So far so good...

We were at the Wholesale Buyers Market in Philadelphia last week. This is our second time selling at a wholesale show. It's a whole new ball game for us selling to galleries and gift shops. So far it seems to be a good choice trying this out. We are hoping to be able to cut down on the retail shows a bit and pick up more wholesale accounts so that we won't have to be travelling as much. Not that I don't like to travel but as soon as we get back to Lopez full time we want to be more home bodies.
Being in a wholesale setting is very different than a retail one. It is slower..we may make 20-30 sales at a wholesale show versus a hundred at a retail show. The biggest difference for me is being in an aisle that is all clay artists. At this past show there were 5 rows of clay artists. It's very strange for me to be among all that clay, booth after booth. As I walked the show with Xan we found that we could get through about a row and half before we were saturated with that one element wether it was glass, clay, or jewelry. It is very fun however to hang with your peers and a lot of talking shop happens between customers.
We were across from two wonderful women Rebecca and Kristen. Rebecca started her own studio called R.Wood Studio. They hand build real fun function pottery in a variety of great colors. Rebecca is one of these people who wants to get the word out about peace, love, and beauty. She emanates it all. As soon as I have a minute I am going to put her link in my side bar. So keep an eye out over there for her! These are pictures of the clothing that she was wearing. The skirts are polartec that she has appliqued.


And here is a sweater that she appliqued.
These are pictures of Xan working for two of her clients.

It was a fun and profitable weekend. So far so good...

Thanks deary!

I am going to skip ahead on my timeline a bit for a very important announcement.
MONS FLUMEN IS A SWEETHEART.
I get back from Philly and there is a package of Valentine cookies from her. I decided that I would save them for the plane ride to Tucson. What a happy breakfast we had! What a damn happy family. Thanks deary!!!!

Whew.

This is what it looked like outside my house the night before we were supposed to drive to Philly for a big wholesale show.
This is our neighbors shovelling their cars out on the day that we finally left for Philly.
This is what our dashboard looked like as we were driving away from home on our way to Philly. The snow was blowing in through the dashboard fan.
We made it to Philly. Whew.

...our past campsites.

I was just working on our year end letter. Something that we haven't done in a few years. Anyway I was hit with the sense of loss over not going to Florida this year and participating in the FL Ren Fair. We won't be camping for 2 months this year. We won't be with our Renny community. We won't be outside. It's making me weepy.
Here are a few pictures of our past camsites.

We do sweetie. We do.

Last week we got together with my sister-in-law. Got ya didn't I? For a moment you thought "Oh, this is going to be juicey." But it's the wrong sister-in-law. This is my brother-in-law's wife, Karen.
We got together to create a "grave blanket" for Audrey & Alec's grave. No one in my family had ever heard of a grave blanket before. You take chicken wire and cover it with greens and anything else that you want. We put on pine and cedar boughs. Xan picked some sort of thing that had red berries on it. Karen had picked a bunch of green things from their yard and we had brought suet. We spent an hour putting it together and then we decided that we would go together to the cemetery on Saturday to lay it out over the grave.
On Saturday after I got home from working at the Farmers Market I gave Stuart (Michael's brother) a call. He told me that Karen could not come and did we want to come over to their house and all go in one car. We had a few things we needed to do afterwards and declined his offer. He offered to have us follow him. We did not see the need so I told him that we would meet him there.
We get in the car with a few shovels to clear a spot on the grave for the blanket and off we go. We get to the town where there is a fork in the road and in typical married fashion I'm sure we need to go left and he's sure we need to go right. Since he went to Audrey's burial last year I concede and we go off to the right. And we go off. And we go off. Ten minutes down the road and we're not so sure we are going the right way. But Michael has great visual memory and he remembers the big Virgin Mary in the blue background in front of the church. He remembers the old paper mill. Though, there is no sign for the cemetery. We finally end up at the Saratoga Battlefield National Park. We go inside the visitors center (beautiful view all the way to Vermont) and get directions to the Saratoga National Cemetery.
We are late. We got lost. We call Stuart. Michael is on the phone with him and he starts out by saying "I was sure I knew the way but we got lost." and then I hear "What's that noise, Stuart? What are you doing? I can't hear you. Stuart? Stuart?" He loses the connection.
On our way to the cemetery with our new directions we get a voice mail. It's Stuart. He's miffed. He says that we wouldn't do what he wanted to do and go in his car. He knew we didn't know how to get to the cemetery. He offered us directions but we wouldn't take them. We never do what he wants to do. We always have to have it our way. He was cold. He had been standing outside waiting for us and he was leaving.
Well, OK then. We get to the cemetery. He is gone. The grave blanket is there. It's funny how Audrey and Alec are in the same grave and they share a grave stone. Alec is on one side and Audrey is on the other. As we are walking up to their gravesite it hits me. Like a rock. Of course we are late. We were on our way to visit Audrey, the woman who was never on time and would get lost so easily. I turned to Michael and said, "Of course we are late honey, we were on the way to visit your mother." We stood there and cracked up. It was perfect. It was divine intervention. We stood there for a few minutes and thought of Audrey and Alec and what wonderful folk they were. We then decided that we needed to stop at "Saratoga Apple" pick up some cider donuts and go home and have tea with the girls.
At home we made tea, held our donuts up high and toasted Michael's parents.
"Mom you are so cute. Who toasts with donuts?"
"We do sweetie. We do."

