Okay, okay, okay...Sorry!

Autumn is starting to change the meadow.

And yes, I am still alive!! Sorry, to everyone and thanks for being there.
I've been living a combination of long drives to maxillofacial surgeon consults, combined with ebay and packaging and shipping and bead and jewelry making and metal work.

So had a fairly major dental procedure done in July, but it had to be re-done. Thankfully that is behind us (again) and hopefully successfully this time. There's no pain so exhausting as a toothache, is there? Getting ready for the surgery has been distracting...but I'm still getting some work done.

In between bouts of work I have spent quiet moments doing enthralling things such as watching a praying mantis eat a runner bean pod. Peaceful and fascinating, but hardly scintillating blog material! We grew a few scarlet runner beans just for the flowers and the nice leafy vines, rather than as an edible crop...but I saved some of the beans to plant next year. I had never seen them before right out of the pods...they are the most amazing color. Eggplant with magenta and pink! They darken as they dry. Nature puts color in all sorts of surprising little places!

Some new Pleasurable Vessels:

The one at the front is waiting for it's stopper...the one I made was too big and made it look top heavy. This one is my favorite...there are only two colors of glass used in it, plus clear. The base is Effetre Avacado, and the dots are Reichenbach "Raku" which starts out a kind of poop brown and then develops delicate shades of blue, violet, red, turquoise and purple. Unpredictable...sometimes I think it has to be the right phase of the moon to get good color!

Here are some beads inspired by Cris Leonard's photos of her late summer flowers which are on her blog. Thanks for the inspiration, Cris!