Category Archives: Inspiration

Saturday Morning Tea

This morning I got right into a frenzy of fall cleaning right after breakfast so my usual morning tea has now turned into my noontime tea. After all of that deep scrubbing, I was in the mood for something very light. I chose a China green tea called “After the Snow Sprouting”. The full leaf sets are plucked in the early spring. That’s a short 4 months away from now…I can dream…

As the leaves steep (3 minutes in 180 degree water), they lighten to a beautiful sage green color. The aroma is fresh and vegetal and the liquor is a light greenish yellow with a taste of fresh asparagus. There is a slight tang in the aftertaste.

Today I am using a blue and white gaiwan (traditional covered teabowl) I found at a flea market years ago. In China, people will toss some leaves into their gaiwan and then keep adding hot water to the leaves as needed, never removing them. The lid helps strain the tea as you drink it. I prefer to use my little glass teapot with infuser basket for steeping the leaves.

This past week I kept coming across the mention of tarot cards in my daily wanderings. I have a couple of decks which I used years ago to help me access my inner wisdom during a tough time in my life. Even though this is not a tough time in my life, there are challenges here and there and I feel like the universe is sending me a clear message that it is time to dig my cards out and listen to my inner wisdom again.

Now, let me see what that fortune cookie says…

Studio Wednesday

I’ve had a really lousy week so far so I decided to cheer myself up with some lemon and orange slices. No, not the fruit and no, not the candy that looks like the fruit but the polymer clay cane variety. I’ve been thinking of making a fring-y bracelet for awhile now, using lemon, orange, lime and pink grapefruit cane slices, and today was the perfect day to start that project!

I took a break around mid-day and went for a nice long walk. What a beautiful warm fall day. It was so peaceful and quiet except for the swishing sound of my sneakers on the newly fallen golden leaves. I love their sweet dry smell. The sky was so blue and the trees were ablaze in orange, red, gold and maroon. As I looked up at the trees, I could see the leaves falling down like a soft rain whenever the breeze kicked up. A perfect moment…

Back from Texas

I returned home from Texas last night, very tired but very happy that I could attend such a special event in my son’s life. It was an amazing experience, one that I now share with millions of parents across this great country of ours. To all of the young men and women making the decision to serve our country, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your proud service and selfless dedication.

I stayed up to watch too much of the Red Sox game last night when I returned home so, in light of this tired stupor I find myself in, I am postponing my Saturday Morning Tea til next week. To all of my loyal tea review readers, thank you for your patience. If there is a specific kind of tea that you would like to see me review, please let me know.

Bead Show Adventure

This past weekend I ventured out in the pouring rain to the Whole Bead show in Providence, RI. I’ve been attending this show for years and it’s always been easily accessible off of Route 95, at the Holiday Inn on Atwells Ave. This year, however, they decided to change the location to the Rhode Island Convention Center on Sabin Street. I got lost going by the Mapquest directions but quickly stopped and asked for directions. Ah, why didn’t the directions mention that second left? Argh. Back on track, I found the parking garage and followed the signs up to the 4th level. Thinking of that Seinfeld episode where they get lost in the parking garage, I made a mental note of where I parked my car and headed in.

To say that the halls at a convention center are monstrous is putting it mildly. The booths were set up in a square grid with extremely bright lights illuminating all. The combination of the vendor lights with the hall lights bouncing off the tables of glittery beads gave me an immediate sense of disorientation as I stepped through the hall entrance. I decided to do a walk through to give myself a sense of who was there and what they had to offer. I was also on the lookout for my favorite vendors. Alas, with the change in venue came a change in vendors and I couldn’t locate my favorite stone bead seller, Raj from Oregon. My favorite seed bead seller was there, however, but his inventory of seed beads was half of what it usually was. I did manage to acquire some unique muted fall tones.

I feel another free-form piece starting to brew.

I got some good deals on pearls (75% off) and a beautifully unique bone pendant of Guan Yin’s head cradled in a hand. As I have a pretty extensive bead stash at home, I’m always on the lookout for a unique seller besides the usual stone and crystal beads and precious metal findings. I found one on my way out. Susan K. Nestor Studios from Ann Arbor, MI creates stamped resin pendants in various muted colors like I’ve never seen before. What really caught my eye, however, were the stainless steel and colored silk neckrings she had on display. I’ve been searching for something simple to highlight some free-form peyote and polyclay pendant ideas I’ve been gestating and these were just perfect.

I’m looking forward to playing with my new beads!

12 months of beading

I am happy to present a year’s worth of beaded journal pages!

The first row (at the top, l to r) is June – September 2007, the second row October 2007- January 2008 and the third row February – May 2008.

When I finished my last page, I was so excited. When I look at this group shot, I am beyond excited and into jumping up and down ecstatic and really amazed that I actually did this.

I want to send a huge thank you and hug to my beady hero and mentor, the creator of the Beaded Journal Project, Robin Atkins. Her vision and inspiration has changed the lives of many artists through this amazing and wonderful project. I feel like my life has changed in an enormous way as I have learned much about myself through my beadwork and also to my commitment to stick with this project.

To all of my fellow BJP participants, bravo to one and all!