...all over our bodies.

There are so many things I want to blog about. My participation in the "anti-war peace march" that was in DC or the grave blanket debockal of last weekend. But I must devote this entry to our scabbies adventure because I'm living through it and because misery loves company I have this perverse need to share the "itch".
It all started in December when Artie came home from being out on Lopez for 7 months. Two weeks before she arrived she got diagnosed with scabbies ($75) and got the treatment from the local pharmacist ($50). She is living with friends so everyone had to it.(This means lots of laundry and spray for all the surfaces.) She works in a daycare center so letters were sent home with the kids. "Warning, Warning Everybody! Artie has SCABBIES!" Poor kid.
She does the treatment and her skin has a total hissy fit on her. She ends up with this red, itchy, unhappy rash all over her body. Thus she arrives home to her family begging me for the thickest, goopiest, most hydrating moisturizer that I can get my hands on. I have some Shikai brand lotion with borage in it. Great stuff. Thick and hydrating. She finds it barely passable. I go to the local health food store and buy her a bunch of options. She tried them all. Didn't ask for more so something in there must have been OK for her.
Christmas is right around the corner and we are in bustle mode. Getting ready for a trip to my Mom's and delivering local cheer. Poor Artie comes down with a nasty respiratory flu while the rest of us get the stomach flu. After two weeks of that sickness and recovery time, Artie begins to sense that she still has skin. Still very unhappy skin. Still very itchy skin. Still has little red dots on her skin. F*** almighty she thinks she still has scabbies on her skin. Xan notices that she has itchy hands with little red dots on them. Oh brother or sister in this case.
We make an appointment with our local doctor. At the visit our doctor isn't quite sure wether the girls have scabbies or some sort of extreme excema. Something about not being able to find the scabbies' tracks (they borrow in your skin). Because Artie has had such an extreme reaction to the treatment and because she's just not sure she wants to refer us to a dermatologist so that a scratch test can be done. Well if she's not sure then we agree and let her make us an appointment with a local dermatologist ($100). She swears that this guy is great, the best.
We wait a week and half to see the dermatologist. His office is big and crowded. They will not let the girls be in separate rooms. That ticks off Artie who is old enough to do this on her own. The girls are told to put on paper gowns and have to sit in the exam room for 45 minutes and they are cold. The nurses come in and take down the girls' history. More waiting. The doctor finally comes in. He is abrupt and haried. Poke here. Look here. Other than the scabbies I want him to look at a rash on Artie that we've been dealing with for years and one on Xan too. Why not, we're there.
"Yep, yep this is that, that is this, I'll prescibe that and this. You've got scabbies. How many in the family?" And he's walking out the door.
"Wait a minute. I have a philosophy about what we use on our body. I want products that are as natural as possible and not tested on animals."
Oh you should have seen the look on his face.
"Alright I'll prescribe sulfur in a petroleum jelly base for all of you. It will be best anyway considering that your daughter has very sensitive skin. You apply it twice a day for three days, wait a week and apply for three more days."
"Sulphur?"
"Yes."
"Is it going to smell?"
"It is like sulphur in rotten eggs it might smell but it won't be that bad. I don't think. I will be back in just a minute to talk about the prescriptions."
He never came back. He sent his nurses. They were not all that informative. I figured that I could ask the pharmacist all my burning question about this remedy ($300).
We get to local CVS and the guy at the counter made a face when I handed him the prescription. He told me that it was going to awful and smelly. Really smelly and we couldn't bathe for three days. I couldn't do it. I took back the prescription and headed home to call the dermatologist. I call and the office is closed. I was just there the office isn't closed. And the office won't be open again for three (my magic number) days. So I got on the emergency line and leave the Dr. a message. The next day I leave three messages. The next day I leave four or five messages. Finally on Sunday morning the Dr. calls me back and we talk about the alternatives. We decide (without me telling him what a dick I think he is) that Artie needs to do the sulphur treatment and the rest of us can do the one day normal treatment. He calls in the prescription to CVS.
Later that day Michael is out doing errands and he stops at CVS to pick up all our stuff. There is only one thing there and it is for Xan. So he picks it up and comes home ($130).
"Did you ask if this is for one person or three?"
"No, I just picked it up"
I call CVS. There is no prescription called in for Artie and what we picked up for Xan is only for one person. We are sitting at the kitchen table trying to figure out how we are going to pay for all this shit. I then have to take Artie's prescription down to CVS to get filled. Guess what? They can't fill it because it is a compound and they don't have one of the ingredients. I ask how much is this compound going to cost us. Much looking in books and the answer is about $100. So Artie's remedy is about the same as the rest of us. I am sent to a pharmacy in a neighboring town. They are super nice there and tell me that it will take overnight to make and that it will cost less than $20.
Again we are sitting at the kitchen table. We now have one remedy at $130 and one at $20. We decide that we need to call back the dermatologist and get him to write us two more prescriptions for Michael and myself and we will call around and find the cheapest place to get them.
The next morning I go over to the dermatologists office to pick up the prescriptions. That's done and then I have to drive over to the pharmacy that's making the compound. When I get there I pick it up ($11) and of course the first thing I do is open it to smell it. Damn if it really doesn't smell at all. I say something to the pharmacist about and he tells me that is a misnomer that sulphur will smell in petroleum jelly. In other mixes yes but not in this one. I call Michael and we decide that we are going with the sulphur remedy. I discuss it with the pharmacist and since the original prescription was for a pound of it and we only had him make up 4 oz. of it he can easily make up another 8 oz. for us. While I was on the phone with Michael the pharmacist and his staff decided that they were going to make this compound up for us that day and it would be ready in the evening($22). I almost wept. I was teary eyed and told him if I could get back behind the counter I would hug him.
We started the remedy yesterday. Michael is going to do the one day deal. He's the man and he's going to go for the harsh remedy. The rest of us smell like a spa. We smell just like one of the mineral springs here in Saratoga.
I'm doing tons of laundry and I think that today we'll watch movies and clean the house. For we shall not go forth into the world. We shall stay home and slather petroleum jelly all over our bodies.

