Book Review: Under the Dome

A lot of characters to follow and hardly any disappear early in the book, so you need to keep up with just about all of them. King follows one of his usual themes but I won't give that away, but it did make me rethink ants. The common thread is Halloween and I'm not sure why. The theme could have revolved around Easter, may day, or any other holiday since I saw no relationship to the holiday and the story, other then providing a red herring.

It certainly put a microscope on small town life in an exaggerated way. Everyone thinking they know everyone else and how they will react in bad circumstances, but they really don't. A lot of strong women in this book and corrupt, powerful men. Hits upon a lot of current social topics in a not so thought provoking way, but does remind you that they exist. Also some comic relief from the dog. Actually I wish he had come in with the dog earlier, since it was funny reading.

This isn't my favorite King book, but I don't feel that I wasted my time reading it either. It is a huge volume, about 1100 pages.

Sasha's Snow Day in Flagstaff

Sasha's first taste of snow. She looks a little tentative doesn't she?
I don't know what she is after, but she loves to bury her nose in everything.

Miss Confidence...I've conquered the snow and it is mine....
(she loves playing in it)

Our drive home. From Flagstaff to just south of Sedona the driving conditions were very bad. Many people off the road. The snow was on our FJ until just north of Phoenix.

Our Newest Edition Sasha

We lost our Rottie a little over a year ago and began looking to rescue another dog about six months ago. We have looked at a lot of different dogs and none of them felt right. Last Friday we found Sasha and Roxanne. They were from a litter of six puppies and are a mix of Rottweiler and Cattle Dog. They all look very different from one another, but Sasha looks like a mini Chaco (our rottie). She'll get to about 50lbs...she has a healthy appetite.

We got her from AZ Happy Tails and I can tell you that they are about the best shelter we have dealt with. They take such good care of their puppies...they arrive healthy and happy. And, ready to play! The owners really make sure their animals go to the right home and will be well taken care of.

So here is Sasha at 9 weeks old....it was hard to get a good picture since when she is awake she is a ball of energy!

Invention Series Umbrella Man

I love inventions and especially those from long ago. This is such a simplistic design and one that apparently didn't quite make it to the mass market. But I like the idea and it would certainly come in handy today as we talk on our cell phones and send text messages. However, if a gusty wind blew in one might be sailing away, rather then walking!


Umbrella Man comes adorned with a bowler hat and gray eyes. I can imagine him walking down the boulevard during a light rain shower, tipping his hat at a passerby.

All of the garments and umbrella were hand embroidered/woven. The umbrella alone took six hours to create. The spines are created with thin copper wire which allows the umbrella to be shaped and provides the 3D affect.

After carefully cutting each garment away from the "frame" arranging the pieces in the layout.

Detail of the woven garments.

A shot after everything was stitched and embroidered. Umbrella Man is 4.5 inches tall and fits on a 9 x 12 canvas. His face is a mere 3/4 inches! Is contoured and includes hand embroidered features.

My wonderful hubs created this beautiful frame after I merely stated that I wanted copper to over lap the canvas in the front. He did his magic with the distressing, aging, making the L brackets and finding just the right screws. Then he put it all together and came up with this lovely frame. Now I can't wait to create the next in this series, just so he can create his magic!

Umbrella man can be found in my Etsy shop. Along with the creation, I am making a small booklet that shows in greater detail how I created this piece as well as a couple of funny stories that happened during the creation.