Fox and the Fire

Fox--a frisky orange female fox with a long, fluffy tail tipped with white--was the Great Spirit’s messenger animal. Fox was always eager to do to the Great Spirit’s biding, no matter how hard completing the task may be.

One day, while the Great Spirit was looking down at the people on Earth, the Great Spirit called to Fox. “Come here, Fox,” the Great Spirit said.

Always doing as the Great Spirit requested, Fox eagerly jumped to her feet, abandoning the fireplace,  and hurried over to the Great Spirit.

“Yes?” Fox wondered, bright-eyed as a bushbaby.

But the Great Spirit was frowning. “Look at the people. Tell me what you see.”

Fox peered down to look at the people. It was in the middle of winter, and the snow drifts were piled higher then a human dwelling. Frost covered people’s clothing, no matter how much they brushed it off. Icicles hung from the roves of the houses. The people shrived in huddles, in failed attempt to keep warm.

“The people are cold,” Fox observed in a whisper.

“Yes,” the Great Spirit sighed, “they are. You always know how to solve a problem, Fox. How do you think that we can help the people keep warm when it is cold?” Fox was also the Great Spirit’s adviser.

Fox thought. It was always warm here. But they lived high up in the sky. Something must be keeping them warm. The Great Spirit’s magic? No, she would have shared the warmth with the humans.

“I will think about this,” Fox told her friend.

Then Fox walked over to her cozy bed by the fireplace. The moment she approached, she noticed a difference in the temperature. It was more warm. The closer she got to the fire, the warmer she got.

Fox looked around. What could be emanating such warmth? She saw the fire crackling in the hearth. The fire! Of course!

In her mouth, Fox grabbed one of the sticks that was only half-ignited in the fireplace and rushed over to the Great Spirit. “I have found the answer!” Fox cried gleefully. Fox showed the Great Spirit the stick that was aflame in her jaws and told her about how she found out that it was warm.

“Brilliant, Fox!” The Great Spirit smiled warm as the fire. “Can you bring it down to Earth?”

Fox eagerly nodded and was off. She dashed down from the sky. Once she was on Earth, she searched for the humans. When she found them, many were sick from the cold. So Fox rushed foreword.

Fox looked like she was made of flames herself. The people had never seen a fox before, for she had lived far above with the Great Spirit all of her life. Beautiful Fox also brought the warmth of fire, and for that the humans were grateful.

Fox, with her knowledge of forest herbs, helped cure the sick. The people were warm, all thanks to Fox’s fire and the problem was solved.

-KittyLover8
© 2012

M.C.L. Clay Vine Pastel Heart and Pastel Roses

This is a vine pastel heart with pastel roses that I have made. ^^ But let's get on with the description.

The first half of the heart: Chrysocolla aqua and plasma amethyst are delicately intertwined.

The second half of the heart: Robin egg azure and crimson lilac are twisted together to make the final vine.

Th first rose (the green one) is eco emerald, two leaves of summer sprig making it complete.The second (the blue one) is misty moon with two sea sapphire leaves. The third and final rose is deep sea opal adorned by (from left to right) a misty moon leaf and an eco emerald leaf.

The two vines connecting the three roses together are made with cool kunzite and picturesque pink sapphire.

Colors used:
Turquoise, deep purple, light blue, orchid, green, blue, greenish blue, light green, dark blue, light purple, hot pink.

-KittyLover8
© 2012

Nephrodite

Name: Nephrodite

Name Pronunciation: (n-e-fur-dite-y)

Name Meaning: Feline Warrior

Mother: Aqua (one of the Elements: Flame, Aqua, Clay, and Wind)

Father: Flame (one of the Elements: Flame, Aqua, Clay, and Wind)

Siblings: Deidie (dee-i-dee), goddess of water; Karea (care-a), goddess of nature; Chuntenara (ch-u-ten-are-a), goddess of chaos.

Rank: Goddess of cats, stealth, the moon, horses, and rivers.

Weapon of Choice: Jixxmoone, a magical javelin that changes into whatever she wills it to. Jixxmoone (j-ix-moon) means: Enchanted Orb of Night. Nephrodite also has a bow, arrows, and a quiver, along with her dagger, Tmite (em-my-t), but Jixxmoone

Symbol of power: A silver bow and arrow charm with the arrow shooting through a sapphire.

Pet: A felisdraco, a half-dragon half-cat winged magical animal named Cascade.

Medal: Silver

Stone: Sapphire

Element: Water

Animal: Cat

Plant: Rose

Other: Nephrodite and Deidie, although they are good friends, often bicker about their stats. Deidie’s medle is also sliver, her stone is sapphire, and her element is water. But they always make up in the end.

-KittyLover8
© 2012

M.C.L. Clay Triple-Layer Fruit Cake Petit Four

This is a clay triple-layer fruit cake petit four that I have made. The three layers are, light blue, orchid, and lime. Dark blue blueberry frosting is smoothly set on the top. I have cut this clay petit four in half. This gives the clay petit four a half-moon shape. The whole thing is layed out on a beautiful butterfly bandana.

