Crunch Time

The Bainbridge Island Studio Tour is coming up next weekend (November 30-December 2), so I have spent much of this weekend in my studio (or, the basement for some). I do so love the smell of melting beeswax and the way the room gets all cozy with the hot pot and griddle all afternoon. I spent a bunch of time with all the grunt stuff, too - getting frames ready, paiting the edges of panels, cutting foam core.... the not creative stuff. It must be done.

If you are in the area, come by and see me. I will be at stop 2 on the tour - The American Legion Hall. You can find a downloadable map at http://www.bistudiotour.com/. This event is a great place to support local artists and find some really fun and unique holiday gifts. I have a few new things in store for this tour.... some bugs and sand dollars, along with the fun collage seascapes I had the last time around.

Hope to see you there!

Nothing to do but laugh....

Today I left work, hopped on the bus and headed down the hill to the ferry. On the way, I took out my knitting project to get some work done - I keep it in a Ziploc bag in my messenger bag so that I can leave the ball of yarn in the bag as I knit, so I just take the needles and the project out of my bag and pull from the ball of yarn in my bag. I hopped off the bus a few blocks from the ferry like I always do. I finished off a few stitches as I was walking down the hill, then continued to walk holding my needles on one hand as I walked.

I was almost to the bridge that crosses over to the ferry building, on First Avenue, when a boy in a car waiting at the light opened his window and said "excuse me", and a woman next to me stops and said "did you mean me?" The boy shook his head, no, he looked at me and pointed at me, yeah, you. I looked at him and nodded and raised my eyebrows; yes, what is it? Then he looked at me like he was embarrassed for me and like he felt so sorry for me... There was such pity in his eyes and on his face. He raises his eyebrows and scrunches up his face and tentatively pointed behind me. I turned and looked, and there behind me were several yards (like twenty or thirty) of beautiful, chunky, raspberry colored yarn, and, at the end of it all...... was a very sweet man, picking up the yarn as fast as he could wind it.

I totally lost it. I mean how ridiculous, right? And, this man... how long had he been following me and picking up the yarn? Was he ever going to say anything ("Hey, crazy lady, stop!", "You, with the knitting, please stop, I can't wind that fast")? The woman next to me screeched "Is that your knitting!?" and I'm thanking the man who hands me a wadded up ball of beautiful, chunky, raspberry colored yarn that now has some street grime mixed in, and through my laughter, I say yes.

Where in the heck are you?

It's taken me a while - moving is HARD - but finally I have a spare moment to post some photos of the new place in the Seattle area. Here is the house we rented - sight un-seen, by the way, via phone and email (thank goodness it turned out alright!):

Out that front door, across the driveway, there are trees, a steep ravine and a creek:

Out back, this is the view from the deck and from the bedrooms upstairs (this is the best part of the house!):

There you have it. I will post more soon.

It's official, we're moving to Seattle. I am very excited. I got an opportunity to transfer with current company. I will be doing the same kind of work - HR - but will work at a much bigger site and will be learning all about unions... I'm really excited for something new. Craig has already had one offer from a community college in the area, so it seems all is going according to plan. We met with the realtor yesterday in Reno to talk about selling the house and I, for one, was thrilled to learn that she thought our house was worth more than we paid for it! Great news in these times! Wish us well that all goes well on that front.

We have been busy! I finally got my photo editing software to work again so I can share some photos. I have been spending as much time as I can in the art shed.... I sure am going to miss that.... we will have to look for a new house with a studio... I gave the little encaustic to my parents. I was pretty mad at myself for painting it on a wood plank instead of some better artist material. I really like the way it turned out, but the wood warped. I think I will paint another one on a better board....

My folks have moved to Michigan and the picture was inspired by a photo of Ella that I took last summer while we were visiting them on Lake Huron. It seems only fitting that it should live in their Michigan house....

Ella has had a fun year with the Girl Scouts and earlier this year participated in the Father and Daughter Derby. It was so fun and soooo cute! The girls derby cars sure looked a lot different that the boys (except for the ones that were clearly made by the dads!). Ella got her grandpa to help cut out the car and her Dad helped decorate it. I can't remember how she placed in her races, but she sure had fun.

Fred and Ginger are doing ok... getting older like us all. Fred is hard of hearing and can't see very well either... we are sneaking up on him all the time without meaning to!

Well, summer has finally come to our neck of the woods, so I am off to enjoy the day.

Hello Blog

What the heck happened? Last time I posted it was almost Halloween! I have thought about posting several times - to share my little valentine's day paintings or photos from a trip to SF, but for some reason I lost my photo management system on on computer and I just have not figured out Photoshop... I'm so lame. Who has time to learn something new like that these days! :)

Things here have been quite busy. I have been traveling quite a bit with work and I am so tired of it. Hopefully, something will work itself out soon - before I am so burned out I am past the point of no return.

We have our fingers crossed that we will be able to move to Seattle this summer. There is a good chance that something will open up for me with my job and Craig is applying and interviewing at some of the community colleges there. Keep your fingers crossed.

Ok, I'm off to download some pictures.... maybe. If I can I will share some.

Busy, busy...

Last Friday was the Fall Festival at Ella's school. It was her first chance to wear her Halloween bat costume that we made together. It turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself! I just love fall!

I've also been putting the art shed to good use lately. Christmas presents, anyone?

Stress Relief

Life is so stressful right now. Seems a lot of things are just up in the air for us right now.