Purples of Spring

There is purple all over the yard. The chives are in their puffy brilliance. Purple irises - we call them "flags" - are doing their thing in the background.

The Lilacs have just about faded along with the graceful wisteria, but as I was getting dressed this morning, I looked out the window to see this gorgeous clematis blooming on the hill behind the house.

My husband got a number of them at an end of year sale and just planted them here and there at the base of trees scattered along the hill.

They are getting to a size that they are really becoming beautiful - and what a lovely surprise.

Above the stone wall at the back of the patio, the columbines have returned this year. We were afraid we had lost them, but apparently they were just taking a short break last year.

They are planted in the shade and the dark purple one was in such deep shade that the flash went off on the camera as I snapped the picture. It looks so much more dramatic this way!

So many of the flowers of spring are shades of purple, but they will be making way for all the bright yellows and pinks of summer. The dependable marigolds, bright cosmos, 4 o'clocks and day lilies will all outshine them in brilliance, but spring flowers are the first, the ones that remind us that summer is really coming. The royal purples lead the way.

New Stuff

In April, I was registered for a class with Jen Geldard, the glass artist I most want to take a class with. I learned, just before the day of the class, that it had been canceled and I was heartbroken.

The bright spot of the situation was that I found myself with some extra "glass money" and decided that if I couldn't "sit at the feet of the master" I could at least try to improve my control by purchasing some things I thought might help.

This is my new torching set up. The "wings" coming out from the desk and the little bicycle handbars sticking up from it are part of a piece of equipment called a "Creation Station". It gives me a firm support for my elbows and a place to brace my wrists while working. Sometimes it's very hard to have a steady hand while placing ornamentation on beads, so this should help.

The pinky-purple rectangle in the center of the picture is a didymium shield. Didymium protects the eyes of the glass worker and also filters out the bright sodium flare that results from the glass being placed in the flame so we can see the actual bead instead of the flare. Until now, I have worn didymium goggles over my glasses which were bulky and annoying. With the shield, I only need to wear my glasses and now, when I look away from the flame to find a specific color of glass, I can actually see the color.

I've only worked with this set up twice now and although I find it more comfortable, I'm not sure the quality of my beads has shown much improvement yet.

I was inspired by this peacock feather (which happened to be hanging in my laundry room) to try to make some peacock beads.

The round on on the left was the first try and I think that one "got" the colors better than the later ones. Now to work on a set...

On another note, Tina & I taught an online class a couple of weeks ago on balms and salves.

As a result, I was inspired to make these two new products. The bug off stick is a solid "lotion bar" containing lots of bug repelling essential oils. It actually smells pretty good (there's some rose geranium in there) - and no dangerous chemicals.

The Extra Essential lip balm is something we used to make for the shop, but now it's repackaged and spiffed up for resale. Don't you love the little hooky thing on the top? How handy is that for hanging wherever? It's another one that is just full of good things.

The original formula for the eo blend is from an oil we put together for someone who was feeling a fever blister starting on her lip. She applied it and the fever blister (cold sore) never developed.

Our Mom loved that lip balm and swore by it, so making it so close to Mothers' Day is particularly appropriate.

Landis Valley

We love this herb fair for the friendships we have made over the years and the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and to meet new ones. It isn't bad sales-wise, either!

I apologize for the lousy picture of our set up at Landis Valley, and as it turns out, we changed it all around anyway, but this was the only one I had time to take and I just hate to post without a picture!You can see the soaps at the left end of the table, then my jewelry display and finally, Tina's books/magazines. We wound up straightening the two tables (and the tablecloths!) into one long display which worked, oh, so much better.

On the left of the picture, the wooden stars are made by Fred Will, Barb and Fred are from Sugar Grove Herbs in Somerset, PA. Apparently, in their area, barns are/were decorated with these stars rather than the hex signs we have here and Fred has been recreating them. Fred was our "tent husband", running for food, helping with the heavy work, putting up and taking down the tent sides... just an all around nice guy.

The weather was beautiful both Friday and Saturday and herb lovers came out in droves. Friday is traditionally the day everyone vies for the best selection of plants, while Saturday is when the rest of the folks come to get a gander at and buy all the other herbal goodies.

Speaking of other herbal goodies, the plate set to the left was my personal purchase at the Fair. It is a 10 inch square plate and half round side dishes made by Sharon Magee from Waynesboro, PA. She presses the live plants into the green clay and then fires it with underglazes to bring out the original colors of the herbs.