...don't want all this negative stuff to stick around

My mother-in-law's estate is progressing more quickly now than it has been. Most of my spare time is creating documentation for the court. Making the list of missing items from the personal property, printing the pictures of those items to present them to the judge in a coherent way, transcribing audio tapes of conversations (just like the FBI), collecting of affidavits concerning what people know for sure was in the house when Audrey died and that Audrey did not sell off her things for the past 20 yrs. to raise money etc.., and putting together categories of things like "all the documentation of all the times we were told that there was an inventory or all the times that it was written to us that there was an inventory". Our lawyer loves us (I think) because we are anal central with all the documentation and fine presentation skills that we have. Alas, it is time consuming and it's where I am putting most of my free energy these days.
When confronted with a missing list of 126 line items and 49 pictures of some of these missing items. My sister-in-law responds like this....""Regrettably, the Tiffany letter holder is valueless because the glass is shattered in several places and a chunk is missing. I would like to have it for sentimental reasons." or "If MIchael means the litttle one about two feet high, he asked for it and got it. I don't actually see it on the list (meaning the appraisal list that is supposed to be all the personal property) myself but the appraiser may have described it differently than I would have." Did I mention that she has the photo file that goes along with the appraisal? She could look at the pictures to make sure if it is there or not. Better yet, she could give us the photo file so that we could look. She's been "sending" it our way for 5 weeks now. It's crazy making. And it's sad.
So now I am going to make this it's very own post so that my experience last weekend can stand by itself. This one will disappear in a while...don't want all this negative stuff to stick around.

The party is over.

I work at the Saratoga Farmers Market. My well kept secret is that my employers don't really have to pay me to be there. I love it that much! I love to be around home grown food. I love the people. I love to tell people that they owe $25 for a head of lettuce and hear Sandy say, "Oh, Victoria". For me, there is nothing not to love about being there.
I work for two farms now, both organic. The Kilpatrick Family Farm fellows have bought a half size school bus painted red. They have named it "the flying tomato". These are my kinda people!!
This past Saturday I got up to get ready to work at the market. I was standing in the kitchen in an early morning daze staring at our calendar. I was in disbelief. The calendar was telling me that we had an art show coming up the next weekend. An art show? What? Our last show was before Chrismas and the sad realization that we have to go back to work was slowly making itself known into my reality. Ah, jeez.
The party is over.

...while it lasted.

This is a picture that I took first thing in the morning yesterday. No snow but we got ICE. Today we are at the tailend of an ice storm. Yesterday we were truly in the middle of it. It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day so we laxed on the homeschool. We were going to walk down to the library and participate in the MLKJD festivities that they have there every year. Artie has got a job at Saratoga Coffee Traders and we decided that we would walk her to work then we would go on to the library. We walked because our van is at the garage where the mechanic is trying to figure why we don't have any heat. (it's because something is wrong with the radiator but they can't find any leaks in the radiator which means they now have to search in the engine. it is starting to sound expensive!)
This is the next picture that I took. Notice that we haven't put away our hose yet. Personally, I keep forgetting because the weather here has been so absurdly mild. I think that I'm going to leave it there so that I can be reminded that Spring is on it's way. And when it gets here I'll have to buy a new hose.
So, we putzed around in the morning. Xan and I did some reading. We folded laundry. We talked about all the ice outside. I made us all sausage, scrambled eggs, and toast for breakfast. Then it was time to bundle up and trek downtown. There was one tense moment when no one could figure out where Artie's snow boots are. The case has not been solved but we had a pair of rubber boots that fit her handy. (I swear that I unpacked them...but maybe I am having a memory of years gone by.) Then the power went out. No worries. We have a gas stove and a propane heater that we use in our booth sometimes. We are good if the power stays out.
We are off. It is very icey out there!! Artie and I choose to walk in the road where there is not a thin layer of black ice waiting to catch your ass. Michael has on his "Yaktrax". He is immune to ice now. He got them last year to use walking to the kiln and back outside. They are these metal gidgie things that you attach to the bottom of your shoes.
So, we are off. It is beautiful outside. Everything is covered in a thick layer of ice. It's an ice world out there. We walk Artie to work and then head down to the library. The picture above is off the trees outside the library. The library is closed. No festivities. It's the first time I have ever seen the parking lot empty.
So we do what anyone else would do...we play with the ice. We are having a blast getting as big a piece as we can and then smashing it on the ground. Very theraputic, very fun. We did that for a while then we walked back to Saratoga Coffee for some hot drinks and a rousing game of Scrabble.
When we got home the power was still out. I shoveled ice off of our sidewalk outside. Michael and Xan set up a candle wonderland inside.
I did the dishes and made dinner by headlamp. After dinner a friend of ours who had power picked us up and we went over to the land of electic and played a game. When we got home at 10 the power was back on.
The magic hour was over and the TV got turned on.
It was fun while it lasted.

