Here in Portland

We made it to Portland and I need to say I was very glad that someone else was driving in the pouring rain as between the rain on the windshield and the spray from the big trucks; I could not see a thing! Jacob kept himself busy by watching his portable DVD player and for the umpteemth time, watching Jurassic Park. Remember when you were a kid and the only thing you could do on a 4 hour car trip was look at scenery and count license plates?

The weather is beautiful here in Portland though and I had a great turkey burger at Besaw's tonight, a local restaurant in a small vintage service station. Phil had chicken and waffles with maple syrup from Vermont. He had never heard of eating fried chicken and waffles together. I told him it was a wonderful old souther treat! I managed a bite or two and it was great!

Gotta run, evidentally taking Jake to Powell's huge book store was not enough to keep him from bugging me right now. He HAS to check his emails now, my Mr. Popularity! Goodnight from the Rose City, Lois

Around Here

this is one of my silver charm necklaces that Andrea and Phil were experimenting with taking pictures of. They were trying to capture the silver charms in great detail and I think it looks pretty good. Now I just need to buy all the fancy stuff to become the photographer that my famous college photography teacher said I would never become! Oh, if he could only have seen into the future of cameras and the digital explosion! Now, I am off to Portland, Oregon early in the morning for the Portland Bead Society show and sale. We are leaving extra early so Jacob can get to Powell's Bookstore and their acres of new and used books. His list is a long one! Good Night! xo, Lois


Then of course, here are more trees in their autumn splendor. This time from Bainbridge Island. They are magnificent in their firey colors. ( Here's also to my friend Gina who spent many youthful summers with her grandparents on this island she refers to as BRAINDEAD Island. ) Makes me laugh!
This is the mess of new beads on my studio floor. I love dumping them in a pile and carefully walking around them for a few days or longer as they " age ". After the appropriate time passes, only then can I begin to sort them for the shop or shows or jewelry or the web site. It is great fun and for a while I feel bead rich with my pirate's plunder!

I like this picture, too. Lois

Something to Crow About!

No not really. I just found these little thumbnail sketches of crows and thought that I would add them to my blog. I can already feel new drawings of a certain black bird percolating in me! Best of all ... I voted today!!!! The power held in the palm of my hand by a basic black pen! I hope everyone that can votes this election. It is such a privilege to be able to do so and I mean to exercise my right to vote every single time an election comes along! Power to the people! Lois

Some of us in this world just can not give a birthday gift on time to save our very lives and I am one of them! Andrea's b-day was in September and even though I had purchased terrific crow buttons for her all the way back in March; it wasn't until last week that I found them and finally put her gift together and actually drove over and gave it to her! She was surprised, I think and this is her picture with the big plastic crow I found. Won't he look great in a garden or flower pot? Happy Birthday andrea and many more, Love, Lois

Oh my gosh! We are just home from the DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE and NEIL YOUNG concert in Everett and all I can say is, " WOW! ". It was screamingly fantastic and I just about swooned in my seat with how fantastic the music was. It vibrated right through to the very soul of my core! Did I take any pictures? Of course not. Did I buy any souvenirs? Of course not. Did I rock on like I was 18? You bet!!!!! Did I yell and scream and whistle and dance? You bet!!! Wow, what a terrific time! Then even better, I met Chris' parents the next morning at breakfast! He is the guitarist for Death Cab. Fabulous meeting them. We had a wonderful, wonderful time and now I am ready to go again! Love, Lois

We have tatoos and in Phil's case, it is his first ever! His says Sherpa in Tibet because everyone jokes in Tucson that he is my sherpa because he carries all my stuff on his back as we shop! I think it looks pretty cool. And mine? It is another in a series of flower designs and charms I am working on. Tomorrow, the Neil Young and Death Cab for Cutie concert! Yippee! I don't think I 've been to a real concert since college way back when.... Lois

FRUSTRATION!

It is all I can do right now to not throw my laptop across the room and watch it shatter into smithereens! I can access this blog from the main computer but not from my laptop. I have great pictures to post on my laptop but since my laptop won't send or receive emails for some unknown stupid, stupid reason; I can't email the pictures to myself either! AAARARAYFUIGSIUGGIUBD! I will work on this but for now, I will quit while I am NOT ahead! Grrrrr!

