Not much else going on at all, except working to save all our plants during this Texas heat wave. We get up around 6:30 am and  work in the two gardens until around 9 am, watering and weeding. Our “old” house, the wonderful octagonal nest we built when we first moved off the boat is surprisingly still for sale, so we go next door to take care of the flowers there first.  I know the economy excuses and etc. etc, however, really we just can’t figure out why this sweet house has not sold. So, anyway, the plants at the “old” house are thriving in spite of the heat, and the new ones we’ve planted in our zeriscape garden at our new house are too, thanks to our early rising diligence. It’s been hovering in the day to close to or over 100 degrees for it must be weeks now!

We built our new place mostly to accomodate Jim’s need for extra wide doorways and hallways – and my need (?) for a new studio. And we thought the original house was too perfect to remodel. It’s octagonal shape allowed us to nestle it into a lovely stand of oak trees, and we didn’t have to remove any of them to place it perfectly. Want to move to beautiful Round Top?  It’s not always this hot, promise. Check out the lisiting:http://www.trrn.com/detail.asp?PropID=62035

Oh, and here’s the Midland Septemberfest Poster.

I’m learning a new brand of patience. Many times people say to me when they hear I am a lampworker, “Oh, I could never do that – it would take so much patience!” Well, perhaps. I can’t say, since for me lampworking is  (mostly) pure joy in the process. I love what I do – love choosing the colors of the rods, love the zen trance like state I get into when I work, love the satisfaction of making what I consider a well executed bead, and especially love opening the kiln the next morning to see the goodies I have created.

As I talked with my sister about  how anxious I am to get back to the torch, and making beads, she  said. “Be patient. Remember what Daddy used to say to us,’We are acquiring patience.’ “  So I need to master the patience required to live through not being able to make beads. Seems I have already mastered the other kind, he he!

No new beads this week, only a photo of a  necklace I made prior to my week of acquiring patience.

Commitment rules my life.

I made a commitment in 1974 to Jim Foley. We married in 1977, and my commitment to him and our life together still rules today, 33 years later. Little did I know when I made the pledge “in sickness and in health” that Parkinson’s disease would crop its ugly head and test my vow time, and time and time again.  Jim was diagnosed with PD in 1991, shortly after we  moved aboard a 40 foot sailboat to sail around the world.  (Parkinson’s disease is a progressive, degenerative neuorological disorder. More info here). PD challenged us then and each day PD continues to challenge us to keep and meet our commitment to live full, active, meaningful, and useful lives.

As we set sail, and Jim’s physical abilities began to deteriorate and sometimes fail, we were tempted to despair, yet rose above the easy way out, the out that could have said “I quit.”  If I handed him a cup and he couldn’t grip it because of PD, and it dropped and broke, we swept up the pieces and started over. If his balance was unreliable, and he couldn’t go out on the deck of the boat without falling, we gave him a job in the cockpit, and I learned how to reef the sails as he would have done had he been physically able. The circumnavigation took us 10 years. We did make it around the world, and were both the better for fulfilling our commitment. We are enlivened by another vow,  our declaration to “Accommodate without surrender.” We will not let PD stop us from realizing our dreams.

Back on land in 2002 after our circumnavigation we decided to re-create the lives we’d led as artists and jewelers before we set sail. In the midst of that process, I unexpectedly fell in love with glass. We shifted gears, and made a new commitment, that of making me a star in the glass jewelry world. We needed to accommodate the limitations that PD put on Jim’s jewelry making techniques anyway. When his hands shake, and he can’t solder because of it, then he picks up the pieces and starts over again. Since I’m making the glass beads, he doesn’t have to set gemstones anymore if PD won’t let him. If the beads I make don’t seem good enough to me, I keep making more until I’m satisfied with my creations. When PD imbalance and freezing knocks Jim to the floor, he picks himself up and starts over. If because of PD Jim can’t do much at all physically, I take up the slack. Together we realize our dreams. We  accommodate, we do not surrender.

Commitment rules: a commitment to each other, a commitment to continuing creativity, a commitment to self-expression, a commitment to love.

Thanks to Art Bead Scene for providing the challenge to write a post on the topic of commitment.

Follow the link, and see what other bead artists have written on this topic.  

