after a refreshing 4 hours of sleep last night, here i am! am starting to feel the ticking of the countdown, wondering if I'll have enough time to prepare for vendor night at Squam. I don't want to disappoint anyone by not having enough on hand, although I will be taking orders to complete afterwards, if that does happen. Tuesday, before the Great Sucking Vortex of Ugly hit the house, I met with a man I've known for, gosh, 30 years now? is it really 30 years? I must have been 2 when we met...yeah that's the ticket. anyway, Alan helped me through some Mt. Everest sized rocks and twists in the road of my life back then, and is one of those touchstone people...people that you keep in your heart, even if it's years without calling or writing...that when a situation is getting tricky, you think to yourself, "I can do this, and if it looks any worse, I have Help To Call," so you get through it and grow and become proud of yourself and send a special thank you prayer to that person. If you watch Deadliest Catch, he's my Edgar. so tuesday, after 10 years, i grabbed the phone and called, and he made time right then & there to get together. and this, as you remember, was before Armageddon. I am grateful to Alan for all the life skills he has given me. even though i was a little pisser at the time he was attempting to impart them. but he is especially in tune with artists, as well. (poor guy). and offered up some suggestions to me that clicked on a huge neon sign in my head that has given me back the calm & joy that I originally felt about fulltime artmaking and all it's pitfalls and rewards. just like that. in 30 minutes. bam. so i'm back at the bench, after some cranial chiropractic adjustment, and making jewelry like it's my job...oh - it is. I can't wait to show you these new designs! gor-jus! and there are some exciting things to come, as i fireproof my studio (God help us) and pick up the torch once again. I'll be taking a break from amethyst and opals and agate for a little bit in october though, and spending some here! I am incredibly excited about this! I hope you get an opportunity to meet Judy some day ...she is a gentle, compassionate, patient angel of a person, but don't let that fool you. spend some time on her blog gasping at what she's created...both her artwork, and her photo stories. I've asked her to adopt me, and she thought i was kidding. i was not. this class will be awesome! back to work now, with a break for the hot water man at 9am, and poor diva dog to the vet (again) at 5pm...her eye boogies just won't go away (i'll spare you the description, but it's ug-lee). wishing you a productive & joy-filled day....