Happy Anniversary!

This is us on the night Phil proposed at his company's Christmas party. I was surprised and gee, but my hair was dark! No gray then! And my, what big glasses I had !
We recently celebrated by doing nothing special, our 14th wedding anniversary. We have actually been together for 15 years and the Wooden Boat Festival weekend 15 years ago ( how could it be that many years ago!? ) was our first BIG weekend as a couple! I am selfish, I want lots of more years with my honey. Yes, even when he drives me crazy around the bend, even when we butt heads, even when we don't always see eye to eye, he is still fun to be around. Yep, more years sounds just fine. Good thing he likes beads! xo, Lois

The Lady Washington

Port Townsend Bay with a shot across downtown with the mountain in the background.


It was a stunningly beautiful day in PT with the Wooden Boat Festival going on, sun out, temperatures nearing 8o degrees and a very light, warm wind. I love looking at " our " classic wooden boat, The Lady Washington. Although I do not know all her specifics; she was the ship featured in the original movie, The Pirates of the Carribean with Johnny Depp. She is a beauty with wooden masts, cloth sails and a maiden figure head at the bow. Anyhow, I worked all day in the shop but did manage around early evening to snap these photos of a lovely boat on the lovely waters of Port Townsend. You can almost smell the salt in the air! Enjoy! Ahoy, Lois

The County Fair

Here is a picture of Jacob and Phil at The Jefferson County Fair here in Port Townsend in August. Jacob is exhibiting his friend's kitty, Darla Mae as Milagro was too young. Phil is taking pictures in the background.

The house will be quiet tonight with Jacob gone to the fair and my lap buddy, Milagro with him. I have made lots of jewelry for the shop yesterday and today and managed to work a bit on a new painting. I also have new silver pieces done and will need to post a picture or two here. White bronze has been my new casting metal - it looks so much like silver but at a fraction of the cost! Anyhow, here is a picture of some lampwork beaded necklaces I made for my " Back to fall business " display window. I used new czech glass and vintage german beads along with lampwork beads from a woman in Oregon. See ya' later gator! lois

Getting JaKe ReAdY ....

After much gathering and packing and printing and designing cat cages and planning the origami he is giving his lecture on; Jacob is nearly ready to head out for the state fair. He'll be exhibiting Milagro and he is so excited he can barely contain himself. Not so, poor little Milagro! If he knew what was in store for him - he would be hiding in the garage and not playing with his little hot pink stuffed mouse! Poor baby! We still need one more quick trip to the vet's office and a few hours of school for jake and then .... onto the really big show! Wish him luck! Hope he wins ribbons! Goodnight and good luck Jake!

Cats & More Cats

In this incredibly cool picture from Chuck and Helene in Hawaii you can see all the feral cats on the hillside by their condo. It is very unusual to have a colony of white cats. Almost all these cats are white. When I first saw them on her hillside; I thought they were white plastic grocery store bags stuck in the trees and brush. I know they cause problems but I hope they are not harmed and rather are caught neutered or spayed and put back. They are a neat thing to observe. Jacob is so in to cats that he wants to go there and take care of all of them. Until later .... Lois

It is Labor Day weekend and believe me; I have labored! Working in the shop long days, cleaning out the fridge at work of unidentifiable green hairy food, ( who knew cheese could turn such colors? ), chasing after customer's pets whether they be the four or two legged kind and trying to keep up with all that needs to be done. I swear, I am the queen of list making and now another thing to do has come my way ... coming up with a theme involving bees and cats for next year's county fair. Oh, and I have to keep it clean, kids are involved, so no birds and the bees jokes. Maybe in dreamland tonight an idea will drift into my head.

I did manage to finish knitting 2 baby hats though out of Koigu wool. I love that yarn but don't stock it in my yarn shop as the company NEVER returns calls! Sheesh... now I am working in Noro wool which I DO carry in my DIVA shop. I love to knit with small needles and skinny yarn. If only knitting would burn an extraordinary amount of calories. Lois