June 23, 2008

contemplating the sky


I have a fan!

A few days ago, I e-mailed my friend Kim Monaco, to let her know I was planning to quit blogging.
I wanted her to know directly from me, not just feel abandoned when she visits this blog one day and finds a closed sign on the door.

So, today, I made my daily visit her blog, and she's written such a sweet post about me and my blog that I'm all welled up and misty eyed. I feel like Sally Fields ...all... "you like me, you really like me" ....


But seriously, a couple of weeks ago,
I decided to end this blog and immediately felt a sense of freedom and relief - kind of like leaving a stagnant relationship or a job that has become uninspiring. And I imagined myself with time enough away from the computer to sit in my lawn chair and just contemplate the sky.

...the sky above my lawn chair...

So, Thank You Kim, for your lovely post, your kindness, your friendship. And because of you, I guess I will leave this here for a while and not hit the delete button, just in case I decide to do another post from time to time.

In the meantime though, I won't be thinking about it.


I hope you all will take time to Enjoy Your Day! Hugs.....

June 19, 2008

first rose


The first rose
has popped out on the spindly branches beside my door.

I'm headed up to the mountains today,
hoping there will be more waiting for me when I get home.

June 10, 2008

down to one...

This summer, I'm doing just ONE outdoor craft show.

just a few blocks from my little house

Why only one?

Well, let's see.....There was the year that two weekends in a row brought torrential rains all day, both days. One show was in Boulder where we sat in a freezing, dripping tent all day. No customers came. Why would they? And then there was the long drive home, shivering and soaked to the bone. The following weekend in Conifer, we slogged around in our tent,
up to our ankles in standing water, and had to dig a trench so the water could flow out.
In a previous post I believe I mentioned the two years in a row that it snowed on the 4th of July in Frisco, Colorado (elevation 9042 feet). One year when it didn't snow, we arrived on the morning of day two of the show to find our tent laying crumpled on the ground, a victim of fierce winds the night before.

Okay, not all craft shows are fraught with weather disasters. Ninety percent of the shows I've done over the years have been great fun and happily quite profitable. Meeting the customers and hearing them oohh
and aahh over the jewelry is enough of an energy boost to keep me going for an entire winter of solitary sitting at the work table. When the sun is shining and the crowds are happy and especially if there is music near by, it's just the best! I'm getting a little misty eyed just thinking of how enjoyable it can be.
That said though, the sometimes very long drives (everything is far from Salida), expensive entry fees (all of which, it seems, have to be paid in January!), and crazy amount of inventory that needs to be made in advance of the summer season, have made me step back over the last few years and concentrate on selling wholesale.
It's not as much fun as a good day at a craft show but it's never the disaster that some shows are.


So, I am down to one.


Not that the wind doesn't blow or the rain doesn't fall at Art Walk.
One year I heard another vendor refer to it as the Annual Art Swim! But it's close to home. It's friendly. It's fun, even when it does rain. The fabulous gals at Fabulous Finds Emporium, who provide me with high-traffic sidewalk space every year, are quick to invite me inside if the weather turns foul. And inside, there are snacks and plenty of wine, so getting rained out just turns into a (fabulous) party.

I'd love to see you all there! But if you do come to Colorado during the summer, plan on bringing umbrellas and boots. Oh, and don't forget coats and hats and gloves!

June 08, 2008

the legend closes


lunching at The Legend on closing day
...from the A-Basin mountain cam...

Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, aka A-Basin, aka "The Legend" closed for the season today with 2 inches of new snow falling in the last few hours. Located in my previous home of Summit County, Colorado, A-Basin's base elevation is 10,780 feet and the altitude at the summit is 13,050 feet, making it the highest skiable terrain on the north-American continent. The Legend opened for the 07-08 ski season on October 10th of last year and the next ski season is scheduled to begin in just 18 weeks.

June 05, 2008

one less thing...


The microwave quit working. Just quit. The light and the fan came on. It sounded like it was working. The glass plate went round and round. But the food stayed cold.

Such creatures of habit are we that my first thought was "must run immediately to the big WM store and get another".

But, wait. What do I actually use it for?

:: to warm coffee that has gone cold. But then I forget to drink it anyway.

:: for popcorn.
I love Orvilles' Movie Theater popcorn! Part of my high fat, high sodium diet. And then I pick shards out of my teeth for days afterward. Could I live without it? Possibly.
:: and there are THESE! Oh how I crave them on dreary winter days. Then every spring I need to lose 10 pounds to get back into my summer clothes. (In looking for the link, I found I could order these by the case! Good thing I didn't know this before the microwave quit).

Well, I put the dead microwave in the shed, not having the heart to put it in the trash and have it end up in the landfill. What DO you do with a dead appliance anyway?

Then I filled in the empty space on my counter with useful things.

And - surprise - I have not missed that microwave one little bit.