I had seen one of her plates at Sarah's house in Baton Rouge and was thrilled to find that she was an artist from our own backyard! Now I can hardly wait to use these and have to find the perfect place to display them between uses.

Louisiana

Well, I have to post a quick entry about the past couple of days....

We flew to Baton Rouge, LA to present a program at White Oak Plantation. First picture is the two of us standing in the Jasmine Gazebo. Fragrant? Oh yes.

We really enjoyed everything about the trip. We saw new varieties of plants which don't grow here and sampled many of the local specialties - food wise.

The afternoon that we arrived there, we went to a place called Dempsey's where I enjoyed a corn and shrimp chowder along with an oyster Po'Boy sandwich. Delish!

Then we headed out to the Plantation to take a quick look around so that we would be somewhat familiar with the place the next day when we were hoping to share a bit of knowledge during the garden walk after our first presentation.

This beautiful brick breezeway was such a study in arches and repetitive shapes, the art major in me had to snap a picture.

The fountain courtyard was just one of the many gorgeous sights that awaited us. The huge terra cotta jardiniere that served as the fountain was much more impressive than it appears in this picture.

I'm sure Tina will share a number of her own pictures and perhaps others of mine will find their way here.

After a long walk where we saw things such as climbing fern vines which are apparently a nuisance there, but would just knock us out here at home where we are enthralled with ferns and they die back each year!

We also saw crawfish burrows... wild looking things that look a lot like small versions of African ant hills. Oh, and fire ant hills - something else we don't have here, but that one can stay away.

In the evening, Sarah put together a lovely feast for the three of us including a crab caserole - the recipe was included in one of her books she gave us (Yay!) , a sort of this and that salad that we will definitely be "throwing together" which included small cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, an assortment of chopped herbs, green tomato relish and a bit of Chef John Folse's Olive oil and his very special aged balsamic vinegar.

She finished it off with some lovely fig cakes baked into rose shapes. We added a bit of vanilla iced cream and some fig sauce for a very special treat - sort of gilding the lily.

This was all followed by a fabulous luncheon on Weds. at the plantation and the night before we left, we "had" to experience a crawfish boil along with a few other specialties of the area.... we certainly ate well and our presentation went well. Apparently we still have the knack of getting our info across with a sense of humor and we were happy to again have that validated.

Here, you can see Tina explaining something about the lemon balm plant on the table while the still is set up in front of her, perking away.

All in all, it was a great trip with wonderful hosts and a lovely group of attendees! We would love to return to Louisiana again one day.

Glorious....

The glories of Spring continue to inspire and amaze me. How many times will I live through this and yet, it is always a surprise...

The pond is always beautiful, but especially in the spring when the dogwoods are in bloom.

A couple of years ago, they were suffering from some kind of blight and we were afraid we were going to lose them. Bob found the right spray to use that brought them back with no ill effects.

They are better than ever now.

On the patio. The later blooming tulips are beginning their show. These light pink ones are so delicate - especially next to the rough trunks of the trumpet vines that cover our pergola and the brick of the patio.

It is so pleasant to be able to sit outside in the morning and drink a cup of coffee, listen to the birds and just see everything springing to life around us.

I'm hoping something - surely something(!) - will inspire me to create something new in the bead part of my life.

Tina and I are heading to Baton Rouge tomorrow to present a program on uses of Lemon Balm at a day at White Oak Plantation. She's bringing her still to make a hydrosol of Lemon Balm and I'm bringing my jewelry along with some Lemon Balm soap we made up especially for the event.

I hear we are going to be feasting on that Loo'siana cuisine and we are looking forward to the change of scene. Craw Daddy's - hmmm. I'm so weird about food, guess I'll just think of them as tiny lobsters!

Thursday evening, we return home and expect to pull ourselves together enough to vend at the Landis Valley Herb Fair. We've been participants there almost since the beginning, so we see a lot of old friends and look forward to it every year. Everything is already packed up to go, so it should be no problem (where have I heard that before?!)

One last shot of the bleeding heart in the back yard. We have three plants that were put in when we moved here - 21 years ago. Each year they get bigger and spread out a little more.

This plant always brings back childhood memories of living at our grandparents' house with bleeding heart out back.

Our grandmother told a story as she took the blooms apart.

The outside pink petals were Cinderella's gown. Her earrings and dancing slippers were inside and the very last thing is the bottle of champagne that Cinderella and her prince sipped before midnight.

