Divine Protection

At work, which is what I call my shops, is a little altar that I have created. It is mounted against the wall behind the counter I stand at and wait on my customers. I build these little altars wherever I am because I need the reminder all the little figurines offer me.

Mother Mary, Buddha and Ganesh along with a fine feathered chicken.

The reminder that I have divine protection and to keep the faith. Times are difficult, no make that hard for so many right now and every day my heart breaks a little more when I hear of the troubles people are having. Children living in cars, people homeless and foreclosed on, pets being abandoned, jobs lost, hopes trampled on.

Somehow, in midst of all this chaos my little altar reminds me of the divine in my life, the divine in other people and to never forget to pray for hope and peace, love and healing.

Wherever we get our sense of religion, however it may be presented to us, it serves to remind me that there is a higher purpose in all that I do.

Buddhas, Confucius, Guadalupe and another chicken. *

The altar also starts so many conversations with customers and friends. People ask to see the figurines, hold them, turn them over in their hands and often remark on what a piece means to them or how they should begin their own altar. Almost everyone has a piece they have collected through the years and I hear the stories of what their figurines mean to them. Conversations that allow me to form a deeper relationship with a person and the divine light that lives within them.

And somehow, this has all become an extension of the beads. It is the beads that brought to me  joy and  prayer in my daily life and it is the beads that bring people in.

There you have it, the divine side of life according to the charms of Lois.


p.s. Someday, I will tell you the stories of my chickens and why they also are on my altar.

Just a Drop By Note....

This little mixer was given to me as a wedding gift in 1976. I still use it every time a mixer is called for. Phil has his big Kitchen Aid mixer ( is that what it is called ? ) and he drags that huge thing out when he needs to mix away but I like this little two speed mixer. This Thanksgiving weekend, I am celebrating my old friend here, my faithful mixer. All appliances should last so long and perform so well. It even outlasted that marriage!

This is the end of Thanksgiving day tired cook all collapsed and dozing in his arm chair last night. What a fine job he did, too. Two pumpkin pies and a turkey dinner plus for the two days previously, he helped me with the shops' Christmas window displays. He deserves his nap and I need to get to bed tonight!

We are in the midst of a big windstorm tonight blowing in a week's worth of rainy days. There are strange, squeaky noises coming from the sliding glass door in the living room and flashlights stand at the ready in case the power goes out. We are blowing steadily at 35 mph and are expecting gusts to nearly 70! Blustery is such a humorous word to describe this evenings' blow. From all my years of living on the beach in this area where I worried continually about the house blowing away or the bulkhead washing out, the wind still unnerves me and I am agitated and pacing most of the night.

 Somedays success is a figment of my imagination and I end up feeling like I could chase it for a 100 years and never attain it. Today feels like one of those days. In my head, even though I might be physically making jewelry, I am painting. Big, colorful pictures in clear crisp layered paints. I am lusting for paint. I feel like I will not be breathing until the brush is in my hand and paint is smeared on a palette
ready to be splashed across a canvas or paper. Inspiration is in my every waking thought and soon, I will need to put medium to paper and paint or fairly explode with the want of it. I guess that is the setting on fire I need.

Must close out on this night and snuggle for a while deep into the covers of my bed because soon the wind will be taking the power with it.

DZI and Delight

Two wonderful things happened today. First of all I had my birthday lunch with Marlene, a fellow November girl. We had a fabulous Parisian style lunch at Sweet Laurette's in uptown Port Townsend. We enjoyed a late morning breakfast followed by a dessert that was a torte for two called " chocolate
oblivion ". Rich, small and dark, the torte was heaven on a fork. I say again, " Damn you, Marlene! "
"  Damn you for introducing me to such sin! "

Marlene and what is left of our dessert.

The second wonderful thing that happened today needs a background story. I have a customer that has been using beads from her lifetime collection and making necklaces. She has been donating the necklaces and brings them to me for advice, pricing help and the names of the beads. Last week she showed me a necklace made of beads that she purchased in Asia in 1970. I told her that I thought she had some real D'ZI beads from Tibet. These are precious beads and can be hundreds of years old. They are inscribed with special markings that have spiritual meanings to Tibetans. I have never been lucky enough to see a real one let alone hold one. I referred my customer to Robert Liu of Ornament magazine, who referred her on to a dealer in Bellevue who viewed her beads and said they were worth
$ 2000.00 each! When my customer came in this afternoon to tell me this, I was so excited for her! I also felt special just to have been able to identify the beads for her and then be correct about them. Is that a bead story come true or what?
All in all as I sit here in my comfy living room leather chair on this snowy, rainy and hailing evening; I can reflect back on the day and say it was good. It was fun. It was companionship and history and chocolate all rolled into one birthday celebration day.
 pronounced Zee) is a Tibetan 
AAl in allword to describe a patterned agate bead of mainly cylindrical or tabular shape called "Heaven's Bead" in Chinese. Such beads were etched black-and-white or brown-and-white, with symbols comprised of circles, ovals, square, waves stripes, lines and various other symbolic patterns. To the Tibetans, each of these symbols represents a specific meaning. They are precious possession to the Tibetan, with so many fascinating stories of its mystical power attributed to it.

