Ready To Swap & Bead & Hop & Fish

This is my teaser image for the beads I am sending to my swap partner Skylar. Skylar is a bead embroider and you can see her work on her blog or in her Etsy shop. This is going to be so much fun! I cannot wait to see what she sends me but, more than that, I cannot wait to see what she creates with what I am sending her. I had a lovely focal sitting in a box and knew it would be AGES before I got to it, so I am sending it to a new, loving owner. It's a form of "re-homing", you see. And in other news, I am working on new tutorials, revamped tutorials, and new patterns. I've also got lots of finished pieces to start adding to the shop, and I am very excited about all of this.

 As some of you may know, we like to fish. This photo was taken in a little bend of the Blanco River. This spot is usually no more than eight feet deep and is full of feisty fish. If you look at the right hand side of the photo you can see the branches of some saplings. This is where I usually stand to cast my lures.

This was after over six inches of rain early Wednesday morning and, since the photo was taken around 5:00 p.m., the water had actually receded quite a bit. The spot I usually stand in is just to the left of those saplings. The water was flowing pretty darned fast and we watched an ARMCHAIR float down the river. By tomorrow morning, the flow will be slower and water will be lower, so we will go wet some line and hope the fish are biting. Whatever you do this weekend, I hope it brings you joy! Bead on, beadlings!

I Get To Play!

My name was one of those chosen for the 5th Bead Soup Blog Party. I'm very excited. I got to meet my swap partner the other day and I want you to meet her. Her name is Skylar Bre'z. She is member of both the Etsy BeadWeavers Team and the Etsy Bead Embroidery Guild. Check out her shop and see just what she creates.

I've got her beads picked out. They are quite pretty but I knew it was going to be years more before I got to using them. They deserve a good home, don't you think? Oh no! I cannot show them to you! sshhh - they are a surprise! (I'll show you a photo AFTER she gets them into her hot little hands!)

Bead Soup Blog Party

My fingers are crossed and all I can think is "oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!"

Merry Fishmas!

Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Yesterday we went trout fishing with one of my long-time friends. No fish came home, although T-man did catch two small ones. My dear friend Scott decided to take a dip in the frigid waters of the Guadalupe River and filled his waders with cold water. Ariel waded across the river, supposing she would have a better chance. That was just fishful thinking. Me? I just kept wetting line and feeding fish. But we've decided to give it another try next week. Yep, we are definitely gluttons for punishment. But we had such a relaxing day, and you really can't beat that.

Copyright Theresa Buchle 2011

Christmas will be spent with grandbabies climbing all over me. Woo hoo! I cannot wait to see those boys. Of course, I cannot wait to see their mommy and their daddy either - that goes without saying. I hope your holidays will be filled with joy, love and peace.



Changes On The Horizon

Food for thought:

Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Our destiny changes with our thought; we shall become what we wish to become, do what we wish to do, when our habitual thought corresponds with our desire. ~ Orison Swett Marden

We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance. ~ Harrison Ford

One changes from day to day, and... after a few years have passed one has completely altered. ~ George Sand

Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change. ~ Thomas Hardy

Stay tuned, beadlings!






 

Giveaway Alert!

I want to win the @vintajco & @beadaholique Crystal Copper Giveaway! #ilovevintaj

Oh yes, absolutely!

It Started With A Cup Of Coffee

 

I woke up in a very pensive mood this morning and seeing how it is the day after one of the most ritualistic on the calendar things just fell into place. We all have rituals, be they small or be they grandiose. I just started wondering about mine, yours and ours.

It started with a cup of coffee. Is it the coffee I enjoy so much or is it the ritual of the coffee? I don't really like the taste of coffee unless I mask it with lots of amaretto creamer but I really like the warmth as it goes down, even in summer. So what is it about my coffee in the morning? There is a lot of ritual involved with coffee: measure the water, measure the grounds, and don't forget about the little sniff when you open the can. Even the pushing of the button on the brewer is ritual. Then there is the pouring of just the right amount of creamy goodness into the special mug and, finally, watching the liquid change color as coffee and creamer meld. Hold the mug just so; take the first sip, and . . . . . ahhh! The ritual is complete. By the way, the mug in the photo is not the special mug. When that photo was taken the girls had not yet gifted me with the special mug.

We all have something each and every day that we do without fail and in steps that have become more than just habit. We may not be aware of it, but whatever it is has become a ritual. Our day is incomplete without it. In fact, our day may just fall apart without it and, as you know, I am a curious woman. What is your major ritual of the day?