I've never been to Louisiana, so I'm looking forward to it. See y'all on Thursday or so with some pix of Baton Rouge and if it's later - there will be pix of Landis Valley too.

Spring - finally!

Well, it seems spring has officially come to our neck of the woods. The flowers and trees seemed to be holding their collective breath and then ... one warm day and - kaboom! They bloomed, and bloomed, and bloomed....

These tulips and daffodils line our driveway. In normal years, the daffodils bloom first and are almost gone by the time the tulips start to show. This year - well, you can see the beautiful riot of colors that greets us when we return home.

Bulbs are such a gardeners' leap of faith. It seems to be quite a chore to plant them in the fall. Often it's a little nippy and/or windy when they are planted and it just isn't the most pleasant job. But then, in the spring, all the work is rewarded many times over with the glorious reminder of the return of the sun!

So, this is what happened to the beads I showed in my last post. You can see I added to the "collection".

I love this style of necklace. It may look like a random conglomeration, but you would be surprised how much thought goes into the combos and the placement of the beads.

It is casual enough to throw on with a pair of jeans and a T shirt and these colors match so many things that I wear.

The central bead is the hollow at the bottom of the picture and then there are symbols of life and spring - fauna and flora - a birdie (done in a style I have seen used by Jen Geldard - thinking of her because the class I was to have taken from her last weekend was cancelled - dang!), a fish, a butterfly and a flower.

Sometimes when I am somewhat uninspired, I grab a couple of colors and just go to town trying to make every style I can think of with those few. In this case, it was Lapis and Aloe Vera. I discovered that the dark sage transparent works well with the combo as well as a lighter blue.

Maybe next, it'll be the colors of the first picture. How springy would that be?

New Beads

In celebration of the spring, I decided to make a trillium bead. Wasn't sure exactly how to do this, but I've been wanting to try working with enameled stringers and this was the result.

This is a focal size in that it would basically stand alone in a necklace, probably around 25 cm or so long.

The base is opal yellow, a special color which I tend to just hoard instead of using it. See the blushing going on in the background?

The set is called Kalahari Sunset. I've, of course, never been tot he Kalahari, but I suspect that the shifting sands and winds would tend to make for some pretty spectacular sunsets there.

The base is just a basic purple color, but the addition of the sringers seemed to change it into a dark magenta.

At first I wasn't pleased with the set, but the more I look at it, the more I like it. Naming it didn't hurt either!


This bizarre little group of beads was inspired by the colors I was wearing yesterday in the shop.

The green color is Aloe Vera - a very soft green that looks a lot like copper blue, but is a bit more green. I paired with with lapiz which often seems harsh, but in this case, I think it just jazzes up the soft green.

A little sampler set using variations on the same basic colors is always a way to get me out of a "block" it seems and I've certainly been in one of those for some time.

I tend to wear these colors - certainly the blue - so I think I will add to the set and then make up one of my funky necklaces that is mostly chain with a lot of beads scattered along its length.

Pausing

It seems that everything flies past, so busy, busy, busy... Making soap, working on the torch, doing shows, filling orders, chatting on the phone or on the internet.

But, yesterday things slowed down. Bob and I were just getting ready to leave the house on some errands and the news of the shootings at Virginia Tech came on the TV. We watched in shock, but then left to finish up our chores. The radio was on in the car, tuned to the news and we heard as the death count mounted to unbelievable numbers.

Along with the news, the violent wind and rain of the day took its toll as we came home to a house with no electricity. I had already begun stringing up this fairy necklace and so, in the relative quiet (even though we still had the portable radio tuned to the news) I worked this. I'm so glad I had something to occupy my mind and hands although I must admit it was hard to keep working steadily on it until the electricity came back on. I was restless and hungry to know how on earth this had happened.

Having a son away at college gave me an extra jolt at this news and I felt the need to connect with him - he had not yet heard anything about the events at VA Tech and was uncharacteristically shocked. He was in high school when Columbine happened and so, I relived that day as well. I am so grateful he has never been exposed to this kind of tragedy and yet I feel the possibility exists everywhere.

The news media, having run out of facts, decided to start pointing fingers. So sad. The perpetrator was dead. Enough have paid for this crime. The only thing we can think of that the college administration can do now is to construct a better alarm system. They did the best they could with the information available at the time.

