Little Red Hen

I hauled the big ladder out of the garage and stuffed it in the FJ.

Went up to Nevada City to my old neighborhood and precariously perched myself on the ladder to pick about a half bucket of yellow plums.  Sigh...last year there wasn't anyone living there and I managed to pick three buckets full just from the branches that hung over the street.  This year the house occupant used them, which is good, at least they didn't go to waste.

Then I went to the farm (Starbright Acres Farm) and cruised through their vege stand where I found masses of beautiful basil, green peppers, heirloom tomatoes and some gorgeous eggplant.

This afternoon I roasted two pie pumpkins, boiled the plums to release the juice and made three big batches of pesto.  My kitchen smells heavenly.

I put a couple of big spoonfuls into a baggie and freeze them, they don't retain their color very well but are wonderful tossed into pasta or soups.

The plums are juiced and ready to boil up into jelly tomorrow.  The kitchen is clean and I'm beat.

In between I spent some time in my studio preparing a last minute custom order.

Busy days, productive days, looking forward to the weekend Open Studio Tour again and then a nice week in the high desert with my man.  I'm going to see how much work I can get done there, during the day anyway.

Peaceful dreams.

Biting off a big chunk -

And trying not to choke.

The curtains from the fancy store that starts with a P cost way too much for our budget.  I said I could make them and we spent less than 40 dollars on fabric.

While in Austin my goal was to finish those curtains and after hours and hours of seaming and ruffling I actually did finish, whew!

Here they are, each panel has 15 layers of ruffles in simple white muslin, they look like a crazy dress or a wedding cake maybe.

The room is pale, pale lavender, the sleigh crib is dark wood and their new flooring is dark and rich too.  These will be the only floofy thing in the decor, my baby tends to keep things minimalist.

Love them but will NEVER, NEVER do another set, ha!  I could have made a whole quilt top in the same amount of time.

Hmmmm, maybe I should do one of those next?

For now I'm in cleaning mode for the Open Studios Tour these next two weekends and then I'm madly working to keep up with the Holiday frenzy.  All of December I will be a featured artist at Avanguardia Tasting room in downtown Grass Valley.  On December 8th there will be a Jewelers Trunk show at ASIF.  AND, it looks like I may be able to get my pretty stuff into a gallery in Truckee, which thrills me completely.

Tonight is the Habitat for Humanity Art Auction at the Miner's Foundry in Nevada City, hope to see you there.

Today my Man will be here for a long weekend of fun and frolic, YES!

Peace

Baby Toes

Pretty toes, mine are sort of tortured, hers are prettier. 

I'm loving this feet idea, where they have taken us and the places still to explore.

Talking to my man last night was gratifying, as we dreamed of the places we want to go together.  I love traveling with this man.  For years and years I've taken on the role of tour director, overseeing every detail, planning and worrying and often forgetting the point of it all was to have fun.  Now everything is different, his strength carries us, his careful manner leaves me trusting that all is well,  his curiosity and sense of humor is always turned on, together we accomplish the work and share the fun.  Our only goal is to be together.
Life is so interesting right now.  I'm deeply happy each day, grounded but giddy, satisfied but yearning for more. 

I'm going to be a Grandmother in December.  This event thrills me but makes me apprehensive too, knowing my baby is heading into a life event.  She's going to be so good as a Mother.   Right now the distance between us seems huge.  I want so much to watch her grow and change on a daily basis.

But for now I've been sewing curtains and cooking some extra stuff to fill up her freezer.

And I place my hands on her belly and send the little one greetings and good thoughts until the day comes when she's in our arms.

Hearts break so they can open wider to hold more love. 

Mine is still spilling over.

The County Line

Big ol' margaritas,  beer, ribs, slow cooked peppered turkey, sausage, brisket, potato salad, cole slaw, beans and homemade bread with honey butter.  Then top it off with bread pudding, pecan pie and blackberry cobbler.  (Take most of it home for lunch the next day.)

Have a blast with my little family, laugh, tease and take a bunch of silly pictures.

Life is good.  Tomorrow night I head home to my enchanted cottage, the furry boys and my cute housemate.  On Friday a joyful reunion with my man.

