Saturday March 29th.

So, classes are going great. We are having a wonderful time. It is the greatest feeling in the world to see someone grasp an entirely new concept, run with it and make it all their very own. Everyone is doing such a wonderful job and making such great things.

Seeing everyone is also a treat. The Thursday night meet the teachers was fun. I grabbed the table to share with Susan Lenart Kazmer. It always looks good for you to be placed next to the beading worlds very own “rock star” Susan is a force of nature and has this talent that eclipses even that. I have never seen work like hers and marvel at it every time I see it. I was lucky enough to take a 3-day workshop from her a few years ago and have taken what I learned from her and remember it to this day.

Her work is amazing, and there is no one that can do mixed media work like her. For the past 3 years one of my favorite things to do at the shows is to tease Susan by sending mutual students to her and have them tell her that “Sterling Silver Sucks!” Once you see her work, you will get it! She rocks and is a great sport.

Gail Crosman Moore and Michele Goldstein are doing great and it has been really nice to see them as well.

Highlights from my drive north!

So, to backtrack a few days, I am driving north on the 5 on Wednesday and as I travel towards the OR border is gets colder and gloomier. As I hit the mountains near my beloved Castle Crags it is SNOWING and SLEETING! Can you believe that? Now this Tucson transplant is in shorts, a pair of Keens, a thermal long sleeve shirt and praying that the car does not break down or slide off the side of a mountain into a ditch because it so fricking cold beyond the safe confines of my car door. I had to turn on the heater in the car! Oh, yeah! It’s March in the Northwest. DUH! How quickly 16 years of living in CA can go the way of the Dodo. Jeez1

But even through all of that I am making really great time and I am timing my arrival into Portland around 4 to 4:30 pm. I am 10 miles out of the city and I literally have to come to a sliding, skidding, spinning stop as everyone slams on the brakes at once. I am driving north and as I come to this stop the nose of my car is now facing west. I am shaking like a leaf for the next 5 minutes. I counted my blessing and than thanked every major deity that I could think of as quickly as I could think of them. I still cannot believe that I didn’t hit anything or anyone. There was someone or something watching over me at that moment and I am very grateful of it.

It has been raining, snowing and sleeting since I arrived on Portland. I have had a great time but I want my 80+ temperatures and I want warmth again and my own bed!