Angelas Diner

I’m traveling for work and wanted to let my friends and family see my pics - I’ll be posting here while I’m away so keep an eye on the site! Click the pics to make them larger size.

If you have kids, and they share your computer, you know how very little time you can spend online.  I generally surf on the work laptop, and when it comes to surfing on the home system, I’m pushed to early morning ONLY>so today I was up at 3am and had over 4 hours uninterrupted time to set up my iPod and do pictures and BLOG finally.
Here is a photo of a bald eagle - WILD - that I took that at the bead class last week in Saunderstown, RI on the Narrow River.  All of us in the class were so psyched to see that eagle - and he (or she?) visited twice that morning!

Friday is Black Friday - but I’ve decided to buy nothing.  In fact, I may end up just relaxing, crafting, and hanging out at home.  Now doesn’t that sound great? There’s actually a formal movement to promote Friday as Buy Nothing Day.

And I’ve “done” Black Friday in years past.  Last year I spent hours at Joann Fabrics waiting in a long line to have my fabric cut.  Just to save a couple bucks on flannel! What a waste.

The Trader Joe’s grocery chain opened a store one town over from me about a month ago.  I’ve gone a few times, and today I went with J and S to pick up Thanksgiving stuff.  While there, we also grabbed frozen pizza and frozen chicken fried rice to have over the next few days leading up to turkey day.  The most fun thing was found by J in the produce section: A Guacamole KIT!! We smooshed it up, had grilled chicken, nachos and “bun buns” for dessert.  S picked out the “bun buns.” YUM

We took Sam and his friend Joe over to the high school to shoot off some rockets.  It’s really cool to do it at dusk when you can really see the flame light up.  I took the camera and hoped to get a few shots - these are a couple of the best.  It was getting dark, and the last one we sent up was so high and so small we lost it coming down.  So Sam, Joe and I fanned out around the field and Sam found it!

there’s a GREAT garden shop in RI on Rt. 138 called The Farmer’s Daughter, and they had their harvest festival last saturday.  weather was wonderful, bright and sunny, with just enough chill in the air to make it a perfect October day.  They had the wildest gourds and pumpkins - look at the variations in color and shape…..

My son dressed up in his halloween costume (he is an ANTHILL) and won a gourd.  He picked out a tallish bumpy one that he says he wants to turn into a penguin.  We bought some mums and freshened up the front step too.

my oldest daughter has a thing about shoes - take a look at these that she wore to the first day of school!

I have neglected this blog - it’s evident.  But with the kids back in school, and my own re-energized approach to my beads, it’s the logical next step to pay more attention to talking about what makes me tick creatively.  The economy has certainly affected sales at the gallery for me, but I’m happy to mention that you can now find my work at Argentum Designs in Wakefield, RI.  Argentum was awarded a Best of Rhode Island award for best crafty shopping = if you haven’t been there, you need to go!

Just so you all know, I’ve been focusing on a couple of new bead types - and I’m really excited to begin putting them into jewelry.  The beads are made with colorful twists of glass and then encased in clear….depending on the colors they are warm, or cool, or jazzy, or serene, it’s really fun to pair up glass and see what happens!  I’ll post pics a bit later of those, after I’ve made some bracelets and things… I really like encasing in clear now; the way the clear adds depth and magnifies the colors and swirls is great fun to see.

Other than beads, blogs, work, kids, etc., I’ve also been neglecting my garden - take a look.

    but these little guys are lookin’ ok  

Our local favorite clam shack is closing for the season really soon, so Sam and I went down last night to have a bite and see what has been kicked up by Tropical Storm Hanna.   The food was great, but the waves were NOT big at all.  We drove up along the sea wall in Narragansett, and in the distance we saw a lit up cruise ship - that was cool!

Because it’s raining like crazy right now, I’m holding off making beads until later today.  For now, it’s back to reading “The Outermost House” and “Presentation Zen.”  And I promise to be re-energized and post at least twice a week - 

Was down for a bit - work exhausted me, drained me, and I had nothing left for the blog.  What saved me, what cleared my head lately, and brought me back up to where I usually am, was a week out of the office on vacation.  When I looked back, I discovered that the last time I had taken a full week out of the office was back in August of 2007.  That’s a REALLY long time - here I was trying to figure out why I was in such a funk, and the answer was really simple and there all along.  I took the last week of May out, and make beads and gardened until my hands ached.  I literally dug myself out of the funk I was in.  It’s funny, even the folks at work noticed that I’m much more mellow as I returned to work this week.  One person told me in the kitchen that I looked really relaxed and tan and just plain happy.  I’d have to agree!

Been raining today, and I still have a ton of more work I want to do in the gardens, but I went outside and took some shots to show off my blooms!  (I’ve planted some PURPLE roses that haven’t yet bloomed…… I can’t wait to see them - I am a purple fanatic!)  So, enjoy, and maybe, if you have time, and need a break, go outside and plant something…..it really helps.

oh, spring. sooooo much going on at work, so that when i get home at the end of the day, i want to be “brain dead.” on the weekends when it doesn’t rain i have to rake and clean and prep my garden beds - just dug a new one for PURPLE roses out front. Can’t wait to see how they turn out! I actually gallery sat almost a week ago, and only am now getting to posting the pictures here… saturday sitting was fun really. started out a grey quiet day, and then had some amiable chats with gallery visitors. one man who quilts may submit work for jurying - i’m excited! we really need more varied art - i’d love to have more jewelry there. ( visit http://www.westerlyarts.com and check out what we all do - if you’re an artist, consider applying for membership )

Some photos of the work this month - you know how I love to share my favorites! Just click them for a full size photo.