...just what I need.

It's official. I've booked us on a flight out of Albany, NY on Feb. 21st. We are flying to Tucson via 3 lay-overs. First we fly to Chicago, then Omaha (this is the excuse I've needed to get to Nebraska), then Denver, then finally Tucson. The destination. We'll be in Arizona for 9 days. We fly out at midnight on March 2nd and arrive back to Albany on Saturday morning of the 3rd.
Doesn't all that sound like fun?
A vacation. We get a vacation. I am delirious with disbelief and anticipation. Our lives have been so emotionally distraught since Michael's mom passed away. A vacation is just what we need.
We used to live in Tucson and it will be so nice to be with old friends. Friends that have known us for over 15 years. Friends who know us and know what kind of people we are (not the kind of people that my sister-in-law keeps saying that we are).
We arrive just in time to go and see the Tucson Rodeo Parade. It is the largest non-motorized parade in the country. We will go the Arizona Ren Fair and visit with our Florida Ren Fair friends that have changed venues this year (good for us because we get to see them). We will drive up to Phoenix and see Jane. Yippee!! And we will go to Art Celebration in Scottsdale to check out the show. We have two artist friends there that we will visit with.
Xan is going to spend a night working in the kitchen at Janos Restaurant in Tucson. Michael worked for Janos when we lived in Tucson. Janos is an innovative and charismatic chef and has graciously agreed to spend time with our chef wanne-be daughter. This is a major thrill!!!
Now if we can just make it to Feb. 21 without bursting.
Time in the desert is just what I need.

...from the well

This is Artie arriving from WA. Happy family.

This is the makeshift menorah that Michael made because our other menorah is packed away.

This is our Dr. Suess style gingerbread house that we made.

Annalise wrote and asked if I had fallen down the well again. Yep.
It all started at the beginning of Chanukah when we finally received an appraised inventory of my mother-in-law's personal property. I spent some time going over the list and then looking at pictures that we have from the interior of her home before she passed away. It soon became clear that there were things that I was seeing in the pictures that I wasn't finding in the list. One thing led to another and Michael and I spent Chanukah creating our own list of items that we could not find.
On the Friday before Xmas Michael, Xan, and I came down with the stomach flu (my second round). We had to postpone leaving for my Mom's for a day. We had a funny thing happen on the way to MA. We were driving on the Mass Pike. I was driving and looked in my side mirror. There was a small car coming up in the fast lane with an Xmas tree roped to the top. I told everyone to look out at the car that had it's Xmas tree on the top. The car passes us and it turns out to be some friends of ours from Saratoga. We called each other on our cells and met at the rest area. We had a fun visit with them with no hugs because we were getting over the flu. Our friends were going to their family's house and bringing a tree to set up and decorate. How fun, huh?
So everything is good until Xmas night and after dinner Michael and Xan revisit the stomach flu and Artie gets a whopping, nasty respiratory flu. The poor kid was congested within an inch of her life. My mother has a sort of boy friend, a bridge partner, that joined us for Xmas dinner. My mom and he drank before dinner, had a bottle of wine at dinner, and then drank 1/2 a bottle of Drambuie after dinner. My mom woke up in the wee hours of the morning quite ill. I think that she did not get the stomach flu, I think that she poisoned herself with alcohol. I must admit that I felt like the "typhoid terras".
There was no going to see "Blue Man Group", no driving up to NH to stay with our best friend Andy, no going to Maine and having a lobster dinner, no seeing our friend Toby in Maine, no fun trip to LL Bean, and no going to the La Cruset outlet to look at groovy cookware. I didn't even get to visit with my brother because he couldn't come over because we were all sick. We stayed at my Mom's the whole time and watched a billion hours of TV. She has dish so we got to see many movies. I found the groovy health food store in New Bedford and got to know them pretty well over there. I got to visit with them 3 times. I can't tell everyone enough how good the Boiron homeopathic remedies are. They saved us!!
We are back home now. I have a cold and feeling marginal. Everyone else seems healthy and happy. Artie still has a nasty cough but she's in good health.
Yep...that was my second trip down the well.
I work at the Saratoga Farmers Market and last Saturday all the talk was about Global Warming and how sick everyone has been this season. We still have no snow here....very weird! and I am a walking testimony as to how sick everyone has been.
I hope all my cyber friends had healthy, happy, merry ones!
I am now planning a vacation. I decided that we need to get away and have some fun. So we are thinking of AZ. Flying into Tucson and visiting there and driving up to Phoenix to do some visiting there. I'm just waiting to talk to our lawyer and see if the timing is good. He might tell us that our timing sucks and we need to stick around and be available for estate stuff. I really hope not!!!
Hello to all from the well.

