July 31 Trying to get my cabin link to go live, half of july dissapeared ....  and the live link still isn't live, sorry if you want to look at the cabin you'll have to type it into your browser or cut and paste.... Aren't computers fun.!  (Put the live link back in because I think the problem is/was that the mls site was down.......... Baah Humbug etc!!) Speaking of fun my husband picked up his son at the Bangor ME airport yesterday and detoured past a folk festival at Grand Lake Stream, his faithfull Streets and Trips program showed a road hooking back  onto highway 9, I gather road was somewhat of an overstatement, there where a bunch of unlabled trails wandering through the woods,  I think it was another case of knowing where he was(?), but not knowing how to get there from here?  He did have his trusty GPS but since none of the moose tracks showed up on it all it was good for was to show him which lake he was looking at this time!!!  He was only  an hour late getting to Bangor, but fortunately Russell was 40 minutes late and they both had cell phones!  What did we do before we started carrying around 50 pounds of electronics with us where ever we went?  MY highway map of Maine does not show a road anywhere near where he wanted to drive, and  he is always making rude remarks about needing to have paper maps along......

 

July 30  Yes today is the 30th!  Here is the promised link to my cabin  http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?PropertyID=3760632 cabin

the mls number is actually #206608 , my lilies should all be in bloom now so the picture needs to be updated!  Speaking of lilies my lily trees are finally in bloom here, they come up to my nose, quite impresive!  Managed to scronge some orange daylilies from a neighbour yesterday, they want $12.00 for a wimpy plant in the green houses, but the orange ones practically grow wild here, I keep looking for an abandonned yard with some lilies, but finally found a neighbour that was willing to part with a couple of clumps!  Thinking about using them as a hedge beside the highway....

Sneaking out of here early today to go to 50th wedding anniversary party.  Actually don't seem to be any customers on weekends anyway?  Not sure why?

Spent the morning shoveling my clothes off of the floor, because my step son is coming to visit for a week, actually he is coming to play Pirate 

for a week, Money-Pit came with a jolly roger flag so Russell figures they should use it!  The 'treasure' was buried on an island between here and St Andrews on Thursday afternoon,  couldn't find a treasure chest at the $ store so  I bought a cute little picnic basket instead!  Shoveling clothes is as far as I go to cleaning up!  Think I better stop buying jeans at Frenchies though as I have about 30 pairs even if they only  do cost $3.25 / pair!

Need to put together some  bundles of stuff for Goodwill, SK had bins in parking lots that you could put old clothes into so it was really convenient, of course actually parting with something is the issue!  You never know when you might need it!

I made a bunch of flower garden beads yesterday, they ended up quite small compaired to the ones I was making before I went to Japan, those where huge, so  now I need to spend a couple of days assembling pendants,  and making bead pairs for earrings, I keep selling half a pair of earrings to people as pendants....

July 28... I think, I do know that it is Friday though!  So I"ve been busy, yes I could air my family's dirty laundry, sorry not going to happen!  (although you might enjoy it!)  I could say that I have spend the last week wheeling wheelbarrows full of weeds onto our compost pile, that I have been out sailing around the Fundy Isles in Money-Pit, that I have had so many customers that I forgot about my RANT, that I have been melting in the bead shop creating exquisite beads... (THAT IS TRUE!), that I have been unpacking and inputing more stock for the gallery, that I have been sitting in endless ferry lineups  trying to get on or off of this Island, or attempting to  cook, sleeping, or  minimal housecleaning.... Take your pick they are all partially true!!!

Yesterday we did go to St. Andrews in Money-Pit, I had to deliver some glass to a gallery there,  in my first life as a glass artist I used to do realistic stained glass birds,  the gallery I stilll sell  those to,  in NB phoned on Wednesday morning  and wanted more, so making those  was my fun and games for Wednesday and Thursday am... (actually 50% of what he got came out of my gallery here) Thursday PM was  spent delivering the stock via sail boat, I think that the ferries are both running now, but who knows when the P II will run aground again and break something else!  Much safer to go places under your own steam when possible!!!!!  Actually sailing took 8 hours, so even with 2 hour ferry lineups on both ends and 90 minutes driving, vehicular  transport would have been faster!  Although Captain Bligh also known  as the Web Meister would argue that if we had had a decent wind  we could have done it in 'x' the time that it actually took!!!!

