for abby and jodie

unusual design tools I have known

Have you ever seen so many beautiful old trucks? On the way out to Little City last weekend, we passed an amazing junkyard, and stopped on the way home to take some pictures. They came out pretty well, and you can see how incredibly vast this site is - we couldn't even see the end of it from the road. It was fenced off, and we didn't have time to go exploring, so I just took pics from the road. The colors are amazing, and I've been looking at these pictures all week while I'm restocking the bead shelves. The first and last photos are my favorites, but there are interesting bits in all of them. Very cool stuff.

Little City of Rocks

Last Saturday Faith and I drove a little over an hour from Twin Falls and spent the better part of the afternoon hiking around in Little City of Rocks, just outside a tiny but prosperous farming town called Gooding. Apparently there are two Cities of Rocks, a big one in the opposite direction from Twin, and this smaller one. This one seemed fairly extensive to us - we only went about a mile and a half through the trails, and then spent a long while clambering about, before walking back the way we came. The trail appeared to go through the city and loop back on itself several miles further on, passing through a large study area and a deeper section of rock beyond where we turned around, but the "map," such as it was, consisted of a lumpy drawing of the City painted onto a faded board, divided into four sections, with no scale or legend. So it's anyone's guess how far the trail really extended, or even whether it was one trail or two separate ones.

In any case, the part we saw was extraordinary, and I'm sorry my photographs aren't better than they are. We took tons of them, but it's so bright out here and the landscape is pretty monochromatic, so they look washed out to me. In addition, the open spaces in Idaho are so very large that a photograph of pure landscape doesn't convey a proper sense of the magnitude of what you're looking at. The coolest part about City of Rocks was the absolute silence. There were several other cars parked at the head of the trail when we got there (and none by the time we got back), but we didn't see another soul while we were there, or hear them, or find any sign of anyone except the remains of a campfire about a third of the way in. There were four or five hawks riding the updrafts most of the time we were hiking, including one that flew right out of the sagebrush fifteen feet in front of us on the way down (a little unnerving, I must say), but even they didn't make a sound. I could hear the rocks scraping way over my head while Faith climbed and every little dislodged pebble was clearly audible. It was amazing.

These are a few of the pictures that turned out a little better. (Argh. Uploading and formatting drama. I had planned to caption these, but at this point I'm just sick of fiddling with this post. Sorry.)

Etsy Urban Hip, Week 5: Green Up, Twin Falls!

I love this little town. It's full of kind and friendly people, and they're all devoted to their beautiful state. The first thing people say when you meet them is "How do you like our Idaho?" Your Idaho is truly beautiful, and your resources, although they don't include water, are extensive. But you have to expand your recycling program. Cans and corrugated cardboard alone cannot save the planet; I know it can be a time-consuming hassle, and potentially expensive, but you can do it. You gotta do it. So don your snappy accessories (made, in some cases, with recycled and/or repurposed materials), and green up!

bayousalvage: Garden District vintage cut velvet and metallic lace cuff from New Orleans, $36.00

fringe: Doll-Baby Shrug, $64.00

boringsidney: Industrial Waste Mantilla, $35.00

talula: No. 055 Irish Rose, $32.00

leavesofglass: Chinatown Earrings, $18.00

Etsy Urban Hip, Week 4: Bright and Sunny

I'm out in Idaho visiting my sister for a couple of weeks, and it's really, really, really sunny up here in the higher elevation. Dry and bright and cloudless. For this week's showcase, I chose bright and sunny accessories in desert colors. I'm still having trouble with the links, so the captions are hyperlinked, rather than the photographs. (I am, as usual, ripping off my friend Dennice's wonderful ideas and trying a different format for this week's pictures. I hope they display a little better than my previous posts.)

boringsidney: Crazy Chip Bag Headpiece, $10.00
leavesofglass: Bloom Earrings, $22.00
bayousalvage: Key to the City Mojo vintage leather cuff, $18.00
fringe: Picnic Lariat, $45.00
talula: No. 008 Petit Talula charm necklace, $18.00

new thing

Abby and I also got some nice bonding time during my stay in Reno. Among other arty projects we both worked on, I made her a bracelet. I ran out of silver wire (surprise) and she took me to a bead shop to restock. Some African turquoise caught her eye, so I made her a bracelet. It turned out really well, and I thought I'd post a picture. She doesn't wear much jewelry, so I was very pleased that she asked for this piece, and even more pleased that she wore it every day I was there. It's a little hard to see (I only had one book with me for background, and it's not ideal), but you get the idea.

here comes the boy...

