All the Everythings! WOOT!

 

OHAI!

Life is feeling SUPER full of ALL THE EVERYTHINGS right now so I thought I'd share a bit with you, especially as this year comes to a close and we get ready for a brand new one. 

She said she wanted color, so I'm ON IT!

One of my favorite people in all the world is Elizabeth Hay, who owns the gallery/shop, Art a la Carte, in Bellefonte, PA. Elizabeth represents a host of truly talented artists, whose beautiful creations she sells in her shop. Not only that, she is a wonderful mentor and representative, teacher, and one who encourages and inspires us to reach our highest potentials with our creativity. So when she says to me she envisions lots of bright color in my new creations I follow through and what a joy it is for me and also for those who become the new caretakers of what I am able to make for them! That's a win-win all the way around! Thanks Elizabeth!

In the photo above you see some of the newest arrivals in my studio and I'm now in the process of matching the necklaces with the gorgeous gemstone teardrops that have just arrived all the way from Jaipur, India. I work directly with this gemstone vendor, whom I've discovered recently, to have these handmade teardrops drilled vertically, customized to my specifications. What a glorious job they do, and what exquisite beads they create - definitely worth the wait and the cost! I'll be bringing these three-strand necklaces and teardrop earrings into the shop through the holidays and well into the New Year as there's plenty to keep me busy for some time to come. 

In the photo above we have tourmaline, amethyst, natural pink petrified rhodonite, moss agate, carnelian, and lapis lazuli in the heishi necklace beads. Each three strand is composed of about four 15-inch strands of heishi beads, along with either a silver or copper magnetic slider clasp. They look absolutely fabulous on everyone, are easy to wear with anything from jeans to dressy clothing, and the easy on/off clasp is one of my all-time favorites. I confess, I sometimes wear more than one of these necklaces at a time, such as a turquoise one with a red coral one since that is a combination of gemstone energies as old as time and well known throughout many cultures, enhancing the balance of masculine (active) and feminine (intuitive) energies in each of our physical/spiritual systems. 

Teardrops will become perfect complements
for the necklaces awaiting creation.

Though I love to suggest which earrings go really well with the gemstone necklaces, I generally don't confine sales to "sets," preferring to let the wearer choose their mood or expression, which may change according to their outfit, where they might be going, what they'll be doing, and even according to which kinds of gemstone energies they might want to have near them for specific purposes : ) If you'd like to learn more about gemstone energies and properties my favorite source of information is Judy Hall, who's written a number of wonderful books including The Crystal Bibles. No worries, I always write down the name of the gemstone(s) on the tag so in case you're not familiar with them you can look them up.

True turquoise comes in many natural shades, plus
who knew? - turquoise is a gemstone that doesn't mind being dyed!

The photo above shows the deep blues of lapis lazuli, bright greens of African green chrysoprase, soft greens, golds and purples of natural fluorite, and two different shades of beloved turquoise! WOOT! So that's partly what's happening in my studio in the next few weeks, along with mala making and beautiful cabochon necklace creation, book illustration, and writing. 

Above the studio....

So last week, I wasn't able to get a lot of work done inside my studio because of what's happening above the studio! And ALL OVER THE WHOLE ROOF! Yep! The WONDERFUL roofers came and descended upon our lovely home. At last! I understand that roofs generally need to be replaced about every ten years, and we were willing, but not able, due to four kids and blended family, university tuitions, student exchange programs, and elder care and travels for Rob's elders. So, though we LOVED our beautiful home from the minute we bought it 22 years ago, and she has loved us back, she went down on the priority list until now. WOOT! Now she's right back up there on top!

Oh my gosh, we felt in SUCH good hands when Stoltzfus came to take care of this huge job. You know why they won the bid? Not because they were the least expensive, not because of the schedule, not because they were the only ones working around our area. I'll tell you why. We got about six bids on the job, and heard all kinds of things and experienced all kinds of things, from people trying to sell us what we weren't looking for to people who never set foot upon the roof to check things out before bidding, and one day a Stoltzfus representative came and went on up there, walked all over, and when he popped down with the agility of a professional aerial performer he said to my husband, "You had an area that was leaking and I went ahead and patched it, no charge." WOW. Just WOW. 

So the bids all came in over a period of some weeks, and I said to my husband, who had given the wonderful Stoltzfus guy some cash even though he said no charge, they get my vote. Anyone with values like that who sees a leak and patches it even though they don't yet have the job, wow, THOSE are values I want to support! Those are the people I'll trust with the work we need done! And we've not been disappointed. Gosh, our roofing experience has been just the BEST EVER from start to finish. And they start EARLY! LOL! 

I don't know if I can dig up photos of the "before" up close, but we had peeling paint hanging from the soffit all the way around the house, and we had birds who tried to get into the fascia, and we even had baby tiny little trees growing in the gutters in some places because hubby was busy working and also getting a bit old to go up and clean out the gutters anymore, so okay. We were THAT house in the neighborhood. Didn't even have to decorate for Halloween, already done by Nature's helpers. 

