Soggy Memorial Day

Thanks to all those brave men and women out there serving our country now and thanks to all that have served in the past. We owe you so much.


Memorial Day weekend is almost over. Our weather made it rather difficult for outdoor activities but we did manage to play golf with some friends yesterday. Not exactly brilliantly sunny but we finished before getting drenced. The outdoor barbeque we had planned for after our golf round turned into an indoor feast. Oh well, it wasn't too bad and Norm managed to nearly finish the small deck in the front of our house today even with the wind and rain pouring down on him. He is such a focused man at times.... I feel bad that he had three days off and it rained all three days. Poor guy.

I also got a bunch of beads made and I'm making quite a bit of progress on that summer show inventory. The photo above shows some bracelets in various stages of completion. Just waiting on components.

Day Shift Bracelet

Just beads on cotton cord. Casual, simple and fun to wear. 

Camping in May

We spent Tuesday afternoon getting everything loaded and tied down. RV is all loaded up with warm clothes, tons of food, and fishing gear. Pickup is loaded up with boat, motor, and campfirewood. We hear there is a severe weather alert for western Washington so I check the weather forecast on Yahoo for eastern Washington, which is where we are headed. Just some clouds and possibly a few sun breaks. Cool! No mention of the severe weather expected at home.
We are on the road by 7 am Wednesday morning. Because of morning commuter traffic it took us 5 1/2 hours instead of the normal 4 hours it takes to get to our destination.
We have camp set up and lunch consumed by 2 pm. It's too windy to take the boat out on the lake so we decide to just kick back and relax. Norm takes a nap and I settle in with a good book.
At 3 the campground caretaker shows up with another gentleman in tow and tells us we have chosen a campsite that had been reserved and we would have to move. Hmmmmmmmmmm...... When we arrived 2 1/2 hours before we were the only campers in a campground of at least 35 camp sites. Now this PERSON is telling us the spot we chose is RESERVED???? No one told us it was reserved. There was no sign that said RESERVED. There are 34 OTHER campsites available but we have to move because the site we chose is RESERVED.....???
Now, Norm had just awoke from a nap and he's sorta cranky when the these gentlemen show up. I was very proud of him though, because he did a really great job of hiding most of his irritation at having to pick everything up and move it to another campsite. 
It wasn't the poor old gentleman who had reserved, (and paid for), the campsite last September, who was to blame, but someone from the state parks dept. who dropped the ball and didn't follow through with the reservation by placing a reserved marker at the campsite.
We had just finished moving the trailer, resetting the jacks and releveling everything when the sky started to turn very black and the wind started to howl. The storm that was expected at our home had found us at our campsite! Thunder, lightning, pouring rain, and severe wind. In fact a tornado was reported to have touched down not far from where we were camping!!! LOVELY!
Thankfully the storm didn't last long but the wind stuck around for the rest of our stay, making it impossible to take the boat out on the lake or even to sit on the dock and fish.
Our plan to beat the crowds of Memorial Day weekend campers sort of backfired. The weather for the middle of May just isn't reliable enough in Washington for outdoor activities unless you're a fish. Better luck next time I guess. We'll try again in July......

Experimenting............

I've been inspired to practice cabochons lately. I LOVE Carlee's! she makes little pendants out of her cabochons. So cute and colorful! They are a bit tricky for me and out of my beadmaking comfort zone. The one pictured above turned out the best but the "petals" look more like little "feet". It's about the size of a quarter and maybe a little large for a ring. I'll have to ponder on what to use it for. I'll be thinking about it while I'm camping with my favorite guy the next couple days.



Back on Friday........

Making progress............

"A Full Deck"

Don't forget the Mother's Day Studio Tour runs through this weekend, May 15-16 so if you didn't have the chance last weekend you haven't missed out. There were lots and lots of visitors last weekend and I'm expecting many more tomorrow and Sunday, especially with the nice weather we are expecting here on the island. Hope to see you around.

It's been a busy week for me. I've been able to add a few things to my inventory and we've gotten the vegetable garden ready to be planted. I'll be very busy the first part of next week in preparation for a few days of R+R. Camping and fishing in the eastern part of our beautiful state. The weather across the mountains is more likely to be warm and sunny...or so we hope ;-). Have a great weekend! Go do something fun!

Acid Trip

Multi strands of African trade beads otherwise called "Christmas" beads. I love the colors and they look right at home with my colorful lampwork beads. I've chosen this set to wear tomorrow at Seagrass Gallery for the Mother's Day Studio Tour. Black top, white jacket and denim dress slacks. It is important to me that I wear jewelry pieces that really express my artistic style and this set definately does...... Screams Hippkitty Beads!!!! 

Texting Virgin

Wanna know a secret? My cell phone is 3 years old. Ancient huh? Wanna know another secret? I have never sent or received a text message. Wow, that felt really good to get that out. It's time. But first I have to buy a new phone and I have no idea where to start. So, I'm gonna start some cell phone research. You can let me know if you have a recommendation. NO SPAM PLEASE. I don't want anything fancy. Believe me, I don't have time to send a gazillion text messages a day. I'm a beadmaker and that takes up most of the hours in my day. The rest are taken up by dinner, laundry, and my blog, in that order. So now you can see why I don't blog everyday. Not enough hours.......

Don't forget the Mother's Day Studio Tour here on Camano Island. Starting this weekend. I'll be at Seagrass Gallery which is the first stop on the tour on Sunday. Hope to see you.

I had to have some dental surgery today. Yuck! There was no Nitrous Oxide. I had to wing it...... Sweaty palms. It's over and my face is a bit swollen. I'm going to nap now......

Before I forget.... It's my granddaughter Morgan's 7th birthday today....HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORGAN!!!! We love you Pretty Girl!!!!