hello friend.

i'm compulsively watching episodes of the office while finishing the advent necklaces. which are dunzo. now. officially. we can only hope they hold together. i'm going to keep watching. (and 2 more necklaces to go and done by beg. of january.) i played mario kart today also (actually bought the game even though i don't have a wii but whatever). made it work. didn't exercise today. the blisters on the sides of my heel are completely lame but i'll try to rally to morrow. i mean it was raining today which was miraculous and needed. so obviously you eat ice cream and wear flipflops while out. and play games . .. in my world its almost not any different from any other day. though,


i'm trying to behave contrary to inclinations of mood and weather. not really up to spending too much time in my head- though cathy sent me this note saying:

"Rode on another cable car today-
To the monestary of monserrat
It was super foggy and rainy
Like a cable car ride to no where
Or like cloud city in star wars.."

And that seemed a fit description for most things. Though the sound of monestary of monserrat is terribly romantic. And who wouldn't want to be heading to such a place even in the depths of inscrutibility.


maybe tomorrow i'll get to play fableIII, eat juicy burger and go for a power walk. who can say, who can say. i'm glad you're at candy and iron. though i am now also suspicious of the seneca guns.

m.

Pen,

So, off I went to the gem show at the LA arboretum. There was only one table with what I needed, so am sort of really kicking myself for not getting everything I needed when I went to PAS. These gems are for easter and the quality seemed less but still good? but still?. But anyway dad actually came along and so did mom- and everyone walked away with something fun to play with and all their money spent. Though dad refused to walk any further, mom and I had fun with the blossoms and dad insisted the peacocks were entertaining despite him not having left a 100ft radius of the entrance to the vast estate.

i bought him and took him home and am going to watch him grow and grow... here be vanity pics for FB profile pics, beware: i would delete this shot compartively speaking but i like the colorscape.
and then blossoms as big as your face!!! and my handy umbrella...
after all this me, me, me and mom... here's the rest- lunch (dad looking annoyed at either me taking yet another picture of myself or just me and my general shenaniganisms), hardware store (not pictured though i did walk away with a letter stamp set and a clamp for my jewelry making), drive thru starbucks, and checking for leaks at casa grande. then i was stolen away to eat garlic fries and not work on my jewelry. sacrifices, sacrifices.

Dear Penelope,

LENT
here is the first series of necklaces i made for the holy days. the stones are Picture Jasper- which awesomely is made when mud pours into gas pockets of molten lava! and petrifies. its also a favorite gem of antiquity- (hebrews, assyrians, greek...) the color of lent is typically dark purple but LL was convinced she likes to observe with the color brown. i felt this worked bcs the only stones in purple are amythest and with this you get the dirt and blood and darkness of the cross.

below is Joanna's necklace and it is lost between here and new york... i felt the circles were like luminescent tears.... appropriate for the grief of our missing necklace. the 3 stones symbolize both the trinity and the stations of the cross. this is her replacement necklace for the moment and she can chose which she prefers or can keep both. the only difference with this one is the strand of copper wires is broken and all the rest are made with a complete band. but i couldn't figure out how to keep it this way in this design which i made while watching s5 of the wire. and i love the simplicity of the design. below is my necklace and it took about 4 attempts to hit this design. i think ultimately i should've bought extra in the first place so that i didn't feel limited by the # of stones i had. i know you care! keep reading. so THEN this is danicas- an ordered grief. and tears. also my 1st expermint with the soldering gun.... yah. uh,huh. and i really love the symmetry and movement of this one.

and last but not least is Lauralee's. this was the first i made and felt immediate love for it. i have no idea but 7 seemed a holy number and then 3 on the right is for the trinity... i'm glad i had some motheaten velvet to photo these with and i used the fancy camera. but hers is the most organic and closest to me. here they are on!... ooo!

this one is no longer in existence. i'm a bit sad about that fact now that i see it because i like it. but it didn't seem to hit a stride and then the next form it took i thought was ok but then no, and then the next, no, not for me... so there you go. there it all is. look forward to easter next!

⁸"But you, son of man, hear what I say to you, Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you." ⁹And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. ¹⁰And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe. ¹And he saidto me, "Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel." ²So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. ³And he said to me, "Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it."Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.

--- this is from ezekial- i think it fits with lent. having gone thru suffering and grief with the sweet redemption of christ on the other end kind of feeling. plus its our lot and heritage and all. and i dig prophetic imagery.

m.

necklace

I can’t resist a good hippie purchase when in a hippie town. While in Boone this weekend, I picked up a necklace stone from this jeweler. I had a hard time making the selection, as I tend to gravitate toward what I already have and love, and in this case could not stray away from stones that looked a lot like amber. Finally, I settle on the pink. Rhodacrosite. With swirls.

 

if i had a nickel

I’d have to put it in a jar somewhere and not touch it. Apparently, I am allergic to nickel. They mix it in with a lot of the jewelry here in the U.S. (cheap filler, even in more expensive stuff), and repeated exposure can cause a contact allergy. I blame all those damn earrings I used to have in my head: eight! A few years ago, my ears flipped out, and I couldn’t wear the earrings anymore. First I switched to all-silver and all-gold earrings, which helped for awhile, but then the plating would wear off, and finally I felt like clawing my ears off, so I decided I was done. I wear necklaces, mostly taking them off at night, but if I don’t, or sometimes even if I do, I get welts on my skin. Watches are the same. And now, I guess with the white-gold plating wearing down on my wedding rings, I can no longer wear them. It is beyond vexing.

While researching this issue and what to do about it (talk to the jeweler about re-plating? Try Nickel Guard?), I found THIS PICTURE, which is too scary to post. I’m serious. View at your own risk. In the meantime, I’m hoping for no nightmares tonight—and that that dude isn’t really allergic to nickel. Because, ouch.