And this weekend and the next I will be in my studio at ASIF (Artists Studios in the Foothills) for the Open Studios Tour.  http://thecenterforthearts.org/openstudiostour-post/

Come and see me and get your order started for custom pieces for the Holidays.

I will also be teaching classes, resins, basic metalworking, Viking Knit and others.

Life is good.

Downtown Austin

Me and my son after his set, which was taped for the Good Music Club.
A Happy Mom

The Best Thing

For him...

Peace

Packing again

And here's the dilemma,

Vintage Tony Lama

Or new Dingo

Of course, there is also the black Vintage TL to consider.

I'd like to do some stomping around in the muck with the Dingos so they have a bit of street cred, or would you call that corral cred?  But they are sooooo comfortable it's hard to leave them.

We shall see.

I'm thrilled to be heading back to Texas to see my kids and to continue my determined efforts to suck up as much tequila, beer and fire roasted animal parts as possible.

However, that means leaving part of my heart behind (this time).  I can't wait to take him with me, he's a worthy partner in the tequila and animal parts contest.

Here we are on the Northern Coast, always happy, always laughing, always in the midst of mischief.

Peace

As far as the eye can see...

Thousands of grape vines, loaded with dense clusters of purple grapes.  This is Lake County, close to Clear Lake.  It's exquisitely beautiful country filled with kind and beautiful people, a huge loving family gathered to celebrate a wedding.
Life is good, everything I could wish for.
Peace

Train Station

Which is sort of what my house has become, a place to swing in, unpack bags, wash laundry, pack bags and go again.

Two shots of the high desert sky at sunset.

Off again today for an adventure with my man, rendezvous to drop off my truck, meet his family (!) and then back again for a get together with a best friend.

AND then, home for a day and off to Texas next week.  Where I will play tourist for a couple of days while I wait for my loved ones to either return from trips to NY or finish big work projects.

THEN, home with three days to prepare for the Open Studios Tour, after which it will be the middle of October, what?

Peace

Home and away...

11 days, that's how many days I'm actually home this month.

I'm grateful every day to have my sweet house mate here but more so this month, she takes such great care of the boys and the house while I'm gone.

In between I'm working furiously in the studio.  Here's a little taste of what's happening there.

This earring does have a mate but it wasn't finished yet.  Fine silver with freshwater pearls.

The coast, the high desert, the interior and then to Texas.  Whew!  Busy but fun.

I'm happy to say I'm in a relationship with a great guy who satisfies my soul in so many ways. If he gives his permission I will post photos of us.  Until then you have to use your imagination to see our smiling faces.

I'm a lucky women, his woman.

Peace

Breaking up is hard to do...

A close member of my family is experiencing the breakdown and end of a four year relationship.  It's so hard to sit and watch this kind of thing happen and yet it reminds me of the post on grief that I wrote on August 24th, 2010.

What's important here is that he has a chance to grieve and is able to do it with the people he loves.  I'm grieving too, it's a painful loss of a relationship that I cherished.  But now I see how it's so much better to wade into his grief and give him permission to be sad.

I'm so proud that he's approaching this whole process with grace and maturity, not burning bridges, not allowing his anger to take over and even now he's starting to look ahead, if only one day at a time.

I'm so incredibly gratified that he's come to me to talk things out.  I feel like it's been a long two year journey of losing that connection and that we've come full circle back to each other in an adult and enlightened way.

His grief has reminded me of the journey I've taken, of how far I've come and how wide is the horizon before me.

Perhaps the greatest gift is his knowing that he must first take care of himself before he can take care of another.

This is possibly the most valuable lesson I've learned in the last couple of years.  Once I learned to love me and to take the time to really discover who and what I am then the people and experiences that I really need and want have made themselves evident. That honesty with myself has been hard and I know that what's ahead will be hard too but the feeling of wholeness is there.

Honesty with myself, honesty with others, asking for what I want, knowing that satisfaction only comes from being truly what I am.

And now he sees just a little what I'm talking about and knows that it's important for him too.

I'm a very lucky woman.

Peace

Home

It was a great trip, full of fabulous experiences and first time wonders.

