Coastal Trip

Well we had a great time on out trip to the Oregon coast. We stayed in a brand new motel, visited every little gallery and gift store in Depoe Bay, went out on a whale watching tour. It was my first time on the ocean in a boat. I really enjoyed it. We visited Nye beach in Newport and of course the Newport Aquarium.

This picture I took of little jellyfish in the Oddwater exhibit at the aquarium is my favorite. The Oddwater exhibit is one of their changing exhibits. Not only did we get to see all kinds of neat ocean creatures all the tanks had lots of lovely handblown glass decor in them! Sadly I didn't get a chance to take pictures of some of it. Not enough time and too many people!

The beach photos are from our walk on Nye Beach. I loved these wind & water sculpted rocks!

And I loved how the wind had sculpted the sand into miniature "sandstone" formations! The wind removed the dry sand leaving all the pillars of damp sand and then carved them too. Not one of the pillars in the last picture are bigger than a foot.

Heading off for a Mini-Vacation!

I'm so excited as it is time for our annual mini-vacation to the coast with my Aunt. She is taking my son and I to the Oregon coast for a couple of days. We are going to Depot Bay and Newport. She hopes to go out on a boat. We always check out all of the galleries. I love getting the chance to go to all the wonderful galleries to check out what others glass artists are up to. Some of my favorite galleries are in Florence, my next favorites are in Newport and my son hopes we visit the aquarium there. I love going to the coast with her as we always have so much fun. There is always so much to see and do!

This is a picture I took on our visit to the coast last August. It was taken while walking up the trail to visit the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. We visited the Washington coast, which included the Hoaquim, Aberdeen area, a visit to Ocean Shores and then Long Beach.

Sold this pretty set today. I had a chance to get some pointers on what I am doing wrong at shows. I've been talking to others who tell me I should be doing waaay better than I am!

One dichroic artist pulled over a thousand in one day and a beadmaker friend of mine usually makes over five hundred in a day. I made $260 in two and consider myself lucky. Pppfft.

The good news is I have a good display, dress appropriately and have a good spiel.

These wonderful people had only two things to say about what I need to do to improve my sales. 1. Get those tables raised up higher! and 2. Get the rambunctious teenager out of the booth if they can't behave.

I had planned on raising my tables for this summer season and it didn't happen and was pushed to the side. Now that I have been "advised" to do this my dad & ex will make sure it happens.

So that just leaves me to work on them boys, mainly my son. He has absolutely no interest in what I am doing. He will haul the heavy stuff, put tables and canopy up and down and that is it. He is also a bit of a slob..showers daily but tends to wear the same dirty clothes over and over. He has destroyed every pair of pants he owns. They all have ripped up knees and/or permanently stained. And after being told NOT to trash the one nice pair with out holes that he had left, he went and drew/wrote all over them with a blue sharpie!!!!! As he won't take care of his clothes he now has to buy them with his allowance. So guess who's keeping his allowance for back to school? Yes that would be me.

Finally....

I've had a lovely Saturday selling my pretties.

I'm so happy and thrilled to finally see some of my newer pieces find homes! For example both of these earrings.

I also sold another pair of earrings I designed and hadn't taken pictures of. But That's okay because I plan to make them again.

On Thursday I made this pendant, Stardust Pendant to go with the Stardust Earrings. Another striking piece I feel.


I tried showing on a Sunday, with Donterra Artworks in Sisters, Or. It was a hot, slow day. Luckily we were in a nice shady spot. I set up my display a bit differently than I normally do. I think it looked very nice. I managed to get some small chores accomplished that I had been putting off for a while. Then since I was bored I decided to make something new. I made these earrings. I named them "Mauve Flowers". I had planned to edge the cab with a border of beads. What I didn't expect was for that border to look like flower petals!
I love them and I actually impressed myself with this pair! What do you think?

Instead of a post I ask you to follow this link. This wonderful man deserves to live. "48 for Larry"

Krystal

I wanted to share my darling daughter with you all today. This is wonderful picture of my late daughter, Krystal. This picture was taken two days after her diagnosis of Aplastic Anemia, on Christmas Eve 2007.

She was my partner and my best critic. She had a wonderful sense of style and color.

She passed away one year from today. I chose to share not for sympathy, but to help raise awareness of Aplastic Anemia.

Aplastic Anemia is a bone marrow failure disease. Signs are similar to Leukemia, bruising and fatigue, loss of appetite. Without working bone marrow there is no red blood cells to carry oxygen and remove waste, no white blood cells for immunity to fight diseases and infections and no platelets for clotting. There are about 500 cases a year in the US. That is roughly 50 cases per state per year.

Treatment in children is usually a bone marrow transplant. This is considered the cure for aplastic anemia. The other option used more in older people is a regime of drugs. This is to try to "re-boot" the bone marrow. (Maybe not the best or most accurate metaphor, but to me it is a simple way to understand it.) Until the bone marrow is working again there are constant blood test and transfusions.

As my son was not a match they tried the drug regime first. Unfortunately it didn't work. So they found a donor for her and she was going to have a transplant. Sadly she caught a fungus a month before transplant. She passed away seven months to the day of her diagnosis after putting up an amazing fight. Fungul infections of this kind are very agressive and usually deadly.