How I Got My Groove Back....

Been having trouble getting creative lately, but finally dosed myself with an antidote, ....and it wasn't Taye Diggs nor our recent trip to San Diego.

I started something completely new and different - which means SHOPPING, NEW TOOLS and a new MEDIUM. So far I've probably spent over $200 - not sure since I'm afraid to hit the "Summary Report" button in Quick Books.

But I now have a working soldering iron, glass cutter, a box of lovely glass from the scraps bin (read: cheaper) at the local Stained Glass Station. And so far I've made 3 girly garlands from glass, beads, silk, fibers, ribbons and chains....This one is Miss Havisham's Wedding Garland.

I found myself working into the wee hours, learning the soldering steps, then making the little glass triangles. But combining the glass with the fibers into a garland that hangs happily takes time too.
This one is Medieval Fantasy - I got carried away with the hand-dyed ribbons (which I bought a while back, not knowing what they'd be good for) so that the pretty amber fern-textured glass  is a little lost. It needs to be in a window with light shining on it.

It looks very cool close up, in person - it's currently for sale in Eclectics.www.eclecticskc.com

My goal was this one - it's been living inside my head for a while and now it's hanging in the gallery.

Grey silk, vintage silver chain, beads and dark mirror glass....Thru a Glass Darkly. The beads at the bottom of each glass mirror are vintage cracked marbles! From back in the day when it was cool to heat marbles then drop them into cold water to see them crack (NOTE: if you try this, be sure to use safety precautions - we're talking very hot glass here!) These were clear marbles, have tiny bales glued to them and were strung on a chain as a necklace. It's one of my saved weird old jewelry items I thought I'd never use!

Garlands each measure about 45" long, with 7 or 8 pieces of glass and a loop and a little extra on the end for hanging. Of course, I can't just have ribbons and stained glass triangles (about 3-4" long, 2-3" wide at the top) without adding jewelry elements.

Can't wait to make more. I bought some great glass colors and am really getting the hang of the soldering, thanks to the repetition!!

I think they will look great hanging above a mirror or with a strand of twinkly lights or in a window.

But best of all, I made something new AND have some new tools to boot!

Coming Home again...

'Nuff said....

This was BEFORE we could get into the house or garage! Fortunately it was only about 40º so not so bad for shoveling. This was on Saturday and by the next Wednesday, there was NO SNOW! Wonder if it's the last of the season?

Gettin' Outta Dodge

My DH loves going to visit friends in San Diego (where we lived for 16 years) during the winter, so he planned a relaxed trip for us on the train, scheduling us to leave on Tuesday, Feb 1. As you may know,  2011 has been a snowy year and yet another snowstorm was headed for Kansas City, with blizzard warnings for Tuesday. So we high-tailed it west, changing our tickets and leaving 2 days early. (Warning: AMTRAK is convenient but bumpy - a whole lot of rockin' and rollin' makes it difficult to sleep, even with a sleeper berth.)

Soon we were basking in sunshine, mooching off our friends Liz and Gary and eating at all our favorite San Diego haunts. This was lunchtime at The Prado in Balboa Park.

We were actually cool at night, since that desert, dry heat stuff goes away in the winter, even in San Diego. But we only needed sweaters with our flip flops.

Watched palm tree trimming from Liz's deck and felt bad for the golfers in Phoenix who battled icy greens.

Enjoyed the Mercado Farmers' Market in the Little Italy neighborhood near downtown San Diego. If you are there on a Saturday, do NOT miss it.

Gotta love the French bakery products - yum! Thanks to my friend Kathie for taking me there.

We got back this morning - and spent 30 minutes digging out our driveway before we could even get into our garage!

So much for relaxing - and we are out of shape from sitting around for nearly 2 weeks. But it is always great to be home again.

I Love Snow

I know, it's cold, it's messy and slippery driving in it but snow makes the world so beautiful and white and pristine. It was just lovely watching (from INSIDE my cozy home) as the yard filled up at the rate of an inch an hour last night.

Digging out is not so much fun, especially for retired folks with bad backs or other infirmities....is wussiness an infirmity? But small towns in Missouri (like Pleasant Hill, where we live) are also home to outdoorsy types with big boy toys - like four wheeler, offroad-type toys. Who knew they could be equipped with snow scrapers on the front?

Our neighbor's nephew generously cleared our driveway after doing Joe's driveway. Although it is cold, it did look like fun - and he not only pushed snow from the drive into the street, he also cleared the curb so the US Mail could get to the mailboxes. He wouldn't take payment and didn't give me his name.....

...but when he left, he was headed down the street toward the dead end, where another neighbor was struggling with a snow blower. Thank you, Joe's nephew!

This photo is for my granddaughters - their stuffed penquin looks right at home in the snow.

But Frank (the penguin) didn't sit there long, not even wearing his custom-knitted muffler from Aunt Laura.

Happy Snow Day from the Fisks in Missouri.

Adding to the Family Tree

I decided our Fisk Family Tree (see previous post) needed a visual for the entire Fisk Family. So I added one of my little beaded fishies....

Since FISK usually means FISH [English (East Anglia): metonymic occupational name for a fisherman or fish seller, or a nickname for someone supposedly resembling a fish in some way, from Old Norse fiskr ‘fish’ (cognate with Old English fisc)] that seemed the most obvious choice. Of course, there is also a French derivation [(Origin French) From Fisc, revenue, public funds] but how boring is that?? Hmmm, of course, that could mean it would be a money-tree but that's not too accurate.

With Dale's love of fish 'n chips, my love for sushi and everyone loves salmon....fish it is!