Harvest

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My Dad

Jimmy Carter 1976oo.jpg, originally uploaded by oregonianphoto.

This is a picture of my dad. I've never met him or seen a picture of his face before (this is only the second of two pictures I've seen, both of which were from the back where he was painting a sign). I did talk on the phone with him about 10 years ago. Very strange to keep finding partial pictures of a man that supposedly contributed 50% of my genetic makeup. He is the man with no face.

Inspired

I bought this a couple weeks ago.  I love it.  I saw so many people on these when I was in Europe, I was inspired.  I don't have a very long commute anymore, so I thought it was a natural transition.  Unless its snowing out or the weather is really inhospitable, why not just tool around town on this little thing.  Its got great storage - it can fit the entire helmet under the seat and can go up to 40mph.  More later....

Mine:

Some I saw in Italy:

Understatement

Top Story, originally uploaded by Infrogmation.

Powerful. i love flickr.

Around The World And Back Again

Wow.  It feels like an eternity since I last posted anything.  I have been around the world and back...so I guess it's understandable.  But this is long overdue.

When asked, it's hard to tell people about my trip to Italy and Greece.  It was so mind-blowingly amazing, I have difficulty putting it into words.  I learned that I'm not a very organized traveler - at least not now.  Maybe if I travelled more, I'd be better at it.  For example, I would sometimes forget my camera or forget to carry extra batteries.  My pics are missing at least two major portions of the trip the first part of Rome and the whole tour of Pompeii just to name a few (I was so bummed!)  I lost my shower  bag and had to buy all new products.  I was able to sort out what I needed at a local grocery store in Athens to replace it, but one or two items were a gamble.  For example, what I thought was face wash turned out to be eye make-up remover.  Luckily I hadn't put it on my face before making that discovery.   

We started out in Italy.  It was very hot and humid.  We wandered around Rome, the Vatican City and the Colosseum.  The people, culture and architecture were beautiful.  The drivers were nuts.  One fellow traveler said if she had to drive in Rome, she'd still be sitting at the first stop light we saw the day before waiting for someone to let her in.  That probably wouldn't be me.  I am an assertive driver although I would still be nervous.  Mopeds are everywhere (there are probably as many mopeds as there are cars) and vehicles weave in and out of traffic, cutting people off, honking.  We saw Pompeii, Capri, Sorrento and Positano.  I know I'm leaving places out, but can't remember them all.  One of my favorite hotels of the whole trip is there, the Grand Hotel La Medusa.  You will not be disappointed if you make a visit there.  The surrounding area is not the best, but the hotel is central to many activities and places to visit.  And even if you decided to just stay at the hotel, the grounds are beautiful, the pool crystal clear, the food to die for and the staff are warm, charming and professional.  ok, I didn't mean to turn this paragraph into an ad for that hotel, but I guess we can call it what it is (an ad!).  We also had a wonderful dinner at a family run restaurant on a lemon farm (lemons are everywhere here which stands to reason since one of the famous local products is their limoncello, a popular lemon liqueur). 

We then took an overnight ferry from Brindisi, Italy to Patras, Greece.   The temperature had been (and continued to be) around 110 degrees each day.  When I do manage to say a bit about our trip to people, I joke that I looked like a shipwreck survivor in most my pictures - all sunburned, windblown, no make-up and glassy-eyed.  But in that sort of heat, nobody really cared - most of us just wanted to be comfortable.  Olympia, Delphi and Athens were wonderful too.  Aside from the La Medusa hotel and dinner at the lemon farm in Italy, my favorite part of the trip was our last day in Athens.  We had the most free time that day and got a chance to strike out on our own for a while.  We took a cab to the Plaka to do some shopping.  The shop owners were so kind and inviting and while, yes, they were very assertive, they were also usually very respectful and knew when to stop.  For example, a woman spent almost an hour trying to help my daughter find a dress and after all that time, my daughter decided against buying anything and we left.  Later that day we passed the same shop and the lady came out to see what we had bought.  At first I thought she was a bit miffed that we hadn't bought anything from her, but as we spoke with her longer, I sensed nothing of the sort - just genuine curiosity about our purchases and friendliness.  We had difficulty hailing a cab to get home (public transportation was on strike that day) and one restaurant owner suggested we wait under the mist dispensers they had hanging outside to cool off the patrons, even knowing we probably wouldn't be buying anything.  I just really, really enjoyed getting to know these wonderful people.  Obviously I'm not saying there aren't rough or dangerous areas in the places we visited.  In fact, most of the five star hotels we stayed in were in rough areas and we were warned to be smart about the types of bags we carried and to be aware of who and what was around us to keep from getting pick-pocketed.  But for the conscientious traveler with a fair share of common sense, most would do just fine. 

All in all, it was a GREAT vacation!  And very memorable for my 16 year old daughter who earned the trip by following through on a promise she made at 13 to stay away from boys until she was 16.  Way to go, girlie!! 

