Grateful Sunday and Treasure Tuesday!

The power was out last Sunday due to a surprise dump of April snow:

My neighbour actually saw electricity sparking off the power lines!

I am very grateful that:

1. the trees and the garage by the sparks did not catch fire
2. City crews were out right away
3. I got to go out for breakfast and
4. the only suitable indoor activity was reading a book and taking a nap; both of which I enjoyed immensely.

I am also grateful that the pansies I planted survived being buried under a foot of snow:

This also meant that:

1. I did not try and solder that day (no power); and
2. I did not try and use the Dremel tool that day (no power).

The power did come back on in the afternoon. After some chores and a rather boring supper I tried my hand at using a soldering iron. This did not work. Perhaps the soldering iron is too old and does not generate enough heat? Perhaps the metal pieces I tried to solder just aren't conducive to soldering? (this is the most likely culprit) Or perhaps it won't matter how many You-tube videos I watch I just won't get the hang of it!

I will try using some solder and a torch one day. I will also try using that lovely Dremel tool one day soon.

For now I am very happy with the heavy duty gel medium from Golden that holds all my sculptures together.

On Tuesday I was the recipient of many treasures:

1. a box in the mail from my sister-in-law filled with beautiful jewelry bits (yes!)
2. a message from a friend asking if I wanted a bag of her no-longer-needed jewelry (yes!)
3. the perfect found earring from my husband (who collects many useful and cool things for me on his walks - yes!)

Here's a picture of the box and bag of treasures:

Here's a picture of Key 56/5000:

This is the first key I made since making my 5000 key vow. It took awhile to find the right bits for it; especially for the centre. First I tried this pearl surrounded by diamonds:

But on Tuesday morning it didn't look right so I took it off and tried this coloured piece of glass instead:

The coloured glass was quite a bit better but still not totally right.

Then my husband came home from his walk with this crushed earring:

It was perfect! And Key 56 was complete.

Thank you Treasure Tuesday for all the unexpected gifts!

And thank you weather for warming up and changing my yard to this: