“When in doubt, choose change.” – Lily Leung

Reminiscing sans color

Bits & Pieces

This week I've been drawn to purple in its many hues.  I made a pair of birthday earrings for my sister using purple and green beads on Monday.  

Czech glass, crystal bicones, glass pearls, faceted magnesite, brass & copper wire, Vintaj ear wires

While rambling around the back roads and byways of upstate New York yesterday, I found a bowl and tea cup with saucer (made in Austria) with lovely lilac accents.  Gotta love a well-stocked & reasonably priced antique shop! 

It's a bit breezy and cool outside today, although it is still warm enough to melt more snow.  We got up early to grocery shop in an effort to beat the crowds, and on the way home we saw one of my favorite avian locals - a pileated woodpecker.  It was beautiful with that shocking red-crested head standing out against all of the brown and white that is so abundant this time of year.  Last week we spotted a small raft of common mergansers in a marshy area that is currently full of water. We've been enjoying more of our feathered friends in the back yard as well now that the grass is again visible.  Watching and listening to the cardinals, blue jays, chic-a-dee-dee-dees and red-winged black birds just makes me happy.  Of course, Penny delights in their visits too.  Here's a quick YouTube video I found of the species of woodpecker we saw this morning.  Enjoy!

spring benvenuto

It's a cold, foggy day here in the Hudson Valley.  Yet it feels as though warmer weather is soon on the way.  The rain is melting more and more of the snow.  It smells like wet, muddy earth outside.  Willkommen Frühling.

fondness, affection, besottedness, adoration, love.....

In listing these words, I'm reminded of a scene in the movie Roxanne where Charlie is pretending to be Chris.  The scene where he's wooing Roxanne from the bushes and trees below her balcony, saying what Chris is incapable of uttering, expressing what Charlie himself feels for her. 

This is one of my all time favorite movies.  I watch it at least once a year, and it still makes me laugh.  The words used as the title to this post are in reference to how I think about beads.  I know what you might be thinking - where's the correlation between a romantic comedy and beads?  It's more that the words depict what I undergo when I'm sifting through, shopping for or using beads.  In fact, I realize that making jewelry is secondary to my love for the beads themselves.  It's not necessarily the finished piece for me.  It's the components!  The finding and searching, the matching up of colors and shapes and styles to come up with a design.  (This might explain why I have two plastic bins full of pieces that are either awaiting a redesign, completion or a beginning after being designed.)  The connection to the movie is that it popped into my head when I began typing fondness.  This is just how my brain works.  There happens to be a lot of useless information floating around up there about movies, actors, British crime dramas and PBS programs.  Just in case you were wondering.  

soooo much Czech glass!

Last week I changed around my creative space.  Made it more cozy and open with much better flow.   I have a garden trellis from which I hang glass and stone strands by color.  I separated them and now have a big pile of Czech glass on my desk.  Which made me look at my most recent purchases.  Which led to picture-taking.  Which led to a few hours of bead admiration and new storage ideas.  I thought I'd share some of the photos, mostly of beads - go figure!

goodies by Golem Studios - from Beadaholique

stacks of buttons waiting to become part of a design

more from Golem Studios - how very spring

gorgeous large pendant from Golem Studios

saturated peach, pumpkin and chartreuse Czech glass from Fusion Beads - makes me think of Easter

Yearning for spring

I'm listening to sweet romantic music on Pandora today (Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day, Patti Page, Etta Jones, Etta James, Eva Cassidy), and it's making me think of spring.  Budding trees, daffodils, the smell of wet earth, not having to wear boots or gloves, outside seating at cafes & restaurants, flowers.  While I always have been and continue to be a fan of winter weather, I am eagerly awaiting spring this year.  I just want to see things green up already! 

Red Butte Botanic Garden, Salt Lake City

my favorite scent - lilac - also at the Red Butte Botanic Garden

the Italian-themed garden at Hamilton Gardens in New Zealand

A year gone by

I started this blog one year ago today.  I had been toying with the idea for at least a year prior, primarily to participate in blog hops and write about what I like to do creatively.  Because my family and friends are at home all over the globe, I also hoped it would be a means to keep them informed of my wanderings.  The jewelry (and sewing and painting and mobile-making, etc) sort of took a back seat to the goings on of life, both in reality and on this blog.  Those who've read know the subjects have been focused more on personal stories.  All the same, it's been fun writing and posting photos.  

                

What a difference a year makes!

part of the view from our backyard in Montana

At this time last February, I was living solo in our house in Montana.  I had recently started a new job after spending three months in Austria with Tim.  I had an entire room dedicated to being creative that was organized, color-coded, cozy, painted a carefully chosen shade of yellow, and home to various pieces of art acquired on my travels.  Some of my closest friends were again within an hour's drive.   

my old craft room full of fabric, magazines, books, buttons, beads & findings, inspirational card holder and comfy IKEA chair

We're now living in a rented, drafty old farmhouse with a scurrying critter that lives in our walls and an endless supply of ladybugs that emerge, die and continue to appear daily in our bedroom and kitchen.  (Somehow it's still kind of charming, go figure!)   I've another new job that began a few months after we moved to New York.  I still have an entire room for creative pursuits, but it is neither cozy nor sporting fun artwork - things I hope to remedy soon.  As for friends, they are, as ever, scattered here and there - Antarctica, Austria, Thailand, New England, Montana, California, Utah and so on - but family is very nearby.  And that is pretty wonderful.  

the view of our backyard (and our neighbor's yard) in New York

At this point, I'm curious where I'll be come February 2016.  Life's a gamble as they say, but I'm not willing to place any bets on where or what I'll be calling home in a year's time!