It just seemed that the day went in slow motion.... Let us hope this is the last of this sort of thing.

Production

In more ways than one!

I've been feeling really snowed under lately with no time for fun stuff, but today, I feel that we've hit a turning point.

Tina & I are teaching an online class on "Balms & Salves". We send out kits and the participants will receive enough raw materials and packaging to make their own lip balms, lotion bar and 2 different salves. All the instructions will be online and a special Yahoo group will be opened for the participants. She did something like this last month for incense making and it went very well.

We would have loved an opportunity like this in the early days because we are sending small samples of a lot of different ingredients so they will get a chance to see what various things are like and what they do.

The kit making was hanging over our heads and we finally got it all together and packed up all the orders to date.

Meanwhile, I had an order for 40 of my soap beads.

They are really a production item - not the favorite of someone who likes to create something unique, but they do help pay the bills!

I knew I had to get them made and today, the last batch came out of the kiln. Now to wire them up to jump rings and send them out. As soon as I get the findings I ordered, they will be finished.

Meanwhile, last week it occured to me that the idea of putting everything together at the "end of the year" for taxes was not a very good idea. Things get piled around and then misplaced.

Now that I have a few moments of breathing room, I am re-organizing my systems and planning to set a few hours aside every week to update my records so nothing goes unrecorded in the future. My accountant will love me for it next year. No more waiting for Maryanne to get her act together at the last minute.

Tomorrow, we make some special order soap and as soon as I figure out where I will be staying in two weeks when I take my class with Jen Geldard(!) I will feel that I am in complete control of my life - uhuh!

Frog Hollow

I have an order for soap beads to start working on, but as I waited for the kiln to ramp up, I saw something on the windowsill that I had never shown on here before.

When we were doing the PA Farm Show in January, there were a number of PA wineries set up nearby.

Near the end of the show, we were starting to look for boxes to use to take our left over soaps home and saw they had a lovely stack of empty wine boxes. When I returned to pick some up, I saw this label!

The Chistmas tree farm that we operate here is called Frog Hollow Evergreens. We named it Frog Hollow because when we moved here, the frogs who lived in the pond (in the "hollow") were so loud that we couldn't hear the TV in the evening when the windows were open! It stuck and gave a touch of whimsey to the place. We have acquired a raft of frog memorabilia over the years and so...

Well, despite the fact that we don't even drink alcohol around here, I felt the need to purchase a bottle of the wine, for the label alone!

Today, when I saw the bottle of wine sitting on my windowsill and looked outside at the frog garden sculpture that my brother and his wife had given us for Christmas a year ago, I thought they just belonged together - along with the gaily blooming daffodils.

The wine is made, in Pennsylvania, by Brookmere Farm Vineyards and they describe it this way: Frog Hollow (sweet blush Niagara)- A blend of foxy, flavorful Labrusca and French hybrid grapes to create the blush wine symbolic of Brookmere Farm. Named for the creek which runs between the vineyards.

I did taste it at the Farm Show and although it is a mite sweet for my taste, I imagine it would be nice as a dessert wine for those who imbibe. The man who sold it to me said it was a best seller for them. For me, the label was enough.

Last post the birds...

Today the bees!

But first, I must make a correction on the name of the bird I wrote about in my last post. It is correctly a "Chukar". A couple of different pairs seem to be searching out nesting places and we did a little research. In that research, we found the correct name. These particular partridges are actually natives of the Middle East and in fact are the National bird of Pakistan!

Now, on to the bees.. I was actually taking some pictures of the gorgeous crocuses in our yard that have just popped up in the past couple of days and a little visitor showed up. What a great chance to do some macro shots...

Here she (it would be a "she", right?) is checking out the area.
Lots of pollen available here, which one shall I choose??
You may be able to see the blur of her little wings beating like crazy.

Seems to have found a promising candidate.

Look at her little "butt" covered with golden treasure.
Mission accomplished, really!

Ah, Spring....

Morning visitor

I've been working on Tina's magazine layout since yesterday afternoon and since I really do enjoy it, I wandered out to the shop early this morning.

This guy was perched right on the peak of the roof above the door. He's a Partridge, a Chukker and seems to be lonely. We have about 7 of them hanging around, left from our hatchlings last year, but this one has been traveling alone lately instead of with the "flock".

Tina thinks he lost his mate, but Bob thinks his mate be actually be nesting. I prefer to agree with Bob on this one.

