More November gardening advice...

... remember to enjoy the last of your flowers!!! Can you believe I picked this bouquet of roses yesterday? With the exception of a few "Love" tea roses, all of these beautiful blooms came off of a wonderful floribunda bush I have in my front yard. I can't remember why I picked a white rose, as usually like more vibrant colors, but I'm glad I did. The bush is large and vigorous, it blooms numerous times a year, and when it does it is covered with clusters of flowers ranging from lily white to a gorgeous blush pink. The strange warm weather we've had this fall has brought out it's best; despite the fact that it mid November, this bush is covered in blooms and buds. What a treat it is to to be able to pick a November garden bouquet!!

November gardening advice...

...Apache Plume...

For all you gardeners...
I learned a new composting technique yesterday... gutter neglect composting. I have a birch tree that overhangs the gutter on the front of my house. In autumn the falling leaves land in the gutter, and being the often neglectful homeowner I am they have accumulated to the point of totally clogging my gutter. Every time it rains the gutter overflows, water pools around my foundation, and I have a small anxiety attack about my crawl space flooding, or ice dams forming in the winter and ruining my roof causing leaks in inside house. Then the sun comes out, my anxiety dissipates and I forget all about my gutters until the next deluge. This has been my routine for a few years, but yesterday, finally, I remembered that I really needed to clean out that gutter.

So I hauled out my ladder, and climbed up to peer in to my gutters, where I found two inches of the most lovely compost I have seen since I moved to Utah. It's dry here, so unless you are an attentive composter, it is hard to make compost. Since I rarely remember to water mine, my bin is mostly contains years worth of fully recognizable fruits and vegetables. But my in gutters, black gold! Home maintenance nightmare, gardeners bonanza. I grabbed my trowel dug out the muck and tossed it into my flower beds. My flowers are happy, and I'm glad to no longer have gutter anxiety.

The weirdest thing about this is that it THANKSGIVING week. Mid November and I am in shorts, a t-shirt and sandals cleaning wet muck out of my gutters. Normally I'd be hoping to be breaking out my skis this week. I'd heard recently that according some global warming research Utah had greatest temperature increase of any local on the planet. I think I believe it.

My next door neighbor, an avid gardener who was also out taking advantage of the unseasonably warmth, renamed the month Novaugust!

Can the sun rise to the west?

Today's another day where I wished I had my camera with me in the morning.(and that I wasn't in such a rush!) As we drove out of my neighborhood my daughter commented that "Utah is the only place where it looks like the sun rises in the west". I hadn't really noticed that before, but she was right. We can't really see much of a sunrise because the mountains to the east are way too tall, but today as the sun started peaking over the mountain tops it illuminated the clouds on the west side of the valley so they were all lovely shades of pinks and peaches. It looked like the sun was rising in the west. I'm going to have to try to get a picture of that phenomena!

Rainy Day Sunday....

Don't you hate rainy weekends? It rained all day today. Fortunately yesterday was just beautiful. Perfect "garden in your shorts weather" even though it's November. I guess that averages out the snowy days we had last month. I decided to take advantage of the day by planting some bulbs, so I ran down to the "Cactus and TropicalS" store hoping they still had some. What a pleasant shopping experience! I absolutely love shopping in green house's, and this one is bit of an upscale establishment so it's extra nice. Beautiful displays of orchids, flowering plants, cacti and other succulents are artfully displayed. There are numerous gurgling fountains and a gift shop area with lots of lovelies. I guess they were kicking off their holiday shopping season because they had free hot cider and cookies and two flutists playing lovely music. I could have hung around all day, but it turns out they still had bulbs (half off!!!) so I actually had to leave to go out and plant them.

After my gardening was done (like it's ever really "done" - HA!) I decided Daisy needed some fun too. It was great jogging weather so I donned my running shoes and headed off to through the neighborhood and down to gully so Daisy could get in yet another "last swim" of the season. We walked from one end of the gully to the other and Daisy got to stop and swim at several of the swimming holes. At the last one I ran into some people to chat with so she had plenty of quality time romping and butt sniffing with the other dogs.

