Laural Winter

Put a bird on it!

 

A couple weeks ago I took a felting class at Collage with my friend Peg.  We made these birds.  We took the wool and shaped it into cones or balls with a felting needle. Then we connected the shapes together with the felting needle. It was super fun! At times the roar of thirty felting needles sounded like the ocean. It was very satisfying.  It reminds me of the pleasure of chewing something crunchy. 

Next time we will learn to make gnomes. Classes at Collage are great especially with friends!  ( I made the bird on the left with a heart on its chest).

Poem-There in Back

There in the Back

I have this power in my back pocket that I pull out from time to time.
Sorry if you get blown away.
 
I have this power,
in my back pocket.
It is a subtle presence,
unlike a damned snuff can in the back.
More like a condom,
a solemn purpose.
Subtle as a storm,
light as a volcano.
 
I carry this immensity
this planet of monstrous power
this volume of heart stopping velocity
in my back pocket
to pull out from time to time.
Just so
in the palm of my hand.
It can be blown off soft as a feather
but shatters the world when it touches the ground.
 
I have it.
This subtle presence,
this magical force which could steal the breath from your lungs-
all this and more
in my back pocket.
I pull it out from time to time,
shower it with sun in my bare hands.
It can pick up glints of molten metal
reflect that light.
 
I have this power in my back pocket that I pull out from time to time,
to remind
we are here,
thumping this pavement without old souled shoes,
thumping in these bones.
We can-
we should remember
what it is to be blown away. 
 

New Necklace

  I'm really happy with the necklace I made. I'm calling it Epic. I think Ojime beads set a mood. This one has a hand holding a waterbuffalo. Is it religious? Is it mythological? Or is that the same thing? They have a story and I think of it being an epic story. I am definitely going to play with the design of this necklace. I will use more Ojime beads in the future.  Of course wikipedia has a little bit of information about them here.

Hope you are having a good week!  I'll blog again soon.  I won't wait almost a year to blog like I did last time.

Insipid strawberries

 
Word of the week insipid: lacking taste or savor according to Merriam Webster's definition.  The reason I bring this up is my friend said "I think strawberries are insipid." A few of my friends and I were sitting around crafting when my friend made the above statement. I don't know if I think strawberries are insipid. Do you think they are insipid? I think they are kind of plain tasting. Though I do love a fresh ripe strawberry on a hot day.  I just keep thinking about the word now because I haven't used it before and maybe I feel protective of good strawberries. 

Routine Jewelry

Routine jewelry? Do you have jewelry you routinely wear?   This set I made a few months ago.  Peter helped me pick out the beads to go with some silver shoes I own.  Normally I wouldn’t wear pearls but he helped me break that mold. I also used the long beads –bugle beads which I don’t normally use.  But now I can’t get enough bugle beads.  I bought some white bugle beads last week. I love this set! I try to wear it once a week.    Pearls make me think about my Grandma Laurella.  I don’t know if she wore them much but I inherited a set from her jewelry.  I started noticing Grandma’s jewelry when I was 6 or 7 she didn’t wear much jewelry. She just routinely wore her wedding bands and perhaps a little charm on a chain around her neck.   I don’t have routine jewelry at this time.  I wear my wedding band, another ring, a necklace and earrings everyday. Though a necklace is icing on the cake-bonus material. If I am ill then I tend to revert to my routine hoop earrings and wedding band with no thought to the process.   Here’s a picture of Laurella and I.  She is wearing a big beaded necklace which I would love to touch now.  She was keeping me out of trouble then!

Peter's a winner

 

December arrives with hard rain, snow, cold temperatures and Peter's discipline for doing around 20 hours of bicycle training a week. Peter gears up for all types of weather with various clothing items and tools for bicycle problems. He takes off on rides in the early morning or after work. Sometimes he comes back beaten down by the weather or rejuvenated by the ride. He's tired but mentally alert after the training. He'll tell me how the training went and what wildlife he saw while on the road. I love hearing about the bunnies and other wild animals he sees on his ride. And when he comes back home I am impressed all over again by his determination to train hard in weather that would make anyone cry. This April 2nd Peter won the Hood River Criterium! There are four more Hood River Criteriums perhaps he'll win those too! Take a look at his wins last year: http://app.obra.org/results/racer/73 And wish him a great racing year! Can you tell I am proud of my husband Peter?

Quirky Photos

 

Peter and I love quirky photographs. Peter loves photos that had long exposures so people usually moved their heads or blinked when the photo was done. I like people with pazzaz or right now christmas photos. Peter found these photographs on top of a dumpster outside an Asian Dentures company. (Remember dumpster diving?) I especially wonder what is going on in this photo with the arrows on the piece of paper.       Peter and I wonder if the young woman in this photo is some kind of hellraiser because she has a chipped tooth.  And that's the beauty of quirky photos-we can make up stories about them.

Cat Stonehenge

Hi there

We put in a new gas stove in our kitchen.  So we moved stuff around.  At one point we had some sport drink bottles on the floor in the kitchen.  We made dinner with some peas as a side dish.  You can see a couple peas on the floor.  Well, Simone our dear cat decided to check out the bottles.

 

She spent almost an hour viewing Bottlehenge (Stonehenge).

     

She sat in different places to take in the different views like I said for almost an hour.  It was like we made a museum for cats without stuffed animals (taxidermy) or live animals.  We didn't laugh at her. We just quietly took note and documented.

     

Simone she is a lovely thoughtful cat.

My first jewelry sale this sunday at Crafty Wonderland

 

I will be sharing a booth with my friend Marty at Crafty Wonderland.  This will be my first official jewelry sale in Portland.  I had jewelry for sale at my friend’s gallery in Philly last year. If I don’t see you have a great weekend!

Book Review Whispering to witches

 

Whispering to witches by Anna Dale

 

Joe, who was so looking forward to spending Christmas with his Dad in London is disappointed. His Dad gets called away to help an aunt and Joe must make his way to Canterbury to stay with his Mum for Christmas.This is not what Joe has in mind for Christmas.But all havoc breaks loose on his train ride to Canterbury. Snakes that appear to be pens, witches that appear to be ticket takers at train stations and tricycles that appear to be, well, that’s some of the mystery that Joe needs to figure out if he’s going to have any kind of Christmas that is satisfying. Loved this juvenile chapter book check it out!