We seem to have lost one of our three remaining Guinea Fowl. I wouldn't be surprised that Bob will be "restocking" this year. Also, two pens of pheasants may mean that we'll be producing our own pheasant chicks this year. Should be interesting.

The final word on all this reproduction, though, is NO WILD TURKEYS!

What were we thinking???

Why can't we "get it"? Whenever we have been invited, or should I say lured, into participating in a show, we are always sorry! And yet, the possibility of it turning out well reels us in every time.

We may have actually hit the wall this time.Here's Tina behind our latest disaster! We agreed, on very short notice, to do a show which was supposed to be attended by 650 teachers. They did say the teachers were religious pre-school teachers, but knowing that teachers are usually a really nice buying group, we decided to go.

We set up for the show on Thursday and within a very short time realized this was not our crowd. Not only weren't they interested in soap, herbs or jewelry, half of the attendees had canceled because of the snow forecast. A waste of time is not all that bad, but coupled with the worst snowstorm of the year it isn't the best idea we ever had!

Of course, as always, we slogged along and, attempting to be professional, we appeared as promised on Friday morning, even though the weather forecast was clearly correct and it had already begun sleeting ahead of time. The roads were warm though following our previous few days of warm temps and sunshine, so we figured we would be driving home in mostly slush after 4 when the show was over.

By 10 AM, it was clear that the warm roads had already cooled down and the snow was starting to fly thick and fast. I asked the organizer if, since we were doing nothing businesswise, she would mind if we left early since there was no reason to risk life and limb trying to get home later. She asked that we wait 'til 2...

All through this, Tina was attempting (without success) to contact the school transport to make sure that her daughter would be getting a ride home since she has been staying late for after school activities for the past week or so and had not been scheduled to ride the bus.

So, we waited - anxiously checking outside from time to time and condensing our display and hauling parts out to the car as unobtrusively as possible.

Shortly after 1, my husband called and said that if we couldn't leave soon, we might as well plan on staying the night... That was the final straw, since he NEVER worries about snow. We packed up and left.

We live north of the location of the show and with every mile, the extent of the storm became clearer and clearer. The closer to home we got, the fewer plows had apparently ventured on the roads until, the last few miles had not been touched. I was never so happy to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle before in my life as we drove through 5-6" of unplowed snow.

About 1/2 mile from home, we encountered a school bus stuck sideways across the road. The driver was not even attempting to move it and we saw one lonely set of tire tracks which had driven around the bus - on the neighbor's yard. We finally decided to try it for ourselves and after we passed the bus, we stopped. It was Molly's bus... she hopped out of the bus and into the car. Tina went back and asked the driver if there was anything she wanted us to do and suggested she might want to pull in the driveway just behind her.... no she wanted whoever came to pull her out to SEE the conditions(!) Despite the fact that we were on a hill, my perky little RAV just took off and carried us home.

After dropping Tina and Molly at their house, I decided rather than attempting to use the road I'd just drive through the fields and trees to get home - it was all downhill right into the garage. I'd used that tactic before and it was a good thing. The picture here is what the entrance to our driveway looked like!

It was an adventure and I must say the adrenaline rush was quite invigorating. Since nothing but an unusually hefty(to me) table fee was lost, the outcome was even somewhat invigorating!

This morning, when I peered outside, this was the scene out our back door.

Our little pretend "piazza", so cool and inviting in summer, had become the garden of an ice palace!

The snow, so far untouched, was gorgeous and sitting in the warmth of our gas fireplace was very pleasant. I always love snow when I don't have to go anywhere in it.

Bob got out during the brief sun this morning and plowed the driveway which is now bare. The roads are clear.

Tina showed up a few minutes ago to retrieve her car which she had left here Thursday afternoon.

And Rudy just loved the whole thing!

So, once again the moral of the story is - never attend a show when the organizer calls at the last minute, they're just trying to fill space and it's not going to be a good show for us. We know which ones work and really need to stick to the tried and true.

And, if there's even a hint that there might be fowl weather - forget it!

A new favorite and - oh, we're famous!

My son is unimpressed with my choices in music because mostly I listen to "oldies" for the transporting qualities - you know, back to "the day". He has tried often to find "new" stuff that I would appreciate and I certainly appreciate his efforts, but nothing really "gets" to me the way the old stuff does - until this.

Corrinne Bailey Rae! I don't think I've been this fascinated with a new singer for a long time. There's something about the tone of her voice and the apparently effortless way she presents herself.

