Tempted to wear socks

Yes, I'm in Tombstone, Arizona and yes, that's snow. I almost put socks on my feet this morning, but then remembered it would all melt off by noon. Monday saw the lowest temperatures recorded since the 1800's, according to the Tucson radio. It was also my first experience with frozen water pipes!
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This morning I woke up to the suprise of several inches of snow.

I can see the Courthouse from my front yard.

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The cactus in my front yard looked funny with their icing of snow.

As long as I didn't have to drive in it, scrape it off of the car or shovel it; the snow is a beautiful sight.

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The Mesquite tree and the hills from my back porch really glistened as the sun came out from behind the clouds.

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~Creativity Notes~

I've been playing with designing and making a bead crocheted skullcap for a friend. I'm on about my third iteration as something doesn't seem to work each time. The first error was my misunderstanding on where to add increasing and I ended up with a strangely lopsided cap. Another "light bulb" was the fact that if I did it all in beads, it would be so heavy that it would probably slide off of the head all by itself. Then I thought crocheted netting would be interesting and tried that.... well, maybe... however I'm now told that a specific pattern is wanted around the circumference. So back to the drawing board and maybe treat it like an over sized rope, crocheted from the bottom up and shape the top portion.

Shoe Fetish Virus

Judith's feet are not going to be very happy! She just got them these strange looking new shoes. Judith was told, in no uncertain terms that she could not walk the desert anymore or get on the back of a motorcycle in flip-flops. So she went down to Sister Tina's antique store for advice. Tina looked around and found this pair of boots and gave them to her! Tina wanted her sister to be prepared and she got a kick out of making Judith try on boots and listen to her complain. Judith now has 8 pairs of flip-flops, 1 pair of tennis shoes and these *^#$ boots in her closet. Judith's feet are not gonna be happy at all! Can you catch a shoe fetish virus from your two Sisters who each own well over 60 pairs of shoes/boots? I sure hope not. Will they look strange under linen pants or dresses? Will they make me a better beader?

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Judith's usual footwear 360 days of the year! The other 5 days they sport socks.

New Year ~ New Opportunities

I've thrown out my baggies and transferred my traveling bead crochet work to a new case. I found these great hard shelled sunglass cases in Target and they work perfectly for taking bead crochet projects along with me. There was even one in chrome that would be classy looking if it was personalized with bead embroidery on the outside.

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New Opportunities ~ 2007

....and I spent the weekend cleaning out closets. I went to the Tucson thrift stores last week with my sister and managed to replace 80% of my wardrobe. Somehow after that trip, closet/pantry cleaning seemed an appropriate occupation for closing out the old year. The bead stash had already been re-organized and it was just the mundane, peripherals of my life that needed some attention. Being a generally messy, creative person I know this will not last, but I can feel good about the organization behind the closed doors for a small time.

Lately I've been seeing way too many sunrises for a confirmed Night Owl. Somehow I've gotten my wake/sleep cycle turned around. Maybe it's time to think about turning this and other perceived problems into opportunities. The turn of a new year always seems to generate those kind of thoughts ~ should I make a list - just to forget, ignore or lose it?

I thought I'd share a photo of one of my favorite Fremont Cottonwood trees. I spent Christmas Day walking with friends at the San Pedro House, which borders the San Pedro River here in Arizona. The tree's winter coloring is something that I keep thinking I'd like capture in bead work. I'll put it on my 2007 list.

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Best Wishes for a very good 2007

to everyone!

Gilmer Getaway 12-06

A Bead Cave could be defined as "an adult woman's slumber party with beads". The Gilmer Getaway happens twice a year now when I travel between my New Hampshire and Arizona studios. As many of the beadtrekers as possible gathers in Eastern Texas at Miz Marcie's house.









We bead, eat, laugh, bead....







...and catch up on everyone's news.







We all pitch in and share the cooking - and every meal is a different adventure.





...and some of us pick up knitting as a change of pace...

This trip we were lucky to have a bead stash for sale. And it was well picked over.



We all worked on various projects

Beaded ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) were the primary project that we had agreed to work on. They show cased the diverse personalities of the gathering.



This Cave gathered six of us together






Bevvie from New Orleans








Libby from Tennessee








Jackie from Texas












Judith from NH & AZ

Mel from Tennessee

We always have a hysterically grand time and can't wait for the next time that we get together.