After we returned she completely crashed. I've always said that you know it's a been a good day if you wore out the dog. At age 7, with the beginnigs of arthritis, it's not too hard to do. I think it was the jogging that did her in as we haven't been running much lately. This morning after she "got up" she stood in the living room and looked at the love seat, then looked at me, than looked at the loveseat. I realized that she wanted me to move the pillows so she could hop up and lie down. The minute I rearranged the pillows she jumped up and promptly fell asleep. She got up and switched sides of the couch, but other than that she didn't get off the couch until 6 PM. What a lazy girl I have. It makes me sad that she gets worn out. After all she's my favorite excercise partner!

Pimping My Friends!

The picture is one of my beads, but today I really need to blog a about the work of a fellow lampworker, Rosemarie Hanus. She's one of my beadmaking friends, one that I met through the internet but then was lucky enough to meet in real life. Her beads are really incredible, her specialty being huge incredible, encased twisty donut beads. She has a great knack for putting together interesting twisty combinations, and she is a stellar encaser (insert jealous moment here!) She is positively the queen of the donut bead! If you think her beads are pretty on your computer, believe me, they are even more stunning in real life.

Rose recently opened an Etsy store, and she has some incredible beads listed. One of her featured beads is my newest favorite Rose donut bead. This bead really appeals to my winter loving side! I sure hope she makes more in this style, it's a winner! If you like bead porn, check out her new store.

Tuesday Tidbits....

Something I heard on NPR while driving to work this morning....
Apparently there is a company out there that sells fake ATM receipts. Receipts for high dollar amount designed to make you look like you have money. I guess men buy these and use them to write their contact info on when they meet women in bars in order to impress them with their "wealth". In case this is the sort of thing you need to get ahead in the world check them out here!
It seems pretty obsurd to me, but then again I don't play the barfly game. So which is more pathetic, the women who are only impressed by a guys money, or the guys who think their only desirable attribute is their wallet? Yikes...

Halloween trick or treat continues....

A trick for me, a treat for Daisy. This is the mess I came home to yesterday. After emptying most of the candy into my Halloween treat bowl I had left the partially full bags of Halloween candy on the dining table, where Daisy obviously discovered them. I guess she must have one by one grabbed them from the dining room table and carried them to a comfy spot in the living room where she has snack time. I wonder which she likes better, KitKats, Almond Joys, Peanut M&M's, Snickers, or Hershey's Kisses? It must not have been Snickers, as she left about eight of those in the bag. Or maybe she likes Snickers but got full before she could finish them. Do you suppose the grabbed the bags one by one, ate the candy and went back for more? Or did she drag them all to the carpet and have a nice leisurely smorgasbord?

She must not have listened when her mama told her chocolate is poisonous for dogs. It's a good thing she's a big dog, as the chocolate didn't seem to make her sick. Do I have a doggie candy addict? Does she need a 12 step program?

Halloween

Is it to late to show a few Halloween pictures?



Poor Sarah had the flu or some other sort of gumboo, but she decided to dress up and go hang out with her friends anyway. Her last minute costume idea was to be trash bag... so it was the one time I actually approved of her dressing trashy.

And last but not least another friend came over to raid the costume box...we're not sure what she is... I say she's a crazy lady, or should I say crazy teen? Cute huh?

Do I need more hobbys?

A couple of weeks ago I was at a baby shower for a friend who happens to be an excellent potter. She was trying to entice me to come take a class at her studio. I told her that "I had a fear of pottery". She looked at my like I was demented, until I explained that my "fear" is that I would like it too well then want to have my own kiln, and wheel and pottery studio.

Imagine my surprise when that evening I received a call from another good friend. This friend is another artist type, and one of the many things she does is china painting. She wants to know if I'd like to use a big kiln for my glass work. It turns out that one of her elderly china painting friends had to go move to assisted living, and my friend got one of her kilns. She can't use it right now, but thought I might be able to. How could I say no?