Check out some of her Utube clips: Put Your Records On or Like a Star or Trouble Sleeping

I just love the langorous mood of her music. I often feel the same way about glass when I'm melting it or when I'm really in the groove and the stringer or design is just flowing perfectly.

Also, on Friday, an article about Lancaster County Soapworks was published in our local newspaper. If you are interested, you can read the article here. We were pretty pleased with it. We had been interviewed a week or so before and knew when it was scheduled to come out.

While the reporter was waiting in line with her children for a balloon sculpture at the Farm Show, her husband had purchased a sniffing jar from us and suggested she write an article about us.

She asked us a question or two and we (Tina & I) were off! We can't seem to shut up once we get started! She looked like she was watching a humorous ping pong match, but she did manage to get most of the facts straight (she's GOOD!) The only thing that was off was that we actually began making and selling soap back around 1992-93, while we were still The Herb Basket/Twisted Sisters.

Spring Break

So.... You may have been wondering what I've been doing for the past couple of weeks.

We took advantage of the fact that both our son and our niece had spring breaks that coincided to take them along on a week long cruise to the western Caribbean. We decided only 3 weeks before the actual trip, so were busy trying to get all our documentation, etc. together for the trip.

We sailed on the Jewel of the Seas (Royal Caribbean.) It's the front ship in the picture to the left. It was very nice, but didn't compare to the Grandeur of the Seas which was the one we sailed on a few years ago when we were fortunate enough to ply the western Mediterranean, the August just before 9/11.

The food - as on all cruises, was fabulous and more or less continuous! We often ate two breakfasts since Bob and I were up and out early and when the kids woke up, we joined them too. If we were on the ship, we ate lunch, followed by snack or "tea" mid afternoon.

I found that most of the pictures I brought home were from Key West, our first port of call. None of us had ever been there and so we wandered around, choosing not to take any of the shore excursions and found Hemmingway's house which we toured and also a few other interesting spots.

On the way there, we passed a guest house called The Banyan Tree and this monstrous example was outside. Bob and I both snapped pictures of it. Banyans always fascinate me since they send aerial roots down to the ground from their limbs. The roots reach the ground and then grow into extra trunks so that the tree is very well anchored in the ground. Seems like a really handy adaptation for a plant that lives in a hurricane prone area.

A little farther along, this sign caught my eye. I really should have gone inside, especially if they had shirts to go with the sign. If you'll notice, the little turquoise banner in the middle says, "no snivelling". I love it. If I ever would consider going into a retail business again, I would just love to add that to my literature! Just love it! I may have to check out their web site and see if they have T Shirts.

So, there we were, thousands of miles away from home and our own chickens. I'd heard about all the stray cats in Key West, but I'm not sure I knew that there are also wild chickens all over the place!

Here's one of the roosters, but there are plenty of hens, too. Every now and then we would pass a hedge and hear a peeping sound. Sure enough, there would be a hen and one or two peeps scratching around under the bushes.

I don't imagine there are huge clutches of eggs and peeps hatched - you know - because of all the, uh, cats.....

On to Hemmingway's house, which the kids were really anxious to visit. I have lots of other pictures, but as I was snapping a number of flora and fauna shots, I liked this one of an ibis(?) of some sort next to the swimming pool in his jungle of a back yard.

I kinda liked the reflection/shadow of the palm tree in the water in front of the bird.

Bob and the kids went off to an adventure in Tulum the next day while were were docked at Cozumel. The sea had been rough the night before (well, as rough as it got on the trip, so not really bad.) and I was still stiff from our long walk around Key West plus I had visited Tulum a few years ago, so I spent a quiet day on the ship. Apparently the ferry to the mainland was an adventure in itself, but Tulum is such a beautiful and interesting site that it was all worth it.

Our last port was Grand Cayman. I really liked this island when I visited it with my mother 5 years ago. It reminds me a bit of Bermuda - clean and safe, with a British influence.

The "boys" went on a tour to a turtle farm and "Hell" - a strange area of volcanic rocks.

Meanwhile, Molly and I decided we wanted to actually put our toes in the Caribbean and opted for a beach "tour". Basically, we paid for admittance to a "private" beach - we had to pay separately for transportation TO the beach.

The picture you see is NOT the beach we were actually on. It is a view to the south from the beach we were on. You can, however see our ship standing our from shore in this picture.

