and the moral of the story is...

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.
Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.
Live simply and appreciate what you have.
Give more.
Expect less

NOW ............

Enough of that crap . . The donkey later came back, and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him.
The gash from the bite got infected and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON:
When you do something wrong, and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you.

Friday Frb. 29th

Happy Leap Day.

Today is dedicated to finishing my tips first video. Wish me luck.

I got back to my weeding yesterday, one more section down. I was a very bad person, I took 3 days off from my desert duties and did not finish what I told myself that I would, but I am back on track and back to my tasks. I have broken down the yard into manageable sections so I do not get to discouraged and just stop.

The weather here is so amazing right now, it will not be to long till my pool is warm enough to swim again. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to those morning swims to start my day.

Can you believe that I am actually going back to winter on purpose next week for the Great Lakes Beadworkers show? It will be great to see all of those fantastic folks so soon. I was talking to Joanne yesterday and I am “tentatively” on the schedule to teach there again in January 2010. Can you believe that this amazing guild is booked solid through 2008 & 2009?

Thursday Feb. 28th.

Here is an article that sums up yesterdays Opening Day game. It is from a writer for MLB.com. check it out.
The lower picture is a shot of Todd Helton for the Rockies at bat against the Sox closer Bobby Jenks. Todds nickname is handsome silky-beaded first base guy!

Wednesday Feb. 27th.

What a beautiful day. It was a sunny 80º with a slight breeze, perfect weather for a game and by the way it was 22º in Chicago and they had 5 inches of snow yesterday! I got to the park about an hour before the game. I wanted to be at the park and see if they were going to have batting practice or drill before they took to the field. I got my ticket from the will call and as I walked up to the gate I was met with the aroma of fresh cut grass and hot dogs. Everyone else was as glad to be there as I was. There are people who winter here in Tucson just to volunteer at the park for Spring Training.

The quote I gave you a few days ago about the harbinger of spring being the sound of the bat on the ball is all well and good but I realized that there is a sound that means more to me than that one. It is the sound of a 90 mile an hour fastball striking the catchers glove. That “thwap” as the ball strikes the glove; there is nothing else like it in the world. There are few other sounds that are as sweet to my ears.

I had my beer and my Polish Dog with peppers and I watched the game. I am sorry to say that the Sox got stomped after the 5th inning. In Spring Training, the first innings are to get the regulars into the groove of playing. They are not going to have their star catcher A.J. Pierzynski catch an entire game just yet and John Danks is not ready to pitch more than just a couple of innings. After all of the regulars got a good workout, they are released from the game and then it is time for the non-roster invitees and the non-starters to get some playing time.

There are 2 big fielding issues for the team this year. Juan Uribe, the short stop from last year does not have a full time position to play with the addition of Orlando Cabrera to the roster and Josh Fields, who was so amazing last year as the 3rd base replacement for Joe Creede, who was sidelined for 90% of last season.

If this is boring to any of you, I am sorry, but I just love my ball and I am so excited for it to be spring again. I will try to keep it to a dull roar, as we will have baseball for the next 8 months.

Mighty Mighty Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild

Hey there! News Just In!!!

I will be exhibiting at the one day Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild Bead Bonanza in Detroit MI. This most excellent one day show is on Sunday March 9th. from 10am to 5pm. Come see me and check out the new patterns that I have been getting ready and some of the new finished pieces that I will have available.

Tuesday Feb. 26th.

Tomorrow at 1:05 pm Arizona time (as we here in AZ do not follow the time zone rules that the rest of the country observes, so I spend half of the year an hour off of my normal time zone.) I will be privileged to attend the opening day of Spring Training at Tucson Electric Park. I will be witness to a classic competition between the Colorado Rockies vs. the Chicago White Sox. Believe me when I tell you that this could not be an event that I am welcoming more. It means the death knell of winter, the beginning of summer and 8 months of glorious contests that will culminate in the fall classic. I will take pictures and give you all a complete report. I will most certainly have a dog and a beer to celebrate the momentous occasion. I long to hear the sound of the bat on the ball live once again, only 12 hours to go till batting practice.

The video for the tips section is coming along and is gonna be great. I am really happy with how it is going!

Monday Feb. 25th

I just keep working along and making more headway as each day passes. I have taken to listening to all of my favorite operas as I work. My collection of classical music will be the next selection to come out of its mothball stasis.