To use it for glass I think I would have to spend quite a bit of money on a digital controller, which I can't do right now, so I'm thinking I'll play with clay after all. It's funny how life works sometimes, one minute I'm saying I fear pottery because I'd want my own kiln, a few hours later I have one sitting in my garage. Cosmic huh?

So Saturday I went to the ceramics store and bought two huge bricks of clay. I'm going to pick a night and have a bunch of girlfriends over for a "Pot Party" where we can all get creative with clay. It will be a perpetual party, because after we create we'll have to have a glazing party, and a firing party, and kiln emptying party, right? I think I'll now discard my pottery fear and look forward to clay play!

More from Arches

Is it weird if I blog my blog?

Regarding my two pictures of Matt up on the arch, for the most part everyone liked the first one the best. I guess I was leaning that way, which is why I posted it first. But I really liked the second one too.

Jimmy at work had an interesting comment when asked which he preferred: "It depends on what you want to say. If you want to say "Look at my son!", pick number one. If you want to say "This is a magnificent arch and people are small and immaterial, pick number 2"". I think he has a good point. I of course want to say both "look at my son" and "this is a magnificent arch", which may explain my quandary about which I like better.

It is so nice when mother nature cooperates and gives nice photographic light. Here are a few more pictures from that day at Arches.

Firey Reading

Weird coincidence... I try to go to the gym several times a week, where I work out on weight machines and aerobic machined like stationary bikes and stair steppers. I find the the bikes and stairsteppers a bit boring (a good outdoor jog is so much more interesting!) so I like to keep a book in my gym bag to read while working out. A week a go I started the book "The Smoke Jumper", by the same author who wrote ("The Horse Whisperer"). It's sort of weird that I started a book about forest fire fighters, and week later poor California is blazing. The gym has some big screen TV's, the one where I work out is always on CNN. So this week, while I'm reading a book about fire the TV screen is image after image of burning houses and wild lands. It definitely added to my reading imagination.

I feel so horrible for the people affected by the fires, it is a situation that on one hand is hard to imagine, and on the other hand is worrisome as we live near windy canyons and mountains that occasionally catch fire. I've often wondered what would happen if a fire ever got out of control up Parleys Canyon and the winds picked up. Mother nature can sure be scary at times.

Wednesday Wackiness

It was a gloriously beautiful day yesterday so I skipped lunch so I could cut out of work a little bit early to enjoy the sunshine. Because it was so nice I decided to take Daisy for a jog down to the gully so so she could enjoy yet another "last swim" of the season. A block or two from my house I saw my wacky siting for the week: the barefoot runner. I heard about him from neighbor, who sees him frequently. I guess leaving work a bit early put me on his schedule. A youngish guy, in his late 20's perhaps, with a yellow dog, who runs, and I mean runs, not jogs - barefoot.

Now how is that for craziness???

My neighborhood doesn't exactly have nice smooth sidewalks to run on. We, in fact, have no sidewalks. Our streets are the standard cracked and rough asphalt. The last resurfacing was one of those tar and pebble jobs quite a few years back. I'm a barefoot kind of gal, but I don't care to even walk on out street sans shoes; I can't imagine running.

I would love to talk to the barefoot guy and ask him why he runs without shoes. I had hoped his dog, who was off lead, would have dashed across the street to meet my Daisy, giving me an excuse to stop and chat, but the dog never broke stride and stayed in perfect heeling position. (That is almost as wacky to me as barefoot running). Perhaps next time I get home early enough to cross paths with them I'll have to "accidentally" drop Daisy's leash so we can have a dog encounter!

Ghosts?

On Friday night I went to a Gothic fashion show, "An October Evening" that was held at the local Masonic Temple. The show featured the designs of many of our local "alternative" clothing designers, punctuated with spooky photos and videos. The show benefited a toddler who is being treated for a rare metabolic disorder at Shriners Hospital making it an interesting evening for a good cause.

I haven't been to the Masonic Temple in years. Way back when Sarah belly danced we went there many times to watch Sarah perform. It was always a magically feeling place, just the perfect atmosphere for those belly dance festivals. The auditorium is decorated with ornate woodwork, much of it gilded. In the middle of the tall ceiling there is "the sky", a recessed blue circle dotted with yellow lighted stars. The perimeter of the sky is illuminated in such a way that that the sky glows in stunning light. It is an extremely beautiful room; it had the perfect feel fo Sarah's belly dance performances, and was perfect for the gothic fashion show.