I really wanted to post an incredible picture tonight of some of the local scenery and color from here but since I never seem to be in the same place as my camera; I am borrowing a beautiful shot sent to me by my sister in law from Anchorage, Barb. I still get a thrill out of knowing that I HAVE a sister in law and that means I have a brother and that means there is someone else that shares a name with me and I LIKE them! HA! So here it is a picture Barb took on her way home of Anchorage and man oh man, do I lust to be there. G'night, Lois

Just dropping in on the blog to say hello and what a fabulous morning we are having here in beautiful PT. Why I ever called it Port Tacky is beyond me. Had another bit of news yesterday that reminds you of just how very short and sweet life is; a young man, just in his 20's, has found out just a day or two ago, that he has terminal cancer and has 6 months to a year to live! Shocking!! I am so sorry for him and his family and hope that there will be a way through this for all of them. In the mean time, I will count my blessings and remember how special and lucky each day is! xo, Lois

These are some new fire polish beads, exclusive to us that we just added to the site. Aren't they beautiful!
It is a stunning day here in the Northwest with sun, thick, fluffy clouds and warmish, at least for fall, temperatures. I will be spending most of the day indoors at the shop but I am certain I will find excuses to be outside! Maybe I need to sweep or play in the planter boxes or....

I am energized with the fall weather! I want to leap from project to project! From painting to beading to knitting to silver work to.... Ah, it is great to be alive!
Enjoy today, Lois

My favorite and bestest friend sent this picture to me today and I swear; I can not help but smile and feel happy when I look at it! Hope you do too! xo, Lois

Snow in the mountains! Yesterday the Olympics were bare and today they have a firmly established crown of white snow! So pretty! I also saw a great V wedge of Canadian geese flying across the sky on my way home. Between the geese and the mountain snow; it feels as if all is right with the world tonight.

I am posting a picture of a necklace of new beads strung with one of my toggles cast in white bronze. It looks like sterling and is just a fraction of the cost. I like this direction my metals are taking! I love SNOW! Lois

Fall is definitely in the air around here today. It is in the drenching rain, the occasional mist and the howling 40 mile per hour winds. It is the northwest version of fall. We had a few pretty leaves on some of the maples and alders around here but now in this wind, like Mary Poppins, they are gone. I will miss all the brilliant reds, yellows and oranges; their time here way too brief. The other thing that tells me it is the fall of 2008 are the spiders. Spiders everywhere! On the house, in the house, lurking at the edge of the doorway to the studio and warehouse, everywhere! I can not step into the shower or walk into the garage and not see one of those many legged demons! I realize the universe has a purpose for them but I do not like them! I DO NOT! We can have huge spiders. Some of them are so big they look like moving multi legged toupees! Yick! When winter finally comes in ( yes, with even more rain and wind but colder temperatures ) they will disappear from sight, hidden in their dark underworld to spider their way into the garden in the spring. Good riddance I say!

Now, after all this rambling and ranting; I have finished a new painting, as yet, untitled. It is of trees and rivers at the edge of civilization. I think I like the colors and of course, the spiral flowers in the lower portion of the painting.

Off to dreamland, I think. I really should not eat chocolate so close to bedtime; it keeps me way too perky and chatty! xo, Lois

Just a quick pop into the blog to say hello. It is getting late and although I had a great productive day in the studio; I am feeling a bit moody tonight. Maybe I ate too many potato chips or maybe it was that I sort of but not totally burned my dish of scalloped potatos - all homemade. Phil said even though they were burned they were his favorite ever and Jacob took one look at them and said no way! I will close out this day with a photo of Andrea and me goofing around in a photo booth while stranded on the other side of the Hood Canal bridge. Aren't we lovely?! xo, Lois

Instead ...

I have other things to post but a friend mailed me this email on a big anti Sarah Palin rally in Anchorage and this was one of the protester's signs and today, after the debates it seems appropriate! Sorry for once again bringing in my political views but I just can not help it! Everything seems so grim right now in the US, economically speaking that this election becomes so important and I am absolutely terrified if McCain wins! Never in our history, has a current president so led to the ruin of this country!

Anyhow,everyone knows my love of crows so this sign is up my alley in more ways than one!

Here's the BIG picture! I am a bit disgusted tonight to find out that Mars candies are made in China as are most Nabisco crackers and cookies! Yuck! I try really hard to avoid purchasing items from China and then it is in my kitchen cupboard! Sheesh ...