NOVEMBER 1st

I'm not sure exactly what it is about the coming of November 1st that always brings my mind to the holidays. But every year, turning the calendar to November my thoughts instantly wander there.

Holidays are funny, quirky things, aren't they? A montage of memories, guilt, happiness, frustration, desires amid demands. A tumult of emotional confusion if ever I've seen one.

The last time I checked there were few people I listend to over the age of 10 who found any big holiday COMPLETELY free of conflict or happiness (in almost equal parts) and I began to wonder why it's all so convoluted. After all it sounds good on paper (as they say). Days off, good food, family, friends - Nomran Rockwell, here we come! So what's the problem?

It varies I suppose from person to person and family to family but oddly I think wanting whatever you don't have that is part of the mix:

People who have no one 'expecting them' are lonely
People who have too many places to go are pressured

People who have to be on the road hate the drive

People who are preparing dinner are annoyed with the people who ARE worried about the drive because fixing the dinner is stressful too

Kids feel uncomfortable dressing up to go visiting
Adults are uncomfortable dressing down to go visiting
If you eat too much you feel guilty
If you eat too litte lyou feel deprived/cheated
If you speak your mind you're in trouble (lol)
If you don't speak your mind you feel repressed
If you want to eat early, you'll end up eating late
If you want to sleep in, eat late,dinner will be at 1pm
If you want to fly, you'll somehow need to drive
If you want to drive, you'll end up flying

On the other side of the tumult is the intensity of the closeness, the flood of familial memories. The warmth and comfort of friends. There's the fact that sometimes the holidays (and life) ARE Norman Rockwell and the desire to 'freeze those moments' is so overwhelming it's a physical ache....

And don't underestimate the sheer volume of it all. In the span of four weeks there is so much food, so many people, so many memories (happy) so many memories (sad). Lingering regrets are gently mixed with determination to change.

Four intense weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas that find the past tugging at your sleeve, while the present hovers and the future windes gently ahead. A mental and emotional blend that leaves me (and perhpas others) oddly at ends.

It passes by Jan 1st. Twelve new months are ushered in and the hours/days/weeks/months fly by at an amazing rate of speed. New memories will be made, new challenges met. The pace is so frenzied I hardly stop to ponder the meaning of it all ~ that is until the next November 1st....

IF IT'S NOT FATAL

I have a little ceramic wall hanging that states

"If it's not fatal, it's not a problem".

Which is, in the big karmic sort of way, very true.

However there are times when that truth is hard to focus on, LOL

Take this past week. We snuck away for a few days of R & R and upon arriving home discovered our second vehichle had a flat tire. Not fun to come home to, but no biggie. That is until we inflated the tire and found that the stablizer bar shock had lost all it's hydraulic fluid so it had to go in for repair.

Then the welltrol tank went belly up (if you have a well you know this means 'no water, no toilet flushing, no showers and big repair-headache-bill. And if you have public water you now know what a well-trol tank is/does!).

All that was exciting enough :-) but wait, there's more.....

In the same week my Dad had surgery, (doing very well!), the coffee maker decided to croak, as did the dryer. All things that are not fatal (and I'm very appreciative it's nothing more serious, really truly I am)...

But I swear if one more thing breaks I'm going to drop kick that inspirational ceramic sign out into the field, roflmao!

"Beginning beadmaking class"

Several of my readers have asked that I note beadmaking class offerings/updates here.... So for those who've asked - here you are - and thanks for the suggestion/request! I know many of you are far from the southern tier of UPSTATE NY, but if you ever find yourself headed here (or think 'beadmaking road-trip' lol) I'd love to have the chance to melt glass with you and MIRL (meet in real life)!


BEGINNING BEADMAKING CLASSES

Beginning beadmaking classes are a total of 6 hours, generally split in two sessions so you're not 'overwhelmed' with information in one single session! In the decade(s) I've been teaching I find the split session gives a student the chance to both absorb the first day class material AND forumlate questions prior to the second three hour class. The two part sessions I offer also allow a student to rest one's arms lol, so the hands on 'torch time' is far more enjoyable and productive!.

*Tho if you require a one day class due to work or travel that can certainly be arranged* :-)

BEGINNING BEADMAKING ~ CLASS OUTLINE

During the classes we'll cover safety, tools, terms of course - but the majority of class is HANDS ON experience - I demo - then the student preforms each technique!

Step by step we'll progress, covering basic round beads all the way thru various bead shapes, embellishment techniques such as creating and using glass stringers, raking, trail wraping, dots, layered dots, adventurine, captured air and Milli's. And we'll cover more if we can :-)

In every class your pieces will be fully annealed (kiln ramped for the COE of the glass to relieve stress for stability of the piece) to take home at the next class date and the second day class beads I'll mail to you post annealing.

CLASS FEES AND INFO
MORETTI (soft) GLASS
120.00 US inclusive

The class price is for one-to-one private lessons!!! :-) I think most people (as I do myself, lol) learn much more comfortably working at their own pace & are far more at ease asking as many questions as they like (and/or revisiting any technique as often as they need to) in a one to one setting. AndI love to be able to customize the class to the pace of the student!

*(tho if you had someone you wanted to share a class with I'm happy to arrange a class for two..)*

AVAILABLE DATES
As any of my students, past or present, will tell you I'm extremely dedicated to working with my students to arrange dates and times that will work best for them! Thus I don't routinely post 'class dates' - but rather say 'email me'! This allows for the student and I to 'cyber-meet' :-)chat and discuss both the class openings I have avail and tailor them as much as possible to the student preference!

Please feel free to email me at glasschick at yahoo dot com. (I'll soon insert a proper link - thanks for working with correcting the spam-foiling email above before sending the email out


As I have the chance, I'll add more class info for those who are interested :-)