Boadicea

I received the smaller copper beads in the post on Saturday, needed to finish this bracelet this weekend.
I'm not 100% thrilled with the toggle clasp - but it was all that I could get locally that was of a reasonable quality.

That aside - I love the way this bracelet has turned out, once again using early beads.
I'm hoping that someone else will love it too as I have just put it up on my website.

"Boadicea" Bracelet

I've just realised a huge drawback to shopping in person....I have no idea of the name of the gemstone rounds that I bought to work in with it!! At least with buying online you have a record of these things - sounds like a darn good reason to shop to me!!
Just as well that I'm off on a shopping trip with a friend, that will take me back to the bead store where I purchased them tomorrow, at least I can clear up the mystery.

Herculess the Hairy Hedonist...

Age: approx 18 months old
Gender: Male'ish
Occupation: Hedonist
Favorite Colour: Inside Eyelid Pink
Favorite Pass Times: eating, sleeping, winding up the other psycho cat that I am forced to share my territory with.
Leaving fur wherever I can be assured that my female human will sit & pick it up unsuspectingly on the seat of her pants.
About Me: I am impressive - but not easily impressed. I have figured the way to my humans conscience is to now curve the wonderful straight tail I used to hold so proudly up into a ? instead, thereby ensuring that she does NOT forget, for one second, what she did to my masculinity.

Having decided that my human's favorite place to to blob out is now mine, I am totally capable of looking as if butter wouldn't melt in my mouth.

It doesn't matter what shape she leaves it in - I will find a way of sleeping on it.

See!!!!

And just when that 'other' cat decides to get comfortable on the floor - I will go as near to her as I can & plop myself down & ensure that I look even more comfortable.

(she doesn't like me at all - so this is a lot of fun!)

A Recent Piece

The Colours of Tibet

I just love that Moretti 460 - Yellow Ocher. My latest lot is quite greenish, which I don't mind either, but this early bead was made out of my very first 'assortment bundle' of glass from MorettiandMore & has always been a favorite. Maybe it was my Hot Head that allowed the glass to stay a wonderful shade of yellow - who knows, as I certainly can't really recall what the colour was in rod form almost two years ago.

It never sold so last weekend I pulled the 'mini set apart & made it into a bracelet with some lava rock, carnelian rondelles & lashings of Bali silver from my precious wee hoard.

It had been my intention to use plated findings & accent beads - but upon visiting a local bead store & discovering the price of the cheap stuff was only a few cents short per bead locally, of what I had paid at the time for this silver I just couldn't bring myself to buy it.
Looking at this I am so pleased that I didn't!

An Update

I just couldn't resist posting this picture of guess who....
There has been a lot happening for Sophie, since she arrived back from the Paralympics & I could pretty much fill a month of posts with her!
But there is a special reason I am posting this picture - it also features her beautiful sister Rebecca & it's just so darn nice to see them together!

It was taken at the "Attitude Awards" last night
The Attitude Awards are a new initiative developed to honour the outstanding achievements of New Zealanders living with disabilities.

Sophie & Rebecca Pascoe

Attitude Award winners announced

Thursday, 4 December 2008, 5:43 pm

Other Attitude Award category winners announced on December 3, World Disability Day, were Samuel Gibson (Enterprise Award), Kerri Bonner (Youth Award), Mike and Lyn Ryan (Community Award), Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman (Spirit Award), 4Dice Business Group (ACC Employer Award), Cameron Leslie (Sportsman Award) and Sophie Pascoe (Sportswoman Award).

Wobbly, wonky & ......

fugly?

This bead is actually quite nice in reality ....still has a wonky end, but it's actually not that bad.
It simply refuses to put it's best foot forward for the camera. Then again it could be my camera - I have a sinking feeling that the lens mechanism is wobbly & about to throw it's final tantrum.
I might try & get a better photo of it outside....

Just a Quickie

if there is ever such a thing from my keyboard!

First up a photo to prove I can get quite messy - especially when in the middle of projects....of course you just know I'm going to go & spoil it all by saying that I took this right before tidying up ;)

Both the teenager's, & therefore my, moods are slightly better today. I've kitted up her cross stitch (& resurrected an older one of mine) so we can get her started with something to concentrate on. It's all ready to go for after school tomorrow.