There is much to uncover and many truths to realize as we pass through each lifetime. As we open our hearts and minds to experience love, passion, loyalty, hate, betrayal, cruelty, desperation, fear, selfishness, cowardice and everything else in between we become aware of the smallness. I can walk in canyons and look up at the mountains. I can stand beside the river and watch the water of the mountain streams rush by and see my footprints in the sands along the riverbanks. I can watch the earth block out the moon from my front yard and as I do everyone of these things I am struck by how small everything seems to become. Is this why things become so important and so intense? Is it a response to this smallness that drives us make sure that these experiences maintain importance?

I think that this is one of the reasons that I love the opera so desperately. In one big beautiful bouquet, it gives us everything. The smallest gesture that may be missed by the eyes can be understood and acknowledged within the music. In the music we are granted access to the most private and primal depths for each moment. All we have to do is listen.

Here is that great quote from the movie Pretty Woman; "People's reactions to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic. They either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don't, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul."

Saturday Feb. 23rd

The dam at Sabino Canyon this evening!

I am gaining more understanding of the Dreamweaver Web Design program everyday. I just placed all new images in the main pages for all of the chain pattern kits. It is really nice to have more continuity from page to page.

I am getting ready to post the first of my tips. I am planning on having a rotating selection of short videos that will share the basic tips of chain making and a few of the simple tips from the Fine Silver Metalworking DVD.

Today I started really working with iMovie and I spent the better part of the day getting used to the Video camera that I bought last fall and getting the movies to transfer to the iMovie program. This is going to be a lot of fun. I have kept postponing starting to work with it for some random reason or another. Fear of attempting to open the unknown is probably the best answer I can come up with.

I have started to take my hikes in Sabino canyon in the late afternoons early evening times. Tonight was so peaceful, so green and so full of water. We had a late winter storm here a few days ago and the water has been really running. The water was running so hard over the damn that as I walked closer to the falls the water stopped sounding like running water but started sounding like white noise.

Keep a look out for the first tip! It will be nice.
And once again, thank you for all of the kind emails letting me know that you like my new site.

Friday Feb. 22nd

Here are two really cool things that Gail Crosman Moore sent me and asked me to do something with.

The Round Brush is suspended from one of my Woven Chain Kits with a Fine Silver Bail that is wrapped with Fine Silver Wire. The fine silver tube insert on the brush was made possible by a friend of Andrea Guarinos that make really great tools.

Jim Moore check out his stuff!



This second is made from these really fantastic brass findings that Gail placed a paper bead and googly eyes in an epoxy-resin. I punched a hole in the top and made a Tube Rivet Bail and attached it to a Fine Silver Chain.

The Perfect Retort

Choose Wisely

Well that sums that up. Don't you think so?


Rock Paper Scissors Website


It was around 3am one morning about 4 or 5 years ago when I realized that I was not going to be able to go back to sleep and I turned on the TV to pass the time. I found my self tuned into, believe it or not, The Rock Paper Scissors Worlds Championships. Yes, there is a World Championship Competition for this and it is absolutely the funniest thing that I have ever seen. But do not misunderstand me, it is very serious business to the people who compete. ESPN actually televises the event. The contestants throw attitude if their opponent fakes a throw before the count of three or tries to fake a hesitation to take them off of their count. Keep a look out it is worth the effort. I think it should be around in summer.

P.S. Make sure you check out the Gambit Play section of this website.

Wednesday Feb. 20th

It was beautiful. I wasn't sure of I was going to be able to see the event this evening. The entire day was overcast and gloomy. I have never been a witness to anything like it before. There have been lunar and solar eclipses but this is the first time I have been in the correct hemisphere with the right weather for a celestial event of this kind. I remember seeing a solar eclipse when I was in high school. This was just as exciting!

I bought a zoom spotting scope last summer around the 4th of July to look at the stars here in Tucson. It was really beautiful to watch the eclipse this evening with that.

More weeding and I am not going to be able to stop for a few more days. I am working in the yard for about 2 hours a day and I probably have about 4 to 6 hours left till I am done enough. So far? 6 to 8 Hours! UGH!

I want to thank everyone who has emailed me to let me know that they like the new site and the journal. It is really nice get the feedback and support from everyone. I know there are a few empty pages but I am working on them for a few hours everyday. Keep checking in on my progress.