 We have had lovely weather here, lots of sun, although I don't mind early morning fog, since our bedroom faces EAST and the sun hits  my pillow at exactly 7:15 am when there is no fog.... Actually  I don't mind fog at all as long as it burns off by 9am,  being hit by a laser beam at 7:15 am is not how I like to wake up!  Actually that is the real reason why the rant hasn't been updated!  I used to update it when I got up, but current logic is that since I will be sitting in the gallery all afternoon I can do it then, however real life dictates, that WEEDS have priority over RANTS, now you know exactly where you stand.....  Actually the WM says it is actually the 29th today  too.............

 

July 23 Just added/changed the pictures on my home page, in case you are on Deer Island and want to visit....  a picture of the gallery sign so you know what to look for!   Also  the ultmate in Chia Pets, the truck is a real truck, not sure what the people are, assume they weren't real!  Had a thunder storm last night so don't need to spend an hour watering all my new bedding plants today, but I'm hearing excuses that the lawn is too wet to mow!  Very muggy out today so may get more rain.  

I'm part of  a group mailing a box around Canada, the box contains all sorts of glass and  jewellery related goodies, I got it while I was on my way home from SK, so got to spend the last two days in the truck fondling  everything... (Round two is starting in a couple of weeks if you're interested email me and I'll send you the link) Amongst other things that I took where some little minature amphora corks so I made a hollow vessel today, but  I  think I ruined it decorating it, will see tomorrow, I guess I can always  use it as the prototype to figure out the wiring, will probably chain the lid on with the same chain I make for tassles, 22 gauge wire wrapped around a 1/16 inch mandrel hand sawed and reassembled ..... ( I get to wear all of my prototypes, rejects, seconds... whatever you want to call them, unless the beads  are really bad, those end up in the aquarium with my Gold Fish!  Haven't had to clean out the aquarium nearly as often as we used to since I started tossing beads in, maybe the bead release is acting as a filter?  

 

July 22 More summer, spent big chuncks of the last two days in the ferry lineups, only the smaller of our two ferries is running and the typical wait is 2 hours, Wednesday afternoon it was so hot that my bare feet were sinking into the asphault, even my feet couldn't handle that!  Wednesday morning I left the island on the private ferry that goes to Eastport Maine, we were floating along through the fog and  you couldn't even tell that we were moving!  Weird sensation.  My weeds are finally getting under control, found some really nice bedding plants yesterday two flats for $ and there where 12 plants in each flat,  so now I have some instant flowers to replace my weeds!

Stuart's Piebald Car is back on the road, He and a freind are planning on painting it sometime, so  other than the roof which is still rather crumpled the car actually looks quite good, I was never allowed to see it post rolling though.

Actually have a few sets of beads hanging around that I might post for sale in the next couple of days as loose beads not bracelets, but it's so much more fun making them into finished jewellery than it is leaving them! 

 

July 19  Foggy again today, the fog rolled in about 2am Sunday night, we had the patio door open and I woke up freezing to all these really weird noises,  Gord said it was the vinal siding contracting because of the rapid temperature change ....  I thought it was my Orchids screaming at me to close the door before they froze!

Finally got my Point of Sales terminal today, when we got home last week I had a bill for June, but couldn't find a terminal any where in the house... Phoned and was told they would credit June's bill and send out a terminal in time for my offical opening  last Friday.  I  phoned on Thursday and was told we'll send that out immediately... you'll get it Saturday, no I won't Canadians don't get Saturday mail delivery!  Got a phone call yesterday asking me if I needed help with my new terminal... What terminal?  Phoned Purolator to find out where it was and the automated message told me that

'M A R T I N'  had signed for it at 10:44 on July 18th,  that's nice.... who the H is Martin!  Actually Martin is a Canada Post employee in Saint John, The terminal  did arrive today  and is installed I put through a 1 cent visa transaction and that seemed to work, I 'll beleive it when I actually see the money on my bank statement!