BACK FROM MY TRIP DOWN THE WELL

It's been so long I can't even fathom where to start. First it was the nagging never ending cold which would go away and then come back after a weekend art show. Then it seemed like it was art show after show. Then it seemed like I was not having any time to rest during the day because I'm the "teach" and if I don't homeschool Xan, who will. Then I got the flu just as we were preparing to leave for 2 back to back shows and be gone for two weeks which changed the schedule to Michael and Xan leaving for one show without me and then they had to drive home to pick me up for the other. Then it was our best and busiest show of the year in Chicago with me just getting over the flu. Then we arrive back home to have Artie arrive home (Yippee!!!) and now Michael, Xan, and I all have the flu. And, of course, this all has to happen during our busiest time of the year.
And how is everyone else? My dear cyber-space companions. I haven't even read anyone's blog in ages. I feel like I dropped down a well or something. I am wondering how Mons flummen's surgery went. I have been holding her very dear to my heart this week. I want to know all about Jane's births she's attending...I do so miss her quick wit. I wonder if Annalise finally got her house and what terrific places her family has been to and what books on tape they listened to on the way.
Happy Holiday's everyone. I don't think we are expecting a white christmas it is presently raining this day before the day before christmas. This is the day after the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice (we missed the solstice celebration/ritual at the UU church last night becuase we are sick). It is also the day after Chanukkah. In my house we celebrate them all. Mostly, the 2 latter.
I wish for peace to enter all your lives. For your days to be as enjoyable and soft as a purring cat. I wish that humans will wake up and do everything that they can to help save our mother earth (watched an Inconvenient Truth this week). I hope that love abounds in your lives.
Hopefully I'm back from my trip down the well.....

UNTIL NEXT TIME

Hey, I'm still sick. Still have this crummy cold. I am very tired of green snot. Yep, I'm infected. The best remedy I have found this time around has been raw garlic. Am I the only person on the planet who has a hard time eating raw garlic? It burns. How come Michael has a geographic tongue (meaning his tongue has more surface area than most other tongues and it is very weird) and raw garlic doesn't burn his tongue.
Every day for the past week I have been dutifully getting out the spelt bread, slathering it with butter (we get an Amish butter roll that is to die for) and then I squeeze a clove of garlic on it and eat it. Tears roll down my face. I like the taste of it but it burns my mouth and it burns on the way down. Oh poor me...I'm still sick and we are going into our crazy, busy time of year.
This week I had to drive Michael to a show in Hartford, CT because he was too sick (we kiss, what can I say?) to set up on his own. It is only a 2 1/2 hour drive so Xan and I took him down and then came back home because Xan is in a chorus and they had a concert on Friday night. Michael is sharing a hotel room with a friend and today we drive back to the show to break down our booth. Ya gotta do what you gotta do, right?
Before Xan and I leave for CT I am going to take all of our food off of our shelves and rearrange everything. Doesn't that sound fun? It's all part of the rubic cube lifestyle that I have at the moment. Since I packed up most of our kitchen stuff and now we are staying I need to make do with what we have blah, blah, blah.... I am also trying to rearrange furniture and such to make room for the arrival of Michael's inherited things (Yes, it's all still a bloody mess!). That mean's that I am going to rearrange the food on the shelves so that when inherited furniture arrives we can take some of the cabinets out to make room. I have this gut feeling that we are going to be notified like 1 day in advance that it's time to pick up the stuff. That's how it happened in September. The pick-up never happened because my sister-in-law was demanding that her brother's sign blank receipts for the stuff that she said was their portion of the equal distribution of the personal property. Of course they didn't sign anything....it was blank...they did not know what they were getting. The rest of that tale is more bullshit. I am refraining from telling all because we are still in the middle of it. One day when this is all over I'll put it all down for all to read.
So I am off to the kitchen for some rearranging fun. Yesterday I made 3 batches of strawberry jam with the strawberries that I had frozen in the freezing. I bought 5 organic, freshly slaughtered chickens (I helped slaughter last year and couldn't this year because of my crummy cold. It's a very ancestral experience and I'm sorry that I couldn't participate this year) from my farmer friends and I needed to rearrange my freezer to make them fit. Thus I had to make jam.
Is there end in sight? Is Victoria going to spend all winter rearranging her apartment? Will she still be sick next week? Stay tuned, same blog, same weary woman writing it. Until next time....

FOR ELOISE, WITH LOVE

I have been taking a weaving class. Not only do I love to weave but it's the only time that I get to go do something that is just for me. I pay $6 an hour for the opportunity to leave my family behind and emerse myself in something that I like to do. I find it funny (I mean funny as in strange) that I get to pay someone for my opportunity to leave my family behind. Sound familiar women? A couple of years ago I was thinking about taking the class and one of my daughters thought that it was so cool and they wanted to do it to. Instead of saying "no, this is my time" I just never did anything about it. Now I'm over that and I've been taking classes since the spring.
This is a scarf that I made for my friend Eloise.

She graduated from acupuncture school this past spring. I chose to use fibers that came from non-animals (cotton and rayon) and I chose to use specific colors for their healing properties.

Green for balance (and it's the color of american money), purple for serenity, and white for connecting to one's higher self.
Eloise is an amazing woman that I know and love. I am so pleased that she is out there "filling her cup" and doing her thing to make the planet a better place.
For Eloise, with love.

AND SO MUCH MORE.....

