Friendship Gourd Rattle

Today's post is of a very Special Gourd Rattle that I have been working on for over a month.

As you may have noticed I haven't been posting much more than just the Sky Watch photo's for some time, because I have been devoting nearly every day for over a month to the making of this gourd rattle.

My title of "Friendship Gourd Rattle" is because I custom created this one for a longtime Apache friend who's daughter is soon to have her "Sunrise Ceremony" (traditional celebration of young Apache girl becoming a woman)...I did this as a gift to present to this young Apache Lady.

The style of the rattle is in the" Peyote Stitch" ( sometimes called the "Gourd Stitch") and I used size 15/0 seed beads which are only about 1 mm wide and I used the Apache colors for the Four Directions, White,Yellow,Blue, Black.

I used my own designs in the beading to create a feathers design and it consists of over 6800 beads....one bead at a time in the beading process.
There are 12 twisted pieces of buckskin for the fringe at the end of the Rattle handle, and there is a bundle of Horsehair at the very front.

The Rattle sound is made of some of the seed beads and some very special Ant Hill Garnets in the gourd to make a nice Rattle sound.

See below various photo's of the different parts of beading, click on any photo to enlarge.

Overall view of the rattle

View of beading just behind the gourd part.

View of beading and horsehair bundle at front

Showing beading and 4 directions design

Beading at rear of the handle on the rattle

Beading around the gourd

Sky Watch-Cloud Feathers

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Clouds never cease to amaze me with their different formations and shapes...and today's post is no exception.

Each day Mother Nature sends out Her Cloud Women to roam the earth with their long billowing skirts and as they come to our mountains they gently lift their skirts to step over the Mountains and the updrafts from these mountains and air currents catch their skirts forming them into an awesome display of cloud formations.

Today's post show some of those awesome creations in the form of "Cloud Feathers", as I call them.

Click on any photograph to enlarge.

"Cloud Feathers" in a deep Blue sky

"Cloud Feathers" pierced by a jet trail

Close up of the far end of a "Cloud Feather"

Sky Watch Friday Panoramic View

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Today I am posting a Panoramic view of a Sunset we had just a couple of days ago, I will start in the East South East and pan towards the West with the final Photograph being dead West.

Feel free to click on any photo to enlarge for a better view.

East/ South East


South East


South

South/ South West

West/ South West

West

Surprise Visitor

Today I am posting a photograph of our surprise visitor yesterday afternoon.

I had gone to the kitchen to get something to drink and upon returning to my computer desk next to the window, I looked out and just below the bird feeder outside, about 10-15 ft. away there stood a Young Hawk.

As you can imagine there was a mad scramble from both my Lady and me for our cameras to try to capture this young Hawk with our cameras.

We took shots right through the window and screen as quickly as we could before he decided to fly away, which was a very short time.

Click on the photograph below to get a better view of my version of the Hawk from my camera.

Juvenile Hawk (Coopers Hawk ?)

Sky Watch Friday- Winter Sunrise

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In my post today I will be bringing you several views of our Winter Sunrise sky here in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Click on any image to enlarge it for a bigger more detailed view.

7:25 AM Sunrise in the East

7:28 AM Sunrise slightly North East

Slightly a bit more North East

As the Sunrise kisses the top of the mountain about 10-15 miles away
In the North.

Sunrise kissing the mountain top to our distant West

About 8:20 AM in the West..snow clouds approaching

9:00 AM snow clouds coming in the N. West

Cherry and Mahogany Flutes

Today I am posting some photographs of two different Native American Wood flutes I have been making.

The First flute is made of Cherry Wood with the Block (Bird) of a Buffalo Carved from Aromatic Red Cedar, and also has 6 diamond shaped pieces of Real Turquoise I cut inlaid into the wood. I also wood burned in some designs for looks.

This Flute is tuned to the key of F#

Click on any photograph to enlarge for a better view.

Overall view of the Cherry Flute

Close up of the Carved Buffalo of Cedar Wood

View of the Turquoise Inlay and wood burned designs around the fingering holes.


Close up of the end you blow on with creative turnings

Another view of the mouth piece end

This next flute is made from Mahogony Wood with a Block (Bird) carved from cedar with an inlaid Turquoise nugget.

This Flute is tuned to the key of G

Overall view of the flute

Cloe up of the carved Block (Bird) with inlaid Turquoise

The Dark circles are inlaid Walnut Wood close to the finger holes

Over all view of the Walnut Flute

Sky Watch Friday Sunset on Fire

A Special thank you to our sponsors of Sky Watch Friday for their efforts to bring us views of the skies from all over the world this past year.

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My post today for Sky Watch Friday shows a Plethora of colors that we get here in our skies in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

You may click on any photograph to enlarge for a bigger than life view.

All the Photographs on this post are as they came from the camera, except for sizing and cropping .

Early Sunset View in the North West

Amazing cloud formations in the West

Color everywhere in the West

Still West,Sun setting low on Horizon

Another View, slightly West North West

Jet Trail in the Setting Sun, going Home?