balls, balls, balls

Over the years I seem to have collected enough balls to now call it a collection. Everything from clay, glass, plastic and gemstone.

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Finding display artifacts has been a challenge and I think I like the old manufacturing parts holder and candlesticks the best. In NH I also have a steam-bent wooden container full of smaller balls.

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This is one that I'd love to have, but alas .....

no room for something that big, nor the $8,000 to make it mine.

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So here's a quandary. Last year I bought the small set of pool balls at a flea market and yesterday I found the larger vintage set. I only want 4 balls out of each set, leaving 24 orphaned balls. The large vintage set from Belgium is probably worth about $75 according to eBay.

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Should I split the big ball set up or try and resell them as a whole set? Gary Wilson, gem/rock wizard, from Tucson Gem show says the older pool balls are solid color and he cuts them up for cabs and other jewelry items. Should I chance it and cut into one of the vintage balls and see if they are solid color or not? I really don't have the space to store the extra balls as it would mean taking space that beads would occupy.

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Maybe one of you might like to buy my extras (1 or more) and relieve me of having to agonize over splitting something that maybe shouldn't be split? Comments on what to do would be welcomed - please.....

Settling in for the Winter

It took the quail less time to settle back in than I have. We got back to Arizona Sat. evening, put some bird seed out on Sunday and this morning nine quail were here for breakfast. It was 30 degrees overnight and the quail had their feathers all fluffed up, looking like big puff balls. They are so much fun to watch every winter.

Now that it's Monday, I can run over to Sierra Vista this afternoon to re-stock my own pantry and look at the new addition to the town - great big, brand new, huge super Wal-Mart. Oh what fun!

While I was gone the burned out house to the East of mine was bulldozed down. Now I can see Tombstone's Courthouse from the beadroom. It also lets in a lot more morning sun. Nice bright Arizona sun in a clear blue sky, that's one of the big reasons for being here in the winter. I probably have a touch of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and the light filled days always make me feel better with tons more energy.

Then, to get filled in on all the local gossip, I'll go have coffee with my neighbor on the West. She was my high school room mate from Illinois. We often comment on fate; who would ever have thought we'd be wintering next door to each other in Arizona 47 years later?

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I'll leave you with a photo of my welcome home visitor......

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Last night, I looked up and this guy was sitting on top of the window molding. He got caught in a jar while I did my best to find out if it was a dangerous spider. Turns out that we think it's a 3" Huntsman Spider, not dangerous, but beneficial. So, I evicted him outside, across the road.

Back in Tombstone

The sun is bright, it's high 60's, there are mountains on the horizon and I'm back in Tombstone AZ for the winter. The house was opened back up for me, but the yard needs lost of work right away. The grass and tumbleweeds are thigh high, evidence of a good monsoon season this summer.




We didn't find any outstanding things to stop and look at on the trip across country. However, just the country is always worth looking at. I had heard of the Dismal Swamp and the name always fascinated me. It's nothing like the New Orleans swamps as it's almost more tidy than what I think a swamp should be.





Here are the remains of an old gas station in Texas. I loved the sign on the door which advised one that the Sheriff's posse would most certainly chase you with guns drawn if you defaced the building.


The old Texas county seat, courthouses were beautiful in fanciful brick and high towers. By the time I decided I needed to photo at least one of them, what we saw were modern buildings. It's not the first time this has happened and I seem to have a list of missed photographs.

Once you got west of the Mississippi River you really begin to notice the sky and watch the weather approach. We were lucky that we only hit spitting rain and heavy overcast on just two days of the 9 day trip.

We had to drive through the White Sands National Monument once again. We wanted to test a lingering New England mindset that driving on something that white would be slippery. They plow it like snow, it looks like snow, but it is white gypsum sand. Funny how the subconscious tells you one thing when reality is something else.

I love the patterns that the wind makes on the dunes. It's too bad that there were so many people prints in the dunes that it was difficult to find unspoiled wind patterns like this.

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I was tired of sitting in the car at around day 7. I had finished all of my pre-strung bead crochet, my body wanted to do something besides sit and I got more than a bit cranky. I was tired of strange motel beds and even stranger motel decor like bright pink bed sheets and swagged drapes with huge tassels. Granted, we got off of the interstate and looked for clean, cheap motel rooms. Too bad that they tried to modernize 1950's motels and just missed the mark most of the time.

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It's good to be back in the South West where there are mountains on every horizon, it's warmer than New Hampshire and there is abundant sunshine. It'll take a couple of days to re-stock the pantry, clean up the house and get back into work/beading/designing mode. But first will be Thanksgiving with my sisters, nephews, nieces, grand-nephews and general crazy family.

Over and Out . . .

The bead cabinet is empty, so is the fridge and we're 95% packed. We'll pic-nic here in the house tonight, winterize it tomorrow and leave by noon.

See you all on the other side of the country in the wild west of Arizona sometime around Thanksgiving.

Shutting down the computer after this blog post.

Open road, here we come.