Insta Blog :: New Mexico

I'm trying to figure out the balance between my love of blogging and my new favorite form of connecting online; Instagram. I do love being able to just post a picture, and walk away. But it has become more than that as the pictures become sort of an art form for me. But what I miss is the story telling that comes with a blog post. So I'm going to try out something a little different. I'm going to try picking a few of my Instagram posts for a bit more story telling. 

I was able to get a bit of beading done over the holiday (you saw my latest RBG necklace), which I finish one or two and have several in progress. It does give me a bit of anxiety having 'in progress' pieces knowing how quickly I will get pulled under once I'm back in the office. 

Anyway, for this 'in progress' piece, I pulled out a double cab set of azurite I picked up in Old Town Albuquerque from one of the many places specializing in Native American jewelry. They had a huge case of loose stones way in the back of the store. Like any self-respecting beader ... I headed straight to the back to dig. That pile of stones had me wanting to walk out with several bags, but I did show some restraint as I 'only' bought about 10 cabs. I brought in my reinforcement and had my daughter help me narrow things down.

Azurite has the look of turquoise, but for a much more affordable cost. It has intense, deep blue-green coloring and plenty of veining. So if you're in to that ... then azurite might be your stone. I prefer the veining, or inclusions, as it makes for much more interesting patterns in the stone. One thing I didn't know about azurite is that is slowly weathers to malachite (one of my all-time favorite stones). Apparently the elements, and particularly light, 'greens' the deep blue. Huh, that's cool. They say you should store azurite jewelry in darkness (a box, a drawer) away from heat. Perhaps that is why the case of azurite was in the back of the store? 

This one is still on the bead table as I decide exactly how I want to connect the stones and finish off the back strap. But it is at least some progress in a fairly long drought of beading.

My Spirit Animal :: The Chicken

Drinking with Chickens

I have no idea where this particular post is going, but it has been too long since I wrote a post. So let's just roll with it for now. 

After a particularly grueling week at the office I hit the pillow hard last night looking forward to my weekly, single day that I can sleep without setting an alarm. Deep into a REM cycle my dreams suddenly took a turn for the worst with the deafening sound of chain saws coming at me from all directions. I know, I see that puzzled look on your face at this point .... as if where the #$!! is she she going with this story. But that is the exact look on my face when I realized the sound was outside my window. I had completely forgotten that my husband had scheduled the 'tree guys' for first thing Saturday morning to remove a rather large, and very old tree from the yard.

You see in that last big winter storm, at the beginning of March when the snow was so heavy, the snow pulled at the limbs of my magnolia tree and literally split it in two. Kinda like a banana if we're being honest here. Luckily the tree fell to the ground around the house instead of into one of the upstairs bedrooms. So we had that going for us. Clearly we had put off dealing with the clean up for a few weeks, saying to ourselves that perhaps we'll see one last bloom this year. 

It is lying on the ground attempting to bloom, but I'm afraid it just isn't going to give us that show this year.  I posted a glorious picture of it in full bloom last year, and it appears that it will be the tree's swan song. 

So back to chickens. These past few months have been a blur of intense time in the office, with a few periods of travel. Some for work, some for .... well chickens. We were in Bermuda in February and much to my surprise there were birds absolutely everywhere, but not tropical birds, but .. say it with me ... chickens. And a few ducks. They were on the grounds of museums, nesting in the old beautiful abandoned church grounds and well pretty much everywhere. We were woken up every day to the crowing. Honestly, someone should put that in the travel guides that there isn't a need to pack an alarm clock as it is built in to the fauna.

Two weeks ago you might have noticed posts on my Instagram feed from New Mexico. Lots of exploration on that trip with native cultures and spirit animals. I managed to find probably the most concentrated amount of beads stores EVER in my travels. Typically I'm googling like a crazy person for any trace of beads, or something that represents the local culture .... in the form of a bead. But in New Mexico I was literally stumbling on bead stores. I mean seriously. Ab.so.lute bliss. I did buy handfuls of locally carved stone beads in the form of spirit animals and arrow heads. But we'll save that for a later post.

Unfinished Church St. George, Bermuda

Now if you are still with me at this point, and you know how I post, you've got to be thinking how in the #$!! is she going to tie this all together? So back to the my grueling week, and complete disruption to my morning. I could not think straight until I had some caffeine in hand. I sit down and mindlessly scroll through my facebook feed and stumble on Schnitzel, a "chicken who is under the firm impression that she is a person." She apparently enjoys a nip of red wine with her humans. Perhaps this could be my spirit animal, I say to myself with a snort. 

Ok, now all of you who know me, know exactly what comes next. I set off for a complete list of spirit animals to find out if indeed this could be mine. All the while I'm thinking ... no way chicken is on that list. But here we are, an hour later, writing a post. Indeed chicken is on that list, well at least according to this blog that appears to be the (self proclaimed) expert on all things spirit animal and totem related. Also in the pursuit of my chicken hunt I find a blog called Drinking with Chickens. I mean what is not to love about that title. If you'd like a giggle, do have a read on the story behind this blog. 

So what is the angle on a 'spirit chicken' you may ask? Well, 'if a chicken has come to you in your dreams ...'  Clearly, you had me at hello. When there is a strong noise outside it tends to weave its way into my dreams. Remember those chickens in Bermuda? Well those chicken dreams might mean that you are responding to something in your waking life out of fear and backing down when you should be standing up for yourself. It could also mean that there is chatter and gossip in your life and you should be questioning if you are listening well enough to people to really hear what they are saying. huh. Perhaps some reflection back on my week as I finish my second cup of tea. Might be time to join Schnitzel for a little nip. It is past noon at this point.