I had my camera in my bag, so I decided to try to take a few pictures of the sky in the ceiling. Unfortunately, My battery was near dead so I could only attempt a few (4) shots of the sky, and one of some of the wall detail. I didn't expect the sky shots to work, as it was really tricky lighting to capture (especially with a dying battery). I hoped to at least get a nice shot of the wall.

When I uploaded my photos the wall shot was marred with a great big white orb. Many people think that orbs in pictures are a sign of paranormal activity.(And many deny this!) I seemed to recollect that the Masonic Temple was one of Salt Lake's haunted places. A quick google search confirmed my recollection. So is my big white orb a ghostly apparition, or is it a photographic anomaly; some dust or moisture in the air? I have to admit I've never had an orb show up in a photograph before. Closer inspection of the my "sky" picture revealed a few more orbs. Interestingly, they were not blurred from the long exposure in the same way the stars in the sky were. So was I treated to ghostly images in the haunted building? Seeing as it's Halloween month it kind of fun to think so... but who really knows?!

More from Arches

Another picture from my trip to Moab. Matt realized that he could climb up the rocks to the top of Double O Arch. The storm clouds had been blowing through on and off all day, and they just happened be nicely illuminated when Matt walked out on the arch. Once again, I can't decide which picture I like best, so what the heck here are two of my favorites.

Which do you like better?


...and here is one of the same arch in the sunlight from a different angle.

Party Time!

It was pretty good weekend for me! Party, Party, Party!!! A house warming party for a friend on Friday night, a baby shower for a good friend on Saturday, and our annual neighborhood block party on Sunday. That means 3 days in a row with yummy food that I DIDN'T HAVE TO COOK! Well, I guess that's not true as I did make food for both Friday's and Sunday's parties. When I asked Jimmy, the host of Friday's party what I should bring he said "Rum, bring something with rum!" ... so I made my favorite rum ball cookies... always a hit at a party. Crab quiche was my pot luck contribution for Sundays affair.

Saturday's party was a treat for me too. My pregnant friend was student who, many years ago, earned her PhD in the lab I work in . The sad part about working with students is that they finish school and move on so. A number of the shower guests were people I worked with years ago and haven't seen in few years, one had even flown in from New York City. It was like "old home week" and I had a delightful time with all my old friends.

Sunday's block party was great too. I know so many people who don't even know their neighbors, or feud with their neighbors, or chose to ignore their neighbors so I feel very blessed to live on a street with many, many really nice people. Should I ever have problem, and need something, day or night, I have many people to whom I could turn. It's is nice to live somewhere I know everyone is watching out for each other. I live in a 1950's era neighborhood which I've heard described as "newlywed and half dead", so the group includes young people with toddler, original homeowners that are in their 90's, and people like me right in the middle. And we all get along fabulously. The teenagers even played with the toddlers. It was a really lovely party...

I feel like such a social butterfly... It was nice to come out of my normally shyish, antisocial cocoon for the weekend!

Where's my camera when I need it?

Don't you hate it when you don't have your camera with you but wish you did? Or even worse, as happened to me today, the camera was in my purse but the memory card was home in my computer. I really wanted to take a sunrise picture this morning. We don't really get to view sunrises here. The mountains are directly to the east of us, and by the time sun works its way up over the peaks it a bright sunny daytime sun. We never get to see that lovely fireball rise above the horizon.

Today after dropping Sarah off at school I headed east to exit the school grounds. I looked up at the mountains, in the "V" of the peaks that surround Millcreek Canyon the sky was positively delightful. I didn't get to see the sunrise, but sky was pink and yellowish with light drifting through some wispy white clouds. The colors reminded my of my favorite seashell: the Sunrise Tellin. I would not have been able to see that sky from home, since I view the mountains from a different angle. Normally I despise driving through through the school parking lot, or anywhere near the high school for that matter, but today I really enjoyed the trip! I hope I have another pretty sky day when I have my camera ready!

