Good Times (A Photo Album)

Learning How to Make Glass Art

This is how I feel about playing with glass last night after we went for a lovely walk at the marsh at twilight:



My hand is getting steadier as I turn the glass (Learning how to turn glass in the flame with a steady hand is the single most important skill one can learn in order to have success at this - and it's a lot harder than you might think! I've taken to turning pencils while I go for walks and sit in the car, for practice.) and I'm getting the hang of the loops (pendant bales) and I am just about able to make my own pendant from start to finish! I can't wait to show you pictures of my little line of progress, from atrocious pendants to hopefully beautiful ones!

Yay for getting to learn how to work with glass and make things out of it! It's addicting... like everything else when you have an addictive personality.

I can't believe I didn't try this before!

I Will Be in Madison in 2 1/2 Weeks...

...and this is how I feel about it:



(That means I feel REALLY good about it, FYI.)

You Can Buy One-of-a-Kind Art on eBay

Click links below to view some of Mike's art glass on eBay right now:

Jellyfish Pendant #1

Jellyfish Pendant #2

Jellyfish Pendant #3

Until now, these jellyfish pendants have only been available in local galleries and shops, where they fly off the shelves they are so popular.

Click more links below to see some of Mike's other pendants we have up right now:

Asymmetrical Dichroic Fractal Borosilicate (Pyrex) Pendant

Sideways Oval Dichroic Fractal Borosilicate (Pyrex) Pendant

Lily Pad Flower Millefiore Borosilicate Pendant

Round Dichroic Fractal Borosilicate Pendant

Round Dichroic Fractal Borosilicate Pendant #2

Lot of 14 Lampworked Beads and Pendants

And then of course, here are some of Mike's marbles up for sale:

Optic Flower Millefiore Borosilicate (Pyrex) Marble

Inside Out Dichroic Borosilicate Marble

Inside out Dichroic Contemporary Marble

Seven other marbles already sold/auctions are over. We plan on putting up more auctions shortly. I'm working on more pendants in the moment. Mike is at work making more marbles, or so I'm told. I'll let you know when I get my own techniques down and something I make is worth listing on eBay.

Oh, and I GUARANTEE YOU, if you buy one of his jellyfish pendants, you will be really glad you did! (I am shameless, I know, hitting up my own friends and family this way. Oh well!)

My Favorite California Place - A Photo Album

We went on a little road trip last week down to Mendocino County, which is the next county down the coast below Humboldt, and brought back some pictures and memories. We went down to hear a favorite band play, and managed to get Mike's art into two high-end art and glass galleries in the area while we were there. So that is super awesome.

Here are pictures from the trip:













It was chilly the afternoon we got in to Fort Bragg, where we stayed:





This is Glass Beach, which has an interesting history. All these rocks are actually pieces of glass:










It was much warmer and sunnier the next day:









Standing on the footbridge looking at our motel:

















The village of Mendocino:

I Felt the Earth Move Under My Feet

So tonight, I am lying on top of my bed, curled up under my favorite quilt, reading a book. My bed is up against a wall, and my pillows are propped up against the wall. All of sudden, the wall feels like jello, and the bed feels like a water bed. I am not kidding. It was over so fast I wondered if I had just imagined it. Mike was on the computer in the other room, and all of a sudden he runs in and asks if I felt that. Yes, I most certainly did feel that.

According to earthquake.usgs.gov, there WAS in fact an earthquake in northern California tonight, a 5.2 magnitude to be exact. It was, however, 35 miles east of where I am, which is essentially the middle of nowhere. No damage has been reported, just shaking. Of this, I can personally attest.

It's a bit exciting and a bit frightening, really more frightening than exciting. This was my first earthquake experience, and frankly I'd like it to stay that way. It was so light that the hutch full of Mike's glass art just made a racket, but nothing fell or moved around. So, yeah. Earthquakes. Guess I really do live in California. Being surrounded by cows, sometimes I wonder.

My Nomadic Life

"The only constant is change," Mike said to me this morning.

I'm about to turn 27 and I'm nowhere near where I thought I'd be in life. I am, however, in transition, again. Again.

Oh, it's good, I am sure. But that does not make it any easier in the moment. Most of the time though it feels like I can barely keep my goals in mind, let alone begin to accomplish them.

Do you ever feel like life is just a rat race to keep up, pay the bills just in time for another month to roll around and start all over again, finally get into a regular exercise routine just in time to catch some stupid flu bug that makes me bedridden for weeks on end, and then when I do get back to work it's crunch time before the biggest deadline of the year, so I'm working 12- to 14-hour shifts everyday and suddenly months later I realize I haven't been taking care of myself properly, again. And am paying for it.

