Kingfisher Cove

People, Places, Glass, Wood

My Oregon friend, Helen (actually my ever-since-2nd-grade-friend, Helen) came to visit the day after Turkey Day, which has become a tradition accompanied by making soap and drinking crantinis! Since her birthday is the 3rd of December and since we never know if we’ll be able to see each other at Christmas (usually not, because things get too hectic and time is too short), we exchange gifts on that Friday after Turkey Day. I gave her this for her birthday. Yup, I made it!

And yup! She liked it!  

We made a little soap, but not as much as in previous years, in particular for me because I still have a TON of it lying around that I haven’t used yet, and I don’t have that many people to give it to. But it is awfully fun to do, so we made a few bars between us. Fun, fast day doing lotsa chatting and catching up.

These past couple of weeks while I’ve been making glass stuff in my kiln, John’s been working in his shop/garage on figured wood projects. “Figured” wood is typically burl, birds eye maple, spalted maple, quilted maple, and other malfunctions that happen to trees in nature that result in some fascinating grains and patterns. This here’s a wood box he made last week, and there isn’t a speck of hardware anywhere. The hinge is a walnut dowel and everything is connected with tongue-in-groove or other crafty means.

Over the weekend he also made a set of four of these unique boxes with a lift-lid:

We’ve been trying to come up with ideas on combining “art wood” with “art glass” and then he blew me away by making a pretty wood holder for one of my sets of coasters!

I think that’s just so cool. (And it sold!) Our next idea is to fuse glass into a custom mold that will inlay into a wood box lid. I may also be able to create a “handle” by fusing it onto the glass piece. It’ll take some figuring and some practice, but it sounds really fun to do.

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Our plan for Saturday night was to meet up with my dad and his lady friend, plus my brother and his family at a very fancy restaurant for dinner. Some time ago, John had received a generous gift card for that restaurant and we thought it would be a great opportunity to finally use it. I checked to make sure it hadn’t expired or anything (it hadn’t) and made the reservations. Well, it turned out my dad wasn’t feeling all that great so they decided to not come. It ended up just being four of us — John and me, plus my brother and his 10-year-old daughter. What a place! El Gaucho in Bellevue…extremely high-end, that’s for sure! (Lordy). I had a veddy nice little fillet and we all had a superb and authentic Caesar salad made fresh and from scratch right at our table. Appetizers, drinks. Ahhhh. And now I’m done eating for the rest of the year! (Ha.) The waiter took a picture of us, but it was with my iPhone and it was rather dim in there so it turned out awfully grainy.

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One last little tidbit. You all heard that Leslie Nielsen died, right? So sad! I’d posted this on Facebook last night:

I remember having a really godawful, rock-bottom day at work one Christmas season when I was a single mom, and I came home trying not to sob in front of my little guy, so we dug out the Christmas decorations and started to decorate while Naked Gun 33-1/3 was on TV. In minutes, Nate and I were both laughing our lips off, holding our sides, giggling out of control. Thank you so much for that, Leslie Nielsen. R.I.P.

I’m typically not a big fan of “silly” humor, but these Naked Gun movies and especially Airplane absolutely cracked me up. (I highly recommend them if you’re in need of a good old fashioned side ache from laughing).

Anyway, one of the folks in my Twitter stream is a guy named Gregg Hersholt, who used to be on the local morning news/talk radio show I’d listen to every morning on my way to work (he’s now retired). He partnered with a woman and they’d banter back and forth and I was always chuckling out loud in my car at his quick wit. Somewhere along the line, it was mentioned that he was related to Leslie Nielsen. I wasn’t sure it was true, though. So after Gregg H. had tweeted a YouTube link that showed a bunch of scenes from Nielsen’s movies, I decided to tweet him:

I thought that was pretty cool.

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del.icio.us Tags: art glass,figured wood,fused glass,candle holder,wood box,El Gaucho,Helen,Leslie Nielsen

“Alice’s Restaurant”

We heard it TWICE today — once on the way to John’s folks’ for Thanksgiving dinner, and once on the drive home. What a quirky long tune. Story? Poem? I’m thinking twice is plenty for another year. Thanks, Mr. Guthrie.