Detours

Since I was traveling alone on my weekend trip to visit Matt I decided to take a detour, drive a a few extra hours and stop at one of the places on my someday "I'm going to go there" list: Mystic Hot Springs. My desire to stop was two-fold; I like to soak in natural hot springs any time I can, and my interest to visit Mystic was piqued by the fact that the owner is fellow lampworker. Could there be a better combination?

Mystic Mike, the owner, is a lampworker, and an artist who who worked for Grateful Dead. The springs definitely have a bit of funky, hippy feel to them. I'm a big fan of funky so I enjoyed my soak there. There are a couple of largish pools down by the building, and up on the hill there are a series of old bathtubs fed by the continuously running hot water. I sat in one of the bathtubs, enjoyed the spectacular view of the Sevier Valley and had a nice chat with a fellow springs enthusiast.

Mike is a very sharing lampworker, a group of kids from Wasatch Academy (a Utah boarding school) was there, and Mike was doing lampworking demos for anyone who wanted to watch. He makes off mandrel pendants using borosilicate glass, so it was really interesting to watch him work. I've never worked boro, and I'm not very good at off mandrel work so for me it was an interesting lesson.

I had a great afternoon, and was glad I drove the couple hours out of my way. I really like exploring new places.

The view from the tubs.

The soaking pools.

The Buzz...

The Buzz around here this week is that Mario Capecchi, one of the researchers here at the university has won the Nobel Prize. For those of us in the biological sciences it doesn't come as a big surprise as he's been "short listed" for quite some time now. His life is rather interesting; he was literally homeless and living on the Italian streets as a 4 year old child, and went on to become a PhD researcher and Nobel Prize winner. He has quite the "rags to riches" story.

I suppose this is my moment to feel "associated" with fame. It is interesting how quick we are to draw connections to the famous when we can, even when we don't really "know" the person well. As though our connection to the famous makes us more important some how. While wouldn't say it actually makes me feel important, I'm certainly not immune to that sort of thinking. I guess we all like to connected to greatness. Sooo... Mario is actually a collaborator on some of my labs research projects, and one of my friends, who earned her PhD in my lab, is one of his post docs. I will see her at a party on Saturday, it will be interesting to hear the Nobel buzz from the inner circle. I admit I don't really know him myself, although we have crossed paths enough in my time working here. I guess my claim to fame (LOL!) is that a Nobel Prize winner says "Hi" to me at the gym. Maybe next time I see him there I should grab his weights or machine when he is done... maybe some of that genius will rub off on me!

Bad trippin...

No I didn't have a bad trip, you can look at this pretty rainbow and see that! It's just that last 50 miles that stink. I think that it is universal truth that if you don't live in Utah county, which I don't, you hate driving through Provo. The traffic is always bad there. I drove home the long way yesterday so I didn't get home until 8:30, and I was suprised how much traffic was on the highway. Maybe the real problem is that after spending a weekend in desolate southern Utah the sudden congestion seems like a real shocker. After a nice relaxing weekend it would be so nice if you could teleport yourself home and skip the traffic and keep that good vacation feeling!

Still trippin...

Had a great time touring arches today. It's nice adventuring with my outdoorsy boy. We hiked out to the the Devils Garden and Matt saw the the sign that said "primitive trail" and said let's go there, so we did. It ended up being a gorgeous 7 mile hike on a trail that wasn't packed with tourists. We walked through washes and canyons and out on an enormous rock fin(tall narrow rock ridge) and then to some incredible arches.
Later we took the 3 mile round trip hike out to Delicate Arch, Utah's most famous arch. Despite waking to the morning rain it proved to be a nice day, a little cool and windy at times (at you can see from my "wild hair") but overall a beautiful hiking day.

Road trippin' again...