Thanks!

Feb. Tuesday 19th

AnneMitchell.net (Click on the web address to check it out!)

The new look of my website is up and running. After a brief technical difficulty with uploading the new site and archiving the old one, I am happy to say that it is fully functional. There will be several new pages that will take place over the following weeks. Take a look and keep an eye out for all of the changes.

Today was spent with more weeding. Slowly the battle of the desert is being waged and it looks as if I may be winning. (It is an illusion I know, but let me believe that I can win this one just for a few weeks.)




On Wednesday, February 20, 2008, beginning at 7:01 p.m. PST, the moon will move completely under the shadow of the Earth in a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse can be seen in the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Hope for good weather because the next total lunar eclipse won't happen until December 2010.

The moon will be completely under Earth's shadow for about 50 minutes. During this time, the moon won't be completely obscured because of indirect light coming from the Earth's atmosphere. But the moon will appear to change colors from light gray to orange or deep red. The shade depends on the amount of dust and clouds in the Earth's atmosphere.

Moonlight In Tucson

This evening was fantastic. I was out on the back porch finishing up some laundry before I was going to go read for a bit and I realized that the moon was illuminating my back yard. I went out from the porch, looked up, and was greeted by on of the most glorious Moon Rings that I have seen in a really long time. Not only was there a perfect ring around the moon there was a slash right through it as well. What a great way to end my day. I have one more image to file away in my Rolodex.

The coolest part to ponder is that the moonlight is reflected sunlight. This reflected light is traveling an extra 238,855 x 2 miles to get here. Just think, while we are gazing up at the moon, the sun is lighting up the opposite side of the earth. The beams of sunlight have to travel past the earth and are bouncing back to us from the surface of the moon and yet it is still bright enough to light up my back yard. How cool it that!

(The 238,855 miles is the average distance from the earth to the moon over the course of its 27 plus day orbit around the earth.)

These rings are caused by the reflection of moonlight off of ice crystals in high, thin clouds. The ring has a radius of 22 degrees, which is set by the properties of water. Most often, the ring around the moon is caused by high, thin cirrus clouds -- sometimes too thin to be seen by any other means.
(I pulled this information off of some science/space orientated website. I copied and pasted it and now I can’t find the site again. I hope that I am correct in the information that I am passing on.)

Monday Feb. 18th

Happy Independence Day to the West African Republic of Gambia!

Well, I made a MAJOR dent in my patch of desert. Everything outside of the wall is now spiffy clean and the sidewalk is swept. It was 3 hours of mastering a weeding hoe, a rake and a broom to at least make the exposed public exterior look respectable. I have made myself the promise that I will spend at least 2 hours every morning till my yard is in respectable shape again. These winter rains have wreaked havoc on my yard.

I do feel just a little guilty about this weeding thing. There is this one really amazing weed, it kind of looks like a small open head of lettuce. At the base of these beauties there were droplets of water that the plant had gathered, just like the barrel cactus, an evolutionary marvel. All of the water is held for future use. Each droplet would glisten in the morning sun, right as I yanked it out of the dirt! Like I said, I felt a little guilty.

I cannot tell you how nice my new web site is gonna be. It is coming along beautifully. Keep an eye out. It will not be much longer.

Hope that everyone is having a good Presidents Day.

Sunday Feb. 17th.

Watching the stars come out tonight was amazing this evening! I laid out on my diving board and watched the night sky win the battle of time. I spent 25 years as a lighting designer and the colors of sunsets have always been something that I have treasured. I have what I call a "mental Rolodex" of images of the most amazing sunsets that I have witnessed. Living in Tucson has added to my inventory beyond anything I could have ever hoped for. Tonight was no different.

As for the diving board in the backyard at dusk! I miss my bats! During this past summer I had these 2 really cute small bats that would come out at dusk and dive bomb the pool for a drink and looking for their insect dinners. I hope that they come back this summer. I loved to watch them and in some way I felt that we had an understanding. While I would be swimming and watching them they would not dive bomb my head and I would let them hunt. It is an on going symbiotic relationship that I am proud to be a part of.

What a glorious day today. The sun was shining and the air was warming. I just wish that I were feeling better. I have been a bit under the weather for the past several days. Just that nagging cruddy feeling that lets you know that you are not 100%.