Wow. I'm back. My pinky finger is feeling much better. It's still not a pretty sight but it's not hurting like it did. As for my cold...I've got that Lauren Bacall husky, sexy voice thing going on and I need to take a nap every afternoon. We were in New Hamshire this weekend (another blog entry) and we went to the state liquor store and bought a bottle of Jim Bean so that we can have hot toddies at night. If nothing else I get loopy enough to get a decent night's sleep.
This is going to be a brief blog because I need to get dinner going and I have my weaving class this evening.
I want to share some Halloween pictures with you all.....
Halloween is one of our favorite holidays. We set up our 10x10 Easy Up tent out in front of the house and give out hot mulled cider to the grown ups and non edible treats to the kids. This year we had tombstone stickers, halloween tattoos, bloody hands and feet (these were sticky and gushy), and trick candy (they looked like taffy but when you unwrapped them there was a plastic bug inside). We order all our non edible goodies from the Oriental Trading Company. It's the most amazing outlet of cheap crap that I have ever come across. It's amazing the shit you can buy in gross. This is a picture of our set up this year...

This is a better picture of Michael's pumpkin. Pretty cool, huh?

This is Xan and her friend Gretchen. Gretchen is the little old lady who bakes and Xan is her plate of chocolate chip cookies. What a crack up they were....

Lastly, this is a dish that Xan made for us. She makes dinner one night a week and the week before Halloween she made spaghetti with eyeballs.....

This is my brief post about Halloween. I hope that everyone else had as much fun as we did.
There is so much more to catch you all up on....a scarf I made for a friend, my mother's quilted clothing fashion show, and so much more.....

OUCH

Can you kinda sorta see my finger? The nail on my pinky? I got it slammed in the car door on Sunday morning. And to top it all off I have a crummy head cold.
So many wonderful things to type and my pinky is pretty sore. Hard to type.
Will return, ouch, in a few days, ouch.

OUR LABORIOUS ENDEAVORS

Yesterday's moving of all of our stuff went really well. We were aided by Xan's friend, Gretchen, and that made all the difference. Gretchen is strong and she kept Xan cheerful. So, everything is moved. My living room still looks like "early college" because of all the stuff I brought inside that I have to sort. But, we are all happy campers.
Last night we went to a Halloween/Sowhein party at our friends' Bairbre and Hanks house.
This is Bairbre's website. We got to know each other when we played sisters in "Dancing At Lughnasa". A great play and way fun being her sister!
Here are our hosts:
They are up at the bonfire.
And here are some more pictures of other party goers:
This is Andrew. I just loved his costume. He also made ice lanterns that he put candles in and had outside. I wish I had thought to take a picture of them. This is how I think you make the ice lanterns. You fill a balloon with water and put it into the freezer. The ice is going to form from the outside in and in a day or two (I think that he said two days for his) you are going to empty out the water inside the frozen ball. Make a hole in the top and empty out the inside water. Put it back into the freezer and take it out when you want to use it. Put a candle inside and you are ready to party! I gave Andrew this blog address so, if I'm wrong...leave a comment and correct me.

This is our neighbor Kara. She's a riot.

And her daughter, Elisabeth. She had a stuffed cat pinned her butt and was walking around asking everyone if they had seen her cat. What a hoot.

This is "Wonder Bread Girl" and her sidekick "Mushroom Sister". The older used to be in a dance class with Artie and I've forgotten her name. If Artie wants to leave a comment and remind me that would be nice..hint...hint. "wonder Bread Girl" brought back fond memories of going on field trips to the Wonder Bread factory as a kid. I remember coming home with a loaf of Wonder Bread and thinking that I was just the bee's knees.

And lastly, Michael and I went as delegates to Star Fleet (now is that one word or two?). I walked around and in very slow speed with a made up accent saying, while pointint to my Star Fleet emblem, "SSStaaarrr FFFFlllleeeeeet". Then I would nod and put out my hand to shake. Michael was saying, "Don't blame us, we're not from here." I love this picture because Michael looks like a pre-occupied kid.

We just love Halloween and the party going was a great reward for all of our laborious endeavors.

GOING TO BATTLE...

We have created a bunch of work for ourselves here at Terra Cottage.
The first, and most pressing, and time consuming is the moving of our posessions from one place in the house to another. Ahhh, the constant shifting of our shit (I truly mean our most prized and cherished household items that are packed in boxes ready to be lovingly moved out to Lopez).
That's right folks. I was very busy this summer packing up all our stuff. Leaving only what we couldn't live without using unpacked for the the last minute packing that I was going to be doing in July, no wait August, Ok September, What? October. Now, as you all know, we have decided that we are going to stay the winter and hopefully, HOPEFULLY move in March, maybe April. Victoria will be a raving lunatic if it's May.
As a result, our school bus (Big Red) is stuffed with boxes, my livingroom's got the decor of "early college", and we are in the process of doing the rubic cube manuevers of the poor and infamous. This week we took the kitchen table that Michael made to fit our kitchen here and replaced it with a table that my Mom gave us this summer. Now the replacement table is a bit wider than the old one but we needed to get it out of the living room where is was leaning up against all the boxes. I am going to have to take a picture of my her (I really think it's a she) and show you all. It's a table that my mom was using in her studio and I think that it came from my maternal grandmother. She (my table) is probably from the late 1800's and has the most beautiful legs and feet that you ever saw. Kitchen Table (that's her name for now) was fun to set up. Setting up a piece of family history and her being so gorgeous was a treat.
TODAY we are heading out into the garage. UCK.... the garage. The back room of the garage is full of junk. It's one of the places where we just dumped the stuff that we don't know what do with. I think that I've got clothes hanging out there from the conception of our owning this house. It must be cleaned out so that we can get our box decor out of the living room, out of Artie's part of the girl's room, and out of Big Red (we must sell BR for a larger school bus...and that's another blog, trust me). All because we decided that we are staying the winter and Victoria is going to pop a gasket if we don't make our living quarters livable. That's makes today "garage day". We've put off "garage day" for a while. Of course, who wants to deal with a bunch of stuff that you haven't missed in years. And it requires LABOR. And it requires that we do it TOGETHER because I'll be damned if I'm going out there all by myself. Oh no...this misery definetely needs company.
It is time to go outside and move the car.
I am going to end this missive with promises to post pictures of Kitchen Table (J...you were such an inspiration with Ethan Allen).
Think of me fondly for I am going to battle....

