Prelude to Summer

We have had almost a week of nice weather. In fact, it was over 80 yesterday! I've been spending a lot of time on the beach, picking up beach glass and the odd chiton or China hat, but really, just soaking up the sunshine and loving living five blocks away from such a lovely stretch of water and sand. I am sooooooooo lucky.

I am getting inspired to do a painting (or two) of the beach. I have been struck by the sheer joy and unabashed delight I see in the body language of children---playing in the sand, building sand castles, digging to China, throwing rocks or just hunkering down to look at some thing that caught their eye. The more I watch, the clearer the mental picture is becoming. I hope that pretty soon I'll feel compelled to take paintbrush in hand and try and get what I see in my head onto canvas. With that in mind I have been taking a lot of photos of children. I have had to be careful that I don't give any wary parent the idea that I am stalking their precious off spring and I have spoken to several parents about the fact that I'm getting images for a painting or two I have planned and have gotten permission to take the pictures. I try not to get any photos of children with their faces clearly shown or anything that would be recognizable, as it's the body language that I want, not their particular face. So far, no one has said no, but no would be a very acceptable answer. (I did show one mother the photos of her little one I'd taken to make sure that they met with her approval, and they did.) I have to be careful, though---I'm not trying to be a creepy stalker!

I finished the thank you note/box I made for Teesha Moore and got it packaged up and sent off to her today. I am very happy with how it turned out, especially the elephant thank you note itself. I used a cigar box as my base and then went with a circus theme. Bee told me how much Teesha loves anything circus, so I thought that I'd start there and see what developed. I found some old circus photos, including a great one of circus clowns on elephants. I reduced the photos and put them onto the cigar box lid, that I had previously covered with bright papers that made me think 'circus.' I used ribbon to decorate the box and also as a hinge and stoppers (to keep the lid from opening too far). Inside I placed two popcorn bags from Barnum and Bailey Circus that I bought on eBay. In the smaller one I put one of those silly Fortune Telling Fish, the ones we used to get a hundred million years ago when I was little and in the larger, an elephant decorated with "Circus ArtFest" on a blanket on one side and the actual thank you note to Teesha (and Tracy, too) on the other. Inside the lid I used some clown items I got in a bag of ephemera ages ago and a little pin I found that said, "One clown short of a circus, now, aren't we?" That seemed appropriate! I packed the box carefully in a larger cardboard box and then used real peanuts, in the shell, as my packing material. I thought that was inspired....but maybe it was just silly? Then I decorated the package with a circus tent for the addressee and a blue balloon for my return address. I found some more clown images that I used here and there on the box and all in all, it was quite festive. I hope Teesha likes it. I surely had fun making it for her.

I bought a little craft sewing machine that arrived today. The first project I have in mind for it is the 100 recipe cards I need to do for the recipe swap for the opening event at Art & Soul in Portland in October. I have decided to use the watercolor crayon drawing I did last summer of a fig cut in half as the front of the recipe card and then on the back I'll have my recipe for fig and pine nut salad with lemon vinaigrette. I plan to reproduce the fig drawing on watercolor paper and then print out the recipe on card stock. Then, I'll just sew the two pieces together to add some interest and I think it will be cheaper than using my Xyron machine for adhesive and faster, too. At least, that's the theory! I like the idea and think I can slam them together pretty quickly. Well, as quickly as these monster projects ever "slam" together, anyway.

Susan P is home from her cruise and things are moving along for the festival. Last night a bunch of the foundation and festival people attended the City Council meeting as a Proclamation of our 50th anniversary was read. Darlene McLellan accepted the "honors" on behalf of the foundation/festival and Ann McD, our eldest volunteer who is still actively volunteering during the festival, was honored. It was sweet and I was happy I took the time to go. (Rune and I cut out immediately after and went off to the movies, as it was date night. We saw Georgia Rule, and while it was a much darker film than I expected from the trailer and from the ususal sort of movie Gerry Marshall directs, it was good---not great, but good. I was especially impressed with Lindsey Lohan. I didn't realize what a good little actress she really is.) Tomorrow night is the opening reception for the 50 Year exhibit at the museum, besides being Third Thursday. I need to attend the museum reception, at least for a while, and then I'll go walk around town and check out the new exhibits at the galleries. I love doing that. We did very well drumming up new volunteers at the two Saturday markets we "worked" this year. Over 40 separate shifts came out of our push for new volunteers and I have some names of people who want to be contacted next year but were unable to attend this year for various reasons, travel being the biggest one. Next week is our second, and last, volunteer meeting at ArtWorks. I hope we can fill in a lot of our empty slots then. I think we are on track but this is nail biting time as I have no real idea how many more people we'll get to sign on and we need a lot more to fill most of our empty spaces.

