Stringing Beads

Multi strand necklace with my hand finished cones. 

Today I spent the morning in the studio making a few things for the shop, trying to fill up spaces emptied by holiday shoppers. Before I leave for the Tucson shows, I am trying to get the shop all readied and filled in. No empty spaces when I leave town!

After all the Christmas gifts were opened....

..... Jacob had me cover my eyes and Phil brought in my final package from the garage work bench. He and Jacob had made a shadow box with pictures of my beloved Regina dog along with her collar, tags and leash. As they placed it in my hands and I opened my eyes, I could not help but crying. I loved that girl so much! Honestly, with all the love they placed in the making of it and the box containing pictures of Regina so close in my heart, it was the best Christmas gift ever. I do not think the two of them have ever made anything for me before. I feel so loved and embraced by my family.

Jesse spent the morning with us watching us open gifts and sharing breakfast. She is so old now and even as I cried over Regina's shadow box, I know that Jesse will probably not make it to next Christmas. That knowledge made the day even more bittersweet.

With some of the highest tides of the year today and with the wind blowing in a westerly direction, we thought a drive to the beach would be fun. All of us love the sound of the waves crashing on the shore and hearing the wind in the trees. North Beach is Phil's favorite beach and Jake was especially excited because I let him wear his new pajama pants into town.

Clowning around early in the day in the living room, I took photos of Jacob to send to Michael so that he could see just how tall his little brother has become. Before we know it, he will be driving, then off to college.

As for me, I spent part of the day nursing my bruised foot. Jacob in all his excitement to present me with Regina's shadowbox, stomped on my foot and left a sizable bruise if not a broken bone. Here it is just beginning its' color change. I could not get upset though, he was that excited and that full of love!

Finally, I will leave for the evening and close with a picture of the Olympic Mountains and how they looked this morning around 8:30, partially clear with thick clouds hovering in the valleys and foothills.

I am truly grateful for everything tonight. For my friends and family, for my shops and for work  that lets me do what I love. I feel blessed to be loved and to give love. As December wraps up for a close, and 2011 is nearing an end, I say thank you, thank you, thank you and may you enjoy all the blessings of the season and look forward to a spectacular new year.

I tried to add snow to this blog with a widget but somewhere; like much of the snow not happening in the Cascade and Olympic Mountains, it is lost. I want snow. I miss snow. I love feeling snuggled into the house as snow falls all around. I work on projects in the studio and a strong desire to bake and make soup comes over me. Maybe before winter is over, I will figure out the snow on this blog but in the meantime, I am just going to dream of all that white stuff!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is all around me. The stockings are hung, the tree decorated, gifts have mysteriously shown up on the tree skirt in the last few days and I am relaxing in the living room. The shopping is done both for my family and customers, as we closed up shop today around three. I am astounded by how comfortable everything feels right now and how very contented I am. In a few days things will change and once again I will be busy making things and getting ready for the big Tucson show. But for this moment, this space in time, this quiet Christmas Eve, I just want to say how much everyone has come to mean to me and how blessed I feel in your friendship, my family, my community, my career, my shop. May this season of peace bring you a season of love and comfort. Much love.

Christmas Eve Sky.

The tree. Mmm, the house smells great! 

Daisy and tree. 

Jake and dad in a quiet moment of companionship

Solstice!

Today is the winter solstice and we celebrated with a little party at my home. Did I manage to take any pictures? Of course not. I was having too much fun! Laughing, talking, telling stories and eating. Sometimes it is just nice to gather and have time to sit and talk. Thank you Yvonne for the sparkling wine, even though you were not here and thank you Phil, for my favorite white zin. What great company everyone was. I am grateful for the light we brought into the solstice evening. 

A customer walked into the shop the other Saturday evening carrying this little silver tree and I almost jumped on her; I loved it at first sight. She had just purchased it down the street in a consignment shop and offered to trade it to me for beads. That sounded like a great idea to me so now the little tree rests in my living room all ready for the holiday! When Michelle came into the house this evening the first thing she said was how she always wanted a silver tree. Great minds think alike.

I also spent some time working for Gina in her candy shop this week, too. A nice but dangerous change of pace from the bead store. Dangerous, you say? Yes, I say because candy and chocolate are my downfall. I am powerless in its wake. I surrender to it constantly even when I shouldn't. But it IS the holidays I tell myself. So while I wait for Christmas to arrive on this solstice evening, I will look at my little sparkly silver tree and think of chocolate kisses. 

This Time

This time of the year, I give myself free time. The few days before Christmas and the week after, I do not rush around the studio making things or writing orders or doing paperwork. I let myself have time to linger with customers at the shop, having conversations and remarking about holiday plans. I also take the time to finish up little things that during the normal course of days, I do not have the time to do. So today, I worked on Christmas cards and finished them!

Christmas greetings.