It was a day of PETS. Thanksgiving comprised six people, five dogs, and four cats. There were cats chasing dogs, dogs chasing cats, dogs chasing each other. And pets on laps. Or shoulders.

Three weenie dogs, one Sheltie, and one Golden Lab. They all like each other pretty well, and I got a kick out of how curious the cats were about our weenies (first time meeting them). Our weenies were a bit skeptical because even though they get along with Mojo just fine for the most part, Mojo can be….unpredictable. A face wash one minute, and AMBUSH/ATTACK/OMG the next.

I am thankful that the snow and ice are gradually melting. It’s still a bit slushy out there, but I’ll take that over a steep skating rink driveway any ol’ day.

Looking forward to spending the day with my friend Helen tomorrow (making SOAP! Drinking CRANTINIS!)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Oooh, Baby, It’s *COLD* Outside!

The forecasters were pretty hedgy about whether we’d get snow as a result of the arctic blast coming in from up north — usually they go the other way with dire predictions and we end up with meh. But whoa! First, it’s very unusual to get any snow around here before Thanksgiving (the last time was in 1985 when I was pregnant with Nate, and I remember that quite clearly). Second, this snow was accompanied by blood chilling north winds that gusted to about 40-45 mph. When it’s only 25 deg. anyway with those kinds of winds, it’s nut shriveling. Not that I have to worry about that, but still. You get the idea. And then there’s the pesky little issue that this area isn’t strong in resources to deal with severe weather. Not enough plows, not enough sand/salt, too many hills, and lots of people who aren’t savvy about driving in it. Not that I entirely blame them (uhm, I might be one of them) because there is no worse feeling than to slide in your car down a hill completely out of control. With a red traffic light just up ahead. And, you know, other cars going sliding by.

We lost our cable (TV and internet) so I’ve been online via my tethered iPhone (darned handy!) But I’m very thankful that we didn’t lose power. Man, I wondered at times. Those wind gusts sounded like a locomotive barreling inside the house.

One of our Harstine neighbors was out for a walk yesterday and snapped this picture of our lil’ humble abode! So pretty! Makes me kind of wistful.

 

This morning I took this video of Bailey and Mojo on the deck. It’s about a minute long:

Bailey and Mojo in the Snow

Today was sunny and freezing — and very beautiful! Pretty nice sunset tonight, too!

Brrrrr!

Energy Dependence

My God. What in the WORLD would we do without electricity? We were without it for 16 hours after I posted last night, and meh. It was a long, dark, cold night and poor John had to shower by flashlight this morning. For me, I was bereft because I couldn’t have my morning coffee! Or my morning Facebook or Twitter! (Laptop battery was dead and although I was able to use my iPhone for a bit, I finally had to take it down to my car and charge it).

During the time I was peering at my iPhone, in the utter quiet of the windstorm’s aftermath this morning, the house shook. It felt just like it did last night when one of those super-strong wind gusts would rattle the house and make the windows bulge. But it wasn’t windy anymore. I even said out loud to the weenie dogs, “What the hell?” Then went back to my iPhone where I learned that the area had experienced a small 4.2 earthquake! It was centered quite a ways south of here, but possibly being close to the water or just because it was so quiet at the time, I definitely noticed it. Not sure if I would have if I’d been busy doing something, you know, like making coffee. 

So then, boredom set in. My Kindle still had a charge so I settled down with blankets on the couch and started to read…but eventually just ended up taking a nap with the weenie dogs. With weird dreams, such as being in a vortex of fruit flies (they are still an issue) and also dreaming that the power came back on, but telling myself that I was dreaming and don’t get your hopes up, baby. It could be that it actually did come on then, because when I woke up, there was power! And the house was warming up! And I finally had my coffee!

It’s amazing what all you can’t do without power! We do have a generator, and in recent long-term power outages it’s come in darned handy. But this time we just didn’t expect it to be out that long.

