Alabaster Bones

December 3, 2010 by
Yes.
Another one.
Namely because I’m obsessed with hollow forms and white enamel.  Do forgive.

This one has an extra dash of magic to it that takes the form of the beautiful BEAUTIFUL prehnite beads in organic, glass smooth cuts.  The pale green of that stone is so ethereal, so ghostly.  Those beads make this piece feel like a rosary when I hold it in my hands; I opine this is perfectly suitable since this series is all about the Holiness of the designs of our bodies and spirits.
Also, I tab set the enameled component, which is a first for me.
Yee haw!

I’m trying to pull together a shop update around here.  I have a handful of earrings finished, two necklaces and a couple of rings but I’m really focused on this body cavity series I’ve been working on (that sounds gross but don’t be afraid it’s terribly beautiful).  I have the studio on and am about to hop in there and work on one more crazy necklace design that belongs to aforementioned series.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!  The creative waters are a bit choppy when it comes to this piece and I’m not sure I can pull it off!

Good Friday to you all, my darling tweets.
xx
Plume
Filed Under: New Jewelry

Fidelity

December 2, 2010 by
Fidelity is two jackrabbits who 
really know how to be true:

[2.75oz sterling silver, aquamarine, garnet, pearl & iolite]
[100% hand built and hand crafted]
Filed Under: New Jewelry

Meeting December

December 1, 2010 by
Things are moving a mile a minute around here.
I’m a long distance runner and the pace doesn’t bother me too much
but let me tell you, I’ve been doing my best to pull on the reins and sit deep in the saddle lately.  There are so many beautiful things about the early winter months and I don’t want to miss any of the details!  November is gone but I’ve been so busy meeting December that I’ve hardly noticed.

I really believe there must be magic in everything;
I find myself spellbound so often.
 This morning I popped outside to give the hens some fresh hot water, spinach leaves and to collect eggs.  The ladies are finally slowing down with their laying and I’ve only picked two eggs over the past couple of days.  It makes me feel a bit melancholy.  One of my great joys, here at The Gables, is collecting ingredients for my meals, by hand, from my property.  Eggs are the only thing I can glean lately and to see the the hens slowly turning in for the winter makes me feel a bit glum.

However, let us remember, to everything there is a season:
a time to collect eggs and a time to buy a carton of eggs at the local Co-Op.
 This week, for the first time in months, I ate a store bought tomato. 
It was tremendously disappointing.
I’m already greedy for lycopene that bursts with flavor.  How will I manage the suffering until summer arrives again?!!!
But that’s the thing about living in a climate that boasts four strongly unique seasons, I always know that the next season will come and I find myself living blissfully and fully no matter if it’s winter, spring, summer or fall.  I love the season I’m in, miss the season I was in previously and look forward to the season coming.

***

My walks lately have taken me up on top of the West Bench where the snow has been sculpted into deep, sinuous drifts between the sage, juniper and tall grasses.  Those walks have been hard won for me and especially so for the wee Penelope.  I continuously fall through the drifts which are as deep as my mid-thighs at times.  Penelope follows in my footprints, leaping in and out of the holes I leave behind in the pristine winterscape.  We both gasp for breath at times as we fight our way through.  The sections of trail that have been scrubbed clean by the wind come as welcome breaks from the tough going. 

Occasionally, I fall down into an invisible hole or dip in the ground beneath the snow and am jarred when my foot finally connects with terra firma.  It’s not nice walking.  That’s for sure.  But it makes my cheeks ruddy, forces my lungs to push and pull air rapidly and it gives me a new appreciation for the animals that are out there, hunkered down in the coulees and drainage ravines on the sides of the Rocky Mountains.  They paw through the snow to find their fodder, and are eventually drawn deeper into the low country in order to successfully forage.  I imagine them walking through these snow drifts, on four matchstick legs, heaving their quadruped weight through the season, step by step: winterthick fur pushed and pulled by the down valley drafts.