I am getting quite a bit accomplished. I have made great strides on understanding the intricacies of Dreamweaver. It has been quite learning curve for me, slow but steady is winning the day! Dreamweaver is the web design program that I am using to update and redesign my website. To date I have updated the pages and added the dates for THE ULTIMATE Tucson sessions of Fine Silver Metalwork.

I am so excited about all of the things that I am going to be able to teach and share with everyone. I have spent the last three years fine tuning my techniques and making sure that all of the individuals that attend these classes walk away with every technique well in hand.

Saturday Feb. 16h.

We have had a great deal of rain in the past 36 hours. The bone warming 75 degree Tucson weather we have enjoyed for the past week has given way to the chill of one last winter storm. The desert is getting another much deserved drenching. A few weeks ago we went for an sunset hike in the canyon and were so pleasantly surprised to see running water at the falls.

One of the coolest things is to watch as the cactus’ fill with water. The pleats of the barrel cactus expand as the plant drinks its fill. It is an incredible feat of nature; the pleats actually funnel the water down the sides of the cactus to the base so nothing is wasted.

And once again there was snow in the foothills and in the Rincon Mountains. My yard has become a bit of a weed garden; I have weeded and weeded and weeded all to no avail. The never-ending battle that I cannot win till the heat of the summer wilts everything.

February 15th.

It is a wonderful and re-affirming moment when you re-discover something imperative to you that was lost. Remembering your own reasons and your own sense of self when it has been forgotten and then found the meaning becomes even more relevant.

Ayn Rand; The Romantic Manifesto
Chapter 2 Philosophy and Sense of Life
Pg 32-33 (February 1966)

There are two aspects of man’s existence which are the special province and expression of his sense of life: love and art.

I am referring here to romantic love, in the serious meaning of that term-as distinguished from the superficial infatuations of those whose sense of life is devoid of any consistent values, i.e., of any lasting emotions other than fear. Love is a response to values. It is with a person’s sense of life that one falls in love-with that essential sum, that fundamental stand or way of facing existence, which is the essence of a personality. One falls in love with the embodiment of the values that formed a person’s character, which are reflected in his widest goals or smallest gestures, which create the style of his soul-the individual style of a unique, unrepeatable, irreplaceable consciousness. It is one’s own sense of life that acts as the selector, and responds to what it recognizes as one’s own basic values in the person of another. It is not a matter of professed convictions (though these are not irrelevant); it is a matter of much more profound, conscious and subconscious harmony.

Many errors and tragic disillusionments are possible in this process of emotional recognition, since a sense of life, by itself, is not a reliable cognitive guide. And if there are degrees of evil, then one of the most evil consequences of mysticism-in terms of human suffering-is the belief that love is a matter of “the heart,” not of the mind, that love is blind and impervious to the power of philosophy. Love is the expression of philosophy- of a subconscious philosophical sum-and, perhaps, no other aspect of human existence needs the conscious power of philosophy quite so desperately. When that power is called upon to verify and support an emotional appraisal, when love is a conscious integration of reason and emotion, of mind and values, then-and only then-it is the greatest reward of man’s life.

Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist’s metaphysical value-judgements. It is the integrator and concretizer of man’s metaphysical abstractions. It is the voice of his sense of life. As such, art is subject to the same aura of mystery, the same dangers, the same tragedies-and, occasionally, the same glory-as romantic love.

Happy Valentines Day

Today, in 1912, Arizona became the 48th. state.

To all who know how to love.

Happy Valentines Day

The Ultimate $20.25 Splurge

For $20.25 I got a great seat for opening day of Spring Training at Tucson Electric Park.
My wonderful Chicago White Soxs vs The surprise upstarts from last years playoffs The outstanding Colorado Rockies

My Seat: Section 113; Row 15; Seat 11.
First Pitch: 1:05pm

The last 4 months without my National Pastime has been a huge drag.

14 days Till Baseball Begins Anew. As we get closer I am sure I will start to count the hours till the first pitch. If I follow my own rules of travel and events the actual countdown is as follows:

You can't count the day you are in and you can't count the the day of the event, so I really only have 12 day left. Praise be!

Bill Veek - One of baseball's great men of baseball had the following to say about the game......"That's the true harbinger of spring, not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball."

Annie Savoy - Susan Sarandon's character from Bull Durham......"I believe in the Church of Baseball."