To dress the petit four up, different kinds of clay candy fruit line its edge, as seen below:

The clay candy fruits are--from left to right--a strawberry (cut in half), a cherry, a lemon (thinly sliced), three blueberries, and five red (although they're really dark purple) grapes.

I hope that you enjoyed this post! ^^

Colors used:
Light blue, orchid, green, dark blue, pomegranate, yellow, deep purple, dark green.

-KittyLover8
© 2012

M.C.L. Elaborate Pastel Creme of the Garden

This is a pastel creme of the garden that I made. It is encircled by tourmaline coral and peppermint malachite vines. In the center is a big chrysocolla aqua rose. Gracefully twisting out of the bigger rose's base is a vine to which a small robin egg azure rose is attached. Lastly, two large turquoise leaves are attached opposite of the small tourmaline coral and peppermint malachite vine at the base of the chrysocolla aqua rose.

Colors used:
Mint, pink, greenish blue,  turquoise, light blue.

-KittyLover8
© 2012

M.C.L. Pastel Teacup Roses

These are three clay pastel teacup roses that I made. The first one--from left to right--is crimson lilac. Second is tourmaline coral, and lastly is peppermint malachite. The two larger teacup roses have two green leaves and the smallest one has a single turquoise leaf. The whole thing is presented on a small deep blue bowl.

Colors used:
Deep blue, pink, orchid, green, mint, turquoise.

-KittyLover8
© 2012

Pollination: Bees

A bee flies by you. Instead of ignoring her or avoiding her in attempt to evade her stinger, stop to admire the busy little bee.

First of all, a bee will only sting you for protection. Losing her stinger will kill a bee, so if you don’t bother her, she won’t bother you.

Secondly, the world would be a very different place without bees. Many plants rely on bees to pollinate them. It is thanks to bees that we have fruit, vegetables, grains, and other plant foods.

But why do bees pollinate plants? How do bees pollinate a flower? How does the bees pollinating a plant help continue the plant species’ growth? And, lastly, how does this benefit humans?

Okay, so let’s answer the first question; why do bees pollinate plants?

Well, bees, as you may know, make the pollen from plants into honey. This is their food. They also make it into royal jelly, which they feed a larva that will become the next queen bee. The royal jelly is actually what makes a queen bee--well, a queen bee!

Anyway, back to the subject. So bees make pollen into their food; honey. But what about the second question; how does a bee pollinate a flower?

Well, a bee will first land on a flower. She will crawl inside and, when she does this, she knocks some of the pollen off of the anther. This pollen sticks to her body. She flies out and continues to collect more pollen for her colony.

Pollen does not resemble honey in appearance (or taste) at all. It is a light yellow powder.

So, what about the next question; how does the bees pollinating a plant help continue the plant species’ growth?

Okay, so let’s look back on the answer to the previous question. So the bee will crawl inside and knock the anther. What is an anther?

Well, the anther are tall (but usually more or less small to what meets the human eye), thin stems that have small oval balls at their tips. Inside of these, there is pollen. And inside of each tiny grain of pollen are two microscopic sperm cells.

You might be thinking, Sperm cells? In a flower?

Well, the truth is, flower can be three different genders; male, female, or both. A male flower has the anthers, a male part, which creates the pollen. A female flower has an ovary, a female part, which create the seeds. A flower of both of those genders has both male and female parts.
So, back to what we were talking about.

When the pollen falls from the anther and onto the bee, it, of course, brings the sperm cells with it. The pollen clings to the bee.

Now the bee travels to another flower. Let’s just say that this flower is a female. The bee crawls into the female flower to check for pollen. Female flowers, having no anther, do not create pollen. But, when the bee crawls inside, some of the pollen, sperm cells and all, gets caught on the sticky stigma, another female flower part.

The bee flies off in search of more pollen. The pollen then goes down to the ovary and meets the egg inside of the female flower (yes, female flowers have eggs). When the sperm cells and eggs are in contact, they bind together an eventually create a seed. This seed will either be released by the flower or, when the flower dies, will take its place.

Now for the last question; how does this benefit humans?

Well, all plant foods come from flowers, as I said earlier. Every single living thing depends on plants. Herbivores eat the plants directly. Carnivores eat the herbivores. There would be no herbivores if not for plants, and therefor no carnivores. And, therefor, no life.

To get a better understanding of this, let’s look at a world with no plants.

No grass grows on the ground. No trees reach for the sky with long,finger-like branches. No vegetation peppering the earth. No fragrance of flowers drifting in the breeze. But that isn’t even the half of it.

No animals or humans are on Earth anymore, either. There is no life on Earth. Not plants or animals.

So, we all depend on plants. From the smallest bacterium eating the food stuck in your teeth, to the tallest giraffe grazing the leaves in the treetops. From the biggest tiger stalking its prey to the smallest mouse munching on insects.

And we all depend on bees and the other busy pollinators; butterflies, wasps, and hummingbirds. And we can all thank them for the beauty of the wonderful Earth that we live on.

-KittyLover8
© 2012