Since moving here I have lost touch with nearly all my friends from Wisconsin, and barely keep up with talking to some of my family members on a semi-regular basis.

I try and try and try just to be knocked down over and over again. I try to maintain positivity, but sometimes that gets old, you know?

I heard a song on the radio that included the lyric that without hope a person will die in three minutes. So that's a relief; I guess it means I have some hope in me yet. Since I'm not dead and all.

I think I worry that if I am in the same routine too long that I will begin to feel bored. But then I feel exhausted and overwhelmed when I take on all these new endeavors, neglect the important relationships in my life, and then eventually abandon the new endeavors, and am right back to where I started, except maybe even a little worse off.

Some people make it all look so easy. I wish I were one of THOSE people. Do lovely thoughts about your loved ones count for something? They don't equal phone calls, emails and letters, of that I'm sure.

On a less melodramatic note, I have been learning how to make pretty glass things, and have even made a few pendants. (OK, I have STARTED a few pendants, Mike has finished both of them because I haven't quite got that bale loop technique down yet. But I'm working on it.) So, that is fun. And of course, there is that plane ticket back to Wisconsin to look forward to. And the weather is pretty great outside right now. At least for the last five minutes. I think maybe I have been sitting at this computer too long and just need to go out there and get some fresh air.

I can no longer afford to drive my car

Gas prices locally are $4.09. Can anyone beat that? I surely hope not! So now I have set up a home office and I'm playing a game called "let's pretend I don't own a car." It's been interesting so far, to say the least. The weather has been pleasant and quite warm for the most part, but if it starts pouring I think the game is over. Well, not completely. I do have a nice umbrella and a bus pass and it's been quite fun to wander around with a backpack pretending I'm a college student or something. But seriously, $4.09? Seriously!?

Earthquake Guaranteed!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080414/ap_on_sc/california_quakes

Scary. Guess I'd better find out what one does to prepare for such an event. I only know about tornadoes...

Here's the story in full if you don't want to click the link above:

Forecast: Big quake likely in Calif.

By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer
Mon Apr 14, 6:20 PM ET



LOS ANGELES - California faces an almost certain risk of being rocked by a strong earthquake by 2037, scientists said Monday in the first statewide temblor forecast.

New calculations reveal there is a 99.7 percent chance a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years. The odds of such an event are higher in Southern California than Northern California, 97 percent versus 93 percent.

"It basically guarantees it's going to happen," said Ned Field, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena and lead author of the report.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake under Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley was magnitude 6.7. It killed 72 people, injured more than 9,000 and caused $25 billion in damage in the metropolitan area.

The damage created by an earthquake depends greatly on where it hits. A 7.1 quake — much stronger than Northridge — hit the Mojave Desert in 1999 but caused only a few injuries and no deaths.

California is one of the world's most seismically active regions. More than 300 faults crisscross the state, which sits atop two of Earth's major tectonic plates, the Pacific and North American plates. About 10,000 quakes each year rattle Southern California alone, although most of them are too small to be felt.

The analysis is the first comprehensive effort by the USGS, Southern California Earthquake Center and California Geological Survey to calculate earthquake probabilities for the entire state using newly available data. Previous quake probabilities focused on specific regions and used various methodologies that made it difficult to compare.

For example, a 2003 report found the San Francisco Bay Area faced a 62 percent chance of being struck by a magnitude 6.7 quake by 2032. The new study increased the likelihood slightly to 63 percent by 2037. For the Los Angeles Basin, the probability is higher at 67 percent. There is no past comparison for the Los Angeles area.

Scientists still cannot predict exactly where in the state such a quake will occur or when. But they say the analysis should be a wake-up call for residents to prepare for a natural disaster in earthquake country.

Knowing the likelihood of a strong earthquake is the first step in allowing scientists to draw up hazard maps that show the potential severity of ground shaking in an area. The information can also help with updating building codes and emergency plans and setting earthquake insurance rates.

"A big earthquake can happen tomorrow or it can happen 10 years from now," said Tom Jordan, director of the earthquake center, which is headquartered at the University of Southern California.

Researchers also calculated the statewide probabilities for larger temblors over the same time period. Among their findings: There is a 94 percent chance of a magnitude 7 shock or larger; a 46 percent chance of a magnitude 7.5 and a 4.5 percent chance of a magnitude 8.

The odds are higher that a magnitude 7.5 quake will hit Southern California than Northern California — 37 percent versus 15 percent.