"Our" beach was wall to wall beach chairs and not what I would hope to be my only memory of a Caribbean beach.

If I were to do it over, we would have just hopped a taxi to the public beach and taken our chances there. This one was a definite "tourist trap". It is hard to know when it will be better to just go it on your own or to take the ship's tours although my advice on this one is definitely to go on your own here.

After a "day at sea", we pulled back into Ft. Lauderdale harbor around 6:30 in the AM. I was surprised at all the activity even so early in the morning.

The sight was just gorgeous as we pulled in after being at sea for a while. The sky was just brightening and seeing all that land was pretty nice!

Love to travel, but love to get home again, too. We knew Rudy was pining for us.

At least 4 cruise ships pulled into port that morning and the Ft. Lauderdale airport was totally overwhelmed. Unfortunately we had 6 hours to wait for our flight and there were no seats to be found. We couldn't even check our luggage for two hours. It was a very unpleasant experience all in all. I heard someone say that the Ft. Lauderdale airport is the fastest growing airport in the country and is experiencing definite growing pains....

Eventually though, we got through the numerous security checks, our wait at the gate and onto the plane. Back to the Philly airport which certainly seemed bright, clean and uncrowded after the nightmare of the day.

A quick couple of hours on the road and we happily pulled in the driveway and celebrated with an ecstatic Rudy!

21 years ago

Wow! I can hardly believe it, but it was 21 years ago today that I woke with a slight backache and though maybe I should check with the obstetrician since I was getting close to the day we had scheduled for my C-section.

We went in to the office at 9 AM and by 2:28 that afternoon, our son was born.

This was taken 2 years ago, but is probably the most recent picture I have of him since he no longer enjoys having his picture taken. His hair is a bit longer and unruly now, but he's still pretty much the same guy.

The second picture is one of my favorites. We were at the beach with most of the family and I'm not sure how it happened, but he put my brother's hat on and then someone added the glasses. Somewhere there's a picture of him in the hat winking. These just happened to be what I had on the computer.

You know, when your baby is born, you have all sorts of hopes and dreams for them. I remember looking at his little hands and thinking of all the things he would do with them in years to come.

We have been so lucky that he has grown up with a sense of responsibility about himself. He sometimes feels he is too serious and sometimes, I do too. I doubt though that he will have many regrets as he gets older. The things he really wants to do, he will do. He will reach his goals - as soon as he figures out exactly what they are.

I am as full of love and wonder now as I was that day so long ago, maybe more so now that that helpless little being has grown into a wonderful young man.

A "Free" Day

You may think this doesn't look much different that two days ago when I showed the same view. Well, if you saw it up close, you would see that the trees are covered in ice and that the driveway, although beautifully plowed is also ... ice!

It doesn't look bad - we only got maybe 6 real inches of snow, but the ice storm in the middle and the sleet during part of it has made a real mess. PennDot is having one heck of a time even trying to keep major roads open and a lot of businesses have just given up and closed. Our world is basically frozen solid!

Yep, that's the rear view mirror of my car in the lower right of the picture. I DROVE out to the shop because my Crocs just are not snow-worthy, besides, I am just not as nimble as I once was and a spill on that mess could set me back a week or so.

Today, we (Tina & I) were supposed to be on a train at 5:23 AM for NYC. We had been invited to take part in a brainstorming session with a marketing company for one of their customers. We were really looking forward to it, but it was not to be. Our tickets were ready, Bob was ready and willing to take us to the train station, but last night (at 11:20!) Amtrak called to tell us the train had been cancelled. Apparently while trains can plow through deep snow, signals and switches freeze and trains are cancelled. We thought about taking a later train, but we would have missed most of the event by the time we got there and furthermore, we had no guarantee that we would be able to get back home tonight - after dark when everything refroze.

So, we reluctantly cancelled and I looked ahead to a "free" day.

I am so happy to report that my website design program cooperated and I now have a revamped website with a new page called "Focals and Sculptures" that now showcases my fairies and mermaids and will eventually include some of the floral focals and other large beads I enjoy making. I showed them on a forum I frequent and was asked where they could find them - now they will know!

I also revamped my Vessels page and took down all the sold sets. Unfortunately, I have no more sets at the moment to put up, but I may get a chance to torch today and maybe a set or two will be on the agenda.

Tina spent hours on the phone this AM apologizing to the organizers and attempting (to no avail!) to find someone in the NY area who could fill in for us. Poor thing, she's exhausted and I feel sort of guilty that I'm exhilarated!