PROBABLY

A conversation with Xan while we are in our booth...

Xan: Mom I'm hungry.
Me: There are chicken salad sandwiches in the cooler.
Xan: I don't want that.
Me: Ok, there are also apples, have one of those for now.
Xan: I am going to eat the apple and I am not going to have the sandwich.
Me: Yeah you are. You can't just eat the apple for lunch.
Xan: Why not?
Me: Because even though the apple is great food it is natural sugars and the sandwich has protein. You need the protein. You must eat the sandwich.
Xan: Mah-om you know that I hate tuna and chicken salads. If I eat that sandwich I will barf.
Me: This does not have to be your favorite sandwich. You need to eat the sandwich.
Xan: Than I am going to barf on your head.
Me: Then you will probably get no treats today...probably.

GETTING READY.....

Have to get ready for a show and procrastinating.....

1. FIRST NAME? Victoria

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? The queen. Mom is an anglophile.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Monday morning when I turned the phone back on (I never turn the phone off) and there was a message from Artie needing to have a "mommy talk" because she missed me. Learned my lesson....I am NEVER shutting off the phone again.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I live with an artist who has really cool handwriting. Mine is boring and nondescript.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Umm? Honey roasted turkey, I think.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Oh jeez, I certainly hope so. I like to think that I've grown into being a desirable friend.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Only here, baby.


8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Why yes I do.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No way!!!!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Oatmeal with maple syrup and soymilk. Does that count as cereal?

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? With laces....yes. Tevas....no.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Emotional rock....physical?....read my last blog entry.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Coffee, hands down.

14. SHOE SIZE? 8 to 9

15. RED OR PINK? ICK! Neither really. But, I must admit that I just bought the most cool pair of leather high top sneakers that have stitching on them like they are cowboy boots. It's more of a "left to center" pink so they are acceptable to me.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My pointy nose or the stress hump that I am developing at the base of my neck right up above my shoulder blades or the fact that I am a very self conscious or that I hold things inside and don't fully express myself. "These are a few of my least favorite things..oom pa pa...omm pa pa"

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My grandfather, Dado (long o). He had the gift of truly paying attention to someone. I have only met one other person in my life who can do that. Dado was a treasure.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Don't get it....going on....

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? I'm in my pj's. They are peachy colored with violet and blue flowers on them printed on waffle cotton. I love pajamas!


20. LAST THING YOU ATE? A chocolate covered oreo. Michael and Xan went to a gallery opening of Michael's work in Northampton, MA on Friday while stayed and worked in our booth at a local show. They went to two different chocolate stores and brought home truffles to try and some other goofy chocolate covered things. I was pleasantly surprised by the oreo. I'm not a big oreo fan. The dark chocolate covered ginger was my favorite.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The hum of the computor, the occasional car driving by, my keyboarding, and I'm sniffling (think a cold is coming on).

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? I want to be a beeswax crayon made by this woman I use to know on Lopez. She made the most amazing colors from these powders that she had. She made them for her children. Can you believe that? I want to be irredescent (sp?).

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Low tide.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Miss Artie.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Eyes. Smiles.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM? Yes, very much.

27. FAVORITE DRINK? I have a few. Apple Cider mixed with Goya ginger beer, Moose Drool (Micro-brewery beer from Missoula, MT), water...always water.

28. FAVORITE SPORT? I like to watch figure skating.

29. EYE COLOR? Brown.

30. HAT SIZE? No clue. But, I do have a small head. Round hips, small head...go figure.

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No.

32. FAVORITE FOOD? Too many to list.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Scary Movies.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Fall.

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs.

37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Creamy chocolate things.

38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Jane and Annalise.

39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Everybody else.

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel & Abarat by Clive Barker.

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE Pad? Don't have a mouse pad.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? The last 4 episodes of "Surface" on DVD.

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? The ocean, rain on window panes, wind in the trees, laughter.

44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles.

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Saudi Arabia...at the time it was home.

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Loving it all.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Concord, MA.

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I copied it from Jane.

And this is how I have productively spent my time getting ready......