This time I'm in Moab, Utah. It's Matt's "Parents Weekend" at college and rather than driving the 8 hours to Durango we agreed to meet in Moab for the weekend and tour Arches National Park. I had a nice treat (for a nerd!) on the drive down. I took the afternoon off so I got to drive during the time Science Friday was airing on NPR. I enjoy that show but rarely hear it because I'm at work. They did story today about the TV show Numb3rs, and how it has helped popularize math. I'm hardly a math geek, but part of me kind of wishes I was. As a science major in college I had to take math, but it didn't exactly interest me. Then in grad school we learned about mathematical modeling of plant development; that was the first time I really had appreciation for calculus. Of course by then I'd forgotten my calculus so it was difficult, but interesting. I wish I remembered all that math I was taught all those years ago, at work it would be helpful to understand the mathematical models in scientific papers, and at times I toy with going back to school, but all the things I'd like to study require that long forgotten math. I have an algebra study guide at home, maybe one of these days I will have to indulge my analytical side and relearn my mathematics. I wish it didn't seem so darn hard!

Interestingly, while sitting in the hotel hot tub talking about school, Matt told me that he actually has been enjoying his college algebra class. Maybe math really is the new cool thing!

Lets talk about the weather....

Remember those pants I wasn't planning to wear anytime soon? Well that day came much sooner than I expected. Yesterday was supposed to be cool and rainy, but I figured, heck it's still September and dressed in shorts any way. I went down to the coffee shop in the morning, and while I was sitting there a police car stopped the traffic at the intersection and bunch of bicyclists ride by. It turns out that today was the day for the annual memorial ride in honor of a cyclist who was killed riding in the canyon a few years ago. The poor cyclists! It was cold and rainy, a horrible day for a 10 mile ride. On the way back from the memorial a group of cyclist stopped at the coffee shop to warm up. They were soaking wet and looked positively frozen. I felt so bad for them I offered them all a ride home. One had already called her husband for a ride, another, who had pretty good rain gear, said he'd ride home, and the other couple gratefully accepted my offer. I didn't realize how much the temperature had dropped until we went outside to put their bikes in my car. Yikes, I really felt bad for them then. I drove them the couple of miles to their house then headed back to mine. As I drove on I-215 across the mouth of Parleys Canyon the snow started coming down.

That's right, SNOW! In September. I don't ever remember such an early snow down here in the valley the entire time I've lived here. And this morning there's actually ice on my windshield. I don't even want to see what my annual flowers look like this morning! So it pants today, for the second day. I can't remember the last time I wore long pants in September.

Watch Me Create

Today you can read about my "turkey" beads at "Watch Me Create"!! .

Google Twins

One of the Morning Edition stories on NPR today mentioned a term I'd never heard before: Google Twin, which according to the Wikipwedia is "a person who shares your name, and whose information returns results on Google when you egosurf".

So I decided to Google myself and find out who my google twins are. The first page google search ones at least. It looks like I really one of a Google sextuplet. First on my list was a singer-songwriter, then a public policy consultant, a psychology professor, a real estate agent, one of the writers of the 1995 movie "Cruel Jaws" (who's heard of it? - Not me!), and an opthalmologist. Maybe I should change identities with one of these people; being a folksinger sounds kind of glamorous, being a professor sounds so intellectual, the public policy consultant sounds pretty smart too.

I guess it's been a while since I "egosurfed" because I was surprised to find myself, a beadmaker, on the first page of a Google search. I can thank watch Me Create for new found internet ranking. I guess I'm cyber-real now LOL.

So who are your Google Twins?

Surprise!

I was in my dining room vacuuming Thursday night and through the front window I caught a glimpse of lights as a car parked in front of my house. It struck me as odd, because since Matt left for college in August there have been few cars parking in front of my house. My first thought was that perhaps one of Sarah's friends had gotten her drivers license and had come to visit. I returned to my vacuuming and a few moments later the door opened and couple of kids came in. I looked up from vacuuming and did a total double take.... there was my son Matt!!!!

