert WITH Nature, rather than flying in her face.  We have large hawks which come to catch the occasional slow moving dove in the yard.  We have harriers which nest close by and provide for their young.  That is the way that it is.

Because I believe that I live in the environment of the wild things, and because the homes are built on the edge of this setting, I try to provide for the vanishing food supply for my neighbors.  I feed vast numbers of birds – cardinals, nuthatches, titmice, blue jays, robins, thrushes, red-wing blackbirds, goldfinches, purple finches, hummingbirds, and even grackles!  Oh, the crows swing by during the day as well.  And every spring, I have ducklings.  And, every summer, I have baby raccoons.  I have  a steady population of raccoons and possums who come to feed at night.  I have never been bitten, scratched, hissed at, or anything else.  I think they instinctively can recognize my intentions, and the raccoons love to sit on the windowsill at night, or in the late afternoon, and watch me sculpt and paint.  They put their paws against my hand through the glass, and they wait for their evening meal – dog food, sunflower seeds, and they love watermelon rinds!  Then, of course, I have many squirrels during the day, and their babies come as well as they learn about their little world.  The squirrels will knock on the window if all of their seeds are gone, and they frequently sit and watch me as well.

Enjoy this small peek into my vibrant backyard.   Oh, we even have gray foxes occasionally, and muskrats from the river.  We are alive, and well, and content here on the marsh in Virginia Beach……

It’s true!  It’s true!  Follow this link to a really interesting story and video.   Who knew?  Personally, I want my penguins live, but I guess this is the next best thing.  A German engineering firm, Festo, created these little beauties.  Last year, it was  jellyfish!  What the human brain is capable of…….limitless opportunities!

Enjoy!

It is a truly amazing and wondrous world we live in!  Australian marine scientists have discovered hundreds of new species!  Take a look at this article which was on my msn homepage this morning!  Just imagine the possibilities!  Imagine the excitement!  Wowee!  Wouldn’t you just love to be a part of this venture!  Enjoy this read!

As most of you know, I am a pretty optimistic person – not Polyanna, but I generally have a good disposition and believe that there are always many wonderful possibilities which lie ahead of us.  It was with great delight that I found this article on my home page this morning.  I use msn, and this quickly caught my attention.  When you click on this link on the word article, it will take you to a page, and in the search bar, type Optimism and Your Health.  The first article to pop up on the list  is worth your time!  Have a read, and look forward to each and every day!

Two posts in one day!  Can I stand it?  And, both with pictures!  The learning curves continue, but I am trying!  This lovely swallowtail was drifting lazily about the flowers on the deck this afternoon.  The flight seems effortless, and the landing so delicate!  What a beautiful visitor to the yard!

Hello world!

Meet Mikey!   He is one of several new little friends who frequent my backyard in the late afternoon and evening. At this time of year, the raccoon babies are about two months old, and their parents are teaching them how to search for food. Well, they need go no further than to my house! I have set up a feeding station on the other side of the fence where the land slopes off to the marsh. The raccoons wade in or swim in, depending upon the tide, and stop for a while to eat. The babies are learning so much every day, and usually are pretty shy around humans, but Mikey is my new best bud. I have named him Mikey because he eats anything – cantaloupe and bananas are his faves! Actually, he enjoys little peanut butter sandwiches, apples, peaches, and strawberries, and plenty of nuts, if you have ‘em!  I put out lots of sunflower seed every day for the birds and squirrels, and raccoons love them as well.  They are able to grasp little pawfuls and are quite refined as they eat.  Look for more posts about Mikey!  He is growing daily!

Hi everyone!

Matt and I have been working this afternoon to upload pictures and text to Spooky Time Jingles, in preparation for the launch on the 13th! And, bless his heart, Matt has gotten my blog all fancied up! Don’t you love this? I will be adding some of my fave sites and blogs for you all to enjoy, so stay tuned for some goodies.

It has been quite an afternoon of computer work for me, and my little brain is so tired! I feel good – the pics are in place, so I can start to relax for a couple of days anyway!

My baby raccoons are coming in the yard, so I will be uploading some pictures soon so that you can see their adorable faces. One has finally figured out how to get into the feeder to get at the sunflower seeds, and he is ecstatic! I am, too! Maturation ! But, he’s still very small, and it will be a long time before he is out on his own. He and his siblings live in the marsh behind my house, and come in late afternoon and evening to eat. The adults are coming as well, and the real fun is when the adults bring their children to play at night in the yard. A couple of nights ago, I had five babies running around in the moonlight. What a treat!

I am off to fix dinner, and then try to unwind from my computer session this afternoon. Have a great weekend, one and all, and be sure to go to www.spookytimejingles.com on Sunday to see some terrific artwork from a wonderful group of artists. I am so fortunate to be on the site with them!