I’ve been on the backs of horses as they push through snow like this.  I know it’s hard work, I’ve felt the effort of a horse with every silent hoof strike, lift and pull of legs through white, the slow movement of my hips absorbing a gait, their animal warmth beneath my legs and the two of us, melded together and acting as a conduit for winter to pass through.  We snort our breath at the sun in tall white columns.  Beneath four hooves there’s the collected snowfall, there’s that residual build up of flake upon flake until we find ourselves wading through the thickness of solid state water; we press on even when our bodies crave the fuzziness of sleep.  We’re blinded by the horizon gleaming in every direction beneath the face of the sun.

Now I’m just writing.
Free rein on my fingertips as I sit here and type.
I guess I just feel like talking with you.

Two days ago, while walking, I was pushing through the snow when the tip of a snow cloud pushed up and over the peaks on the West side of town.  The cloud was a few miles away, clinging to the mountain tops and shrouding Kinport Peak in a white lace grace seasonal veil.  Though the clouds were relatively distant, the wind grew stronger and pushed large snowflakes down to where I walked.  The sun was bright in blue heavens.  The sky was full of diamonds.  I felt an alleluia rise in my throat.  

The older blanket of white on the ground caught the new flakes lightly and held them carefully on the surface of things.  There was a quiet tension there between the old and the new.  An inability to blend: snow on snow acting like oil on water.  I dropped to my knees to further observe perfect crystalline structure in bright sunlight and whipping wind.  Penelope whined beside me, deep in the snow, anxious to move, anxious to build body heat.  A hawk passed over, racing against shadow and wind.  I squinted as I looked West.  Stood.  And kept walking.


***


I suppose this is all to say I’m kind of busy over here.
December has come to call and I don’t want to miss a moment of it. 
xx
Plume


PS

There are new things coming…

Filed Under: chickens, december, seasons

Snowgirl

November 29, 2010 by

RW snapped these images of me today while I was out in the snow.
We had taken the dogs for a walk, played with them in the snow drifts in a nearby park, strolled our way back home again where we shoveled all the walks and patios at The Gables.  Once the shoveling was done, I just sat down in a snowdrift for a while, held Mister Pinkerton there and tossed snowballs for the dogs to chase.  I must had been in that drift for a good hour, cozy and warm; with cheeks stained pink by windburn and snowflakes.  I realized, while out there,  I’m really at home in the snow.  I love playing in it.  I adore walking in it.  Just to be out in the winter weather feels extremely natural to me.

I hear, rather frequently, that it goes against laws of science for me to enjoy winter the way I do — being a small individual who is often cold when standing fully dressed in a heated house.  For some reason, when I’m out and about in the weather, moving around, generating animal heat, I’m unaffected by it (within reason*).

I feel like it’s been snowing here for a week and a half.  I welcome it.  The past two winters in Idaho have felt so mild and my only complaint about Pocatello has been that the winters aren’t severe enough for my liking!  I’m in favor of weather that makes me feel alive!

Here’s hoping we get snowed in!
Nothing could be better for my little soul.
The pantry is stocked.  We’ve plenty of quilts on the bed.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
I hope your weekending was wonderful in every way
and if you celebrate the Advent Season, I hope you can feel that first flame holding steady in your heart.
Hope, peace and snowflakes,
xx
Plume

PS  Have I told you that I’ve had my Christmas tree up for over a week and a half?!!!  The living room smells of douglas fir.  Sigh.

*When the temperatures drop below -30C I find it difficult to stay warm, no matter how much I move and no matter how much I wear.
Filed Under: pinkerton, plume gables, seasons, winter

Calling Out Boise

November 28, 2010 by
My Boise peeps always go on and on about how Pocatello is the armpit of Idaho.
 I mean, really.
What’s that all about?
They just think they’re uber sophisticated because they have an 
Anthropologie downtown and their University has a thriving 
football department.


Whatever.


When John Denver was singing “Rocky Mountain High…….”
He was singing about this.


May your mountains be frosty.
xx
P.
Filed Under: i just put on my sassy pants, idaho, mountains, pocatello, rockies, rocky mountains
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