Now I believe I have some soap to make for a swap...

Speaking of Chickens and Fairies

When I woke up this morning, it was already snowing. Originally, it wasn't supposed to start until around noon, but here's the scene from the studio door at 9AM. You can't really see the snow flying, but it is going to town with those menacing tiny flakes that usually mean this one will last for quite a while and amount to something.

The chickens are now "imprisoned" in the little shed to the left. They should be grateful, but probably not.

Bob's truck is warming up in the driveway, getting ready to take our neice off to apply for her passport. We're hoping to journey to sunnier climes before long and, because passports are so much more necessary than they used to be and take longer than they used to, the passport appointment must be kept - come rain, snow, sleet or dark of night! I have the feeling that when we're basking on a warm beach, this will all be a tale to tell.

I should update the scene here as the storm develops.

Meanwhile, when I got out to the studio and opened the kiln, this little gal was waiting for me.

She's the Amethyst Fairy and I'm so pleased. A few months ago, I was sad when a similar fairy came from the kiln and her skirt shattered because of compatibility problems with the various glasses I used.

This time, I used an opalescent white glass as the base and overlaid it with a transparent purple. I find that when I use a transparent over an opal, they seem to blend together pretty smoothly and I like the effect a lot.

She has a dainty little sash around her middle and garlands of white and purple flowers in her hair and hanging from her hands. Click on the picture for a closer look.

Well, time to get serious. Yesterday, I got all the errands done that I could, so I've saved a lot of projects for these couple of days when I figured I'd be staying home because of the weather.

Chickens gone wild

No pictures, but you can probably imagine this one.

A few days ago, my dh put a couple of heat lamps in the shed our chickens call home. It was kinda fun watching the little shadow play through the window as they walked back and forth! As the days went by, they seemed more and more reluctant to enter the coop at night after their day brousing around the neighborhood.

Last night, they didn't come home at all. Poor DH! He was outside a number of times in the freezing cold trying to find them and lead them back home, but no luck. He finally gave up and just hoped they would make it through the night so we could "round them up" in the morning.

We suspected they have been communicating with the wild Guinea fowl who also roam the area and might have decided to "join up".

First thing this morning, he tracked them down and when Tina got here, the 3 of us, armed with brooms, shushed them into the shed. (He had captured the rooster, Sven, a bit earlier and had him in a cage in the shed, thinking that might attract the "girls".)

The "girls" were just hanging around the outside and we strategically placed ourselves so that the path of least resistance was to just go in. It wasn't one of our more physical round ups!

He closed the door and said, "That's it! They're grounded." I think the lights will no longer be burning in the shed either. So, the chicken gang is grounded. I think they'll thank us for it when the snow and freezing rain hits tomorrow.

Life is never dull around here. A little weird sometimes, but never dull.

Fairie Frenzy!

After Wendy came to pick up her fairy necklace, I was inspired to make some more since there are Herb Faires and Fairy Festivals coming up, along with the fact that I've been meaning to add a Fantasy page to my site and never seem to have enough pieces to actually put anything up there!

I put them all together - a gaggle of fairies(!) - and took a shot. I just love all their colors together. Had a bit of fun with Photoshop so the clay that holds them upright isn't so noticeable, but now they look like they are floating in the mist.

I could almost name these by seasons, but first, we have the Amber Fairy (could be autumn). She appears to be wearing and holding a garland of purple puff asters and the green on her is a darker, more mature vine.

The Forget-me-Not Fairy has a head wreath of spring green intertwined with blue Forget-me-nots. I think they may have been our mother's favorite flower, but their habit of "walking away was always frustrating to her.

I remember being very small and watching her writing letters to our father. She would make her own stationery and draw little Forget-me-not vines along the margin and color them in with green and blue...

The Orchid Fairy is named for the color of her dress, various hues of purples. The skirt is an opalescent, pale purple and the darker sashes suggest a gentle breeze wafting past. I must be dreaming of balmier days!

The Pink Fairy was the last one I made the other night and I am so pleased with her. The colors are so vibrant and I'm glad I gave her a little darker hair color to balance the deep pink. Her garlands came out especially delicate and the pale flowers add just the right touch, don't you think?

I can't decide whether to work these up into necklaces yet, or to make them into pendants or just let them alone for now (which will probably be what I decide to do since I seem to be in "torching mode"!

Probably I'll just make some more...