Feb 17  After a dull gloomy day the sun has finally come out,  today is just above freezing but the wind is quite nasty, it poured rain for a couple of hours last night so now we have a thin layer of really dirty icy snow, and it is suppose to get cold again tomorrow.  A good day to leave!

 

Yesterday  started off according to plan, but then I had a brainwave while I was making beads, yes I can think, chew gum and make beads all at the same time!  My brainwave caused everyone to abandon what they were doing and get on the next ferry and go to St Stephen, the border town.  Stuart was suppose to have an appointment in St Stephen on Friday, but we couldn't find anyway of both getting him there and home again where he didn't have to spend 6 or 7 hours there for a 15 minute appointment...  Brainwave; change the appointment day!   Stopped at my favorite store while we there.  Frenchies, a Maritime chain of second hand clothing stores... where you can get some incredible deals... All my jeans are now slightly broken in designer jeans that I pay $3.75 for, my sweat shirts are disposable, once I've burned too many holes in one I go get another one for $2.50... it's fun going through the racks, looking for treasures.  The best part is there is no label premium all the jeans are $3.75, t-shirts are $2.45... The St Stephen store  hangs up everything most of the Frenchies stores use Bins, I never got the hang of pawing through bins of used clothing, I like the  racks.   Needless to say I bought one shirt, and Stuart handed me a stack of t-shirts at the check out... What are mothers for?

 

I didn't make beads today as I won't have time tomorrow morning to look at them and I would spend the entire time I was gone wondering what they looked like!  While I'm in Edmonton I'm having lunch with a group of women from 'Wet Canvas', none of us have every met  anyone else in the group, should be fun, the only thing we have in common is glass beads.

 

Feb 15   Valentine's  has come and gone for another year!  Angus will be packed up and shipped off to SK today or tomorrow.  It's pouring outside at the momment, so don't think I'll walk him down to the post office today!  I think it started raining around 7 this morning, at least that's when the snow started sailing off the roof!  I hope the cat figures out where not to sit , when he's giving us the evil eye to let him in!  Or he might turn into a pile of shluck! 

 

After 11 years of flameworking, I still haven't learned that your not suppose to stick your finger in the flame!  I was trying to get a perfect bead on my LF3 mandrel and thought I could pat down the lump with my finger.... ? Not really , but almost that stupid!

 

Our second ferry (The Deer Island Princess/Lemon) has been put back in the water, but it's not doing anything so far other than showing us that it still remembers how to float!  I have to leave fairly early on Friday morning for the airport, so two ferries running would be nice, although the Fredericton airport (yes that's the airport that two planes have fallen off the runway, but they fall off landing, so it's safe to take off there!) is small enough that you could probably show up 10 minutes before the flight and still get on. However since they now  xray the  checked luggage before you check in,  with all my wire, beads, pliers and things my luggage never makes it through without being opened, {actually Video tapes get them really excited too},  I have to allow enough time to repack my suitcase!

 

ANGUS McPUFF  (APRROX 1.5 INCHES INCLUDING ICECUBE) 

 

Angus told me last night, the 27th  that he wanted to be  at the top of the rant, he also wants to point out that he doesn't like being cold and would like some votes from Mexico and Hawaii.  PLEEEZE ....  Feb 13  And the Winner is  Jimmy G ... from Saskatchewan, sorry Angus no surf board!    Next months prize will be Ms. Honey Bunny-Penny...  Her picture will be posted when I get back from Alberta.  I will be gone from Feb 19 to March 11 or so.  Should  be able to post rants a couple of times a week, and let you know about the Alberta gift show, shopping in Banff and skiing at Lake Louise.   Yes the attic is fully insulated Gord, says it is now a toasty 44 degrees up there not the balmy 33 it's been recently!  Should get really warm when the sun hits Rapunzel's tower later this afternoon.  [ Rapunzel's tower is a modern day verson of a 'Lunenburg Lump' (that is the correct architectural name!).]   The ice isn't melting off of the trees as fast as I would like, if it gets windy there will be a lot of broken branches around!  Posted a new picture on the home page today,  still that icy today and the storm was three days ago! 

 

Ordered a couple of  mandrels from  http://www.beaddock.com/docs/tools.html  a while ago and yesterday was my first chance to play.  If you order any of Lauren's  mandrels  read her instructions FIRST!  You won't see pictures of beads made with these tools anytime soon on my Beeds for Sale page!    I do have pictures in my mind of what I want to produce but my mind isn't putting the glass where I want it!  I think today's beads were marginally more succesful then yesterdays, but....  I think I really should have got a couple of the LF3 because it is so much easier to learn from your mistakes if you don't have a 24 hour period  from one bead to the next!  (LF3 has a big hole going one way and two small holes to string the bead on a necklace,  3 = 3 holes)

     

Feb 12, It's a nice bright sunny day today  after the storm, the ice is  even starting to melt..   My son and husband are trying to insulate the roof off the new upstairs, by  blowing in insulation, Stuart is trying to read the shredded newspaper as it is being blown in !  The blower jammed after the first bag, but progress seems to have picked up! Stuart says he is off to the mainland for the night!  Hope they are nearly done, or I will become the insullation stuffer! Stuart is leaving on the three o'lock ferry wether he is done or not!  He wants me to drive him to the ferry landing,  then his friend will pick him up on the other side.  Later just finished stuffing the last 6 bags of shredded paper into the blower, just about clogged it...However,  if I hadn't just about clogged it we would have had another bag to distribute in the attic, I was trying to figure out where the clanking noises were coming from instead of cutting open another bag, when I was told to quit feeding the blower!  

 

Peeled my car out from under  it's blanket earlier,  it was completely covered in 2 inch thick slabs off ice and snow, was thinking of posting the picture on the site to see if anyone who doesn't know what I drive could recognize it!  It took three tries at half hour intervals to get down to car, peeled a bit then wait for the sun to do it's thing then peel some more!

A fellow bead maker in the states told me that she ordered an egg shaped bead press from Zoozii, and thought that she might be o'd'ing on tools,  but if you have never tried to make an egg out of glass try it!  It is very difficult to  make an egg that really looks like an egg!  I've made a few eggs in the last couple of  weeks one or two look vaguely eggy but it is  not an easy shape to get. I found the thinner the mandrel the easier it was to maintain the shape!  Actually I took a University Sculpture class, while we were still in Saskatchewan and the Prof said that free carving an egg is just about the most difficult thing to do! 

Stuart survived his day at the fish plant, don't think he even met a fish as he  shoveled ice for packing fish .  In spite of never seeing a fish his jacket has a very strong  fish aroma which is taking over the back porch!

 

Sorry about all the trade mark signs that got through the first two edits I was being lazy and clipping text out of emails that I had sent, I thought I got all the gibberish edited out I guess it snuck back in!  Hopefully it is gone now!