Vegas is Hot and I don't mean what they mean!

This is no joke! 100 degrees plus outside and they didn't turn the air conditioning on until noon. It's some kind of modern day torture. Trying to set up a show in this kind of heat takes you to a different place.... delusion... near fainting... but all fun! Can't believe that after all these years, I still love doing these shows.

We spent the last 4 days at the JCK jewelry show in Las Vegas. It just closed today and was fabulous! Seeing such a wonderful, eclectic assortment of artists and buyers and wonderful eccentrics just lifts your spirits. It's always a learning experience to go to these trade shows, you never know who you'll meet, the orders you'll write or some interesting tidbit that sends your mind speeding in a new direction. I'm always inspired to make magnificent new designs after each one of these shows. Just being around all the incredible creations and stones, my heart is full and ready to explode with shear joy!

I'm still like that little kid ogling over a box of rocks. Actually, most of the rocks were in or under my bed in those days. Fortunately for me, my mother was quite an unusual soul and didn't much care if we made our beds very well. Once as she came to make my bed for me, she pulled back the covers, and was horrified to see that it was literally full of rocks. I would collect them during the day, lovingly inspect them, lay them out on my bed to admire them and when it came time to go to sleep, I just pushed them to one side. They're a little rough to snuggle with, but I managed happily. Certainly not your typical girly attitude.
Mother Mary would come in every so often and throw a fit because you could barely walk in the room without something crunching under foot. Then my sister and I would dutifully throw everything in a large moving container in the corner of the room. As time went by the container emptied, as though by magic, all over the floor again.
Sounds like some parable of life....

Blogasaurus!

What a truly wonderful day! The sun is fabulously bright and the air is dry and almost cool, 78 at the end of May in Arizona is cooool. A beautiful breeze is rustling in the pines, what a mysterious sound. I'm sure most people would be inured to all this, but I'm from the big city and this really beats the sound of fire engines at 3:30 in the morning!

Just took my new cat, Mars, out for a walk. Oy vey! I leashed him up and off we went for a wonderful adventure. This is only his second day here and our second attempt to take a walk in his harness. He spent the first 15 minutes inside the recycle box. ha! ha! Then he took off under a big manzanita bush, I didn't know how fast he could run! Unlike his brother in arms, Mushi who is staying with his friend Blue in PA for this trip, Mars has never been on a leash. He's long and lanky, built for speed and somewhat unpredictable... not a good thing when the coyotes come out at dusk. He's a great guy and I would be devastated if anything happened to him. Maybe this freedom thing is not such a good idea for Arizona.

We built a special, very large, outdoor pen with a high perch so that the cats can watch the goings on in safety. At night it's really magical, all the spooky night sounds of the high desert... coyotes calling to each other, javelinas rooting up my plants, rabbits rustling, lizards scurrying and families of quail running for their lives. My neighbor, another NYC transplant, has seen bobcats in her yard and there was an enormous buck, with a huge rack of antlers just 10 feet from the house last month. This is the real deal and you never know what's going to happen next.

I think I'll take a break from all the excitement and stress of cat wrangling and nature and make some jewelry. What a peaceful respite from the "real" world!