By the way, I saw windmills all over Italy.  But that's for a later post.....  

Europe or BUST!!!

My daughter and I are getting closer and closer to our trip and its finally beginning to seem real.  It is my second time to Europe, but to a completely different part this time.  And I get to share it with my 16 year old.  Taking a trip like this seems sort of extravagant, especially considering how financially rough it is for a lot of people right now, but this is more than just a splurge.  This started a few years ago actually.  A colleague of my husband's suggested we bribe our daughters to stay away from boys for a predetermined length of time by offering them a trip to wherever they want to go at the end of such time period.  It seemed a bit far-fetched to expect a teenager to stay away from the opposite sex that long, but we thought we'd give it a try anyway.  At the time, our oldest already had a boyfriend and had missed the opportunity to participate, but we made this offer to the remaining two daughters.  One declined and one took us up on it.  The one that decided to try it was 13 at the time.  We agreed that she wouldn't go out on dates or see boys until she turned 16.  To this day, there has never been any indication that she ever broke that promise.  She then chose Greece and Italy as the destination(s) for this strip.  And that's where we're going.  Failing to follow through on a promise of this magnitude is NOT an option, regardless of circumstance.

Clean Renewable Energy

I just got home after a couple of days in Lewiston.  The drive is about five and a half hours from the Idaho/Washington border, across farmland, the Columbia river, Snoqualmie Pass and into Puget Sound.  The last couple times I made this trip, I noticed that more and more of the wind turbines were popping up everywhere on the nearby hills along I-90, just west of the Columbia river.  I've always been fascinated by them.  Initially, it was mostly their looks - white, sleek columns towering into the sky, elegant and willowy.  I've always liked their purpose and what they stood for - mining clean, renewable energy resulting in a more evolved and sustainable future for us and our planet.  That gives me hope. 

Eat Healthy, Buy Local

Ramping up for the South Tacoma Farmers Market this summer!  Share it with every Foodie Locavore that you know!!!! Thank you so much!  

  

Iconic

I mentioned before the photograph project I'm doing.  One of my favorite pics was of a young tanned girl in an old fashioned bathing suit and swimming cap.  She was sitting on a large metal ice chest that had "Pepsi-Cola" written on the side in red.  What really pulled the whole thing together was that she was also drinking a Pepsi while sitting there.  The colors, the style, the Pepsi logo.....  we couldn't have created anything better to package all that is Pepsi in a single picture.  It's gotten the most hits out of any of the pictures of Chuck's that I've uploaded to flickr. 

Well, yesterday, I was looking at my stats for my account and noticed a few unusual referrers.  One I recognized because of the "pepsi" name in the site address - www.pepsimax.dk - obviously a Pepsi site of some sort.  And the other was www.sonico.com.  Upon further investigation, turns out this is also a Pepsi site, I just didn't recognize it by "sonico".  I discovered these sites were showing Chuck's Pepsi pic to their website visitors.  I LOVE THAT!  I got very excited about that and had to share....   More later....    :)

Photographic Documentary

Lately, I have been more into my photography than anything else.  I started using flickr and uploading my pics to share with anyone interested.  I joined various flickr groups, based on interest....One is a group for pictures of antique signs.  Another is a group for self-taught photographers.  And yet another for pictures of abandoned buildings.  There are literally millions of groups to choose from.  And now I have another photography project I'm passionate about.

Before I explain further about the project, however, I should set the background for how this came about.  After my husband's mother passed away last June, Lyle temporarily went to live with his step-dad Chuck to help him get stronger and back on his feet.  A few months ago, Lyle found some old slides of pictures Chuck had taken spanning from the fifties to late seventies using two different Zeiss Ikon 35mm cameras.  The pictures cover events from his college days at University of Idaho, time in the armed forces in Korea and Japan, as well as the first ten years or so he was married to Lyle's mom.   Lyle picked about 30 of his favorite slides and showed me the next time I was out to visit.  I absolutely fell in LOVE with these pictures.  We found many more slides after that, and they were ALL a very poignant photographic documentary of this man's life. 

And now we come to the photography project.  Chuck has given me permission to share the pictures on Flickr.  Here is the plan:  Lyle and I are going to have all the images transferred to CD.  The original slides and a CD set of the copied images will be retained by Lyle's family.  I will retain a second copy of the images and upload about half of them onto flickr.  I say 'half' because out of the lot, that's about how many I would comfortably share on flickr based on the content - i.e., the photos that are either iconic of the times or are of places and events that can be appreciated by a much wider audience than just myself, my husband and our immediate family.  The remaining half are private family photos that will and should be kept just for family and will not be uploaded to flickr.

