Adventures in Living!

Scooter Love

Ok, so yesterday, our friend Jennifer came by with her scooter. Travis has been talking about wanting one for a while, so she offered to let him try hers out.

It was so cool! He rode it all over the neighborhood, and even (carefully, slowly) let Wren stand on the floorboard while he rode up the driveway (don't panic, grandparents, I could walk faster than he was riding). She loved it.

Jennifer took me for a ride afterward, and I have to say, it was a total blast! I have no direct experience with motorcycles that I can recall....we're not a motorcycle type of family....but this was so much fun. It's a smooth ride, just fast enough, and hardly noisy at all!

At 100 miles to the gallon, it's a hell of a bargain in terms of gas mileage. Especially since Travis works four miles from our house. Obviously, you can't carry the little kids on it, so it would only be good for running errands, going to work, and tooling around town. Still, for the number of times that one of us leaves the house sans kids to go do something, it would be worth it.

I was surfing around, checking out prices and dealerships, and well, now I want one, too.

In red.

I (sorta) wish I was going to Pennsic...

This is mostly for my readers and friends who are familiar with the SCA...

There will be an auction held on August 7th, in the Atlantian Royal encampment at Pennsic. This is a private auction to benefit Duke Valharic and assist with the many medical expenses from Duchess Arielle's long struggle with breast cancer. There will be many beautiful items on auction, all from an amazingly talented HUGE group of people all around the world. I have donated two sets of lampworked beads to the auction to honor Arielle's memory and help Duke Valharic.

This set is a cobalt blue, Roman period in style and construction. Twelve beads with 3/32" bead holes.

And, because Arielle LOVED pink so much, and was also known in the SCA as Arielle the Golden, I am donating this smaller set of beads, "Pink Duchess":

They are so much more sparkly in person. This photo just doesn't do them justice. I think Arielle would have liked them. They also were made on 3/32" mandrels.

I hope that people who are going to Pennsic will attend the auction and maybe even bid on something wonderful. I know we all want to help out in some way. Hopefully, these beads will find a good home.

Status report

avoiding: chocolate chip cookies, candy and ice cream. For today, at least. Apparently my daily dose of these items is not helping my weight. Plus, I am exhausted from being up constantly with Noah for the past few nights. I tend to overeat -- especially sweets -- when I am very tired.

eating: leftover roasted potatoes, tomato salad, and a nectarine, all from the garden or the farm market.

feeling: too old for this getting-up-all-night-with-a-teething-kid crap.

watching: Wren discover some basic principles of magnetization and poles.

thinking: about a variety of things, none of which are very productive at the moment.

hoping: Noah feels well enough to sleep all night tonight.

wishing: I could take advantage of this rainy afternoon and pass out on the couch for a few hours.

loving: the fact that Wren is playing "farmer's market stand" with some of the veggies from our garden.

Remembering

I wish I was among the people who knew Courtney* well, the ones who are even now gathering to celebrate her and comfort each other. I was lucky enough to know her a little, and to have spent some time talking with her, mostly in the context of the SCA. What I am most proud of is the fact that she liked my work enough to ask me to make some things for her the last time she was Queen. She and Valharic, being Roman in personae for their reign, wanted some glass rings to give as tokens during the reign.

I still remember the night she came to me personally and asked if I would make them for her. It was the end of a horrendously LONG, COLD, occasionally miserable, day at the event of their Coronation in April, 2007. I was just barely pregnant with Noah, and had Wren at the event with us. We had roles in the event, so leaving wasn't really an option, and we had paid for feast, so we stayed and juggled Wren during the dinner. By the end of feast, I was exhausted, worried about how cold Wren had been during the day, and skeptical about cabin-camping with an 18 month old. As the tables were being cleared for dancing, Arielle came to me in the crowd and asked about my rings. She asked if it would be possible for me to make them as Queen's tokens for their reign. Of course, I agreed. I was so honored. I still am. She was incredibly gracious, taking the time to thank me personally at every opportunity, and wrote me a couple of thank you notes that I really need to make sure I still have. I think I made over fifty rings during the six or so months they were on Atlantia's throne.