Hey, I sold five more candle holders on my Kingfisher Glass site! Total of 12 now! I keep making more stuff, and today I received an order from my glass supply place with a whole bunch of new colors to play with.  I’m so glad that the power outage didn’t happen in the midst of firing my kiln.

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del.icio.us Tags: WA windstorm,WA earthquake,KingfisherGlass

Homeports and November Bluster

Nate finally received his homeport orders today and guess what? It won’t be Everett. (I’m trying really hard to not be majorly bummed). But it’s the next best thing: he’ll be spending his next 4-1/2 years stationed in San Diego. Yes, that’s where he’s been this past year training to be a Sonar Technician at Point Loma, and he graduated 2nd in his class the end of October. Once the paperwork is finalized, he’ll move over to the Big Huge Base down there in San Diego, and aside from being a little disappointed about not getting Everett (turned out it wasn’t even an option), he’s definitely satisfied with these orders — the weather is pretty darned nice and the beaches are pretty darned nice and it’s not too far from L.A. or even Las Vegas! He’s assigned to the USS Sampson, a destroyer, and I think he’s kind of jazzed because several of his buddies from sonar tech schooling are also assigned to this ship. What’s still up in the air is whether he’ll be able to take leave to come home for Christmas.

John added this information about the USS Sampson on a Facebook post:

“USS Sampson is a Burke class guided missile destroyer which is part of Destroyer Squadron 23 which is one of four destroyer escorts within Carrier Strike Group 11 (the USS Nimitz). Last tour in the South China Sea. Any more info than that and they'll have to kill ya.”

Hopefully, within the next couple of weeks when the paperwork goes through for his orders and he’s under his new command, he’ll know more about the possibility of Christmas leave. Gosh, I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since I’ve seen my kid. I really need to see my kid. It’s hard when you have just the one and only.

In other news, the wind is HOWLING outside as I’m writing this. It has been all afternoon/evening and I’m surprised we still have power. It always feels a little alarming when we have wind like this, and yet I have to remind myself that it’s normal around here for November. (My least favorite month…)

Oh, and Harstine Is. this past weekend was very uneventful. Nice to get away (and continue to have decent internet access with tethering my iPhone), but the weather wasn’t conducive to a beach walk, let alone a deck fire. It was nice to see John’s folks and their doggies who stopped by — I get such a kick out of their new little iddy biddy weenie dog puppy who is now 5 months old and is bred to be iddy biddy. Like, 1/4 the the size (at least!) of our weenie dogs! She’s a blur with all that energy!  

Yikes! Our power is out. Much more major wind storm than the forecasters expected, that’s for sure… (I’m on the last wee % of my laptop battery so I’d best upload!)

Remiss!

It amazes me when so much time has passed between blog posts. I used to be much better at this. But…it’s true, I guess I don’t have quite as much to bitch about since I’m not working! And the fact that I’m not working and haven’t found a job is too scary to dwell on (although I do dwell on it; just not here).  It’s been nearly 16 months.

So…I’ve been busy creating glass thingies, and I have sold a few of those said thingies! Somebody unknown to me purchased three of my votive candle holders this week via my Artfire site, which I thought was pretty cool. I’ve been working at increasing my “inventory” as well as experimenting with new stuff. Like this:

 

I got me a new stainless steel mold and my first attempt turned out pretty cool! Hmmm, the possibilities! But…as fun and rewarding as this is, it doesn’t pay the bills…

Aaaaaand, my ear infection is back. It’s different this time in that it doesn’t hurt, but I can’t hear! It’s strange because I’ll have a few seconds of clarity and then it’s like a cloud slips in and blocks the sun. It’s so frustrating, I can’t begin to tell you. Part of aging? (Because I’ve never experienced this before).  And the GOP wants us to be 70 before we can retire? Right. You think Walmart is bad now, just wait until all the cashiers are 70. AND CAN’T HEAR.