Her Nana & I had a plan as another diversion....something she has wanted to learn for ages. A couple of years ago her Dad bought her a guitar for Christmas, with the promise of lessons to come. They never did.
We later discovered that the natural way, for her, was to play the guitar left handed. So back at the beginning of the year I got it strung upside down for her in time to take a couple of guitar lessons at school. The group situation wasn't ideal & I suspect she was left feeling more than just a little frustrated.

She has, however, perfected the intro to "Smoke on the Water" & the chorus of "The Lion Sleeps tonight" struggling along by herself - but after the first 300 times of hearing them, I think we are all a little over it.

So the 'other' distraction was some guitar lessons & we were fortunate enough to find a guy that would come to the house & teach her. It went really well & I think she is looking forward to her lesson next week. I say 'think' because as we all know it is uncool to show too much enthusiasm for something when you are 14. So I happily settled for a 'yes I want to have more lessons'.

Michaela has never been great at meeting new people - it is right out of her very clearly defined comfort zone (something she has not inherited from her Mum!!). She does however warm up to people quite quickly once over her initial shyness. A quick chat with Ross, the guy who is teaching her - revealed that he had read her quite well & wasn't in the least put off by her apparent 'coolness' - lol!



Younger sisters are not to be left out & of course a certain 11 year old decided that baking was what she'd like to do this evening.... she thought a chocolate cake was a good idea & who was I to disagree?
Having been sneakily looking at The Pioneer Woman website for some time now, I needed very little excuse to try my hand at this number:
Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever



It was an outstanding success, except that Miss Gabriela fell asleep tonight before it was cooled enough to cut - but hey she'd licked the bowl & mixing spoon clean, & that's the main thing when an 11 year old is baking....right????

Pioneer Womans Chocolate Sheet Cake ~ recipe

Thought it easiest to post the recipe here as a coupe of Kiwi friends have asked for it.
I really do love this version, it's easily & quickly hand mixed - so there are no mixers or beaters to clean afterwards.

Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake
Combine in a mixing bowl:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a saucepan, melt:
2 sticks butter
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa. Stir together.
Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup buttermilk. (Check out the back up plan for buttermilk at the bottom - it works perfectly)
Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make icing:
Chop 1/2 cup pecans finely.
Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in a saucepan.
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat.
Add:
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb minus 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Stir together.
Add pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you’ve just made the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever.

PIONEER WOMAN BACK-UP PLAN: Living way out in the country, I often find myself missing key ingredients for many recipes and have had to learn to improvise. I usually don’t have buttermilk in the fridge when I want to make this cake, so here’s what I do: pour just under 1/2 cup regular milk into the measuring cup, then add enough regular vinegar to the milk to bring the quantity up to 1/2 cup. Within seconds, it turns into buttermilk and works perfectly. Try it sometime!

Teenage Angst

Ahh the 1st of December & down here in the southern hemisphere we head full on into Summer...... & the silly season.
Today was officially the first day of Summer - so why am I wearing jeans, a t shirt & a jersey? Grey, cloudy, overcast & a smattering of rain later in the day - it kind of suited my mood & the child I have been trying to deal with.

Fourteen is a tough age & often it is difficult to get through to fourteen year olds "don't sweat the small stuff", but to watch as ones child becomes progressively less enthusiastic about everything they have previously enjoyed can leave a parent with a feeling of utter helplessness. It's often difficult to say the right thing - because you can almost guarantee it is going to be the wrong thing as far as they are concerned.

I've watched helplessly as my teenager has turned from a relatively stubborn & independent child into a tearful mess. However I have also discovered things about her - when she is not busy being stubborn, she is far more open to suggestion.

I have a plan, the plan is distraction. I suggested to her that finding a new interest might be a good idea to take her mind off of things & learning a new skill always makes one feel good about themselves. Jokingly I offered to teach her to knit! After I'd received the "You must be kidding" look, that only a 14 year old can give with such utter shock at one even having suggested such a 'Nana' thing, I offered her some time at the torch & may have even implied that she could pretend the glass was those that had hurt her, as she introduced it to the flame.