Of all the faults in the state, the southern San Andreas, which runs from Parkfield in central California southeast to the Salton Sea, appears most primed to break, scientists found. There is a 59 percent chance in the next three decades that a Northridge-size quake will occur on the fault compared to 21 percent for the northern section.

The northern San Andreas produced the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but the southernmost segment has not popped in more than three centuries.

Scientists are also concerned about the Hayward and San Jacinto faults, which have a 31 percent chance of producing a Northridge-size temblor in the next 30 years. The Hayward fault runs through densely populated cities in the San Francisco Bay Area. The San Jacinto fault bisects the fast-growing city of San Bernardino east of Los Angeles.

It's Time for an Overdue Visit

It's booked. I have a plane ticket! I'm coming to an airport near you (that would be Madison, Wisconsin) Thursday, May 29 and I'll be in the area for a few weeks.

If anyone is interested in rescuing me from the airport early in the morning Thursday, I'll take you to breakfast for your efforts.

I CAN'T WAIT!

No, I do not have a cold

I just sound like I do. It's called allergies, and apparently it's part of who I am now. Ah, Humboldt County, you and I have such a love/hate relationship. This is all your fault.

I wonder if I moved back to Wisconsin if the itchiness in my eye sockets and the non-stop blowing of my nose would just disappear. Or if this is my souvenir that I get to keep FOREVER.

I'm sorry, lil sis, that I ever made fun of the way you said mom ("bob"). Now I understand just how frustrating these kinds of problems are.

The festival is over which means I have time to whine and complain again. Yay!

In other dews (that's "news" if your nose isn't full of snot), I'm taking vacation sometime this month. I am watching airline rates and as soon as I can snatch up a decent deal I'm homeward bound. Prepare yourselves accordingly. I'm generally a fun person. When I'm not complaining.

I've Made It to the Other Side (or, On Starting Over)

I have time to read books again! Clean my house again! Go for walks again! Watch the sunset again! Live my life again!

The Jazz Festival was incredible, and so hard, and lots of fun, and infinitely satisfying. I solved problems all weekend; that was my job description I'm pretty sure. There were glitches and hitches, people called me on my work cell, I solved them. At the end of the weekend we had a volunteer appreciation dinner and I had people constantly approaching me and hugging me, thanking me, for taking such good care of them, for helping them to do their jobs in an enjoyable manner. It was unexpected, and made the entire weekend worthwhile.

Up until Monday I had been working for weeks from 8 in the morning until sometimes 1 or 2 the next morning. I've never worked this hard in my life. But to see the Jazz Festival go off without a hitch (that the public eye could see), to see everything come together, and all these people joined together enjoying these wonderful bands, eating, drinking and being merry, made all that work worth it.

Now that I've had a few days of regular sleep to recover, my body and mind is finally starting to accept the relief that it is over! We made it! We did it!

So now it's back to a "normal" life, whatever that means. Today my boss and I are going to nail down that vacation time I have coming. I CAN'T WAIT! Spring is here, it's a new season, a new project, and a brand new outlook!

STRESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSED!

I shouldn't even have taken the time to post this. We're less than two days to the Festival and all I have to say is ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Back to work!

I'm in the Newspaper and on TV

Don't worry, I didn't do anything illegal: A news reporter interviewed me for this jazz festival we are putting on next weekend, and so I got quoted in the newspaper (a bunch of times). See the story below. (Can you find the misquote? There's one that I think is sort of obvious. Oh, and the typos? Maybe I should apply to be a copy editor for their paper. They look like they could use the help.)



Passing it on the next generation Jazz Fest seeks to keep community support
Meghan Vogel For the Times-Standard
Article Launched: 03/20/2008 09:21:29 AM PDT

Since 1991, Redwood Coast Music Festival's Jazz Fest has invested nearly half-a-million dollars into local senior and youth programs. But as 2008's bleak national economic forecast looms over the 18th annual Redwood Coast Jazz Fest, promoters are keeping their fingers crossed the event will continue to be a success.

”We're a little slow on ticket sales this year, because the economy's not so good and gas prices are high, but it's still hard to know how it's going to turn out”" said Naomi Clark, assistant director of the Redwood Coast Music Festivals. “We're hoping last-minute ticket buyers will come through for us.”

Originally co-founded as a nonprofit organization to raise funds for area senior programs by Humboldt County Supervisor Bonnie Neely and Assemblymember Patty Berg, the festival has donated more than $300,000 to local senior programs in its 17 years of existence. In 1996, Blues By the Bay was added to the events held by Redwood Coast Music Festivals, and the organization's mission expanded to include support of programs benefiting youth music education.