It was a long wait to meet my nephew Grant, but I finally did, and really, he's worth it. We got some quality bonding time in my four days in Reno. I got to get him up and feed him breakfast in the mornings, when he was still all cuddly. I'll try to keep the pictures to a minimum, but I'm really very proud, and we spent a lot of time posing him in hilarious ways, so there are several here. I took some of these, but Abby shot most of the ones of Grant eating and playing on the miniature golf course, so photo cred goes to her.

First, and most important, a Fawaz picture for Bethany. Fawaz is moving almost too fast to see, coming in for the tickle, and Grant readies himself for attack:
PDC, as Dad used to say.

The boy was excited to meet his aunt Faith...
...and to have his first lesson in chopstick use. Cheerios are easier than peas to pick up and hang onto. And when in doubt, grab the chopsticks with your hands to make sure they reach your mouth.



And while the rest of us played miniature golf, Grant climbed this tree for a better look. I swear. He kibitzed the entire game. This is how he looked after Abby's second hole in one.My brother, my sister, my nephew, myself (Grant's great-grandfather on my mother's side never got to meet him, but he'd have been proud of his budding golfer):
And last but not least, Grant's charming parents, and the reason he is so cute. Tim and Abby, thanks for a wonderful visit.
More tomorrow on the trip west and Twin Falls.

Etsy Urban Hip, Week 3: How to Attract a Hummingbird

My nephew's latest expression of excitement is to flap his arms up and down very, very fast while hyperventilating. His mother calls this The Hummingbird. So in honor of Grant's excitability, I offer this collection of charming fripperies with which to attract other excitable wildlife.



Update: I'm having problems getting the link to Fringe's darling Hothouse Shrug (the first picture) to work, so here's the url:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6032281. My apologies - all the other ones seem to work fine, but no matter how many times I cut and paste, or retype, it doesn't save the info for this one picture. Sigh.

je regret (did I spell that right?)

I regret that already I must take a week off from the Etsy Urban Hip promo concept - well, not so much a week off, as posting late. The featured items for this week will be posted on Sunday evening (sorry girls, I'm traveling). My public, please wait with bated breath...

blooming miracle

I kill plants; it's a known fact. I have an aloe, a cactus, and a philodendron, all known hardy survivors of even the worst gardener. And the philodendron struggles. A couple of months ago, I was given the dying-est of all houseplants, a miniature rose. I usually manage to kill these before they even leave my office, and this one looked no different - it was brown around the edges on the way home. But I cut it all the way back to the dirt, and watered it regularly (I know, I know, you're supposed to do that), and today I am proud to report that it's busting out in bloom! Ta da!

Swag

I'm a couple of weeks behind on this one, but I want to post it nonetheless. When Faith and Mom drove through Chicago on their way out to Twin Falls a couple of weeks ago, they stayed overnight with me. In addition to getting to spend a few brief hours with my family members, I also scored the following excellent items, that I'd like to take a moment to brag about:

First, a magnificent pair of vintage brass earrings that date back to my mother's hippy days, and which I convinced her to part with. I used to play dress-up with these when I was little, using them to set off a lovely yellow chiffon nightgown and matching wrap that I was especially fond of. I dressed them with something a little more appropriate and wore them out on the town on Friday. I received many compliments, and my cabby made a very hard play for me. I turned him down.

And second, a hilarious oddity that will really only be appreciated by anyone who grew up near Norwich, VT, where there is a very old general store called Dan and Whit's. This store is one of those magical hold-outs that never seem to change. It's actually quite trendy, and always has the latest thing in cheese and organic produce available, but you can also find garden hoses, thick wool plaid shirts, enameled tin cookware, sewing notions, Mad Libs, the Farmer's Almanac, hardware, light fixtures, bicycle pumps, WD 40, The New York Times and pretty much anything else you can think of to want within its labyrinthine walls. Shopping there is one of the things I most look forward to whenever I visit the homestead. The last time Faith was there, she discovered this gem, and brought me a bottle of it:

In addition to the fact that Dan & Whit's chose California merlot to represent them among oenophiles of the Upper Valley, there are two further hilarities associated with this bottle of wine. First, and most obviously, the picture, which is circa 1984, smack in the middle of my childhood (although, except for the make of the cars, it looks exactly the same now). And secondly, there is no year on this wine. It is without vintage. Excellent.

Getting my own logo

These charming notecards were created for me by the very talented Helen, the creative force behind Pepperina Press. She worked with me using my avatar from my shop on Etsy (which is a detail photo I took of pulp fiction cover art), and created this very cool vintage-themed image. I use these notecards in each order I ship out, noting design details of the jewelry my customer purchased, and thanking them for supporting both me and Etsy.
Thank you, Helen, for creating such a wonderful product just for me, and for being so supportive and complimentary about my own work! Everybody please check out Pepperina Press's website and shop on Etsy to see more of Helen's great "art for the art of writing."
http://www.pepperinapress.com/
http://www.pepperinapress.etsy.com/