It is the stormy evening before my 55th birthday. Time has gone by so fast and even now, with the days being shorter and shorter, time seems to rush by even faster. I still am marveling at the age I have attained. My mother in law was right ( do you hear that mom Morello ? ), my body says 55 and my mind says 20. Every waking day feels new to me, not new as in here is a new day but new as in this life is so dang fun! Seriously, fun. I am full of a tickling energy that is just delighted to be turning 55, to be gathering experiences and wisdom to warm me in my later years. I am filling a basket with memories to treasure on cold dark winter nights. I am lighting a bright fire inside to cheer me on rain soaked evenings like this one. Summer is not so far off that I can not wish for more winter. I love the winter holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. I love that I have a husband and children. I love my friends and the loving loyalty they give to me in return for the loving loyalty I give them. I particularly treasure the customers from my shop that have become friends over the 19 years that I have had Wynwoods. Blessings on this, my near 55th year, blessings to me, to you and yours and as always I am so grateful for this life.

Port Townsend in the Wind

Just soak in the beauty! We are so blessed to be living in this awesome place. Wind and rain forecast tonight for this Veteran's Day evening. I am feeling grateful for friends, family and all the people in my life who have honorably served their country.

11.11.11

So is this a lucky day? Would you get married with numbers like this? Buy a lotto ticket? I have been told that we humans look for patterns in things and that makes us feel like we have some control over the future or our lives. I have always been rather attached to the number eleven and it shows up in my life in numerous ways, from my birth month to the hour I was born to the second half of my birthweight. I look for the number eleven in every thing that I do. I don't NEED the number 11 to be there, I just feel comforted if it IS there. When I head out  ( of the fog my brain is in from painkillers and too much sleep yesterday ) to the studio, I am going to look for the 11s in my work. Eleven beads, findings, crystals, charms. Whatever. I won't need the number 11 but I will see if I can heed it. Whatever that means on this wacky 11.11.11 !

It's my Blogoversary! Another year has passed in the mere blink of an eye. I am older, the blog is older and I am still in love with the things I do. I was at a downtown merchant meeting the other day and the subject being discussed was passion. Do you still have a passion for your business and what you do? Was it a passion that first got you involved in your business? I said out loud with total self confidence at this meeting that I still love what I do, that I opened my shop because I like to make things and sell the things I make, that every single day, I am happy to get up and go to work.  My heart still flutters a beat when someone purchases a piece that I have made and says that they like it. Like it enough to own it, wear it. I have never tired of hearing someone say how much they like my work, my shop, my creativity.

And yesterday, sweet yesterday, a customer told me how much she enjoys reading my blog and seeing the pictures I post and oh, by the way, she likes my drawings. I am thrilled! I am delighted! I could have celebrated all afternoon long.

So as this blogoversary commences, I say THANK YOU! To all who have read or are reading this blog, thank you, from the bottom of my painter's heart to the tips of my bejeweled fingers. A journey of the creative spirit that I am happy, ever so happy to have company on.

Secrets

There is a secret world that lives in my garden. My poor, much neglected garden. Summer was first too wet and cold and then quickly turned to a heated oven and things passed away, faded from life. I had all but given up on my front flower beds. Jacob and his friend Ben did some aggressive weeding and pulled even plants that I liked that they saw no purpose for. Jacob figures, much like my father who he never met or knew, that if you can not eat it; it shouldn't grow. Out went color and ornamental grasses. Tossed to the compost pile were purple vinca, pink heathers, iris bulbs, and carnations. I am left with what I thought was a dead waste land of what once was.

I have made mental plans for next years' garden. The shame of being an artist without a pretty garden is too much to bear but on one recent rainy afternoon, hidden amongst the remains of a few plants, I found this -

a secret world all nestled  safely within. I think there could be fairies or little people living under here. Don't you?