After getting permission from their professors, he and his roommate decided to skip their Friday classes and come home for the weekend. He had told his sister his plans earlier in week, but they kept it a secret from me. What a wonderful surprise!!! Matt's school is an eight hour drive away, and other than Thanksgiving break they don't have any days off from classes so I did not expect to see him until Thanksgiving week. I've sure missed having him (and all his friends!) around the house, so it was great to have him here for a few days. Sarah was thrilled too! I feel really blessed that rather than having sibling rivalry, my kids are the best of friends so I let her skip school Friday so she could hang out with brother.

It sure sounds like Matt's having fun at school. Biking, swimming, climbing on the schools rock wall, playing intramural soccer, and even (thank goodness!) studying. He took his camping gear back with him so he can enjoy more of the great outdoors on the weekends. It sure makes me wish I could go to school with him!

Talk about the weather...

I wore sleeves to work yesterday. Short Sleeves. I realize that is a normal thing for most people but I hate being hot, and summers are hot here, so I spend the summer in tank tops. I realized a long time ago that July and August are my least favorite months, and this year was the hottest on record: in July and August 47 days were over 95 degrees, 17 of them over 100. Since I'm lucky enough to have a job I don't have to "dress for", I wear shorts and tank tops all summer.

Then comes September. Right about Labor Day the weather suddenly cools down. Way down. I walk outside in my shorts and tank top and realize it's COLD. I turn OFF the car's air conditioning button and turn the heater dial UP. As I walk from the parking lot to my building I notice I'm the only one in a tank top, most people are wearing jeans and a jacket. So yesterday I broke down and wore a T-shirt. Considering that many of the morning walkers and joggers I encountered while driven Sarah to school were wearing gloves, a T-shirt seemed appropriate. I hate to overdress on a cold morning, as it's usually delightfully warm by afternoon, and I hate being over heated when I drive home from work. Today I'm wearing a a sleeveless cotton turtle neck and shorts. I wonder how long it will take me to complete my fall wardrobe transition. The t-shirt is the start. It may be weeks before I break down an pull on a pair of pants. My new sport sandals can be roomie enough for socks... the snow may fly before I give up my sandals.

Am I the only one with weird, quirky wardrobe habits?

Road trip...

Go west young lady!.... That's what I did this weekend.

One of my friend's daughters missed the deadline for taking her ACT exam here in SLC, and her clever mom did some research and discovered that the test was being given this weekend in Elko, Nevada, 240 miles away. I was in the mood to get out town so I volunteered to tag along and keep her company. It was just a quick trip; we left Friday afternoon and headed back right after the test was done Saturday afternoon since her daughter had a date for the homecoming dance that night.

In general, I think that most people dread driving through desolate Nevada. I'm the odd ball. I love the open spaces and find the vistas just beautiful. Desert vegetation fascinates me. Rock formations fascinate me. It's especially nice in the fall while the weather is cool and the golden sagebrush flowers are in full bloom.
If you're not into the casino scene, there doesn't seem to be much to do in Elko. We had a nice dinner at a mexican place Friday night and soaked in the hotel hot tub. The exam started early in the morning so we retired early for the night. Saturday morning, while my friend's daughter took her exam my friend and her other daughter and I headed out to Lamoille Canyon in the Ruby Mountains and went for a short hike on the Ruby Crest Trail. What a beautiful area! It's a large glaciated valley, the formation and topology seemed different from what we have here in the Wasatch. I just love getting to hike in new places!

I have to share this road sign that was in the parking lot of of a Utah rest area we stopped at. I'd never seen that sign before. I'm bummed though, I didn't see a single snake or scorpion!

Would you?

If your friends jumped off a bridge would you jump too? I guess my son would. Yup, that's him in the picture. Actually, he went first. Apparently jumping off the Baker Bridge is one of those things kids do in Durango. I wonder how many of them send their mothers pictures of their antics? My first question was "How did you know it was deep enough?" He said they swam and dove and checked it out first. Hopefully they really did and that's not just the story you tell your nervous mother! Maybe I shouldn't have let my baby go away to school....or maybe it's best I did so I don't know what he's doing on a daily basis!

Show time!

Well, I survived my second little jewelry show yesterday. Unfortunately, it was pretty much a bust, financially at least. I did make back my booth fee, but not much more. I guess street fairs are better if you are are selling food or perhaps something inexpensive geared to kids. I did have fun talking to my friends that stopped buy, and I had a nice time talking to some strangers.