I MUST DO THIS AGAIN

On Sunday Xan and I went on a hike with our friends Terry and Mark. Terry and Mark are our best friends here in Saratoga and they get out into nature whenever they can. Terry and Mark are going to come out and live in our house on Lopez Island when we take off for our year abroad. The point here is that I love them and trust them.
On Friday night at dinner together they invited Xan and I to go on a hike with them up north in the Adirondacks. Michael was in Baltimore doing a show and Xan & I stayed home to go to a wedding. So, yeah, why not? A hike sounds nice. Xan and I would love to join them for a nice day outside.
We got picked up at 7am (after a late night because of the wedding) and drove 1 1/2 hours north to some trailhead somewhere admist mountain peaks. Mark had brought a hat for Xan (haven't unpacked winter stuff yet that is in a box in the bus with all the other things that I have packed to go home and now we're not until the Spring) and 3 water bottles for us. I only took two, they were big we didn't need three (and water is heavy, you know). I had a backpack with sandwiches, extra socks, chocolate covered ginger, apples, and almonds. What more does one need? Again, in life, I am humbled.
I didn't ask where we were going? I knew that is was an all day affair and that Terry had a potroast in the crockpot for us waiting at home. I was thinking about a nice hike/walk in the woods.
We hiked up Cascade Mountain. 2 1/2 miles up. Did you see that "UP"? I am not a totally unfit, out of shape, 44 yr. old. Or so I thougth. I have been humbled into the realization that I am a really totally unfit, out of shape, 44 yr. old. About 3/4 of the way up I could of layed down and wept. But of course I am with 3 other people and I can't stop.
Mark has a GPS unit and every once and while he would take it out and tell us how far we've gone. "Well thank-you, Mark!" because it was never far enough. We were never at least 1/2 way there to the elusive summit.
Lots of people passed us. I told my companions that if the couple from Quebec with the small toddler passes us than we know we are really slow. They passed us. We got to chat with the people hiking down that had passed us on the way up. I learned that I can still be charming and engaging even when I think my heart is going to pound out my ears and I my thighs are going to quiver off my body.
At one point, when we truly were half up the mountain, there was a group of kids coming up fast behind us. Our party stopped and moved off to the side to let them pass. I shook every kids' hand and welcomed them to the half-way point and told them what a great job they were doing. "Yeah, yeah, right, wacko lady"
Terry and Mark had planned that we would get to the peak and then hike another 1 1/2 miles RT to another peak. Had to let them down on that one. I'm a one peak kinda gal. Xan too. We were whipped but we made it to the top. And yes, it was truly an astounding view. Worth the struggle up. Worth the bad thoughts I was having about healthy, vibrant people.
At the peak, there is a cairn. A beautiful, beautiful cairn:

I took a picture of Xan:

Xan got a picture of me:

Believe it or not...the descent was a breeze. OK until the last 1/2 mile and my legs were feeling like some sort of squiggly desert. The peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches were devine. We dranked all of our water. After Xan and I powered through the first bottle on the way up we figured we better conserve it. We did and it all worked out.
All in all it was a fabulous day!!! I mean it, really. All complaining and funny storytelling aside. What a view! Terry and Mark have the pictures of us at the top. And...my "Wild Ravens" friends (this is their celtic art biz, the link is in my index) were blessed with 7 ravens at the peak. Watching Mark run with his camera and dive and stand way to close to the edge of the rocks photographing the birds was a wonderous and terrifying sight.
Monday morning I could barely move. Sunday night I woke up and took 4 tylenol and finished reading my book. Now it is Friday morning and I'm feeling much like my ol' self again.
Spectacular view.
Invigorating hike.
Wonderous nature.
Me?..out of shape and humbled again.
I must do this again.

HE LIKES PUNS

Funny story...Michael is working on these "cuppa joes" for someone and he mailed them these pictures. Now the person who ordered these cuppas can't open them in their email and Michael is away in Baltimore at a show so I came up with this idea posting them on my blog because I have no idea how you send pictures in an email. So, here are the pictures of the "cuppa joes" to view. In all their glory for the whole world to view.....





What can I say? He likes puns.

MAY OUR BOWLS NEVER BE EMPTY...

On Sunday we spent the afternoon at the Empty Bowls Project in Albany. What a great way to raise money for hunger and what a great way to have fun. There were over 1,400 bowls donated by local potters

(Michael being one of them) and 6 or so restaraunts that donated soup. For those of you that don't know what an Empty Bowls event is here goes:
It's a way to raise money for any organization that helps with hunger issues. Potters donate bowls and restaraunts or organizations donate soup. An individual pays $10 and gets to pick out a bowl and then goes and gets soup and bread.The individual gets to keep their bowl as a reminder that no being on earth should ever go hungry. How cool huh? I had a blast!! My afternoon couldn't have been any more fulfilling. The event was so much bigger than I had imagined it in my head. I was thinking of a couple hundred people in a room eating soup and communing. There must have been hundreds of people packed like sardines in this building all have a great time. It was really crowded and hot.
Here are some pictures that I took of friends and people I don't know. I got turned on by seeing what people picked as their bowls and I walked around and took a bunch of photos. I really couldn't help myself. Here are a few:
This one is of some ladies that I saw in line picking out bowls while I was picking out my bowl.

This is my friend Rebekah and her daugher Margaurite.

This a delightful little girl and her stunning bowl.

This is our friends Lily & Don.

This is my best friend in the world, Andy, he was visiting with us this weekend.

I end my photo parade with Miss Xan eating soup.

An inspiring event for such a worthy cause.
May our bowls never be empty.....

STORM KING SCULPTURE PARK

On Saturday we went to Storm King Sculpture Park. Here are few pictures of our trip: