Barb's Weblog

Another hellacious windy day out here!
On the nite of the 13th it blew so hard it was scary, me and the big dog huddled together and listened to the roar. Then a quiet nite, and now its back to wind tearing thru the trees after yesterdays pretty nice conditions.
Pretty out there tho, sun on the sea and clouds open overhead as they usually are out here on our lucky spot of the island. I have been following the adventures of a friend in Alaska, and they are having an awful time in Anchorage, power outages, trees down all over, water pipes frozen and the city water mains as well, as there is no snow cover to insulate from the 5-10 degree weather they are having. Sounds like everybody is hunkered down after patching holes and stuff, waiting it out at their homes or in favorite haunts...the one with the best beer is likely the busiest spot. He also sends the surf report from Hawaii (I know, what a weird friend.., and even weirder, I'm still interested!) and they been getting 15-20 foot waves, massive rip tides and warn the beach goers to stay out of the water! Looking out at our swells and whitecaps, I think thats wise!

Today I have a great batch of pretty things to buff and stoneset, some of it was inspired by a story loosely concerning me that was written recently. It contains a lot of magic, one including the making of a piece I did many years ago for a friend. This story has evolved into a new legend and that has led me off into a couple days of myth and mysteries, earthy magic and beauty. And reminded me of how cool it is to make beautiful and special things for people. It feeds my head, feeds my heart and feeds my soul, and I am very lucky to have the best job in the world. If I can ever find time I'll scan an image of the coolest new piece and see if I can insert it. Upgraded to a better blogger program, but still not taking the time to figure out how to do much with it. Always so much work to do and weather to cope with!

Off to town next for me, got several stops to make before taking the big dog to the beach where I will mostly huddle in the car and drink Whidbeys Coffee and shiver, then back to the beautiful workshop and get to the days adventures in soldering. Who knows WHAT will happen! Its always the best part of the day...well, second best! Slipping off to sleep is still my favorite!

9:22 AM — e-mail me your comments

It is a very windy night out here on the island, after a very windy and wet day. My workshop deck shelter started coming apart, and I finally got it apart and the plastic tarp released to fly out into the woods, but it about beat me to death in the process. Lots of bent 3/4 inch pipes and stretched out bungees. Then of course, the power went out, so the work day gave way to a comfortable lounge on the workshop couches while we waited. Luckily the tiny art show power source generator was charges, so we watched news and cartoons. I made calls to friends all over the north and south end to see who had power, and it seemed to be out somewhere between Greenbank and Coupeville...probably a tree down on a wire. We have a lot of boughs coming down! Its gusting an easy 60mph.

Power back on, dog fed, pizza eaten and settling in for a warm evening at home, its sort of nice to hear the wind howling in the trees outside. Ralph is up visiting our oldster at her house right thru the woods from us, but I'm just staying in, wishing there was a fireplace for atmosphere. This is an electric house, so when it blows out here, I try to get it heated up a bit in case the power stays out, but the last couple years haven't been bad. Used to go like 4 days without power! Thats also kinda fun, for a while. Then it becomes survival...just making food and keeping warm. Keeping the parrot warm enough. She gets very cuddly and clingy for warmth!

Hope the weather slows down, Ralph and I each have some traveling to do in the next couple weeks, work and a show...hate to travel in nasty weather! Better to read and stay home! I dredged out some old legends and tales from India to research something a few minutes ago, and found some old Hermann Hesse...so I went and ordered a copy of Siddhartha for a friend online as mine is long gone, but I have Steppenwolf and Magister Ludi and Demian...thought I'd reread them next, its been 25 or 30 years since the last read! Wonder where my old copy of Narcisuss and Goldmund is...it was a favorite!

Love these stormy nights!

Goodnight!

8:07 PM — e-mail me your comments

Here it is, sunday already! The weeks sure slide by fast!

I am very glad I skipped the Spokane show we had lined up for this weekend, as from Spokane to North Bend its a snowy mess...and that is one thing 31 years of mainland living haven't ever made me comfortable with! Driving in snow! If I get caught out in snowfall in my tiny ancient RX7, I scurry home and park her til its sunny again! I checked out a Spokane traffic cam this am and it was snowy and absolutely nothing alive moving anywhere. Bet that show was a cold quiet one!

This last 4 months some old friends from Portland, who had moved to Ajijic, Mexico on Lake Chapala have been caretaking a sweet B&B near us here on Whidbey. Our mutual friends Steve and Laura were up this weekend staying with them, so we had fun visiting with everybody the last few days. Seems like a lot of eating and drinking goin' on, but all good clean fun, no hangovers (on my part or Haole's, that is) and the weather being wet and cold we spent most of the time laughing and catching up. They are sailors now, so maybe this summer when it warms up we will get to see them again! Seems like such a long time between visits, and we will not be doing a Portland show this year at all. Business too slow down there. When will people learn if they want to have these premier events in their towns, they must attend and buy things! Artists pay huge fees for space, parking, hotels, road food and all the licenses and taxes, so if we can't make it pay, we can't go back!

Go out and buy art!

Thats it for today, gotta go give hugs all around and watch our buddies hit the road, so, Thanks for reading,
Barb

10:41 AM — e-mail me your comments