First snow in Dec 08 - North Shore of Boston

First Snow of the season...

Here are some photos of our first snow this season. It's such a lovely day...



We woke up to a gentle snow and it snowed all morning. After breakfast and a little TV we decided to go for a ride. (The roads were clear.) We drove through Ipswich and then down towards Crane's Beach. All the trees were coated with white and it looked like a wonderland. Really pretty and not very cold either. I snapped some pictures as we drove.

Look to the southwest after sunset on Dec. 1

Click on picture to read article....

Space.com / Starry Night Software
Look to the southwest after sunset on Dec. 1, 2008 (my BD) for a close conjunction between three bright solar system objects: the moon, Venus and Jupiter. If you have binoculars, you might even be able to fit all three of them in the field of view. Between now and then, you can see Jupiter and Venus getting closer together each evening.

By Joe Rao

Skywatching columnist

Every once in a while, something will appear in the night sky that will attract the attention of even those who normally don't bother looking up. It's likely to be that way on Monday evening, Dec. 1.

A slender crescent moon, just 15 percent illuminated, will appear in very close proximity to the two brightest planets in our sky, Venus and Jupiter.

A Turkey Morning!

Looking out my back window as I was making my morning coffee I had to blink as I discovered a march of turkeys out my back window. There must have been over 40 of them!!!!

I know we have an abundance of wild turkeys in our area, but I haven't seen any in almost a year. This morning they were marching across my neighbors back yard. The parade started with a HUGE turkey and seemed to dwindle down to the smaller ones in the back. They were very quiet today. I grabbed my camera and snuck out my back door. As I approached - they hurried away. I managed to get a few shots before they were too far away.

Boston - Newbury Street

Last Sunday a good friend and I took an exploratory trip down to Boston. I especially wanted to check out the classy stores and boutiques on Newbury Street. It was a mild weather day, and I comfortably wore a light suede jacket. We spent most of the day going in and out of the stores looking for places to showcase my unique jewelry. We ended our jaunt with a light meal at a Greek restaurant on Gloucester Street. I can't remember the name of the place, but the food was delicious and quite reasonable.

Just as we were heading back home....and the light of the day was fading, I snapped these photos of this graffiti type mural. This was an unexpected photo find for me.

The way the light was playing on this shattered window totally fascinated me, too, so I snapped away.

I'm excited to announce I'm now selling some of my jewelry creations in a lovely boutique in Keene, New Hampshire. The gallery is called ECLECTICA Artisans Shop, and it is run by a lovely lady - Judy Bemis - photo below...


You can find this shop just off Central Sq at 17 Lamson St. This shop features handcrafted jewelry, pottery, felted and knitted items, stained glass, paintings, photo cards as well as fragrant soaps, and bath products and much more - And, some of my unique handcrafted jewelry!

Stop in and enjoy the handiwork.

Below are several of my jewelry creations which you can purchase
in the ECLECTICA boutique.

PMC Workshop

On October 18th (seems like yesterday) I took an all day workshop taught by Marissa O'Brien on using PMC+. It was a wonderful experience. I learned a great deal about precious metal clay and how it is manipulated. To me it's like magic...You work with the clay, allow it to completely dry - and then you fire it in a kiln. WA! LA! - You have almost pure silver in the form of jewelry. It's awesome.

The workshop took place at a rubber stamp store called Absolutely Everything in Topsfield, MA. This store does have just about anything a stamper could desire and more, lots of stuff for craftors, too. I love the fact guest artists come there to do workshops.

Here is a photo of the PMC+ clay before it is fired. Two of these soon to be pendants are from a mold I made using a wonderful shell I have from Italy.

Below are pictures of completed pendants that I made at the workshop.

My attempt at silver clay pendents