Over the years, dozens of local groups have reaped the benefit of the Redwood Coast Music Festivals' generosity. In the senior category, there's Humboldt Home Health, Northcoast Advocacy Services, Redwood Community Action Agency, Food For People, the Healy Senior Center and the Area Agency on Aging. And that's just naming a few. On the youth side, the festival has raised money to purchase new musical instruments for local schools, as well has funded concert productions and music clinics.
Festival volunteer Billie Lau noted how the Jazz Fest pumps money into the local economy. As a destination tourist event, she said, local restaurants and motels can count on the Jazz Fest to shine their coffers.

Before moving to the area to be closer to her son and her two grandchildren, Lau said she would attend the Jazz Fest every year from Corpus Christi, Texas. She moved here five years ago and has been volunteering with the festival ever since.

”It's really great because you feel like you're getting to help the community,” she said.

This year, the festival will add two new venues at Redwood Acres, Franceschi Hall and the Vickers Building. Clark said there will be art and craft vendors on hand, and that Franceschi Hall's 1,000-square foot dance floor should be perfect for swing dancing.

”We have some professional swing dancers coming, and we're really focusing on having more dancing this year,” she said. “We're trying to bring the younger generation out.”

On Saturday, March 29, the Eureka Muni is host to a dance party extravaganza featuring the saucy sounds of Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, the hard-hitting blues of JC Smith and a group CNN Showbiz labeled as “at the forefront of the swing revival,” Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums. During the festival, the Skillet Lickers will also be participating in a Q&A feedback sessions, or “jazz clinic,” for local high school music students.

The Friday before the dance party will also be geared toward a younger sort of crowd, Clark said. Don't worry Jazz Fests traditionalists- your favorite regulars from festivals past will still be in town jazzin' it up as well.

”Friday night will be a new modern jazz concert at the Arkley Center with The Brubeck Brothers, the sons of Dave Brubeck, and Incendio, a jazz fusion band. We hope to get the HSU crowd out that night,” Clark said.

Throughout the Jazz Fest, which runs March 27 through 30, you can catch any number of bands at the at the festival's venues of the Arkley Center, the Adorni Center, the Red Lion, the Eureka Muni and Redwood Acres. Returning artists include Cornet Chop Suey, Gator Beat and Titan Hot 7.

”We have to pass this kind of music down to the next generation,” Clark said. “They should come out and give this a try. It's an educational process too. I'm in my early 20s, but I'm really enjoying this music. And most of this music is where modern American music came from."

Ticket prices for the Redwood Coast Jazz Festival vary. For more information, visit www.redwoodjazz.org or call Festival Headquarters at 445-3378.


Click HERE to link to the article on times-standard.com.

I was also in a TV commercial, but I only have a copy in DVD format and haven't had time to figure out how to post that. It's sort of cool/annoying that Humboldt is so small, because now I walk around and get recognized. People say "I saw you on TV." And then they quote me: "In the spirit of the north coast!" (That's the last line I say in the ad.) It's not really what I had expected to happen in my life, so it's sort of disconcerting in a way. But also sort of fun. I'll take my 30 seconds of "fame". It's gotta be better than infamy, right?

P.S. I never said I was in my early 20's. I swear I said mid-20's. Mike was more than happy to point out that I'm about to turn 27 and even saying mid-20's is pushing it a little. Thanks, Mike. Also, Incendio is a LATIN JAZZ FUSION band, not just a jazz fusion band. Leaving the Latin out of that sort of made using the word fusion not as effective, in my opinion.

My California Anniversary

So I've been here a year (as of March 12, actually). So, that's some kind of accomplishment. The year's been rough, I would have to say, but now it's behind me, and I think there's some downhill in sight for a while.

It's less than two weeks until the jazz festival. (Six venues, over 100 shows, four days, just me, the director, and volunteers to run this thing - so yeah, you could say things are a bit hectic at the moment. But no worries, I'm rockin' it. Finally feeling like I am really good at my job. So, that's always nice.) I've been working 7 days a week, 12-14 hours a day. I'm looking forward to having other pursuits again.

After this is over, I think I'll take a trip back home. After that, I'm not sure what I'll do. There is this other festival coming up, Blues by the Bay, in August this year. I have some other ideas too. So we'll see where my second year in Humboldt County takes me. Hopefully much farther than the first.

The weather's been pretty nice. Spring is here, everything is in bloom. The sun is out. It's a new day.