So, Mojo brought a rat inside a couple of days ago and it got loose (*!*) and hid under the refrigerator. As far as I know, it’s still there. (At this point, it’s gotta be a carcass, possibly among others…) but Bailey the long-haired weenie dog was one obsessed canine, spending the best part of two straight days parked in front of that fridge. Mojo, in the meantime, completely lost interest. Here’s Bailey with a scant example of her conniption fit (turn your volume up):

One frustrated weenie dog.

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve been to Harstine, and this weekend we’re going regardless of the weather — need to make sure there are no leaks! Looking forward to getting outa Dodge.

I Am Blessed Beyond Blessed

Today I was reminded how much I love my family. And LIKE my family. A lot of people can’t say that! I’ve always enjoyed my cousins (what is it about cousins?) It’s probably because we are generally close in age, we share grandparents and therefore lots of childhood memories, we’re somewhat like siblings but didn’t have to live together and fight it out, and there is a combination of knowing we’re blood-related (which means a lot) as well as being friends. At least that is how it is in my family, and I’m so thankful for that! I know that’s not always the case.

Today I met up with two of my cousins on my dad’s side of the family; the daughter of Dad’s sister, Sheri, who is 4 months younger than me; and the daughter of Dad’s brother, Candy, who is 4 years older than me. So, we’re all middle-aged (they both have several grandkids!) We’ve all been through so much. We shared like you would not believe. Here we were at the Red Robin near the Tacoma Mall from noon until 5:00 — not even aware of all that time passing. I didn’t even crave a cigarette! It was a first, because whenever we’ve been together before, it was usually because of a big family gathering for a picnic or some occasion that involved lots of distractions (usually kids!) and no opportunity to Really Talk. (Sheri and I had a wonderful opportunity over the summer when she and her husband visited us at Harstine). But this was amazing. It was also heartbreaking (so much bad news with this economy). It was raw. It was intimate. It was painful. It was supportive. It was uplifting. It was funny.

It was everything.

I love my tribe. 

Updates

• Peanut’s hind-leg paralysis continues to improve, but she’s still a little stiff and wobbly. She also can’t get back UP steps, although she has no problem going DOWN (rather awkwardly). But she’s doing really well, and we hope she’ll continue to improve. Such a sweetie-dog.
• As expected, the GOP took over the House this week. (I was just happy that the vast majority of the Tea Party wackadoodles lost!) “They” keep calling it a “hurricane,” “tsunami,” and “earthquake.” As Jon Stewart said, “All those things kill lots of people, you know.”
• Prepare for gridlock. When the GOP says their primary goal is to keep President Obama as a one-term president, you know they’ll do whatever it takes to keep the country in dire straits instead of setting good policy to move it forward. And they’ll have the blessing/backing of corporations, Wall Street, Big Oil, and the Chamber of Commerce. (Who would rather spend their billions on supporting the republicans instead of hiring people).
• I’m looking so forward to tomorrow (Friday) because I’m meeting two of my girl cousins for lunch! We rarely get opportunities to see each other and we’d talked about doing this forever! So now we finally are! Woohoo!

I’ve been having fun with my kiln! I tried something new and it turned out OK — except for two things. 1) The design is pretty bizarre, mostly because it was an experiment and I was just throwing some scraps at it, and 2) I don’t see this as being particularly useful. I can make it a little taller (as my kiln would allow), but even so I think it would have too wide of a brim for a decent-looking vase. But it was fun to do.

I used a “drop mold” which looks like this:

Like a flat donut! I cut two round pieces of glass (one clear and one sea green) and stacked them on top of the mold, then “decorated” the top piece.  Like this:

Then I set it in the kiln on top of blocks to raise it a couple of inches and fired it. At 1300 deg. or so, the center of the molten glass “dropped” into the hole to the kiln shelf (I had to watch it carefully at this point) and once I determined that it was stable, I set the kiln to quickly cool to about 950 deg. and hold for about an hour to anneal. Hours later, it looked like this:

Kind of cool to do, but also sort of weird! (Mojo says, “whatever…”)

But I did make some more candle holders and they turned out nice!

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del.icio.us Tags: politics,Obama,dachshund,dachshund disc injuries,fused glass,drop mold,fused glass candle holders,KingfisherGlass