When I look at my feet in the sand, washed by the ocean, I'm happy and a little wistful that the week is over.

But there are more adventures to come, my heart is content.

Peace

Visiting Giants

Seven miles up the canyon, unlock the gate and bump down six more miles of gravel road, almost chicken out at the strenuous trail warning, go anyway.

Hike over a mile, drop 600 feet, hard to walk with mouth open in awe.  They just kept getting bigger and taller, more craggy, all the olds ones with burned bark skirts, crowns so far up we couldn't see them.

It's the Tall Trees Grove and I cannot describe how magnificent they are, to be in their presence is enough.

We made it too and rewarded ourselves with grilled oysters and some tylenol.

The fog is thick, tonight the harbor seals are quiet, heading East towards home tomorrow.

Peace

Little Slice of Heaven

Trinidad, coastal California-

Here's the view from our campsite.  Tonight we walked through the woods to see the ocean and later grilled steak on our little patio.

Tomorrow we have all of Patricks Point State Park to explore.

After such a long, hot and smoky summer it's incredibly wonderful to feel the fresh ocean air.

Peaceful dreams to you.

Old Growth

Hiking in the Headwaters Forest Reserve was a breathtaking experience.  The forest is mostly new growth with the remains of giants scattered around.  It was deep and dark with ferns everywhere.

We didn't make it ask the way to the old growth forest but enjoyed our little hike.

Today we head up the coast looking for someplace new.

Peace

To the ocean pics

These got lost someplace.

Peace

Blues

Hanging out at a bay side park in Eureka, the scenery is beautiful and the music is superb.
This is Eric Bibb performing and last was the great blues harmonica player James Cotton.
Now sunburned and tired we are eating pizza and planning our adventure tomorrow.  First thing is a short hike at the Headwaters Forest Reserve.
Peace

To the ocean

Mount Shasta viewed through a smoke screen.
Road construction on highway 299, this tractor is jack hammering the rock away.  The operator gets the award for major cojones.
The fog rolling in from the ocean, only 20 miles to go.  The temps have dropped to 53 degrees and the humidity is higher, it feels shop good we want to cheer.
Next a brewery and some fun.
Peaceful dreams.

Day one - over the mountain

This is Donner Lake, incredibly deep and incredibly blue.

I'm heading out on an adventure, over the mountain, to the coast of Northern California for a Blues Festival and then up the coast toward Oregon from there.

Be ready for lots of gorgeous scenery.

Peace

Sweet dreaming

I found this little fellow at the fair, all curled up and dreaming.

He or she looks like a lop eared rabbit.

Peaceful dreams to you all.

Ripples

I love it when I take a photo and later see so much more than I had intended.  Which is sort of a metaphor for life in general, isn't it?

It's just Bode doing his thing, wading into any little bit of water he can find.  I know he's hot but he just seems to like water.  I'm still trying to get him to swim out.

And they both stunk like pond water on the trip home.  I hosed them off, dried them and now they are sacked out.

This was down at the creek off of Champion Road.  Make sure you click on the photo to make it bigger.  You can't really tell how big this is can you?

Peaceful

Little Radar - Spitfire Video

Their first music video!

They filmed it with a GoPro camera, check it out.

Woot!

Suggestions?

I have these great little glass fish and need some suggestions for words to add.

Hmmmm?

Smoky sunset

Thankfully there were two of us on the trip down to Sacramento Monday.  My passenger took this great shot.

We could not believe how beautiful it was.

Peace

Pigpen

This is why my house develops a layer of dust every two days.

It's a good thing he's cute.  See his tail wagging?  He's usually smiling too but right now he's wondering if I'm going to get the vacuum and use it on him.

It's been hot and smoky as we are surrounded by massive wildfires.

I've been consumed with every day things.

I power washed my front fence and ended up with most of the dirt on me.  Next is to re-paint it and the back steps.

I have lots of things in process in my studio, getting ready for the Open Studio Tour the first two weekends in October.  Hopefully I'll have some pictures to show today.  In the meantime, here's a photo of the new copper fold formed earrings I'm making.  The first two pair sold quickly.

Peace to you and yours.