The Tempo was back in the driveway this morning, the front half is white the back is silver.... , the radiator  is now leaking too, as Stuart was filling it from the hose the water was just pouring out the  bottom onto the driveway,  I told him he couldn't drive it that way, did he listen NO.  I'm sure the Parts Tempo probably has a radiator in it though.... when the radiator on my old car sprung a leak, the heatercore  gave up a couple of months later, and poured boiling antifreeze all over my right foot, my pink suede sandles got all these icky green stains on them! 

Corina is teaching a group of beginners bead making in Friday Harbour right now and made the comment that her students don't want to learn how to make beads properly they just want to have fun,  I decided that that is probably the difference between  students in classes that I teach too.  There are  one or two students  in each class that  want to learn, and  the rest just want to play around with hot glass and don't really care if their beads have nice ends or not!

 

July 17 Tried to do this a couple of hours ago and my web host came back with  the fact that I had expired, they got a nasty email but I really didn't expect a response until sometime Monday afternoon....  The wonders of modern day electronics etc!  We have had  at least three days of sun and  hot  temperatures, my weeds are being eradicated by the wheelbarrow full, doubt if I have the roots but the five plants, lilies, remaining in the garden now have a chance!  Don't know what the weed is, the flowers are actually quite pretty little yellow flowers but the leaves and vines run and reroot choking out everything.

The Web Meister went out for a sail in Money-Pit  Friday night, of course the wind dropped and it got cold, his motor works again though, so he did manage to get back.  However his skiff, or whatever you want to call it floats just off shore  and fills up with fresh water when ever it rains....  The Sea Gulls have discovered it and think it makes a wonderful Sea Gull Bath Tub and Crapper built into one, so now when he goes out to bail he has alot more than water to contend with......

A friend in Sakatchewan just sold his acreage and is moving to BC, the couple he sold it to are very into Fueng Shoi (or what ever)

and after they had bought the house came out with a water witching wand to see what the natural water flow was...  Any way there are streams flowing under the house and one goes under the corner of the bed in the master bedroom, this is very BAD as the flowing  water saps all of your energy! (I beleive that the rest of the room must be OK, so they can  just move the bed to a 'dry' location)  However we  have no hope here  as whenever it rains,since we are on bedrock, we have  streams running in the front of the basement of this house and out the back since we are on bedrock, Gary says  our only hope is  to to demolish the house and move to the top of a mountain!

 

July 14  Oh, island life, warm tropical breezes, sandy beaches, Palm trees, tourists beating down  the door to my gallery.....  Oops that's the Carribean not the North Atlantic,  how about fog, ferry lineups, spruce trees, foot high grass, because it's too wet to mow, and PO'd tourists because they have just spent 2 hours in a ferry line-up  to get here and are too ticked off to do anything but circumnavigate the island and get right back into the lineup.....

Yesterday I got to go to St George to get Gord the crimp for his starter wire, total distance driven 36.8 km in 4.5 hours.....  that does include  TWO 20 minute ferry trips.... You can figure out how long I sat in the ferry lineup to buy a part that cost $1.21 including tax, I noticed that most of the people in the lineup where tourists, most of the locals are staying at home or have a vehicle stowed on the other side!

When we were in Toronto last week we went to the Toronto Outdoor Art Show...  I was expecting great things, but there were very few  'craft' booths, mainly booth after booth of various types of  wall art, I didn't even stop to look... I don't think a lot of other people were looking at most of the 'art' either.  The craft booths  were getting way more interest, but even there considering we were there over the noon hour on opening day in down-town Toronto there weren't that many buyers.  I heard that a number of glass artists that have been in that show forever were juried out this year in favour of  'new artists'....  I've given up selling at craft venues, and  prefer to buy from  'galleries' where I'm not fighting crowds, and don't have to pay an entrance fee so that I can spend  money  (Toronto was FREE!)  etc.  I think high end 'ART' & Craft sales are going the way of the DODO BIRD.... however flea markets will live forever!   (Along the vein of spending money so that you can spend money... one of the cabin owners at Manitou Beach said he wouldn't pay the Village for a building permit just so that they could then increase his  taxes!)