Miss 14 wasn't fussed on that idea either, but a visit to her Nana's house & receiving the same plan of learning something new resulted in her pointing at a framed needlework hanging there & saying "I've always wanted to learn that".

Well, knock me over with a feather!!!! In my past life every spare moment I had was spent stitching - both my boys & the girls have grown up watching me stitch daily....& never once had she shown any interest in what I was doing - let alone inclination to try.

Buy hey - it was an easy solution, I have a stash of patterns, fabrics, floss & kits that should be deemed illegal! So we sorted out a chart that she'd like to attempt & she happily agreed that I would show her how it was done on one of my existing stashed away WIP's. Today I shall pull the fabric & the floss for her, tomorrow we will hopefully start.

The Chosen Project

Of course I am left sitting here wishing that I had actually purchased a certain chart that I was about to buy - right as I downed needlework tools in favour of a torch & glass.

From the day I first saw Martina Weber's "The Egypt Garden" in her Mandala series, published originally as one of her mystery projects, over 4 years ago I have wanted to do it.

The Egypt Garden

Of course I'd happily settle for Water Garden, Knot Garden, Persian Iris garden, Alhambra Garden, Oriental Harem Garden, Pompeji Garden or the new Hawaiian Mandala - but the Egypt Garden was my first love. I know a friend did get this chart a couple of years back after hearing me rave about it & showing it to her (probably more than once - lol!), so maybe I'll go for another choice if I decide that I really want to complete one of these before they become a 'no-go' for my eye's.

I just wanted to mention that Patty Larkinsmith has a poll for her next tutorial on her blog. Personally I love Patty's beads...& her blog.

Now I don't 'know' Patty apart from having occasionally seen her posts on LE, & more recently following her blog, but to me she seems a sweety.
She has fabulous beads in her Etsy Store & it is well worth a visit. Recently she had a number of beads in her "Tortuga" series listed, 100% of the profit of those beads was to donated to Wildcoast.net.

Patty Larkinsmith - Tortuga Verde

This was in aid of their fight to help preserve marine life along the California & Latin America Coast - in particular the sea turtles.

Now I love turtles, but have never seen one in reality .... even though we share that same ocean, it is way too cold for those wonderful creatures this far south! Whilst I would have loved to have pounced on one of Patty's beads when they were listed - at the time I just couldn't do it.

Back to her poll - it is taking a vote for the bead style in her next tutorial. It saddens me that so far I am the only voter & it has been up for 10 days. Of course I am biased because I would love for her to choose to do her next tutorial on the Tortuga series beads. If she does, I fully intend to donate the proceeds of the sale of my first successful bead from this tutorial to the same sort of organization that Patty did. Turtle have been around for millions of years ....& I want some turtles to still be around if I ever get anywhere to see some!

There is some great information here:

Sea Turtles

A couple more dangly things

I've been busy making pendants out of some of my beads.

It's been challenging as I am not really a pendant wearing person (although I have been called pedantic in the past), so I have tried to let the beads dictate how they want to be presented.

This bigger bead has hand shaped & hammered squggles dangling off the bottom.

This one I left a little plainer - as it just seemed to lend itself to an understated simplistic look.

Two Pendants..... & dangly bits.

These two pendants were made a while back, but I wasn't completely happy with either of them.
The top one was some good glass gone bad, decorated with fine silver & one of the less desirable when I opened the kiln. Still the bead was too nice to write off so it got a bit of a makeover.

The bottom one had a longer dangly that didn't look quite right,.Personally I think that Mallory's lava lamp had been sending it subliminal messages. It's extra dangly was removed this wekend & replaced with two smaller danglies.

Poor wee orphans

I think not!

I just wanted to post these 'orphan lots'. Both are lots I listed as a result of my 'clean out'.
It's strange how what appears to be a boring selection of dark & neutral beads when in a jumbled mess, can become loaded with design possibilities & the springboard for many idea's when sorted into groups of similar beads.

I'm not complaining though - the first set sold before I actually listed it.

The second 'raku orphans' lot is sitting well over reserve & due to finish tonight.