Hot August Nights

We headed down to Reno to see a great upcoming band called the Heartless Bastards and got an extra bonus.  They call it Hot August Nights in Reno, fabulous classic cars come from miles around to parade around the town.  It was wonderful to hear the big engines rumble.

And here's a shot of the Heartless Bastards in concert.  They were really good.

Finally, a shot of smoke from the Chips fire up in Plumas County, which has now grown to over 30,000 acres.  It's heartbreaking.

Peace

Get the Stick

There it is, get it.

No, you get it, it's too deep and I'll mess up my fur.

Mom doesn't care, she says you're a pigpen anyway.

Ok, brawn didn't work, let's try brains.  Ahhh, there it goes...

Stupid stick, didn't want it anyway.

Maybe it will come back?  After all, Mom says my face can get blood out of a turnip, whatever that means.

(Click the pics for bigger versions.)

Next stop - RODEO!

Peace

Did you know?

That car seats actually come with cup holders now?  Where is the cell phone charging outlet and pocket?

Wow!

On a more sane note.  I took the fur faces down to the river to play.  I picked blackberries for Dandy and me.  Bode thinks our culinary choices are poor.  But he likes chasing sticks.

The habitat of the rare and elusive mountain Corgi. They are known for their stealth when tracking cookies and their ferocity when confronted with a new squeak toy to dismember.

Crikey, there's one now, hide your food, unless you'd like a kiss or two.

More later...

Peace

Hot Summer Days

The boys and I out at the Mine.

It's hard to imagine, but I'm standing on a pile of crushed rock 20 or 30 feet deep.  We walk along here everyday and it's just a long stretch of white rock and sand.  Until you go over there by the trees and see that the pile drops off steeply and then you know you're standing on a LOT of rock.

It's hot and getting hotter but so far the nights are down in the 60's, which means I can sleep with the windows open.

The cold river is calling me.  This time last year it was still high and cold from mountain snow run-off but this winter was considerably milder.  I wish time would slow down a little.  It's true that it goes fast, especially when you're having fun.

The Nevada County fair is this week.  I'm going to the Rodeo tomorrow night and the Demolition Derby this Sunday.  AND I will be looking for a corn dog at the Job's Daughters booth, yum!

My son turns me on to all sorts of interesting music.  I get to see the Heartless Bastards up in Reno this weekend and maybe again in Sacramento on Monday.

Someday Little Radar will be joining bands like this.

Peace

Back to Reality

The fountain is cleaned out and refilled, the hummingbird feeder is cleaned out and refilled, the bills are mostly paid and the general catch up is done.

I cannot believe how adorable my furry boys are, they are happy to see me too.  They settle down once I've got the suitcase unpacked but they don't get far away from me.  Both of them are sacked out at my feet waiting for a nice walk or some frisbee fun.

The trip was uneventful and fairly comfortable as I scored an exit row seat on both flights.  Ah, sweet leg room!  The frenetic airport atmosphere makes me sort of crazy but some good music via my Ipod and my Kindle help tremendously.  And the people watching is just terrific.

I'm so happy to be home.  My time with my children is joyful and gratifying, but...

My heart lives here, nestled up against the big mountains,
My blood is in the waters, rushing cool and strong,
My strength comes from the rocks,
My feet are rooted deep like the pine trees and oaks,
My vision is the sky, streaked with clouds, multicolored as the sun rises and sets,

Life is good.

Last Night in Austin

I missed a night, oh well.

Yesterday was mostly a busy day for trying to finish little projects, packing and whatnot.

Late at night we headed back downtown to The Parish, which is an awesome musical venue, to see Little Radar play.

I'm so glad I got to see them again, on a great stage with fantastic lighting and a big open room that really let their sound out.

All if us were there so it was special.  Grant is amazing to watch.  His natural environment is performing.  I just kept thinking how great it is to see someone doing what they love, with skill and confidence. 

This week has been great for me.  Not so much a vacation week but a family week, just doing what they do in their own way.

Sadly I pack up but happily I head home.  I'm yearning for my furry boys and my studio waits quietly for me.

It won't be long before I'm here again, later in September when its not so hot.

Peace