September beginnings

This is the beginning of my page for September. It's called "I-5". I-5 is the major interstate freeway running the length of California. In the spring it has beautiful wild flowers in the center divider. As you drive through the state you can see many of the crops grown in the Central San Joaquin Valley. There are many vineyards, hay fields, cottonfields, tomatoes, corn and thousands of orchards growing fruit and nuts of many kinds. What was once a dry wasteland is now productive farmland thanks to the canals and aquaducts crisscrossing the valley floor. This page is representational of all these things. It has been fun trying to duplicate the different crops to make them identifiable. I still need to finish the freeway, and add the corn, tomatoes and orchards.

Bead Retreat

Just got back from a Bead Retreat in the mountains with my fellow Bead Society members. What a fun weekend. We had teachers Paula Walter and CR Radding providing classes. The retreat took place at a hostel outside Yosemite. The food was good and the company outstanding. My 64 year old muscles defintely know they were walking up and down hills. Ouch. It was a treat to spend all our time beading and relaxing. Having access to great teachers for 48 hours was pretty cool too. Got a great start on my September page for BJP. I'm really happy with the way it looks so far.

Morro Memories

After I asked for suggestions for a name for this page, I really started looking at what I had done. I realized that I had unconsciously beaded a favorite place of mine. Morro Bay, CA is on the central coast. As you can see by the bottom picture, it has a huge rock in the bay with sand dunes creating a breakwater for the harbor. The three pearls in the gold cirlces represent the three smokestacks which are a focus of the beach skyline. This page was great fun to do. I used some of my favorite colors and also completed a bead challenge for our Bead Society. I love going to the ocean. It is sooo soothing to me. Somehow it renews my soul.