Trees and Earrings

We have many trees--most are lousy swamp maples which have shallow roots and are apt to blow over and snap dangerously and as you can see they don't have much to offer in the way of branches. They just grow straight up and then eventually they die. The life cycle of the swamp maple, as seen by Jean Yates. Soon to be on the "Disco" channel. But keep this in mind! Because that IS the worst part, because a dead swamp maple is as dangerous as a loose cannon! It's wild! It can fall over even easier than a living swamp maple and fall onto your head, your house or your car. Or all three at once. They are just plain annoying trees in the great tree scheme of things. I have to ask WHY when I think about them. I almost got killed by one when it fell on our power lines a couple of years ago. Jeepers! The swamp maples are the Great Whites of tree world, for sure.

Admittedly, we have some nice dogwoods and people are always go on and on about how pretty our dogwoods are. They are some special kind of dogwoods--Japanese dogwoods. And we have some other nice trees. No, I am not complaining! No I am not@@@!!! Or I will have to start all over again on my 37 day program of not complaining! Which is just fine! I don't mind! Not a problem! OK. OK. ::::calming down here.

So there were three guys--the two in the cherry picker, shown, in this photo by Jim, controlling the direction and running the chain saw...see all the wood and the smoke? wow! and one below who got to run the wood chipper, chippety chip, chippety chip Jean is not terrified of this sort of thing, oh no, not in the least! I just wish I did this instead of design jewelry. Why yes! I love this as a line of work!!!! It's so arch and fey! la la la!

ok, here was the big tree we were most concerned about but Jim had them cut down ten other trees I think. our house looks like a GIANT WOODPILE. Jim wants to shellac this stump and make an art piece out of it, and that is his idea. copyright JIM YATES 2008. I think he should put a checkerboard on it but he didn't seem to get all hot over that. End of tree part of this blog. On to jewelry

Here are my earrings I made...Cathy Lybarger..Aard...do you recognize your beads? Cathy has a great Etsy shop now...you can get a whole bunch of her stuff! here is the url for the Etsy part of her site! http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5725830 I just checked it out and she has a dio de los muetos bead on there that is totally mindblowing. She also has a lot of other beads, and some of them are funny hat beads for her beads to WEAR. hahaha.

This pair of earrings -- well...first I was incredibly attracted to the beads. I loved the colors and the mismatched style. So then I had them for a month, beside the bed, because I am busy... but today I just HAD to do something with them; I HAD to PLAY. Ever get like that? I think I did a good job and I am feeling slightly puffed up today aren't I? What is that about? I don't know! Maybe I am now tired! I worked hard but it was definitely worth it. I love the way these look on!

However: the main point of this blog is: these beads by Cathy Lybarger!!! whoo hoo!!!, and the others (including the terrific focals!) on her etsy store site are just hands down wonderful!!! GO see!!!

jean!