Shop Update

Four kiln loads and the bronze is done. All the pieces have been given their patina bath. They've been sealed and packaged. They are ready to find new homes. I feel enormously pleased to have gotten so much done over the past week when I have been able to do so little over the past month, and really longer than that.

I'll update the Etsy shop on Sunday April 1st at 4 pm EST. I know it's April Fools Day. Things just happen in my life that way and I really am not fooling. It's gonna happen. I am ready to go. There are new beads. There are old favorites.

25 Beads

Yes, I know those are not beads. They are charms. Oh wait there are two beads sitting there off to the right. I have been in the studio. I have been working hard for 3 days straight. I made stuff - a lot of stuff. To be exact I made 25 beads, 53 charms, 10 pendants, 20 bead caps, and most likely some other things that I can't remember right now. All bronze, about 300 grams worth. I'm pretty sure that's a personal record. There are a bunch of new things too. I'm feeling rather pleased with myself. It's been a while since I was up to getting out there and spending time in the studio and it feels good.

These are boo boo beads. It has been so long since I made anything that I forgot my sizing and made the first parts too big. So I dug through my molds and made them into big focal beads that I wasn't sure about. But this morning I liked them. I can see them in bracelets which isn't unusual because I always see things in bracelets. I made some other boo boo beads that I actually thought first of in necklaces. But you can't see those. Sorry. They are experimental and I haven't quite got things worked out yet. I'll show you someday. Promise. Unless these boo boos turn out really ugly. Then I will just keep them to myself and pretend they never happened.

There are stacks and stacks of bronze pieces. Some waiting to be finished this morning. Some in the kiln, some in the tumbler. It's a bee hive of activity here. Which feels a lot better than sitting in a recliner watching television during the day. Toddlers and Tiaras .... I hang my head in shame. It's my daughters fault. When she was here she put on an episode for the amusement value as I was feeling pain and not at all amused with myself or anything else. It was like watching a train wreck. I really couldn't take my eyes off of it. But I am cured now.

And, drum roll, please....There will be an Etsy shop update soon. There will be lots of stuff. The wrens, nests, and bunnies will be back. Pretty much everything I have ever made in bronze and some new designs too.  Sorry, no ceramics. I am just not able to heft bags of clay yet or turn the seriously tough crank on the slab roller because it needs greased. Soon though. I'm thinking I will break my no internet on Sunday self imposed rule and do this Sunday afternoon. I'll let you know, OK? I'll post details here and on Facebook.

I just have to show you what I wake up to outside my bedroom window every morning right now. It is a  dogwood in full glorious bloom. It is stunningly beautiful and takes my breath away. It is a ginormous tree. I have never seen so many really huge dogwoods as the ones we have here. And I am not even in Texas where everything is bigger. I anticipate seeing some dogwood inspired designs in the future. I do love this tree.

Just before I go I wanted to show you one more thing that in a bizarre and probably twisted way makes me smile. My flamingoes tucked themselves into an embrace during the storms last weekend. It's like some kind of weird Dia de los Muertes installation in my garden. They just tickle me pink and are staying that way until they decide to pose themselves in some other way. BTW, my neighbor, nice man that he is, does not understand these flamingos.

But seriously, it feels so good to have turned this corner after surgery. I feel great and I am ready for the next step of treatment. I almost feel invincible. OK maybe not invincible but I do feel strong.

Waking Up

All around me spring is bursting into bloom. New wonders greet me everyday as the world wakes up from winter. I feel a little like spring. Maybe a lot like spring. I feel like I am just waking up from surgery, although it will be 3 weeks tomorrow. But each day I feel a little more awake. A little more like me.

My garden is all new to me. Who knew that there were tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths waiting there for me to discover this year. It's a whole new landscape that I had no idea existed when we moved here last June. My body is like a whole new landscape that was unimaginable last June. But there is beauty to be found in the altered topography that is me.

The cancer was large but still early with no evidence of spread. I feel lucky. I feel optimistic. I feel that each precious moment of life is mine to savor, to hold, to recognize as a great gift. To hold in my heart. Much as I hold in my heart all of your unimaginable out pouring of support and love. Each comment, email, card has been such a beautiful gift that reminded me to have hope while I've been getting on with the business of living.

I am slowly getting back into the studio. I've been too tired to do much and I have restrictions on lifting and little things like making sure I don't get cuts in my hands and yuk in those little cuts. There will likely be some changes to how I do things over the next few months. But Peter and I are working out the best way to do things. I need to be in my studio. I also need to be good to myself. Balancing act skill is not necessarily well represented in my life's tool box. But maybe this is the opportunity to learn a new skill set.

I start chemotherapy the first week of April. It's a reasonably short cycle of 4 that will be finished in June. I will most likely lose all of my hair but then I've always been looking for an excuse to wear flamboyant head wear. It is time to follow through. The chemotherapy will be finished in time to welcome my new grand baby into the world. Life is good.

Everywhere I look there is something new coming to life. The red buds and forsythia and flowering plums are a quiet riot of colour against the trees that are just now swelling with the first signs of green leaves to come. Life is good. Life is very good indeed. Life is full of promise and beauty.