I especially enjoy the kids. A group of boys about my daughters age stopped by, and I really wowed them by explaining how lampwork beads are made. I bring my hot head torch, some colorful rods, canes, coated mandrels and beads still on mandrels to use as audio visual aids while I explained lampwork. It's fun to have kids think what you do is really cool. I also had a lovely young girl, jr high school age I think, who claims that she's know since she's small that she wants to work glass. She was really interested in the lampwork process, and was pretty excited to find out that it is something that you can do in a home studio.

The other highlight of my day was having a little helper for a while. The girlfriend, who convinced me to participate in the street fair's, little girl. She the one "modeling" a necklace in todays picture. She's a spunky little kid and I really enjoy hanging out with her.

Selling jewelry is difficult because there are so many people selling jewelry at festivals, and it's hard to be "competitive" price-wise when you actually make your own beads. I don't think my prices are at all out of line with those of other jewelry makers, and considering each piece has one or more original handmade beads my prices are probably actually reasonable. Of course not everyone grasps or appreciates the difference between handmade lampwork and store bought components. And "reasonable in the lampwork world is rarely "cheap". I'm also the first to realize that everyone is on a budget, and jewelry is a luxury item. I know that I do much more looking and admiring than I do buying when I attend a fair. Perhaps the local street fair isn't quite the right venue for my work.

I have wondered if having a tent would have improved sales. I thought my display was attractive, but perhaps that big white canopy would have imparted a feeling of professionalism and desirability to my work. Or would it have just been a waste of a few hundred dollars all for naught. It would be nice to be able to answer that question.

My display actually received quite a bit of attention. I used a pretty cross stitched floral table cloth that I thought nicely complimented my work. I had many, many people come up and admire my table cloth. Is it better to use a plain, less noticable table covering as to not take away from your beads? Or is attention getting with booth decoration a good thing? It would be interesting to know the answers to these questions... although I suspect the answer is "it all depends" on the day and the show.

It's a good learning experience.


You can catch a glimpse of my pretty tablecloth in this picture. My sister bought the table cloth while she was in St. Thomas V.I. on her honeymoon and later gave it to me. It's all beautifully handstitched... (probably by children in a third world sweat shop, but beautiful work non-the-less!)

The perils of sleeping...

Am I the only person who can mange to injure myself in my sleep? I have been miserable for two days due to a sleeping accident. I must have slept in a funny position or used the wrong pillow or something weird because I woke up Tuesday with the worst crick in my neck. Agony when ever I moved my head, worse yet when I turn my head to the left. You sure never realize how often you turn your head, especially when driving the car until you have a bad neckache. Of course I had to get the last parking space at work, one I had to parallel park my way in to ... OUCH! ... and leaving work a road was closed because of an accident so I had do do a bunch of merging in traffic... double ouch! Yesterday wasn't much better, on top of the neckache I had a killer headache. All this from SLEEPING! Maybe I should be happy I'm normally an insomniac!

Shows again

I decided to try another show. A friend of mine has been bugging me for over a year to sell my bead jewelry at the Avenues Street Fair. It's a neighbor hood fair in one of the nice old neighborhoods near the city. Last September I attended the fair with her to scope it out, I was really surprised at how big it was for a neighborhood fair; I think there were a couple hundred booths. Since I have plenty or wares left over from the last little show I did I figure I may as well give it a try. I sent my application and pictures of my work a few weeks ago and got an email back stating that I was approved to participate.

Friday I got a message to call the coordinator. I assumed she was going to give me information about my booth location, but when I called she had something else to say. She had called to tell me that weren't accepting sellers of purchased jewelry which I think I was going to do. I think by the time I called her back she realized that my jewelry clearly wasn't store bought. (I guess she looked more closely at my picture!) I assured her that I actually make my beads. From what I read on the forums competing with cheap imports is a common problem at art fairs, so it is nice to know they are trying to limit vendors to actual artisans. It will be interesting to see how this show compares with my first one.