It's Sunday night and I just came back from visiting Lyle and Chuck and I've brought all 700+ slides with me.  I will have them copied onto CDs sometime in the next few days, uploaded to flickr sometime within the next couple weeks and return the slides and copies the next time I visit.   I am very grateful to Chuck for trusting me with all the original slides and allowing me to share his phenomenal pictures.   I hope others enjoy the his pictures as much as I do.

New Life

I have a box that I keep my old jewelry in.  It sits on a shelf in my closet and I rarely take it out for a number of reasons.  The design or color of an item got 'old'.  A clasp might have broke.  Or in the case of earrings, I no longer have a pair because one of the two was lost.  For the longest time, I hesitated to get rid of the jewelry in this box because they were finely made using top notch materials or had some sort of sentimental value. 

But eventually I began to recycle my jewelry.  I've been gradually developing my jewelry making skills over the last year or two (beading, wire wrapping, metal-smithing, etc.) and I've found ways to incorporate pieces from this old jewelry box into the new items I make.  For example, I make lariats a lot and I sometimes use earrings to embellish the ends.  I've also done this with bracelets.  I had an old sterling silver chain in my jewelry box for the longest time.  It was worn, but its quality was apparent.  Left alone, it seemed a bit plain and maybe a bit masculine.  But then I attached a few beads of varying colors and lengths and suddenly it took on new life.  It no longer seemed masculine and I was excited to wear it.  

http://homini.etsy.com
http://toulecho.com

Farmers Market II

ok.  I've changed my mind again.  I WILL be applying to be a vendor at the South Tacoma Farmer's Market for 2010.  And..... I've already submitted the application!  Surprised?  Well, I went to a market committee meeting last night and wound up getting enthused about it all over again.  Darn that enthusiasm.  Went right home and completed the application right then.  It also gave me a couple ideas for new felting projects....!  (claps hands happily)  Good thing I got that business license a couple weeks back, uh?

The bag is coming along nicely...if I can ever find the time to crochet!  I have more time on the weekends for projects, just not during the week - full time job and all.  *sigh *  Maybe someday I'll be in a position to do this business full time, but right now it seems a million miles away....

Farmers Market

I'm about a third of the way through the bag.  I hope I judged the yarn right.   One of the colors I chose is actually a cotton instead of wool.  So it won't felt like the rest of the bag.  Now I've done this before, usually with flashy, fun materials (furry, sparkly, etc.), so I think it will work out.  But occasionally, it happens - the project doesn't turn out.  We'll see.  I think this one will be ok.  But won't know till I finish the project.

About the farmers market....  I don't think I'll be doing it after all this year.  Had too much going on last year and I'm pretty far behind in production.  I do this thing I call 'magical thinking' - its where you somehow imagine completely superhuman feats are possible.  I do this on a regular basis.  Only in later years I've started to recognize it as its happening.  I'm not sure this is helpful, although it seems like it should be.  Knowing what's happening doesn't stop it from happening, nor does it make it easier to deal with.  This time I didn't recognize it until after I started working on the felted bag I mention above.  As I began to work, reality came crashing in - it takes WAY longer to make than I remember.  It's very frustrating and disappointing.  I could always apply next year.  But this year was the first farmers market in the South Tacoma location - its possible my chances of being accepted as a vendor were better this year than ever before.  I guess vendors from other existing (already thriving) farmers markets in the area are reluctant to try to sell at a new market - never know it will flop or not.  A part of me wants to forego sleep, food and family to produce at a superhuman page to meet the challenge.  But, at least in regards to family, I'm not that selfish.

Love these colors.....

So tonight I started another felting project.  I am in turbo mode because I want to get a lot of these finished in a short amount of time.  I figure I crochet about a stitch every 3 seconds or 20 per minute (as long I'm not trying to do it while watching a movie or something - if I do, I get distracted).  I like the color pallette I chose - a cream color with muted lavender and light green.  I've attached the palette below.  Can't wait until its finished....


Color by COLOURlovers

Its good that I started felting again.  My last project about finished me off.  Too big, too long... lost patience.  I was forcing myself to try to finish it before starting other projects.  So nothing got done for a while.  I'm over it.

Its Alive!

Toutes Les Choses has just applied for business license! That's very scary for me. But its about time. Would hate to have the IRS pounding on my door!

A little bit about this blog (since its my first post)... Toutes Les Choses is an Etsy online shop from which we sell antique and vintage items, as well as handmade jewelry and felted bags and other items. This blog is meant to provide up to date news about the shop, the contributing artists and anything else we feel like sharing.

At Toutes Les Choses, we not only sell items we make and find, but anyone is welcome to request custom items through Etsy's alchemy process (which is an amazing feature of Etsy - I'm not just saying that to 'sell' - there are millions of artists on Etsy to choose from. And where else can you can you get custom made items direct from the designer over the internet? Etsy is the only place I know of.)

There is also the possibility we'll be selling at a local farmers market in 2010! If you're in the Seattle/Tacoma area, stayed tuned as we get closer to the opening of the market.