Susan P is working on making the airline reservations and the ferry and hotel arrangements for the trip to Alaska. We're all on board. I spoke with both the Sand(y)(i)s last week and we decided to make the trip August 18 through the 29th. It should be great fun and I'm really looking forward to going to Sitka. I've always wanted to go there. It'll be great fun to see some of Alaska with the Three Ss'! More on the Alaska trip later.

Recognition

I have sold a grand total of 12 charms to Barb at Bluefish Design! I think she really likes them. She likes them enough to pay me real money for them. It's been fun looking through my art and my photography and trying different things to see what makes a good charm and what doesn't. I have also been experimenting with different photography paper and have discovered that I like the HP heavy matte paper the best. I seem to get the best color saturation and the detail is good. The lacquer works well on the paper, too. I have been making more charms for my art bracelet, too, as it's nice to have most of the things I like the best on the bracelet. After all, had I not been wearing my bracelet when I wandered into Bluefish that day, I never would have known that there is a market for these charms. One of the sales clerks at my favorite local dress shop really likes them too, as does a clerk at C'est La Vie. Perhaps I should start brainstorming other places where I could sell the charms, perhaps on a simple silk cord. It might be fun to see. Maybe in the fall when things quiet down!

Barb told me that she had made a first piece, a necklace, with the banana leaf charm she bought. She was planning on wearing it herself on her trip to Hawaii next week, but a customer saw it on the counter and said, "I want that. How much?" So Barb sold her necklace. (I gave her a banana leaf charm as a thank you gift, so she can make another necklace for herself.) I loved that it sold so quickly. Perhaps they'll sell well and Barb will want more? Wishful thinking, I fear, but time will tell.

Barb plans to put several pieces featuring the charms in a front window display and had come up with "We've been charmed by local artist Michele....". She insisted I give her a very short artist's statement and I had more trouble writing that one sentence than I've had writing anything for years! My first attempt was about a hundred thousand words, all stilted and icky and the more I pared it down, the drier and duller it got. I asked Connie to help me and he came up with something that you would expect to find included in some sort of electric appliance package, to ward off possible legal problems. He'd have made a good lawyer! Then I got Nonie involved and while she was helping me I came up with, "Local artist, MU, uses her original art and photography as the basis for creating these charms and pendants." Finally came up with ONE SENTENCE that said what I wanted it to say. Sheesh! I could have written the Great American Novel with the energy it took to write that silly sentence. Why do I always seem to make things harder than they have to be?

I was in ArtWorks the other night, picking up my mail, and found this oddly bubble-wrapped package in my box. It had a note attached that said "It's IN!" and I was thinking, "In what? Huh? What IS this?" when it finally dawned on me that my miniature painting has been juried into the show at the festival next month! Talk about slow on the uptake! I somehow resisted the almost over-powering impulse to shriek and shout and dance about in an insane manner as there was an art class going on and I didn't want any witnesses. I had to calmly walk out of ArtWorks, not shouting nor shrieking and act like an adult. It was difficult. It amazes me that I've applied to the show twice and gotten in both times. What a joy that is---recognition by other artists that your work is good, at least to the jury members. They aren't family, they don't have a clue who you are, they are just picking things that they like by whatever criteria they use to select pieces for the show. Some stranger is saying you did well. That is a great feeling!

Tomorrow is the second of two volunteer drives at the Saturday Market. It was fun last week being at the first market of the season, even though we were woefully short of people to help out. There were just too many things going on last week. Tomorrow looks fully manned, if everyone shows up who signed up. I won't have to press Nonie into service this week. This is meant to be something that the board does to gather new people. Nonie shouldn't have to fill in---and tomorrow she won't have to!

I talked with Sandi from Wenatchee and Sandy from Alaska and we have decided that the our trip to Alaska for Susie's 65th birthday will be August 18 through the 29th. Susan ordered us to figure out the dates while she was away on her cruise and I fear she would have been most put out with us had we not done as she asked. It was fun to talk to them both. I'm not even sure where all we are going to go while in Alaska, but at least I know when I'll be there! It's going to be quite a busy summer with the art festival, leaving for South America and the Galapagos Island ten days after the festival, then coming home and, boom!, Annie, Chris and Alex will be coming for two weeks. I will head out to Alaska three days after they leave. I am going to be sleeping most of September, I think! And then Art & Soul in Portland starts on October 2nd. No wonder I never seem to get the ironing done!