So pretty much every day for a week we huddled in the house, comforting our pup while they banged on every square inch of roof, tearing off anything that needed it, replacing it, and going through a bunch of really impressive teamwork the likes of which I've never seen. They had all the big boy toys and equipment, and when we peeked out the windows to see what they were doing we saw them talking to each other with hand signs and things that only they understand and aerodynamics that made my tummy go willy. Not a lot of sleep was had since I work til about 3 a.m. many nights, and they showed up at around 7:30 a.m. most mornings. I huddled under the covers until the banging shook the house and I HAD to get up and make my tea, ready or not.

I've never seen such beautiful smiles as these guys flash, so full of some kind of special innocence and beauty. I've never seen such uncompromising eye contact between them and my husband as they discussed various milestones in the process. The eye contact sort of didn't come my way, until (I'm sure I overstepped some comfort zones of Amish behavior expected of women) I poked my head out and interrupted a conversation to declare my thanks and appreciation or ask a question. They were so polite! And they were so GREAT about cleanup every single day! And they laughed as they worked, just that lovely teamwork kind of laughter going on. And they stopped to eat lunch all together sitting on the lawn or in the driveway and I said to my hubby later on the porch, "I bet they EAT A LOT!" because I have never seen anyone work so hard for so many hours, just WOW! 

So now, we have a brand new roof and new soffit all the way around, new fascia, new gutters, and all of it is such that it makes our hearts SING! Thank you so much Stoltzfus team! You're highly recommended by us indeed! I will put up a finished photo of the great job but I have to remember to go out and take one tomorrow since it's dark out right now. Rob and I tease each other and say, "Wanna go ogle the soffit?!" And we do. We can see it all smooth and fresh and clean from every window and the porch and it makes us so darned happy. And that's just the start of the home renovations. 

I feel like putting up a sign for the neighbors: Painting coming in the spring, because the soffit wasn't the only thing that had peeling paint. Our home is made of redwood, and we learned during our research (Gosh I LOVE YouTube and the internet for GREAT help with research!) that redwood is one of the very best for siding, BUT it needs special treatment because it is a very oily wood and if you prime and paint it with latex it will bubble and peel (which it did three weeks after we first painted it when we moved in because we didn't know....) Welp, now we do, so we've collected bids for the priming and painting in spring when the weather is over 50 degrees (oil-based primer only, and two coats, back brushed, not sprayed, exterior latex okay but maybe two coats better). Not too many local painters know how to handle redwood properly. So the point is, much research being done on how to do our lovely home justice so it'll last and be as beautiful outside as inside. I just love a job well done!

Beloved dwarf maple, hm....

SO, this takes us to what needed to be done BEFORE we could have the roof replaced. We had two huge trees in the backyard which we've loved for all the 22 years we've been here. The first was a "dwarf" maple tree - does that photo look like a dwarf to you? Nope, me neither. My bad. When we first moved in it was just a twin trunk with five finger-like branches sticking out the top. I told my husband it had to go. But it was April with snow still on the ground (20 years ago we still got snow in April). Pretty soon it leafed out with the most delicate, beautiful little leaves that we decided to let it stay. And one day (here's my bad coming) I was gardening under that tree and discovered a bunch of black plastic, you know that icky stuff they put so the tree can't get any water and the weeds stay down. Welp, I hauled OUT all that black plastic so my tree could breathe and grow and flourish and wow, she became the biggest "dwarf" anything you've ever seen! She grew and she grew and she grew until she made a little throne upon which we could sit. 

Rob on the magical throne.

You could actually sit, cradled by this lovely maple and watch the sunset, great spot. Also I put birdseed in certain spots and all the critters would come, the chipmunks and the squirrels and a host of different kinds of birds. This tree also shaded our patio table for all those years. Everyone just loved to sit within her embrace. You could even sit under her in a light rain and you didn't get wet; her leaves were thick and plentiful. And then she started getting pretty old. She developed hollows that collected water and bumps and gnarls and scars. And she got WAY TOO BIG so that we only had a sunbeam for about half an hour on the WHOLE PATIO. And she grew up and over the roof. I knew it was only a matter of time until her twin trunks split (either in a great wind, or with the weight of rainwater or snow) and she would fall half on the roof and half in the pool, creating damages we would have a hard time recovering from. So with the new roof coming, we had to make some hard decisions and one of those was to send her back to the Garden in the Sky. It was time. My husband, a horticulturist, taught me that, "Trees have lifespans," and she was way past hers. I couldn't take the chance of having peeps over to eat on the patio and have the tree split and fall on them, it just wasn't safe anymore. ACK! So I sat on her beautiful fairy throne and said goodbye one sunset, and they came and took her away, though her memory will live forever in our hearts. Yes, I loved THAT tree.

AND there is one more tree story to tell, that of our beloved Metasequoia. It is a lovely story indeed. 

Our beloved Metasequoia, our "love fern."