I wasn't able to make it to their de-coronation event, being hugely pregnant by the September date. I learned later that day that I had been honored in absentia with an Undine Award by Arielle for my service in making her rings. I was floored.  And I was sorry I hadn't gone to the event. Because I didn't go to the event, I wasn't able to receive the medallion that is given with this award, a rondel with a golden 'A' on a blue field.

I wish I had that medallion now.

*Her 'real' name is Courtney, but her SCA persona name was Duchess Arielle the Golden, hence the reason I refer to her as Arielle in the text above.

So heartbroken

The world has lost another beautiful soul today. Rest in peace, C.
We love you and will miss you.

I love my friends

Aside from the fact that my friends are totally cool, pretty much ALL of them are supremely talented in one way or another. Among my friends I have jewelers, metal artists, glass artists, costumers, quilters, knitters, fantastic cooks, leatherworkers, writers, visual artists, and bakers.

This Sunday was all about the cake decorator, though. A friend and I threw a baby shower for another friend expecting her first child in August. We did all the food for the party,save for the cake. Our pregnant friend's sister is a professional baker and cake decorator, and we relied on ehr to make the cake. No way was I going to make a cake (something I do like to do, but am nowhere near trained to do) when Lynnze could do it so much better! This was the cake:
Isn't that amazing?? She did it all...baked the lemon poppyseed cake, and did all the sculpting and decorating. Granted, she does it professionally, but STILL....so amazing. I always love seeing her creations. Here is a detail shot of the baby:

And this is the side of the cake:

The detail was really incredible, and the cake was so delicious! I know everyone loved it.

This is definitely NOT a candidate for Cake Wrecks! Well, maybe for the Sunday Sweets entry....this cake is totally terrific!

Today was incredibly HOT and HUMID, typical summer-in-Richmond fashion. It was fantastic to see so many friends we don't get to see very often anymore, and I had a good time. A sweet way to end the week.

Aaarghh!

I haven't posted in a while, mostly because every time I thought of something good to write about, I would forget about writing it by the time I sat down at the computer.  I hate when that happens.

It's been an interesting few weeks, creatively speaking. I have been getting all kinds of fantastic ideas for new work, both glass stuff and other stuff, but I have been having a hard time making the visions become reality. I keep running up against a number of factors that are limiting my art-making. To begin with, I can't draw. Well, that's not entirely true. My drawing skills are...unrefined. It's not a simple task for me to sketch out an idea and have it look like something I can turn into a piece of art later. I can rarely make my sketches match my visions and that frustrates me.  I always see other artists' sketchbooks, where they work out ideas and plan projects, and I can never seem to do that. I know I shouldn't judge myself too harshly...I'm self-taught in everything I do, pretty much, so any drawing I can do that even remotely looks like what it's supposed to is a good thing.

Anyway....so.....what I really think my artistic issue is, is that I am having a hard time finding my 'voice'....making art that has depth and reflects my inspiration or thought process for the piece. Some of the work seems random and disconnected. I guess I shouldn't judge here, either, because art is truly individual and I know I spend too much time comparing myself with other artists. I just have such a hard time getting a project going and keeping it going and seeing it through to the end. I'm working on it though. I think it all just takes time to develop.

I have to say that I am also kind of sad about missing out on a glass class with someone I kind of idolize a little. Brad Pearson is a local glass artist who teaches fairly regular beginner classes at the Visual Arts Center (used to be the Hand Workshop, which I liked better...). I have been totally struggling with my glasswork lately, so I searched for and found his class....hooray, it starts in August!....and I registered and paid for it. Then later I got a phone call from the center that the class was actually full, so I'd need to call back and get a refund. I was upset, more than I thought I would be, actually. The likelihood that he will teach another class in the fall is pretty high, I think,  but I am feeling more than a bit desperate for some technical and creative help and inspiration and a chance to try out a dual-fuel torch. NOW. I have been burning and breaking glass and destroying colors and copper foil like a crazy person...everything I touch lately has turned to crap. Blah.

Hopefully when I call the art center, they can tell me if he will have classes in the fall. I hope so.

It's taken me about twelve actual tried to get this entry down, and although I am not sure if I have completely emptied my brain of all the junk flopping around in there, I need to be done. Noah has been in here at least six times, dragging me off the chair, and we need to get to the store for some things, too.

Picking up Kira for the weekend tonight! Hooray! I miss my girl.