Of course just when I thought I had finished the 'sort & list' frenzy & could get stuck into making some jewelry & gifts, what did I find last night while looking for certain findings I was sure I had....two more containers of 'orphans'.

Shameless Self Promotion

I've been working my (not so little) butt off getting my Etsy Store filled. I had fun dying a new batch of silk ribbons, & also on the process dying my left hand.

I am really pleased with the latest batch of silk ribbons, but learned a valuable lesson when playing with some new dyes. These dyes are specifically developed in New Zealand by Hands Ashford for silks & wools.
I have just discovered they are exported world wide because they are so good, however they are also a lot more potent than what I used for my last lot of silk ribbons! Guess who was inattentive with her colourshift ribbons & ended up with almost a whole batch of dark muddy brown silk.

I did say almost!

I asked the maille man for some chainmalle earrings to go with the bracelets in my store - & voila there they were!

A few bead 'specials' complete the current new additions.

A sampling of my new listings on Etsy.

These are a sampling of the listing's I put on our local auction site - most of which had sold by today.

Tomorrow I hope to finish loading goodies onto my website, then it will be time to start all over again!

Organized Chaos

I work best when things are tidy. I know, I know - but I just can't help it! And yes - I do hear the not so faint echo's of a boss chanting "lana lana lana". I'm methodical - what can I say.

Even my poor torch area is only allowed to get to a certain level of untidiness before I just can't focus on torching & instead get all antsy about not being able to immediately put my hand on the colour glass rod or tool that I want to use.

I decided a clear out & organization of my beads was a good place to start last weekend. Why? Because I wanted to list a few, & those wee treasures that I wasn't quite sure about when they had come out of the kiln, that had been surreptitiously buried in boxes & various other containers just may hold a new appeal a few months after the initial disappointment of their failure to meet my expectations. The fact of their mere existance was, in a way, weighing me down.... quite counter productive for reasons I am sure you can fathom.

I do wish I had taken a photo of this half of my cutting table at 1.00am on Saturday morning it was literally a sea of glass beads - even 3 hours after upending everything onto it's surface & having made some small headway into sorting groups of orphans, I was still looking around with a sense of hopelessness at exactly where to start. At almost 3am I went to bed ....not much further ahead.

Sunday I got ruthless, stopped dithering & adopted an attitude of 'off with their heads'...you know what I mean. They were sorted into groups of sets, focals or orphans & subgroups destined for either Etsy, my website , the local website we have here, or jewelry . By Monday a lot of them were photographed & listed locally. Daily more of them are being packaged in their temporary plastic bags & popped into their venue specific container.

Today on our local website I had 6 sales. What a wonderful reward for the initial sense of hopelessness I felt at 3am on Sunday morning!

Tomorrow I get to play with glass & fire, guilt free!

Lost Treasury

A wee while back I managed to be in the right place ( in front of my computer) at the right time (just as an Etsy Treasury was about to open), & what's more I had what I thought was some pretty awesome choices all ready to go into it.

Fortunately I was quick enough to snag one. Unfortunately I forgot to do my usual screen shot - & that particular treasury contained some of my favorite picks so far! Mind you, I do say that about a lot of them - the poor maille man just saw them all as not so very subtle hints at what I'd like for Christmas (as well he should with the last one!). There were lots of divine lampwork beads, a splash of hand made silver findings & some pretty darn nice semi precious gem stones....it was a positive designers delight.

What a bother that I didn't have a record of my not so subtle hints....or so I thought ;o)

What did I find on the weekend when I decided to put another poster sketch together 'just in case'....

I made darn sure I grabbed a screen shot of that before I changed a thing!

A New Look

Recent mutterings were made about my blog header. I was told that the lettering was pretty much unreadable.....so, being only to happy to please (& not wanting to put strain on the eyesight of those who were finding it difficult to read .... or that possibly need glasses), I've been playing around with my editing software & changed it.

In all honesty it was a good practise run for discovering what could be done with the fonts & text in order to achieve the look I would like for my website.

This is the segment of a bead photo that I experimented with to get the background for my header & logo images, a bit lighter (& easier on the eye as a background) than my previous choices I hope!!

What to do?

I suck at making decisions!! It's official!