So if you've ever seen the movie How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, you'll be familiar with the concept of the "love fern." Welp, when my husband and I were dating, centuries ago it sometimes seems, we spent a lot of time walking all over the campus where we both worked at Penn State University. And it is a gorgeous campus, with notable plants, including trees, shrubs, urns, and groundcover. Truly beeeautiful. I fell in love with a tree which I asked him about, because it felt beautiful and familiar to me - come to find out it was a Metasequoia, and they grow happily in California, where I'd spent about 18 years of my life. And because he's a little bit sentimental, he procured one and gave it to me! It was our LOVE FERN! It was about 3-4 years old, and we kept it in a pot for a couple of years, until we decided to marry, bought a house, and popped it in the ground shortly thereafter. Well, it grew, and it grew and oh baby, it GREW. Its roots weren't too happy being confined to the folly of a space we had chosen for it, so they headed towards the pool and the house and under the patio foundation, and welp, it became a bit of a problem. So with the new roof going on and the other maple treework being done, we decided that our love fern was becoming a danger to everything out there and we had to send it to the Garden in the Sky too. I said to him, "This is not a sign from Heaven or anything, our love is still strong and fine." He said, "I know." And we collected some tiny pine cones so we could get the seeds and maybe plant a new one.

Too green? 

We tried last year with some old cones, but they'd already split and there were no seeds, so I put them in a basket in my studio. We tried this year before Meta went to the Garden in the Sky, but they were too young and I was pretty sure they'd not provide us with any seeds, but I put them on my drafting table for a while, just keeping them around. 

Oh my goodness! Seeds!

And what do you know, but those young, green cones are amazingly resilient, and the house is awfully dry, and they dried out and popped open and produced lots of beeeautiful little Meta seeds! (My son wants to grow one but I've warned him to plant it only in huge territory since it will get very, very big.)

AND, who knew? We were growing FURNITURE!

Yeah, this is gonna be beeeeautiful!

So maybe it's a Western thing, or maybe peeps here like it too, but when we were in California, we had a chance to visit a place called It's a Burl, where they make all kinds of glorious live edge tables, and furniture out of old growth wood from the forests. I always wanted to buy something from there and say, "Build me a house around this!" It was magical indeed. SO when the tree people came to take care of Meta, I suddenly had the idea that I wanted some of her trunk and asked my husband to ask them if they could save us some. I learned that this is not an uncommon practice (even here on the East Coast, yay!) and they very kindly cut us seven slices, which are called "cookie slabs." If you care to learn more about them, it's very entertaining to look up making cookie slab furniture on YouTube.com. I've watched several videos on how this is done (it does vary, as do results, but it's waaaaay coooool!). We've promised the kids they can have some of the cookie slabs so they're pretty much all spoken for, but let me put a plug in that if you have big trees coming out, this is a really fun, very special thing you can do with parts of them so they can keep on giving and you can keep on loving them!

So WHEN the roofers came, I noticed our favorite guy eyeing our back porch and couldn't figure out quite what he was looking at. I was afraid I'd insulted him with my Buddhas all over the place, and incense holders and stuff, but it turns out this was not the case. Because when I stuck my head out to interrupt the conversation between him and my husband so as to thank him for all the good work, he took a moment to ask about the cookie slabs which are lined up along the back porch wall, drying (might take 6 months to a year for that)! Turns out he has access to a huge woodshop and has been studying how to make cookie slab furniture for a year! WOOT! So I asked him if he would like to have one of ours (since he was so nice and they fixed our leak without even charging us and all), and he was delighted to say YES! And he was also able to refer us to a shop that can make our tables for us, should we decide to proceed that way, which we likely will. How's that for a GOOD TRADE?! All that time we thought we were growing a love fern and we didn't even know we were growing heirloom quality furniture too!

Thank you for your beauty! We loooove you!

So off these beautiful trees went to the Garden in the Sky, and on the way they got to high five my little granddaughter just coming down for her new adventures. I'm in LOVE.

My lovely!! XOXOXO

My little beauty XO!

Now I snuck this pic and I can't put any names to it because my son and his wife are a little private about the new baby - though I can probably let you know her name is Haia, which translates to "Life." And that she is so full of it and so lovely. I'm a grandmother! My kids are totally entrenched in adulting and the parenthood club! Wowzers! I'm over the moon! I loved the facebook post I put up asking you all what your grandchildren call you and totally appreciate every single one of your responses. Adorable, all! I asked my son what he might suggest, and he said, "How about something from your Welsh heritage Mom?" I had already been leaning towards Nana because it's so friendly, come to find out when I looked up the Welsh (cause I'm Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh, and 1% Melanesian according to the DNA test thing), I found that Nain is a term frequently used, and it's close enough for me! Nana Jen it shall be! Couldn't be happier to watch her grow, and can't wait to meet her and hold her and read to her and learn kidstuff from her and do stuff with her that will be fun. Happy Nana Jen!

So THERE we are with the EVERYTHINGS. And if you've made it this far through this way too long but fun blog post, I hope you feel the joy of life, and trust in the process of it, even though it takes some rain to get the rainbows. 

Love to you and yours, and happy holidays too!

Namaste,

Jen