Breakfast time, the  lump has surfaced!

July 13  Today is overcast, but think it may burn off...  Hope so as there is a tonne of weeds out there that really want to die!  The gallery opens on Friday so need to manicure tha lawn  and spiff the place up before then... Also means that Stuart will be moved out of my living room!  No his bedroom upstairs isn't finished but he's moving anyways, he always said he wanted a wood floor, maybe plywood wasn't what he had in mind, tough!   While we were away the government took over the ferry 'hotline' so now instead of getting ferry information from one of the ferry captains you get some government flunky reading  the 'ferry schedule' from a brochure.... which is all very nice if both ferries are actually running, which of course they aren't.... Afterall, this is the summer, peak tourist season,  so one 18 car ferry running once an hour is adequate, RIGHT?  Went to Saint John again yesterday only waited 50 minutes to leave and same coming back, more interesting though was  Gord's truck, when he started it, that shoud read attempted to start it , to come home, the key went click.....  Phoned CAA for a boost, the guy came and said 'it's probably the starter, Ford put crappy starters in that vintage truck....', (2000, F150 4*4) tried to boost it first, no go  then the Tow truck driver beat the starter with a crow bar (see hitting things when they don't work really is an approved method of  repair!), unfortunately that still didn't work, so he crawled under the truck and discovered that the starter wire had rotted off..... Guess that happens a lot with FORDS too.....  At which point I asked if  FORD cars were better?  The tow truck driver said no much worse, except for Mustangs, (which is what I drive) FORD has been building those for long enough that they know what they are doing.... Since Gord's truck is a standard, as long as he doesn't stall it and always parks pointing down hill, and doesn't accidentally turn  the ignition  off  when he stops somewhere, he's good to go....

Actually plan to make some beads today, in amongst weeding and  reclaiming my living room!

 

July 12 Home sweet home, and the sun is shining today!  Where to start....  Boy Wonder my 20 year old son, let his girl friend drive his car last weekend and she rolled it, that incident is prominent at the momment as I got to drive him to work at 7am this morning when his ride forgot him...Once again the tempo is being hammered out  and stuck back on the road, not sure how often you can flatten tin foil before it just disintigrates! The major casualties from the accident would be my sons girl freind who is scared to  go home because her father might kill her, (she better stay away from me for the same reason!)  and Stuart's two camera's which didn't like being bounced off of a windshield, anyone know of a good Panasonic repair man?.....  Or there was the newsletter from Manitou Beach in Saskatchewan, that arrived here  while I was at Manitou Beach,  MB  Council is still frothing at the mouth over  outhouses.....  However, since  they still have village owned outhouses in the local Nature Preserve,   but Cabin owners must demolish or turn all their outhouses into sheds.....Council recommends strongly that owners just demolish the old sheds and spend resources on something new.  An outhouse converted to a shed still looks like an outhouse.   I bought my cabin there because I liked all of the quaint 1930's, cabins and meandering lanes, progress in the form of  kit houses occuping the entire lot and blocking their neighbours lake views  isn't the sort of progress many of the summer people want to see!  Enough said other than I think my reconditioned outhouse has a lot more class than the tinny metal sheds that are replacing them!  I will post the MLS number for my cabin once I find it, might even link to some interior pictures for you. 

Stopped to  visit  a friend in  Eastern  Ontario who is going to be selling Lauscha glass as soon as her order arrives from Germany, will link to her site as soon as it is up... I have a few samples  to pre test.....   Played on her torch and decided that all Concentrators are not created equal,  hers seems to be hotter than mine!  The glass is always hotter on the other side...?

 

July 7  Made it to Saskatchewan, got rained on lots.....  packed the Uhaul and are half way home again, spent last night in a sub-burb of Toronto  warm and muggy here today, want to see the outdoor craft sale at City Hall in Toronto today but they are forcasting thunderstorms, we got an inch and a 1/4 of rain in 10 minutes while we were trying to pack the Uhaul, actually other than my sweat shirt which ended up in a mud puddle nothing else really got wet, it came down too fast?  Also picking up glass, silver......

Expecting to be home on Monday night!