For some time now I have been trying to work on my website. I thought I had simplified the job, in the interim, by buying an existing template & I would later look at designing what I wanted from scratch.
Well, crap! I should have known I was in trouble when I couldn't even decide, out of the two templates I actually liked, which of them I personally liked best & decided to seek the opinions of two males. I'm still not entirely sure I made the right choice in the end either.

The template ....& yes the offensive burgundy background will be the first thing that is changed!

Of course I decided that given it was a template available to anyone who wanted to purchase it, that I would like to give it a little bit of individuality & choose my own style lettering for the header & buttons.

BIG MISTAKE!

If only I could narrow it down to just two fonts that I like.

Initially I was firm with myself...I had a criteria for the fonts that I would choose

• Simple - but different, not basic
  
• Tribal in Style
• Worn around the edges
• No scrolls, tails or ye olde calligraphy styles
• Available in both lower case & capital letters

So what have I come up with so far:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

STOP LAUGHING!!!

Now, I hear you asking "what happened to her guidelines?" between guffaws of laughter! Well you may ask!! I have no idea.
What makes it even worse is that these are just the fonts that have names starting with "A" or "B".

In my defense I am being influenced by the graphics in my header. Both the style & the design....not to mention the pesky black area to the right that somehow seems to make life difficult when it comes to the layout. sigh
These fonts wont be in this colour - I've just put them up this way so that you can actually see them.

Hellllllp!!

Something New To Learn

This week Amy Trescott's Rainbow Bead Tutorial was released! YaY!
I've been waiting on this one ever since it was first announced on LampworkEtc in the tutorials section.

Amy Trescott's
Rainbow Petal Tutorial

Available on her website now

Given that encasing is NOT my strong point (actually come to think of it neither is precise dot placement) I was somewhat surprised that this would appeal to me.

Then again there is a lot to be said for something pretty inspiring & motivating one to perfect skills that they know are lacking. This 'organics' girl has no false illusions about herself what-so-ever.

So she rushed off & purchased said tutorial & immediately made a bead using it. That said, you are going to have to wait until said girl makes her second, hopefully somewhat nicer, bead before she is going to show you. I wouldn't dare post it in the same post as Amy's original bead - how rude!


This wonderful Tutorial is on Amy's website "Amy Trescott - forever grateful beads"
At $11.95 it's a bargain & at the lower end of the price scale as far as lampworking tutorials go.

A lot of other fun & fabulous tutorials were released last week as well - so be sure to check them out on LampworkEtc in the link above.

In the name of "World Peace"

These 6 gorgeous young men are all in the NZ Defence Force. One of them is mine & as much as I'd like to think otherwise I know they will all be deployed at some time or another during the next year.

The New Zealand Military is primarily a peace keeping force. However that doesn't stop our boys being deployed to high risk area's to work with other countries. Some pretty specialist training, & a great reputation for that expertise worldwide amongst the bigger military powers, ensures that it doesn't go to waste.

So while I'm giving thought to those that have sacrificed family & friends in the name of 'World Peace" - I am also hoping that I have the courage to remain a proud Mother & remember why my 'baby boy' joined the Military in the first place, when the times comes next year.

Clever Designer!

It's always great to see where your beads end up - or more importantly what design they end up in. On Monday I had the pleasure of spending some time with a fellow Kiwi 'soon to be lampworker' & friend, Rose.

Rose lives in Waimate here in the South Island &, among other things, designs jewelry. She's very good at it & I love the way she departs from the 'norm' when she uses one of my beads in a design. Rose has purchased a few of my beads since I started lampworking ...while we wait PATIENTLY for her to finish renovations so she can set up the torch, kiln & glass that she was waiting & start making her own!! I wish she lived closer.

Somehow between Monday & this evening, Rose found the time to put a couple of pieces together, using a bead that she had purchased a wee while ago - along with some other components that just seem as if they were made to go with it.

I don't know that she she has named the necklace - but I shall. I'm going to call it "Fabulous"!!

While Rose was here I had a rummage through some beads I had put aside to sell as an orphan lot & pulled a few of the silver glass experiments out to give her. I just knew this odd wee assortment would end up looking pretty darn special & as if they had always meant to be used with each other....they did!

