Celebrate Your Freedom

In the USA, in 1917, scores of woman were jailed and savagely beaten by guards for demanding the right to vote.

In the USA, beatings shootings arson and murder were tactics used to keep blacks from voting for almost 100 years after the emancipation proclamation.The voting rights act in 1965  insured  black voting rights ending a Jim Crow South

1987 Haitians were killed by gangs armed with machine guns and machetes while lining up to vote.

In 2005 at least 50 iraqis were killed by bomb and morter attacks as they tried to exercise their right to vote in the first free election in decades

All you have to do is get off your ass.
There are no excuses.
VOTE!

Things that go BUMP in the night

I


Did you know Jack-o-lanterns were originally carved from turnips? They were carved to keep away  Jack, an Irish man so wicked neither Heaven or Hell wanted him so he wandered the country side at night looking for a place to rest his soul.

I love Halloween and all the lore that goes with it. I love the pagan madness we celebrate with our children. It's wonderful and primal and scary and fun.

Buster helped carve this one. He ate out the teeth while I wasn't looking.

I'll leave you with an old Scottish  prayer:

From ghosties and ghoulies 

And long leggedy beasties 

And things that go bump in the night 

Good Lord deliver us

the choice is easy for me

In 8 days we get to decide if we move closer to a peaceful planet or continue on a path of destruction.  I think that is an easy choice to make.  

Bead Bonanza

I'm getting ready for this Sunday's bead show, The Bead Bonanza in Southfield, Mi.

See you there!

Lipstick on a Pig

Ok this is really lipstick on a Boston Terrier. He tried to lick it off as fast as I applied it. I couldn't help myself. So call the aspca on me I don't care! 

I f people want to get upset about things cosmetics like on domestic animals they must have already figured out all the big problems like how we are going to pay for 1oo more years in Iraq & nuclear war with Russia. Or maybe lipstick on a pig (or a Boston Terrier) is a much bigger problem then I know about. 

Speaking of cosmetics on domestic animals:

Kirby the Boston Terrier in question is due for surgery on Monday Sept 15 to remove a mast cell tumor. Please keep good thoughts for his recovery.

I will be posting a number of new items in my etsy shop this week to help with my credit card's recovery. 

 

Summers End

Its Labor Day and so it signals the end of summer. My daughter goes back to school tomorrow and its time to put away your white shoes.

I was taking pictures of my sunflowers and didn't even notice the honey bee busy gathering pollen right in front of me.  No doubt he was too occupied with his task to notice me either. Bees are the perfect symbol for hard work and efficiency.

As the season draws to a close I am like that bee, busy with my tasks too busy to stop & notice things  right in front of me.

I think some of us are born pre-programmed to do certain tasks. For bees its make honey for artists its to create. I only wish I could be as efficient as the tiny insect.

Perspective and Cotswald Cottage

It was a recent beautiful late summer day when I visited Greenfield Village in Dearborn Michigan.
I hadn't been back in 20 years but Cotswald Cottage is still my favorite building there.
This time we returned with my 7 year old daughter in tow. (She spent the whole time pretending she was riding her horse "Buttercup" throughout the village.)
Built early 1600s in Chedworth, Gloucestershire, England
The families who lived in this home had a variety of jobs. From the early 1700s to the mid-1800s, several generations of the Sley/Robins/Smith family worked as farmers and stone masons.

One of the most interesting features of this stone cottage are the leaded windows. The glass is original made by the "crown process" A lump of molten glass was rolled, blown, expanded, flattened and finally spun into a disc before being cut into panes. This makes them beautifully imperfect.

There is a sort of melancholy I feel inside this cold stone cottage but looking through this distorted glass to the outside world is an almost mystical experience for me.

What is not the most clear is sometimes the most compelling.

There is beauty in mystery.

We do not have to know all the worlds secrets.

Ann Arbor Summer Fair

Here are some pictures from the Ann Arbor Summer Fair.
I shared the booth with my husband Doug Spalding.


He makes the tiles & the robots & the buildings that light up.
The art fair always falls on the hottest days of the year. This year did not disappoint. It was 90+ degrees on the black top with hundreds of people generously donating their body heat to the cause.
I apologize to anyone if I seemed like a zombie during that time. I think my brain was stewing in its own juices.

summer days

Its officially summer & the flowers are in bloom. I have visitors, wanted and unwanted in my yard & the air is sweet and heavy. I'm already aware of how little time we have left before the cold wet fall comes creeping in front of the heavy dark breath of winter.
I will enjoy these days of sun and life while they are here.

I'm baaaack!

I'm back from the Bead & Button Show & boy oh boy! I am exhausted.
It was a great experience. I had a good show & made some great contacts.
I got to stay with the lovely Theresa Dart of Lily Studios. Her twin boys generously gave up their beds so my travel companion Melanie of Earthenwood Studio and myself could have a place to stay.
Also staying with Theresa was Jennifer Heynen from Jangles.
We had a great time together. Its good to get out of the studio & actually have a life once in a while.
But on that note, I now have orders to fill! Back to the studio! Crack that whip!