I have begun the process to try and get into the clay group that meets at the Francis Anderson Center. I went to their sale and show today and spoke with Fran. It seems that there are only two openings in the day group (and none in the evening group) and there may well be three applicants. It might take a while before there is an opening for me and then it's a six month trial period, so the group can be sure that you are a good fit and that you slot well into their existing "family." I also met the other two board members, Tina and Jan, both lovely ladies. I think it would be a great group to belong to, and I would love to have access to a studio with a slab roller. They buy their clay by the ton, too, so there is a considerable savings there. If I get in, I'd have a key so I could work in the studio whenever I wanted, except when the night group is meeting. I will go a week from Thursday and meet the day group and let them get a look at me. I hope this works out. Having a full fledged clay studio with most of the "toys" two blocks from the house seems like a dream come true....

Must go photocopy the schedules so I'm ready for the morning. I'm meeting Rune for breakfast at 7:45---I need to go to bed!

Lilac Time

I have been very slothful about writing. It's been over a month since I returned from ArtFest and not one entry. Tsk tsk! ArtFest was everything I had hoped for, and more. I went to Port Townsend a day early, on Tuesday, and spent the night at a nice B&B called The Lemon Tree. It was nice to have a day to myself to get into "art mode" and to leave mundane thoughts behind and begin to focus on making art. I went to a lot of my favorite shops and galleries in Port Townsend, did some shopping and a lot of looking and had a wonderful, quiet time. I splurged and took myself to dinner at Wild Coho, which is uptown, and had a truly delightful meal. Great food, fantastic service and a lovely wine list. I can't recommend the restaurant more.

On Wednesday, I spent a lot of time in the morning at the beach. I found some good shells but it was the lovely day that drew me to the water. The sky was blue and although it was a little breezy and cold, I had a great time. The only real problem was that I had managed to leave home without a coat! I didn't realize what I'd done until I was on the ferry. I did manage to find a nice car coat on sale in PT, but I felt like the fool I am. Who would leave home without a coat in March? That's just dumb!

I was in line for check-in at three and got my packet and did some shopping at the tables Teesha and Tracy had set up. I turned in my piece for the gallery, my koi 8 by 8, and then went down to my dorm, 225, and found my room. It was small, comfy and just enough. I had a single iron bedstead, a desk, a dresser and a clothes rack for my hang ables. I wasn't too far from the bathrooms and very near the exit door. I must say, I rather loved my little room. It made me wish I'd been able to have a single while I was in college, as the freedom to read or write or sleep whenever I wanted was a great luxury and one I didn't have in college, when I had to consider the needs of my roommates. Well, 35 years (or more!) later and my dream of a single had come true.

Dinner Wednesday night was the usual trading frenzy. I made a lot of trades and had a good time doing so. So many creative people and so very many fantastic charms, ATCs, goodie bags and bookmarks. I lost count of how many items I traded, but it was a lot. After dinner we had the opening talk in the conference center and after that I got my ATC fatbook and my first sight of Bee for the year. The ATC book was amazing and stuffed full of wonderful ATCs. I love it! Bee, with the help of &drew, did a great job of making the books with pockets so the ATC could have lots and lots of embellishments. Clever design and wonderful covers. Bee rules!

On Thursday I had a class with Carla Sonheim called "Voice Lessons" in which we were lead through a variety of different types of art in the morning and then encouraged to work with the medium we most enjoyed in the afternoon. I did watercolor portraits and while I over-worked most of them, as is my usual frustrating method, I did manage to stay loose and do one that was light and airy and fun. In fact, it rather looked like a young Aunt Margaret (or maybe it's Aunt Mary---hard to tell)! It was fun to do and I enjoyed my time with Carla a lot. She is a very nice lady and a good teacher---kind, insightful and full of good ideas.

Friday morning those of us who are members of the Photo Journal group met. It was fantastic to meet all these amazing women face to face. There are several of us from this area---Bothell, Mill Creek and Edmonds. Cathy Anderson turns out to be a tiny little redhead from South Africa, with a delightful smile, a wonderful accent and just brimming with enthusiasm and energy. She's amazing! We all agreed that we would make little mini photo albums for each other with photos from ArtFest. I have been working hard on mine and just got them mailed off to Cathy today. Since I am just about to be buried in EAF duties, it seems like I must get all these art projects I've committed myself to, done and mailed off. (I still have to do a page for the art journal group by June 7, I have pages due for the photo journal group by June 1st and I have just signed on to do a fatbook swap for Art and Soul in Portland---34 pages for that one. I must be demented.)

Friday was my class with Ann Bagby. What an experience that was! I love Ann's work and have been eagerly reading all her articles in the mixed media magazines for some time now. She does amazing things with acrylic paint, paper and stamps, making what she calls "complicated paper." We worked making backgrounds in the morning with some of her papers and anything of ours that we'd brought and then in the afternoon we learned about different methods of glazing and gesso-ing and altering the paper to use in our art. I did a torn paper couple of men that turned out to be rather Mongol-looking---fierce, funny and fun. I also did a goddess stencil that I used on the three panels of background paper I had created. I had so much fun in Ann's class that once I returned to my room, I could hardly wait to start working on my items again and really sort of rushed through Vendor's Night. Then I stayed up waaaaaaaaay too late, to well after one AM, working on what I had started in class, but I was on a roll and loving it. The two Mongol figures are my especial favorites, but the stencil goddess lady got turned into an Indian lady, complete with gold jewelry and a red and white sari. It was such fun! The only problem was that my room looked like an art bomb had gone off and while I can leave a studio in a huge, arty mess, I cannot sleep in a room with a huge arty mess. My OCD kicks in and it's just an impossibility to close my eyes until things are neat again. So, there I was, cleaning my room at 1:30 in the morning. When I got up on Saturday morning, I found the acrylic paint neatly stowed with my unguents and lotions...that could only happen at ArtFest!

Saturday morning was not so much fun as I was seriously under slept....I managed to get to my class on time, with Linda and Opie O'Brien. I shared a table with Deb Denton, of the Teesha and Tracy Moore thank you journal fame, someone I had been hoping to meet and hadn't connected with. Deb turns out to have a bent, wacky sense of humor, rather like mine, and the fact that the two of us were sharing a table was probably not the best idea.....but, my, did I enjoy her and I had a great time. I can't say I loved the earrings we made, but I learned how to patina metal and punch metal and make connections and I really got my money's worth. Not my favorite class, but the fact that I was so tired might have had something to do with it! Nice people, Linda and Opie, and they have obviously been married a long time as they have the old married couple bickering down about as well as Connie and I do!

It was hard to think that ArtFest was over on Sunday morning but I had arranged to meet Bee in PT, and we spent a long time shopping. We went to the gallery where I had put a madrone wood bowl on hold so I could pay for it. It's a thing of beauty, made my PT artist Hilda Winter (or maybe it's Winler, hard to read her writing on the bottom of the bowl). The bowl is very red with black spots and gold, red paint and it is mostly dyed, I understand. I love it. We went to the antique mall and Bee found all sorts of goodies and I found a wonderful photo of 1920s bathing beauties for my bathroom at Grant Creek. We shopped until almost 5, then headed for Edmonds. Bee and I had dinner at the Italian restaurant and then made an early night of it as we were both exhausted. The next morning we met Nonie for coffee then went to the beach. We spent all day on the beach and I think Bee had a very good time. I know I did! She had to pack up all her things for the trip back to Nantucket and that took quite some time. Glad I didn't have to negotiate an airport with the baggage she had. It was sad to say good bye but I am hopeful she'll come back next year, early, and stay after ArtFest, so we can really "do" the beach and maybe some gallery sleuthing in Edmonds. She is a darling and I miss her.

I had such a good time at ArtFest that I decided to take the plunge and I've signed up for Art & Soul in Portland in October. I will be down there from October 2 through the 8th. I'll have a room to myself at the Airport Sheraton and I got into both the classes that Ann Bagby is teaching. I also managed, somehow, to get into Sally Jean Alexander's "Soldering for Virgins" class. That one I REALLY need! My soldering is abysmal! The only downside to Art & Soul is that I won't be able to do south for Alex's 2nd birthday. It's too close to when I have to leave for Portland. Maybe I can get down there a little later in the autumn....I hope so!

Kellie brought Emma over about a week ago and we met Granty at Brackett's Landing. Emma had a good time but seems to be very frightened that a crab will come and bite her. I had to carry her most of the time we were on the beach, even after we ran into the Ranger who explained to Emma that if the crab is smaller than a an adults finger and thumb touching, it can't pinch you because it's pinchers won't open far enough.....she was dubious, to say the least. We did look hard for a baby crab but were unable to find one. We had lunch at Claire's and then sent Emma home with a dollhouse. Kellie and Don report that she loves the dollhouse so I have gone back to the toy store and bought furniture for her birthday gift. I'm ready for September 16th!

I was in the local little jewelry shop, BlueFish, were Barb and her minions make lovely bracelets, necklaces and earring from beads and baubles. I was wearing my bracelet I made to feature my artwork and Barb loved it and seems to be quite interested in buying some ready made charms of mine to use in her jewelry. She thought it would be fun to do a window display, with "original designs by BlueFish featuring artwork by local artist...." blah blah blah. I am really excited, if somewhat stunned. I have been working on making up some charms to take in to show Barb. I have made some featuring my photography as well as my artwork, because I think some of my images make nice pendants. I did one with two gulls sitting on a roof that I took down along the waterfront last summer, and had a lady admire it in a local shop today, asking where I had gotten the pendant! Maybe there will be a market for these??? That would be so much fun.

It's full on spring now. There are blooming lilacs, rhoddies, shrubs, trees, bushes, plants everywhere you look. It's a beautiful time of year, and I love to watch the hostas in the yard explode out of the ground (and before the slugs find them!). Everything is fresh and new. Ah, live is beautiful

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the day. I will leaver for Port Townsend sometime in the morning (after coffee with Nonie first, of course). I will get to fritter away the day, visiting all my favorite shops and galleries, walking on the beach if I wish, taking pictures and THE BEAD STORE will be my first stop. As always. I am really excited to be going---ArtFest has finally rolled around again. I have all my class materials packed in separate containers, every item double checked and packaged neatly. I have all my trades either in little bags (the charms) or in envelops (the ATCs) and those are packed into ziplock bags, pre-sorted. I got my charm bracelet finished and put together with little charms of my own artwork. I am really happy with how it turned out and think it'll be fun to add other charms that I might get as trades to it. It looked so naked without anything on it....I had to do something! I bought a little hot water kettle today that I can have in my dorm room to make tea at will. I have a stack of art magazines and more books than I could read in a month all packed up to take along for the non-existent "free time" I seem unable not to anticipate having! What free time??? It's ArtFest---I'll be busy and running from dawn to late at night! I even have my copy of 1000 Journals so I can get it signed by Someguy, who is supposed to be at ArtFest. That would be cool.

Lise left this morning to go stay with her old workmate, Heather. I was sorry to see her go. It's going to be a long time before we meet up again and I'm sorry that I won't be able to see her for her entire visit. Can't be helped, of course, but it does make me sad. Too bad her visit and ArtFest had to overlap. Rune and Lise went south yesterday and met up with Loyal and LeRoy, Jan's cousins, and had a good family reunion. I gather that Rune was a huge hit with Kerry Anne's daughter. She stuck to him like glue after an initial period of shyness. Rune, the kid magnet! I saw a few photos of Loyal and LeRoy and was surprised to see that LeRoy has white hair and beard now. Of course, when I thought back, I haven't seen him in something like 15 years, or more, so I guess it's not that surprising! They both look much the same, hair color aside. Loyal just had her gall bladder removed and she remarked to Lise that "everything else I have inside I need." I guess so!

I wrote to Jim at Vaya Adventures, asking about adding a side trip to Machu Picchu and he responded that it is easily do-able. It seems that other than an airline glitch about getting home via Lima, Peru with our existing ticket issuing agency (Cheap Tickets), all the added segment would require is some as yet determined amount of money. I think that can be over come. Nola is really committed, I am less so as I have promised Susan and the Sandys that I will go to Alaska in the last summer or early fall. I have to balance the cost of that trip with the cost of Ecuador, the Galapagos and Peru. Oh for a winning lottery ticket. Too bad you have to buy one to win!

Time to go do the laundry and to pack up my clothes. I have to be ready to hop the ferry tomorrow so the 2007 ArtFest Adventure can begin.

Countdown to ArtFest

Only two more days and I leave for Port Townsend and ArtFest. I managed to finish my 8 x 8 canvas so I can have an entry in the 8 x 8 gallery. I had forgotten about that, as I am wont to do, and so had to work fast the other day to get the tropical fish mounted nicely on the canvas. The canvas itself posed quite a challenge as I had to go to about five stores to find the correct dimension. I could find every other sized canvas known to the western hemisphere, but no 8 x 8s. I finally found two at Aaron Brothers. Snapped them up in a hurry, I can tell you! I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I really don't like working in acrylics but it wasn't so bad and they did match quite nicely with my Caran d'Ache that I used on the original watercolor/crayon painting. It turned out to a mixed media piece, something I have done very few of, so that's fun. The dining room table is covered with things I absolutely need for class, probably need for class, might need for class, probably don't need for class but I might take them anyway and a lot of stuff that just needs to be properly put away so it's not in a huge pile (read: mess) when I return on April 1st. That would be a bad April Fool's joke on me. Having three separate classes this year requires a little more careful packing than last year when I had only one class. I am trying to get things sorted and arranged so that it'll be easy to grab what I need for each day easily and so I also won't forget to bring some important component. I also need to remember my trades (I have three kinds), my charm bracelet, dog tag, TTMoore Thank You journal necklace and my journal and journaling tools. It's building up to be quite a large pile and I am wondering if I'll be able to cram any clothes into the Miata after I load all my art supplies! Well, how many clothes do you need to work in, anyway? A toothbrush really doesn't take up that much room. I have been faithfully reading the Yahoo list for ArtFest and it's easily seen that I am not (nearly) the only one who is excited to the point of not sleeping well or long. Many, many others have posted that they are waking up really early or can't sleep at all, aren't getting any work done at their jobs and others seem to spend all their time online writing about where, when and what they are planning for their ArtFest trip. We are a chatty group, that's for sure!

I am really excited to be able to see the Teesha and Tracy Moore Thank You journal in person. The photos that Deb posted to the website were amazing and it really whetted my appetite to see the completed journal. I did my page so long ago and we all had to be sooooooo quiet about it so the surprise for Teesha and Tracey would not be spoiled, that until I went back through my photos I had forgotten what I'd done. I used the reposse techniques that I learned last year at ArtFest from my class with Beckha Krahula's class to do my letter, "Y". I was really happy with how it turned out, especially after I cut out some of the backing paper around the letter and inserted dark blue vellum. I used a lot of gold on the page, something I had not done before and I forced myself to use my own handwriting on the page rather than printing it out on the computer or stamping it with alphabet stamps. It seemed more personal to use my own handwriting, even though I think it looks sloppy and messy. It was hard to believe that the journal will be published in a magazine in the fall in Stampington Inspirations. I am really looking forward to seeing that issue!

Lise has been having a lot of fun during her visit here, I think. The other night she made her famous Chicken Rice and Curry for dinner because it was one of Rune's demands of his mother during this stay. (The other is that he wants her to bake him his favorite chocolate cake, which she will next week.) As Lise was deboning the chicken, Orcie decided that contrary to his first impression of her, she now seemed to be quite a fine, fine human. Lise kept dropping little chicken tidbits down to him and when she wasn't fast enough with the goodies, he "helped" her along. (The pig.) Besides cooking for her son, she's been shopping, has met up with old friends at a local watering hole and even managed to connect with several of the ladies she used to work with at the liquor store. One of them has kindly offered her a place to stay next week when she has to move because of my departure to ArtFest. I'm glad she won't have to stay in a motel after all. I'm sure she'll be much happier with Heather. Susan had all the Jocks for lunch at her home on Tuesday so Lise got a chance to catch up with the other Susan, Cathy and Ellie, too. The food was delicious and we didn't begin to make our exit until well after three o'clock. I'm glad that we all got a chance to be together again, like old times. Cathy invited Lise, Rune and me to dinner on Friday and boy, was that fun. Cathy made a spaghetti feast for us and we all ate way too much. Mac took me off to his office while the others played Spite and Malice and showed me his photos from both the Belize trip and the latest trip to Mexico. They had some close encounters with blue whales that were amazing---they could actually touch the whales as they went by the boat. I think Mac had a great trip and I know Cathy did. It was fun to catch up with Mac as it's been a long time since I've seen him. One morning Susan and I even managed to convince Lise to help us stuff the volunteer letters into their envelopes, so we now have all the letters ready to be mailed on April 2nd. What a relief to have that job done! I dread that one each year---for many reasons, but mostly because it's just so boring to stuff over 400 envelopes!

Nonie and I went to a program on Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands this morning that was held at The Savvy Traveler. The program was good but the photos were great. Just looking at all the fantastic shots that were projected on the screen made me realize I had to get my old, large Canon digital camera out of storage and get it trip ready. It takes such superior photos and what if something went wrong with my other camera and I was all that way from home without a working camera? It might just kill me! The program showed some photos of Machu Picchu and the woman who was narrating said something about if you were planning only one trip to South America in your life time you really shouldn't miss a chance to see Machu Picchu. After the presentation was over we headed off to a local coffee shop and talked it over. We decided to talk to Jim at our travel agency, the place that has arranged the rest of our trip, and see if we can add a Peru and Machu Picchu segment, and if so, how costly would it be. If it's possible and not outrageous, I think we'll do it. I mean, how can you get that close and not go?

One Week to ArtFest!!!!

I might be getting a little excited about ArtFest.....I keep waking up at 5 in the morning with my head full of trades and classes and looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. I can't wait to see Bee again, and it's not just that she is coming with the ArtFest ATC books. She reported on the group list that 70+ of us participated and it'll be amazing to see all the different little gems of art that were created. I can't wait to see the books that Bee designed (and &drew helped manufacture) to hold the ATCs. Bee says that they will have pockets to hold the cards rather than binding the ATC into the book. Clever! The Photojournal group is planning on having breakfast together on Friday morning in the coffee shop and we'll take a walk together if we can find a mutually agreeable time. I can't wait to meet Catherine and all the others---well the other six who'll be at ArtFest, anyway. The TTMoore Thank You Journal group will all be wearing their necklaces that Deb so kindly made each of the participants, so I am planning on looking for my fellow contributors. Bee Shay will also be doing something with the 2006 Dog tags. I have mine ready to go to ArtFest, to take part in the display she has planned. I have worn it on and off for most of the past year. It's looking a little 'used', but then, it was supposed to look as if it had spent eons in the sea, so I guess that's a good thing!

Lise arrived last Thursday night and it's been non stop ever since. Rune, understandably, has been here a lot. Friday night Lise, Rune, Nonie and I had a lovely, fun dinner at Anthony's Home Port. Lots of laughing and giggling, a little drinking, a lot of eating and good conversation. It was fun. We realized at one point during the evening that we were all sporting band aids on our fingers (Lise and I gave blood earlier in the day and the band aids were from where our fingers were stuck for the iron in the blood test). Rune got the idea to put silly faces on them so I had to take a photo to mark the occasion. We were having a grand old time, that's for sure! Rune squired Lise and me all over on Saturday and Sunday---a Costco run here, Michael's and Linens and Things, etc. I got most of the supplies I was lacking for ArtFest and Lise got a Bed in a Bag, that Rune will post back to Norway for her (as it would take up an entire airline seat to fly it home!). It was nice to spend time with both of them. They also went off and found where the Norwegians are hanging out these days now that the Wild Horse has closed, and Lise saw quite a few of her old pals and got caught up with their comings and goings. She went to a jazz evening last night with Rune, and while most of the old gang, those that still live here, were there, the jazz was not so much to her liking. She wanted to see what it was like over here so she could compare it with the jazz afternoons she and Berd attend in Haugesund on Saturdays. I think she likes it better in Norway, as far as a jazz outing is concerned. Today Susan P is hosting The Jocks lunch at her house so the whole gang will get to catch up with Lise. It's a great day for it as it's pouring and cold. There is even the chance of some wet snow in the area today. Doesn't seem fair for the first day of spring.

I feel like celebrating today. Late last night I finally figured out how to do a mail merge from Excel to Word and I was able to print out four copies of the volunteer labels for the mailings we'll have to do for the festival. What a huge, HUGE weight off my shoulders. I have been trying to make this work for days now, and it just keeps creeping ever closer to the mailing deadline of April 1st, with no labels ready for the envelopes. besides mailing out the volunteer letter and application, we still have the volunteer meeting postcards to send, the reminder postcards with peoples' work assignments during the festival and the thank you notes for after the festival. It was really important for me to get this done and now I have. Drum roll please! Start the confetti! Fireworks tonight! I will have to get them stuffed this week, but I think Lise will help out and I know I can count on my co-director to come over and give me a morning to stuff envelopes. What a relief.....

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A friend of mine sent me a link to a fantastic online video. It's only about three minutes long and features some great opera (and that's quite a statment, coming from me!). It's a delight and I don't want to spoil the fun for anyone who has not yet seen it, so I won't describe it more clearly. Do yourself a favor and enjoy the romp!http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xp7vr_verdi-traviata-choeur-bohe

Learning to Solder

My trip to California was wonderful. I spent the first weekend in San Francisco with Jen. We had fantastic weather---78 degrees on Saturday! Jen joined me at the Hotel Vitale for two nights. Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building, then headed up to Marin and did a little walk on the Headlands. It was such a perfect day I can't imagine doing anything that would have been nicer. We had brunch at Jen's favorite spot and did some shopping at a mall and then returned to the hotel in time to meet George for dinner. George had been in town for a series of meetings but stayed through the weekend as it was the start of the Tour of California cycling race on Sunday. George is a huge cycling fan, as is Jen, so they were both very excited about the prelim race to be held on Sunday. Time trials, actually.

Sunday morning we met George in the lobby of the hotel and he told us that Team Discovery was right out front. I discovered the my daughter is a HUGE Team Discovery fan. You might even go so far as to call her a groupie....We went out and found that they were indeed right in front of the hotel and Jen took up a position along the tape that separated the exalted cyclists from the riffraff. We stood there for four hours. FOUR hours. Jen took a gazillion photos, as did I. One of the bike techs gave Jen a Team Discovery hat that had fallen off one of the cyclists heads and she wore it proudly all through the rest of the day. We got some amazing photos of Ivan Basso and George Hincapie, Jen's favorites. I must admit that I do love taking pictures so the four hours went by rather quickly and we were certainly in the prime place for gawking and photographing the members of Team Discovery. It was interesting to find out that the bicycles they ride cost between $10K and $15K each and that the time trial was only 1.9 miles, but the last half was up Telegraph Hill to the Coit Tower! The three of us walked the course and it was a steep climb on foot. I can not imagine trying to do that hill on a bike, let alone racing up the thing! It would have killed me. It was very interesting to spend the day with the two race fanatics.