Selective Tolerance

This is Bizkits new "standard" when it comes to Hercules.

"If I'm busy eating & your bowl slides across the floor closer to mine while I am partaking of my sustenance - I will pretend I don't notice! I mean food is food ...right??"

"But dude - this is MY bed, so why are you all totally chilled out on it, oblivious to me?? I'm not oblivious to you Mr - I'm keeping an eye on ya!"

Lucky old me!!!

I live 2 minutes walk down the road from the most fabulous new cafe "Ri'stretto'. Not only do they serve superb coffee's & tea's of all types - but they also have the most talented cook 'Adrienne' that bakes food fresh daily on site. Kelly is a friendly & brilliant Barista - that certainly knows how to make a great coffee.


Whilst this might be good for my coffee addiction, it certainly isn't great for my hips, after all a two minute walk each way isn't going to work off much....especially on days like today when I actually suck into some one of the delectable delights on offer in the food cabinet!!

Today my coffee was free, so I treated myself ...so much choice!!! Can you hazard a guess at what I chose...

The most divine huge ass piece of Carrot cake, served with my choice of whipped cream or unsweetened yogurt....

Self Reminder

& just because the header here needs to be changed - it doesn't mean that the sentiment should be forgotten.


"Included in the phrase "special friends" should be those whom inspire you with their words, their actions or their artwork, irregardless of whether you have met them or not. "

Why do you think it is

that such a tiny wee plant feels the need to produce such huge flowers.

Size issues perhaps?

The poor thing just sits there on my windowsill, neglected & with it's stones gathering dust all winter, then without missing a beat gives me this display every spring.
Maybe it's feels the need to outshine it's orange pot??

Freaky Friday - Take #5

Freaky Friday, everything went my way ;o) <--- That was a slight twist on Aqua's lyrics!! Also it's pretty much how I feel right now.
This week Mallory & my "Freaky Friday" Challenge was Totems & I have got to say that I had THE most fun with this.
I got rather carried away though, inspired by the piece of driftwood I had found & a recently made bead featuring DSP, enamel & silver foil that didn't turn out quite as expected, but had some wonderful effects none the less, I ploughed ahead having decided to work around those two initial components.

As I tried to work in some extra bit's of colour in with the DSP/Enamel/Foil combo I realised that base wanted to swallow the colour, so I decided to make a somewhat plainer base bead & use the desired colors on that.

While making the bead I accidentally got sidetracked & ended up with a bead that looked rather different to what I had in mind. However, I was really happy with that bead & wanted to use that also.

From there the idea's took flight - with only one slight problem, I couldn't decide whether I wanted my totem be representative of the freedom of flight or the weightless grace of swimming.... I have a passion for both air & water. Both represent freedom to me.

My initial attempt at an owl left me somewhat disappointed, so I went on to try making a 'fluke'(I am determined not to say 'whales tail' & leave myself wide open...), inspired by one of Jodi Henry's beads that I saw way back when I first started lampworking.
I kind of overdecorated it & got the base too wide. No matter though, I just put it aside & kept on going.

My second attempt at a bird was trying a Jen Geldard style of bird (ironically the day before she released her tutorial), it resulted in a rather big baby that cracked. Thus, two totems were born!

This whole week has been a great one at the torch - I actually wanted to torch every day & it was with great happiness that I felt the idea's & inspiration flow. As Hannibal from "The A Team" used to say "I love it when a plan comes together"!

I rounded it off with a walk on the beach last night - 'cos guess who needed a second piece of driftwood.

"Neither Fish nor Fowl nor Fine Red Herring"
aka Totem #2 or is that #1?

Slightly Closer Shot.

"One Flew Over the Crackedhead's Nest"
aka Totem #1 or is that #2

Closer Shot

Keep an eye Mallory's Blog to see what she has done with this challenge & to find out what the next Freaky Friday adventure will be.

Meanwhile any one who still wants to sneak in a totem has time - I'd love to see other's ideas & hear of their adventures. This has been an enlightening exercises for me.

Oh & Thank You Ang - you are always a constant source of inspiration for encouraging one to think outside the square - whether it be with your glass sculptures or words!!