Then, after the red and green note writing in the cards, I worked on my journals. I have been keeping a combination of journal- scrapbooks since high school. Too many years and books to count. So today I collected up everything I had saved to put in them, clippings of obituaries, birthday cards, horoscopes, pretty postcards and pasted them all in the journals along with little comments and memories. I don't think I have allowed myself the sheer luxury of doing this since at least March. My fist posting was the sympathy card Marlene sent me when my beloved Regina dog died. It is amazing to me the things I have saved since then that documented my days and therefore my life.

Journals on my desk top.

Now, this evening I feel accomplished and contented that this things are done. The holiday cards written and mailed, the journals all up to date. Next we will see about finishing some of the things I began in the last few months that are fun. No other purpose than just for me because it was and is fun.

I have a " thing " for birds. I love to watch them. Feed them. Like the young seagull I fed my lunch crackers to this morning in the parking lot downtown by the drycleaners. He waits there every morning for his ( or her ) usual round of people that come by offering treats. He is so big, that I think of him as a beach turkey. He is so easily pleased and as I walk away I smile to myself over this secret tryst we have had so early in the day.

Anyhow, I think of birds like they are little beads that decorate the beach. Live beads. Pretty, moving beads. At the big chain pet stores, I watch the birds in the cages and wonder if they are happy. It seems like they are well cared for but do they dream of their days flying high in jungle trees, jungle skies? What are their eyes saying? What do their hearts long for?

These are pictures I took this week in that big, cold, impersonal pet store where this little guy called to me as he stood in the colors of his make believe world.

New Artwork

Loving the texture of the canvas paper.

It isn't always easy to find the time to pursue my passion of painting. These are little square paintings that I began this past summer and am finally moving towards finishing now. The months have flown by as these paintings sat on my ancient wooden drawing table. Working on small is not easy. They must have all the elements of a successful painting like composition, color, pattern, perspective in a very contained area. I get frustrated and feel like my arms are shortened and can not reach out and spread into my painting. I have to content myself with thinking that someday - someday - I will make the paintings BIG. Six foot square paintings on canvas, I will need a step stool to reach all their edges, I will stretch my arms out and layer color upon color, texture upon texture until even the painting absorbs my body, my person, my soul.

Things change so fast. Children grow, pets come and go, life passes on by and friendships change. This time of the year always gives me pause for reflection. I look at where I have been, what I have accomplished, how my family is and where I stand in my community, my life and my career. I mentally begin the list for the coming year of the changes I want to make and see in my life. I alter my mind set and tell myself to embrace change, that it is good and will make me a stronger, happier, better person. As I have grown up and become the woman I am today, I have to say that I like me. I am not perfect but I am honest and loving, caring and devoted, generous and kind. These things I do not want to change. My life is an open book, a journal that I write in daily and share with others willingly. I have always felt that knowing people and speaking with them, broadens my horizons and allows me an inner peace as I strive for growth in my relationships. Friend deserve 100% of my devotion for they are an extension of my family, the chocolate sprinkles on the ice cream of my day.  I like to think that family extends to everyone I regularly spend time with.

Today found me running around like a disheveled mad woman as I raced to make appointments, pick up Jake from school, run errands, do the housework and laundry and finish up the day with a nice dinner. All of it was accomplished and I am looking forward to the next hour or so of sitting in front of the television and turning off my mind and settling into the " zone ".

The Christmas tree.

What a beauty, tree and dog.

She is trying so hard to sit still for this picture.

The holidays add so much to my to do list and although I love the lights and trees, gifts and gatherings, I am feeling sorely pressed for quality me time. My studio calls to me to create and organize. Daisy nuzzles under my elbow as I work at my bench all the while she is saying, " come play with me, throw that ball, rub my belly... ". Jake says I am out of touch and as I stare off into space simply because there is too much in my head, I think of warm, sunny days lying on the beach near a grass shack as the ocean waves play along the edges of the shore. Fantasy and daydreaming becomes my refuge! How about you?

Yvonne's Book Signing

Last night during Gallery Walk at my shop ( Wynwoods Gallery ) my friend, Yvonne came and signed copies of her new book, A Suitcase Filled with Nails. It was a fun evening with Yvonne in the shop and my paintings on display upstairs in the classroom. I loved all the activity happening in the building and all the bustle that came into Port Townsend with the arrival of Santa and the tree lighting. Whew! Christmas is under way. Here are some pictures taken of Yvonne, she is very photogenic and I loved shouting to her, " work it baby, work it! "

Arabic writing is read right to left.

Showing off the necklace I made that has even been worn while standing next to Jane Fonda!

I just turned this laptop on and suddenly, fifteen minutes are gone. Being on line is like a time activating sucking machine. Slurp! and hours are gone. I can not even say where I have been while time passes me by. I wander from this site to that and still accomplish very little and then, in a daze, I glance at the clock on the wall and I realize that other activities are calling my name and my lover, my cold, slick, can't be without you lover of a computer is still holding me captivated to it's icy heart. Must break free...think I am getting sleepy so ..... I'll post a few pictures from around my shop and call it a night at the end of a long day.

Jades

Brass pieces.

Dichroic glass daggers.