Monday morning I got up very, very early and flew down to San Diego. I took the shuttle to Annie's and was there before noon. Alex is huge, compared to how big she was in October, the last time I saw here. She walks and talks and laughs and giggles and is an all around goofy kid. She's funny and smart and adorable and no, I am NOT biased! We had some quality time together, especially in the early mornings when Gramma would go rescue her from her crib before Mommy and/or Daddy woke up and on the Thursday of my week's stay when Annie let me care for Alex while she went to work. It was heavenly to spend so much time with her. I miss her so much now that I'm back in Edmonds. I know she's forgetting me all over again.

Annie and Alex and I went to the Quail Botanical Gardens on the 20th and had a wonderful time. The gardens feature amazing desert plants and trees, a walled garden, an orchard, a bamboo garden with a pond, a waterfall and a children's area that even boasts a miniature train and an area to dig for "dinosaur" bones. We had a ball. Annie got a year's membership and on Saturday we returned, this time with Chris in tow. I really liked the bamboo garden. It had an amazing collection of different bamboos, from fine little specimen plants to large, timber-type bamboo. I was also very surprised to see the huge variety of aloes and agaves that the garden has on display. Not knowing anything about desert plants, it was great fun to see the variety. I will lobby for a return there when I go back down to visit. I could move in---and it's only about 10 minutes from the kids' house.

I have finally finished the "Hooked on ArtFest" ATCs to take to trade at ArtFest. I carved the fish stamp and then used embossing powder to print the stamp onto the base paper. The back of the ATC was done with the scanner on the new combo printer I got for Christmas (Canon MP830...I love it for everything but printing photos). Lots of separate steps but they turned out well. I hated the bending brass wire into fish hooks part, however, as it took forever and was truly boring to do. I think the hooks added a lot to the cards so it was worth the tedium. I'm happy with the finished product and won't hesitate to trade them at ArtFest so I would call it a successful project. I felt like I had to have a hand carved stamped ATC for ArtFest. I did this to myself with starting off with "Wingin' It" last year. I wouldn't want to disappoint my fan (and I do mean fan in the singular!).

I am now frantically working on making some charms for ArtFest. A large contingent of the attendees are making charms and I'd like to be able to participate in charm trading, so I am making my first charms for this event. Not getting the supplies from the place I'd ordered them set me back, but I reordered from another supplier and everything came on Monday. It's not the easiest thing I've ever done but I can see that as you learn and take your time, the charms will get better and better. I am having some difficulty in getting the bails to be well connected to the charms proper, but I think I've worked out what I was doing wrong. I did get little lobster claw clasps so that you can just clip the charm to a bracelet or necklace and off you go. The image is the photo of me I took for inclusion into the ArtFest "yearbook" that Teesha is working on. I am wearing my mother's Groucho Marx glasses and nose. Yes, my mother owned these first---and wore them on occasion, too! (Hard to imagine if you knew my mother, but true.) I rather like the silly photo of me and I must say, it was sort of fun to run over to Third Place Books and use their photo booth. It was an expensive day, though. I bought about $100 worth of books on my way out of the store! I still have a lot of charms to solder, but I hope to have around 50 to take to ArtFest.

Lise is coming to stay for two weeks from Norway. We just found out, Rune and I. She'll be here next week and will stay through the 1st of April. I'm not sure where she'll be from the 26th on as I'll be away at ArtFest, but I know that it will be nice to see her. Too bad she didn't make arrangements to come next month when I'll be home and when Cathy and Mac will be back from Mexico, but she's coming when she's coming and that's all there is to that.

The daffodils are blooming and spring is here, at least as far as the plants are concerned. We had two days of snow on the ground last week. Dom McK. reported there was close to 10 inches at Grant Creek on evening but it melted off quickly. I know there was quite a pile of snow up there last weekend where it slides off the garage roof, blocking my path from the back door to the ceramics room door. It was about two feet high and I had to clamber over it to get to the garage. I kept getting snow in my slippers. I HATE that! We had snow here a week ago. Enough snow that the EAF board meeting was cancelled as Sue J. couldn't get out of Everett. Yesterday it was a balmy 70 degrees. Go figure.