A Mishmash of Stuff

Saturday, I gathered with friends to make jewelry. It was my friend Sue’s idea to invite people to her house, set up trays full of beads and other odds and ends from her collection for people to use, plus people brought their own stash to play with. This is my stash.

You’d think perhaps the things I brought meant that I have made jewelry before, but you would be mistaken. The beads and odds and ends were give to my son by a friend of mine. Only the polished rocks are mine.

The agates were mainly found at my two previous houses when I spent countless hours searching through the patches of river rock used for landscaping. A few agates were found up near Duluth. I have a rock polisher, which I used to polish a few of the agates in my collection.

Anyway, it had been my intention to find out how to wire wrap the agates from some of the more experienced jewelry makers. Instead, some letters Sue had put out caught my eye. I made the necklace below to inspire me to write more. It should have had an exclamation mark so it was more of an order. And perhaps a clock to remind not to waste time on less important stuff.

I could have made another necklace with all the time I had, but I was having fun looking at what other people were making, visiting with friends, eating M & M’s, and picking up some ideas for what I might try and make next time we get together.

By the way, I have to put in a plug for Sue’s post about her sculpture of Trina. I am so fascinated by the process Sue goes through to make the things that she makes. I’ve learned that getting things to rust in various patterns and colors is like a major science project, with lots of experimentation along the way. Even if things don’t turn out the way they were envisioned, the results are always interesting and often a delightful surprise. Could be a statement about life, don’t you think?

I already have my Christmas tree up. It’s actually a fake tree that the previous home owners left behind. I suppose when you are moving to a condo, a 9 foot Christmas tree is one of the things to go.

I did a few lights over the garage and a little Charlie Brown Christmas tree on the front steps. You can kind of see the inside tree through the window above the front door.

The outdoor decorations are kind of lame but hopefully, this year, I will get to be one of those insane people that runs out to the after Christmas sales and picks up more lights and doo dads. However, I promise not to become one of those people with an assortment of Santa, elfs, reindeer, snowmen, and other glowing plastic statues in my front yard.

On my walk on Saturday, there were tons of ice chunks floating down the Mississippi River, making all sorts of whooshing, grating noises. It was so cool! But of course I didn’t have my camera. There is still ice along the banks though.

Today, it got into the 40s and no ice bergs. Global warming strikes again. The heat wave is directly related to the fact that I put a winter blanket on Luke on Saturday. Poor guy probably sweated off 50 pounds today. But the cold is returning the rest of the week. Snow is promised too. Fingers crossed for a good snow base.

I made a turkey today since I miss having leftovers when I go to someone else’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. It turned out pretty tasty and now I can make sandwiches and soup. Yeh!

I forgot to take a photo before hacking into the turkey. Oh, yeah, and I could have taken the shot from a better angle. The point is, I do cook sometimes.

And this is Maery publishing her post and moving on to work on her book. Couldn’t think of a way to capture that in a photo. Just picture me sitting hunched over my computer, a cup of hot chocolate sitting in front of me in my “I miss you” mug from my sister, sweat dripping from my brow, and head buried in hands. Oh, yeah and the wind is howling outside.

Perfect.