Arizona

I Want Candy

February 7, 2010 by The Noisy Plume

I’m sure you do too.

This is a quick glance at just a few of the stones I have purchased this week

whilst down in the sun and sand of Arizona.

I’m exhausted and ready to come home. I’d actually liken a trip to Tucson, Arizona in February to spending seven months at Ikea. You leave the city exhausted, overstimulated, and starving. I have bulging bags and a color hangover.

I reacquainted myself with some of my favorite lapidary artists and met a few new newbie stone cutters. I also must mention that I met and supported TWO lapidary artists who are located in Idaho — one of whom happens to live JUST down the street! Fancy that! I’m especially smitten with their work (they own the claims their jaspers and agates originate from, prospect the rough and cut the stones themselves) and I pillaged their show booths gladly.

I was on a quest for some serious candy…this is a pinch of what I found:

What do you think?

Let me know what turns your crank in this batch.

We’re headed North again on Monday morning. I can’t wait to go home. I’ve been away so much in the past two months! The thought of finally returning to Plume Gables feels a bit foreign. I’m really ready to sit in my living room, fill up my fridge with fruit and veggies, consume some elk steak and crank the studio up on ultrahigh.

I’ll meet you there.

We’ll fall into the rhythm again, you and I.

I’ll swing hammers until my palms blister.

And we’ll watch the snow fall with big eyes.

Idaho never looked so good on a map.

Big wheels, take me home.

PLOOMKABOOM

PS Go HERE and wish my best girl a happy birthday and let her know that she’s beautiful and wonderful and creative and imaginative and more alive than you could ever convey with the English language (and the French language….). Tell her that when she sings (for her voice is very beautiful indeed) it sounds like the sky is opening up and raining doves.

Tell her:

If you could, you’d round up a band of wild ponies and let her choose the most beautiful mare of the bunch — the pony with the best splotches, the longest forelock, and sterling hooves that spark as they meet the ground at a gallop. Tell her that there’s no one like her in the world and that if her soul gets any bigger, she’s going to have to relocate to a bigger solar system because it’s going to throw Earth’s gravity out of whack.

Remind her that she and I own February.

Remind her that her heart is out of the

ordinary, remind her it’s made of amethyst

and is bezeled in place with pure gold.

Let her know all of that.

And tell her I sent you.

Filed Under: Arizona, birthday, stones, tucson

February 4, 2010 by The Noisy Plume

Oh good gracious!

Dearest my birds and birdettes:

I wish I could sit you down in my hotel room, pour you a chilly drink

and do show and tell time for you. I’m still here in Tucson and my jaunt to the southwest has

been a delight in every way. The fact of the matter is that I have found some positively

delicious stones and I will be sharing them with you upon my return to Idaho

but besides the stones, I’ve been filling up my creative wells, planning some creative

collaborations with a dear friend, eating good food, drinking lots of tea, sleeping with

my dogs in my hotel bed…among other things:

I’ve received fabulous news.

I’ve been disappointed.

I’ve been heartbroken.

I’ve risen up from the ashes on new wings.

I’ve transcended.

I’ve prayed.

I’ve been proud of my man, so so proud.

I’ve laughed hysterically.

I’ve been swimming in a pool warmed by desert sun.

I bought a crazy strapless sweater dress from Anthropologie for a shockingly low price.

I’ve been downright persnickety about the stones I’ve purchased.

I’ve stood, doubled over,

for a couple of hours at a time, squinting at the

fine details of jaspers, agates, rough crystals

and quartzes.

I’ve bartered.

I’ve uttered the words, “Is this the best price you can give me for these?” At least a hundred times.

I’ve walked away from horrible vendors, on principle.

I corrected a man, as kindly as I could, when he tried to cheat me.

I’ve embraced wonderful lapidary artists.

I’ve forged new business relationships.

I’ve learned.

I’ve made friends.

I’ve had tea, wine and orange juice…and a funny Korean yogurt drink AND the best

fish tacos I’ve ever consumed.

I’m ready to come home, but I have quite a lot more to do in this city.

Let’s everybody hold on.

I’m going to give you some loving when I get home

and I’m going to knock your socks of.

Be prepared.

With abiding affection,

THE NOISY TUCSONISTA

https://www.thenoisyplume.com/blog/2010/02/04/602/

Filed Under: Arizona

Truth Be Told

February 1, 2010 by The Noisy Plume

I didn’t expect to have such a feeling of coming home

when I set out to visit Parker, Arizona.

RW and I lived in this little reservation town, alongside the Colorado River,

for four years, nearly.

Coming back to visit dear friends and

to stake a claim on some sunshine

has been soul balm.

…despite the prickles.

It helps that it’s not 130F at the moment.

It’s easier to love the sky, the earth, the wind.

It helps that despite the directness of the sun,

the light is gentle.

The wind is cool.

Cool enough.

And then there’s that Colorado River;

that wide spine of blue rushing through

the thirsty red of weathered stone

Desert dogs lick up the light,

contented by the feel of the wind in their ears and

sand under their feet.

They catch the scent of bird on the breeze,

strap wings to their heels

and follow their noses;

there’s a steady rhythm of:

bird to hand

Pene and I lean out the window and watch

the reservation roll by in a rush of alfalfa, irrigation canals, dove wings and

rusted souls

(mine’s just been polished up with a careful, foggy breath

and some divine elbow grease).

that

desert…

…despite all of her prickles.

Oh that bending, wending light, just as ubiquitous as the fine

dust that itches my eyes

and coats the dashboard of my truck.

I wander

up canyon

into the cool of thirty foot vertical walls

and the crumble of red, conglomerate earth

wearing away beneath my fingertips (AM I ELEMENTAL HERE?).

The wind toys with my skirt.

I kick a stone.

A quail calls out.

MORE PHOTOS

HERE.

Filed Under: Arizona, desert, trip

Bon Voyage

January 26, 2010 by The Noisy Plume

I’m leaving. AGAIN.

I plan on packing tank tops and bobbypins.

And maybe a pair of pants.

I know.

The packing plans sound awful but more importantly

it’s practically painful to be leaving home again so soon. I just returned from the tropics

and now we make pilgrimage to Arizona, just when I was

settling into work and life nicely. Just when a fresh layer of snow

fell in the night. Just when I had my new stationary arrive. Humbug.

I woke up this morning before the alarm rang, at 6AM. My mind was reeling. There’s so much to think about right now! So much has happened this week — and some I can’t tell you about, quite yet, it’s suffice to say life is so good and it’s amazing who will find their way up those twisty, turny paths of my existence and notice the work of my hands. I’m excited. I’ve got a steady breeze under my wings and the earth looks beautiful from this birds eye view.

I’m going to Arizona and I’m going to delight in the time away from my studio and my life in Idaho. I have wonderful friends to meet up with along the way and some lovely scenery will flicker past the truck windows as I make my way South. When I come home, I’ll have new fodder for the flame.

Before I go, in case I don’t say it, quite often enough:

Thank you so much for dropping by.

Thank you for inspiring me.

Thank you for pushing me, for helping me to blaze new trails and to test new concepts.

Thank you for reading my words, enjoying my photographs and most of all, thank you for wearing the jewelry I create.

Thank you for liking me.

I like you too.

Scratch that.

I love you.

See you soon with adventures from the road,

THE NOISY PLUME

Filed Under: Arizona, HOLIDAY, trip