 ”Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the live you have imagined.” Henry David Thoreau

We’ve recently returned from Dallas, and are now looking forwardto our next show, the Texas Arts and Crafts Fair in Kerrville. I took a much needed break yesterday, catching up on grocery shopping, house cleaning, reading, etc. And good grief, I needed it too, since as I walked back in the front door, my arms full of groceries, a scorpion struck! OWW, did that hurt. It stung me right on my ankle. I kicked off my sandals, killed the culprit, only to discover through out the rest of the afternoon, 7, yes SEVEN, more of the nasty creatures. They must have  a nest right by our front door, and they seem to be sneaking in through a little gap in the weather stripping. Got to fix that!

Well, life in Texas I suppose – yet we have never had this type of invsion before. I am cautiously checking everywhere I walk, especially since I pad around barefooted.

My sketchbook is overflowing with ideas. I’ll be back on the torch today – and if I can just get those scorpions out of my mind ……………….

So all I have time for is a copy of the City Arts e-mail reminder.  If you make it to any of my shows, please introduce yourself.

One days' Beads Fresh out of the Kiln

As soon as I heard the word, anticipation, for April’s Art Bead Scene blog, I thought of the song by Carly Simon. Listen to “Anticipation” here if you don’t remember it. Even though I can’t get the tune out of my head  the lyrics don’t all ring true for me. My take on anticipation revolves more around trust and excitement. Trust that what I believe to be true will produce a positive outcome – and excitement in looking forward to the realization I anticipate.

As a glass beadmaker, I am constantly anticipating. After all, I don’t  see the results of what I create today until the next morning. No matter what else is going on in my life, I  wake up excited when I know there are beads waiting to come out of the kiln. How great is that – like Christmas or a birthday every day!  

Flowers in the Arboretum Before the Snow

I also experience anticipation when scheduling shows in which to sell my creations. This past week the anticipation didn’t pan out as  imagined, since the weather in Dallas was wet, freezing, and it  snowed! The show was cancelled on Sunday, so all that anticipation and expectation of a really good first show of 2010 froze along with the snow flakes. In the case of Artscape, a line from Carly’s song did ring true “I’m no prophet, I don’t know natures way.”

The Arboretum and Tents In the Snow on Sunday

I’m blessed with a loyal following, and  customers tell me how how much they anticipate my being back in their town with all my goodies. Thanks to them, we did  fine in Dallas is spite of the weather, and I took some orders too. Another example of trust and anticipation. These fabulous customers (and you know who you are) -  trust me to make something they will love, and are willing to wait a week or two to receive their treasures. I love doing the orders. I anticipate making the beads,  and the jewelry especially for them. So here’s a little sneak preview of one of the orders I just finished.  This fun bracelet will go out to its owner on Monday. Thank you, and all the other customers who allow me to have the best job in the world!

A true circle of trust, anticipation, and love.

Special Order Bracelet for a Customer

 

Art Bead Scene has a challenge every month. For March, a painting by Van Gogh was chosen. I LOVE this painting, and went to work right away making the glass beads. I didn’t have the exact color blue that I wanted, so I used a transparent blue I had on hand, and then rolled each bead in a deep blue enamel. That gave the base bead a nice painterly feeling. The branches are applied stringer, made with silvered ivory glass. And the blossoms from a mixture of white and very pale pink glass. Two flowers made from clear glass rolled in frit completed the glass beads.

The finished beads hung out on my bead board for a while until I found a little branch Jim cast in silver. Perfect! I pulled out some bits of antique chain, some links Jim made, and others, arranged and rearranged them all, and my “Branches with Almond Blossoms” burst into bloom. Ah, welcome spring.

Meanwhile, Saturday Beads for Sale slid by without a nod. We went to Houston on Friday (always a challenge for us, we are no longer city traffic friendly). However, we did our medical chores, and afterwards, I enjoyed shopping at Rings and Things. I buy a lot of my findings from them, and gemstones as well. I love to pick out the beads I purchase  in person, so I enjoy their once a year hotel show in Houston. Therefore, no torch work on Friday this week, nor Saturday either, as I spent most of yesterday re-painting all my booth displays for my first show of 2010, coming up in Dallas next week.